At her approach, Graydon glanced at her, moving over to make room.
"I see you caught up to the group in my absence," Kira said to Solal and Amila who were standing a short distance from Raider and the others.
The oshota regarded her calmly. Solal with an expressionless face. Amila with a faint smile that suggested she knew that Kira wasn't as angry as she was making herself out to be.
Maksym cleared his throat, raising his hand. "What about us? Where's our greeting?"
Kira sent the orange haired Tuann a glance before looking at Wren. "You brought quite the crowd with you."
Kira's seon'yer allowed a faint smile to touch his face. "Entirely necessary. I assure you."
"So much for them acting as decoys," Kira grumbled to herself.
Maksym shrugged his massive shoulders. "We fulfilled that obligation. I promise. Now, it's time for a little payback."
Zoella's nod showed her agreement.
"How is Auralyn?" Kira asked.
The playfulness fell from their faces at the reminder of Wren’s First. A woman who lost her arm while trying to protect Elena.
"She's being stubborn," Zoella answered. "Tavas is keeping her company."
Tavas was the fourth member of the pod. He was a quiet man who kept his sense of presence low. Pretty much the only thing Kira knew about him was that he was talented at long range attacks and loyal to Wren.
He made a pretty good babysitter too. At least he'd done well managing her niece the few times he'd been put in charge of her.
"It's a good thing we came since your fellow yer'se ended up needing our services," Maksym said.
Kira glanced at Amila with raised eyebrows. "You and Solal weren't enough?"
"They flatter themselves. We had the situation well in hand without them,” Amila said with a smirk.
Maksym blew a raspberry as Kira finally turned to the person she'd saved for last.
Finn took his time looking her over before giving a brusque nod. "You look like you're in one piece."
"Maybe now you'll finally believe I can take care of myself."
Finn snorted. "Don't push it."
She suppressed her grin and she nodded a greeting as Raider and Jace joined them. "How did the mop up go?"
"It didn't take much effort on our part. Rothchild already had things well in hand," Jace answered.
Brie let out a relieved sigh.
"Who's this?" Jace asked, looking at her.
"Rear Admiral Jace Skarsdale meet Brie." Kira stopped realizing she didn't know the woman's last name.
Brie snapped a salute. "Sergeant Brie Lockhart of Rothchild's Defense force. Third Recon Unit, Second Battalion, First Infantry Division."
Jace answered her salute with one of his own. "Well met, soldier. How did you get swept up into this one's matters?"
Brie’s hesitation showed on her face. As did her struggle not to glance in Odin's direction.
"It's complicated," she finally settled on saying.
"Whatever the case, we'll see about getting you home as soon as possible."
"I appreciate that."
Jace gestured at a pair of his subordinates, a man and a woman. "Please see that Sergeant Lockhart is shown to a set of temporary quarters in the meantime."
The pair voiced their acknowledgment of the order. The man stepped forward. "This way, if you please."
His gaze met Kira's over Brie's head for a brief second before he turned to lead the way. His partner lingered, ensuring that Kira saw her fingers form the sign for "you are not alone" before following.
Kira watched them go, wondering if Selene knew what her kids were up to.
Probably not. She doubted her sister would be okay with the two oldest placing themselves directly in the thick of things.
"Something wrong?" Jace asked, noticing where Kira's attention had wandered.
"Of course not. Just admiring your subordinates' professionalism," Kira said smoothly. "Hopefully that means they won't space all your undergarments this time."
"Weren't you the one who convinced them to do that?"
Kira allowed herself a smug smirk. Of course, she was.
"Those two are new. They were just reassigned to my command ten days ago." Jace glanced at Odin's hooded figure before leveling a meaningful look on Kira. "But that's not what you're here to talk about."
Kira was silent, looking between him and Raider in question.
"He knows,” Raider warned.
"What does he know?"
"Everything you're currently worried about."