Darkest Before Dawn

The others had watched her with open mouths in obvious befuddlement, but by the time she got to the end of her tirade, they started laughing until tears rolled down their faces. She was furious with them for laughing like hyenas when her life was on the line. Her future. Her child’s future. And Hancock’s.

Garrett wheezed. “Oh God, he’s never going to live this down. I’ll torture that bastard the rest of his life over this. How priceless is this?”

Honor gritted her teeth and stalked over to get right into the big man’s face. She nearly mowed him over, and would have, but his back bumped against the wall, effectively trapping him.

“What is wrong with you, laughing at a time like this? You’re being a complete asshole.”

Garrett gave her a meek look. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I meant no disrespect.” He rapidly looked at his teammates, begging for help. They just laughed even harder.

Honor threw her hands up. “This is pointless. I wasted an entire day by coming here. Fine. I’ll find him myself. No thanks to you.”

She stalked past them all, Conrad falling in behind her, as she headed for the door. Sam caught her arm and gently halted her, his eyes still full of mirth, but he made a concerted effort to be serious and sincere.

“We honestly don’t know where Hancock is, but I just might know someone who can help. Give me two seconds to make that call?”

She studied him a moment, saw that he was all business now. Finally someone with some damn sense. She nodded.

Sam picked up the phone and punched one digit, obviously a contact.

“Eden, honey? This is Sam. I need you to come to the war room as soon as possible. Can you do that? It’s important.”

There was a brief pause and Sam smiled. “Thanks, Eden. You’re the best.”

“Joe, step out and meet Eden so she won’t feel awkward coming to the war room,” Sam instructed.

Donovan glanced at the surveillance cameras that gave viewpoints of over thirty areas. He grinned. “No need. Swanny’s with her and he doesn’t looked pleased that he wasn’t included in the invite.”

“God save us from newlyweds,” Joe said in disgust.

Everyone in the room shot him knowing grins from all directions.

“Oh your time is coming, baby brother,” Garrett said smugly. “And I predict you’re going to fall harder than all of us put together.”

Joe lifted his middle finger amid laughter from everyone else.

P.J. and Skylar, the two female members of KGI, had made their way to where Honor stood, either out of solidarity so she wasn’t surrounded by so much testosterone or because they were simply being nice.

“How are you doing, Honor?” P.J. asked quietly. “Really.”

There was something in this woman’s eyes that told Honor she’d seen and endured horrific things and that she knew what Honor was going through and had gone through.

She smiled, though it felt more like a grimace. “In the beginning, not so good. But now . . . I’m hopeful. If I can get a certain arrogant male to pull his head out of his ass, things will be great.”

Skylar hooted with laughter, drawing suspicious stares from her male teammates. She just gave them an innocent smile that in no way allayed the nervousness in their eyes.

P.J. still regarded Honor seriously. “No matter how it goes, what happens, whether you’re able to make Hancock see reason, that man loves you. Every person in this room can tell you how much he loves you. Hancock is a hard man. No one here would have thought he was capable of loving anyone, but over time, we began to see bits and pieces of humanity and we realized that Hancock was a product of his training, and he’s lethal, but he has a heart. He’s a good man, Honor.”

Honor smiled. “I know. And thank you.” She touched the other woman’s hand. “That meant a lot to me. And I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees past the facade.”

The door opened and Honor’s heart jumped when an absolutely stunning, tall blond woman walked gracefully inside, flanked by a man a few inches taller than her with heavily scarred features and a muscled body that rivaled that of any of the males already in the compound.

Eden’s eyes widened when she saw that all of KGI was assembled, and she glanced fearfully at the man at her side, who Honor assumed was her husband. He pulled her into his side and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“It’s okay, honey,” he reassured.

Sam walked over and gave Eden a warm hug. “Thank you for coming so quickly. There is someone here who is very anxious to run Hancock to ground, and we wondered if you could be of any help to her?”

Eden’s brow scrunched in confusion, but before she could scan the room for the source of the “she” who needed her help, Sam pulled her to the side and spoke to her in low tones that didn’t carry to the others.

At first Eden looked stricken. Then tears glittered brightly in her unusually colored eyes and then she smiled, relief so stark in her expression that Honor wondered what on earth Sam was saying to her.

When Sam started to lead Eden to where Honor still stood, Eden flew around him and then threw her arms around a stunned Honor. Eden hugged her fiercely and a shudder of emotion quaked through the woman’s body as she clung to Honor.

When she finally pulled away, she was smiling broadly, a sheen of tears in her eyes. Honor looked at her in complete bewilderment when Eden took both Honor’s hands in hers and held on nearly as tightly as she’d hugged her.