Zara sat outside on the porch after dinner with the women while Trap, Ezekiel, Gino and Wyatt went into the laboratory. She didn’t even care that the topic the men were discussing was her. They’d asked her hundreds of questions and she didn’t want to be with them anymore. She’d spent yesterday answering queries most of the day until Gino finally called enough. She was grateful to him, because discussing anything relating to Zhu or Whitney was upsetting. Talking about how she could steal from the machines and seeing their faces light up made her uneasy, so she was doubly grateful Gino recognized she needed a break from the men.
She found herself sitting beside Nonny with the other women surrounding her. It felt good to be in female company and she was glad that she had gotten to the point that she could totally enjoy herself without the safety net of Gino right there. It was restful. Pepper had already put the triplets to bed, and the women were watching the sun set over the swamp. She found she loved the nights there even more than the days. Being surrounded by the women she was growing to care about made for a perfect evening.
“Gino mentioned to me that when things settle down, Zara, that all of us, Nonny included, should have a girls’ night,” Bellisia said. “I’ve never been on one and don’t know exactly what girls are supposed to do.”
They all looked at one another, apparently clueless. Zara broke the silence. “He talked about that, and I should have asked him. I was waiting to ask you. He mentioned drinking.”
“I would have said I was too old.” Nonny tapped tobacco into her pipe from a spicy-smelling cloth bag. “But if you girls don’t know what that is, then it’s my duty to show you. As soon as the boys say it’s safe, we’ll go. It’s fun.”
“Gino said they’d come along but stay in the distance,” Zara admitted, half expecting the others to be upset.
“Did you think those boys would let you go unescorted when Whitney spends half his time trying to get you girls, sends his soldiers to try to scoop you up when no one is looking or just plain when he’s feeling onery?” Nonny asked.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Zara said.
“Zeke would skin me alive if I went into town without him or one of the others,” Bellisia said. “He’s not half as protective as Gino, and no way would he let me go.”
“Not Wyatt,” Pepper said, rubbing her belly.
“Trap wouldn’t either,” Cayenne said. “But then I wouldn’t let any of you go without an escort. It really is too dangerous. Whatever girls’ night is, we’ll have to do it with the men across the room from us.”
“Being all macho,” Bellisia added, rolling her eyes.
Zara really loved having the other women around her. She was used to female companionship, but spending the evening in such a picturesque place with them was surreal.
“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Zara said, gesturing toward the river, meaning it.
The trees were black silhouettes against a fiery red orange backdrop. The sun had poured fire into every space around the stationary objects. The pier appeared black, the trunks and knees of the cypress trees rising out of the water were black so that the red in the sky only accented them. The moss hanging like fringe from the branches seemed like a lacy black shawl against the red.
“Is it always like this?”
Nonny shook her head. “Sometimes, it’s purple or gold. Other times it’s a combination. It’s never the same and yet, you can always count on the swamp to be the same.” She took her pipe out of her mouth. “I’ve never wanted to be anywhere else.”
“I can see why,” Zara said.
“I love it here because I’m surrounded by water,” Bellisia admitted. “Everywhere I go, I can just slide into the water and feel my body absorbing it. It’s a perfect location for me.”
“I love it because the girls are safe here,” Pepper said. “Wyatt convinced me that if we raised them here, not only would they have family to watch over them and love them, but we wouldn’t have to worry so much about them making a mistake and hurting someone. This place has been a miracle for us.”
Zara glanced over at Cayenne. She was looking out into the swamp, her face impossible to read with the shadows playing across it.
“I love it because Trap is here,” she said softly. “He feels like home to me.”
Zara hadn’t thought of it that way. She didn’t know what home felt like. She smelled it in Nonny’s house. That smell of fresh bread and spices. Nonny’s pipe. She heard it sometimes in Pepper’s soft laughter when she was talking to the triplets or Wyatt. It was only when she was with Gino that Zara truly relaxed. Was that because he was already home to her the way Trap was to Cayenne? She knew it was certainly becoming that way, and that sometimes, she could barely breathe without him.
“Nonny, this place definitely makes me feel safe and happy,” Zara said. “It’s magic.”
Cayenne turned her head, one arm around the porch column. “Happy is good, Zara, but we’re never safe. You have to always remember that. If Gino tells you that you need an escort somewhere, you have to believe him.”
