Page 75 of Raven

And then—we saw them.

Four nuns. Dirty, exhausted, terrified.

And one?

One wasn’t terrified at all.

She stood with one hand on her hip, the other holding what looked like a homemade spear. Her habit was half torn, her eyes sharp and full of fire.

“Well,” she drawled, “it’s about damn time you showed up. I was starting to think we’d have to rescueyou.”

I blinked. “Who the hell are you? We heard there were three nuns.”

She grinned, teeth white against her sun-kissed skin. “Sister Jude. And if you try to tell me to be quiet, I’ll stab you with this stick.”

Faron muttered behind me, “Oh hell. Cyclone’s in trouble.”

And yeah. I was.

Because I’d just risked my life to rescue a nun with a mouth like a sailor… and a face that might actually make me consider going to church.

* * *

Jude

Three weeksof hiding in this godforsaken jungle, living off rainwater and the small amount of food we carried in our bags. My knees ached, my feet were blistered, and I was fairly certain something had taken up residence in my habit.

So when the tall, muscle-sculpted man with camouflage war paint and a rifle showed up? Yeah, I was ready with the sarcasm.

What I wasn’t ready for… was him.

“You’re sister Jude?” he asked, blinking like I’d just told him I moonlighted as an assassin.

“That’s what the name tag says.” I jabbed the stick at the ground. “Now, unless you’ve got food or an airlift hidden in your cargo pants, move it. I’m not dying in a jungle because the special ops guy can’t keep up.”

He stared at me like I’d sprouted wings.

The one with the beard—Faron, apparently—snorted. “Cyclone, she talks more than you do.”

“I don’t talk that much,” Cyclone muttered, clearly already regretting every life decision that led him here.

We moved fast. Or at least,theydid. The other sisters stayed quiet, frightened, clinging together. I kept a close eye on them, but I didn’t hover. Hovering didn’t keep people alive. Moving did. I looked at the sisters. “We have to keep up with the men or the bad guys’ll catch us.”

“We know we are just so tired. We’ve been running ever since you found us.”

That’s because the bad guys are after us. I explained all of this to you. You are all young, I know you can keep up with me. Now let’s go.”

“You always this mouthy?” Cyclone asked after about an hour of slogging through the vines.

I glanced at him. “You always this sweaty?”

His jaw ticked. Oh, this was gonna befun.

We pushed forward, ducking under low branches. Cyclone took point, clearing the way with precise movements. The guy was a machine—tactical, efficient, and zero-nonsense.

Except when he looked at me.

Then there was something… different.

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