Army Beasts Resurrection by Dahlia Rose Read Free Book Online Page B

that made up his unit. They were all their : Casey, Zane, Zander, Camden, Kale and Malachi. Nia stood next to Casey , and Stavros could see how he gripped her hand like it was his lifeline. Their eyes met and held , and he saw the turmoil and anger in Casey’s gaze . Nia wrenched her hand away from Casey and rushed over to hug him. Her movements seemed to break the tense silence.
    She cupped his cheek with tears running down her face. “I heard you… Stav , you were gone.” She hugged him again. “Oh , thank god you’re alive.”
    “It’s good to see you, Nia,” he said with a smile. He ’d had a genuine fondness for her from the time she joined the team . “You have a niece , you know . S he’s almost a year . ” Nia gave a watery laugh. “Damn you for making me cry.”
    “I’m so very sorry for causing you pain,” Stavros replied. “I can’t wait to meet the baby.”
    Casey stood and moved toward Stavros. It seemed like everyone held their breath waiting to see what would happen next. Nia stepped away and Stavros faced the man who had been his best friend for so many years. There was only silence , and then without warning Casey threw a punch that caught him on the side of the jaw and made Stavros’s ears ring.
    “What the fuck, Casey!” Zane shouted.
    That catapulted the rest of the team into action. Zane held Casey back as he fought the arms that bound him. Stavros lifted his head and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
    “I guess I deserved that ,” Stav ros said. He could feel his lip beginning to swell.
    “You deserve that and so much more,” Casey shouted. “How the fuck could you let us think you were dead ? ”
    “I’m sorry, Casey . I was broken and fucked up so bad, I th ought I was going to die . ” Stavros shook his head . “ That ’s what I crawled away to do . I barely managed to shift into tiger form and I thought that was it for me.”
    “How did you get out man?” Zander stepped forward from the group , and he became the second one to give Stavros a hug. The action actually surprised Stavros , because Zander never se emed the type to reach out on any level of emotion.
    “Some Russian mercenaries found me . T hey had a ship of f the coast of Turkey,” Stavros explained. “ The one guy wanted to keep me as a pet. I jumped off the boat in my shift form when they passed close to the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. I thought for sure I would drown , but some how I made it to the coast. Floated into the rocks more that swam. ” H e gave a husky laugh. “I guess I wasn’t meant to suck salt water. I made it to civilization , accessed my accounts and bought a cabin.”
    “In all that time you didn’t think to call us?” Casey bit out.
    “Which account did you access? N o alarms went out. I would have known if you took money,” Camden said.
    Stavros gave a laugh. “You have the information for all but one . I was raised to keep secrets. ” He turned his attention to Casey. “This is why I didn ’t contact you, to have any of you pity me or feel obligated to take care of me. It was better for me to die than to put you through that. I was raised like that . Y ou know how fucked up my life was. A wounded tiger dies honorably.”
    “That’s a load of bullshit and you know it, ” Casey practically gro wled and threw his arms wide. “ N one of us would have felt that way and you know it. You didn’t die honorably , you took the coward ’ s way out. We’re family . Y ou do this kind of shit to your family ? ”
    “I know that now,” Stavros replied. “ Old habits and training die hard , and even before I trained with you I was trained by a fucked up man who thought he was some kind of leader. When the only thing he could claim was that he was an abuser who like d to knock his kid around. Amari tried and tried over the last year to get me to call you guys , a nd it took her walking out and being kidnapped for me to see the truth. Do you think