A dog barked in the distance as if punctuating Cayenne’s words. A frog croaked and several took up the chorus. The frog croaked again very loudly, trying to outsing the others. Zara found herself smiling. Of course she believed Gino, and she really didn’t care if he wanted to watch over her when she went out with the others, but she needed to know that Bellisia and the others would be okay with it too, if they were there. Clearly, they were already used to the protection of the men.
Nonny stood up and walked down the steps of the porch to knock her pipe clean against the thick trunk of a tree before walking toward the pier.
“She takes a walk every single night,” Pepper said. “She never seems to slow down. I hope she never does. It isn’t just this place that’s magic, so is Nonny.”
Cayenne turned her head to smile at Pepper. “I have to agree. She’s amazing. I still can’t cook very well, but she hasn’t given up on me, and she never would. I didn’t know it was possible, but she taught me how to let others in. I really love her.”
Zara kept her eyes on the older woman as she walked along the river and then out along the pier. A fish jumped and plopped back into the water. Nonny appeared to be a black silhouette along with the trees and the pier itself. Around her was that fiery backdrop, making her the center of a beautiful painting. Zara wished she had a camera. It was all so beautiful. As many times as she’d been allowed out of the compound growing up, she’d never experienced anything like this. The quiet, sitting surrounded by others, just watching the sunset and the woman who was the glue that held a very large, extended family together.
She wanted to be like Nonny. Not the same person, of course, but a woman others would feel comfortable around. A woman dedicated to her family. She knew Nonny was fiercely protective of all of them. Her shotgun was leaning right against the house, beside her rocking chair where it always was.
There was another splash in the water. Something larger moved. Zara narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, trying to get a better look. Alligator eyes appeared red at night. Around her, the women talked, but Zara no longer heard what they said, intent on the water surrounding the pier.
“Nonny.” She raised her voice to carry across the yard to the long dock. Wyatt’s grandmother had walked out onto the wooden landing as she did every night. “Come back.”
Zara was on her feet, heedless of the pain. She caught up the shotgun as she began her dash, and actually leapt off the porch, running. She’d always been fast. That was one of the advantages of her long legs and she’d always had the ability to sprint, covering distance faster than anyone else in the compound. Her cat DNA probably helped.
Nonny spun around toward her just as something big and black, the fiery glow behind it, heaved itself out of the water onto the pier, reaching for the older woman.
“Drop!” Zara screamed it. “Drop, Nonny!”
Nonny did as she was told, and Zara pulled the trigger just as her feet hit the wood of the pier. The kick in the gun drove the butt into her shoulder hard, but she didn’t feel that either. She threw herself over Nonny’s body and fired again as a man dressed in a black wet suit came at them. The slug drove him back, but he didn’t go down.
“Run,” she hissed at Nonny.
Nonny got up slowly to face the big man who had stumbled nearly to the end of the pier. He straightened. Time slowed down as he looked over their shoulders, a smirk on his face. Bellisia slipped into the water as three more men in wet suits came up on either side of the pier. Calmly, Nonny took the shotgun from Zara.
“This was a present from my grandson,” Nonny said softly. “Never knew why that boy wanted me to have a shotgun with the capability of shooting so many rounds. Never needed such a thing. Thought it was overkill.” She lifted the barrel and shot the same soldier point-blank, this time in his throat.
The man’s eyes widened and he toppled over backward. His body hit the end of the pier, rocked there for a macabre moment and then fell into the water. Wyatt, Gino, Trap and Ezekiel hit the dock running. Ezekiel went into the air, knees to chest. He shot his feet out and both hit the soldier just coming out of the water. The man flew backward into the river. Bellisia was on him instantly, her poisonous injection paralyzing him immediately and then killing him as he floated away.
Gino sliced the throat of the third man, one cut, the laceration so deep it nearly severed his head. He spun toward the fourth man, but Trap had him down into the water, holding him for Bellisia. The three GhostWalkers went into the water, going under as the last of the fiery sunset sank, leaving them in the inky light.
Wyatt reached down to help Zara up. She could feel her feet now. Every bruised and mangled inch, the torn, mangled tendons. It hurt like hell. She wasn’t positive she could run as fast getting back to the porch as she had getting to Nonny. She glanced at the pier. There were bloody footprints she knew were hers. She forced herself not to wince as she took that first step. Wyatt had his arm around Nonny as he started her in the direction of the house.
Cayenne was there, one arm around her. “Can you get on my back?”
