RUST
"Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust."
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War
—
DECEMBER 7TH 2039
9:17PM MST
RADIAL MOUNTAIN, COLORADO
The world flew past them as they traveled deeper and deeper into the mountainous forest.
Since time was of the utmost importance, they were traveling at top speed. Maria had been appalled to see that the slowest out of all of them was one of her own. Jamie's prematurely fading newborn strength had finally come back to bite them in the ass at the absolute worst time.
Even the god damn preacher's wife was keeping pace.
They'd slowed their speed by a mere fraction, but Maria had felt the flush of irritation from the point of their formation before it disappeared. The Major was just as annoyed as she was.
Thankfully, he had enough brainpower in that empty skull of his to react normally to pre-battle inconveniences. You couldn't plan for everything, but you could brace yourself for most.
Maria doubted the Cullens' ability to listen to simple orders without making a huge fuss—she'd expected immediate tears from the weak-willed crybaby at their center—but thankfully they could at least follow directions.
It was Alice who had told her about the only time the Major had bothered to teach any of this coven how to fight. It had been amusing when the boy, Edward, had stomped out of the room when Alice had recounted that tale. It was even more amusing to Maria that he'd caused more problems than the Major had in the last century.
It hadn't shocked her though. the Major had always been unflinchingly loyal to her (up until the end, at least). No wonder he thrived under the leadership of the next person to give him a set of rules to follow. The bastard hadn't possessed his own code of morals so of course he'd waited around until someone bestowed a set upon him.
He thrived under his current way of life the same way he'd thrived under her command because that's what he did: he adapted. And Maria had always possessed guidelines and set rules in place that her army was to follow. Ones that remained even hundreds of years later.
She was never to be contradicted nor questioned—and if anyone did it (and wanted to live) they'd better hope that they had both a good enough reason and that no witnesses were around. No one was allowed to follow her into her quarters—unless she pulled them in there herself, to scratch an itch, to hear a secret, or to exchange information. Meals were only allowed if they'd earned them through training or success—but if a stray human wandered too close to the mansion, they knew what to do.
There were always rules that she enforced, but there were always instances where sometimes a little bending was in order.
One such rule concerned the Major's ability.
The second rule between them had always been this: he was not allowed to use his ability on her.
Except for in specific circumstances. One of these circumstances tied back to the first rule she'd established with him—he was not allowed to kiss her when they fucked unless she kissed him first; he was, however, allowed to do other things, and put his mouth other places—and the second circumstance was during battle.
To feel the Major's gift now, after all this time, felt like a breath of fresh air. Maria had not felt this invigorated in a long, long time, and as they ran onward, in position and moving as a cohesive unit, she relished in the feeling.
This was something she had missed. This perfect tapestry of focus left their senses sharpened and honed. It was this that felt like true homecoming.
Maria could admit that the Major's abandonment in the 20th century had been a loss for many reasons, but no loss had been felt more than this one right here.
Maria inhaled deeply, the trail fading but still plain as day, and followed closely behind the Major and her three newborns that led the charge. She was focused on his form as he moved, just as tenacious and agile as he'd always been, with an air that was undeniably dangerous. It had always been his most charming characteristic, in her opinion.
It was such a shame that they were currently at his mercy. This focus was something that was a safe, agreeable compromise. If the Major went off the rails—if he even attempted what Edward said he was considering, fine tuning each individual's fear, anger, or any other hysterical upset mid-fight—he would throw their focused calm into a disastrous array that would crash and burn. For a moment, Maria turned her head and scowled at the sight of Carlisle's stern expression.
Maria had cornered him before they'd departed.
Carlisle had flinched when she'd grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him away, and her voice remained low so that only he would hear. "If I am to retrieve your girl, and Edward is to retrieve your boy, then you have to keep watch on the Major."
The fool had blinked down at her, confusion quirking his blonde brows. "I thought that was Peter's assignment."
"Peter will not kill the Major if he loses control. He can restrain him, sure, and he will if it comes down to it, but that does not solve the problem."
He'd stiffened as the meaning of her words registered. Before he could protest she'd spoken again, her voice still quiet, but firm with her resolve. "I do not recognize this brand of ruthlessness in him, Carlisle." She'd made sure to look him in the eye when she'd informed him of this. "I have told you this already and I did not say it to be cute. Peter can physically stop him if he tries to do anything that gets you all killed, but if I am busy, and if Edward is busy, and if your strongest is being mangled by Father Esteban—" she'd ignored his pained expression and continued speaking, "then you are the only person who knows him well enough to get past his guard."
