Page 62 of Delta Force Defender

“I want to be very clear about what’s going to happen.” And the way Isaac was looking at her then, that gray gaze so steady, made her stomach quiver. “We’re about to set down into an active mission.”

“Is this the speech where you tell me you’re in charge and blah blah blah mission parameters, mortal danger, do as you say and not as you do?”

“We don’t know what we’re walking into,” Isaac said with a deep calm she would have thought was real had she not seen his eyes darken. Caradine congratulated herself on her tiny victory. “Everyone else is trained for this.”

“I’m trained to survive really bad situations no matter the odds, so I like my chances.”

“I expect you to follow instructions,” he said in a voice that someone who didn’t know him might have considered patient. “No matter how you feel about them. Your opinion has no weight against our experience. And I will not hesitate to personally incapacitate you if that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

Steel in his gaze. Steel in his voice. Caradine found her lips curving despite herself. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, Gentry.”

And suddenly he didn’t look the least bit calm or patient. And once again, she felt in no way beige.

“I don’t want you here,” he said gruffly. “I don’t want you anywhere near a situation that could harm you. Strategically speaking, it makes sense for you to be involved in this. I accept that. But I don’t like it. Do you understand me?”

And once upon a time, she might have found a speech like that upsetting. She might have heard only the harshness and failed to notice that underneath it was the simple fact that he cared what happened to her.

He cared.

She pressed her fingertips hard against a tabletop that wasn’t wood and had no history, and tried to pretend she wasn’t too warm. That she hadn’t walked into this situation step by step, year by year, with her eyes wide open, and could now blame no one but herself.

Hope. Caring. Isaac.

She was screwed.

“Everyone on this plane is invested in your safety,” Isaac continued in that same low, rough voice that tuggedat her despite her best attempts to wall herself off. “That investment puts us all at risk. And I know you take great pleasure in defiance, Caradine. But not today.”

“I understand,” she whispered.

Isaac held her gaze for a long, searching moment, then looked down at the tablet before him. He punched something into it, then lifted his gaze to hers again. “Are you prepared for any eventuality?”

“Probably not,” she said, deadpan. “Does that take military training, too?”

She saw the ghost of a smile on his hard mouth. And she was used to being able to touch him now, so it felt painful to keep her hands to herself. Because even though no one appeared to be paying attention to them here, she would sooner chop off her own hands than engage in anything that could be confused for a public display of affection.

Especially if it was.

Because she needed to start preparing herself for disaster. She trusted that Alaska Force solved problems, but she knew this particular problem a little too well. She had no idea how to imagine that it could really, truly be solved.

“Families are weird when you see them all the time,” Isaac pointed out, unhelpfully. “It’s been five years.”

Caradine made herself shrug carelessly. “Lindsay and I never fought. Not like that. We got a little pissy with each other here and there, but that was it. The benefit of growing up with actual monsters roaming around, I guess.”

“Even when she almost got you both killed? Or worse?”

“Ouch.” Caradine wanted to fidget. Rub her hands over her face, move her body,something. Anything but sit there taking the full brunt of that gaze of his. But she didn’t move, because he didn’t, and it added to that sense of power he toted around with him like another weapon. “Neither one of us knew how to fight. Not really.Because you didn’t fight with my father. You took it. Maybe you tried to defend yourself a little, like curling into a ball if you were on the floor to protect your face, but you certainly didn’tfight.”

Isaac’s jaw tightened in a way she knew meant he was furious.Forher.

She still didn’t know what to do with that, so she ignored it.

His gaze was a storm, but his voice stayed the same when he spoke. “Seems like you’ve put some time and attention into learning the ropes since then.”

“I imagine Lindsay has, too.” She considered. “I won’t be surprised if she comes out swinging when she sees me. She was always the one with the temper.”

Isaac actually laughed at that. “Really.Shewas.”

“Really.” Caradine smirked. “We both learned how to be meek in public as a survival tactic, obviously. But we shared a room growing up. And my sister took great pleasure in quietly destroying all her dolls. And mine. She was vicious.”

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