Cayenne wasn’t the tallest woman in the world. Zara would feel ridiculous climbing on her back. She shook her head.
“I’m really strong. Get on and let’s get back to the safety of the house. It’s you they’re after,” Cayenne reminded.
Zara stepped close to her, closing her eyes, forcing her feet to work as Cayenne turned around to allow her to climb up like a child getting a piggyback ride. She put her hand on Cayenne’s shoulder and something wrapped around her ankle like a vise and she was jerked backward off the pier. She hit the water hard and was yanked under before she had time to really take a breath.
Whoever had her by the ankle swam fast, propelling both of them through the water at a rapid rate of speed. It was so dark beneath the surface that Zara couldn’t even see the soldier taking her away from safety. Her lungs were already burning, feeling raw, and panic began to set in. She fought, trying to get the fingers from around her, trying to indicate that she was going to drown if he didn’t take her to the surface. She would have used the venom, but she couldn’t get to his hand with her fingernails. The soldier swimming with her ignored her. She realized his orders were to bring her back dead or alive. Whitney didn’t need her alive, he only needed her dead body, or more precisely, her head.
Something small shot past her, brushing her body, streaking toward the soldier. An arm slid around her waist. Gino swam with her, not at all dragging so the soldier setting such a frantic, fast pace would have no idea Gino was swimming with her. He caught her face and then his mouth was over hers and he was pushing air into her lungs. His eyes looked directly into hers and she could feel his calm. Instantly, the panic in her subsided.
He signaled that he was going up for air, and she nodded. The little rocket that had brushed against her arm had been Bellisia and she knew the soldier hauling her through the water so fast was going to be dead very soon. No one was as good underwater as Bellisia. She stopped fighting, stopped thrashing and just let the soldier drag her dead weight, as if she had drowned.
Suddenly his fingers tightened on her ankle, a rigid shackle, and then the soldier was dropping to the floor of the river, taking her with him. Bellisia was there, trying to open his fingers. Knowing he was dying, the soldier gripped her ankle harder. It would take him some time to die, some time for the tetrodotoxin to paralyze him completely, and it looked as if he wanted to take her with him. She wasn’t certain she could survive until his body relaxed completely. Gino signaled her to look away. She saw the knife in his hand and she closed her eyes tightly. The moment her ankle was loose, Gino and Bellisia rose to the surface with her.
Air had never tasted or felt so good. Around them, she heard gunfire out in the swamp. A sniper rifle, probably from up on one of the roofs. A bullet hit the water and zipped under. Something big sent waves crashing around them.
“They have a submersible,” Gino whispered in her ear. His arm was around her waist, holding her close.
“They won’t have it long,” Bellisia said. “As soon as you two are clear, I’m blowing it up. I have a stash of weapons hidden in the bank, just behind that huge root system. Get her clear, Gino.”
“Wait and I’ll help you.”
She shook her head. “Like you, I work better alone.”
Zara couldn’t help herself. There was no longer a red sunset to tell her the world was on fire, but she felt like it was. She hugged Bellisia hard. “Make it back to us,” she whispered.
“I will. Now get out of here, they’re trying to make a run for it.” Bellisia pushed off them, swimming toward the root system.
Gino put his hands on Zara’s waist and pushed her toward shore, toward the thickest part of the swamp, but where there was enough of a lip on the bank for them to climb up. The moment they made it to the steep bank, he waited, pushing her close to the wall of muddy dirt, his body covering hers, his head down as they heard three soldiers whispering into a radio.
He leaned into her. “Don’t move.”
She nodded her head to indicate she wouldn’t. Gino moved around her to climb up onto the bank. There wasn’t a sound. Not a single piece of dirt slid back into the water. He used hands and feet to climb, and then it was like the swamp opened up and devoured him. He disappeared. She was looking up so she could see two of the three soldiers looking out over the water, trying to spot anyone swimming without giving their own position away. The third looked behind them into the woods.
Zara tried to make herself smaller without moving. She was too afraid to move. She could only stare up at them, hoping they wouldn’t spot her. As they turned away, one dropped a holdout gun from inside his coat. It fell into the mud just above her. He crouched down to pick it up as the others hissed at him to be quiet.
Her eyes met the soldier’s gaze. Shock showed on his face. She tried to push away from the bank just as he reached down with both hands, caught her around her neck and yanked her out of the water.
