To Die for... Duty

ONE “YOU’VE GOTTA MOVE FASTER, LADY.” Styx tugged on her arm, forcing her to keep going. Try as she might to keep up, their fitness levels were just too disparate. It didn’t matter that she ran every day and tried to build up her strength with whatever random items were lying around camp. She was not Olympus strong. Her bare feet slowed them down, which was probably the only reason he’d let her stop to change in a hidden corner not far from camp. All the while she’d been aware of him hissing at her to hurry up. “We have been moving for an hour,” she said, out of breath. That was a guesstimate. Given it felt like a week to her tired legs and scraped up feet, an hour seemed a reasonable suggestion. “It hasn’t been that long,” he said, still dragging her in his wake. With each forceful, prompting tug, he came closer to jerking her shoulder right out of its socket. “We haven’t heard shooting or fighting,” she said. “It could’ve been Garrick and the other guys.” It suddenly occurred to her that every step they took away from camp would have to be taken in reverse when her guide decided it was safe to return. Not only that, if they did hear shooting, she’d want to be close, in case Daire needed her. “Stop!” she hollered, yanking her hand free of his. Styx whirled around to grab for her again, but she leaped back, preventing him from getting hold of her. “This isn’t a game, Tess. We need to move.” “Why? Where are we going? You and Daire were supposed to go on a hike, not us. Just tell me what the hell is going on.” His scowl betrayed his impatience, but he added a disgusted exhale just for good measure. “We don’t know who was en-route to camp. If it was Garrick and he wants to take down Zeus then we might have an ally. It could just as easily have been Zeus come to obliterate us.” “Shouldn’t you be down there with them?” she asked, thrusting an arm behind her, pointing at their path. “You need to help them.” “Hades has to be there to deal with whichever principal showed up. If it was Zeus, there’s a chance he can keep him talking. Then Ares might be able to sneak up, do what he can.” Some sick part of her was excited about the potential outcome that could erase their worries so soon. Except it wouldn’t be that simple. “There were vehicles, more than one,” she said. “I don’t know how many, but that means more than one guy.” “Yeah,” Styx said, pushing his shoulders back. His resentment about her slowing him down began to make sense. To him, she was dead weight. It was only then, illuminated in the shards of moonlight breaking through the trees, that she realized their pace wasn’t the only thing angering him. “You’re mad at me.” “Yeah. You need to build up your stamina, start endurance training.” If her father hadn’t been so adamant about not training her every time she’d asked, maybe keeping up wouldn’t be so difficult. “Make the case to Harry when we get back,” she said, peering into him. “But that’s not it. You’re mad because you want to be there. You want to be back at camp.” “With my unit? Yes,” he said. “I do.” Her presence meant his assignment was babysitting instead of murder. “Then go,” she said, leaping out of the way, stopping just short of grabbing him to push him back down the incline. “Get your butt back there.” “You need to be protected.” She opened her arms. “No one’s going to get me out here,” she said, figuring if she was lost, there was little chance of anyone else finding her. “I’ll stay right here. I won’t move.” It wasn’t wrath or upset that surged through her. Hope bloomed over every other emotion. She wanted Styx with Daire. Wanted the brothers to have someone watching their backs. If that meant she had to spend a night in the woods on her own, so be it. “My orders—” “I don’t give a damn about your orders,” she said, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. “Think about it. I want you down there and you want to be down there. No one expects you to be in the shadows. If they’re in trouble, they need you sneaking up on them. Don’t you think they’ll forgive you for disobeying orders if you save their lives?” “No,” he said, his expression relaxing some. “Hades would never forgive anyone for disobeying orders for any reason.” “Daire will forgive you.” He licked his lips before smiling. “For leaving you in the middle of nowhere on your own? Have you met him? What’s the thing he says about eyes on?” Anything that reminded her of their relationship gave her a thrill. “His eyeline. It’s easier for him to keep me safe if I’m in his eyeline.” Actually, it was her who’d put it that way first. In all the time Styx had been racing ahead, dragging her along, she hadn’t been in his eyeline. She might have told him that, except he was only just beginning to chill. Probably best not to be antagonistic. “Right. And he can’t do that right now ‘cause he’s busy watching Hades’s a*s and making sure you’re not pursued.” Some of that anger was creeping back in. “Do you think I like being the weakest member of the herd? Slowing you all down?” she asked. “I don’t want you here. I want you with Daire. I always want you with Daire because I know you watch each other’s asses. Harry refuses to train me to protect myself in any way. I know how to handle a weapon, but he won’t even give me one of those.” “You’ll have to learn,” he said, the hood over his eyes descending further when they flicked to her abdomen. “If you have something other than your own life to protect.” Turning around, she started to go back the way they’d come. “I am not talking about that with you.” “You’re going the wrong way,” Styx called after her. “We’re