Page 160 of Specter Bred

“Thank you,” I whispered. “For finding me.”

Graves went still. The first light of dawn caught the scarred side of his face, tracing the uneven skin before I looked back into his hazel eyes. His soft expression transformed into something fierce and absolute.

“I told you, I’m the kind of man who keeps his soldiers safe.” His hand tightened at the back of my neck. “And I’ll always come for you, Teacup. I don’t care where you are, who has you, or what I have to go through to get there. I will find you.”

My throat tightened, but I managed a small smile. “I never doubted you.”

A loud throat cleared behind us.

“Uh, just a reminder,” Sammy said, puffing out his chest as he planted the shovel beside him, “I also came for you. Ran through the woods and everything. Very heroic. Thought that deserved mentioning.”

A laugh burst out of me before I could stop it. I turned, crossed the distance between us, and launched myself into his arms.

Sammy barely had time to drop the shovel before catching me, and I kissed him hard, wrapping myself around him as all the fear and adrenaline finally cracked open inside me. His arms closed around me immediately, holding me tight, and I melted against my beta with a softness I showed no one else, a softness that belonged to him and him alone.

The walk back to base was quiet, the adrenaline of the night finally beginning to wear off as the sun climbed over the trees. By the time we reached the compound, recruits had already started gathering in the mess hall for breakfast, so we skirted around the building rather than risk being seen. The last thing any of us needed was someone asking why the three of us were coming out of the woods at dawn covered in dirt.

We went straight to the instructors’ quarters. Graves disappeared a few minutes later, muttering something about Alvarez and getting our story straight before anyone noticed Redwood, Teller, and Long were missing. Sammy, on the other hand, seemed determined not to let me out of his sight.

I grabbed clean clothes and headed for the showers, only to realize halfway across the bathroom that he’d followed me inside.

I stopped and looked back at him. Sammy stood near the door, clearly trying to pretend there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why he was there, but the worried, puppy-dog look on his face ruined the attempt.

“Seriously, Farm Boy?”

His shoulders lifted in an innocent shrug, but he didn’t move toward the door.

I stared at him for another second before sighing. After everything that had happened, I understood. He’d come back to an empty room, followed my tracks into the woods, and found me tied up with three men. Apparently, letting me disappear behind another closed door was asking too much of him right now.

“Fine. Just this once,” I warned, pointing at him. “Don’t get any ideas.”

Sammy’s hand went to his chest, his expression turning solemn. “Wouldn’t think of it, ma’am.”

I rolled my eyes and turned toward the showers, but I couldn’t quite stop the small smile pulling at my lips.

I let the steaming water cascade over me. Like so many times before, a hot shower seemed to melt away everything I didn’t know how to carry, the stress, the worry, the memories of combat, and now the spiraling thoughts of what had almost happened in those woods.

Time passed in a blur, and I wasn’t even sure how long I’d been standing there when Sammy finally stepped into the shower with me.

I didn’t tell him to leave, instead, leaning into him, pressing my forehead against his chest and drawing in a shaky breath as the weight behind my ribs became too much to hold. My throat tightened first, then the tears came, hot and relentless, mixing with the water already running down my face.

My chest heaved as everything I’d been holding back finally broke loose, but Boy Scout didn’t say a word. He simply wrapped his arms around me and held me there, letting me pour every ounce of fear, anger, and relief into his chest without asking me to explain any of it.

His hand found mine beneath the spray, and he lifted it between us, inspecting my fingertips with exaggerated concern. “Your fingers look like prunes, Firecracker. Let’s get you out of here and dried off.”

I nodded and sucked in one last shaky breath, forcing the rest of my emotions back into whatever locked box they’d escaped from. By the time I shut off the water, Sammy already had a fluffy towel waiting. He wrapped it around me, tucking it securely beneath my arms before gently steering me toward the door.

Before we left the bathroom, I stopped and turned to face him. “If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone, that I was crying, I will choke you to death with your own shoelaces. Got it, Boy Scout?”

Sammy gave me a solemn nod that was completely ruined by the wink that followed. “Roger that, ma’am.”

“Good.”

His hand settled lightly against my back as he herded me out of the bathroom and toward our room, still hovering close enough that I knew he had no intention of letting me out of his sight anytime soon.

I felt too exhausted to do anything other than pull one of Sammy’s oversized T-shirts over my head and fall onto the bed. The second my head hit the pillow, my body seemed to realize the danger was finally over and promptly gave up on functioning.

Sammy hovered beside me as I dragged the blankets over myself, then he reached down as if he intended to pull them the rest of the way up.