Page 102 of Green Ravens

His words merged with the rustling leaves, making it impossible to pin down his location.

The Browns stiffened, their eyes scanning for targets that weren’t there.

Valor prowled along a lower branch, his eyes gleaming in the slivers of moonlight filtering through the dense canopy.

Zorion could almost feel Grace’s anger from where he stood, like a storm building pressure just before a crack of lightning.

Mirage murmured something against the back of Grace’s neck.

The Browns were unsettled, as if they’d realized how exposed they were.

“Show them your strengths, butdo notengage hostilely,” Jo ordered in his ear.

Yeah, yeah.

“You will never hit us,” Zorion said, his voice as calm as his environment. “That weapon will only do unnecessary damage to a living tree. The entire forest is our shield, Brown Ravens, and its elements bend to our will. So you can remain civil or you can pick your burial spot.”

Grace tensed visibly, his rage simmering beneath a mask of stoicism.

Zorion knew men like him—fighters who despised being outmaneuvered. It made them unpredictable and reckless.

Valor made no sound as he dropped to the forest floor. He was already behind a different tree by the time Grace or Mirage looked his way.

“Sheath your weapons.”

A long pause. Then reluctance. First, Mirage’s knives disappeared, then Grace’s guns.

It wasn’t submission but calculation. The Browns listened but with suspicion.

Zorion narrowed his eyes as Grace pulled Mirage tighter against him.

Protective. Possessive, even.

There was something between them beyond duty. A weakness, perhaps.

“We sent for you because unity is inevitable for victory,” Valor started.

“We are not made to work together or as teams,” Mirage responded.

“If that were true, you wouldn’t be training with Ex and Meridian.”

Grace bristled with such barely restrained energy Zorion could feel it circulating through the earth. The man had yet to utter a word.

“Easy,” Jo whispered. “We need friends, not foes.”

“Unity requires trust,” Mirage called out.

“Agreed,” Valor answered, then moved at the same time the wind shifted southeast.

“Our first display of trust was showing you that Zelmir Benton is alive and well. He is with us of his own volition and has accepted our protection while this war rages between our country and the other superpowers of the world.”

The Browns looked as confused and oblivious as Lion said they were.

“The ones who feed us information from within the Ravens organization are your allies, Browns, not traitors. If it wasn’t for parts of your team watching your back, you would’ve already been led to your deaths.”

That statement made Grace’s dark brows lower.

“Your handlers remain uninformed and will continue to send you on missions dictated by a corrupt director unless you provide them the evidence you’ve discovered.” Zorion conveyed what Jo said in his earpiece. “We must break the wheel.”

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