Marc didn’t scold him for not revealing the duty sooner, only slung an arm around his son’s shoulders. “We’ll get through it, boy–together this time.”

  Charlie closed his eyes, absorbing his father’s light, his comfort. Having a dad meant a lot. Before, when he’d had Kenn, he hadn’t cared one way or the other. Now that Marc was back, Charlie understood why his mom had grabbed him and refused to let go even at so young an age. Marc was goodness and light, more so than Adrian was, and Charlie already knew the difference in that power. Society might need hard, ruthless men, might follow them willingly during times of crisis, but most humans would give unflinching loyalty to those they could trust during peace. Marc would have been that type of leader.

  “How long have you been in Adrian’s secret service?” Marc asked casually.

  “Almost since the beginning.” Charlie didn’t feel the need to keep hiding it. “He has this way of drawing you in.”

  Charlie looked up at his father’s frowning profile, speaking low so his voice wouldn’t carry. “He wants her. As much as you do. I’ve read it.”

  Marc winced, arm dropping to his side. Had he really been hoping that only he and Adrian would know? “She’s not interested.”

  Charlie wasn’t able to get directly into his mom’s thoughts–she had them locked against his tinkering and prying–but he’d caught flashes that concerned him.

  “Would you like proof?” Marc asked, hoping Angela was still too weak to pick up this conversation. Some parts of her injury were convenient.

  The teenager nodded, bracing for a memory, but Marc only leaned down and whispered, “She calls for me in her sleep.”

  It was simple, but the heat behind it had the boy recoiling.

  “Yuck!”

  Marc smirked. “That’s good information for a man to have about the woman he wants.”

  Marc noted a whirl of dust rising near the QZ, and mentally calculated how long before senior Eagles would move closer. That much dust meant more than one or two cars.

  Charlie stored the words and asked, “You got anything else like that? Stuff I could use now?”

  As much as he wanted to, Marc didn’t grin. “Sure. Depends on what you’re searching for, though.”

  “There’s no one I like that way, just curious about reading them, like you a–”

  Charlie’s head suddenly snapped toward the incoming trucks.

  Marc adjusted the volume on his radio, gut suddenly boiling. Wanting to know how Angela really was, he’d turned it down when he took up a position outside her tent so that he could listen to her conversations with John and Anne.

  “I’m warning you, we will open fire!” Mitch’s frantic voice echoed over the radio.

  Marc’s free hand went to his holster.

  “Uh-uh.” Charlie’s eyes grew foggy as he stared at the four trucks now speeding recklessly around the west entrance to the QZ. “Not good.”

  “What is it?” Marc asked calmly, as if he were training a recruit. He forgot to use the Alpha tone he’d learned with Angela, not accustomed to handing Charlie as a descendant.

  Charlie went that way as if being drawn by strings, ignoring Marc and everyone else.

  Need you! Marc called. His worry made the connection easy to find.

  Angela came from the tent behind Marc in concern and nearby camp members surged her way. Aware that she was off-duty, they demanded her attention and Marc quickly took her right.

  “Stop at the tape!” Mitch ordered over the radio, sounding sober and scared.

  Marc was glad to see Adrian come from his tent and head toward the QZ, after a fast glance to verify that Angela was protected. She had heard the message, but Adrian had been the desired recipient. Marc wasn’t leaving Angela’s side yet. The last time he’d allowed that, she’d almost died.

  Marc slid a gentle arm around Angela’s waist. “Easy, folks,” he cautioned, warned. “Let her breathe.”

  Eager to find out what had pulled their son, the couple deflected the crowd’s excited well wishes as quickly as they could, both casting anxious glances toward the now over-guarded Zone. The sense of trouble was clear.

  2

  The QZ was now a permanent fixture in the back corner of the camp–outfitted with a shower and bathrooms, a supply truck, and three extra guards that moved closer as the new people neared. Off-duty Eagles also picked up on the unease, and a full complement of men waited in that deadly V formation as the trucks finally stopped at the tape in a wide spray of gravel and dust.

