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Jude carefully disentangled his fingers from hers and walked over to him. “She’s sleeping. Sophia thinks she will be fine.”

Heath clasped Jude on the shoulder. “I’m glad to hear it. Are you up to giving an update? The others are already in the briefing room.”

He looked over his shoulder. Octavia would be safe here with Sophia looking out for her.

As if sensing his conflicting thoughts, Sophia gestured toward the door. “You can go, for now. But I want you back here straight after the briefing. You have injuries of your own that need treating.”

“Take care of her for me,” said Jude.

“I take care of all of my patients,” said Sophia. “And when you see Tobias and Lincoln, tell them to come here immediately. They ignored my order to get their injuries treated.”

Heath and Jude shared a smile as they hurried out.

“I would not like to be in their shoes when Sophia finally gets her hands on them,” said Jude.

“They only have themselves to blame if she jabs them with a needle,” said Heath. “They both snuck into the briefing room and told Danni they were fine.”

“They will be. We need to keep an eye on Tobias, though. He didn't do so good on the mission.”

Heath nodded. “I’m already watching him. He’s missed appointments with Sophia. I know he’s struggling.”

“We’ll get him fixed up. Although, it would be good if we could get him to stay in one place for more than five minutes.”

“I’m working on that.”

Now that Jude was away from the fight, he felt his own tiredness hit him. The throbbing pain in his leg grew.

Heath’s hand rested on his shoulder again. “It’s almost over. You never know, Danni might even let you have a few days off after this.”

“I really would believe in miracles if that happened.” He smiled at his brother as they entered the briefing room. At the table sat Colton, Holden, and Evan, along with Tobias and Lincoln, who looked surprisingly cheerful given he’d been in a copter crash.

Heath and Jude settled into empty seats. The group focused on Danni, who stood at the head of the table.

“I’ll keep this brief,” she said. “I’m aware some of you are still suffering from your recent encounter with the State.” Her gaze went from Lincoln to Tobias. “I’m pleased to report the mission was a success. The building has been destroyed.”

Colton grinned and leaned back in his seat. “They didn’t have a clue what hit them. Tobias’s plan was genius. There was nothing they could do to stop us.”

Holden nodded. “It was like fucking poetry in motion seeing that place go up.”

“It’s a shame some of us were still inside when it did,” said Jude.

Colton shrugged. “We all got out. Everyone survived. It was a win all round on our side.”

“The latest news feed from the State suggests they’re spitting mad,” said Danni. “Heads will roll for what happened. This is a mistake they couldn’t afford. That vaccine has taken them months to create. With their facility gone, they will have to start from scratch.”

“We won’t let them get this far next time,” said Heath. “Now we know what their plan is, we can stop them before they even get started.”

“My concern is, if they’re willing to wipe out so many people, it must mean they no longer consider us an asset,” said Danni. “We don’t know what their plans are for this planet, but it won’t be anything positive for the remaining human population. Once we’ve served our purpose as a free labor source, we’ll have no further value for them.”

“This setback will buy us a few months. Maybe more.” Jude tried to keep his thoughts focused on the debrief, but they kept sliding back to Octavia. He should leave her alone, let her recover and get back to full strength. But she drew him like a magnet. He didn’t feel complete unless she was by his side. He grinned to himself. He had it bad, and he didn’t give a fuck. Octavia made him happy.

“We’ll keep a constant watch on their communications,” said Danni. “Jude, I want you to lead on that.”

“No problem,” said Jude.

“Now we have Octavia here, as well.” Lincoln smiled slyly at Jude. “She can help you keep busy, and show you around her channels.”

Jude didn’t mind the teasing. “You can bet she will. But she needs to recover first.”