Page 127 of The Hero Within
"What offer?" Bart.
"Haven?"
"Who's going to run the medical team?"
"No. We need you. The medical team needs you."
"Eden, please reconsider...."
"How do we contact Bligh?" Bart again.
Eden held up a hand, letting their voices wash over her, until they fell into silence. "I am done dealing with this council." A little bit of heat suffused her voice. "My brother built this town. Adam forged Absolution out of nothing, and gave a home and a place of safety to every person I see sitting around this table." She glared at Ben. "He took a bullet for you." Another glance speared Meredith. "He rescued your son when reivers took Milton prisoner. And three years ago, when you discovered what he'd been hiding, you cast him out, despite the fact he'd spent years holding the warg within him at bay." Her throat felt dry as she locked eyes with every councilor in the room. "It was Adam's choice to walk away and I knew if I fought you on it, it would be one vote to six in favor of banishment. He was gone before I woke up, and even though it gutted me, I felt I had a duty to stay and continue training up my medical team, as there was no one else to step into my role.
"I haveneverasked you for anything. Except this." The muscle in her jaw ticked. "Johnny Colton is the one item I've added to the list. One life. The life of the man I love, a man who sacrificed himself so you could have the cure that saved the lives of every damned person in this town. Some of you might not even be here if it wasn't for him." Angry tears dampened her eyes. "Once upon a time, this town believed in looking after its own. We opened our gates to those who needed it. We gave our food to strangers and watched each other's backs. I don't know where we lost our way. Maybe it was Adam's secret coming out, I don't know. But warg or not, Johnny doesn't deserve to be repaid for his sacrifice with contempt. He doesn't deserve to rot in a Confederacy prison while we go about our lives without a care in the world. So if you want to deny the deal I've discussed with Bligh—medicine for Absolution, resources to teach our healers more about medicine, food supplies, gasoline—just because you're greedy and Johnny's a goddamned warg? Then go ahead. But I won't be here to listen to your shit."
Eden took a steadying breath. "The settlement of Haven owns access to the escarpment mines to the north. They're a little further out of the way, but there's copper there too. And they're willing to ask for less. You want to know why you're getting half the original deal? Because Haven's in on it too. I think that's fair. They took in those who couldn't find a place here, and they've accepted others who don't belong anywhere else. They need food and medicine just as much as we do. Icouldnegotiate a deal for both Haven and Absolution. But that choice is up to you. And my price is not negotiable. If you won't help me rescue the man I love, then screw all of you. I will save him myself, and you will get nothing."
Someone cleared their throat behind her.
Eden turned, half-blinded by rage. How much did she have to give these people? The fucking blood from her veins?
There was a large shadow in the doorway.
A tall man, wearing a black ten gallon hat.
Her heart took a sudden mad leap in her chest as she straightened away from the table. "Adam?"
Luc Wade came into the light, hands in his pockets. Eden's hopes fell. For a second she'd thought it was her brother. The one person she could trust—the one person who took all her troubles away and promised to deal with them. Luc ignored the rest of them, simply gave her a crooked smile as if he knew exactly what was going through her mind. "Sounds like Absolution's loss is Haven's gain. Want some help packing your bags?"
The rest of the council gaped at him as if he were a ghost sprung to life. Wargs weren't welcome in Absolution, and the last time Luc had been here, he'd caused an epic shit-ton of trouble.
She'd never understood what Riley saw in him before—until she fell in love with Johnny. Luc might have been one part villain, one part ruthless mischief-maker, but he adored his wife and he was a damned good father.
And he'd clearly heard enough to play along with her proposal.
"I wouldlovea hand," she said.
She made it two steps toward him before chairs scraped across the floors behind her.
"Wait!" Susan called.
And relief flooded through her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The door gavean electric buzz behind him.
Johnny lifted his head, tension dripping down his spine. He pushed away from the barred windows he'd been staring through, his fingers aching as blood rushed back into starved digits. He'd lost track of time, staring at the thin sliver of blue sky he could barely see, his thoughts drifting to better times....
Of lying on a pile of furs with Eden's panting body beneath him.
Of watching relief cross her face when they finally received the cases full of hydrogel that would save her people.
Of watching a smile creep shyly across her mouth when she finally warmed up to him.
And finally, that one last time, when he'd told her he loved her as Lincoln and Arik hauled her away from him.
The trick of dissociating from his current surroundings had saved his sanity in the past. He'd needed it to survive the past couple of weeks. But now he needed to be in the moment.