  Charlie went straight to Adrian’s right, not waiting to be called over. While his mom recovered, this was his job. It hadn’t been made official yet, but the teenager knew where his place was.

  The scruffy newcomers got out of the trucks with their hands near weapons and wolfish leers slanted across their sore-riddled mouths.

  “Well ain’t this a sight!” the largest among them exclaimed, hands resting on double holsters. “It’s gonna be a good day, Badger!”

  The men getting out of their dusty trucks around him cackled at the reference to the old world, at his scornful joke.

  “Told ya I saw a lot of lights last night,” one of the other six men–Badger–exclaimed eagerly, mouth crawling with scurvy. His hand twitched restlessly as he waited, but his eyes stayed on his boss.

  The man in charge broke away from his group, strolling toward Kyle, who was in the front of the V, Glock in hand.

  “I’m sure glad to find a group this size,” the man leered, sharp glance going over what he could see of the camp. “Thought there wasn’t any survivors ‘round here that we hadn’t supplied yet!”

  The traders wore guns that Kyle guessed had seen a fair amount of use from the way they were slung low and ready. These were killers. But you’re not trained, he observed, seeing how the men left themselves open as they swaggered closer. Not like me and mine are.

  “This is a military refugee camp. State your business!” Kyle ordered, tone dangerously unfriendly.

  “We’re merchants.” The big man sauntered closer, thick rings flashing in the dim sunlight. “We roam the wastelands and offer things that men need–for the right price, of course.”

  “Things like what?” Kyle asked coldly, waiting for the kill-order he felt coming. Adrian hadn’t sent Charlie out of the area and that meant the boy was picking something up. Blood was about to spill.

  “The future,” Badger replied. “You guys don’t have one without owning at least a few of what we’re selling.”

  Kyle saw Charlie’s lips start moving, telling Adrian what it was that the men were guilty of, and the icy chill of battle came down over the QZ.

  Until he knows when to keep the match from the fuse, there won’t be any mercy while Charlie’s on the watch, Kyle thought, ready to react. These men were dead the instant Angela’s son felt them.

  Kyle chose to help things along. “What are you selling?”

  Adrian studied the traders as Kyle listened to the list of supplies the men said they could lay their hands on. It was all wrong and Adrian hadn’t needed the teenager at his side to verify it. He would use the boy, though.

  Adrian leaned closer. “They sell people, right?”

  “Yes. Didn’t bring them along–don’t always deliver, either.” Charlie’s words were full of disgust and anger as he searched.

  “We can get a whole silo of corn or a barn of tobacco, but not both in one visit,” the trader leader told them.

  Kyle and the trader continued to barter, and Adrian found Angela nearby.

  When he raised a mental brow, she gave reluctant agreement, watching from the tape with Marc and Dog. Consent or not, Charlie was already looking through their evil.

  Stay close, Angela sent to all of the men. This feels hinky.

  Given permission, Adrian entered Charlie’s mind. I need you to figure out where they’re holding the hostages, and then the Eagles will kill them.

  Instead of the fear or revulsion he and Angela were both half-expecting, Charlie’s surprised expression changed to eagerness.

  I don’t hide it as well as my mom. You’ll have to distract them so I can search for the kids.

  Adrian’s hiss of fury was covered by the sound of arrogant footsteps on the gravel as the other traders flanked their leader. They were selling kids!

  “Yeah, we have three locations for water towers, but like with the silo stuff, only one big purchase at a time. And you’ll have to pay, of course.”

  Adrian felt the inevitable coming and didn’t fight it. This was his job. He asked the last question that mattered. Weapons or women? What do they want?

  Charlie’s mouth twisted as he began breaking through deeper mental barriers. “Their females are in trouble...” Charlie shoved harder.

  The man he was reading became aware of him, but it was too late to stop.

  They came...

  I’ll kill them all, boy. Tell him to give me what I came for!

  Charlie flinched back in stunned panic. That wasn’t Adrian thrusting an order into his mind. The trader knew! He was...he...

