“Welcome to the Arctic.”
I smirked and then I noticed something.
A scar above her eyebrow. And a small tattoo of a tornado on her wrist.
I flashed back to that night and remembered her long dark hair.
Holy fuck.
Could she be the girl who saw me? The one I slammed into a wall in Kansas that night a year ago?
Fuck. I had to call the wizard.
I placed her down and walked over to the trashcan to throw away my condom.
“Do you want me to show you to your room now?”
No. Definitely not. I needed to be alone. I needed to make an untraceable call. If she was Dorothy Gale, what was she doing here? Did she know who I was?
“Maybe, later. See you around, Dorothy.”
I quickly dressed and dashed out of the room. I didn’t know my way around the compound, but I raced down the stairs and grabbed my seabag where I retrieved an untraceable phone.
“Ozmand, it’s Tin. That girl has found me.”
“Are you sure it’s her?”
“Positive.”
“Get her shoes. And Tin, don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll send someone to get her. And you will be handsomely rewarded.”
Nope. Not going to happen. We were playing on my terms now.
“Buy me out of my SEAL contract. Or you will never see Dorothy or the shoes.”
He paused. I knew he had connections with the military. If he wanted me gone, they would grant his request. But it would cost him.
“Done. Just get me the shoes.”
3
Crow
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Innovative, groundbreaking, life changing. The opportunity to transform farming as we knew it. Emerald Arctic Farming had the ability to change the way food was sourced in the Arctic and improve the Arctic’s carbon footprint. In the past, the residents in the Arctic relied on frozen imported food. And now, due to hydroponic farming and inventive new strategies, we were able to supply the residents with something they almost never experienced unless they traveled—fresh produce.
I dug my fork into the spaghetti I had just prepared. A chef, I wasn’t. But even so, the fresh basil and tart tomatoes added a punch to my palette. And without my work, food as tasty as this wouldn’t be possible here.
I wasn’t the brains behind the operation. Hell no. I was dumb as a box of rocks, as my dad liked to tell me before he would bash my head into the ground. “Son, you’re a fucking idiot. You must be the mailman’s kid.”
Oh, how I wished I were the mailman’s son. For Ed, the mailman was kind and hardworking—sure beat having an alcoholic, abusive bum as a father.
The only good thing about my sperm donor was that he was such a prick I wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Which was why I had accepted this job at the end of the earth. Pretty good for a high school dropout with no future.
But living at the edge of the world was not without its downsides. I had left my own world behind to take this position. I missed my brothers; I missed my mom; I missed my friends.
But most importantly, I missed being around women.
Lucky for me, being a dumbass had never hurt my chance with women back home. Plenty of women sought me out for nothing but a good time. My lack of brains didn’t matter to them—all they cared about was the package between my legs.
But everything in the Arctic was different.
Here, I was surrounded by men.
And not just any men. Brilliant men who were scientists. Badass men who were Navy SEALs securing this post.
And the women were few and far between. Snow, a sexy scientist, arrived on the base yesterday. But she wasn’t my type. Timid, shy, meek.
I only had eyes for Dorothy.
Sweet Dorothy. The cutie from Kansas. Legs that wouldn’t quit and big doe eyes that owned me. I would do anything for her.
But it didn’t matter. She didn’t seem to have any interest in me. She was only interested in the SEALs on the base. Another SEAL Team had been stationed here, and she had gotten to know them really well. They just left and were replaced by a new Team. Dorothy had lasered in on them the second they landed. She didn’t blink before she set her sights on Tin. And from what I gathered about Tin, he was nothing like me. And I didn’t want to be anything like him—I may not have any brains, but at least I have a heart.
I couldn’t figure Dorothy out, though that didn’t mean anything. She had taken a low-level office manager job out here in the middle of nowhere. Why? It made no sense. Why would a gorgeous, smart college girl drop out of school and go to the Arctic? Unlike me, I was sure she had plenty of options for her future. It made no sense.
