Page 23 of Lone Wolf

I just give a nod of acknowledgment and bite back my first response.I’ve been doing this almost as long as you have, Wolf—and you know as well as I do that tonight was child’s play.

Hadria is in the middle of something when we arrive at the war room, looking over plans that she’s spread across the table. She glances up as we walk in. “Well?” is all she says.

“It’s done, Boss,” Sunny says, and then glances at me.

I let a beat pass as I consider my response, enough time passing that Hadria looks up from the plans again. “It’s done,” I agree quickly.

Why bother telling them about Sunny’s mistake? It’ll only hurt my own chances at getting ahead, and we covered it up wellenough. Hadria moves to the side room, filled with monitors and computers, and motions us to follow her. We head in and she brings up a specific feed, switching through the view of the office at the club.

“And there we are,” she says in satisfaction. “Thank you, both of you. You can go.”

We back out, but Sunny pauses in the doorway. “Uh, Boss?”

“Yes?” Hadria sounds impatient, clearly wanting to get back to more important things.

“I kind of messed up,” Sunny says in a rush. “I knocked over a glass in the office, and I?—”

“Did anyone notice?”

“The guards cleaned it up.”

Hadria’s eyes narrow. “And how do you know that?”

Sunny pauses, and I can see she’s summoning up the courage to spill everything.

“We heard them coming,” I say, stepping in before I can analyze why I’m protecting her. “We hid, and they talked about cleaning it up. But one of them found us.”

Hadria’s face goes still. “Found you?”

“We convinced them it was an innocent mistake—that we’d walked into the back rooms without realizing. They didn’t suspect anything.”

Hadria regards me for a long moment. “Well,” she says at last, “I suppose if they’d made you, we wouldn’t be getting the feed at all. And no plan survives first contact with the enemy, as theysay.” She gives a dismissive nod and I grab Sunny’s arm and basically yank her out with me.

“Why did you do that?” she asks, as soon as we’re outside in the dim hallway.

“Because I don’t wantyourfuck up to affectme.” The lie comes easily, though I’m not sure I believe it myself. Something else made me step in.

Maybe I’m just getting into the spirit of teamwork.

She pulls her arm away from me and for the first time I think I see Sunny Santiago getangry. “I was about to take the blame. You didn’t have to?—”

“Take the win, Santiago.” I cut her off, needing this conversation to end before I say something I’ll regret.

She stares at me for a second, her dark eyes unreadable. “Eat me, Graves,” she says at last, and then stalks off down the hallway.

I stand there watching her go, feeling something unfamiliar twist in my chest. The memory of the kiss replays in my mind, unbidden and unwelcome. The taste of her lips, the heat of her body against mine, the softness of her hand in mine.

My fists clench at my sides. This is dangerous—more dangerous than any mission. Emotions are weaknesses that can be exploited. Attachments are vulnerabilities that can be used against you. Grandmother taught me that, beat it into me until I knew it in my bones.

I turn and head in the opposite direction, toward the training room. I need to work this out of my system, need to regain control.

But I can still feel the phantom pressure of Sunny’s lips against mine, still taste her on my tongue.

CHAPTER 9

Sunny

I stomp just about allthe way out of the main house, but once I’m out and walking through the night garden, my anger dies down a little. I don’t even know why I went off like that. What else was I expecting?

---