  Seeing the panic of youth, Adrian put a hand on Charlie’s shoulder.

  The calming blast of energy allowed the teen to speak through his rage. “A doctor. They came for our doctor!”

  Adrian drew his gun, stepping in front of the un-vested teenager.

  “Damn you!” Exposed, the leader of the traders spun toward Charlie.

  Adrian shot the man in the head.

  The Eagles opened fire and Adrian shoved Charlie down as the man’s partners returned the favor.

  “There are more of them!” Charlie shouted, crawling to where Adrian’s kicks to his leg were directing.

  A second group of traders emerged from under tarps in the beds of the trucks, shooting and shouting in abandon. This group ran into the QZ as if they’d been in it before, firing wildly at the Eagles and camp members in view. They found cover behind a tent, a camper, and the water trucks.

  “Intruder alert!” Mitch screamed from the nearby com truck. “All off-duty Eagles to the QZ!”

  Radios and alarms blared across Safe Haven, interwoven with shouts and gunfire, and under that, the sound of furiously running feet thudded across the dusty Kansas ground.

  3

  Kyle fired in fury, breaking the formation as he advanced into the QZ. There was only one tent there–his–and two of the traders were using it for protection.

  No longer shooting, they were without their leader and looking for an escape. They hadn’t counted on anyone fighting back, despite Safe Haven’s visible security.

  Kyle walked straight at the two men, picking out what he needed–a leg exposed, the side of a shoulder he could hit, and those amazing golden eyes lying at the bottom of the flap.

  She’s clear. Fire!

  Two heavy thuds echoed as the men fell and Kyle slung his arm out, taking down the center pole. The canvas collapsed, clearing his line of sight.

  Fire!

  Kyle pulled the trigger an instant quicker, slug hitting the man by the medical camper. The trader’s bullet slammed through the edge of Kyle’s boot and flew out the other side.

  Kyle barely noticed the lucky miss, busy putting another round into the man–his chest this time.

  The trader dropped to the ground in a bloody sprawl and Kyle fired again, rage demanding it. This shot went into his skull.

  Around him, Kyle’s team picked off the wounded.

  Kyle turned, training in control.

  Left? Clear!

  Right? Clear!

  Adrian and the others? Clear!

  Anyone left to kill?

  Kyle searched.

  The influx of Eagles was more than the traders had been prepared for. Hoping to do a quick shoot and snatch from the QZ that they’d probably studied for the last week, the attackers were now pinned down behind the water truck instead.

  Kyle scanned again.

  John was watching from under the shower camper, along with Anne and Charlie. Adrian stood in front of them, firing quick slugs that kept the remaining infiltrators pinned down from that side. No other threats remained.

  The other side of the water truck suddenly exploded with shouts.

  “Hands up!”

  “Drop ‘em!”

  “Surrender or die!”

  Bang!

  “Open fire!”

  Bang! Bang!

  Bang!

  Bang!

  Kyle nodded in satisfaction. Neil and his team would make sure there were no survivors, and they would do it in full view of the camp. The time for hiding how good we are is over, he thought. If the people living here in safety didn’t like the protection that was provided, they were able to leave–mostly because of how lethal Adrian had taught his army to be. Death was always the price required for freedom. No war could ever change that.

  Satisfied that the QZ was clear, Kyle motioned his team forward to take care of the cleanup.

  “Wear the gloves,” he instructed.

  Before he joined them in the nasty chore, Kyle found Jennifer’s wide gaze. She was still on the ground, waiting to be comforted and then told what to do.

  Kyle turned to his duty instead of responding to her silent call. She’ll be fine without me. She’ll be fine without me.

  Jennifer watched him walk away with wide eyes and stomach cramps. She wasn’t in labor–just dropped to her knees too fast and pinched something–but her mind was in chaos. She’d come to depend on him so much in just two weeks...and he was every bit the killer that Cesar had been.

  Kyle didn’t look back, and Jennifer didn’t send out a second wave of need, but it was a struggle. What if he woke up during the time they were apart? What if he realized what a burden she would be?

