Pablo was wearing a rut in the thirsty grass outside the co-ed barracks. He’d spent every waking hour overnight reorganizing the infirmary, labeling cabinets and drawers for maximum efficiency. He put in an order for fresh supplies to the mobile unit.

They informed him Xelan had prohibited any further scavenge missions for Iona-28. All teams would depart for Iona-29 the following morning. Moving already? They’d arrived four days ago, if that.

“With all due respect to Xelan, we’re short on these medical necessities,” Pablo reasoned. He held the list out closer to the soldier.

Colton’s man glanced at the paper, then back at Pablo’s face. “I have orders, sir. We will make it a priority at the next base.” As Pablo’s face fell, the soldier added in a hushed voice, “We need away from here. This location is too compromised. We’ll get it for you. I promise.”

“Thank you,” Pablo said. He meant it. He appreciated the comforts and security the Iona compounds offered. It’s just that he rarely had time to enjoy them.

They moved so much! Twenty-eight installations in three months. The second Pablo enjoyed the hot showers, regular leg stretching, and settling into a new infirmary, Xelan hauled them back onto the train—or worse—the convoy trucks.

Pablo shuddered at the thought and then reprimanded himself. People were dying everyday living in camps at best, ruined buildings most likely, and here he was griping about all the travel his group did to rectify the situation.

“You can wrinkle frowning like that.”

Pablo always closed his eyes to the sound of Lynn’s voice. Not to shut it out, but to let it sink in. To take him away from his anxieties and exhaustion. To wash over him and keep him safe.

Lynn saved Pablo every day. He clenched his jaw tight enough to creak. And how did he repay her for it? He opened his eyes and looked down at the boot on her leg. The crutches she leaned on. God damn him.

“Pablo,” Lynn said his name as if were a blessing on her lips. “Look at me.”

As Pablo made to turn away, Lynn leaned one crutch on her side and reached out to stop him. She said, “I asked you to do it. I knew you would break a bone on me a whole lot better than how I planned to break yours. And I knew you’d take care of me.”

Pablo swallowed and balled his fists. Now was not the best time to cry. Instead, he should take care of her. “How… how does it feel, today?” A clinical question asked in a voice so dense with emotion that Pablo croaked. It wasn’t exactly the bedside manner he wanted to give her.

“I’m doing great!” Lynn leaned heavily on the good leg and spun the unburdened crutch with her fingers. “Xelan visited me this morning with Tumu. My god, that Tritan is amazing with physical therapy. Between the exercises he taught me and the excellent medical care, I can walk without the boot in two weeks.”

With her braids gone, Lynn’s dark natural hair had grown long enough to twist out. Pablo fought not to take them in his fingers and explore the texture. To take her face in his hands and—

Lynn asked, “Did you want something?”

“Yes.” Her. Pablo came to tell her. To beg her forgiveness and counter all the ugly pain he caused her with the most intense pleasure he could bring her. For hours—days—if they had the time. He licked his lips at the thought.

At the intensity of the single confession and the weight of his gaze, Lynn straightened on both crutches and crossed the distance between them. She said, “Anytime you want, I’m ready.”

Pablo’s heart pounded in his chest. Finally.

“Hey guys,” Kyle called from the hangar. Pablo stifled a groan. “We’re about to start.”

A pain Pablo couldn’t ease cast a shadow on Lynn’s expression. Pablo said, “We’re on our way.”

She smiled sadly up at him. “I guess now isn’t the time.”

Pablo closed the remaining gap, threaded his fingers in her hair, and pressed his lips to hers so hard Lynn tilted her head back. Desperate to taste her, to tell her what he was afraid to say aloud, his kiss told her everything, and she took it with a moan that matched the deep purr in his chest. He let her up for air and whispered against her lips, “Soon.”

Pablo forced his hands away and into tight fists at his side. His entire body screamed at him to carry Lynn away to a dark cave and finish what he started.

But unlike Pablo, Lynn knew the unfortunate fate of her parents. The ceremony mattered for her sake. For their friends’ sakes. It took her longer to surface back to the sad state of things, her hazy eyes clearing as reality returned.

Pablo offered Lynn a sad smile. She took a shaky breath and hopped in the hangar’s direction.

During the trip into the facilities, a companionable silence stretched between the couple. One built on exhaustion, shared trauma, and a little bit of hope.

Pablo liked the last part. He could give her that.

