Page 74 of Stolen Faith

Together, they looked at the open door.

Juliette squared her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

Brennon closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. He wasn’t resting; he was fighting with his imagination. He couldn’t help but picture what Izabel might be going through. He’d never been a violent person, but the need to hurt someone…hurt the people who were hurting his fiancée…made his muscles burn.

It wouldn’t be enough to just stop them. Wouldn’t be enough to see them arrested or brought to justice. He wanted them to suffer.

“Someone’s coming.” Rowan’s soft words had Brennon’s head snapping up. He didn’t hear anything, but Devon was alert too, his palms braced on the floor.

Rowan was on his feet, slipping silently across the room.

“If you can, subdue them without noise,” Devon started to say.

Rowan nodded and positioned himself flat against the wall by the door.

Brennon’s heart slammed against his ribs. Rowan said they needed to escape, but apparently it was time. They were making their move.

The lock creaked like it wasn’t used often, and then the door moved. Rowan was tense, but Brennon saw a flash of red satin as the door started to open.

“Wait!” he hiss-whispered to Rowan.

Rowan froze, looking at him.

The door opened all the way and two women stood there.

Izabel had one arm around the blonde at her side. The blonde wore a hospital gown backward, the opening at the front. It had been crossed like a wrap dress and was held closed by a red sash made from the bottom hem of Izabel’s bedraggled dress.

Devon stumbled to his feet. Brennon jumped up, steadying him.

“Jules…”

The blonde’s smile was weak and quickly gone. Her expression smoothed out into a calm, controlled mask. “I don’t think we should stay here.”

“I agree, Grand Master,” Brennon said.

Izabel shot a surprised glance at the other woman. The woman raised a brow at Devon, who shrugged.

Izabel’s surprise morphed to a considering expression; then she nodded once, accepting that bombshell. “Makes sense.”

The Grand Master smiled at Brennon. “Call me Juliette.”

Chapter Sixteen

Rowan had participated in rescue missions in the past. Admittedly, he was usually flying the helicopter, but he’d done his share of dragging people out of dangerous places where they were facing down the barrel of a gun, running for their lives, the odds stacked against them.

This was no different from that, so he’d expected his training to kick in, and it had.

But something else had kicked in too. Something he didn’t have a lot of experience with.

Fear.

Rowan had never had a problem locking down his emotions before because those things could get a man killed in situations like this. No fear was stupid because fear kept a man alive. Too much fear led to mistakes. The trick was to acknowledge the fear at the start of an op, let it fuel your survival instinct, but then lock it down.

Yet as he glanced over his shoulder at Brennon and Izabel, both of them looking at him with so much trust, so much faith, he realized exactly why this mission was different.

This time, the fear wasn’t completely locked away because he knew exactly what it meant to lose something important. Something that mattered to him. He’d gone through this once and it had nearly killed him. Back then, he’d been arrogant enough that he had thought himself, his team, invincible.

Now, he knew better, and the terror was real.