Page 49 of Fight or Fly

* * *

Nikolayev didn’t keepus in suspense long. Irina arrived roughly half an hour after Leona had been returned to our cell.

“Are we good, then?” she asked, her hand resting not-so-casually on the grip of her sidearm.

“Yeah,” I said, my hands clenching into fists beneath the cover of the table. “Fuckingstellar.”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Glad to hear it. Say goodbye to your omegas and shift your ass, in that case. The clock’s ticking.”

The idea of leaving Leona and Kameron defenseless in Nikolayev’s custody went against every alpha instinct I possessed. All at once, I wanted to grab Irina by the shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled and answers fell out. I swallowed the impulse down—bitter and acidic in my throat.

Leo touched my shoulder. “Try to get them back for us, Jax. We’ll be here waiting.”

I reached out and clasped my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her in for a fierce kiss. She kissed back with equal fierceness, easing away with a final sharp nip to my lower lip. I’d be feeling the tingle for hours.

Kam had been hanging back, his arms crossed defensively in front of him. “You should be aware that it’s considered awfully bad form to get yourself killed in order to wiggle out of an accidental mating,” he said in a mild tone.

I pushed away from the table and rose, crossing to him and cupping his face in my hands. The left one shook, damaged nerves fighting against my brain’s control.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Ginger Tea,” I told him, borrowing Flynn’s nickname. I pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead. Pulling back, I handed him off to Leo, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Try not to scandalize the beta bigots too much while I’m gone, okay?”

“Hmph. Where’s the fun in that?” Leo asked, playing at bravado. “Go on, now—but hurry back. We’ll miss you.”

I closed my eyes, took a slow breath, then nodded and turned away to follow Irina out of the cell.

* * *

“Give me a rundown ofyour physical limitations,” Irina said as we marched down the endless corridors that seemed to define this place. “Something fucked you up bad. What was it, and how serious is the damage?”

“Intravenous dose of an experimental VX nerve agent variant,” I replied, aware that since I was doing this, I would have to play by the rules set for me by my traitorous shit of a temporary commanding officer. “I have headaches and intermittent muscle weakness on the left side.”

“How’s your head right now?” she asked, as though she didn’t actually give a fuck.

“Pounding like a drum,” I informed her in the same tone.

She shot me a sidelong glance. “Can you see straight enough to hit a target?”

My lip curled. “Ask the grunts you sent to take us down in New York.”

“The fact that they’re all still alive isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement,” she said tartly.

“Wasn’t aiming for them,” I lied. “I was aiming for the goddamn floodlights they were using to blind us.”

“Sure you were,” she replied, in a tone that said she was humoring me. “Fine—as long as you’re clear on which direction to point the end that goesboom.”

“Don’t fucking tempt me,” I muttered, and stopped abruptly. The guards behind us gripped their weapons warily, but Irina halted and turned to face me.

“What is it?” she asked.

I stared down at her tiny frame. “You want this mission to go smoothly? Donotreveal yourself to Alex until after we’re safely out. Let’s just say, she isn’t going to take any of this well.”

Irina let out an indelicate snort and started walking again. “You think? Yes, your tactical advice is noted. Thank yousomuch.”

I clenched my jaw against the throbbing pain in my skull and started after her. We ended up in a quartermaster’s supply room, where I was kitted out in state-of-the-art black tactical gear.

“Weapons?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said. “When we’re ready to go in, and I can be relatively certain you’ll have other things to worry about besides putting a slug in me or one of my men.”

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