by Cynthia Eden
He nodded and started to climb from the bed.
His phone rang. The phone she’d forgotten all about during the, um, activities of the night before. The phone was on the nightstand, and it vibrated, lighting up.
His private line. Calling this late? “Must be important,” she said, forcing her lips to smile. “Maybe we’ll take a raincheck.” She hurried into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. For a moment, she just stood there, trying to catch her breath.
Her gaze slid to the mirror. She stared at her reflection.
She hadn’t been a virgin. Jay wasn’t her first lover.
You belong to me. I belong to you…
The low voice from her dream—memory?—swept through her mind once more, and Willow shivered.
***
There was no damn way he’d take a raincheck on joining Willow in the shower. Did he look like a dumbass? Jay grabbed his phone, not even checking the screen. His gaze was locked on the bathroom door. Willow hadn’t turned on the water yet. He’d join her before she could.
His finger swiped over the screen. Only a handful of people had this particular number, and whoever this caller was—“Not now,” he bit off. “Unless there is a fire, a shooting, or a death, you call me back—”
“There will be a death.”
Jay stilled. “Who the hell is this?” Now he did look at the screen.
Unknown caller.
What kind of bullshit was that? What—
“You put her at risk. This is your fault.” The voice was low, gruff, but familiar. Jay just couldn’t quite place it.
“Who the hell is this?” Jay barked once more.
“Did you ever think that she was hidden for a reason?”
Willow. The sonofabitch is talking about Willow. And suddenly, that oddly familiar voice… “Wyman?” He could hardly believe it. “Wyman Wright?”
Silence.
Every muscle in Jay’s body locked down. “You sound amazingly alive for a dead man.” Only Jay had known the guy hadn’t died. Wyman had just made himself vanish. The fellow was one powerful player in the U.S. and abroad. Wyman had been trying to make his own freaking army of super soldiers, and he hadn’t even cared how he got his test subjects.
Sawyer Cage was killed and put into the program. Wyman didn’t have a conscience. The guy was a psychopath. He was also the man Jay had wanted to lure into the open, and his plan had worked. Absolutely freaking perfectly.
Wyman had just made his first mistake.
“She was supposed to be dead.” Wyman’s response came slowly. “But you messed that up.”
Jay leapt out of the bed. “Willow isn’t dead. She won’t be dead. You’ll never get your hands on her again.”
A sharp inhale. “I’m not the threat to her.”
“Bullshit. You and your freaking torture labs nearly destroyed all of the test subjects. But it’s done, you hear me? You’re done. You won’t hurt Willow again. You won’t hurt any of them. Because I’m going to destroy you and your operatives. You’re not the only one with power and connections. I’m—”
“You’re the threat to her.”
The hell he was. “You’re done, Wyman,” Jay repeated flatly.
The call ended.
Jay could hear the roar of water in the bathroom. Willow had gotten into the shower. He dialed quickly, putting the phone to his ear. West answered on the second ring.
“Jay,” West sounded slightly annoyed, “do you have any idea what I’m—”
“Wyman just called. And I’ve got the sonofabitch’s location. You know I can trace every fucking call I get.” No one could match his tech, not even Uncle Sam. Hell, he’d given Uncle Sam the best products the government had. Jay’s voice was low as he continued, “I’m texting the info to your team. If we can get the bastard tonight, if we can track him to his hole…”
“Oh, hell, yes.” Now West didn’t sound annoyed at all.
“I’ll text Sawyer and Flynn, too. They’ll want to be in on the hunt,” Jay added.
“What about you?” West wanted to know. “This shit has been your baby from the word go. Don’t you want to be there for the takedown?”
His gaze was on the closed bathroom door.
You’re the threat to her.
He didn’t like the way Wyman was so focused on Willow. “I’m staying with her. Wyman is too intent on Willow. If I go, she’ll want to be there, too.”
A pause. “Don’t you think she deserves to be there?”
Not if things went south. “Not if this is a set up. Maybe he wants me to bring her to him. He would have known I could trace the call.” Jay shook his head. “Willow stays back on this one. I stay with her.”