She stumbled into the kitchen, her hair wild and her makeup smeared, smelling of sex. I clenched my fist. Tin rolled in behind her with a smug look on his face. Motherfucker. I’d deck him on principle alone for tapping my girl, but he’d probably kill me, so it wasn’t worth it. I may be dumb, but I was not stupid.
Dorothy smiled when she saw me, and my hard cock pressed against my pants. Damn, she was sexy as fuck.
“Hey, Crow. Have you met Tin?”
“Yup.”
Tin didn’t acknowledge my existence, which was fine by me. Even his own Team hated him—I definitely didn’t need him as a friend.
Dorothy’s pupils widened as she stared at my meal. “Hmm. That’s smells good. I’m famished. Are there any leftovers?”
Sure—I’ll satiate your appetite. Too bad you worked up one with Tin and not me. “You bet. I’ll make you a plate.”
Tin just stood there—a cold look on his face. I wanted to let him starve, but I would be the better man. “You hungry.”
“I could eat.”
Great. I’d be sharing my dinner with the girl I was crazy about and the man who had just fucked her.
I scooped them a bowl of spaghetti from the pan, careful to add extra basil and parmesan to Dorothy’s. Maybe she would like my meal and realize I was the type of man who could take care of her. I was honest, hard-working, and nice. A good guy.
But she clearly liked the bad boy.
Dorothy beamed at me. “This is really good, Crow. Maybe you should be a chef instead of a farmer.”
Tin rolled his eyes. Fuck him. If he would just up and leave, I could make some headway with Dorothy. I’d just ignore him, and hope Dorothy followed suit.
“Thanks. I never really cooked before I came out here. I grew the basil and the tomatoes myself. I guess I can be part of the ‘ice to table’ movement.”
Dorothy laughed and pride filled my body. “You’re funny. Isn’t he funny, Tin?”
Again silence. Tin scarfed down his food and left, didn’t even say goodbye to Dorothy.
And better yet, she didn’t even seem upset to see him go. Her face brightened as she gazed at me. Talk about mixed signals.
“What’s up his ass?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “No clue. He’s just a cold-blooded murder.”
Whoa. I mean, sure SEALs killed people. But even I thought Dorothy’s assessment was a little harsh. After all, they were doing it for their country.
“Then why do you, I mean did you . . .” I drifted off. Fuck. I was so lame. I had no right to ask why she slept with him. I didn’t want to slut-shame her—no not at all. I believed women should be able to have sex with whoever they wanted. I just wish she had chosen me.
“Why did I fuck him?”
Damn, she had me. “Yeah, why did you?”
I expected her to give me some valid reason—like that she just thought he was gorgeous and probably great in bed.
But her answer made the hair on my arms stand straight up. “Because he took something from me. I came here to get it back.”
What was she talking about? She knew Tin? Were they exes? I had so many questions. Questions I didn’t have the right to ask.
I opened my mouth—trying to find something clever to say—but witty comebacks weren’
t my thing. Before I could formulate a thought a waft of smoke hit my nostrils.
“Dorothy, do you smell smoke?”
A look of horror graced her heart-shaped face.
“Yes, what is that?”
I stood up and a loud boom detonated through the building. Smoke filled the room, and I threw myself on Dorothy. I wasn’t a SEAL, but I was going to protect her.
A loud siren blasted, and the piercing noise radiated in my head. What the fuck was happening?
I stroked her hair and whispered into her ear. “I got you.”
Dorothy tried to get up, and another blast knocked her back down. I held her in my arms, not knowing if this was the last moment, I would be alive.
A man with long hair and an AK-47 busted into the room. He scanned the room and ran straight toward Dorothy who I was covering. The barrel of the gun was pointed right in my face.
I said my prayers. Goodbye to the world. Goodbye to Dorothy.
But instead of shooting me, he marched Dorothy out of the compound.
When Dorothy screamed, he smacked her across the face. “One more sound out of you, and I kill him.” He pointed at me. “Now get inside the truck.”
