Free Delete: Volume 3 (Shifter Series) by Kim Curran Page B

open and closed. Flick . Open. Flack. Closed. Over and over, and yet she didn’t smoke. And Hedges, frail and haunted, sat on the floor, unable to stay standing any more.
    I looked from squad member to squad member, taking in as much as I could about them. Noticing how Williamson bit his nails and how the thin tan mark around Ladoux’s fourth finger meant she used to wear a wedding ring. Had she lost her husband to the war? Tiny little details that made up the person.
    I felt a wave of pride for my squad swell in my chest. “You did good,” I said. “You all did good.”
    I was glad to hear the sound of the planes arriving to hide the choke in my throat.
     
    We flew home into glorious mid-morning sunshine, as if the weather itself mocked us. The atmosphere in the copter on the return trip was heavy and numb. The rush of excitement was gone, leaving the cold reality of what had happened. We had won. The bad guys were dead or defeated. The good guys saved.
    But at what cost?
    Zac stared out of the window at the streets below, his angular features illuminated by the sunlight. I guess I could see what girls saw in Zac. What Aubrey probably saw in Zac, with his square jaw and Roman nose. It didn’t make it any easier knowing he’d saved my life. Was that my blood flecked over his face or an enemy’s?
    I squeezed the bandage around my arm, feeling the sticky wetness of the blood seeping through, but I couldn’t feel anything. Either the anaesthetic was doing its job or the adrenaline was. It wouldn’t be long before they both wore off and the pain came back.
    It’s only pain, that voice in my head said again.
    The copter banked hard and I had to hold on to a strap to stop myself from sliding.
    “Set down in three,” Ladoux said.
    We dropped altitude fast, making my stomach flip so hard I thought someone had Shifted. I even looked around, hopeful that the world had changed. Everything was as it had been.
    Whatever had taken over me back there in the battle was starting to fade, too. What was I doing? Leading men on missions when I should be working out a way to get the hell out of this reality. And yet I felt like I owed them all something. Felt responsible for them all.
    Ladoux set the helicopter down and we piled out, the blades already slowing. Zac helped Hedges out, and walked him back into the Hub. Hedges really needed to go to the infirmary, but Cain told us he needed to be debriefed on whatever the hell X73 might mean first.
    I let Zac and the rest walk ahead of me, grateful for this moment of peace. If the turmoil in my mind could ever be called peace.
    My hands shook so hard, my fingers were a blur. I needed to keep it together for a little longer. Enough to get me through the next hour. The next day. Enough for me to find Aubrey and get us all out of here.
    We rode the lift down in silence. Turner was fighting to hold back her sobs. Zac wrapped an arm around her, and she buried herself in his chest. Unwin too was trying hard to hide his tears. Williamson just let them flow. Ladoux, however, looked straight ahead, her expression as cold as my own. I swallowed a couple more of Frankie’s painkillers.
    The lights had returned to pale green and the alarm had been silenced. In its place was a stir of excited voices. As I stepped into the Hub, I couldn’t believe what I saw. Everyone was smiling and laughing, as if I’d walked into a cocktail party rather than a military headquarters. A group of people were gathered in the middle, peering over each other’s shoulders. A hand reached up to be high-fived by members of the group.
    “What the hell is going on here?” I shouted, my voice cutting through the laughter. “What kind of animals are you people?”
    The group parted as I walked forward, revealing Aubrey standing in the middle of the group, a smile frozen on her face.
     

CHAPTER NINE
    The buzz of excitement silenced like a scratched record. The group who had all been gazing at Aubrey in delight turned