“Something’s changed about you,” Skorpion said, glancing at her out the corner of his eye as they rode toward the shipping yard. “Make up with your boyfriend?”

The gloves she was wearing hid the wedding band that was now back resting on her finger—her engagement ring was far too big to wear when she was working.

She wasn’t purposely hiding it nor did anyone know about her and Kit’s trip back to Vegas, but leave it to Skorpion to notice something different about her.

“How do you manage to make that sound like an insult?” Luna asked, glancing in his direction.

“I’m just curious is all,” Skorpion said with a laugh, rubbing a hand over his goatee as he drove one-handed.

“I forgot how curious you could get.”

“I told you it would work itself out, didn’t I?”

“That’s because, despite your gruff attitude, you have a soft spot for the Runeharts.”

Skorpion frowned, not liking that description. “Doubtful.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what happened during your last assignment?”

Of anyone, Luna could say she was closest to Skorpion, even though she only knew about him what he was willing to share.

She knew about his childhood growing up in Hawaii, about learning how to surf with his mother, and even how he’d fallen off a cliff and nearly broke his neck when he hit the water all because he wanted to impress a girl, but she knew nothing about the reason why he’d left the Den.

“Are you in a sharing mood?” he asked, his tone flat. “Are we swapping stories now?”

“Now would be a choice time, right? It’s just us, and since we have about an hour before the ship docks, we’ve got plenty of time.”

“It wasn’t an assignment,” Skorpion started gruffly. “It didn’t start out that way, I mean. Uilleam had business in the south of France, and I was visiting Charlotte and …” He gave an almost helpless shrug of his shoulder, as though the memory he was trying not to think about was still bleeding through. “I was careful with her—especially with Soliel there. I never brought work to her place.”

Skorpion killed the lights to his car as they rolled to a stop a few yards away from the shipping yard.

Luna understood, though he didn’t have to say, why it was hazardous to be in a relationship with someone outside the business. She was lucky, in many regards, that Kit was who he was, and there was no fear of him getting hurt because of what she did.

Whispering, Luna asked, “Did your work find her?”

He got this look on his face, one that spoke of sadness, regret, and anger. “She found it.”

Skorpion took a breath as those words lingered between them, but finally grabbed the handle of the door and gave it a pull. “You ready to do this?”

That was as much as she would get out of him.

“Yeah,” she said, giving him his out. “Let’s go.”

Touching a hand to her wrists one last time, Luna followed Skorpion out of the car, following him down the pathway they’d mapped out hours before.

From the top of the hill, they could see down to the docks clearly, allowing an unobstructed view of the port they were going to breach.

“You know,” Skorpion said as he checked the slide of his gun one last time before shoving it into place and holstering his Glock. “You should stop by the house while you’re here. Soliel would love to see you.”

With scheduling conflicts over the years, Luna hadn’t gotten to see Skorpion’s daughter as much as she would have liked. Sure, they talked on FaceTime when they had the chance, but it wasn’t the same.

“Oh, you’re finally inviting me to your place?” Luna asked with a smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“You’re always welcome,” he returned as he passed her a pair of binoculars. “You know that.”

They could have been lounging on one of the many beaches he liked to frequent for all the attention he was paying the job they were on, but that was Skorpion—he didn’t react to danger the way the others might.

“Just want to be sure. We know how anal you can be about people showing up uninvited.”

Of the lot of them, Skorpion was the most private when it came to his life outside the Den. He liked to keep the two as separate as possible, and he was more than willing to teach anyone the hard way if they showed up at his place unannounced.

She didn’t fault him for his hesitance—none of them were particularly the sharing type, and they all had a number of enemies waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Then again, until recently, the majority of the Den hadn’t even known she was married.

But that was the difference between the two of them. She had never outright mentioned her marriage because … well, she had never seen any reason to. Skorpion, on the other hand, didn’t like people prying into his life because of Soliel.

In a world where loyalties could be bought, it was much better to be safe than sorry.

“You’re the one who’s always hated Cali,” he returned, picking up his own pair of binoculars to his eyes. “Now, you don’t have an excuse.”

“How is she?” Luna asked. “Last you told me, she was learning how to surf.”

Since he spent nearly as much time in the water as he spent doing freelance work, it made sense that he would be teaching her his favorite pastime, but the few times that Luna had tried to get up on a board herself, she hadn’t the balance for it.

“Getting better every day,” he said with all the affection a father could possess.

“Is Kit allowed to come along with me?” Luna asked, glancing at him before looking back through the scopes to wait for Celt’s signal.

He was nearby, though Luna wasn’t sure where—knowing only that he was positioned near the South entrance, using his skills to get inside the main building that held all the contracts for this particular shipping yard. Red was on a rooftop, closer to the docks, where he would have a clean shot of anyone they couldn’t get to.

