Talon (Uncompromising #1)

by Sybil Bartel

  Jesus fuck.

  I slowly reached in and brushed her hair off her cheek. “Maddie, do you wanna go see your mama?”

  Her gaze met mine.

  I didn’t need the picture. Giant blue eyes the exact shade of her mother’s, fine blonde hair a dirty mess, this tiny, fragile, little girl reached out for me.

  My heart shattered, breaking into a million pieces.

  My hands went under her arms and my fingers overlapped on her malnourished back. I lifted her out of the cage and the shocking nothingness to her weight made my stomach roll over and lurch. I hugged her to my chest and kissed the top of her unwashed head. Words that would never make up for the abuse she’d suffered bled out of my mouth.

  “Good girl. I gotcha now, sweetness. It’s gonna be okay. You’re okay, baby girl.” Siren was never, ever, going to find out about the crate. She would never forgive herself. I was taking this shit to my grave. “You’re never gonna be put in a cage again,” I promised.

  Tiny little arms trustingly went around my neck.

  It happened so hard and fast, I never had a chance.

  I fell in love.

  My eyes closed and for one single moment, all I felt was the heartbeat of this small, helpless life in my arms.

  “Baby girl,” I whispered, fighting back tears. “Let’s go see Mama.”

  Neil appeared in the doorway. “Is it her?”

  I nodded, too choked up and too enraged to speak.

  Neil scanned the room and when he saw the crate, his muscles went rigid. “Take her to the vehicle,” he barked.

  I nodded again, picking some clothes up off the floor and shoving them in my cargo pocket. She was gripping me so tight, I wasn’t about to let her go to dress her. I grabbed the disgusting blanket and wrapped it around her back. Cupping her head, I pushed to my feet. “C’mon, baby girl. I gotcha.”

  Right before the door, I saw a package of diapers on the ground and snagged them. Holding Maddie like my life depended on it, I went downstairs. Three men were cuffed with zip ties on the floor in the living room. André held a gun on the woman who was sitting on the couch. I wanted to fucking kill her with my bare hands.

  Instead, I held Maddie close and glanced at André. “Burn it.”

  André inclined his head once.

  I took Maddie to the car.

  EVEN THOUGH ANDRÉ HAD TAKEN the car seat from the car parked in front of the house, I held Maddie tight in my arms.

  “We bein’ followed?” I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

  “No,” Neil answered.

  “They dead?” Fuck, I wanted them dead. All of them.

  Neil didn’t answer my question. “Is she injured?”

  I lightly brushed my hand over her forehead for the hundredth time. “Besides starved and neglected, I can’t fuckin’ tell.”

  She wasn’t bruised anywhere I could see and she hadn’t flinched or recoiled when I’d picked her up. But when I’d walked out of that house, she’d started fussing. Her quiet crying had broken my heart but when she’d put her thumb in her mouth and silent tears fell, it broke my fucking soul. Stoic and reserved, she was just like her mother. I swore to her I would protect her forever.

  Staring at me, her eyes fluttered.

  “That’s it, sweet girl. Close those baby blues for me.” I stroked her hair.

  Finally, her eyes closed and her thin, little body went limp.

  I looked up and André was watching me. “I’m going to kill Stone,” I quietly bit out.

  He didn’t speak but his expression said it all. He was right there with me.

  My nostrils flared. “She’s half the size she should be.” Ariel’s son Conner felt twice as heavy when I’d held him.

  “I know, brother.”

  “She’s filthy.” Siren was going to lose it when she saw her.

  André reached back and put his hand on my shoulder. “She’s got you now.”

  I ground my back teeth. “Tell me you handled them,” I warned.

  André glanced at Neil.

  “Electrical fire.” Neil spoke, low and quiet. “Started upstairs.”

  Maddie twitched and my hand automatically went back to soothing her hair from her forehead. She turned into me but she didn’t open her eyes. Afraid to pull her any closer for fear of crushing her, I leaned my head down and rested it on hers for a moment.