"You're asking me to kill a member of my family?" His furious disbelief would have made her feel bad if every other detail about him didn't frustrate her to the ends of the earth.
"I am asking you to make a choice now before you have to make it in ten minutes." Maria's eyes had been hard. She did not look away from him during this. The fool had to know how serious she was. "Taking his head off can and will save the rest of your family. If you want to sacrifice them because you continue to prove yourself unable to make a decision, then that is a choice you will have to live with. If the problem presents itself, you know what to do."
Carlisle breathed hard for a few seconds and had not looked away from her serious, stern expression. "He is not a 'problem'," he'd spoken eventually. Then, he'd looked away, toward the rest of his unstable coven. "but I understand."
It hadn't been a confident reply, and Maria was still uncertain whether or not he would be able to carry out the deed if it came down to it, but at least he seemed to understand the severity of the Major's mental state. She watched as his attention flickered toward the Major every now and again, and that hypervigilance alone would have to suffice.
The Major released a quick whistle and swiftly they were all turning west. It was a subtle change but, as they angled their group to continue chasing after the scent trail, it was suddenly so much easier to keep her eyes ahead.
Maria had always felt power within herself but the Major had always been able to purify and strengthen it.
She inhaled deeply and held the breath, focusing on the scents in her awareness. Emmett and Alice's were the easiest to distinguish of course, but she could just barely, attached to at least two of their enemies who had left this trail for them, smell him.
Father Esteban had always reeked of a sickening combination of frankincense and acetone; even years after abandoning the true practice he'd sworn himself to he still stunk heavily of the incense he'd burnt throughout his human years.
He had not travelled this path but two of the men who she had seen—two of the dirt-covered scar-faced newborns—had recently spent time in Esteban's presence. The smell alone was enough to force irritating memories to the surface.
God. She couldn't verbalize how much she was going to enjoy his death.
As long as the Major stuck with the plan and the Cullens didn't get themselves killed, Maria's chance of ridding this filthy man from the earth once and for all was high and bright in her mind. It was that promise that kept her mind open and willing to accept any and all intrusions from the Major's ability.
Maria clung to the addicting sensation around them as they raced headlong into the unknown.
It was less than a minute later when the silence was ended by a stammer.
"I—" Maria's head whipped around as Edward's mate, Bella, spoke up, her voice cracking, her eyes wide. "I think I've got them." In the next instant, Edward was gasping, and his attention was turned further north.
"They're up ahead!" he yelled, too goddamn loud for Maria's liking. He didn't have to fucking scream, they could all hear him. "We have to—" It was that word he froze on, still staring northbound, when they could all finally hear it in the distance.
The sound of feet—at least a dozen pairs—barreling toward them was a welcome sound in Maria's ears. It promised a fight, which is what led her to those victories she so deeply coveted. The Major whistled again, adjusting their trajectory, and they were still moving forward in formation as fast as they could.
"Kate," Edward blurted out, "and Garrett and Carmen."
Before Maria could snap at him to shut up—they didn't need their enemy to hear them exchanging words this close—the composure of the Cullens started to crumble. The names were barely familiar to Maria. She knew about their allies that lived somewhere above the Canadian border; more strange vampires who consumed animal blood in exchange for yellow eyes and mental instability. She had assumed that they'd been decimated.
There was no way a trio of animal-eating vampires could have made it this far with any number of Esteban's cult in hot pursuit. It made Maria instantly doubt that whatever Bella was sensing at the periphery of her shield, and whatever Edward was hearing with his own ability, were actually friends of theirs.
Maria snapped at Edward when he started to drift out of formation. "In your place," she barked, as loud as she dared. Usually there was a signal for this, paired with a whistle that every newborn she'd ever created could recognize and react to adequately, but she hadn't had time to go over tiny details like that with this crappy army.
"They have them," Edward panicked, staring into the distance that they were barreling towards, wide and disbelieving. "They have them somehow I—I don't—"
"There are nine behind them," Bella's distressed voice cut off his stammering. "Carmen and Garrett have Alice and Emmett, Kate's bringing up the rear, and there are nine—no, eight?"
