Skye had been undercover for a little over eight months and she missed her mates. She talked or wrote to them every day, as she had promised, and she also had contact with Victoria twice a week, updating her on her mission.
When she left, she had contacted an old friend to tell him she was back online and wanted a meeting with some of the other members, to find out if everyone was safe. He had been relieved to hear from her and arranged a meeting for a few days later.
She had not managed to learn all she was supposed to since they were a lot more careful at what they were doing.
She was on her way back to her van, she had just gone to the store to get some snacks and water. She was bone-tired from the past week, the new leaders of the Rising Tide had her do a lot of hacks. She still didn't know how she felt about the new leaders, she'd known who the previous leaders were, she had a good relationship with them, but they were gone now. She didn't know where they were, they were some of the people she had refused to give up, not even to her soulmates or Victoria, and they hadn't pushed after she had growled at them, and then panicked after said growl.
After she closed the sliding door of her van, she almost had a heart attack when a voice piped up.
"Wow, and here I wanted to surprise you, but you act like I am not even here." the voice huffed.
Skye whirled around and glared at the woman who had almost given her a heart attack, the woman just grinned.
"What?" Sharon asked, faking innocents.
"You know what! What would you have done if I had company with me?" Skye asked, annoyed with her pack beta.
"I would've said I was a friend and here to keep you warm at night." Sharon said with an innocent grin. Skye rolled her eyes, having gotten used to Sharon, Kara, and even Izzy's jokes.
"And what would happen if that became public knowledge?" Skye asked with a tilt of her head.
"Hmm, run for the hills. I would have a lot of angry Alphas and a few Betas wanting to kill me." Sharon answered, still grinning.
Skye sighed and shook her head, then she gave Sharon a small smile.
"Hey Sharon, I have almost missed you." Skye said, taking the three steps over to her and hugging her.
"Hey Skye, it's been way too long. Kara can't stop teasing everyone that she saw you three months ago."
"I can't imagine it going well with Maria, Natasha, May, or Bobbi." Skye said, sitting down on her bed with Sharon following her.
"Oh, it didn't," Sharon said before starting to laugh.
"What happened?" Skye was almost scared to ask.
"They have been making Kara's life hell. Izzy thinks it's funny since Kara still brags about it. She hasn't asked them to stop yet, but now I can shut her up since I am seeing you now." Sharon said.
"Just don't tease them." Skye asked.
"Of course not, I am not about to paint a target on my back, like Kara," Sharon said, Skye laughed at that.
"So, have you eaten yet?" Sharon asked.
"No, not yet, I was planning to go out to get something after I had dropped by with this," Skye said pointing to the water and bag of different kinds of snacks.
"Great, what are we having?" Sharon said.
An hour later they were sitting on Skye's bed eating Thai food. Skye was yawning, as she had been since Sharon arrived, and of course, Sharon had noticed.
"Are you getting enough sleep?" Sharon asked.
"No, not really. The new leaders keep giving me tasks to do for them, and I still don't know who they are, and I miss everyone." Skye answered, a little defeated and a tear fell down her cheek.
Sharon sat her almost empty container of food down on the floor, before taking Skye's a little more than half full container out of her hand, which she noted, and doing the same, and then pulled Skye into her.
Skye welcomed the hug and began to cry. She really missed everyone, her mates, and her pack, so she was glad Sharon was here. It had been nice to see Kara, but she wasn't one of her soulmates or in her pack, but Sharon was pack, she was her Beta.
Skye had also started to seriously regret taking on this mission. She hadn't been home since the mission began, only speaking to her soulmates over the phone or video call, but it wasn't the same. And now since May was assigned to a mobile command team, they would have less chance of talking.
Skye let out a huff then a little laughter, Sharon looked down on her with a raised eyebrow.
"If you asked me two years ago if I would be happy with a pack or soulmates, I would have said hell no. I never wished to meet them, and even actively avoided the topic and all those meetup conventions. Every time there would be one in the town I was in, I would leave and not look back." Skye said, shaking her head.
"And now, when I have both, I miss them all so much and can't imagine a life without them. Looking back to when I was fighting my soulmates in the beginning, well weakly fought them." Skye said with a smile.
"Yeah, I heard about that, I would have thought you would have fought them more. Vic is just happy she didn't have to fight you that much." Sharon said laughing in the end.
"Yeah, it was easier to accept her… and you," Skye said, shoving Sharon with her shoulder.
An hour later, Sharon asked Skye if she was eating enough since she didn't eat more of her Thai food.
Skye fiddled with a corner of her blanket, and that was all Sharon needed to know the answer.
"Skye, you know if you want to go home, all you have to do is say so. Vic and Maria will handle Fury if he makes a fuss about it." Sharon said.
"I know, but The Rising Tide is different from before, these new leaders are not good people who just want to make sure the people know what's going on in the world." Skye said, which was one of the reasons as to why she had refused to give the old leaders up. "No, the new leaders don't care about the people or if they hurt innocent people, so I can't, I need to help stop them." She said.
"You could work from home then," Sharon said, but it sounded a little like a question.
"No, we thought I could after meeting up with my friend Miles, but it won't work with the new leaders. They keep track of us, they know I moved around a lot before, and know I supposedly still live in my van, so they keep sending me around the country for hacks." Skye said, leaning against Sharon again.
"I don't like this mission you are on." Sharon said after a little while, running her fingers through Skye's hair.
"You are not the only one." Skye said, closing her eyes, relaxing against Sharon even more.
"How long are you staying?" Skye asked, looking up at Sharon from her position against her beta.
"I can stay the night if you want." Sharon said, Skye smiled at Sharon, loving that her beta could stay a little longer.
They stayed up a little longer before they went to sleep, Skye nested in Sharon's arms. Skye fell asleep first, but Sharon stayed awake and just looked down at the sleeping omega, worried about her friend, pack mate, and friend's soulmate.
She knew she had to at least inform Victoria about Skye not eating enough or sleeping, but she also knew she should tell Skye's mates. She was worried how they would react since Skye was still hesitant in certain aspects, hell Sharon knew that none of them had had any sexual activities with Skye yet.
She was afraid one or all of them would overstep in their overprotectiveness and accidentally push Skye away, like the time Maria got angry at Fury with Skye in the room, and Skye ran to Victoria, and stayed a while. She just hoped something like that wouldn't happen again. That was also the reason she would let Victoria inform Skye's mates, in the end, since she wanted nothing to do with what would undoubtedly be a dangerous situation, when they learned that their omega wasn't sleeping or eating, and that she wanted to come home, but couldn't, and that they couldn't come to her.
Sharon fell asleep soon after.
The next morning Sharon took Skye to eat breakfast, but Skye got a message from one of the people close to the leaders, giving her a new job in LA and she would get more info when she got there.
So, Sharon and Skye said goodbye and Skye headed for LA, and Sharon headed back to HQ, calling Victoria on the way, telling her she needed to talk to her when she got back and that it concerned Skye.
Thanks to Fun_size_Tasha for betaing.