“Levi”—Mikaela’s voice fell like cool rain in the midst of a hellish desert—"you were there with no backup, with too much going on to be aware of every detail of security. You thought we’d drawn his attention away. This isn’t your fault.”
If anyone knew about taking blame, it was Mikaela.
“It is my fault,” Levi shouted. “I didn’t keep her safe. I should’ve iced this son of a bitch the minute I found out who he was,” he said and bared his teeth at Sullivan. “I should never have risked her.”
“You were doing the right thing,” Mikaela said.
“Fuck the right thing!” Resolve tightened Levi’s already jagged features. “Fuck everything. Abby is all that matters.” His muscles tensed in his arm, and I gathered myself for a last-ditch, futile tackle to save an innocent man’s life.
“Wait!”
It wasn’t Mikaela who spoke, or me or Remi. It was Sullivan.
The man raised a placating hand, his dark eyes fixed on Levi, the knowledge that he would die in the next few seconds written clearly on his face. “Don’t shoot. I can help you.”
The smile Levi gave him would have most men shitting their pants. “Do you think you can help me?”
Sullivan’s gaze flickered, but I had to give it to him—he didn’t give up. “I can. I—” He looked to me, to Remi, the only ones he could see without turning his head and seemed to affirm that nothing would save him but his next words. “I can help you find X. I can.” He swallowed. “I know where he is.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nix —
Levi paced the length of the main room like a tiger searching for a way out of his cage. The man’s rage at X’s incursion into his home was understandable; it also brought home exactly how dangerous Levi could become. The bonds of civilization barely held this man back. If I’d had any doubts as to whether he could hold his own with our caliber of team, those doubts were gone.
Remi stood nearby, his gaze on Levi but his attention on the phone. His lifeline to Leah, his fiancée. These men... From what Eli had told me about their childhood, I understood how they’d become the Assassin, how they’d managed to build the skills necessary to match soldiers with lifelong training. I also saw how important their women were. Abby and Leah were the softness the brothers thought they’d never have. That they’d never deserve.
That made the women their touchstones—and also their fuse, just waiting for a spark to set them off. Dangerous didn’t begin to cover it.
Remi ended his call and pushed his phone into his pocket. “I’m going back,” he said, walking toward where we still congregated around the couch.
“Everyone’s all right?” Eli asked.
Remi nodded. “Bryant is there. He brought Geneva in, so she’s with Abby. Leah kept Brooke home today. I just... I need to be there.”
I butted into the brothers’ conversation without thought. “I think it would be smart for all of us to go back.”
Eli rubbed at the stubble on his cheeks, which was not sexy at all. Levi walked over and planted his fists on the couch’s tattered back. “Why is that?”
I squared off with the man. “Because there is safety in numbers, maybe? How better to protect your family and mine,” I said, reminding him that Maris was at the mansion as well, “than to surround them with as many guards as possible?”
The feral edge Levi hadn’t managed to release slipped away as he considered the idea. “Yeah.” He straightened, rolled his shoulders. “Yeah, I agree.”
Eli released a huge breath next to me—relief. The crisis had passed.
Well, almost passed. I glanced at Sullivan where he sat in the chair, as still and silent as he could manage. Prey trying desperately not to bring attention to himself.
“I’ll go ahead then.” Remi glanced at Sullivan, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. “You’ve got the details here covered?”
Silence. I startled when I realized he wasn’t asking his brothers—his gaze was on me. I jerked out a clumsy nod. “Of course.” My guys were already headed for the computer setup to begin dismantling. “We have this covered. Get back to your fiancée and daughter.”
His features softened slightly at their mention, and then he was crossing to Levi for a low-voiced conversation I didn’t try to listen to. We had something more important to focus on.
A glance at Eli showed his focus on Sullivan as well. That intense look... A shiver went through me. How could I have ever doubted that this man was lethal? Sure, the playboy thing was good cover, deliberately or not, but I could no longer miss the danger that rode under his skin. Or the power in his hands when they touched me.