"Kate got cut off," Edward yelled, and suddenly he was ahead of all of them, pushing past their front line with startling ease. "We have to hurry! Get them to safety." He barked the order over his shoulder. "It's only nine and there isn't anyone else coming yet."
Maria was incensed. "Get back in your position or you are going to get yourself killed!" There was a quick moment where she contemplated stepping out of formation herself and physically dragging the foolish child back. If this moron got himself killed because things were going better than 'according to plan' Maria had no idea how she'd be able to keep the rest of the Cullens in order, too.
If they were abandoning their retrieval procedures now, less than a mile away from the enemy, it was going to throw half of their plan into disarray. Maria's mind quickly readjusted what she could, but before she could speak up, Edward was talking.
"Switch to full," he barked the words, thieving them from Maria's mind. "Retrieval null! Target return!" They were phrases that only meant something to her, Peter, and the Major, and they filled Maria with a fury that she could not allow herself to indulge in, even if this presumptuous idiot dared to think that he was helping.
"Switch to full," she snapped, angry that she had to repeat those words in order for them to adequately work, and that she looked like an ass because of the repetition. He will not listen to you, child! she screeched mentally, wanting to say more, worse things. But they didn't have the time. In seconds their allies and enemies alike would be upon then.
"Retrieval null!" And only then did the Major chance a look over his shoulder. His flicker of confusion did not register on his features, but Maria could sense it in the air where it rippled toward her, quick like an acknowledgement appearing and then vanishing. A tried and true method of communication that they'd perfected after eighty years of fighting together. "Target return." The understanding was in his eyes and his annoyance was in the air as he turned back around. In a flash their focus sharpened once more, their task upon them.
"You two," Maria turned and spoke quickly, knowing that this was the last thing she'd be able to say. Rosalie and Esme were already looking at her, their confusion and fear evident across their expressions. "When your people reach us, fall back with them and keep their blindspots covered. Do not let your guard down until we are in the clear." She added, knowing that if she didn't say this now then they'd probably try to stop to fawn over their coven mates which would, undeniably, get them or others (or both) killed. "And you," she snapped her fingers toward two of the newborns flanking Bella at the rear, "don't let any of them get killed."
Maria did not wait for them to nod in acknowledgement before she turned around, relaxed her mind, and braced herself to do the one thing she was best at:
Win.
Four seconds later two golden eyed vampires broke through the tree line, each of them carrying a mangled, silver mess, and Maria and her makeshift army flew past them without a second glance. It was two seconds later that the first sound of violence erupted before them.
Edward, while charging ahead of them all—like a moron—had torn off the head of the first of Esteban's cronies to emerge. Maria had flown past the body before it had even hit the ground. Well, at least he wasn't dead yet.
The sound of buzzing was growing louder as they flew toward their target and when she could count eight vampires in her sights, a glowing blue light nearly took all of her attention away.
Almost, but didn't.
Edward reached the glowing, buzzing form at the same time that Esteban's followers reached their front lines. The Major had already killed two by the time Maria got her hands on one—his continued efficiency left her feeling alight with confidence and power. She didn't kill the towering woman who'd stumbled into her arms, only half-way decapitated her and left her wriggling on the ground.
The next time Maria got her arms around someone, Peter elbowed one of the two men that were trying to get a grip on him to the side, perfectly angled in a way that the lanky youth never saw his death coming. His head came off cleanly and Maria used that to light the first pyre, tossing it to the side before resurveying the scene.
Maria's eyes first fell on Esme Cullen when a cry—not a hiss, or even a damn growl—tore its way past her teeth. Maria readied herself to backtrack and lend some annoyed assistance before she realized that she wasn't in trouble. If anything she was holding her own far better than Maria thought she would, but as she dodged and grabbed and pushed against the man's attempts to restrain her, her focus had shattered at some point and she was actively sobbing.
Oh, for fuck's sake.
Thankfully, before Maria moved to step in, a newborn she'd sent back with them met the attacking man head on and freed the wailing woman from having to fight any further.
It was almost amusing to see Carlisle Cullen grapple with a man, just barely shorter than him but almost twice as wide, before wrenching an arm off and diving in for the kill. That particular move was one of the Major's old ones; a simple skill he instilled in all the newborns during their first training session, but an effective one nonetheless.
