Page 95 of Sawyer

“Fuck.” I drag a hand down my face. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“I do.” Bryn smirks at me but doesn’t elaborate, choosing to keep that bit of information to himself.

“You want to lick me, don’t you?” Sin questions, stepping closer to me. “I’d let you.”

“Go get dressed. You’re distracting me,” I reply, even though I want nothing more than to shove him to his knees.

“Liar,” he sings and sips his coffee.

“Don’t go slinging pheromones,” Sawyer, the reasonable one, scolds, although she does it with a smirk. “All right, what’s the plan?”

“As long as you’re rested, we move out in ten,” I reply. “We are getting into unknown territory here.”

“We all need to keep our focus on the path. There’s no telling what’s out here or who,” Bryn adds, and I know he’s thinking about those wolves, because they keep weighing on my mind too.

“All right.” Sawyer finishes her coffee with a scrunched nose before she walks off toward the cabin to more than likely roll up her sleeping bag.

“So.” Sin claps. “What fun bullshit are we diving into today?”

Ignoring him, I start rolling up the map until static fills the air. “This is HQ initiating a change of the guard. Begin roll call.”

We all freeze as the voice pauses. As though someone’s watching me, I pull the walkie-talkie from my belt clip and set it on the table. There’s no telling what will happen if site four doesn’t check in, so one of us will have to respond.

“Site one reporting in.” Static fades. “Site two, nothing to report here except a few tied betas.” More static. “Site three, some disturbance in the woods. Found prints, but nothing human.”

Bryn grabs the walkie-talkie and presses the comm. “Site four, fire got a little out of control due to a drunk motherfucker.” He moves his finger back fast to cut the line.

Chuckles sound over the walkie. “Site five, and you assholes can’t hold your liquor.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. We bought ourselves a little time, depending on how long they take to get there. We should have buried the bodies, but the ground remains frozen from winter.

Static fills the air until ten different guards confirm ten sites. “Replacements are on their way.” There’s a pause before they add, “A new shipment is due today. Keep your eyes peeled in case of an escape.”

“There’s always one on shipment day.” Another voice laughs as though he just can’t wait for a chase.

When nothing more comes through, I look at Sin then Bryn. “We’ll know when they get there.”

“Ten sites. At least thirty men,” Bryn states.

“This is just reconnaissance,” I say, but I know that isn’t true.

“Liar, otherwise, Superman here wouldn’t have killed those men,” Sin snarks. “Actually, you need a new nickname. Superman was a good guy, and you, my friend, are a naughty boy.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Bryn asks.

“Can’t say that I do.” Sin spins around and walks back into the cabin, not once looking back.

“Impossible,” I tell Bryn. “You can’t fuck that one into submission.”

“It’ll be fun to try,” he replies before turning serious. “We’re outnumbered here, Rumor.”

“I know.”

“The logical thing to do is to turn back.”

“It is.”

“We aren’t going to do that, are we?” he asks.

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