Page 99 of Knot Your Pawn

I laugh, nuzzling her again, my brain not really happy that I’m so close to her without being able to catch her pheromones. “I’m sure you’ll do fine. As long as you stick to the plan and don’t go off on your own. And you’ll have Riley with you, so if you don’t feel confident about something, ask her for help.”

“Help with what?” Riley comes over, as she checks her weapons, like it’s an instinct. Like she doesn’t even have to think about it.

“When things don’t go as expected.” Vera’s voice is light and she smiles broadly at Riley.

“Of course. Anything for you.” Riley reaches out and touches Vera’s cheek, her eyes tender. “That’s why we go in teams and not solo. So, you’ve always got someone to watch your back.” Then she looks Vera over. “Everything fits? Got all your weapons where you need them?”

“Yep. All packed away. I’m ready to go.” She wriggles out of my arms and goes over to where Mathew is talking with Derrick and some of the others in charge.

The moment she appears at his side, his arms go around her and he holds her close. It’s so sweet to watch.

“You also ready to go?” Riley turns to me.

“Yeah.” I pat the knives and guns and other stuff I’ve got strapped to me. “I feel like a walking armoury, but I guess that’s normal.”

“Once you’ve done this a couple of times, you’ll figure out what you really need and which things are optional.” She glances to Vera and Mathew. “I’m almost more nervous about making sure I keep Vera safe than I am about the raid itself. I know that she can handle herself, that I shouldn’t have to really worry. But I still do.”

That makes sense. I feel it too. Not so much to protect Vera, but to keep the whole pack safe.

But that’s probably also because Vera and I have gotten ourselves into and out of plenty of iffy situations in the past. So, I have first-hand experience of how Vera overcomes stressful situations.

Riley has seen her do her thing when we got attacked at the restaurant, the night we met her, but not after that.

“Were you as worried when you went on that mission with Mathew?” Because, if I’m being honest, knowing I’m teamed up with Mathew and knowing I’ll do anything to protect him, even at the cost of my life, that is making me a little nervous.

“A little, yes. But back then, we had a much better idea of what we’d encounter. This time, there are a lot of unknown factors.”

We don’t know exactly how many kids there are in the building right now. We don’t know how many other people there will be. We have a pretty good idea of their security numbers, but that’s about it. When it comes to unknown factors, that’s quite a lot.

Not that it’s going to stop us. We’ve got plans on plans on plans, all of them with multiple backup plans depending on what situation we’ll encounter at the brothel.

We all know what we need to do, now we simply have to do it.

The streets and alleys we pass through are dark and full of even deeper shadows. The city is asleep.

It’s almost four in the morning, the time when the brothel should be the most vulnerable.

We parked the vans a couple of streets over, so they hopefully won’t notice that we’re here until we’re on their doorstep.

Walking the short distance to the brothel helps to ease some of the stress and tension. Only some, by far not all.

When we turn a corner, I notice Jorge, Luca and Xavier and his pack, waiting, standing close together.

As soon as we’re near them, Vera leaves my side, rushing over to them and she hugs Jorge and Luca tightly.

“Everything okay?” I keep my voice quiet as we wait a few moments. They’ll come with us the last part of the way, so we can protect them and so they’ll be closer to the building, which will make it easier for them to get the kids away.

“Yeah.” Jorge looks us all over, his eyes ending on Mathew, before he frowns. “You?”

“Everything is going according to plan.” Mathew steps closer to him, but doesn’t touch him.

We just got doused in pheromone masking spray, so we’d be scentless for the raid, but with Vera hugging Jorge and Luca, she’s got their pheromones all over her now.

Which means she’s got to do it all over again.

Not that I don’t understand her impulse. It’s hard to not touch your mates, hold them, make sure they’re okay, in stressful situations like this.

“We’ve got to get moving.” Mathew holds out a can of spray to Vera, who grumblingly uses it on herself. “We can talk while we walk.”