He had her on the ground, one hand over her mouth, the other squeezing her throat closed in warning. She stared up at him, tears blurring her vision as her body fought for air. Above him, the tree came to life. Something heavy dropped onto his back and a huge gash opened up from one side of his neck to the other. Red blood poured onto the ground around her, dropping into her hair and even hitting her face.
The soldier slumped over top of her, his heavy weight pinning her to the ground. Turning her head, she saw the soldier’s two partners aiming guns at Gino. Then Gino wasn’t there and shots reverberated through the swamp.
“Get up!” the second soldier shouted to her while the first continued moved into position behind her. “If you don’t want me to blow your head off, get up, Zara. Right now.” There was just a little panic in the soldier’s voice.
She knew he would shoot her. She knew it absolutely. Zara shoved the dead weight of the fallen soldier up while she rolled out from under him. She got to her feet slowly, and he caught her arm and yanked her to him. She reached up to his face and scratched deep claw marks down his vulnerable throat and neck. He gave a hoarse shout and slapped her hard enough to send her stumbling back a couple of steps. He screamed in pain and turned, pulling his weapon up. Two holes appeared in his throat simultaneously. She glanced toward the Fontenot home, knowing two snipers were somewhere in that direction watching out for her.
“Zara, get over here now.” She recognized him as one of Whitney’s go-to men, Glenn Ridges. He was always with Whitney, always ready to do whatever the man said. He liked his job just a little too well. He had moved back into the safety of the swamp, but aimed his semiautomatic at her head. “You know I’ll kill you if you don’t get your ass over here.”
She knew he would. He also had taken the precaution to protect his body from her. His throat was covered with a thick wrap and his hands were gloved. She went to him because she had no choice.
“I ought to put a bullet in your fucking head just for killing Harvey. He would have died from your venom even if they hadn’t shot him.”
She didn’t respond, what was there to say?
Glenn caught her arm and dragged her to him before she was on her feet. He gripped his gun tightly. “Start walking.”
For some reason, now, even with the adrenaline rushing through her veins, she felt the excruciating pain of setting her feet down on the uneven surface. Her breath hitched in her throat.
“Zara, stay very still.”
At the sound of Gino’s voice, the soldier froze, trying to keep her in front of him. “I’ll kill her.”
Gino stared at Whitney’s soldier. The man had dared to put his hands on Gino’s woman. She looked scared. He didn’t tell her there was no need. He wasn’t a man prone to bragging, and this dumb fuck was about to die. The soldier didn’t have a finger on the trigger, but he was turning the weapon toward Zara’s head. Gino fired, putting a bullet through the man’s gun hand. Dead center. The soldier gasped and dropped the weapon.
“Down,” Gino said.
She dropped. His woman. She was a soldier whether she wanted to think she was or not. He shot the bastard through the throat. A kill shot. He didn’t want to kill him so easily, not with Zara looking so scared, not with the knowledge that this man and his friends had taken her feeling of safety from her. He would have liked to have spent a little time showing the fucker what happened to men who made war on his woman, but haste was a necessity.
He shoved the gun into his waistband and reached for her. It was easier to run with her over his shoulder, so he put her there. “We’re going to go over the rules again, baby,” he said, his voice a little grimmer than he intended, but hell, his heart had been in his throat when he saw her on that pier with that shotgun, facing the soldier coming out of the water. He’d nearly had a heart attack when he saw that soldier grip her ankle and drag her underwater.
She didn’t answer, but she bunched the back of his shirt in her fists as he took her into the swamp and out of harm’s way. The rest of the team had mopped up most of the men Whitney had sent to reacquire Zara. An explosion rocked the ground. Birds took to the air. An alligator bellowed. Bellisia had blown the submersible to kingdom come and anyone still in it was gone. Once the all clear was given, Gino took her back to the house.
Joe stood just to the right of the porch, his eyes like twin silver flames. His eyes only changed color like that when his energy went south. He was definitely in a shit mood and there was not going to be any putting off his questions. Gino took Zara right past him into the house, but Joe followed.
“Give me a minute,” Gino said. “Got to get these wet clothes off her and get her clean.” She had blood all over her. He could see that she tried not to see it in her hair or on her clothes as he reached into the shower and turned it on. Joe backed out of the room and closed the door.
Gino stripped the clothes from her shivering body and then from his. He took her into the stall and let the water pour over both of them. He was familiar with her body, the curves and valleys, the way she felt when he washed the muddy water from her. He kept his arm locked around her rib cage, taking most of her weight off the soles of her feet, all the while washing her clean and trying not to react.
