Terra's Victory (Destiny's Trinities Book 7) by Tracy Cooper-Posey Page B

ever tried to do the right thing, to protect the people he served. The injustice rankled.
    Cora gripped his wrist and pulled. She was stronger than Aithan and nearly yanked him off his feet. Her grip was tight, to the point where it hurt and that broke his focus. He looked at her.
    “Come on. Time to go,” she said.
    Reluctance made him dig in his heels. He’d known Dobson for nearly fifteen years. They’d got drunk together more than once. Didn’t that count for anything?
    Aithan was still gripping his arm. “He’s the sort who won’t hear, no matter how much you explain. He’s never going to understand.”
    Dobson heard him. His mouth opened, surprise and indignation crawling over his face.
    Rhys looked at Aithan, calm returning. Aithan had understood. He’d gone right to the core and diffused it. Even though Rhys longed to explain, to be heard, Dobson was the wrong person. If he had been thinking rationally, Rhys would have recognized that about Dobson, too.
    Rhys nodded. “Yeah, let’s get out of here,” he said heavily. “I need a drink.”
    “The bodies?” Cora asked in an undertone.
    “Leave them,” Rhys decided. “Too many witnesses, anyway. Let’s get out of here, as Seaveth wants us to.” He could almost taste the first shot of Daniels already.
    Aithan guided him back to the car and while Rhys didn’t need the help or the guidance, he did want the comfort of his touch. Perhaps Aithan had figured that out, too.

Chapter Eight
    Zack put fresh coffee in front of Beth, kissed her temple and threw himself into the armchair, which had mysteriously migrated from the front of the living room over next to the dining table, where Beth and Lindal had their laptops set up. The dining table was the new command central.
    Zack spent more time on the phone, hustling deals and arrangements for a new headquarters that Beth had asked be secured at the soonest possible moment.
    “Sooner, if I can manage it,” Zack promised her. “Just don’t expect running water and cushions.”
    “I don’t care,” Beth said. “As long as it’s big enough to hold everyone and the wiring can handle Lindal’s algorithms, or whatever it was he told you about.”
    “Network cabling,” Zack said, snuffling back laughter.
    “That,” Beth said impatiently. “Thank you.”
    While Lindal finalized his programming and helped Beth with coordination and communications, Zack had gone off to take care of things.
    Now he was asking for an update on their end of things. “Summarize for me,” he said.
    “It’s about as bad as it could be,” Beth said. “Two hounds, an arena full of witnesses, including the chief of police and his two sons, who were the intended targets until Rhys got in the way, so that’s got the police chief wound up like nitroglycerin. There’s a local TV station in Erie and national affiliates and they’re all hammering on Rhys’ door. I told Cora to take them into Canada, to the clan headquarters in Toronto, until the fuss dies down.” She shrugged.
    “You should be vibrating into a stroke about that. Why do you sound so calm?” Lindal asked, his eyes on his screen.
    “Because there’s nothing we can do about it,” Beth said. “Rhys and Cora and Aithan did exactly what I told them to do. They protected the humans, no matter how much it exposed them. Then they got the hell out of there. I get the impression from the careful way Aithan was talking that Rhys resented it but they did it, anyway. So now the press have a million questions and no one to give them answers. It actually worked.”
    “What’s got you so absorbed, elf-boy?” Zack asked, from the depths of his armchair.
    Beth sipped the coffee. It was hot and good.
    “I’m reading a transcript of the debriefing Beth walked the three of them through,” Lindal said.
    “That’s your version of light Sunday morning reading?” Zack asked.
    Lindal sat back, rocking the chair back on its rear legs. Even with it tilted, his long legs still