Betrayed Forced Mate (Rosecreek Special Ops Wolves #4)

“Sweet!” he says, then glancing at where we’re sprawled on the floor. “Come on, guys, we’re docked.”

“Docked is one word for it,” Percy mutters, extricating himself from me and getting to his feet. When he holds his hand out, I reach up, taking it.

“Guys,” Olivia says, her face stricken as she appears next to Bigby. “I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but I think Bigby just crashed the boat.”

“Yeah,” I say, “we felt it.”

“No, I mean like—” she stops as a rush of cool water runs over our feet, making her gasp. When she looks back at us, her eyes are comically large. “I think the boat is going to sink!”

Chapter 28 – Olivia

Bigby “docked” the boat on a tiny island in the middle of the lake. We’re on the far side, and the tracker indicates that the commander’s ship is on the other side of the island, so, with any luck, they won’t have seen us approaching. We get off the boat, watching as it awkwardly sinks into the lake, tilted on its side.

“Too bad,” Bigby mutters, but Percy is already making his way through the thicket of trees, directly toward the other boat. It only takes us a few minutes to climb the hill and walk through the woods before another beach appears, and we see the boat docked there—actually docked, not crashed into the rocks.

It’s enormous—practically a yacht, and from this distance, we can see several people wandering around on the deck, even through the dark.

“How’s the scent cover?” Bigby asks, taking a deep breath through his nose. “I can’t smell you guys.”

“You, either,” Byron says, nodding. “Must be good, then.”

“Alright,” Percy says, “where’s the insert?”

“Off the left side,” Bigby says, pointing, “you see that ladder hanging down? I’m thinking we grab that, go in through that porthole.”

“Think you’ll fit?” Byron asks, and Bigby punches him on the shoulder.

I stand there, watching them gear up, preparing to go, planning their method of attack, and it dawns on me: I’m not ready for this.

“—I’ll tail, you lead—”

“Byron,” I hiss, and he holds his hand up, like he’s eating and trying to finish his bite, except he, Bigby, and Percy are making their plans, and it’s suddenly vital to me that they don’t include me.

“…pin them?”

“Byron.”

“—while I cover the six.”

“Byron!”

They all spin to look at me, and I clear my throat, heat rushing over my cheeks. Earlier, Byron tried to put a knife in my hand, and something about it felt so out of place that I nearly dropped it in the dirt.

The only reason I wanted to go in the field in the first place was because I couldn’t stand hanging around in Rosecreek, being around Byron, seeing him around, and being faced with the fact that he wanted nothing to do with me.

But that’s not really what I wanted. I watched Veronica as she moved through each room, completely at home, finding it so easy to slip into that role. I kept wishing I could be back behind the scenes, working with code. Watching the others as it played out.

“Byron,” I say, pulling him aside and shaking my head. “I can’t go in there.”

“Come on, Liv,” he says, “I told you—”

“No, I know, but listen,” I say, shaking my head and squeezing his arm. “This isn’t about my ego, or about what I’m capable of. It’s about rescuing Veronica successfully. Without anyone getting hurt. And I think I’m going to be a lot more help out here, watching from the skies.”

“Dude,” Percy says, gesturing to Byron from a few paces away. “You coming?”

“I’ll be good out here,” I say, swallowing and holding my hand out. “Give me your laptop. I’ll try to get into the yacht’s systems and see how I can help.”

Byron glances between me and the guys, who are becoming more impatient as time goes on.