The Wild Charge (Dartmoor Book 9)

Thirty-Five

Eden was no stranger to fatigue. As an agent, she'd pulled plenty of all-nighters: hunched over paperwork with crap coffee from the canteen; sitting surveillance on a house from the cracked vinyl of an undercover van seat. But tonight went beyond mere sleeplessness, physical exertion, or even a too-long car ride. She felt as if she'd fallen down a flight of stairs – and then gotten hammered to soften the pain. She felt bruised: wrung-out and queasy and like even lying down would be too much effort.

She followed Raven into the second bedroom and gladly slumped down at the small table there, elbows braced on the tabletop. She hadn't wanted Fox to know how ragged she felt, but now it was just the girls and keeping her spine straight was no longer an option.

"Oh, poor thing. I'd offer you a drink, but..." Raven gestured vaguely to her own stomach. "Water?"

"Please."

"I'll take a drink," Axelle said, sitting down across from Eden and making a face. "Sorry."

Eden waved her off. "You drove the whole way. When I think about how much coffee you had, it gives me a stomachache."

"Everything gives you a stomachache these days," Axelle said, and saluted Raven when she set a small, minibar bottle of wine down in front of her, and a water bottle in front of Eden.

"Albie offered to swap with you."

"Hmph." Axelle shook her head as she cracked the seal on her bottle. "I love him, but he's not driving my baby unless it's absolutely necessary."

Eden withheld a surprised smile as she opened her water. It was the first time Axelle had used the L-word with regard to Albie. She was glad for her...and more than a little sorry for herself, a petty sentiment that she drowned by chugging half the bottle of water.

Raven perched on the end of the bed and crossed one long leg over the other. "I'm sure the trip was hell, but I'm glad you're here. Cass and I are a little less outnumbered, now, on the woman's intuition front."

Eden dabbed her mouth dry with her sleeve and rotated in her chair so she faced the sisters; Cassandra had dropped down beside Raven, and Raven looped their arms together immediately. "How bad has it been?"

"Oh, you know." Raven waved a hand, tone breezy. "The panic, the chaos, and then lots of sweaty men all trying to take charge. The usual." She rolled her eyes, but there was no disguising the tension in her face. Her eyes were a little glassy – from alcohol, Eden suspected – but there were certain kinds of stress that couldn't be diluted.

"Have you gotten anywhere with hotel security? Camera footage? Witnesses? Any of the staff see anything?"

"No, no, no." Raven counted off on her fingers. "None of us are 'law enforcement,' ugh, so they won't turn anything over to us. They offered to call the police, and Alec had to charm them out of it. Our solution, then, is for the most conspicuous assholes on the planet to stand outside our door and wander the halls until a bad guy jumps up like a Jack-it-the-box." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's hopeless."

"Well." Axelle had finished off her wine with alarming speed and headed for the minibar to find another. "Maybe not, now that the Spy Squad is here."

"Are we calling them that?" Eden asked, chuckling.

Axelle straightened from the fridge, victorious, and grinned. "We're calling ourselves that. You wanted to come," she reminded. "Which means you're part of the squad, too."

"Ugh. Petition for a name change."

"Nope." Axelle smiled wide, and Eden found herself echoing her. It felt good to laugh a little, even at silly things.