Blood Charged (Dragon Blood, Book 3) by Lindsay Buroker Page B

softening the features.
    “Colonel Zirkander, it’s a real honor to have been chosen to work with you and your team.”
    Despite the sensual smile, she didn’t hold the handshake longer than appropriate, nor did she do anything so brazen as giving him a head-to-toe look of consideration, such as he occasionally received from women. Still, something about the cant of her lips and the twinkle in her gray eyes said she knew how to have fun on the weekends. Her hair was short enough to be regulation without pins, but she managed to give it a flirty sway as she turned her head toward her comrade. Captain Nowon was in the middle of something that almost looked like an eye roll, but the movement was so slight, it might have been part of his perpetual scanning of the area around him—and above him.
    “Well,” Ridge said to Ort, whose scowl was definitely directed at him and not anyone else in the hangar, “I like her better than Therrik.”
    “I’ll bet,” Ort said.
    “That’s not much of an accolade,” Kaika whispered to Nowon, and clasped her hands behind her back in a loose parade rest.
    “Where have you been, Ridge?” Ort snapped. “Your elites are packed and here—” he waved toward a couple of duffel bags near the wall that, judging by the bulges, were loaded with weapons rather than clothing, “—and you haven’t even picked your team yet.”
    “Sorry, General. Had a break-in at the house I had to check on, then I needed to make a quick stop for a necessary purchase.” Ridge rattled a brown paper bag in his hand.
    “Break-in? What do you mean, break-in?”
    Ridge shrugged. For all that he would love to hurl all of the army’s forces after the intruders, he wasn’t about to explain that someone was after Sardelle and her sword. That would raise far too many questions as to why. “I don’t know who was responsible, but I’ll be having a word with General Domhower about installation security. My house was demolished, and I’m not certain yet if anything was stolen.”
    Ort’s scowl faded and was replaced with a faintly hopeful expression. “Was your couch irreparably damaged, by chance?”
    “Nope, just tipped over.”
    “A shame.”
    Ridge arched his brows.
    “About the break-in, I mean.”
    “Careful, General. Make fun of my couch, and I won’t invite you to my next beer, blood, and brisk-ball summer gathering. You won’t get to take your shirt off and flex your muscles for Lieutenant Colonel Ostraker’s grandmother.”
    “I still have a scar from your last gathering,” Ort grumbled.
    “That’ll teach you to play drunk. The ground crew officers are feisty.”
    “I think they just like an opportunity to throw an elbow into a general’s ribs.”
    “That’s what feisty means, isn’t it?” Ridge asked.
    Ort grimaced and rubbed his side.
    “What’s in the bag?” Captain Kaika nodded toward the crinkled paper with curious eyes.
    “Just something to watch over the house while I’m gone.” Ridge kept it shut. As captains, these two probably wouldn’t mock him to his face, but he didn’t need any rumors about his quirkiness floating around the intelligence units.
    “Break-ins regardless, I need you to pick your team and get ready,” Ort said. “You’ll need to leave two hours before dawn if you want to time your arrival to cruise into Cofahre after dark but with most of the night still ahead of you. That’s why I told Therrik to send his gear and team early, so you can get everything sorted out today.”
    “Yeah, yeah, got it.” Ridge ignored Ort’s customary bristling at the lack of honorifics and military courtesy, and waved to the captains. “Before I do anything else, I’ve got to tell you two that half of that —” he pointed to the lumpy duffels, “—will have to stay here.”
    “That is mission-essential gear, sir,” Nowon said. His facial expression didn’t change much, but his words came out rapidly. That probably passed for urgency from him.
    “If it’s