Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(41)

“You didn’t need it,” Pax muttered.

She glanced over to see the remnants of the plaster still on his fingertips. He must have torn the thing right off her while she was out.

Libby rubbed at a bruise above her right eye that was more of a goose egg. “Word came in that two of the Seven’s mates were injured, but they’re taking blood and should be okay.”

Hope chewed on her lip. “I like the idea that they’ll relocate to headquarters and not remain out by themselves.” She was now more convinced than ever that they needed to perform this ritual. “We need battle plans in place to take Ulric.”

The tension in the craft rose while the temperature dropped. She shivered. It was suddenly freezing.

When nobody answered her, she said, “Well?”

“No ritual,” Paxton said tersely.

“I think I agree,” her father said.

Hope looked at the rest of her team.

Libby shrugged, blood matting her golden-brown hair. “I don’t know what to say. They’ll keep coming until we end this, but we don’t really know how to end it. In addition, we’re losing enhanced females left and right.”

Hope let the vibrations of the helicopter settle and organize the energy flowing through her. “I don’t see that we have a choice. We need to kill Ulric.” She knew it in her heart. “Whatever’s going on, the enhanced females are being taken because of him. He is behind all of this.” She wasn’t one to advocate killing if there was a peaceful solution. “Our other alternative is to reach out and negotiate peace.”

“The Kurjans aren’t going to negotiate peace,” Paxton said as even more pain wafted from him. She was in tune to him and always had been, so she tried to take some of his agony away. It was a skill she had been working on, one she’d never quite mastered, but they were close enough that she felt she could take some of his pain away and ease his suffering.

“Stop it,” he growled.

Interesting. “No,” she retorted.

Instant invisible shields went up between them. “I told you to stop it.”

Zane finally straightened and opened his eyes, looking around Hope toward Paxton. “What is she doing?”

“She’s trying to take my pain,” Paxton said wearily.

“Tattletale.” Hope looked up at him. He was pale, far too pale, and it looked like there was blood at the ends of his hair. Maybe down his neck. Kurjan blood burned. “You need to wipe that off,” she said.

“I’m fine,” he said.

She looked around at her group. “Anybody else have Kurjan blood on them? We should have a wet wipe around here somewhere.”

“It’s in my hair,” Libby said. “But it doesn’t burn there. I’ll take a shower when we get back.”

“You need any help?” Derrick joked.

Libby snorted. “Like you would know what to do with a woman in the shower.”

The group chuckled as some of the tension abated. Hope shook her head at them. They were the best of friends, and while she would love to see friends turn into lovers, the feeling just wasn’t there. They teased each other like brother and sister. Although it would be fun to see a witch and a cougar shifter in love. The relationship would be explosive.

Liam finished repairing a cut to his skull, his skin stitching itself together. “Nice job with the Kurjan soldier, by the way.”

Hope splayed a hand across her sternum. “Thanks, but he broke all my ribs.”

“Yeah, but you killed him.” Collin joined his brother in grinning at her. “That was pretty freaking impressive. That guy was twice your size.”

Warmth filled her. She might not have super strength or speed, but she had taken out a Kurjan soldier. “He started it,” she said, her lips twitching to a smile.

Libby chuckled. “Well, you finished it.”

She was nowhere near the fighter that her friends were, but she had protected herself.

“I’m proud of you,” her dad said, nudging her with a shoulder.

“So am I,” Paxton whispered.

Now she was just going to get a big head. “You all did a good job on the field,” she said. “I was proud of all of you. How come we didn’t have intel on the attack a week ago?” she asked. Thank goodness Pax had gotten the information from Henric in time.

“I don’t know,” Zane said. “We’re going to have to check with Hunter and figure out why he didn’t know.”

Her cousin Hunter was undercover in the Kurjan nation, and he stayed close to Vero, who was Drake’s cousin. “I think he didn’t know because Drake didn’t orchestrate the attack,” Hope retorted. “He and Vero stay right on Drake’s heels. They have been at the main headquarters for several days. I feel they would’ve known if he’d ordered this attack.”

“They’ve only been back a couple of days,” Paxton corrected. “This campaign took weeks to plan.” He shifted his weight and his leg popped again. “Stop giving Drake the benefit of the doubt.”

Libby rolled her eyes. “Boys,” she mouthed. Hope couldn’t help but grin.

It was incredible, really. Hope’s body hurt. Her head was aching, and she was worried about everybody she knew, and yet Libby could always make her smile. She was the best of best friends. Her other best friend was obviously cranky and still in pain. He wouldn’t let her help, and frankly, she hadn’t developed the ability yet, although she’d been trying. So maybe she wasn’t so human. Maybe there was a chance for her after all.