Skorpion grunted, making a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat. “We’ll discuss that later.”

Luna wasn’t sure why, but Skorpion didn’t particularly like Kit, though he had never given a reason.

She was readying to tell him that Kit was great with kids—though she really had no evidence of that—but before she could, the ship they’d been waiting for arrived.

Fitting her comm in her ear, she just caught Red as he said, “The civilians are moving.”

The workers at the docks seemed to go on alert as they watched the black hub draw closer. One signaled for another to get into the crane parked nearby.

Very carefully, he maneuvered the mechanic arm over the ship, picking up one of the shipping containers and moving it onto level ground.

“Seems the pickup is a wee bit early,” Celt came on next.

Headlights flashed near the front gates, and as they rolled open, three black vans came rolling through followed by two cars.

“Three in the vans, seven between the other cars,” Celt went on. “Easy enough, eh?”

Luna nodded, even knowing that he couldn’t see her. “We have to wait for the civilians to clear out before we make a move.”

“And call in more civilians,” Skorpion said wryly.

It was rare—very rare—that the Kingmaker had them utilize the LAPD, or any police for that matter, for anything. He wasn’t a very big fan of law enforcement, but for this particular instance, he needed to make this as public as possible.

And if the LAPD found the scores of girls they knew were in the shipping containers down below, it would be all over the news within hours.

Carmen would be done.

Wiping her palms along the front of her vest, Luna went back to her binoculars, watching as Carmen’s men exited the cars and walked over to the dock workers, one carrying two hefty envelopes.

With a quick change of hands, the money was given to the workers, sending them on their way without a backward glance.

They were laughing, Luna saw, as they stood around, waiting for the last man to finish moving the last of the containers.

One was even smoking a cigarette as he casually held a conversation with the man standing next to him—as though they weren’t trafficking children and there to pick up their next shipment.

Luna’s fingers tightened around the hardened plastic she held at the thought of their amusement.

When she had been taken, none of Uilleam’s men had laughed or found amusement in her kidnapping, but once she was at the Kendall estate … they had laughed enough for everyone.

“Easy,” Skorpion whispered next to her, his voice low but steady.

He knew without her ever having to open her mouth where her thoughts had gone.

Drawing in a breath, Luna held it for several seconds before exhaling. She wasn’t a victim anymore, and if she could help it, none of the women and children in those containers would be victims any longer either.

It took several minutes before one of the men came around with a pair of bolt cutters and began breaking the locks and snapping them off, the rest pulling their guns.

They were already scared, Luna thought, what reason would they need to pull weapons on children?

The one with the tattoos shouted something Luna couldn’t make out as he grabbed hold of the door and shoved it up.

“Fucking Christ.” This came from Celt, and it was obvious he had changed vantage points if he could see inside the container.

Luna knew there would be children inside—of course, she knew. They had all been briefed on exactly what they would find here, but nothing could have prepared her for actually seeing them.

The fear in their gazes.

The tears falling from their eyes.

Maybe she had expected teenagers like she had been. Maybe she wouldn’t have seen as many tears then. She remembered the brave face she had tried to put on when she was taken, but they were practically babies.

They were all going to go down though—she just needed to keep telling herself that.

She needed to do her job and be done with it. By the end of the night, those children, all of them, would be safe and spared from the horrors these men had in store for them.

She just needed …

Her breath caught as she saw her, the little girl with the stuffed rabbit clutched in one tiny hand. She was smaller than the others, younger too, wearing a white nightgown with dirt stains around the hem. She couldn’t be more than seven years old, and even that felt like a stretch.

For a moment, the girl was all she could see. It almost felt like … like she was staring at a reflection of herself.

The same brown eyes.

The same dark hair.

And though she wasn’t crying like the others, fear was still evident in her eyes. But determination was evident too, because standing tucked behind her was another little girl, one a few years younger who looked like she was seconds from bursting into tears.

They hadn’t spoken a word nor had they moved from their little corner of the container, but somehow, they had grabbed the attention of the man who had opened it up.

“Something’s off,” Luna said, dropping her binoculars, getting to her feet as she studied the shipyard below.

She didn’t know what was wrong exactly.

For all appearances, it looked like everything was going according to schedule—the ship had docked, the cargo unloaded, and the dock workers were paid to take an extended break away from where the cartel was doing business—and the only thing they had left to do was to load their cargo up and be on their way.

Agustín had done his part, ensuring that his men were clear of this place and had gotten them a way inside.

But they seemed to be lingering …

“Whatever it is,” Skorpion said, glancing in her direction. “It’s not our problem.”

