Chapter 13
Tyce was wearing a rut into the hardwood floor of his office. Hands fisted in his hair, chest heaving, his eyes sparked with emotion as an unsettling amount of resentment settled over him. Everything had changed. In the space of one mission, one flight, one encounter, his whole world flipped. He hated it. Not Briel, it wasn’t her fault, but he hated that he’d walked head first and unknowing into something that had forever changed his world. He wanted a re-do. He wanted to go back and change how his first encounter with Briel and Fena had gone. He wanted to take his halo back and keep it until she understood fully what the gift of it meant.
The phone on his desk rang and he glared at it mutinously. It’d been ringing incessantly since he’d arrived back at Apex and he knew who’d be on the other end of the line when he picked up. He kept right on pacing. The phone stopped ringing and he felt a mental nudge indicating a Walker was attempting to contact him telepathically. For a moment, he considered ignoring the attempt, but he had yet to hear from Conn and his team who’d flown home separately because…well, because Tyce was too worked up to have other Walkers near his Angel while she remained unclaimed. It’d been a shit thing to do to his team, but most of them were unmated, and having them holed up in a tiny jet with Briel while he was still afflicted wasn’t going to work, so he’d arranged a separate flight for them.
He stopped walking and permitted the telepathic contact.
“Tyce,” Monroe greeted, far too merrily for Tyce’s liking. “Heard you were back at Apex. I assume the mission went well?”
“You fuck!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
Tyce didn’t even bother keeping the snarl from his tone when he demanded, “What do you want?”
“My package. That was the deal, right? You get the money, I get the woman.”
“Don’t fucking toy with me, Monroe. You’re not getting Briel or Fena. Deals off and you fucking know it! And if for one second you even think about playing your games with my Angel, I will fucking end you! I am not one of your Sentries; I am not one of your Walkers. You’d better tread lightly where Briel and Fena are concerned.”
A weighty sigh filled Tyce’s head before Monroe spoke. “Well, that’s just bad business.”
“This isn’t business. It’s personal now and you fucking know it! You knew what you were doing. You knew what I would find!”
“You were supposed to find the safe house. All you wanted was the cash, remember?”
“Is there even a safe house? Any treasure? How long have you been planning this, you ambitious dick?”
“When you have great enemies,” Monroe smiled through the mist, “you need great ambition.”
“You’ve started something here you can’t undo. I hope you know that.”
“Ahh,” Monroe chided. “So, there was a treasure after all.” And then he hurled Tyce’s own words back at him. “Time to concentrate your efforts on the lovey-dovey affliction bullshit. Perhaps you and your team should travel here to StoneCrow Estates and see how a Walker facility is supposed to be run.”
“Is that what this is about?” Tyce snapped. “I wounded your precious fucking ego, so you sought revenge?”
“Revenge?” Monroe’s tone turned lethal. “Regardless of your naïve beliefs, the affliction is a gift. Your Angel. Is. A. Gift. And she’s not just a gift to you, but to all Walkers. She’s gonna teach you in a few short days what I couldn’t convince you of over the past five years. Apex will become the fortress it needs to be. You will take more caution with exposing our existence to the public. You will learn to keep your foolhardy, adventure seeking ass at Apex instead of going on missions with your men…”
“Why in the hell would I do that?”
“Because if you die or get captured, who’s gonna take care of your family? That’s what they are, you know. Briel and Fena are going to become your fucking world. And one day, Tyce Steele, you’re going to thank me, and you’re going to mean it.”
The connection severed and Tyce, who’d stopped pacing to brace his arms on his desk, cleared the desktop of all its contents in one vicious swipe.
A knock at the door jerked him upright and he roared, “WHAT?”
Conn stepped inside, and the good Commander didn’t even bother hiding his grin. “Dominant Tyce Steele, finally afflicted.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the door, camo-clad legs crossed in a relaxed pose. “It’s not that bad, you know.”
Tyce shook his head. “She’s going to make me vulnerable. Hell, she already has, and I haven’t even claimed her yet.”
“There’s power in vulnerability.”
“Like hell!” Tyce circled his desk and dropped into the dark leather chair. “The very definition of vulnerable is diminished, compromised, or lacking. There’s no power in that.”
Conn’s eyes narrowed on Tyce. “No, but there’s power in what you’d do for her. There’s power in the emotion she’ll evoke from you. Lucky little lady just became the most coveted creature on the face of the earth and doesn’t even know it. Does she?”
Tyce lowered his eyes, turning in his chair to stare at the snow gently peppering the night sky outside his window. “If you’re asking if she knows that she’s mine, the answer is no. I haven’t told her.”
“Don’t wait.” Conn shoved off the door and paced toward the desk. “In every instance I know of where a Walker waited, it cost his Angel. Don’t make her pay for your fear or your pride, Tyce.”
A snarl ripped from him before he dipped his chin to glare up at Conn. “Nothing is going to happen to Briel.”
Conn lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Wasn’t a threat. Just a warning, and one I’m giving from experience. Even before the affliction, Aries felt significant to me. I tried to downplay it, even ignore it. I shouldn’t have. I should have pursued her and protected her like she was already mine. Remy took her, and…” He swallowed hard and shook his head, his eyes taking on a far-off look. “When I saw her in that hospital bed, all messed up…” his hands fisted. “I hated Remy, wanted to kill him.” His eyes focused on Tyce. “But I hated myself more. If I hadn’t been such a coward, I’d have admitted to myself and to Aries what I knew from the start. She was mine.”
Tyce sighed and some of the tension left him. “I have no intentions of ignoring the fact that Briel is my Angel. I know it, and I’m not running from it.”
Conn’s eyes dipped to the brand on Tyce’s throat where his halo had been. “Another scar?”
Tyce grinned. “Another scar,” he confirmed. “And this one was probably the most painful of them all.” His smile faded. “She tried to make a run for it and I panicked.”
“You collared her out of fear? Does she even know what it means?”
Shaking his head slowly, Tyce chuffed a humorless laugh. “I didn’t have the chance to explain before, and she’s still out, so…”
Conn barked a laugh before offering, “One day, one of us is actually gonna do this thing right.”
Tyce shoved up out of his chair and strode toward the door. “Clearly, it won’t be me. Now get your ass outta my office, I need to go check on my Angel.”
As he passed Conn, the Commander lifted his hand and clapped Tyce on the shoulder. “Welcome to the club, brother.”
Tyce groaned and Conn was back to laughing.