“Hate to say it, but, yeah, I actually agree with you on this.”
Jay’s lips twisted. “Watch your ass, man.”
“Always.”
Jay sent out a flurry of texts, making sure his brother had plenty of back-up ready. He wasn’t about to risk West’s safety. West was his only family. Not blood, but something that went one hell of a lot deeper.
Then he put his phone down. He stalked toward the bathroom. A quick twist of the door knob, and he was inside. Steam drifted lazily in the room. The bathroom was massive, just like every other room in the house. The shower could easily hold six or more people—not that he’d ever had that many folks in his shower.
He was more the one-on-one type.
Willow stood beneath the spray of water. Her head was bowed and her hands pressed to the marble walls. The water slid down her body as—
Wait. Was she crying? “Willow?” Jay stepped forward. He could have sworn that he’d seen her shoulders quiver.
At his call, she stiffened. But she didn’t immediately turn toward him. The water kept crashing down on her.
Had she heard his phone call? Sure, with her enhanced senses, she probably had, and he’d need to explain but—
Willow turned toward him. Water glistened on her beautiful face. He couldn’t tell if she’d been crying or if all of the water just came from the shower. He stared at her a moment, trying to decide if he should force a smile, if he should act like everything was perfectly fine.
Or maybe he should tell her about Wyman. About the team closing in. It was her life and—
Willow lifted her hand toward him.
And he just reacted. He stalked toward her. Caught her hand in his and stepped into the shower with her. Steam drifted around him as the warm water pounded onto him. Willow’s wet body pressed against his.
“I wanted you with me,” she whispered.
He kissed her. Slowly. Deeply. Savored her. And when his mouth left hers… “Then that’s where I’ll always be.”
Their gazes locked. He wished he could read the emotions in her stare. Wished that he could understand so many of Willow’s mysteries.
But he considered himself to be a lucky bastard just to have her in his arms.
There was a bench in his shower. He put her on that bench. Spread her legs. Opened her wide to him, and then he crouched between her splayed legs. Willow needed pleasure. With him, he always wanted her to know pleasure. He put his mouth on her. He kissed her. He stroked her. He worked her with his tongue until she was arching up against him and crying out her release.
And then, well, then he was just getting started.
***
“I don’t like this,” Sawyer Cage said later as he gazed down at the small cabin that lay nestled in the middle of the woods. The helicopter’s blades made a whoop-whoop-whoop sound overhead as the bird hovered in the sky. Beside him, West Harper leaned forward, staring down at their target.
“Are you picking up anything?” West barked into his headset. He was the one steering the chopper. “Anything at all?”
Sawyer spared a quick glance over at their final team member. Flynn Haddox had his eyes on the cabin, and his body had tensed.
“We’re still pretty far away,” Sawyer muttered. But…
Flynn, are you pick
ing up a damn thing? Sawyer asked, using the mental link that the Lazarus subjects had developed.
Flynn shook his head and his gaze didn’t leave the cabin. Not a thing. Could be that the chopper is too loud. But if Wyman was inside, I think we’d be seeing his guards. My bet is they probably all cleared out right after he made the call.
There was a landing pad out there. The cabin was small, appeared low-tech, normal, but then there was the very distinct landing pad nestled about thirty yards away. Since the place was in the middle of nowhere, Wyman would have needed a mode of transportation to get himself in and out of that cabin, fast.
While we were hauling ass to get here, Wyman could have been flying away, Flynn added. His hard features showed his worry. The guy’s brown hair was cut almost brutally short, and a line of dark shadow covered his clenched jaw.
“We should land,” West barked, his words carrying into the headsets they all wore. “Check out the cabin. Even if Wyman is long gone, he might have left some clues behind. No way am I going back to Jay without something to report.”
Wyman doesn’t leave evidence behind. Flynn’s terse reply shot through Sawyer’s head.
He knew his buddy was right. Wyman wasn’t a mistake making kind of man.
