Buried Flames (26 page)

“Olivier is with me,” Taible stated matter-of-factly, slowly backing away as his team already turned to go. Paige tried to look over her shoulder, but one of the men stepped behind her, preventing her view. “She’s got a job to do, just as the others do who are employed by the U.S.G.S. The majority of which we were able to locate have been taken to safe locations and have resumed their responsibilities. Olivier will be delivered to my commander as requested. I’ll be sure to pass along your regards.”

Mason carefully watched as Taible and his group faded into the grey darkness, leaving nothing but falling ash in their wake. Well, didn’t that just make the current situation a bit more difficult? They all needed to decide what they were going to do about Paige. The way the one man had held his gun could have been because he wasn’t trained properly. After all, it wasn’t difficult to tell that Taible was the only NSA agent in the group.

“Paige might want to be with them,” Mason offered up, being the first one to speak. Tank had already turned and headed back up toward the lodge and would no doubt be in the security office watching and observing as the detonators were removed per the agreement. They would still have to ensure that all explosives were seized, which wouldn’t be an easy feat. “She didn’t speak up.”

“She didn’t have to,” Owen said rather guardedly, catching everyone’s attention as he walked farther away from the checkpoint to where Taible’s men had all but surrounded Paige. “Paige left us a message.”

Mason walked closer, peering down through his mask at the ash covering the once graveled road. He gritted his teeth in frustration, wishing Paige had given them something other than the message before them—and done it a hell of a lot sooner. It would have been easier obtaining her freedom when she’d been right there at their fingertips instead of being taken away to God knows where.

“What is it?” Truman asked, joining the others and most likely wishing he hadn’t.

H E L P
was scrawled in the ash somewhat haphazardly, but well enough that they could still read her plea. Mason was lucky he’d gotten as much sleep as he had, because he was going to need it as the next few hours would be used to search the area thoroughly for any explosives Taible’s team might have left behind, as well as coming up with a strategy to liberate Paige from the very government officials who were there to keep them safe. The irony wasn’t lost on Mason. What he wasn’t expecting was Truman to add another degree of difficulty into the situation by throwing all of them a curve ball with the exception of Dean, who was already heading back up to the lodge.

“I’m going after her, with or without your help.” Truman stared down at the letters for a moment longer before lifting his gaze that was burning with anger. “Paige is my ex-wife.”

B
renna had been
back inside the bunker for close to two hours and she couldn’t stand the waiting anymore. She stood from the bed, pausing long enough to stroke Sam’s fur, and walked across to the wall locker to where she’d stored some fresh clothes she’d gotten from Prue and the storage shelves. The group had previously collected what they could from the small boutique in town on one of the many supply runs and took what sizes they had in stock. Prue and Brenna were both relatively the same size, although Brenna’s breasts weren’t as voluptuous as Prue’s were. She highly doubted her new friend was sitting inside her room waiting patiently for Owen to return either. She was a doer, just as Brenna was.

“Going somewhere?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Brenna replied with an innocent smile over her shoulder. His abrupt entrance hadn’t startled her because Sam had given Mason away with a quick tilt of his head and his perky ears. She had gotten one leg in the new pair of jeans and then the other before she pulled them up to her waist. “I figure you were either still figuring out what to do about Paige or you were just hiding from me. Neither one outweighed the other, so I was coming to find out myself. I hate not knowing.”

Mason leaned up against the closed door as he studied her. Brenna did the same, noting the strain around his eyes. The muscle alongside his jaw was rather tight and his lips were thinner than usual. He was hiding something. He was really worried about Paige, but more so about Berke. Brenna had been given the full rundown from Henley, who’d caught both her and Prue up-to-date after having spoken briefly with Mav while the others had been outside attending to the security of the area.

“No reason for you to be afraid.” Mason finally moved and started to take off his boots, belt, and holster. Sam stood and trotted over to where Mason was sitting on the edge of the bed, wanting a little acknowledgement as well. “We’re trying our best to figure out where Taible might be camped overnight. They wouldn’t have gone too far, considering the time and the fact that it’s pitch black out there. They’ll wait for daybreak before striking out, hoping for some break in the debris to allow for light, before executing any plan for movement over long distances.”

“But won’t it be too late?” Brenna asked, hoping Mason wouldn’t stop undressing. She cringed at the thought, not wanting to draw bad karma her way. She wasn’t thinking about sex when a woman’s life was at stake, but she was considering Mason’s mental state. He needed to shower away all the grime from being outside for this long, but that meant undressing in front of her. Earlier today, well, yesterday, she’d given him his space and made sure she wasn’t looking directly his way. Now? Things had changed and she didn’t want him to be embarrassed by the scars on his body. “Shouldn’t we start searching now?”

Mason still sat where he was and stroked Sam, not making a move either way. It was as if he were contemplating on something and she wasn’t sure if he was willing to share his thoughts with her. He wasn’t used to having someone around all the time.

“We’d have to use lights for an active search and that would give Taible and his band of misfits the advantage,” Mason finally responded, lifting his dark gaze to meet hers. There was something simmering below the surface that called to her. “Owen is out scouting with one of Truman’s teammates because he knows what he’s doing in the dark and has the skills necessary to avoid their counter detection efforts. So until a couple hours before day breaks and we have additional details from Owen’s reconnaissance patrol…we’re staying here and defending our own ground.”

Brenna thought of Paige and the fear that she must be experiencing. No one could explain why Taible wanted her to accompany him. His excuse that other U.S.G.S. employees were working at secret locations didn’t add up, although Brenna was sure the government had people in place to monitor the outcome of such a colossal natural disaster. Was Paige really that important to them that they would hold her against their will or did they have yet another hidden agenda?