The sound of buzzing was louder for half of an instant before it extinguished. A low, groaning "Fuck," echoed in a voice Maria did not recognize, and the blue-white form from earlier—she was a white woman with long, straight hair—leaned against Edward's towering form. Only bodies lay around them now.
It was over so fast.
It had only taken them nineteen seconds to rid the entire area of the first members of Esteban's cult they'd come across. Before the last few bodies hit the ground, Maria had already pushed backward through the fray, her eyes locked onto the black-haired stranger who was cowering at the back of the group.
Maria knew her part and was in front of the woman in an instant. Maria didn't let her gain any distance between them, even as the woman growled and scurried backward, and even as a man's voice, shouting toward her to "Hey! Back the fuck up—" registered in her ears.
Bella's consoling tone in the background ensured that the rangy man wouldn't try anything idiotic, but Maria was going to lose her patience if the woman kept backing up. Then, Bella called out again, to the black-haired woman's luck, "Carmen! It's okay, she's with us!"
The woman, Carmen, was holding Alice the way one might hold a child, with one arm under her knees and another around her shoulders, and clutched her tight against her chest. It was with an acute sense of dread that Maria noted the girl's state of undress.
"Shit," she cursed and reached out quickly. The woman flinched and stepped back again, and Maria erupted. "You can not hold her like that!" Maria grabbed Alice's forearm and yanked Alice toward her. The stupid woman almost didn't let go, but when a choked gasp erupted from Alice's motionless body—the first signs of life Maria had seen—Carmen flinched and almost dropped her.
Alice's legs attempted, in vain, to crumble beneath her the instant her bare feet hit the ground. Maria held tight to Alice's upper arms and kept her upright, quickly taking stock of the injuries she could at least see. Plenty of damage had been done to the joints—she still had some of Esteban's goddamn wrapping embedded in her ankles—and other than the wounds of the crucifixion, which Maria had expected, she was otherwise in tact.
Maria felt another person flicker to her side as she pulled Alice forward, turning her slightly to grimace at the sight of her mangled back. She had seen the wounds while she'd approached but they looked worse up close on her small frame. Whatever tool Esteban had used on her had done extensive damage—Maria could count two exposed ribs poking through the blackened-purple flesh inside of her—but what concerned Maria the most was Alice's unblinking, unseeing stare.
"Carmen," Esme Cullen cried from beside her, finally there to break Maria's concentration. "Alice." Her voice cracked and when Maria saw a hand extended toward the girl, she barely had time to warn Esme before she'd already done something so incredibly stupid.
Esme Cullen reached out and brushed Alice's cheek with her fingertips.
The scream that erupted out of Alice was as loud as it was terrible.
Maria swiftly twisted Alice's arms in a way that wasn't typically painful, but with the flesh on her back ripped to shreds any shifting of her shoulder blades was bound to be excruciating. Alice's scream was cut off with a pained gasp as Maria shifted to grip both of Alice's broken wrists in one of her hands. As Alice struggled, Maria bent her elbows inward, pressing her forearms against her chest and turning her around so that Maria could wrap the second arm around her head.
Maria smacked a hand over Alice's mouth when she attempted to gather breath to release a second scream—she watched in her periphery as Esme reached out toward them both before Peter appeared and stopped her—and, even though she knew what she was about to do was going to fucking hurt, Maria pulled Alice's back firmly against her front. Alice then—expectedly and understandably—bit her hand. Maria winced and tightened her grip on Alice's mangled wrists.
"Stop it," Maria shook her quickly, leaning in closely to Alice's ear, all while trying to ignore the smell of venom that permeated the air. She also tried not to think about how it was getting all over her. "Hey!" Maria snapped again. She didn't want to yell but they could not afford for Alice to start freaking out right now. A scream so loud this close to enemy territory was like a beacon signaling that you were still alive and needed to be silenced. "Cut it out," she hissed, giving her another good shake. "Quiet!"
Maria did not feel good about the noise Alice released against her palm. She recalled the girl's nakedness and scowled. Of all the shit luck—of all the goddamn worse-case bullshit that could have stemmed from this ridiculous, failed hunting attempt—of course it had to be Alice Esteban had gotten his slimy hands on. It was going to take a fucking miracle to keep the Major from going nuclear.
"You're okay, Alice." Esme's shaking voice called over Maria's shoulder, "It's okay, it's us. We've got you. It's okay now, I promise."