The beginning wasn’t typical of most memorials. It started with John and Andrew explaining the course of events. Frullop had strayed four years ago from The Brethren and started dealing in black market affairs. He convinced Caedes to front for him in exchange for profits, but the bald Icarus proved he knew nothing about Nox’s involvement. Frullop staffed every Iona installation with his hand-selected men. The reason remained unclear. He also blackmailed Caedes into falsifying paperwork to cover for it. Specifically, Iona-01. The Shadow and crew gave over their residential addresses under the trust and protection of The Brethren. Their families paid for it with their lives.

Where did that leave them?

“What will you do about it?” Rayne asked Tempest and Dolor on a growl. “The great and powerful Brethren of humans and Icari, dedicated to protecting the world from Nox’s invasion, couldn’t stop him from invading their own organization!”

Xelan touched Rayne’s arm and pulled her to sit back down in her chair. He whispered something in her ear.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Tameka, eyes red from tears, glared at the present Brethren members from beside her enraged friend.

John remained vacant, sitting beside Andrew at the front.

Dolor peered at Tempest who said, “You discovered a traitor amongst us.”

Rayne glanced at Xelan who nodded reassuringly at her.

Tempest continued, “You’re right to ask for amends. We cannot give back what Frullop took from you, and Andrew exercised his right to execution. The Brethren agreed to supply you with a weapon to mete out your justice.”

Rayne’s brows drew together. “I’m listening.”

“Gold.”

Some whispers were exchanged within the group. Pablo made a note to ask about the significance of the soft metal.

“What form is it in?” Kyle asked after conversing with Rayne in hushed tones.

Dolor said, “Bars. Solid gold bars.”

Kyle demanded without hesitation, “Build me the forge.”

Dolor nodded solemnly and asked, “Which location?”

Kyle grinned. “On the train.”

The two Icari recoiled and shared a look. “That might prove difficult.”

“So did protecting our families,” John ground out.

They nodded. “We will begin as soon as possible.”

They parted with straight shoulders in their tailored business suits. After their departure, it was like the room took a deep breath and let it go, making space for the ceremony to begin.

John asked to give the eulogy. He dressed nicely in a forest green suit and a mustard button-down that brought out the gold in his brown eyes. He left his inky hair down, keeping it cut to the length of his chin but preferring it up most of the time. He looked respectable, presentable. Like a mother might ask her son to look for an important occasion.

Three months ago, John speaking before the group would cause some tension. A certain anticipation of his next fit of useless heckling, but Corpus Christi had sobered him up.

Everyone suffered a loss with this war.

John stopped limping with the titanium prosthetic from his knee to his shoe. Although he’d stopped training and fighting since the amputation, he contributed in valuable ways to the cause. This specific mission was just the most horrific of them.

“Our parents are proud of us,” he started, immediately wrenching an emotional gasp from Sagan and Lynn. Leaning against the wall, separated from the group, Rayne took a deep breath and unfolded her arm. Andrew patted Sagan’s leg. Xelan kept his eyes on Tameka the way Pablo kept his eyes on Lynn.

John continued, “We may never hear them say it, but they tell us every day. When we save a child from a future of brainwashing, they tell us. When we tear down a compound of evil, they tell us.” He hung his head for a moment. The pause reached Pablo. He felt the need for a moment, even though his parents’ fate remained unknown.

When John gave the group eye contact again, tears shone in his eyes. Sagan leaned into Andrew, who wrapped an arm around her. John said, “When we get out of bed in the morning and face this world full of uncertainty, they tell us, ‘We’re so proud of you, son or daughter. You’re saving the world.’ We keep going because they’re telling us to. For them. For us.”

As John took a step away from the podium, Xelan stood. He approached the younger man, and they embraced. As the human buried his face in the older man’s chest, the Icarus patted his back.

The group acknowledged John’s muffled sobs with their own sniffs and whimpers. Rayne pushed away from the wall and knelt beside Sagan, who relied on Andrew to hold her upright. The blond woman’s grief had become too heavy to carry on her own.

Lynn hobbled onto her crutches and gave them some space. She settled on the wall next to Pablo. When he held out his hand, she leaned off her crutch and took it. Warm, soft, and smaller than his, he cherished the feeling and this quiet moment where she allowed him to comfort her while she grieved.

After a few good minutes of healthy emotional expression, John and Xelan separated. To John, but loud enough the others could hear, Xelan recited, “‘Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you.’” The formal portion of the event lasted around thirty minutes, with different members of the group shedding tears, holding one another. They made their way to a more relaxed space, a family to mourn with.

