Fallen Into Hell: Fallen: Book 2, Layna Snow [the mitten read aloud .TXT] 📗

“My team can operate without me. Was anyone else hurt?” he protested, as if annoyed at the insinuation that he hadn’t trained his team well.

Gage moved farther into the room. “No, they aren’t. And yes, they can. But they refused. They said that they will not work if you can’t lead them. Sasha’s team can’t work. She has them so dependent on her, that they’d just run around in circles. I asked them to do a training exercise and they failed.”

Oh, they were so great! Needing her to lead them, needing her every direction! She was sure Marco would be fine, but the team probably wouldn’t follow him. He didn’t have enough cleavage!

“Why are you smiling, Sasha? That isn’t something to be proud of.” Gage insisted, but obviously he didn’t get what made a good team! She did. Equal parts love and dependence.

The same things that formed a good relationship.

Which, was probably the reason she didn’t have relationships. Valkyrie didn’t mate for life! They just messed around and if they got pregnant, they’d raise another little Valkyrie, teaching her in the arts of poisons and potions. Because the child was always a Valkyrie, and it was always female.

“Whatever you say, captain!” she saluted, turning back to the patient. “You wanna start, Sugar? I wasn’t there for the beginning.” She prompted.

He cleared his throat and nodded.

“My team staked out the area. We saw the Witches, eight male and six female, go in. They brought a bound woman with them. What happened to her?” Connor asked, his eyes almost shining. Actually, they were probably glowing, given his new vampy status.

“Her body was found nailed to the floor and torn into pieces.” Gage said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

This was the man she was used to. The one that kept apart from people and locked his emotions down. Well, anything negative. Anger could bring out his beast and then everything would be demolished. Nothing wrecked a building like an enraged Berserker.

“Oh, that makes sense,” Connor continued, “We saw through one of the windows that they were placing the struggling woman on the floor and so we went in the front. Colt had to pick the lock, and that took time.”

Sash nodded, “So that’s why the door was open.”

Connor nodded, and swallowed again. “I’m thirsty or hungry, I don’t know which. Can I have some water?” he asked. And it broke Sasha’s heart. She wanted to give him what he needed, but she knew that he wouldn’t take the news well.

“Not until you’re done.” Gage answered. And she felt the need to hug him for it. Shit! She was turning into a sap!

Connor nodded and took a deep breath. “We were quiet entering. We knew that they were in the back and we hoped to make it in and take out a few of their people before they killed the girl. But they must have had someone watching. Someone shot at us and it just missed Steel’s arm. He knocked over the tables to provide some cover but we were at a bad angle, and we couldn’t get off a clean shot. We had some tranq darts, and we got one or two, but it wasn’t enough. And then the girl screamed and we called for backup.”

She could tell that his voice hurt. She could tell that he didn’t want to continue talking. He had lost a life, and she knew it would weigh heavily on him. He had that conscience thing. Pesky!

“We got the call and came in. I-“

“Where were you?” Gage demanded.

“Well, my team was around the building, pretending to be homeless men and women. Angie pretended to be a hooker. A little before, I picked up a guy at a club and made out with him a bit across the street. That kind of thing is normal in that area. Wouldn’t draw attention. I was done when I got the call, so I crossed the street to meet up with my team. They were in the small alley beside the building. I told them exactly what to do and we broke up.”

“You took Marco with you.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“Of course. And wasn’t it good that I had.” She said, glaring at the big man. “We opened the door and started shooting. I used my bow and I hit a couple. Marco used the dart gun and hit a couple more. He should be commended, by the way. He hates that thing, but he did it for the good of the cause.”

“Why should he be commended for doing what he is supposed to do? That’s like congratulating a person for not being a serial killer.” Again, Gage was straight faced.

“Axel would have,” she defended.

“Well, Axel isn’t here and he left me in charge. If you don’t like it, then wait and take it up with him. Now continue.”

Sasha bristled at the order, but rolled her eyes. The sooner they were done this, the sooner that party-pooper could leave!

“Fine. Then I went in because if I was hit I wouldn’t die. Connor and his team are… well you know!” Mother of shit! She couldn’t say it! “I threw the smoke bomb I was working on, and the baddies dropped.”

“Did you test it before using it?”

Sasha growled. “There wasn’t time! I just finished it. Besides, what harm could it have done?”

“So you brought safety equipment? You had gasmasks for your team, and Connor’s team?”

She shook her head. “No, okay, I could have done better! I could have brought some, but I didn’t think about it! It was a no win situation. We had to get to the girl, then we had to get out!”

“But you didn’t get the girl. And you didn’t get out. Where was the rest of your team?”

Sasha rolled