Red Zone (Red Zone 1)

“We’ll get through the red a lot quicker if she’s out cold,” Mace said. “She isn’t exactly up to the team’s standard of fitness. It will go faster if we knock her out and carry her.”

She frowned at the huge man. That was insulting. She might not be able to run as fast as Mace, but she was a normal-size human being, not a freakishly large man with a tiny brain.

She tuned them out. She got the impression that they were more interested in venting tension than actually winning the argument. But she was so bored. She even wished she had the diamondback to keep her company. She’d love to get a closer look at the patterns on the snake. They were so pretty. She even liked how it felt to hold him. Was it a he or she? She should really ask Striker. When he wasn’t shouting.

“Hey,” she whispered to his living tattoo, entertaining herself, “come play with me.”

Her jaw dropped when the head of the snake moved, and the body wriggled.

“What the hell?” Striker shouted.

The next thing she knew, the diamondback popped off his skin and was slithering across the floor of the main cavern toward her seat. The sudden silence was oppressive. Everybody in the room gawked as the snake made its way up her leg to curl in her lap. It butted her hand to make her pet it, which she did, turning red under the shocked stares of the team at the same time.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was bored and thought I’d hang out with the snake. Carry on shouting. Don’t mind us.”

“Did she just…?” Mace pointed at her.

“What?” She petted the animal in her lap as it snuggled into her. She probably should have felt like prey, but mainly she felt comforted.

“Bébé, you called my snake off my body.” Striker’s voice was soft as he took a step toward her. His arms were folded over his sleeveless shirt, making those distracting shoulders bulge.

“I’m sorry?” It was clear from the reactions that she’d done something wrong. “I didn’t mean to. I just asked him if he wanted to come play, and he did.”

The men shared uneasy looks. Striker crouched down in front of her and put his hands on her knees.

“You don’t understand. You shouldn’t have been able to communicate with the snake, let alone call it to you and have it obey.”

“Oh.” She looked down at the reptile. “This has never happened before?”

“No.” His hands flexed on her knees. “We’ve tried calling each other’s animals, and we’ve tried communicating with them, too, but we can’t.”

“Then why did it come to me?” And why did that make her feel warm inside, like she was special? Her cheeks flushed at the childish thought. She needed to put her brain to good use. This was about analyzing the unusual behavior of the snake, not feeling smug because she managed to do something the men hadn’t.

“Guess the man and the snake are both fascinated by you, chère.”

That made her cheeks burn hotter.

“Maybe she’s a snake whisperer, like Gray said.” Mace came to stand beside them. “Some people have an affinity for animals. We should get her to try calling someone else’s. See if it works with them.”

“And while you’re at it”—Friday frowned up at him—“maybe you can also stop talking about her as though she wasn’t sitting right here.”

“You’re a pain in the ass,” Mace said. “You know that, right?”

She considered the reptile snuggling in her lap. “I wonder if he’d bite you if I asked him nicely.”

That caused laughter. Even Mace managed a smile. Wonder of wonders, the man didn’t die from the effort.

“She can call to my animal.” Gray, who was drinking coffee at the table on the other side of the room, stood. He put his mug down and sauntered toward them.

“You sure, Gray? It means she knows about you.” Mace looked down at her. She couldn’t read his expression. “She could still be captured by Enforcement. You have to assume that anything she knows is something they could know, too.” He gave Striker a pointed look. “Which is why I suggested keeping the show-and-tell until after La Paz.”

“I don’t care about Enforcement.” Gray stood beside them and tugged his T-shirt off. He was just as muscled as the rest of the men, but he was nowhere near as gorgeous as Striker.

She caught Striker glaring at her for studying Gray’s chest.

“Don’t worry,” she told him. “You’re prettier.”

He choked at her words, and the team snickered.