He knew he wasn’t a saint, and there was no controlling his body around her even when the circumstances weren’t conducive for seduction. She had to feel the hard length of him, but she didn’t say anything, nor did she object to him rinsing her hair and then his own, all one-handed. She didn’t say a single word. He took her out of there, set her on the sink and wrapped a towel around her. He should have wrapped one around himself, but instead, he crouched down to examine the bottoms of her feet.
“Baby, what part of ‘don’t walk’ do you not get?”
“They would have taken her. Nonny. They were coming for her.”
“They were coming for you. They might have tried to use Nonny to get to you, Zara, but you were their goal, not Nonny.” His fingers slid over her ankles. She would have more bruises on her ankles and around her neck, just as they were fading. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t let them take her, or worse, kill her, Gino.”
Her voice was soft, appeasing, not remorseful, and he knew she would make the same decision again.
“Cayenne and Bellisia are fast, princess.” Abruptly he yanked a medical kit out from under the sink and prepared an injectable painkiller. Her feet had to be hurting.
“Not as fast as I am. I got there. They didn’t. I had the shotgun, they didn’t.”
He wanted to shake her. He was damned proud of her, but he never wanted her to do anything like that again. “You put yourself in danger. How is letting Whitney get you back going to help anyone?” He injected the medicine into her thigh and stood up. It was fast acting and would take effect soon.
“I’m so fuckin’ pissed at you right now, Zara,” he warned. He shoved both hands through his hair, trying to get his breathing under control. Trying to get himself under control. He could have lost her. Like his mother. His father. His grandparents. All of them. He could have lost her. He saw the exact moment when the drug hit and her breathing calmed. Her eyes went a little hazy. At least he could do that, take away pain, even if he couldn’t keep her safe.
“If they pulled a woman in her eighties into that water and held her there, she would have drowned, Gino.”
“Stop arguing with me. Let me just have this one, Zara. You took ten years off my life.”
He looked up at her and her eyes met his. She seemed shocked at the level of anxiety he had, but he was a little shocked as well. He couldn’t find his calm no matter how much he tried to breathe the fear for her away. He stood up abruptly and nabbed a towel, refusing to turn away from her. Let her look. Let her see what she did to him no matter the circumstances. Yeah. He wanted her. He wanted her no matter what kind of shit was happening around them. He wanted her every time he heard the sound of her voice, let alone looked at her when she was naked.
Her gaze dropped from his eyes to his chest and then lower. He heard the little hitch in her voice. Yeah. That was better. She wanted him too. He caught the front of her towel, so that his fingers curled between her breasts as he yanked her close to him. He pushed her thighs apart to allow his body to be even closer. When she tilted her head to look, he took her mouth.
She gave herself to him. There was no holding back. Her mouth moved under his, lips parting and then he was taking every damn thing he wanted. Her mouth was pure flame. Sheer paradise. He devoured her, taking control the way he wanted, showing her who he was and what she could expect when she scared the crap out of him and he was pissed as hell.
Maybe it wasn’t her fault and she’d done the only thing she could, but all that adrenaline and rage swirling in him had to go somewhere. Her arms slid around his neck and he yanked down the towel. She kept kissing him, not acknowledging that the towel was gone.
He was aware the moment there was nothing between him and her body. He was always aware of her skin. Her breasts. That tucked-in waist. The flare of her hips. That really nice ass and the way her curls were tight and silky over her mound. He kissed his way over her chin and down her throat to the curve of her left breast. His hand cupped her right one, thumb and fingers working her nipple while his mouth closed over the left.
She gasped, but she didn’t pull away. If anything, she arched her body to give him better access. He took his time, making sure that she knew who she belonged to. He was gentle at first, judging her reactions. He suckled harder. His fingers got rougher. Her hips bucked a little, and he used the edge of his teeth. A sound escaped, a soft moan that she tried to suppress but failed.
He lifted his head, his eyes moving over her face. “Don’t do it again.”
“I can’t promise you that,” she said softly.
He retaliated, his mouth on her again, using his teeth and tongue on her breasts, the undersides, down her belly, his shoulder pushing into her until she had no choice but to lean back, hands gripping the edge of the sink behind her. He bit the inside of her thigh and then licked up her leg. “Don’t do it again.”
“Gino.” Her breath came in ragged gasps. “I want to promise you, but you know I can’t.”