“No! Kill me! I’d rather die than go anywhere with you.”
He pointed the gun at her but didn’t pull the trigger. Then he pointed it at me. Adrenalin mixed with fear. This was it. My final moment.
But the gun didn’t go off.
He pointed the gun at her but didn’t pull the trigger. Then he pointed it at me. Adrenalin mixed with fear. This was it. My final moment.
I said a prayer and closed my eyes.
4
Dorothy
Crow was stock-still behind me, his handsome face slack with fear and disbelief. I should’ve been surprised, but after what happened to Henry, I’ve learned that in emergency situations, the only way to survive was to be as calm as possible.
Easier said than done when there was a gun pointed at your face. Or, at the moment, on Crow’s face.
Clearly, freezing in the Arctic wasn’t the only danger.
The men here were dangerous, too.
Even so, the thug didn’t pull the trigger.
I cupped my cheek, wincing at the pain radiating from where the man struck me. My hands curled into fists by my sides. I was sick of everyone thinking they could push me around. “Who are you?” I asked.
A rumble echoed in Crow’s chest behind me as he tried to push me behind him, but I knocked his hand away. I was not afraid of this man or the gun he had trained on me. I didn’t want anyone to protect me. Not even Crow, who had been incredibly kind to me since I got here. He was the type of man I wished I’d slept with instead of a monster like Tin.
“I’m the one who’s telling you to get your ass in the truck.”
“You’re not taking her anywhere.” This time Crow didn’t give me the opportunity to thwart his attempts to put himself between me and the gunman. He shoved me behind me.
“Don’t be an idiot,” the long-haired man said, his tone almost bored. “Fine, if you want to play hero, you can come, too. I don’t give a fuck. Get in the truck now, or I’ll carry your bodies myself.”
There was an inflection in his voice I couldn’t place. The accent definitely wasn’t American. Was he working with Tin? Maybe he knew who killed my uncle.
Before Crow could do something dumb like risk his life, I put a hand on his arm, which seemed to calm him, even though the bulging muscles under my hand were still quivering. “We’ll go with you,” I said.
What other choice did we have?
Either we went with this guy, or we got a bullet in the head. Or worse, risk him murdering Crow before my eyes.
I wondered where in life I made the turn that brought me to this point. Who had wanted my uncle dead? At first, I thought it was Tin, for reasons unknown, but he was no mastermind. If he did kill Henry, someone put him up to it.
Just like someone had sent this stranger here to kidnap me.
Something more was going on here.
Something that resulted in Henry’s death.
What did you get yourself into?
I didn’t know if I was speaking to Henry or myself.
A hand slammed against my back and the man barked, “Hurry up. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Crow forced his way between us. “Don’t fuckin’ hurt her. We’re doing what you said.”
I tugged on Crow’s arm. “Don’t,” I warned. He was going to get us both killed trying to protect us. “I’m okay.”
“Listen to your girlfriend. Now move.”
Crow looked like he wanted to argue, so I used my grip on his arm to keep him moving. We pushed through the door and were greeted by chaos. Shadows moved over the expanse in front of me like ants on a feast. I gave half a thought to call out to one of them, but the man jabbed the gun into my back hard enough to bruise as though he knew exactly what I was thinking.
A truck was parked next to the door, and I stumbled my way to it. The cold wrapped around me with a sense of foreboding, promising death and darkness and blood. By the time I reached the truck, my nose was numb, and I was shaking so hard my teeth were audibly clacking together.
Big arms wrapped around me, and Crow pressed his body close to share warmth. In another world, he would have been the perfect guy. Once upon a time, I’d gone for men like Tin. I had gone for a man like Tin, and I hated myself for it. Bad guys with attitudes, chips on their shoulder the size of E5 tornados, and guaranteed to break my heart. If I ever got out of this, no more bad guys for me. I wanted a man like Crow who looked at me like I spun the earth, like he’d be lucky to lick my feet. The thought of Crow at my command warmed me from the inside out, a temporary distraction to my current hell.