“Who wants some booze?!” Kyle asked, breaking the reverent tone. He climbed out of the recliner, stepped onto and over the coffee table, and headed for the door. A few heartbeats passed with the group gaping at him in astonishment. “I stole it from the Propagation Event,” he offered as further explanation from the doorway.

Andrew started, “Was there any—”

Kyle shook his head, distraught. “No, I checked, man. Absolute zero.”

“Damn. Fuck it, then. What have ya got?” Andrew hopped off the rumpus room couch and walked off with Kyle in search of refreshments.

“I’ll take some,” Tameka seconded. She dangled her legs from the kitchenette counter and glanced over at Xelan, who gazed at her from a recliner with one ankle across his knee, elbow on the armrest. She asked, “What?”

Xelan shook his head and spoke around the thumbnail between his teeth. “No, it’s perfectly reasonable. The drinking age is lower in other countries, and the world did technically end.”

Heavy and overstimulated, Pablo sighed and plopped in Andrew’s abandoned spot. He watched Lynn the entire event. She sat with the other mourners out of respect. He understood her need for space. She needed to grieve, and, at least for him, their relationship, or whatever it was, represented something happy. There would be time enough for that on the train tomorrow.

In the meantime, fun.

Kyle said, “Okay we got all kinds of liquor, two kegs of beer—Caedes helped me carry that—a beach ball.” Kyle tossed it at the group and they started bouncing it around. “Body glitter—ladies, c’mon—and my favorite…” A scary drill noise sounded. “A tattoo gun and lots of ink.”

Andrew said, “I’ll take some body glitter.”

“I want a tattoo,” Tameka called.

As Pablo overheard Xelan ask Tameka what kind she wanted, Lynn stood and announced, “I’m heading to bed. Some Icarean dude told me once that ‘to sleep was to heal.’ Or some shit like that.”

Xelan reached out his hand, and she squeezed it.

“Sounds like a brilliant and sexy Icarean dude to me,” Tameka said.

Kyle pressed his hands through his curly brown hair over his ears. “Lalalala I don’t want to hear this or I might get sick.”

Pablo hopped off the couch and bypassed Andrew, nudging Kyle over. “I’ll walk you,” Pablo volunteered to Lynn.

She gave him a brilliant grin. “I thought you might, doctor.”

Down the hall and almost to the exit, Lynn stopped and turned to Pablo. “Baby, Imma be honest. The pain meds Xelan gave me are throwing me for a loop, and I’m stupid tired,” she confessed. A sliver of disappointment crept in until she added, “So while I want to climb you like a very sexy mountain,” her words slurred a little, “I want to remember our first time together. The first chance we get alone and I’m sober, you’re mine.”

Pablo kissed the tip of Lynn’s nose, and her eyes crossed in the most adorable way as she watched him do it. He said, “I’ll find you on the train tomorrow.”

Lynn winced, and it cut right through him. “I have to go with the convoy.”

“Then I will drag you into the back of a truck in this god-forsaken desert heat while someone else drives.” As Pablo went on, her grin expanded.

“I think we can swing that,” Lynn promised. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead, careful not to throw off her balance, making his own promise. She added, “I look forward to extending your education on divinity.”

Pablo slowly licked his bottom lip, clocking Lynn’s break in eye contact to watch. After which, he said, “Smart girls are so hot.”

Rayne almost ran into them as they took the corner to exit the hangar. Pablo tensed, and Lynn flinched at the lost expression on the young woman’s face. It sent the mood plummeting.

Rayne offered them a haunted smile and focused on Pablo. “I owe you an apology. I’m sorry for snapping at you last night. It’s just…” She glanced at Lynn, who nodded at her. Rayne said, “Yeah… I know you did the best you could.”

Relief melted away a fraction of the anxiety and guilt Pablo was carrying. Hanging onto the lingering remorse when both women he felt he’d let down forgave him was energy Pablo couldn’t afford to waste. In his gratitude, he said, “Thanks, Rayne. I kept asking myself what would you do, you know?”

A darkness settled in Rayne’s gaze as some storm cloud took the light out of her radiant eyes. She swallowed it, internalized it, and spared Pablo the thought. But as he watched her do it, and she gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder, he knew.

Rayne would have hospitalized herself before her friend. She granted them both a sad smile before heading to the rumpus room.

Lynn and Pablo watched her go and shared a look as she disappeared through the doorway.

Lynn muttered sleepily, “No ‘WWRD’ bracelets for us.”