He knew Jay would track the call. Sawyer sent his thoughts out as he considered the situation. He could feel the bird starting to descend. With Jay’s tech, no way could Wyman expect that call not to be traced. I mean, shit, maybe Wyman had the signal bouncing around, but eventually, he knew Jay would find him. It was just a matter of how long the trace would take. A matter of when, not if.
Only it hadn’t taken long at all. It had just taken moments for Jay to get the location. Maybe they’d gotten there sooner than Wyman had anticipated.
I don’t like this. Flynn let out a rough sigh. Then he spoke out loud, “Something is wrong.”
Yes, something was very wrong, and Sawyer wasn’t ready to land, not just yet. “Pull up,” he barked at West. “Pull us the hell up and then let’s figure this out. We should sweep over the woods again. Make sure we aren’t missing anything.”
But West gave a negative jerk of his head. “If Wyman’s out there, he’s heard our bird. No way would he miss the chopper. That’s probably why he picked this place. So he could hear a threat coming from miles away. This is our chance. I’m not going to let Jay down.”
This was their chance. It was also Wyman’s chance. Sawyer knew how the guy operated. He’d gotten a firsthand glimpse at the way Wyman’s mind worked. Wyman would eliminate anyone in his way, no hesitations.
“He knew we would come,” Flynn mused. “And he isn’t going to leave some kind of prize sitting inside that empty cabin for us.”
No, he wouldn’t. “Pull up,” Sawyer ordered flatly. “Now.”
Wyman had known they would come, all right. Because he’d wanted them to come? Only maybe the wily bastard had thought Jay would come to the scene, too. After all, Jay was the one baiting the bastard. Jay was the one in the spotlight. Jay was the one with all the fancy tech.
Maybe Wyman had thought Jay would be the one leading the hunt, and if that were the case…
“I see something down there,” Flynn shouted. “Oh, hell—”
Wyman has set a trap for us.
The cabin exploded.
Chapter Eight
An alarm was beeping. A slow, steady sound. Jay hadn’t been sleeping. How the fuck was he supposed to sleep? He’d left Willow upstairs, naked, in his bed. She’d been sleeping. He’d slipped downstairs to wait, hoping for word from West.
Instead of a call from his brother, he’d just gotten an alarm blast on his computer. He sat in front of the double monitors, his fingers flying over the keyboard. He pulled up exterior shots of his grounds, searching for the guards, but they weren’t at their posts.
They’re not at their fucking posts.
And the alarm had just shut off. Only he hadn’t been the one to deactivate the alarm.
He stiffened, right before his office was plunged into total darkness.
Jay knew someone had just cut the power to his home. He also knew that his generator would have power flowing back on within fifteen seconds. Jay yanked open his top desk drawer, counting as he did so. He found the weapon inside, he yanked it up, and he spun around.
Ten, nine, eight…
He heard the creak of his study door sliding open.
“I’ve got a gun on you, you sonofabitch,” Jay growled.
Seven, six, five…
He eased from his chair, slipped to the side. “Did you think I wouldn’t expect you to show up here? Why do you think I stayed behind? Because I don’t trust your ass.”
Two, one…
The lights flickered back on. And Jay found himself staring across the room at none other than Wyman Wright.
Except…the guy looked different.
Thinner. And his hair had been dyed a muddy brown. He wore contacts that turned his eyes green. The man looked as if he’d had a nose job, and his jaw shape was a little different, too. Rounder. If Jay hadn’t studied the bastard so thoroughly, if he hadn’t made Wyman Wright into his damn obsession, he might not have even recognized the fellow at first glance—
“Put the gun down, you fool,” Wyman snapped. The voice—the voice was the exact same. “We both know you aren’t a killer.”
“You don’t know anything about me.” Jay didn’t lower the gun. “Who else is in the house?” When he’d grabbed the gun from the top drawer, he’d also taken the liberty of triggering the alarm he had wired in that drawer. An alarm that would send a message to guards who weren’t at that location, but a secondary team that would be arriving within five minutes. He’d tried to have plenty of back-up plans in place, just in case.
