***
What did you just say? Did you just ask how you could help him fight a war? Are you stupid?
Nadia wasn’t sure what to say to her own questions. There was an immense feeling of guilt that she was keeping bottled up inside of her, until she could find the right time to tell Jared the complete truth. But how did that become her volunteering to help him end a war?
Because you owe them. It’s the right thing to do. You’ve already thrown your lot in with them; might as well try to help them out.
“Nadia, that’s not something you want to ask,” he said gently, trying to let her down, she thought. “These guys do not play nicely. If they find out you’re helping us, they’ll go after your family to get to you.”
She took a deep breath. “That’s not a problem.”
The shifter’s eyebrows rose questioningly.
“I don’t have a family. My parents and older sister were killed when I was a child. There is nobody for them to go after. I don’t even know of any cousins.”
There was a strange glint in his eye as she revealed that fact.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m sorry,” he told her, his voice thick with emotion. “I truly am. I know how that must have been, growing up without anyone around you.”
“Something tells me you know that better than most,” she said slowly, looking deep into his eyes and finding the pain she thought she would see there.
“I do,” he said, his voice a whisper. “And I’m so sorry you had to go through that as well.”
Nadia was forced to clear her throat before she could respond. Her chest rose with the long, slow inhalation of air.
“But even with that, I don’t know where you might be able to help us,” he said. “Right now things are in complete disarray. The raid on our base was completely unexpected, and put our plans to assault their base on hold, possibly indefinitely. Surely it won’t be until we are able to regroup.”
As if in cue, the laptop behind him dinged, the soft chime more than loud enough to startle the two of them. Jared practically leapt to the seat to read the messages.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“Three members, safe and sound together,” he said, pride infusing his voice at the knowledge that some of his team had escaped unhurt.
“That’s great!’ she said, happy to hear it. She knew Jared had been trying to hide just how worried he was. His efforts had been far from successful, but she recognized after massaging his shoulders that his worries weren’t going to go away until people started reporting in safe.
Something changed in his posture, however.
“Jared?” she called when he didn’t immediately say any more. “What’s wrong?”
He turned to look at her, and his face could have been made from stone for all the emotion that showed on it.
“They got away cleanly, but not immediately. Someone got taken,” he told her. “They tried to rescue him, but were chased off before they could.”
“Do they know where he was taken? Maybe all of you can go after him,” she suggested.
He nodded. “Yes. But they had to go all the way to the other side of the city and go to ground just to escape. So they aren’t available to help in time.”
“Is there a time limit?” she asked, confused why that would matter.
Jared was already moving, looking at his gear and checking that his boots were tied.
“Yes. If we wait, they’ll drain his blood like the others. My team is composed of Alpha shifters. We’re bigger, stronger, and faster than most bears. If they were to create a serum from his blood, who knows how powerful it would make the Agent it gets injected into.”
“Oh. That’s not good,” she said, rising from the couch.
“What are you doing?” he asked as she made her way to the door as well.
“Is there a vehicle hidden away here somewhere?”
“Yes,” he said, saying it slowly enough that it elongated into several syllables.
“I’m driving,” she said, giving him her best “Don’t argue with me, you’ll lose” voice. “You need to concentrate on your mission. Besides, I’m far less conspicuous than you are,” she said dryly, looking him up and down.
To her surprise, Jared cracked a smile. She had expected a protest, with him trying to be heavy-handed to protect her and saying it wasn’t her fight. But instead, he respected her desire to help, and simply gave her an acquiescing nod.
“Very well,” he said. “But you stay in the car, and you don’t do anything stupid, heroic, or anything besides sit there and wait for me to come back out.”
“Deal,” she said. “I want to help, but I’m not stupid. I know that getting in the middle of fighting shifters is not the path for long life. I want to help, but I also want to live.”
It still astounded her that she wanted to help, that she was willingly putting herself into harm’s way. It was as if her brain were making these decisions for her, without consulting her. Was she letting her physical desire for him entice her into making stupid decisions? Or was she doing what needed to be done?
“I want you to wear this,” he said, pulling a baseball hat off the nearby rack. “Put your hair up into it.”
She arched an eyebrow at him.
“Please?” he said. “For me? It will make me feel better about all of this. Those long brown locks of yours are a little too identifiable for me.”
She smiled at the compliment of sorts, and took the cap from his hands. “Very well,” she said, tucking her hair up and putting it on. “How’s this?”
“Perfect.”
“Don’t get used to it though,” she said. “I like my hair down.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll bet,” she replied swiftly, without missing a beat, enjoying the flirty banter far more than she should have.
Jared shook his head and led the way up the stairs, pulling the trap door aside.