One hand to her belly, he pushed until she was lying on her back, only elbows supporting her. He put his mouth between her legs and lifted her to him. She tasted like she always smelled, that hint of citrus and vanilla. He had no idea where the scent came from, it wasn’t in the soap he’d used on her, but the hot honey spilling from her had just a faint hint. Enough that he wanted more of that elusive taste. He loved the way she tasted, and twice that day, while he was supposed to be working with the others on solutions, he thought about that taste and craved her like a drug.
He gave her no mercy. She hadn’t given him any. He’d watched her nearly be taken from him. He’d watched her leave the safety of the porch and run barefoot on her damaged feet straight into hell. In those few moments, he’d known, without a single doubt, he wasn’t just making some decision that could be taken back, making her his choice because he was physically attracted to her. She was wrapped up inside him, tight. Wound around his heart. How the hell she’d gotten there when he’d protected himself for so long, he didn’t know, but she was there and she wasn’t going anywhere.
His heart had nearly stopped. His world had tunneled. He saw that run in slow motion. Wyatt, Ezekiel, Trap and he had sprinted for the pier, all four shoving guns in their jeans as they came out of the laboratory. Looking back, he had no idea what had warned them, but they opened the door to see Zara running toward the dock, Bellisia close behind her. Pepper had raced to get the triplets to the safe room, and Cayenne had stayed on the porch to protect the children.
Gunfire had erupted from the swamp, with return fire from other team members. The attack came from water, road and swamp. Nothing mattered to Gino but getting to Zara. They weren’t going to take his woman.
Gino wouldn’t have been surprised, when he looked in the mirror behind her, to see his hair gray. He used his tongue and teeth ruthlessly on her, driving her up. She gasped. Writhed. He didn’t let her go over. He lifted his head.
“Baby, don’t do it again.”
“Gino.”
Just his name. Breathless. Almost a sob. A little panic-stricken. He took her there again. And then a third time. Each time he punctuated his action with the same thing. “Don’t do it again.”
Her fists curled tightly in his hair. “I didn’t know I was going to do it. It just happened. I didn’t think first.”
He closed his eyes. Of course she hadn’t. She’d acted. And she’d do it again. It wouldn’t matter if it was Nonny or one of their children. She’d go flying to the rescue because that was who Zara was. He rubbed the darker bristles along his jaw over her thighs.
“Coward my ass. You’re going to make me old before my time, woman.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I’m going to be over the years,” he said, meaning it. She might not like pain. She might not like to go out into the world, traveling everywhere. She might think of herself as a coward, but she would never hesitate to protect the people she loved—including him. That was in her nature. The truth was, he’d known it all along. He knew it the moment he saw what Zhu had done to her, especially her feet, and he’d found out she hadn’t given up any information. That knowledge had been reinforced when she’d revealed she had a lethal venom.
“What does that mean?”
Her breasts were heaving with every ragged breath she drew in. He had to cover her up because he wasn’t such a dick that he’d take her in the bathroom with Joe right outside the door.
“We need clothes.” He raised his voice, because Joe was still out there. He knew it because the man had always been as stubborn as hell and he wasn’t going to go away without answers.
Gino pulled the towel around her again, just in case Joe decided to walk in. “It means, Zara, that you’re no coward and I’d better not everhear you say you are again.”
She opened her mouth to protest, thought better of it and closed it. “Over the years,” she echoed.
He sent her look. “You’re my fucking woman, Zara. What the hell do you think it means? And we’re getting married as soon as I can arrange it.”
She pressed her lips together and then swallowed. “You don’t have to sound angry.”
“I amangry. They nearly took you from me. I’m going hunting the minute I have you safe. It isn’t going to happen again.”
“Do I have a choice in this?”
“In what? Marrying me immediately? Or me going hunting?”
“Both.”
“No to both.” Abruptly he turned away from her when Joe knocked on the door. Stalking across the room, he glanced over his shoulder to make certain she was covered up and to see how she took that particular bit of news.
“Okay then. But are you really angry with me?”
A few of the knots in his gut relaxed a little. He took the clothes from Joe, shut the door and turned back to regard her. She looked beautiful sitting there on the sink, holding the towel to her. It wasn’t difficult to see his marks on the upper curves of her breasts, and he liked seeing them a hell of a lot more than he liked seeing the faint whip marks still marring her skin. Most were closed, leaving only long red marks. Nonny’s concoctions and the antibiotics had helped tremendously, along with the fact that most GhostWalkers healed injuries fast.