“I didn’t bring any men in with me.” Wyman’s hands were at his sides. He didn’t look armed, but Jay was willing to bet the guy had a gun and probably a couple of knives on him.
“You just left them outside?” Jay snarled at Wyman, his body still tense. “If they’ve hurt the security guards I had on patrol—”
Wyman shrugged. “Your guards are unconscious, not dead. And my men are making sure they stay that way.” He exhaled. “I get annoyed when people point guns at me.”
“And I get pissed when a shady asshole breaks into my home and knocks out my guards, so I guess we’re even, huh?”
Wyman’s gaze went glacial. “We are a very long way from even.”
Jay knew he just had to keep the guy there for five minutes. Five minutes. “You look pretty good for a dead man.”
Wyman just glared at him.
Jay smiled. “She brought you out, didn’t she? I figured she would. Willow was different from the others, I knew it right away.”
“Willow is special.” Wyman’s jaw hardened. “Very special.”
Yes, she fucking is. And you won’t ever hurt her again.
Wyman glanced over his shoulder. “She’s upstairs, isn’t she?”
Jay stalked closer to the bastard. “You aren’t taking her.”
Slowly, Wyman’s gaze swung back to him. “You honestly think you can stop me?” His smile was as ice cold as his eyes. “I could have five super soldiers standing outside your front door. You—well, you don’t have any super soldiers at your beck and call, do you? Because you sent them out to hunt me down.” Now Wyman laughed. “Amateur move. You should have brought them all here, to keep you safe. Instead, you fell for my trap like the fool you really are.” His mocking stare swept over Jay. “You always thought you were so smart. I outwitted you at every turn. Now your soldiers are gone, probably fucking burning, and I will take Willow away.”
The hell he would. “I’m going to put a bullet in your heart.” His words were low and lethal because what Wyman had just said…
Your soldiers are gone, probably fucking burning.
No, no.
“What did you do?” Jay lunged for him and Wyman didn’t even try to retreat. The SOB just stood ther
e with a smirk on his face, so certain of his power, so certain he had the upper hand.
“It’s not what I did,” Wyman murmured. “It’s what you did. You sent your friends straight into danger. It’s a good thing they can come back from death, isn’t it?”
But West couldn’t. His brother couldn’t. His brother wasn’t a super soldier.
Jay put the gun right against Wyman’s heart. “Whatever you did, whatever you think you’re doing, call it off. Right the hell now. Because if my brother has so much as a scratch on him—”
“Ah…the Delta Force operative? I mean, former Delta Force.” Wyman’s expression didn’t change. “Always thought he would make a great addition to my program.”
“You fucking—” Jay’s hand trembled on the gun. This was it. He’d kill the bastard. Right now. He’d taken him out, he’d—
“You think she’d forgive you for killing the only family she has?”
Jay blinked. What?
“Will you forgive her, if I kill the only family you’ve got?”
“What are you talking about? You’re nothing to Willow.” Nothing but her tormentor. The man who’d destroyed her life.
Wyman’s jaw hardened. “I watched from a remote video feed. This time, I made sure the explosion didn’t go off with the chopper too close. I made sure your only family survived. That means you owe me.”
“No, it means you’re a twisted SOB who likes to play God, that’s what it means. It means you think that no one can stop you, but you’re dead wrong.” Fury hardened every word. “You go after my family? Mine? You break into my home and threaten Willow? Threaten me? No, that’s not how this shit works.” Jay smiled, and he knew the smile would show his rage. His reckless fury. “I’m not afraid to pull this trigger. You think you know me? You don’t know a damn thing. I didn’t drag your ass out of the shadows so we could make a new deal. I did it so that I could end you.”
Wyman’s eyelashes flickered.
“You think I don’t have the PD in my pocket? You’ve got men outside, big freaking deal. My second team is coming in fast and coming in hot. So soon it will just be you. All by yourself with no back-up in sight. Then you’ll be a dead man, and my friends at the PD will only be too happy to buy my story about a break-in.” He laughed. “Thanks for changing your appearance. Now no one will connect the dots, Wyman.”