  I couldn’t imagine having my own daughter. Maddie wasn’t mine and I already wanted to kill everyone who’d ever done her wrong. How the fuck had Siren survived the past six months? Why the hell hadn’t Randy reached out for help? I hated him even more. But a small part of me could maybe understand. If she’d been taken from me and I thought her safety relied on my silence, I’d fucking die silent.

  Maddie shifted in her sleep and her foot escaped the blanket. I picked my head up and stared at the bottom of her foot that was as filthy as her hair and a life I never thought I’d have flashed through my mind. Those little toes touching the sand, wiggling in the surf, gripping a surfboard as I taught her to stand and balance. I wanted to give her everything I never had.

  “We’re almost to the airport,” André said quietly. “Do you want to dress her? Change her diaper?”

  I knew her diaper was soaked, I could smell it but I was too busy holding her. “She’s sleepin’,” I whispered back.

  André reached back and pulled one of the diapers from the bag next to me. “Just change her before Nicole sees her.”

  I didn’t know the first thing about changing a diaper. Didn’t you need powder or some shit? Fuck. I took the diaper and glanced at it. Back, front, some kind of Velcro-looking shit. Inhaling, I gently pulled the blanket back. Her legs limp in my arms, she didn’t even flinch.

  I pulled the old diaper off and froze at the sound of ripping Velcro. I thought the noise alone would wake her but she didn’t even stir.

  André turned in his seat and took the diaper from me. “Lift her legs.”

  “Don’t fuckin’ look at her privates,” I hissed.

  He grinned. “I should’ve gotten this shit on video. Fucking priceless. Lift,” he commanded.

  I lifted two legs that together were still thinner than my forearm.

  André slid the diaper under her and in two quick movements, he pulled it between her legs and fastened it snug.

  “That’s too tight,” I whisper-barked.

  “You want piss leaking all over you?”

  At this point, I probably wouldn’t care. “Fine.” I folded the blanket back around her. Her little mouth sucked on the thumb jammed in there a few times but otherwise she didn’t move. A minute later, she was back to her deep breaths.

  “You got any wipes in that bag of diapers?”

  “Don’t know.” I handed the bag to André.

  He fished around and came up with a wet tissue thing. He gently wiped her cheeks. “Pull the blanket off her feet.”

  “She’ll wake up,” I whispered.

  André looked at me with patience. “She’s traumatized, Doc,” he stated quietly. “It’s the middle of the night, she’s been taken out of her environment, again, and she’s underfed. Trust me, she’s going to sleep right now.”

  I looked down at her and I wanted to kill every one of those goddamn assholes in that house with my bare hands.

  “Let me wipe her feet before Nicole sees her.”

  I pulled the blanket back and he made quick work of it. Ten seconds later, the wipe was filthy and she was marginally less dirty-looking. It only made the blanket that much more disgusting.

  “We got anything we can wrap her in?”

  André looked past me to the back of the SUV. “I don’t see shit.”

  “Hold on,” Neil murmured.

  The SUV made a sharp turn as Neil cut across four lanes and pulled into a gas station with a convenience store attached.

  “Wait.” He got out and strode into the store.

  André shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him pissed off.”


  “You’re lucky you didn’t see him in Afghanistan.”

  “The kids?”

  André knew about them but he’d never seen Neil downrange. Neil was always in and out so quick that if you blinked, you missed him. “Yeah.”

  “What’s the deal?”

  “No clue. Except he’s got a thing about kids or women gettin’ hurt.”

  “You’re friends with his nephew, Myles. Has he ever said anything about it?”

  “Not sure he knows. He didn’t even know Neil had been in Afghanistan.”

  “I’m not surprised.” André glanced toward the store. “What the fuck is taking him so long? We need to get out of here.”

  I stared down at Maddie. I was antsy as hell to let Siren know we got her but I was also dreading it. “She’s so fuckin’ small. Siren’s gonna freak.” I gently brushed a hand over Maddie’s hair.

  “Bro, she’s going to be so overjoyed to hold her again, she’ll get over it.”

  Neil got back in the SUV. He handed André a bottle of water, a small container of milk and a cup with handles on it. “Use the water to wash the cup out then put the milk in it.” He handed me one of those cheap, fleece throw blankets with a college logo on it. “Give me the soiled blanket.”