But I didn’t want Crow. If I ever made it back home to Kansas, I wanted to put this full nightmare behind me. I wanted no one in my life who would remind me of my past in the Arctic.
The gunman, still clad in his thick jacket and brandishing the AK, motioned for us to climb into the truck.
I moved, forcing Crow to move with me. The truck had two seats in the back, and I scrambled up to the far seat with Crow close behind. All I had was a thin sweater, and the gunman only offered one jacket with a what-can-you-do grin. Cursing him, I offered it to Crow, who wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me. He declined, instead putting the jacket on and huddling close to me, zipping me inside its warmth as best he can.
The man climbed into the driver’s seat and started it up. Before I could ask him where we were going or what he wanted from me, he twisted around in the seat, and the butt of the AK crashed into my temple, obliterating everything but the lingering scent of smoke.
***
“Dorothy. Dorothy, c’mon, angel, wake up.”
I groaned and pressed a hand to my head, the other waved away the annoying sound of the voice trying to rouse me from sleep. My head ached and my mouth was as dry as the desert at noon. All I wanted was to fall back into the blissful abandon of my dreams.
“Oh no, you don’t. C’mon, we’ve got to get out of here. Wake up. C’mon Dorothy, wake up for me.”
Cracking my eyes open took more effort and energy than it should have. “Arghhhh,” came out of my mouth instead of the What the fuck? I intended.
“There you go. Thank God. I thought you were dead. He hit you pretty hard.” I heard a rustle of movement, then a harsh, “Fuck! You’re still bleeding. Hold on, I’ll get you something for it.”
Bleeding?
A piece of cloth pressed against the side of my head and the white-hot flash of pain brought the memories rushing back to the surface. Tin. The explosion. Being kidnapped. Oh, God, where were we?
I must’ve said it out loud because Crow answered, “I don’t know. We can’t have gone far. He brought us to what looked like a cabin. I’m sorry, I wish I had more answers.”
Crow sported a wound of his own, the blood oozing from a cut about an inch above his cheek. “You’
re hurt,” I murmured, my voice gravelly from sleep. I pushed his hand with the cloth away from my face and took the scrap of fabric. “Are you okay?’
He allowed me to dab at the wound with the freshest side of the cloth. “I’m all right. Hurts, but I’m more worried about you. How’s your head?”
I pressed a finger to the wound and winced. “Not fun, but I’ll be all right. Where is he?”
As though an answer to my question, the door to the small room opened, and the man strolled through, this time unarmed. It didn’t matter, his presence was enough to keep Crow and I pressed into the wall farthest away from him to keep our distance.
He took his time pulling a roughly hewn wooden chair from a desk of the same ilk and placed it in the center of the room. He then took a seat like he had all the time in the world.
“What do you want?” I demanded. Crow put a hand on my back in warning, but I continued. “Who are you?”
“You can call me Lev, but that’s not why we’re here.”
“Then why are we here?” I asked.
“I’ll be asking the questions.”
“Then ask them,” I bit out.
Crow’s fingers moved to my arm and tightened. I placed a hand over his in reassurance.
Lev’s eyes followed the action like a caress and his eyes brightened. “Let’s talk about why you came to the Arctic.”
“Why do you care?”
Lev merely lifted a dark slash of brow.
“I got a job here,” I managed around the flush of anger. His patience was maddening, watchful. It made my skin crawl.
“In the Arctic?”
“That’s right.” It was probably not a smart idea to taunt my captor, but I refused to roll over for him.
“There weren’t more accessible jobs where you’re from?”
“Maybe I wanted to get away, have an adventure. What does my job have to do with why you brought me here? What do we have to do for you to let us go?”
Lev leaned forward, his long, inky-black hair spilling over his shoulders. His dark brown eyes seemed to laugh at my outburst. “Answer my questions, and we’ll see about letting you go.”
Desiring Dorothy Page 3
