Page 13 of Jude

Octavia sighed. She stood and stretched her arms over her head. She missed the days when she had the freedom to exercise. She used to love to run and would go for a couple of hours on the weekends. She called it her thinking space. It was a time to meditate and put the world in order. Now, she was lucky if she made it ten paces from the van. She knew her muscles were weak from lack of exercise and a poor diet, but she had to keep herself safe. Her van was the safest place she knew.

Octavia moved frequently, only ever at night. The van was painted matte black, and she rarely used the headlights so she wouldn’t reveal herself. Not only that, but the use of multi point-to-point links, coupled with an early warning system if anyone was tracing her comms signal, meant it was easy for her to be on the road and away from danger before she was tracked down.

This all came with a downside. It meant regular sleep was a distant memory. Octavia slept in one-hour blocks, never able to relax for fear someone would track her in her sleep. Her warning system gave her a good hour’s head start if anyone detected her. But the van was slow. She could never travel far or fast in the darkness for fear of smashing into something.

She wanted Jude’s help. Damn, she needed it. And she needed his kindness. He was so good to talk to. He was always patient and listened. She’d never met a guy who asked so many questions and still wanted to know more. Most of the heroes she’d dated were so full of their own self-importance that they barely remembered to ask her name before launching into some over-the-top tale of how they saved the world.

Octavia smirked to herself. She was most likely the same. To survive and thrive in that business, especially as a woman, you had to be on the top of your game. You had to know you were the best of the best and shout about it. Sometimes, that made your ego bigger than it needed to be. She didn’t have any concerns about that now.

Her fingers traced the scars on her cheek. She was lucky to be alive. She should be grateful for what she still had. The attack on the terrorist cell she’d been monitoring had come as a complete surprise. She’d lost contact with her headquarters within an hour of the State taking control.

Unbeknownst to her, the State were launching a worldwide assault. Their bombs slammed into the terrorist cell, killing everyone there and almost taking her with them.

When she’d woken up, she’d been pinned to the ground under a slab of concrete, almost blind from the dried blood in her eyes.

It had taken three hours of scream-inducing agony to pry herself out from under the concrete. She’d had a broken ankle, a dislocated collarbone, and deep lacerations across one side of her face where sharp metal had slashed her flesh.

The collarbone and the ankle she could handle, but there was little she could do about her face. Octavia had kept the wound clean, grown her hair long, and decided never to look in a mirror again.

She couldn’t go to Jude. She was damaged. She was a freak. He would pity her. She didn’t want that from him. She loved hearing his deep, calm voice on the comms channel when he fed information through to the squads on the ground. He was always there. They could always depend on him. She wanted that from him too.

This was for the best. Being on her own was what she was used to.

Her fingers brushed the fading picture sitting next to her computer screen. It was the only one she had of her parents. They had to be dead by now. She’d tried reaching them so many times without success. She’d managed to get some pictures of their home, what was left of it. It was a pile of ash after the bombs hit.

Her hand went to the frayed fabric clipped around her wrist. It was possibly the ugliest bracelet imaginable, but it was her favorite. It had been her dog’s collar. Max had been the best dog in the world. She’d had to leave him with her parents when she’d gone on a mission for three months. To have a reminder of him, she’d taken his old collar and replaced it with a new one. This was all she had left of him.

Pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes, Octavia realized the song was fading. She lined up another and hit play.

“Get a grip.” She jammed her earbuds in and spent the next half hour focused on the babble sent through by the State. She needed to figure this out.

Sighing, she pulled out an earbud. She was exhausted, and it was nonsense. She was missing a crucial link.

Octavia’s hand shook as she opened a secure message link to Jude. She needed to get over herself and stop hiding. There was someone who could help her find that missing link, if she’d let him. She typed two words: let’s meet.

Chapter 3

The five hours of sleepJude had gotten hadn’t helped the scratching feeling in his eyes. He couldn’t rest. He needed to figure out this weird language the State were using. What were they planning that they wanted no one else to hear about?

His hair was still damp from the shower as he made his way to the canteen. He grabbed a coffee from Juliet, turned, and bumped into Arlo.

Arlo had an arm wrapped around the waist of his dragon hybrid mate, Juniper Firestar. Their relationship was new, and you could tell. They were rarely out of each other’s arms.

“I heard about the Dinnorm language you picked up.” Arlo grabbed two bowls of oatmeal and handed one to Juniper.

“It’s what we think it is.” Jude walked back to the door, keen to get to the comms room.

“Kade played us a recording of it.” Juniper’s eyes flashed purple for a second. “I’ve never heard it before. This must be a new State trick.”

“It’s hardly a surprise,” said Arlo. “Now we know what they are, they need not be so circumspect.”

“I’m heading to the comms room to listen in some more,” said Jude.

“We’ll join you,” said Arlo.

Jude shrugged. He didn’t want company. He wanted to be on his own. He was still frustrated that Octavia had once again sidestepped his offer of help and turned him down. How many times could a guy get rejected before he took the hint? Jude smirked to himself. He’d probably keep on trying until his last breath left him.

Arlo slung an arm over Jude’s shoulders. “Anything wrong?”