  I gently pulled the disgusting blanket away from her and wrapped the new one around her. She started sucking her thumb again but she didn’t open her eyes. I handed the old blanket and the dirty diaper to Neil and he tossed them in a trash can then pulled back on the road. “I have crackers if she wakes up.”

  “Copy. Thanks.” Fuck, it should’ve occurred to me to get her some food.

  André must have seen the look on my face. “It’s all good. We got her. That’s what matters.”

  “Yeah.” I exhaled. “But Stone is gonna pay for this.”

  André glanced at Neil and Neil nodded once. “Let us handle this one.”

  Neil pulled into the small airport and I didn’t have a chance to respond to André. The plane’s door opened and Siren flew down the stairs.

  “Shit. Stop the car!” I knew Neil had said we weren’t being followed but my adrenaline was pumping and all I could think about was Siren exposed on the tarmac.

  Neil stopped the SUV a few yards from the plane. I opened the door as quietly as I could and stepped out with Maddie tight in my arms.

  The look on Siren’s face when she saw us would haunt me for the rest of my life.

  Six months of grief contorted her features, her hand went to her mouth and she fell to her knees.

  I dropped to squat in front of her. “Shh, shh, darlin’. She’s okay. She’s just sleepin’.”

  Silent sobs shaking her whole body, she started to hyperventilate.

  I gripped a handful of Siren’s hair and brought my forehead to hers. “Look at me.”

  Devastation, joy, grief, an ocean of emotions in her eyes, she looked up.

  “She’s okay,” I enunciated. “Take a deep breath. Right now.”

  Siren sucked in air and Maddie squirmed in my arm.

  We both looked down as Maddie opened her eyes. The second she saw Siren, her little face scrunched up and she burst into tears.

  With the force of hurricane, Siren snatched Maddie from me and pulled her to her chest. Crying, rocking, she found her voice. “It’s okay, Maddie girl,” she rasped. “Mommy’s got you. I got you, baby. Mommy’s here. I’m here. I’m here.” Like only a mother’s voice could do, it quieted Maddie.

  André’s hand landed on my shoulder. “We need to go.”

  I didn’t hesitate. I scooped up Siren as she held Maddie and I carried them both up the steps and onto the plane. I set Siren down in one of the seats but before I could take the seat next to her, she grabbed my arm.

  Big blue eyes looked up at me with reverence. “You found her.” Tears dripped down her face. “You found her.”

  I swallowed and forced some words out. “Nothin’ doin’, darlin’.”

  “Not nothing,” she said forcibly. “Everything.”

  I left a quick kiss on her temple and sat before she saw me lose my fucking shit.

  Neil appeared and handed Siren the cup with milk and a package of animal crackers. “For takeoff.”

  The engines roared to life. Maddie jumped in Siren’s arms and a new wave of tears shook her tiny body.

  Siren immediately held the cup to her lips and her voice dropped to soft cadence as she started explaining to Maddie we were on a plane and we were going home. Maddie’s little hand gripped the cup and Siren effortlessly opened the package of cookies as she spoke to her daughter, soothing her, reassuring her. In thirty seconds, she had the child calmly eating and drinking.

  I inhaled past the lump lodged in my throat and released a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

  SIREN MORPHED BEFORE MY EYES. The frightened, traumatized woman who’d been sitting in front of my shop became a mother. A take-my-breath-away mother. She handled Maddie like she was born for nothing else and had her contented and asleep ten minutes after takeoff.

  “I’d like to go back to Daytona Beach. I have all of her stuff at the apartment there,” she said softly, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I sat up straighter and focused. The couple of times I’d been in that apartment, I hadn’t seen shit but I hadn’t been in the bedrooms either. I quietly called out to André. “Patrol.”

  “Yeah?”

  “We safe to go home?” I’d take us back to Daytona but no fucking way was Siren ever stepping foot in that apartment again.