And why did that have my nipples pebbling under my shirt?
I cleared my throat. “Sullivan, it’s your turn.”
The man’s dark eyes narrowed on me. Now that he didn’t have a gun shoved against his skull, he was closer to the powerful persona I’d seen in him earlier this morning, but the man was smart; he was still wary, especially with Levi stalking closer.
Eli’s brother planted himself next to me, his feet wide, arms crossed—the picture of pissed-off alpha. The look on his face as he stared down at our target... Even I hesitated to speak, but not Eli.
“Where is X?”
Such a simple question and yet so vital to everything, including our futures and our families’ safety. Sullivan glanced between us, a well of secrets in his eyes. “He’s in a secret government facility outside of Atlanta.”
Government. The brothers and I exchanged looks. We’d known it was a possibility, but I’m not sure any of us had truly thought X was military. He was using using blackmail and threats—but then, if there was one thing my past had taught me, it was that criminals didn’t have a corner on intimidation. Or murder.
“How exactly do you know him?” Eli asked.
Sullivan’s mouth went tight, his eyelids dropping to veil his eyes. “I’m not at liberty to tell you that.”
“Name, rank, and serial number?” From the corner of my eye I saw Levi’s hand fall to the gun now strapped to his thigh. Sullivan saw it too and tensed.
“For fuck’s sake.” His chin jutted out. “X is not someone you cross; you know that as well as I do.”
Eli moved closer, dropped to a crouch in front of Sullivan’s chair. “I’d like to keep you alive, buddy; I really would. But you aren’t making it easy.”
Sullivan proved just how cool he could be by considering that instead of immediately spilling his guts. Finally his chest expanded, his gaze coming up to meet ours.
“I don’t know exactly what kind of game X is playing here. He’s got his fingers in a lot of pies, and he works pretty much without oversight. A lot of blacker-than-black ops, off-the-books stuff, which may be why he’s come to you. What I do know is that revealing exactly how I am connected to him would end up with that car accident you staged becoming a reality. So”—he squared his shoulders—“if it’s a choice between you killing me and him killing me, we might as well go ahead. Hell, I might already be compromised. The only thing that will save me is if this was just as much a test for me as it was for you.”
Eli stood. “Considering you’re here, I think you failed that one.”
Sullivan glared at his back. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with; I do. X is not afraid to take a walk on the dark side to get what he wants, or to make sure you’re doing your job.” The twist of Sullivan’s lips told me he thought he fell into the latter category. “He is more powerful than you can imagine. But I’ve put my life in his hands more than once. My advice?” He shifted slightly in his seat. “Give him what he wants.”
I didn’t bother to hold back my laugh. “What he wants is you dead, apparently.”
Sullivan closed his eyes at the reminder, low curses leaving him. “Right.” He cursed again, opened his eyes. “I will give you the location and as much information as I can about the building.”
“Why?” I asked. “You just said he’d kill you for tha
t.”
“If I reveal my connection, not his location. Besides,” he muttered, “I have a feeling he wants you there.”
Levi grunted next to me. “Can you tell us how he got into the mansion?”
“I’m not familiar with that location, but I do know he is fond of high-altitude drones for surveillance—no noise and plenty of tricks. The man has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. A lot of cutting-edge tech. Getting to him isn’t going to be easy.”
“We’ve gotten in and out of similar places,” Levi said. “We’ll manage.”
“We?” I asked. Something in his inflection hinted that he didn’t mean us, and if he thought my team was getting pushed out of this op, he could think again.
“We.” Levi waved a hand dismissively and turned his back as if to leave.
“Look, Levi,” I began, “in this business it’s always better to have someone watching your back.” It was the argument they’d used with me, right? All of us were better than half of us.
“I work with my brothers; they’re all I need.” He rounded the couch.