not going back there.” “You can go wherever you want,” she said, knowing she’d be of little combat help if anything was going down. “I am going back.” “Stop,” Styx said, grabbing her shoulder to whirl her around. “You are so goddamn stubborn.” “I will do whatever it takes to protect the man I love,” she said, vehement in her certainty. “Whatever it takes. If that means putting myself in the path of a bullet, it’s what I’ll do.” Maybe all she’d be able to do. If she went down as a human shield, it would be her choice. Harry would only have himself to blame for not giving her a fighting chance when he refused to share the tools to do anything else. “And if you’re carrying his child?” Talking about a potential pregnancy was one thing, factoring it into decision making when it might not even exist was a step too far. “Then Harry will be pleased he doesn’t have to worry about it,” she said because her father was damn sure she should never carry Daire’s kid. Standing in the darkness, braced to hear any hint of a ruckus near the distant camp, the situation became so real that a new kind of gravity weighed on her. “Daire won’t let—” “You have to look after him,” she said, feeling the true burden of what it was to be loved by a man who felt responsible for everything. “If something happens to me, you have to promise, you can’t let him self-destruct.” “Maybe you should’ve thought of that before.” Styx had been the one to accept them without hesitation. Harry didn’t like her and Daire being together for a bunch of reasons. Most of which she understood. What she didn’t understand was why Styx had chosen that moment to judge something that he’d never had an issue with before. Usually, he was their supporter. He put himself in the position of mediator, using careful comments to talk down Harry or Daire when they were building themselves toward a confrontation. Breathing out, she sagged. Her whole body revolted against the idea of getting embroiled in another argument. “Please,” she said on a sigh. “He’s your brother and he loves me. He didn’t choose to and I didn’t force myself to love him… We know that it’s crazy. We know it breaks rules and is a ridiculous position to be in when the weakness could get us killed. Please… don’t make him fight you too. He’s already fighting on so many fronts.” “I’m standing here with you. Not him.” “And if I had the energy to argue with you, I would. But your brother led me one way, screwed me senseless and then dragged me back. You’ve had me racing up this damn mountain like there’s gold at the summit. I just don’t have it in me to justify myself to another judgmental a*s… What can I say that will make this better? Nothing. I can apologize for loving him or for making him love me.” Which wasn’t something she’d done on purpose. “But will it change anything? I’ll still love him. He’ll still love me and we’ll still be racing away from any chance of being there for him.” Styx came closer, relaxing his grip on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I know, I… He says you focus him. Me bringing you up here was as much his idea as Hades and it’s not just about your protection. If Ares could fight and watch you at the same time, he’d probably tie himself to you.” As he smiled, so did she because Tess couldn’t deny that was probably true. “If he knows you’re up here, safe with me, then he can focus. You don’t want him searching camp for you after every punch, trying to keep you in his eyeline while assholes are sneaking up on him.” “No one can sneak up on Daire,” she said, thinking of all the times he’d heard potential danger long before she’d detected a whisper. “He’s always alert.” “Until you’re in the mix,” he said. “Maybe when you’re alone he can do it, but remember what happened when I made that c***k about joining you in the shower in the Miami apartment? I did that on purpose, to show how he can be distracted by you. And that was just a comment. Imagine what would happen if he saw someone hurting you, detaining you.” He’d go nuclear. “God, this is a mess,” she said, backing up to sit on a fallen log. She needed the rest and time to think. “How can we do this? I mean, how can I ask him to stay focused and still be around to distract him…?” Running a hand up over her hair, she pushed it from her forehead to look up at him. “Do you think I should leave?” He frowned. “Leave?” “If I lose myself, if no one can find me—” “Ares will find you,” Styx said, coming over to join her on the log. “He found you before, remember? That was before he was crazy in love with you. I bet he knows you better now, so it would be easier to hunt you down. If you split… s**t, Lady, if you split, I don’t even know what he’d do. No, that’s a lie, I know what he’ll do. He’ll drop absolutely everything to track you. He won’t care who’s pursuing him or what’s being missed while he’s doing it either.” “He hates it when things are missed.” “Yeah, he does.” Styx put an arm around her. “You think leaving will make any of this easier on either of you? Here, with the unit, you have allies who can protect you. Until we have Zeus or he’s dead, you can’t be anywhere except with us… You just have to trust that when we say run or hide, that we’re doing it because it’s best for you. We give you those orders or drag you away because it’s what’s best for the whole. We’ve considered all the outcomes and scenarios, and everyone is where they’re best placed to do the most good for the unit. If you’re given an order, you have to carry it out. We have to trust that you’ll carry it out.” “Or…?” she said, peeking around at him. “If one soldier doesn’t carry