  André glanced at Siren. “Maldonado’s men know about Randy.” He turned to me with a guarded expression and I knew the rest of what he wasn’t saying. Maldonado’s people were no longer a threat to me but Stone was still out there. And by now, he’d know about Maddie.

  “I’m not gonna hide.”

  André nodded and got up. “I’ll let Roark know.”

  Siren looked up at me. “We’re going home?”

  The tightness in my chest eased when she said home. “Yeah, darlin’, we are.”

  She pulled Maddie closer. “What if Stone—”

  I didn’t let her finish the thought. I put my arm around her shoulders. “I’m not gonna let anythin’ happen to you or Maddie.”

  She breathed out. “Okay.” She glanced down at her daughter. “She’s so thin.”

  “We’ll put some weight back on her.” I did my best to reassure her.

  “She’s filthy. Her hair, her face, her feet.”

  I forced my muscles to relax and my jaw to unclench. “Nothin’ but a dirt yard,” I lied.

  “Was she—”

  “Siren,” I warned. “You’re not goin’ there. She’s fine. We got her back and you’re gonna clean her up and we’ll get some decent meals in her and you’re gonna move forward. You hear me?” I wasn’t going to let her dwell on this shit. “No one’s gonna take her again. It’s handled.”

  Fighting back tears, she nodded.

  I quickly changed the subject. “You never did tell me, what’s Maddie short for?”

  “Madeleine,” she whispered. “It was my grandmother’s name.”

  “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you for bringing her back to me.” Just like her daughter had cried in my arms, silent tears fell down Siren’s cheeks.

  “You love her, darlin’, that’s what you do. Just love her.”

  “I will.”

  “I know you will.” I brushed away her tears. “You’re a good mother.”

  A hint of a smile touched her lips. “You’ve only seen me as a mother for half an hour.”

  “It’s been a good half hour.” I winked.

  She laughed. It was only a quiet little chuckle, but I’d take it.

  I reclined her seat and kissed her forehead. “Close your eyes, darlin’. Get some rest. We got a couple hours.”

  “I’m almost afraid to.”

  Tension creased my brow. “Why?”

 
“What if this isn’t real?”

  I gently placed my hand over hers as it rested on Maddie. “This is real, Siren.” I leaned over and brushed my lips to hers, intending to leave it at that but when she opened her mouth, she caught me off guard.

  I momentarily froze but then I caught the back of her neck, my tongue slipped inside her mouth and I groaned.

  Her hand cupped my jaw and she kissed me like she never had before. This wasn’t a kiss laced with desire and need, this was something all together different. Pulling me to her, holding me tight, her touch wasn’t desperate or rough, it was soft and caressing. My heart fell past the point of no return.

  When she’d dropped her towel that day in my bedroom, I thought she was the sexiest woman I’d ever seen. But right now, giving me a part of herself while she held her baby, kissing me like she was whispering a thousand words of love—she wasn’t sexy, she was fucking stunning and I just knew. The next time I sunk inside her, it was going to be different. Never-come-back-from-it different.

  I took her face and eased back, kissing her gently once. “You’re runnin’ me, Siren. Nothin’ I wouldn’t do for you, you know that, don’t you?”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, breathless. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “I’m not.” I stared into her eyes and took a step I never thought I’d take again. “I love it,” I said, testing the waters.

  Her face flushed a beautiful pink.

  I ran my thumb over her cheek and lowered my voice. “Tell me what made that gorgeous blush.” I wanted to know what she was thinking more than I wanted my next breath.

  “You’re a lot to take in.”

  I forced a quiet chuckle and released her. “Catch some sleep, beautiful. I need to talk to André.” I kissed her and stood, pretending like she didn’t just gut me.

  “Wait.” She caught my hand.

  I looked down and hesitation clouded her features. I squeezed her fingers then let go. “I’ll be back. Take care of Maddie.” I moved a few seats over and sat next to André. My back to Siren, rejection bit my ass and I sighed. Rationally, I knew there was nothing to get worked up over, I hadn’t told her I loved her, but I still let it get to me that she hadn’t said anything. Jesus, I was a pussy. Needing to change the subject, I focused on André. “Whatdaya got on Stone?”