“Red—”

“Yeah,” he said before she could get out her request. “I got you.”

Luna started down the hill, heading toward the fence. Nearly there, she could practically hear Kit’s voice in her head.

Complete the assignment, nothing more.

She could almost see that stern disapproval in his gaze, but this wasn’t something she couldn’t not do.

She couldn’t just let it be though, not when so many of them were so frightened and young. She could see herself in them.

And the last thing she was going to do was stand there and do nothing just because they weren’t the job.

Besides, she had never really done well with following Kit’s orders.

“Luna,” Skorpion called, her name enough of a warning that she knew exactly what he would say next.

But she didn’t give him the chance. “And if it were Soliel?”

He leveled a stare at her, one that told her his answer.

Yes, he would have gone after Soliel in a heartbeat, but these girls weren’t her, and for that reason, they weren’t his problem. He didn’t owe them anything.

“You’re with me, or you can stay here. Either way, I’m going in.”

Silence stretched between them before he offered a reluctant nod.

No longer than thirty seconds and they were inside, carefully sticking to the shadows until they were close enough that they could hear the voices of the jovial men and the frightened children.

“Don’t be afraid,” the man said to the girl with the rabbit, trying to lead her away from the others. “You’ll be safe with me.”

Luna twirled a dagger in her hand. She crept around the side of a crate, waiting for the perfect opportunity …

“No!” the girl cried, trying to pull away, which only added to her sister’s panic as fresh tears bloomed.

But it wasn’t until she kicked the man in his shin, making him grunt and loosen his hold on her did he finally react.

“You stupid, little—”

But he never got to finish that statement, not when a dagger was suddenly embedded in his neck.

There was a moment of suspended disbelief as they all watched him drop to his knees, his breaths gurgling out of him until he slumped over, before the men reacted, but by the time they did, it was too late for them.

Red picked off two before they could even look in Luna’s direction, but the other two were smarter, darting out of the way.

“Call it in,” Luna said panting, ducking behind another container.

“You sure you want to do that now?” Celt said sarcastically.

“Now would be a choice time.”

Screams echoed in Luna’s ears as some ran, others huddled into the back of the container, and Carmen’s men were picked off one by one.

“Let my sister go!”

Luna had her gun in hand and was rounding the corner before she heard the scream—before she saw the man attempting to use the girl who could be no older than ten as a human shield.

“Put her down, and I won’t put a bullet in the middle of your forehead,” Luna warned, aim never faltering.

The man’s eyes were wild as he swung to face her, his own gun pointed at the girl in his arms rather than Luna. “Move, and the girl is dead.”

“Red?” Luna said beneath her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

“I don’t have a clean shot.”

“Look at me,” Luna said, knowing she would have to do this herself. “You’ll be dead before you can pull the trigger.”

“You sure about that?” the man taunted.

Luna’s gaze flickered to the little girl as she whimpered, tears in her eyes as she held still, too afraid to move with the gun pointed at her.

“You’re going to be fine,” Luna told her, not focusing on anything other than her. “I won’t—”

Luna felt the bullet hit a millisecond after she heard it, then a second came, the force of them sending her stumbling back.

Red’s voice was high and frantic in her ear.

Celt’s was the same.

But she couldn’t focus on either as the blooming pain took her breath away, nearly sending her to her knees.

Out of her peripheral, she could just see the man who had shot her, the satisfaction in his eyes as he lifted his gun again to fire once more, but before he could, Skorpion was there.

No one as big as Skorpion should have been able to move that silently—to sneak up behind someone without them realizing.

But Luna was thankful for that talent of his when he suddenly had hold of the man, and before he could even acknowledge that someone had gotten the drop on him, the man’s neck was broken with a brutal twist of Skorpion’s hands.

With her attention on Skorpion, Luna hadn’t realized the screaming had died down, Celt and Red had joined them, both with their weapons trained on the other man who had wisely let the girl go in a bid to save his own life.

“Whoever talks first,” Red said as he pulled out a length of rope and began tying the man up, “gets the best deal.”

“You have—”

Celt launched his fist into the man’s face, preventing him from finishing whatever he thought to say.

Sirens could just be heard in the distance, and it was now time for them to get the hell out of there.

“He’s going to be fucking pissed,” Skorpion said dryly as he looked around at the bodies on the ground. He carefully looped an arm around Luna’s waist then another under her knees before scooping her up.

Trying to laugh through the pain, Luna didn’t disagree. “But the job got done, and one was left alive to tell his story, so everything is good.”

Skorpion shook his head. “You think he’s going to give a shit about that? No, he’s going to be pissed that you got hurt.”

Yeah, Luna thought dryly, that too.

