Under The Cover of Darkness

-chapter 9-~reconstructing~

The sun had gone behind the horizon and left us with nothing more than exhaustion from a day of traveling under its heavy watch.
Nevertheless my black leather boots crunch over debris on the forest floor with each move I made to follow Amanda's bobbing head in front of me.
We'd been traveling since dawn, as Lieutenant Shelley had promised. Though we had only done that, walk, the day was far from uneventful.
I rolled my eyes to myself, all but stomping my feet like a child as I tried to tell my nose to ignore the delicious scent of my delicious mate who marched, where? Right freaking behind me.
I'd thought my eyes were deceiving me this morning when I'd reported to the front lawn, excited to begin my first mission and to focus on working and clear my head for a while, but along with my beloved unit and my beloved lieutenant Turner stood Alpha Richmond and his annoyingly handsome son.
Right then and there I knew something was wrong. Then, after I could convince my eyes to move away from his broad shoulders barely contained in a navy t shirt, I noticed the black straps that rested on each one. He was carrying bags? Soon my worst fears were confirmed as Alpha Richmond declared that [stupid hunky] Brighton would be accompanying us on our mission to the canyon.
The problem wasn't with his preparedness, no. He had undergone strenuous training for longer than any of us had. It was necessary for every future Alpha to be prepared to handle dangerous situations well. The problem, which was currently staring holes into the back of my head was that I got a not so subtle feeling that Brighton's motives to gain field experience were a bit skewed.
The towering oaks above my head did nothing to cover up my irritation at the situation.
My palms were sore from hours of my nails burrowing into the skin.
Sure, charming boy wants to woo me, why couldn't he do it after the mission? This was a time to focus, not to be concerned with an ex mate's whereabouts!
I knew I had to just ignore him. There was no space for error in the field.
We had spent the day following Lieutenant Turner through the thick forest. According to her we would arrive at the edge of the canyon in a few hours if we continued, but that we would pitch camp under the cover of the foliage before then to rest.
Despite my lack of appreciation for the company, the sun seemed to shoot across the sky like a stone.
Soon we were stopped for camp in a small clearing.
I briskly organized my things near the base of a large trunked tree and then I assisted my unit in distributing dinner. Charlie and Clark were in charge of warming the food, and they had a fire going in record time in the middle of the clearing.
Amanda and I had sat ourselves down to enjoy our food, when a figure who's face was hidden by the glare of the fire until he had settled himself next to me.
My nose told me enough, even through the smoke.
Before I could say a thing he spoke, "Hey Danny."
He was sitting next to me, knee barely a hairs width away from mine, before I knew it.
"Brighton." I said. I was beginning to realize that the butterflies I felt since that day four years ago wouldn't go away at all, despite my rejection or his. I'd heard before that the only way to actually break the mate bond is to mate with someone else. I'd bet money he would be the first to do that, despite whatever efforts this is.
"Are you surprised to see me here?" he asked. Was he getting cheeky now?
I shrugged. "I'm sure you have a very valid reason for being here. One that doesn't involve me at all."
He flashed me a grin which sparkled against the light from the fire, "Youre correct on that one." He paused sticking his spoon back in his can of beans, "Well," He nudged me with his shoulder , and leaning in towards my ear, making me shiver slightly, "Youre half way correct."
I couldn't look away from his eyes. They were usually a deep brown, trust me, I would know from my fan girl days. But reflecting the flicker of the flames they appeared to be on fire.
I'm pretty ashamed to admit I couldn't look away from them because I was admiring them, I was admiring him. Our noses were mere inches apart. I couldn't recall a time when we'd ever sat this close together.
Much to my dismay every nerve in my body basked in the heat that did not come from the fire at all. My heart beat like it was waking up from a hibernation. It dawned on me that maybe our brief encounters this week had strengthened whatever forces attempted to pull us together.
It would take a lot more than his beautiful eyes and smooth words, I thought to myself less than confidently.
I opened my mouth to speak and watched his eyes follow the movement. I watched as he flicked his tongue across his lower lip. The corner of my mouth quirked up, it was satisfying to know he was feeling the strange pull as well. "You'd better change your answer." His eyes found mine again, "Because whatever you're trying to do can wait." His eyebrows narrowed towards each other slightly at my statement, "We have to focus."
A gorgeous smirk worked his features, "Are you saying I am distracting?" That smile appeared again, oh lord.
I found a smirk of my own, one I didn't really use much so I'm sure it looked strange. Whatever, you're killing it Danny! "I'm saying, try not to distract my unit."
He shook his head at me, "Alright Danny. I doubt that I'd distract anyone else here. Well, except maybe that guy," he nodded his head across the clearing. I followed his direction to see Charlie and Henry and Clark situated on a log, can of beans in hand and eyes cast our way.
Well, Henry's eyes were cast our way, Charlie appeared to be scraping the bottom of his can for one last baked bean. My eyes locked with Henry's. "You don't distract Henry either." We held each others eyes as Brighton looked between us.
Finally I glanced back at him as he muttered, "He sure seems to be distracted."
I gave him a 'what are you talking about' look, to which he replied, "I promise to stay out of your way, but I can't promise that you will be able to resist all of this." He actually wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes. "We'll just have to see, then."
I got up to dispose of my empty can and walked over to where my stuff was, right next to where Amanda had set up to sleep.
I settled myself down and took one last look around.
I saw Henry and Brighton sitting against trees at opposite sides of the clearing. I guess they had been appointed to first watch shift. I looked back and forth between them, Brighton seemed to be concentrating as he looked at Henry who seemed to be hell bent on communicating to Brighton with his eyes alone all of the distaste he had for him.
I sighed as I settled myself down. Henry sure was sweet to dislike Brighton as much as I did. Hell, maybe he was attracted to him as much as I was. I almost giggled at the thought. No, Henry was straight as an arrow from my best judgement, although that's just from observation.
Brighton on the other hand, I was beginning to become irritated at his actions. Sure, he apologized, but he seems to think he can just waltz right back into my life and start flirting like we're actually mates. As far as I'm concerned, we were mates for all of 12 seconds which is all it took for him to look at me and utter the words which severed our bond.
I rolled over in my sleeping bag.
How come our bond was still alive? I didn't know much about rejections because it was so wildly uncommon. Maybe when Brighton has apologized it had been fixed? That must've been it. I made a mental note to research more on severed mate bonds once this mission was over. For now, I concentrated on falling asleep to prepare for the action of tomorrow.