Page 34 of Bryce

He let out a shuddery breath when I finished. “What happened? Am I bleeding badly?”

I dropped the flashlight. “No more than seems normal. Can you move without pain now?”

He reached up over his head, then stretched his arms out to either side. “Blessed relief. Thank you. Thank you so much. I might have—”

“Shh.” I lifted my hand from his shoulder, pressing my fingers to his lips. “You do not have to say it. I would rather not hear it.”

Oh, those eyes of his. They searched mine, questioning. Hoping? Did I want him to hope? I did. And I wanted to confirm his hopes. I wanted to…

“What happened?” Logan was working his way into a sitting position, and the sound of his voice just beyond where we sat stirred me from the spell I’d been falling under. When had we started leaning in? Our lips were mere inches away.

I sat back, startled, then held the metal shard up for inspection. “Your partner here neglected to tell us of this. I just pulled it from his back.” It was nearly as large as my thumb.

“How could you not tell us?” Logan’s eyes were wide with disbelief as he joined us. “You’re well aware of the first rule.”

“What is the first rule?” I looked from one of them to the other.

Bryce rolled his eyes. “The first rule involves being forthright with each other, reporting any injury or wound when it occurs.”

“The team is only as strong as its members,” Logan informed me, staring at the metal. “If we cannot trust each other enough to be entirely forthright, the team will never survive.”

“That sounds sensible to me,” I muttered, fixing Bryce with a cool stare.

“Pardon me, but I was a bit involved with another situation.” He looked to Gate, who had slept peacefully through the ordeal.

At least, I hoped he was sleeping. I hoped it was nothing more than that. The thought of Gate suffering trauma to his brain was too much to be borne. I refused to believe it. So long as he was breathing, we were in good shape.

His dragon would heal. He would heal. That was our way.

“Now that we’ve sorted that out,” Bryce whispered, “what do we do now? It’s been at least five hours since the explosion, and no one has come out to see what tripped the bomb. What does that tell us?”

“They aren’t there?” I whispered, hopeful.

“That could be. This might be the wrong location, which means the other is the correct location, and we ought to get in contact with the clan as soon as possible to inform them. Of course, they might be lying in wait for us. Hoping to draw us further into their trap. Not that the notion thrills me much, but it is a real possibility.”

“We have to go on, then,” Logan decided.

“Wait, wait.” I shook my head. “I don’t know how much more of this I can stand.”

Bryce looked pained. “I’m sorry to say it, but that doesn’t matter much at the moment. I don’t intend to sound harsh, but that’s how it is. You came along, and you insisted on following us as we closed in. I’m glad you did, though you might easily have been wounded. Severely,” he added for effect, as if he needed to.

“I know.”

“What matters now is finishing the mission. That’s how this goes. You can choose to come with us—I would rather you didn’t—or you can stay behind with Gate. Someone will have to, after all.”

Leslie cleared her throat, having woken up in the middle of our increasingly loud conversation. “How is he?”

Yes, we needed to pay attention to Gate, too. We hadn’t woken him as we’d woken her. I did so wish he would wake up, or at least make a noise. Something to tell us he was still with us.

“He’s breathing, his pulse is strong.” Bryce sounded hopeful, though there was still a guarded sort of skepticism on his face. He was uncertain of something.

“Honesty,” I whispered. “Rule one.”

He shot me a withering look. “This isn’t the same thing.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Logan was checking on Leslie, giving us the opportunity for a semi-private conversation. “Is he not well, then?”

“I would feel much better if he’d awaken.”

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