Mission: Guardian Angel (Veslor Mates Book 2) Read online

  Drak hesitated, their gazes meeting. “I won’t be far.”

  “Thank you.”

  He walked away with the other Veslors. Milts and Peters approached. They stood on either side of her.

  “Walk,” Peters ordered. “I hope you won’t slow us down. We don’t wanna be left behind.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m in pretty good shape, thank you very much.” The weight of the thin armor suit wasn’t bad, and she didn’t have a bunch of weapons or a supply pack strapped to her back the way the other team members did. The chunky boots were weighted. She was grateful for that when the ground under her crunched as they walked up a hill, making her slip a few times, but she managed not to fall on her ass. Neither of her escorts offered her a hand. It didn’t surprise her.

  After a bit, she saw the Veslors remove their helmets, sniffing the air. They changed direction before putting their helmets back on. After a short distance, they repeated the process. It became clear that the helmets must mess with their sense of smell.

  They found their first nest twenty minutes later. There was a small cave in the hillside that the Veslors pointed out. She noted that Rogers’s team stayed far back and allowed the Veslors to cross to the cave alone. Clearly, they were the ones expected to go inside to set explosive charges.

  It irritated her, watching the humans chat and laugh while Drak and the others worked. She turned to Peters. “Do Cadia ever wake up if they hear sound?”

  “Yeah, they do. Those beasts are meaner than fuck, too. You gotta go in all quiet while they’re sleeping, plant the devices real close, and then sneak out.” He paused. “Boom!”

  She jumped at his loud shout. “What in the hell is wrong with you? You just said they can wake up, and yet you’re yelling?”

  He grinned. “Our big friends can handle it if some beasties open their eyes.”

  Milts cackled. “Yeah. One beast to another.”

  “Fucking assholes,” she muttered, shooting dirty looks at them both.

  “You’d know all about fucking, wouldn’t you?” Milts smirked. “How’s the commander in bed? You should try a real man sometime.” He leered at her.

  She showed her disgust by curling her lip. “Hold your breath on that ever happening, Milts. Please. Your face will be as blue as your balls.”

  He glared at her.

  She rolled her eyes and turned away, watching the cave entrance on the hillside across from where she stood. In minutes, the Veslors came out and barely cleared the rocks around the entrance when she saw Rogers lift his pad.

  “Duck for cover,” he bellowed.

  She ducked when the men did. The other hillside exploded, sending debris flying and dust rising up from the small valley below.

  Abby stood, looking down. There was too much dust at first to see the Veslors but when it cleared, she spotted them sprawled on their bellies. They had been too close to the blast and could have been seriously hurt.

  Her temper flared hot. Rogers should have given the grouping more time to put distance between themselves and the blast. Her report at dinner wasn’t going to make Howard happy. That much she was sure of.

  She trained her attention on the Veslors. They picked themselves off the ground where they’d been thrown. She could see the imprints of their bodies in the dirt. That meant they must have landed pretty hard.

  “Fucking assholes,” she muttered.

  “What’s that?” Peters stepped closer.

  “You heard me.” She refused to look at him, instead watching the Veslors. They were moving fine, seemed unhurt, but she wondered about their sensitive ears.

  The team moved out, an hour later finding another cave. It was a repeat of the first one. Rogers and his men stood around doing nothing while the Veslors were sent inside to plant bombs.

  The process infuriated her. Now she regretted stopping Roth’s grouping from being sent down without a human team to assist. They were probably better off on their own.

  She noticed Rogers playing with the pad, and it worried her. What if he blew the explosives while the Veslors were still planting them? He could call it an accident.

  That was another thing she was going to ask Howard to change. The person holding the detonator should be someone else—like the Veslors planting the charges.

  Rogers caught her watching him and lowered the pad. He said something to two of his men, and they glanced her way, but she wasn’t close enough to hear what was said. It was a sure bet it wasn’t something flattering or nice.

  The Veslors finally came out, and the asshat blew the cave with them too close to it again.

  That time she didn’t duck, watching the Veslors. The blast knocked them off their feet. That’s how they’d ended up leaving imprints in the ground. Dust poured out of the cave, obliterating her view of them. She seethed as small debris rained down on her. They were far enough away that the blast didn’t knock them over, but Abby still felt the shockwave hard enough to give her a good jolt.

  She was going to have a lot to talk about with Howard. Her temper got the better of her and she marched over to Rogers. They had a good four more hours of the shift to get through. He laughed at something the man to his left whispered.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  He spun, looking surprised. “Excuse you?”

  “Knock the shit off, Rogers. You wouldn’t blow those explosives with your men that close, and we both know it. Is this funny to you? Amusing? Their lives are in your hands, you ass. What is wrong with you?”

  His face turned red from anger. “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

  “Your team goes in on the next cave. Not them.”

  “Fuck you, Thomas. I’m in charge here.”

  “That’s really sad then, since you’re being such a dick. What part of ‘treat the Veslors like you would your own team’ didn’t you understand? Those were the words in your orders. I should know—I read them. Are you telling me you’d blow those explosives with your team that close? Great. I’ll get to see that at the next cave.”

  “Is there a problem?” The voice was deeper than a human’s, and she turned, only to find Roth and his team hurried behind her. They’d approached faster than she’d expected.

  “So many I’m losing count.” She glared at Rogers. “I’m here for Commander Bills. Eyes and ears, Rogers. Your team goes in next. You might be in charge, technically, but that won’t be for long if you don’t stop this bullshit. Do you get me?”

  “You want to take over this mission?” Rogers seethed, spitting his words.

  “I’d do a better job than you. At least I’m fair, and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. That’s two things I have over you.”

  “Fucking bitch,” he spat. “Move out!”

  She watched him storm off and tried to calm herself. Someone gently gripped her arm, and she looked over her shoulder. Drak was the one touching her. His grouping stood with him.

  “What happened?” He looked concerned when he spoke.

  “He’s blowing the explosives before you’re completely clear to amuse himself and his fucking team by making you suffer the blast wave. It’s wrong.”

  “We’re tough.” Roth shrugged.

  She held his golden-eyed stare. “That’s not the point. I bet it hurts your ears, at the very least.”

  “It does,” Gnaw admitted.

  “This shit is going to stop.” She glanced at them. “I’m sorry I prevented you guys from going down on a mission without another team. You were better off that way, weren’t you? Do the other teams treat you like this, too? Make you do all the work?”

  Roth sighed. “We don’t complain.”

  “You should,” she seethed.

  “I said move out,” Rogers bellowed. “It’s not break time.”

  * * * * *

  Drak worried about the female. Abby wasn’t one to keep her thoughts silent. When they located the next cave of Cadia, she confronted the human team leader, arguing with him. Drak appreci