Chapter 9

• “Uh, we didn’t mean to intrude—”
• He turned to see Asher and Calum standing there. The water dripped off them too.
• “No is fine. I say wrong thing, I think.” He rolled his eyes.
• “You basically called her a rat.” Asher nodded his head slowly.
• “No. No, no.” He looked at the door. “I mean to say to her that she is like a—” he moved his hand around, trying to think of the word. “—you know fuzzy little things that, ah…”
• “Cute. I think the word you’re looking for is cute.” Calum said with a grin.
• “Ja. That.” He glanced at the door again. “Little mouse is no cute?”
• Asher cleared his throat. “Most women don’t like rodent references.” He shrugged.
• “Rodent.” He processed the word for a second. “Ah. Rat. Ja.” He shook his head and then looked from one man to the other. “What do I say?”
• “Puppies are cute. Bunnies are cute…”
• “So I should say dog, no mouse?”
• Calum grinned and shook his head quickly. “No. I would avoid calling her a dog.”
• Asher rubbed his hand over his face. “Yeah. Maybe just use the word cute.”
• Taggart sighed. “English is no easy.” He looked at the door. “I guess I have some kissing up to do.”
• Asher chuckled. “Sucking up. Unless you meant kissing ass.”
• “I would love to do that, but I no think it ends so good for me with her weapons so close to her hands.” Both of the men started laughing. Taggart grinned. “Maybe I just leave it alone, ja? Hope she forget.”
• “That might be an idea, Taggart.” Calum motioned to the house. “Lars and Gideon had to give up trying to watch, so I’m going to see if we’re still set.”
• “Are we to go soon?” He looked down at his pants. Drying them sounded like a good idea.
• “Two hours until dawn.” Calum went over and opened the door. “We’ll see when this storm is supposed to let up.”
• “I’m going to go wring out my hoodie.” Asher followed him. “The thing weighs ten pounds right now.”
• Taggart waited until they both went inside and stood there for a moment. He needed to learn more English, or he was going to be in the pets house for a long, long time.
• ~
• Deva walked out into the sitting room, hoping that Taggart wouldn’t be there. She just needed a minute to digest that conversation. Her animal was acting the fool inside her right now, and she needed to get it together before they went to the docks. There was no room for distractions. Shaelan had loaned her a pair of track pants and a T-shirt while her things were in the dryer.
• Amari and Tripp were there, hair soaked, and towels wrapped around their necks. Amari kissed him and then left the room. Calum and Asher were still dripping, so they must have just come inside. Asher nodded at her and headed for the stairs.
• Illias held up his hand and set a phone on the table. Calum moved closer and stood there, his arms crossed over his chest.
• “What’s going on?”
• “There’s no one here.”
• Deva stopped and looked from Illias to Calum. No one where?
• “We fly under the many tree to come back. We come to here to shut it down, and is empty.” The broken English told her it had to be Lars on the other end of the call.
• “Cleared out or just no one there, Gideon?”
• “No one here.”
• “Shit.” Calum looked at Illias. “Get Jett on the phone.”
• “On it.” Illias pulled another phone out of his pocket.
• “Gideon, stay there. We need to clear out that location and disable any electronics there.”
• “Okay. We’re on it.”
• “You call if you need one more flier for island.”
• Calum nodded. “We will, Lars. Thanks.” He leaned forward and hit the screen. Turning around, he looked at Tripp for a moment and then turned back to Illias. “They’re at the island or heading to it.” He glanced back at Deva. “Get everyone in here, please.”
• Deva nodded, turned on her heel, and ran up the stairs. She didn’t know where everyone else was, but checking rooms seemed like the logical first step.
• Shaelan came out of the bedroom at the end of the hall.
• “Calum needs everyone downstairs.”
• She paused. “What’s happened?”
• “Best guess, there was no one at the observation site. Calum thinks they’re at the island.”
• Amari grinned as she came out behind her, pulling a t-shirt over her head, “Sweet, one-stop shopping. Let’s get down there. They may need us to go now.”
• Deva nodded.
• “Grab anyone in the kitchen and outside.” Deva went to the room that Asher and Journee were staying in and knocked on it. “Ash, everyone is needed downstairs.” The door swung open. He was drying his hair.
• “Problems?”
• “Maybe.”
• “We’re coming.” The door closed again.
• The rest of the doors were open, so she turned and headed back down the stairs. Taggart was standing at the bottom. How he looked her over should have made her uncomfortable, but it didn’t. It was her animal that prodded her that she was doing something. “Anyone out front? Calum needs us in the sitting room.”
• “Sitting room—ja, okay. I will get Creed.” He turned and went out the front door.
• Blowing out a breath, she reached up and adjusted the ponytail. No time for sexy looks and wants, girl. Not today. Nodding, she jogged down the last few steps and went back into the sitting room.
• “Okay, Jett. Let Illias know. We’re heading to the docks in a few minutes.” Calum nodded, hung up the phone, and held it out to Illias. “Fill in Slater and Konner.” Illias nodded and tapped the phone screen.
• Shaelan came in. “The medical gear is in the van.” She looked around. “Is everything all right?”
• Calum nodded slowly. “It will be.”