It was that, the desperate, pitiful sounds of a mother cooing to a small child, that caused Alice to finally stop fighting. Despite the lie (you couldn't promise anything to anyone in a situation like this) Maria was grateful for the shameful words. Maria looked up at Peter, who was already staring back at her, mouth in a firm line.
All at once it seemed that everyone, Peter and Esme and this new Carmen woman, truly took note of Alice's nudity. Before anyone could speak further, more noise from the front of their formation drew their attention.
"Jasper!" Carlisle's voice was calling out in the distance, forcing Maria's focus off of the disaster unfolding in front of her. "Jasper!"
"He ran off," Bella jogged over, her eyes wide as she also realized Alice's state. Maria had to hand it to her, at least Bella was able to push past her horror and shock quickest. The fool had her shirt halfway off before Peter stopped her, yanking his over his head and approaching. The next words were clearly intended for Maria, "We need you. He won't listen and he'll be out of my range soon if he doesn't stop."
Maria pulled her hand back and was pleased when the only thing Alice did was breathe heavily. Maria couldn't see Alice's face but when Peter started speaking to her in quiet, hushed tones, Maria had to assume that she was at least aware of her surroundings now.
She released Alice's wrists so that Peter could slip the shirt overtop of Alice's head—thankfully it was large enough that it didn't press unnecessarily against the terrible wounds and fell halfway down her thighs—and when Alice pressed her face into Peter's chest, Maria finally turned and moved on.
It was bad enough that a different breed on panic was being expressed barely twenty feet away. Maria didn't have time to pause and examine the larger Cullen, but she had seen, in that flicker as they'd passed her army by and finally crossed over into safety, the way his limbs had been fused together. The silver-purple-black of his innards were coated in mud and dirt and the smell of venom and rot that was already beginning to eat away at him was heavy in the woods.
Tearing him back apart to piece him back together, if they even could, was going to be a nightmare.
Edward was throwing the final limb into the pyre Maria had lit when she strode past him, frustrated. "How are…" But he didn't finish voicing his question, having already seen what she'd seen in her mind, and turned to dart back toward his injured family members. His sudden hysteria would've annoyed Maria more if he hadn't been so begrudgingly useful.
It took Maria a few seconds to catch up to Carlisle Cullen. His distress was so loud that Maria was just hoping he wouldn't start up with the same brand of crying as his stupid mate had. "I've got him," she snapped, pushing ahead.
"But—"
Maria whistled twice and stopped. She turned back toward Carlisle as he came to a halt behind her and when the sound of someone approaching reached their ears, she watched him deflate. "I've got him," she repeated firmly as she shot him a stern expression. Did he think she was going to dismember the Major in order to bring him under control? Just because he couldn't do it didn't mean she couldn't.
There was a moment, while they stood there in the wet, snowy forest, that almost felt like they were meeting again for the first time. The distrust in Carlisle's eyes was a breath of fresh air; Maria had never seen this brand of hostility on his face before. It made him look half-way normal and for a moment, she could almost forget who this man was and what he represented.
It wasn't possessiveness in his eyes. No, Carlisle Cullen didn't even feign control over the unstable members of his coven, even when she was sure it would benefit them. There was an overt sorrow behind his uncharacteristic standoffishness that even Maria could recognize.
Carlisle's silence was punctuated with a pair of quick nods. He looked overtop her head and his grimace grew tired, a worn-out frown turning his lips downward. Maria didn't even bother turning around, she knew that the Major was approaching and would take his spot at her side.
Perhaps Carlisle knew that too, which was why he promptly turned to run back toward his coven.
Maria did not look toward the Major for a long moment. She knew, just by the sounds in the near distance, that everyone was preparing to race back toward the Cullen house. She would have to be the one overseeing what happened next. If they did not act fast they would be down two bodies for their next run in with Father Esteban, for there would surely be one, and soon.
Maria did not have much practice undoing damage, but she had plenty experience inflicting it. It would be her, the Major, and perhaps Peter, that would have to put Emmett and Alice back together. Unless…
At that thought Maria finally glanced up at him. He was not looking down at her. His eyes were still focused on the forest around them, his attention shifting with every slight change in their surroundings. Even though he'd killed four of Esteban's nine men that they'd just decimated, he was still itching for more.
Maria could relate to the feeling, but she'd never seen him unable to snap out of it like this. She whistled three more times. Two short, one longer.