“Are you, Gino?”
She sounded and looked upset at the idea that he would be angry with her. He was across the room again, this time to cup her face gently in his hands. “Baby, I’m angry at anyone who puts their hands on you. Anyone who hurts you. Anything that hurts you. Not you. You might get into trouble, Zara, but I’m not going to be angry.”
He bent down so he could brush his mouth across hers. She’d been through enough and he didn’t want her to be upset. Certainly not because he wanted to go hunting. The more he was with her, the more he saw who she really was, the tighter those ties were around his heart. He didn’t even care that she’d wrapped him up like that. He hadn’t expected it. He’d been an idiot thinking he could claim her and then she would fall like a ton of brick for him, not the other way around.
“What does getting in trouble entail?”
He dragged a T-shirt over her head. “Don’t think that cute tone is going to get you off the hook, princess.”
She licked her bottom lip, her eyes on him as he pulled up a pair of jeans. It wasn’t the easiest adjusting his cock when she was looking at him, and that particular part of him refused to stand down even when he told it to.
He pulled on his tee and reached for her. “I need to see to your feet, and we can talk to Joe at the same time.”
“Joe? As in the head of your team Joe?”
“The one you’ve avoided since you’ve been here,” Gino said. He pulled open the door and jerked his chin toward his room where his medical supplies were so Joe would follow them there and not think Gino was avoiding him.
“Whitney is still after her, Gino. You want to tell me what’s going on? You, Trap, Wyatt and Zeke are all up to something. I let it go, but once it affects the team and the women here, you don’t get to keep your secrets.”
“It’s not my secret, Joe, or you would have been the first to know.” Gino put Zara on the bed and reached for his medical bag, pulling it to him while he sat, dragging her feet into his lap.
Joe switched his gaze to Zara’s face. She was looking at the sheets. “You’re on my home turf, Zara. I want to know exactly why Whitney wants you back so much that he’s made two tries for you. He lost a hell of a lot of men he can’t afford to lose. My guess is he’s got another wave of them coming at us soon. Spill it now.”
Zara looked up at Gino, searching his face for a sign. He wanted to tell her that Joe was his brother, and trustworthy as hell, but it had to be her decision. She’d given him her secret and then allowed him to tell Trap and Wyatt. Bellisia had told Zeke. She was very scared that if they couldn’t get the information out of her head, she would be taken forcibly from the team by someone Whitney was friends with. The worst of it was, her fear very well could turn into a reality. Gino would have no choice but to go AWOL and get her back if that happened.
“Don’t look at him, Zara,” Joe said. “Look at me. I’m the head of this GhostWalker team, not Gino.”
“I’m not under your orders,” Zara said.
That shocked the hell out of Gino. She was usually very passive. She would state her point, but then she refused to argue. She was shutting down Joe’s authority over her. Gino stroked ointment on the soles of her feet and then over the bruised muscles.
“No, you’re not, but Whitney just made a grab for you. I’ve got women and children to protect here. If you aren’t willing to tell me why he keeps coming after you, then you aren’t staying here.”
Gino very slowly put Zara’s feet back on the mattress. He stood up, feeling the familiar surge of adrenaline flooding his body. Heat coiled. “Joe. Just so you know, she leaves, I leave.”
They stood toe to toe. It was rare for Gino to ever go against Joe. Ever. Gino protected him and had since he was very young. Gino followed him into the service and then the GhostWalker program for that very reason. There was no going back from this.
“Zara,” Joe said very softly, not taking his eyes from Gino. “I never thought I’d see the day when my brother chose to put a woman before me. You must be very, very special. I’m asking, as his brother, that you tell me why Whitney won’t let you go.”
There was a small silence. Gino didn’t drop his gaze from Joe’s. He wasn’t backing down. Behind him, Zara shifted her weight and then her hand was slipping into his. So small, her fingers delicate. She had such a grip on him, not with those small fingers, but with whatever it was that was between them. Gino broke the eye contact to look down at his woman. He nodded to her, and she took a deep breath before she gave Joe everything.
“Whitney knows I stole Cheng’s information. All of it. Everything he collected over the last few years. Names of agents, weapons development by various countries, who is selling out their country, who is drug running, gun running, human trafficking, all of it. Whitney sends me in as an industrial spy. I give a lecture and collect data from whatever company he needs the information from. Cheng had the GhostWalker program. All of it had to be destroyed. I was capable of doing both, collecting the data and destroying everything he had so he couldn’t recover it. Whitney sent me in. Unfortunately, if you tell your commanding officer, they will come for me, and eventually Whitney will get me and the information anyway.”