  Jennifer dropped her head. I’ll be fine without him. I’ll be fine without him.

  Adrian jerked a hand toward the panicking camp. “Shut off the alarms and sing to the herd!”

  Kenn rushed off.

  Neil came from the second battlefield behind the heavily leaking water truck, soaked and splattered in hard dirt chips that were melting into muddy furrows.

  “Double the watch and do a full perimeter check–inside and out,” Neil told his team. “On the way, organize a catch-and-carry for whatever water’s left here.”

  “Why did you do that?” Charlie asked from Adrian’s feet.

  Adrian ignored the worried parents, answering their child, “Because of Rick, I can’t take the chance.”

  Charlie didn’t open his eyes yet, even though John and Anne were being helped out from under the camper. Still frozen, the teenager was trying to handle the newest emotion to grace his hormones–bloodlust. He wanted to be shooting, drawing it himself.

  “What about the kids they’re holding? I didn’t have enough time to get a location.”

  Adrian’s heart squeezed into a hard knot, but he forced his mouth to provide the answer that was expected. “Your mom will help me find them when she’s stronger.”

  “And if she can’t?”

  “Then I carry that guilt, not you.”

  It was enough now, while youth and shock had him distracted, but Adrian knew a more detailed answer had to be in place for next time.

  Charlie’s young gaze opened, flicked over the bloody bodies. He slowly crawled out and stood up. “They’re not all dead. I might still be able...”

  Not asking Angela this time, Adrian moved aside. “You follow orders, or go no further in my army–ever.”

  Adrian stayed close, gun in hand, as Charlie walked onto the battlefield without responding.

  One of the traders–Badger–was lying on his side near the supply truck, blood pooling under him from wounds in his stomach. He’d clearly been hoping to play dead and crawl away.

  The heavily bearded slaver flinched at the crunch of boot steps, hand coming up. “Don’t!”

  “Tell us where they are!” Charlie demanded, hoping the location was the first thing the trader would think of. His death was close.

  The man’s face was ugly with sores and fear, but there was no remorse.

  “Fuck off, freak!”

  Adrian started to use his gun.

  Charlie knelt down in the line of fire. “I can heal you.”

  Adrian put a hand out to jerk Charlie back, but Angela stopped him with two words.

  He’s lying.

  Impressed and absolutely horrified, Adrian dropped his hand and made sure only the closest Eagles would witness whatever happened.

  Frustrated by the man’s panicked, painful thoughts, Charlie let his inner demon bleed through for the first time, blue eyes turning deep crimson. “Your life for theirs. Where?”

  The man sucked in a lungful of air through the terror and the agony. “Outside Wichita. Kids like...you, locked in a boarding school.”

  Charlie didn’t pull the heat back. This man was bad, and the hunger of the demon he’d let come forward was incredible. It rode him in heavy, gut-twisting seduction…

  Charlie. Angela’s voice in his mind was careful, cautious. Must you become a killer already?

  The boy groaned, “I can just take a–”

  But should you?

  It was a hard battle.

  Adrian waited, wondering if he’d made a mistake by bringing the teenager in so soon.

  “It’s guarded. You won’t get in without me!”

  Charlie slowly pushed the hunger away, barely aware of the trader now trying to cover his tracks as he sensed what was coming.

  Charlie turned around with a faint tinge of red still lingering around his pupils, set to ask Adrian for what everyone else wanted.

  “Not yet,” Marc denied.

  Charlie’s tinted gaze swung around. “When?”

  Marc shrugged, voice set. “A year, at least, maybe two.”

  “And until then?”

  None of the rebellion they’d all, except Marc, expected.

  “A few of us will donate time each day, give you layers of training above what your mom received,” Marc promised. “That fire has to come under control.”

  As he stepped back, Charlie didn’t flinch at the single shot from Adrian’s gun. Knowing he would be an Eagle and fight alongside his parents was all he cared about.

  Marc trailed the teenager after exchanging a quick look with Angela. The intense dismay in it said he didn’t want Charlie fighting, for her to find a way to slow him down.