---

“Next time you want to play fast and loose,” Skorpion said, ignoring her wince as he inspected the rapidly darkening bruises on her side, “try not to get shot while doing it, yeah?”

Luna tried to laugh through her pain, but the sound cut off when Skorpion’s fingers probed at one of the sore spots. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She dropped her shirt, taking a careful breath through her nose before exhaling as she remembered quite vividly why she had never wanted to get shot.

Thankfully, she’d had her vest on, so the bullets hadn’t penetrated, but from the pain she was in, it almost felt like they had.

Red and Celt were off in the kitchen, talking as they usually did when they were all together. Had Syn and Grimm been there, it would have been like old times when they did assignments that called for all of them to work together.

At least before Grimm had been lost, and Syn … well, before Syn reverted back to his former crazy.

A flash of headlights and the rev of engines had Luna looking from Skorpion to the front windows, knowing with some certainty who was there.

“You shouldn’t have called him,” Luna said softly, her heart skipping a beat at the thought of Kit walking in.

It wasn’t that he was coming here to see her, necessarily, that had her freaking out, rather that this would be the first time Red and Celt met him.

Was it stupid of her to care what they thought of him?

Sure, they had their preconceived notions of what he would be like—they knew of his relation to Uilleam, after all—but they were like brothers to her, and she wanted them to like him.

“I didn’t. I called the other one. It seems your brother-in-law decided to relay the news.”

Great. Just, great. “Red, be nice,” Luna called and could just see him narrow his eyes at her.

“I am fucking nice.”

“That’s exactly my point. You have a tendency to be a little abrasive.”

Celt huffed out a laugh as he looked over at his brother in arms. “He’s a teddy bear.”

They bantered back and forth, at least until the front door swung open and there Kit stood, The Wild Bunch at his back.

The tension in the room climbed, and she noticed very quickly the way Red and Celt came around to stand with Skorpion—her own personal wall of protection.

But despite the disapproval bleeding out of them, Kit only had eyes for her.

“I’m fine,” she said as he drew closer.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he whispered for only her to hear.

“You’re the husband, then?” Celt asked, his tone dripping with contempt.

He didn’t ask about the Kingmaker, nor about just who Kit was—he only wanted to know about his relationship with Luna.

She loved him a little more for that.

Kit, who hadn’t bothered to pay anyone else in the room any attention, finally looked away from her and to Celt.

“I am, and you must be the Irishman she wanted to help.” Kit’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “A pleasure, I’m sure.”

“Yeah,” Red said with a shrug of his shoulder. “Calavera is good like that—being there when someone needs her. Bang up job you’re doing.”

Kit merely looked amused, but Fang and the rest of The Wild Bunch weren’t.

“Careful there, Russian,” Fang said.

That was the thing about Red, he never backed down from a challenge. “Or what?”

“Red,” Luna said, giving a slight shake of her head for him to back down, even as Kit said the same to Fang.

“Fang?” Red asked, disbelieving, once he heard the name.

If possible, Fang looked more annoyed, his gaze narrowing further, but it was Thanatos who let out a surprised chuckle.

When Invictus glanced at him, he shrugged and said, “I like him.”

“They came to see how you were doing,” Kit interrupted, then added, “and they’ll be leaving now.”

“Fair enough,” Skorpion announced as he dropped a hand on Celt’s shoulder. “We’re out.”

Before he left, he mussed Luna’s hair, threw up a shaka—he was a surfer through and through—before heading out the door with Celt and Red following reluctantly.

With them gone, The Wild Bunch didn’t stay much longer.

When it was just the two of them, Kit skimmed his gaze over her, trying to ascertain for himself that she was fine.

“I’ve had worse,” Luna murmured, more to herself than to him as she went ahead and lifted her shirt to show him the mottled bruises, knowing he would want to see them.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he said, and she noticed, as he raised his hand to skim his finger over her side, that his hand was shaking.

“Skorpion broke the neck of the one who shot me.”

“That does ease my need to kill someone, but why had you been close enough to get hurt in the first place?”

Whether it be Kit or Uilleam, she knew one of them would question her about what happened, but either way, she didn’t regret her decision.

Luna attempted to look away from him, but he gently turned her back to facing him.

Seeing no other choice, she said, “There were these two girls—sisters. I know they weren’t the job, but …” She trailed off, thinking of the scared expressions on their faces. “What’s going to happen to them?”

“As of my last update, most are being reunited with their family, though that’s still going to take a little time for some because a number of them are from different countries. But if it makes you feel any better, none of them were hurt.”

Luna breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.” As the adrenaline of the night began to wane, Luna leaned against Kit and closed her eyes. “I’m ready for this all to end.”

Kit brushed his hand over her hair without offering a response but he didn’t have to.

Tomorrow, it would all be over.