Witness [A First Contact Romance]

27. Guerrilla Warfare (Part 1)

Lumiea

Year -19 (L.D.)

More than a year and a half as a squad and Jace still had not gotten used to sharing his life with others. It was his own fault. He knew that. But he couldn't go from leaving everything and everyone behind to attaching himself to his squad so easily.

The others didn't seem to struggle with this, not even Trin, who enjoyed her alone time. Jace walked quietly through the living room, trying not to wake the others. Apparently after he'd gone to bed, they'd stayed up together and fallen asleep out here. Lyon lay curled on his side with Nikka's arm around him. Aeryn faced the opposite direction, close enough to the other two that Jace was sure they'd all gone to sleep talking. Alix's foot hung off the couch but a blanket covered the rest of him. Even Trin had curled up on the loveseat.

They all had beds to sleep in, which would give them much better rest for training today than crashing out here. But they'd bonded. And as hard as Jace had tried to avoid it, he had as well, even if he tried to distance himself from it.

Quietly, he grabbed food from the kitchen and packed it to eat on the way to the gym. They'd been on active duty in a nearby restricted zone for the past seven weeks. Sometimes they were able to return to town and stay at the apartment rented out for them, but often they had to sleep in their tents. They'd had the rare privilege of staying two nights in a row this time. It gave him the perfect opportunity to practice with an upgrade to his handmods that he hadn't felt comfortable yet using in active combat.

Once at the gym, Jace warmed up with a workout before swapping his regular hand mods for the upgraded ones. The energy produced by these was more powerful, but the handling was different enough that he needed more time to feel confident with them. He practiced simply activating the energy that could power his punches and stared at the hazy red glow. His palms filled with heat.

"Do you even sleep?" Alix threw his bag down on the ground by the wall. "It's so early."

"I slept plenty."

"You missed out last night. What's up with you disappearing lately?"

Jace frowned and shut off the energy. Though he had a long-standing habit of not spending nearly as much time with the squad as the others, he had been more reclusive for the past few weeks. It had been foolish to hope no one would notice. "I've got this upgrade."

"That's not what it is."

"What do you care?"

"People are worried about you. That's why I care. I have to hear about it."

"I'm fine."

Alix moved in front of Jace. "I know that. Aeryn and Lyon love to worry about precious Jace, though."

He leveled his look at him. Something was up with Aeryn. She'd always tried to get him to engage more than he wanted to, but lately, she'd been insistent, even going so far as to tell him that eventually he'd fall behind if he didn't stick with the group. That there was only so far he could go alone. "I'll do dinner tonight."