Verena's Whistle: Varangian Descendants Book I by K. Panikian (top android ebook reader txt) 📕

talk anymore about it,” he said. “I’m sorry I unloaded earlier.”

“You don’t have to—” I started but then he waved his hand at me dismissively. “The first time I—” I tried again but stopped when he turned away.

“I know,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. See you in the morning, right?”

I felt suddenly horribly embarrassed. What was I doing? I had known this guy less than a week and obviously, we did not have any kind of emotional connection, despite the physical attraction. He didn’t want any comfort from me. Why would he? I turned and headed for my room, knowing my face was flaming.

I heard a muttered, “Very, wait—” behind me but I ignored it and shut my door. I fell asleep dreaming of potatoes chasing me through the snow, dripping blood.

Chapter 18

In the morning I felt focused. This was it. We had Greek fire. We knew the enemy’s location. Now was the time to strike. After the bukavac fight I’d been scared, but now, I felt determined. I felt like we had a solid plan.

I set my alarm to go off early and spent the hour before everyone else woke up in the backyard, doing a kata I’d been practicing for the past year. My sword gleamed in the early morning light that spilled over the valley and I swung it with strength and grace. My muscles stretched and released in an easy rhythm and I breathed carefully and smoothly.

When I walked into the kitchen for a glass of water afterward, I saw Zasha stepping out of Theo’s room. She waved at me and came into the kitchen, and I started the kettle for tea.

“I saw you through the window,” she whispered. “You looked very fierce.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done here. I know we’d still be exploding the backyard without you.”

She shrugged, “Yes, probably,” she admitted.

“I want you to promise me that if we don’t come back today, you find some way of alerting the police or the military. Talk to Dmitri at the sword shop, maybe. But people need to be warned that the mountain is not safe.”

“Yes, I will promise,” she answered, then she smiled, “Theo already made me promise. He gave me the phone number to the farmhouse too. I will call your family.”

“Good,” I said. “He is a good man. I’m happy you guys found each other.” I paused. “So, you guys are spending the night together and…?”

She smiled at me again, her eyes laughing. “Do not worry. You come home safe tonight and I will tell you everything.”

I grinned back.

We worked together to grill up a big pile of pancakes and then I slipped away to shower. In the hall I ran into Owen, just shutting his bedroom door.

“Hey, Very,” he said. “Listen, I wanted—” I stopped him quickly.

“Sorry, I need to shower. I’ll see you at breakfast.” I slid into my room and shut the door. I’d learned my lesson. He was a teammate only. His kisses might be delicious but I did not need the aggravation of dealing with an emotionally closed off man, thank you very much.

When I came back into the kitchen a little while later, everyone was up and had made a big dent in the pancake pile. I’d prepared my speech in the shower and started in when I knew everyone was paying attention.

“The plan of attack is basic and hopefully, that will make it effective. The four of us,” I pointed to everyone but Zasha, “will take the snow machines up to the place on the ski trail where the creek intercepts. We’ll be carrying three pots of Greek fire and all our weapons. We’ll follow the creek up the ridge to the cave.

“At the cave, we’ll dump out the pots and I’ll light the Greek fire. I’ll launch it into the cave entrance and hold it there until it burns out.

“When it burns out, we’ll deal with whatever is left, whether that means going into the cave to count bodies, or killing whatever crawls out.”

I finished up. “Zasha knows what to do if we don’t come home.

“Any questions?”

There was radio silence at first and then everyone started in. Julian wanted to know if we were taking a backup Greek fire projector, in case anything happened to me. Theo told him the projector he’d bought in Seattle arrived last night and was ready to go in the garage.

Then Theo wanted to know if he should bring the bows or just the crossbows, and what if we got stopped by someone with all our weapons exposed?

I told him yes, every bow, and that we had to risk the exposure. The alternative was worse.

Finally, Owen asked what time we were heading out, since Dmitri was expecting him.

I told him we should be on the trail by early afternoon to be at the cave, set up, by dusk, when any scouting parties would be back in the shelter. He agreed and headed out.

I continued to plan with Theo and Julian, and Zasha went out to the garage to inspect the projector. Then she called Theo out there to go over a couple of ideas.

Julian and I sat in the living room and I waited for the inevitable.

“The thing is….”

There it was.

“Guys don’t like to feel like they’re not the protectors. That they’re not needed.”

“That’s BS,” I answered. “And you know it. You don’t—”

He stopped me. “Of course, I don’t. I was raised by my mother, the great Sophia, who could blast you with an energy bolt from a football field away.”

I took a deep breath and waved my hands in the air. “No, I get it. He’s reacting completely normally for an alpha male suddenly questioning his alpha-ness.”

“He can’t shoot his gun, he doesn’t know how to swing a sword, and his family, who didn’t even know about him, has superpowers,” Julian pointed out. “His father raised him to idolize us. He came into this fight with something to prove.”

“Intellectually,”