Greyson shook his head. "We can't. I sent the others back to the airplane, but I don't know if they made it. I need to go looking for them…"
"They are going to want an explanation," grunted Levi as he laid his hand over the line where his head was previously separated from his body. He could still feel the pressure, the hand gripping his head, and the sounds of his muscles ripping and his bones snapping away from each other.
"Simple," grunted Dom, already getting to his feet. He was stick thin and had massive antlers on his head; while his knee joints were backward like that of a wolf and he didn't look human at all, I could still tell who he was. No matter what form he took. The only thing that I cared about was the fact that he was now alive and well. "The cartel released a bunch of drugs into the air, which made us all hallucinate."
I shrugged my shoulders. It was a simple explanation, but the truth was normally simple. They would believe it because the alternative was something that they couldn't justify or explain. I mean, everyone knew that the monsters under your bed weren't real... right?
Greyson grunted and nodded his head slowly as if he was worried that it was going to fall off any minute. It took some time to get used to, but he would catch on soon.
Well, hopefully, he won't have to get used to it. I don't want him to be losing his head any time soon. That very idea made me more than a little murderous.
I looked around at all the bodies lying in the mud. There was no blood pouring out of their bodies or anything like that. In fact, many of them looked like they had just fallen asleep.
"Is there going to be an investigation?" I asked, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy. I wasn't sure of their procedures or what they needed to do to prove that the cartel had been destroyed.
"What are you thinking?" asked Greyson, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he examined the 'crime scene' around us.
"I am worried that there is nothing saying that it was you guys that killed them… and there is nothing proving that they are actually dead. Does the military just accept your word that they are dead, or do we need to do a bit of staging?" I asked, wrinkling my nose.
I was usually on the other side of the law, not someone who had to consider how to screw up an investigation or screw up the forensics.
"No one is coming here," grunted Dom, the words hard to form out of his wolf's mouth. I bit my lip so I didn't laugh at him, but the way his muzzle moved, it looked a lot like a dog trying to eat a spoonful of peanut butter.
"Dude," grunted Sasha, patting Dom on his back. I was pretty sure that Sasha was aiming for his shoulder, but Dom towered over him by more than three feet. "You look ridiculous trying to speak."
Dom let out a low growl and snapped at the air in front of Sasha's face. "If I could change, I would," admitted the man, lowering his head to look at everyone around him. "Apparently, I am still a little too stressed to change back."
Walking toward the Skinwalker, I wrapped my arms around his waist, trying hard not to think about the fact that my cheek was resting on his belly button. "You are safe," I murmured, feeling the fine layer of fur covering his skin tickle my nose. "I promise you. You are safe."
My arms gripped him tighter, willing him to feel the truth of my words. I have tied him to me now, whether he liked it or not. And while I did feel a slight twinge of guilt, I wouldn't change it for the world.
Even if he never came to love me or felt nothing more than resentment toward me for tying him down, I would be content knowing that he was never going to suffer through death again.
Once was more than enough for either one of us.
I felt shifting under me as Dom's bones and muscles shrunk down until I was resting my cheek against his clothed chest, and his arms were wrapped around me, too.
"Thank you," he murmured into my ear, and his arms tightened as if he was never going to let me go. "Thank you."
"Anything for you, you know that," I assured him, trailing my fingers up and down his back. Our feet were trapped in blood-soaked mud, and the stench of death was invading all of my senses. But I refused to let go.
"Alright," grunted Sasha, pressing up against my back and resting his forehead on my shoulder. "You aren't the only one to have died. Sharing is caring and all that."
I chuckled at his words. Reaching back with one hand, I slowly ran my fingers through his wet hair, not caring about the sticky substance.
"Welcome back," I smiled, my face still buried in Dom's chest. Pressed between the two men, I couldn't think of any better place to be.
"I'm back," replied Sasha, his voice full of awe and wonder. "I'm back."
Dom grunted, but I only shrugged my shoulders. I had always wanted someone to welcome me back every time I had died… but there was never anyone in my life to do that.
But now there was.
"Not to interrupt," said Nicholas slowly, and I turned my head just enough to see him and Michael walking over to me. "But we really should be going soon. Viktor has been blowing up my phone, and we still have to explain to him how we managed to lose a whole team of mercenary knights."
"Tell him that they were killed doing what they were supposed to do. There is no greater honor," answered Sasha, raising his head and looking in the other man's direction. "To say that we lost them means only that we don't know where they are."
"Understood. I'll let Viktor know," nodded Nicholas as he pulled out his cell phone and started dialing.
"Fine," grunted Dom, stepping away from my embrace. "We'll find the rest of our team, get them back on the plane, and then we can all head home."
"And hand in our resignations," agreed Greyson, looking around at the bodies. "But what should we do with them?"