Lycan Legacy - Paladin: Tales of Luna White - Werewolf Veronica Singer (children's ebooks online txt) 📖

best swimmer.” He snorted. “You don’t even have a diver propulsion device. If you were to make it to shore alive, you’d be too exhausted to do anything.”

The deck was lit by a red floodlight, allowing humans to see while producing no visible white light, SOP for warships in a combat zone.

Mike and I shared a glance. We didn’t need the red floodlights to see, nor a mechanical device to get to shore.

Manny interjected. “They have gadgets that would make James Bond defect. They’re stronger and faster than your best. I just wish I was in good enough shape to go with them.”

“Gadgets don’t ensure a successful mission,” insisted the warrant officer.

I tilted my head and said, “We don’t depend only on gadgets. Remind me again who won the weightlifting contest in the gym?”

“Yes, Mike’s strong—”

“You think I’m not strong enough to make the swim?” I asked, nodding at the wrist brace he wore. The big, tough, SAS officer had insisted he could beat the American country girl at arm-wrestling.

“You’re both strong, I’ll give you that,” he said. “Mike was inhumanly strong, and you showed impressive strength. Whatever juice your government gave you works. But this is insane.”

I bit my tongue to resist the urge to tell him I had been holding back during the contest. Mike looked like a superhuman, while I just looked like a fit dancer.

“We’re strong,” said Mike, “because we live clean and train hard. We don’t have any ‘secret juice.’ The US government doesn’t have anything to do with it.” Mike was a better liar than me.

“Country girls are stronger than they look,” I said. “And Mike trains like a maniac. That contest was to show how easy it is to underestimate us.”

“‘Country girls’ like you might be strong, aye. But this is suicide.”

“It’s not suicidal,” I said. “We’ll signal when we want to meet up again for our extraction.”

Stinton shook his head in disbelief. “If I wasn’t under royal orders, I would cancel this mission.”

Thanks for the reminder. “And my queen appreciates this gesture of cooperation,” I said in my best royalty-to-commoner tone.

Stinton stiffened automatically at the tone. Being a princess by marriage had come with a few benefits. Would Queen Mab be angry at me using her name to pull strings on Earth? Or would she be amused at the presumptuous werewolf?

“Yes, ma’am. As you command.”

Two sailors grunted as they lowered a ring-shaped inflatable raft made of black rubber into the water. Six feet in diameter and weighing hundreds of pounds, it contained all the equipment we would need for this mission. We were planning to swim to shore tugging the raft behind us.

Due to my insistence on not using a motor, the sailors were quietly taking bets on us dying from exhaustion before we reached shore.

Warrant Officer Cameron stepped out of the shadows, took a deep breath, then stuck out his hand. “Good luck on your mission, Princess Luna.”

I shook his hand. “We’ll see you when we get back, Warrant Officer Cameron.”

“I don’t think so, Princess,” he said. He looked embarrassed. “I’ve been asked to resign my commission.”

“Why? You saved dozens of lives!”

“Lady Birdsong was unhappy that I couldn’t share my ‘revolutionary breakthrough’ in teleportation spellcraft.”

“A surge of adrenaline, insane skills, temporary amnesia,” I said. “Any excuse should work. You’re the best they have. You couldn’t come up with a good excuse?”

“My oath forbade me from discussing anything that happened that day. They took that as insubordination.”

“I’m sorry. But I can’t release you from the oath.”

Warrant Officer Cameron laughed. “Don’t apologize. We saved lives. That’s worth more than my career with MI-13.”

He turned to Mike and said, “Take care of the princess, now. Don’t be afraid to abort your mission if it gets hairy.”

Mike shook his hand and stepped over the rail. The sailors had unrolled a fabric net to allow us to climb down to the water level. I resisted the urge to be first into the water.

Even encumbered by tanks, weight belt, buoyancy compensator, and other items, Mike was nimble as a monkey as he climbed down the netting.

A quick goodbye hug for Manny and I was ready to go.

“We appreciate your assistance and hospitality, Warrant Officer Stinton. Steam away as soon as I’m in the water. We’ll send word when we’re done.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He stuck out his hand. “We’ll be here.”

“Good luck, Princess,” said Cameron.

Screw protocol. I pulled him in for a hug. “Thanks again, Derrick,” I said, using his first name for the first time.

The faces of the onlooking sailors were a matched set of dazed expressions. I had either ruined his reputation or raised it immensely.

“The lads back home will never believe this story,” he whispered as I went over the side.

In the water, Mike waited patiently, hanging off the rope attached to our raft. I opened my mouth, but he shook his head. I knew he must have a reason, so instead I spent a few minutes getting my bearings and adjusting to the water temperature.

From the water, the ship was only visible as an outline occluding the sky. A normal human would have seen nothing.

A rumble through the water announced that the screws were turning. In minutes, the outline moved away.

It was very lonely in the middle of the water. I was glad for Mike’s company.

“We should be able to speak now,” Mike whispered. “Even the best night-vision scope and listening devices can’t make us out at this distance.”

“You think they’d spy on us?”

“They’d be remiss in their duties if they didn’t try to find out how we plan to perform this impossible mission. Especially after you challenged an SAS officer to an arm-wrestling contest.”

“Okay, I was showing off. That little shit pissed me off, though.” I shook my head to dismiss the non-important thoughts. “Do you need help to activate your oxygen mask spell?”

“No, it should work just like our tests in the swimming pool.”

Mike eyes narrowed in concentration and the nearly invisible sphere of air appeared around his head. I repeated the process.