Paige's Warriors (Bondmates Book 3) Read Online Free

starving. Thank you, everyone, but I need to feed my girls. Paige, can you show the rest of the ladies the way? Grab some baby wipes as well. You can use the big industrial sinks in back to wash up, and we have a huge pile of donated clothes you can look through. Thank you, everyone, but let’s just give them some privacy so they can eat in peace.”
    Moving to the overwhelmed women, a few of whom were scrubbing away clean tear marks on their sooty faces, she quickly ushered them through the back and into the industrial kitchen area. Mrs. Westfall was already herding people out of the big space in full territorial pit bull mode. Despite being sweet as candy, when it came to her children Mrs. Westfall was no joke. In less than five minutes she was distributing clothes and baggies full of travel size toiletries donated by the local grocery store while getting everyone settled in.
    Roxie stood in the corner of the room, now wearing a bright lime green T-shirt that showed the cuts and bruises marring her tanned skin. Her shoulders were drawn up tight as she stared at the bottom of the stainless steel sink, her hands gripping it hard enough that her knuckles turned white. A visible tremor went through her, and Paige was pretty sure it wasn’t just from physical exhaustion. Despite her badass ways, Roxie had a kind heart, and she must have seen and experienced some terrible things while down in Detroit.
    Paige exchanged a worried look with Mrs. Westfall, but the older woman shook her head. “Okay, looks like we have some pot roast back here, and Mrs. Oplin made her special meat pasties. You must try one. There’s also pasta and spicy taco dip, as well as some vegetable casserole in case anyone’s a vegetarian. So grab your plates, ladies, and eat up. There’s plenty, so don’t feel shy about coming back for seconds or thirds.”
    Roxie rubbed her face with a paper towel before turning around, her eyes red-rimmed but her expression neutral.
    Everyone moved out back to the picnic tables to eat beneath the massive elm trees, the warm summer day perfect, except for those ribbons of light in the sky caused by the Event. The scientists also said those arcing ribbons of undulating colors would disappear in time, but right now they were visible reminders of a day that still made her chest ache with sorrow. So many people had died, or vanished, and some of her friends had lost loved ones during the lawless times after the Event.
    The news had covered the riots that had burned most of the east side of the city of Detroit to the ground. It had been so bad that some of the fire had jumped the Detroit river and set parts of Windsor up in flames. Morons had shot at firefighters trying to control the blaze, and Paige had been furious that someone would try and kill a person already putting their life on the line to save the city. At one point they’d watched a gunfight between the National Guard and a bunch of guys with their faces covered, shooting it out over a pharmacy. The drugs inside had become more precious than gold with the supply chain as messed up as it was, and the National Guard wasn’t going to leave the store and the lifesaving medicine inside to a mob of rioting people. She also knew that the National Guard lost over two hundred troops that night in Detroit, and there was no way Roxie wouldn’t have personally experienced the loss of a friend or co-worker.
    As they were clearing the plates away and Mrs. Westfall was arranging for places for Roxie’s troops to stay, Paige went over to where Roxie was stacking mismatched plates and bumped her shoulder.
    “Hey.”
    “Hey,” Roxie muttered back, not meeting her eyes. “Look, I’ve got twenty-four hours of leave to rest up, and I want to see you while I’m here, but I don’t want to talk about what went on down in Detroit, okay?”
    “Okay.” Paige swallowed hard. “I’m glad you’re all right. I was really worried. We all were.”
    Roxie looked up sharply,