“We didn’t want to put you in the position of having to lie to Major General Tennessee Milton,” Gino explained.
“Thank you for telling me, Zara. It can’t be easy to trust any of us,” Joe said gently.
“Gino trusts you,” she said.
Her fingers curled into Gino’s and he sank down onto the bed, knowing she needed reassurance. He was beginning to read her. She was nervous. She knew, just as well as Gino did, that Joe was in a bad position. The GhostWalkers might be handled differently than other military teams, but they had to answer to their commanding officer.
“So, Gino, what exactly have you geniuses decided to do about this?”
“Don’t lump me in with them,” Gino protested, tugging until Zara leaned into him. He brought her knuckles to his mouth and kissed them. “Trap, Wyatt and Zeke get that label, not me. I do the grunt work.”
“Bullshit. In any case, what have you decided is the best course of action, because we can’t have them coming at us like this.”
“No, but you could call Major General and let him know Whitney isn’t keeping his side of the bargain. We were told if we rescued her, we got to keep her.”
Zara tried to pull her hand away. Gino kept possession of it, holding it tighter, pressing her fist against his chest.
“That makes me sound like some kind of prisoner to be passed back and forth depending on who is in charge,” she protested.
“You are a prisoner,” Gino said. “Mine. And as far you’re concerned, I’m in charge.”
She rolled her eyes and flashed a faint smile at him. “You’re impossible.”
“True.” He was unrepentant. He’d been upfront with her about his personality, his character. She knew him and she knew he wasn’t joking.
“Let’s get back to the problem, because it isn’t going to go away, Gino,” Joe said. “If they keep coming at us, someone is going to get killed. None of us want that.”
“He’s right,” Zara said. “Maybe I should go, Gino. Whitney won’t have a reason to attack any of you if I’m gone.”
“That’s not a possibility,” Gino said. “You know that, so don’t even consider it. You try to leave, baby, and I won’t like it.”
“Have they come up with any ideas?” Joe persisted. “Can you just pass the information to us and let us decide what to do with it?”
“The files are in my head. I don’t know what’s in them, and I can’t get them out. Only Whitney could do that,” Zara explained.
“In her head?” Joe looked to Gino for an explanation.
Gino told him everything, and they looked at one another for a long time. Zara sat very still as if she was half expecting Joe to change his mind and kick her out.
“Solutions?” Joe prompted.
“We’re working on it,” Gino said.
“Then work faster. In the meantime …”
“In the meantime, I’m going hunting. Whitney has attacked us twice. He’s got another team somewhere close, probably the main one, waiting to attack. Most likely he thinks the first two softened us up, made us think he was finished. I’m pissed now, Joe. I need to take it to them.”
Joe nodded. “I was afraid you were going to say that. When are you heading out?”
“As soon as I know Zara’s covered. I’m talking to Bellisia and Cayenne. They’ll make sure nothing happens here while I’m gone.”
“Meaning you think they’ll stop me if I try to leave,” Zara said. “I don’t want you to go off looking for supersoldiers. I know you think they’re easy to kill, but they aren’t.”
“They are if you know how to kill them, Zara. I do. We all do. We work together to get it done. Whitney is going to run out of men.”
“I don’t want you to go,” she whispered. “I hate that everyone is in danger because of me.”
“Actually,” Joe contradicted, “they’re in danger because Whitney keeps coming at us. I’m going to talk to the three resident geniuses and tell them to step it up. You get your team together Gino, and I’ll call Major General and tell him his good friend Whitney needs to back off.”
Gino watched him go and then he turned to Zara. “Baby, don’t keep thinking in terms of leaving. I’ve got a house to build and you’ve got a home to make for us. We’ll get rid of the threat to you. It might take a little time, but we’ll do it. We’re building something here. Something important.”
He hadn’t thought he’d have a wife. Children. Now he needed that fortress the GhostWalkers were building around their women and children. He had something to protect other than Joe.
“I don’t like you putting yourself in danger.”
“Worry about the ones I’m going after, Zara, not about me. When I’m out there, I belong. I’m part of that swamp. I’ll come back to you. I’ll always come back to you.” He meant it. Now, he actually had a reason to survive.