out their orders, they’re not trusted by the others. That makes them a liability. In your case, I’d bet Hades would be just as willing to tie you up and stuff you in a closet, if it meant your protection.” Tess didn’t doubt her father was capable of that. “In the case of a ground assault, the orders were to put you in the truck and drive… Imagine how far from camp we’d be then.” Too far for her to avoid a meltdown. Leaving Daire behind like that would probably end her. “Least my feet wouldn’t be all cut up,” she said, figuring he knew just how loathed she’d be to drive away from her love. Styx shirked the pack from his back. “Are they bad?” he asked, sliding off the log to crouch in front of her and unlace her boots. “You picked good footwear.” “I’m not an i***t,” she said, watching him pull off the boot and then peel away her sock. “I knew what Harry meant. Most of the damage was done before… when Daire was bringing me back.” “ ‘Cause you lost your shoes out there?” he asked, smirking as he examined the sole of her foot. He propped her heel on his thigh and reached over to retrieve some kind of ointment from his pack. “And your panties?” She gasped. “You were spying on me getting dressed?” He laughed. “They were hanging out of your sweater pocket when we stopped.” Please God let that be the truth. “You’re brother’s a real gentleman.” “My brother will have his a*s handed to him when Harry finds out you were getting busy in the woods,” Styx said, rubbing the ointment into her foot. The massage felt good. Even the sting of the medicine didn’t diminish it. She tried to remember the last time she’d had any kind of massage… and came up short. “Us going out there gave him valuable intel… sooner than he’d have got it if we just stayed at camp.” He took some bandage from the pack and began to wrap her foot. “And the s*x?” “That was… me,” she admitted. “Damn it’s always me tempting him over that line. He’s right about me. I am a temptress.” “Doesn’t seem to bother him.” He finished with one foot, putting her sock and boot back on before moving to the other. “You know Hades didn’t have a chance to say, but…” “Say what?” “Even if it is Garrick down there with Olympus guys, Hades doesn’t think it’s a good idea to be open about your relationship. Not until we know more. Until we’re sure they’re on our side.” Because if they weren’t, then learning Daire had a weakness they could exploit, one they wanted to exploit to get JARR anyway, would be a coup. “I can do that,” she said, noting his surprise in the way his focus jerked up from his task. She laughed. “What? You think I’ve never hidden my love for him? Maybe it’s not easy and maybe I don’t always like doing it, but if it’s best for him…” Most days, she thought Daire would be better off having never met her. She never believed the opposite. But hiding their feelings, as best they could, should at least offer a glimmer of protection to him. Otherwise, she may as well just hand herself to her enemy and tell them to threaten her to win Daire’s allegiance. He went back to treating her foot. “Okay, but I’m just saying, you weren’t great at it in London.” “I didn’t know I had to be great at it,” she said. “I didn’t know you were looking for signs. Besides, I’ve learned a lot since then. I can fake it.” Styx snickered. “Wait ‘til I tell Ares that.” She socked his shoulder. “Don’t challenge him to prove otherwise. You just told me to keep us a secret. Might be difficult if you’re brother’s not on board. I’m not great at saying no to him.” More than once she’d tried. Since their early days together when he was Danny, if he wanted her, he got her. She didn’t even have to be thinking straight to be seduced. Her mind could be anywhere. Her stress level high and still her Heart would wheedle his way in. “I know a good spot not far from here where we can set up camp.” “Camp?” she asked, concerned and relieved. “You’re not going back to help them?” “Whoever is down there,” Styx said. “Hades needs time to assess the situation. If it’s safe, when it’s safe, they’ll let us know.” “There hasn’t been any fighting.” “You keep saying that, but it doesn’t prove anything. If they’ve been taken—” “Taken?” she repeated, slammed by horror. “Oh my God.” Who would have the ability to steal trained professionals like her love and Harry? Maybe it wasn’t that simple. Drugs could be in the mix and they had no idea how many men had descended on their allies. Anything was a possibility. “If they’ve been taken,” Styx said, deliberate in his intention to finish the sentence he’d started. “They’ll need us to go get them.” “That was Harry’s order? If they were taken, we should go get them?” “No,” Styx said. Putting her foot on the ground, he stood up, brushing his hands together. “His order was to run and hide you.” He offered her a hand, which she took to let him pull her onto her feet. “You literally just said no one should ever disobey a direct order.” A wild and mischievous smile took his lips as he leaned in closer. “Yeah, but I’m a rebel, haven’t you heard?” Disruptive was the word Daire had used to describe his brother. As much as she wished Styx would use that angle of his personality to return them to camp then and there, she had to trust he knew what he was doing. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes she wanted to go against Daire just to be there with him. But she didn’t doubt he was smart and careful. She needed to have faith in him and his abilities. Camping for one night wouldn’t be the end of the world. She just couldn’t make any promises about how much she’d sleep knowing that she’d left her love behind.