Page 9 of Last Resort

“Thank you.” She heard her voice, and it was weak and soft.

Narro chuckled. “Well, I am going to return to the organizer’s side and leave you to chat.”

She looked at him. “Thanks for that.”

“I must confess, I thought you would have performed better in the testing.” Narro chuckled as he got up.

“The night before last was the night of the Stronghold. I was tired yesterday,” Poppy muttered.

Breen moved across and settled next to her. He smiled. “You curse a lot.”

“I haven’t—oh. Yeah. I do.” She chuckled. The day she had transported hundreds of dark Elite, she had scattered them around the world. She had cursed at the men to get them into mobile groupings, and that had startled them enough to get them moving.

She looked at them. “You guys ended up local?”

They shook their heads. “No,” Breen said. “But our mate was here, so we returned after we had gained the modernization skills you wanted us to practice.”

Poppy got her coffee and a Danish. “Thank you so much.”

The attendant smiled. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thank you again.” Poppy smiled, and the woman shivered.

Myro looked at her and blinked. “Whoa. That’s... striking.”

She would have flipped him off but was busy wrangling her tray. When it was up in front of her, she sighed, went to eat, and had her coffee.

Breen asked, “You are hypnotic?”

“Only when I smile, and I don’t smile often, so it doesn’t come up much.” She tore apart the blueberry Danish with her fingertips. “So, have you been to the islands before?”

She ate and glanced from one to the other. The guys looked embarrassed. “Oh, you played in Wonder and burned out your cuffs.”

They blinked, and Myro looked at her. “How did you know?”

“Because I have been there. I didn’t partake. I was keeping track of my cousin and making sure that her fiancé wouldn’t get any weird comparisons on their wedding night. I intercepted every interested male and read him the riot act. She danced a lot, made out a bit, and went home with lovely fuzzy memories of the island. Some of her bridesmaids went way too hard.” She tutted.

Breen snorted. “You weren’t watching out for them?”

“I had my assignment, and I carried it out. Most of the time, I had to save the locals from their attentions. It was exhausting.” She ate neatly and quickly. “They nearly molested two of the guides on the charter. Those poor guys cuddled up to their mate the moment we were off the vessel.”

The alphas laughed, and she kept them entertained with stories about the islands and controlling ten rowdy women. It shaved three hours off the flight and got them to the part where they were given a snack and more coffee.

Poppy was so tired, it wasn’t even funny, so after she finished eating and the table was put down, she wedged herself into the corner, made a pillow with her coat, and pulled her arms into her sweatshirt. Her feet were up on the seat, and she tried to rest. She wouldn’t be able to sleep, but she could at least get flickers of rest.

Poppy heard voices around her, and their deep tones became waves that carried her into a relaxed state.

* * * *

Myro looked at theball of a woman who was an omega that gave off no scent. None. Even the coffee she drank left no trace. He said softly, “She’s not using nullifiers; she has completely nullified her scent using magic.”

“So, powerful then?”

“Extremely. If she’s one of the twelve, she’s a force to be reckoned with. I wish I knew her scent, but I think I might end up falling my way to the ocean’s surface if I began to sniff my way across her.”

Myro cocked his head. “None of the twelve had scents. I had forgotten until you mentioned it. Strange thing to forget.”

Breen got a blanket from the attendant and carefully placed it over Poppy. With her face relaxed, she looked exhausted. How much energy had she expended to do what she and the others did? For centuries, the dark Elite had been trapped by the spells of the shadow mages, bound to provide honed magic to the Stronghold. They had had to wait for rescue as any escapes just put additional pressure on their cages. One of the previous omegas had given them education and knowledge of how the modern world worked, but despite knowing that others would come, they were caught by surprise when they were freed. The scramble to find their place in the world explained why they were thrown back while their mates remained in their timeline. It took years to get into step, and now that they were comfortable, an omega was next to them, and they had no idea if it was theirs or not. This wasn’t going to be frustrating at all.

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