The Major's attention finally snapped down toward her, but his stance did not shift and his shoulders did not relax. He remained firmly in the position he always stood in when he was waiting to attack. His eyes were fierce and empty, the deep golden color that she always hated unsettling her in a strange, foreign way. Never before had he looked so unrecognizable to her.
For the first time in her immortal life, Maria had no idea what to do with him.
This was clearly not the Jasper Cullen that entertained a life in human society with his gang of pathetic moral delinquents. Nor was this Major Jasper Whitlock, in control of himself and everyone else within the radius of his unique talents. Something had snapped in this man's brain and Maria wasn't sure what exactly, only she knew that this was as dangerous as she'd ever seen him, and somehow she was the only person who could get him to fucking act right.
Maria wasn't even relieved that there was a chance he wouldn't talk back anymore. The unease of having a loose canon in her possession instead of a finely tuned weapon brought her no comfort. At this rate, he was going to get himself and everyone else killed.
Which he explicitly was not allowed to do until they tore Esteban's head from his goddamn shoulders. After that the Major could get his ass dragged straight to hell for all she cared.
"What's the matter with you?" she asked him outright, curious to see what his response would be.
He didn't reply to the question, instead he asked one of his own. "What now?"
No question about casualties, no request to go further to seek out more of Esteban's filth, and no inquiring into the wellbeing of his mate. All the Major asked from her were orders.
Maria thought toward their wounded—Emmett's fate was up in the air until she could get a good look at him and see if what Esteban had done was reversible, and Alice's wounds appeared to be more mental than physical, despite the state of her back—and then let her mind wander miles and years away.
Beneath the stinging scent of venom, Maria had just barely been able to smell the violation on Alice. It was a stench that she'd made the Major seek out in the past in order to dispose of their canon fodder more adequately when they tore through the battlefield or returned to their base in the early hours of the morning.
If Maria wasn't careful, the Major might just try to mercy kill Alice without even realizing what he was doing.
"You don't touch a single soul unless I tell you." She turned her head toward where the Cullens stood with her small army and their new additions. She faintly heard the sound of her name paired with the Major's and knew that someone would be fetching them soon if they didn't hurry up. "Do you hear me? Not a single person are you allowed to lay your hands on."
"Until you say so," he nodded blankly, following her instructions blindly and with a quickness she hadn't witnessed in him since he was young.
Before they were retrieved—she could hear the sound of one of her newborns approaching—she turned fully toward him, looking at him head to toe, and despising the way his eyes followed her subtle movements with his wide, detached gaze.
A thought came to her, unbidden, and she wondered what he would do if she smiled up at him the way she always used to do before she fucked him. Would he kiss her the way he used to? Would he snap at her and shove her away, cursing her very existence?
It honestly could work in their favor if he was so far detached from what was happening around him that he couldn't spare two thoughts for people he'd spent the better part of the last century with. Although…the last thing Maria wanted was for the mind-reader to cuss her out if the Major ended up reciprocating. It wasn't her fault the Major was apparently so shitty at compartmentalizing.
Then, Maria let out a huff of irritation. How the hell was she supposed to cash in on any of these favors if he got himself killed?
Maria decided to try something else.
She stared into his eyes and did something she hadn't done in almost one-hundred and fifty years.
"Jasper."
She spoke his given name, and waited.
His brow furrowed as he stared back at her, and when he shook his head quickly and looked away, Maria knew she was onto something. "Our invalids, Jasper," she repeated his name, placing more emphasis as she snapped her fingers. His eyes were back on hers in an instant. "Your brother and your wife." She thought the words were stupid but she figured that maximum disconnect required maximum stupidity to perhaps correct itself. "Emmett," she started with that name first, watching as recognition fought with confusion, "and Alice."
"Fuck off," his words were an exhale as he turned away and stalked past her. When Maria turned to yell at him, she noticed the newborn waiting for them. "Let's go," he spat the words out, sounding much more like the man who had threatened her that afternoon, and Maria felt much better to hear it.
Maria pushed past him roughly and moved herself in front of the two men, preparing to lead them back to everyone else. "Try not to kill your fucking wife when we get back."
The grief that flickered through the clearing for half of an instant was gone too quickly for her to turn and scream at him about, but she figured that it was probably a good sign.
If not, then Alice's life was still in danger.