Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group #1)(39)

Eli rolled his eyes. “Noticed her did you.”

“I’m not dead,” Ian said dryly. “Nice ass. I got a good view on the way back. Think she’d hold the fact that Braden and I are cats against us?”

Eli gave a disgusted snort. “She’s not here to be your kinky plaything. You two get your own damn woman to sandwich.”

Ian smiled faintly. “Yeah, I know. You don’t share.”

“And don’t you forget it,” Eli warned.

Ian struggled to keep his eyes open, and Eli put his hand on his shoulder. “Get some rest, bro. This was a bad one.”

Ian nodded and closed his eyes.

Eli hurried back out to the hallway where Braden was still propped against the doorframe to his bedroom. Naked as a damn jaybird. He glanced over at Tyana but she seemed oblivious to Braden’s nudity.

“I’ll take it from here,” he told her. “Go wait for me in my office. You remember the way?”

She nodded, her eyes subdued. To his surprise, she didn’t give him any lip. No defiance. She just turned around and walked back down the hallway, a defeated slump to her shoulders.

Chapter Fifteen

When Eli walked into his office, he found Tyana gathering the weapons he’d tossed onto one of the couches. Her torn jacket was back on, and she was shoving her knives into place.

Her back was rigid, her movements mechanical, as though she were hanging on to control by a thread.

“What are you doing?” he asked softly.

She turned, casting her gaze briefly over him before returning to what she was doing.

“Leaving,” she said shortly.

He moved closer to her but was careful to keep some distance between them.

“You just got here.”

She slung the rifle over her shoulder and turned around again, her stance defensive and impenetrable as hell.

“I found out what I needed to know. You can’t help me.” She paused for a long second then stared hard at him. “Why you?”

He lifted his brow in confusion. “Why me what?”

She sighed with impatience. “Why are you stable? How is it you can control your shifts, even conjure clothing when you shift back? You’re in complete control of your abilities. The inhibitor I used on you was ineffective.”

“Dumb luck?”

“Until now, I assumed you’d found a cure, that you and your team had found a way to fight what happened. I wanted that for Damiano. I’ve killed for it. I would kill again. I’d do anything to save him from what I fear will happen if he doesn’t get help soon.”

“Join the club,” Eli murmured.

“I was hired by Esteban to kill Ian and Braden and to bring you in alive. Any idea why he’d want you alive?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t even know who the f**k Esteban Morales is, so how the hell would I know why he wants my team dead and me alive?”

Realization lit fire in her eyes. “Because he’s the bastard who unleashed the chemical agent on you. You’re stable. The others aren’t. He wants to know why. You’re the one thing in his experiment that didn’t go wrong.”

Eli held his hands up. “Whoa. Slow down. Back up and tell me what the f**k you mean by he’s the one who unleashed the chemical on us.”

Her shoulders sagged and fatigue blew over her. She looked like a sapling swaying in the wind. He moved into her space, took her by the arm and pulled her toward the door.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Fixing you something to eat. You’ll eat. Then we’ll talk. You’re no good to me unconscious. You look like you’re about to fall over.”

Her quiet acquiescence was starting to bug the shit out him. He was much more comfortable when she was threatening to kick his ass, kicking his ass or pulling a weapon on him.

He shoved her toward the kitchen, parked her butt in a chair by the table and went to rummage in the fridge for leftovers he could warm up.

Through it all she never said a word. Her gaze was focused across the room, unseeing, like she was a million miles away. Plotting her next move? Who knew with this woman.

He was beginning to understand her motivation a lot more now. Her loyalty to her brother mirrored his own toward his team. If he thought Falcon Mercenary Group held the answers to helping Ian and Braden, he would have been after their asses just like she’d latched onto his.

He warmed some soup on the stove, poured it into a bowl and plunked it down in front of her. Then he sat down across the table from her and told her to eat.

She fiddled with the spoon for a minute before she dipped in and started to eat. The silence grew between them as did Eli’s impatience. He wanted answers.

Not that someone, some group being after him was anything new, not since the shit that had gone down in Adharji, but Esteban was a newcomer to the mix. And if Tyana was right, and he was behind the chemical attack, the shit was going to hit the fan and quick.

When he heard the clink of the spoon against the bottom of the bowl, he looked up and saw her push the bowl away. She looked like she was about to say something, so he kept silent, waiting on her.

“This sounds so stupid,” she mumbled.

“Just say it, Tyana.”

Her eyes met his again. “For some inexplicable reason I feel like I can trust you.” She held up her hand. “That came out wrong. I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone outside Falcon. But I don’t see you as the enemy.