“I’m not used to this.”

Mason’s declaration caught Brenna’s attention in more ways than one. Was this his way of opening up to her? She didn’t want to say anything to cause him to close her out, but she also didn’t want to tread too carefully. They were both adults and she wasn’t going to watch every word she said for fear he would distance himself. They’d come this far and she wouldn’t allow him to back away now.

“Coming home to someone?” Brenna had taken Mason’s meaning to be about them, not outside forces. He was staring at her as if she were to blame for something and yet there appeared to be hope shining through as well. She took a step closer to him. “You shut yourself away on your farm for a long time, so it doesn’t surprise me that you’ll need time to adjust to a new way of life. Yet, this place is your home. I can see the way you are with your family here, so you are used to it in a way and it shouldn’t be that much of a stretch to include me.”

“They can only handle me for so long and vice-versa,” Mason said with more honesty than she’d expected. He rubbed the side of his face, where his whiskers were quite a bit longer than yesterday. “I’m not the most pleasant man to be around twenty-four seven.”

“No one is, to be honest,” Brenna replied with a shrug, wanting him to see that she wasn’t going to be bothered by something so insignificant. “You’ve just recently been around me when I was PMSing. You think you’re worse than I am? Sam might prefer some testosterone to balance things out.”

Mason gave a small smile at her attempt to alleviate his concerns, but she wasn’t so sure her endeavor worked. Brenna had a feeling he wasn’t just concerned about his mood swings or the fact that he liked to bark orders when all he had to do was ask. She held out her hand and waited patiently for him to take it. Sam appeared to get the hint that they needed time alone, so the beautiful Australian Shepherd made his way over to his makeshift bed of blankets in the corner. He paced in a circle to get the right spot to lie down.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Mason,” Brenna admitted, grateful when he slid his large hand into hers. He was quite warm considering he’d been outside for such an extended period of time. She scrunched her nose at the sulfur odor emanating from his clothes. “You can be a total asshole sometimes. With that said, your bark is much worse than your bite. And I have to add this…you reek like a sewer right now. I might be developing a pet peeve about the fact that you sat on the comforter in ash-covered jeans when there are two perfectly good wooden chairs next to the table that you could have used to get undressed. Just because the end of the world might be on our doorstep doesn’t mean we get to be uncivilized and that you get to track your dirt in from the fields.”

“I’m sure if I said something about nagging at the moment, that might give credence to me being a total asshole?” Mason pulled Brenna against him, getting her just as dirty and grimy as he was, though it was his words that made her laugh. Yes, being together was going to take quite a while to adjust to and she, for one, was very grateful they were in a place to give them the time they needed. He’d practically carried her to the small shower before he slowly set her back down onto her bare feet. “I’m not the prettiest thing you’ll set your eyes on, little one. I—”

“You think I am? My arms and legs might be toned from running the farm, but my stomach isn’t as flat as when we were in high school,” Brenna admitted, tugging her zipper down since she hadn’t buttoned her jeans. She slowly began to pull them off. “My thighs are larger than I’d like, considering my calves are somewhat decent. My breasts? They could be a cup or two sizes bigger. And have you seen—”

Mason’s soft kiss stopped Brenna from continuing on with everything that wasn’t perfect about her body. His palms cradled her face as he ever so slowly brushed his lips against hers until she almost forgot what they were even talking about…that was, until he pulled away and reached for both of her wrists. He pulled them together and brought her fingers up to his chin, thus capturing her full attention.

“You’ve gotten a glimpse of my scars, but you haven’t really seen the full damage that was done to my body. You need to see everything.”

Mason deliberately pushed her back a step while he turned to reach for the knob that would turn on the water in the small shower stall. It would be a tight fit, but Brenna didn’t mind. She’d prove to him that his scars meant nothing to her.

Brenna thought back to their time together in high school to this very moment, and all the days in between. Young love was something unique and special. Their time apart experiencing life had taught both of them about things bigger than themselves, but those incidents hadn’t altered their core beliefs in any way. Being with him every single day for the past month had made her realize her feelings hadn’t changed. What she felt for him had transformed into something much more mature.

“As I said before,” Brenna reminded him, keeping her emotional revelation to herself. Right now, it was all about
showing
Mason what was in her heart. She finished undressing and stood before him completely nude. “We’re all damaged. I’m not perfect and I definitely wouldn’t want you to be without imperfection. Our scars—whether emotional or physical—are just memories of our journey through life. We should be proud we’ve made it this far, Mason.”

Mason’s dark gaze remained fixated on her as he ever so slowly removed his soiled clothes, pushing the majority of them off to the side with his bare foot. She could appreciate the beauty of his male physique, from the way the muscles in his legs contoured to the entire package in between. He was a beautiful man and it certainly showed through, despite the scarring on his left thigh and side.

The only thing still remaining on Mason’s body was his standard long-sleeved shirt. He removed it as if he were removing a bandage and stood before her, watching and waiting for her reaction. Brenna slowly reached for the last piece of apparel still clutched in his hand and tugged until the material fell to the floor. Without a word, she stepped forward until both of them were underneath the steaming spray.

Brenna simply reached for the soap in the small dish and cupped it in her hand. There would be no washcloths, no loofahs—just her small hands on his skin. She leisurely started with the cords of Mason’s neck, running the suds over his sun-kissed flesh. How long before the color faded? She pushed the thought out of her head, not wanting to think about anything past this moment.