I didn’t look toward Eli, but I could feel the tension ratchet up in the room. Was Eli in agreement with his brother or not?
I planted my fists on my hips. “He’s as much a threat to my team as he is to you. We shouldn’t be fighting over a target we both need to take out. It’s ludicrous.”
Levi turned back to us and tilted his head, eyeing me up and down. “So you want to watch our backs? Because I’m not seeing you stepping down, Nix. And I’m sure as fuck not down for someone else telling my brothers and me what to do.”
“But we should be down for you telling us what to do?” I looked to Eli. “Is that how y’all run things, bowing to the master no matter what?” Because that wasn’t the impression I’d gotten.
Eli opened his mouth to reply, but his brother cut him off. “I’m a fucking great master.” His voice was as full of snark as mine had been.
“Levi...” Eli’s resignation came through clearly. I couldn’t imagine his brother was ever easy to convince of anything.
The look Levi shot his brother would’ve sent me running with my tail between my legs—if I’d possessed a tail, and if I hadn’t had nerves of steel. Eli looked equally quelled, sending Levi a shut-the-fuck-up look.
Levi opened his mouth, then—wonder of wonders—snapped it shut.
Eli shifted beside me. “I know you’ve got the He-man, must-kill-the-bad-guys thing going on here, but you know we’re not splitting up, dickhead. So we’ve got to find a way to work together, as one team.” He turned to me. “He might be a pain in our asses, but he doesn’t make unilateral decisions any more than you do, unless, like you, he sees his crew in danger. Levi”—Eli’s grin was more like a baring of teeth—“with Remi focused on Leah, you need a second. That’s Mikaela. Done. Get over it.”
He didn’t nominate himself. Interesting. I hid a little smirk as Eli stomped off toward the kitchen.
Levi watched him go. A tense silence settled between us until, finally, Levi’s steely gaze transferred to me. He stepped closer. “You’re dividing his loyalties.”
My brows hit my hairline. I hadn’t done anything; Eli decided that on his own. “He’s a big boy. He makes his own choices.” Especially after what Eli had told me about his family, I didn’t want to drive a wedge between them. But I couldn’t walk away from this fight—and Eli was right. We needed each other.
“From the moment you came on the scene, he’s been different.” The narrowing of his eyes said he didn’t like it. “I didn’t raise him to think with his dick.”
My sight sheeted red. As if the only reason Eli would push for his brother to accept us was because he was sleeping with me. Which he isn’t, dickhead!
I didn’t say it. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I had to work with this man or against him; I’d prefer with—even if he was a misogynistic asshole. “Then trust his upbringing,” I finally snapped. And did dare to add, “Are you being a dick because I have breasts or is it just your usual MO? Do you talk to your woman like this?”
That got a reaction—one of those looks he probably used on targets. When I just stared at him, unintimidated, a tic at the side of his mouth told me I was getting through to him. And then, slowly, Levi put his hand out. “Abby would kick my ass.”
That was a relief. I’d hate to think of some poor girl being cowed by this man on a daily basis.
I admit it; I hesitated. Just to see him squirm. Of course he didn’t, and I took his hand, but we both got it, I thought. Keeping everyone safe would require all of us. “So we have a team?”
Levi nodded, though I couldn’t miss the worry lurking in his expression. “We have a team.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nix —
Levi appointed himself Sullivan’s personal bodyguard, escorting him into the van with Monty, Titus, and Rhys, and most of our equipment. Eli and I stayed behind to destroy the evidence, wipe fingerprints off surfaces, and generally eliminate our presence from the warehouse before we walked away from it a final time. Knowing Sullivan had been here and X likely knew about the location, my team wouldn’t return when this was all over.
The thought of it being over bothered me, and I wasn’t a coward who would refuse to acknowledge why. Eli. The end of this op meant walking away from Eli. I’d had lovers in the past, even some in conjunction with a mission, but I’d always walked away without a backward glance. Somehow, this man—
The door creaked, jerking me out of my thoughts. Eli walked in. “The other rooms are clear. I took care of the bathroom too.”
