Page 172 of Specter Bred

His eyes snapped to mine. For a second, confusion flickered across his face. Then his fingers closed hard around mine, grounding himself in the contact as the tent slowly came back into focus around him.

“There you are,” I whispered.

Nolan stared at me for another moment before drawing a rough breath. His thumb moved once across my knuckles. Then he continued.

“The rest of us fell back to the main building for cover. It was the only defensible position we had.” His voice roughened. “What we didn’t know was that they’d rigged the entire structure with enough C4 to bring the fucking thing down on top of us.” His fingers curled into the blanket. “I was dragging Reaper toward the entrance when it blew. Luckily, we hadn’t even made it through the door.”

His eyes closed.

“The blast threw me clear. Burned half my fucking body and buried me under enough rubble that everyone assumed I was dead too.” His hand unconsciously rose toward the scarred side of his face. “Took me two days to dig myself out.”

“Nolan…”

“That’s why I don’t talk about it, Teacup.” His eyes opened again. “Talking about it dredges everything back up. Gives my brain something fresh to chew on until I’m right back there again.”

“Like the night you were screaming.”

“Yeah,” his voice dropped. “Like that.”

I ran my thumb slowly over his chest. “You haven’t had an episode in months.”

“I know.” He covered my hand with his. “I’m finally fucking sleeping again. I’m getting better.” His gaze shifted toward Sammy once more. “And then there’s this mission.”

“Voss.”

“Voss,” he confirmed. “Revenge was all I wanted for a long fucking time. I wanted the man responsible for killing my unit, and I didn’t particularly care what it cost me to get him.” His eyes locked onto mine. “But I care what it costs now.”

I felt the weight of his words in my chest.

“I won’t trade my new unit for vengeance against the man who killed my old one.” His fingers closed around mine. “So if you tell me right now that this is too much, that you don’t want to walk into that compound tomorrow, I’ll call it off. Command can send another team. Voss can live another fucking day.”

“You think I haven’t already thought about that?”

His brow furrowed.

“When I figured out you were hunting Voss for revenge, I had to decide whether I was willing to take that on too.” I shifted closer, molding my body to fit against his. “Because I knew what joining your unit meant. Your mission would become mine. Your enemies would become mine. And your unfinished business would become mine.”

“And what did you decide?”

I stared at him.

“I’m fucking here, aren’t I?”

The corner of Nolan’s mouth tipped upward.

I pressed my forehead against his. “So quit trying to give me an out I never asked for.”

A quiet breath of laughter escaped him.

“Tomorrow we go into that compound,” I whispered. “We find Warren Voss, and we finish what you started.”

Nolan’s hand tightened around mine.

“Together.”

“Together,” he agreed.

From beside us, Sammy made a sleepy noise and shifted beneath his blanket.