I grinned over my shoulder where I knelt, packing Maris’s things into her bag. “A man who cleans toilets. Sounds like a keeper.”
Eli raised his brows, and I realized what I’d said. To hide my blush, I turned my back again quickly. And ignored the low chuckle I barely heard leave Eli’s throat. “This is the last room,” I said. “I’ve been through the downstairs thoroughly.”
“I’m sure you have.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, focusing on the shirt I was folding and not the amusement I knew was shining from those amber eyes.
“It means you do everything thoroughly.”
The slightest growl came through on the word everything, sending a shiver down my spine. I zipped Maris’s duffel closed and stood, bracing myself before I turned around.
Eli stood, shoulder against the wall, eyes on the floor. The crease above his nose told me he was thinking deeply. Grabbing Maris’s duffel and then mine, I walked them over to stack by the door, trying desperately to ignore his heat as I passed. When he still didn’t speak, didn’t look up, I asked, “What?”
Eli raised his head, and the worry in his eyes as they met mine hit me like a hammer blow.
“What happened? Did Remi call? Is something wrong at the mansion? With Maris?”
Eli reached for me then, hesitated, dropped his hand. “No, nothing’s wrong at the mansion. I talked to Remi a few minutes ago.”
“Then what the hell is it?”
He grinned. Rubbing a finger over that crease I’d noticed before, he looked a little like a sheepish boy—a look I had no doubt he leveraged often. “You curse at me a lot,” he said.
“You frustrate me a lot,” I pointed out.
He dropped his hand but not the grin. “I’m good with releasing frustration too.”
“You certainly are.” I didn’t sound happy about it. When Eli laughed outright, my frown was joined by narrowed eyes. “Don’t act so pleased.”
Eli didn’t stop laughing, but he did grab my arm and tug me to him, throwing me off-balance. I landed with an oof against the solid wall of his chest. My hand slapped the thin barrier of his T-shirt and immediately curled, seeking a firmer grip, deeper contact. More. I barely held back a groan rising in my throat.
Eli tipped my chin up, and I swore he was about to kiss me, but something made him hesitate. The stroke of his thumb along my jaw held me steady while I
waited.
“I need to talk to you,” he said finally, the heavy look he’d worn earlier returning.
“Of course.”
Amusement sparked in his eyes, then died just as quickly. “Things have been...”
The end of that sentence depended on what “things” he was referring to, but one word seemed to fit most of what was going on around us right now. “Intense?”
“To say the least,” he agreed. “I guess I...” Another pause, and then he seemed to brace himself, though he didn’t move away for me. “I need to know that I didn’t...push you, last night.” He cleared his throat. “Here.”
I considered that a moment, trying to make the connections he was implying, but it wasn’t until his grip on my chin tightened the slightest bit that what he meant clicked in my head. “Do you think you forced me last night?”
“I didn’t think so at the time,” he said. “I mean, pressed you a bit, yes. But how I perceived it and how you did aren’t necessarily the same.”
He was worried that he’d forced himself on me. The thought actually blew my mind. “Were you forceful? Yes.” Eli opened his mouth to respond, but my fingers on his lips stopped him. “But you didn’t do anything I didn’t allow or participate in fully, Eli. And if you had, well, I’m not a fragile flower, you know.” One side of my mouth twitched. “You’re not walking funny this morning, which is a good sign that I wasn’t resisting.”
Relief mingled with his amusement. “I have no doubt you can take care of yourself, Beautiful. I just...didn’t want you to have any regrets. I pushed pretty hard, pretty fast.”
I settled myself a little more firmly against him, more accepting now that I knew what had been on his mind. “If I remember correctly, I’m the one who kissed you first.”
He tucked his head down close to mine, his breath washing over my neck. “And that was all it took to rip through any control I’d ever hoped to have with you.”
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