by Ava Benton
“I’m not a little girl—I’m not even all that much younger than you.”
He couldn’t have been older than his late twenties. Neither of them could have.
They exchanged a look I couldn’t interpret.
“We’re wasting time on this, Miles,” Klaus growled.
I could remember back when he used to scare me, when I was a little girl. His scars weren’t exactly the sort of thing that sat well with a child. Even twenty years later, I didn’t feel much more comfortable around him. I never did quite find out what he and my mother had to do with each other. Or why he looked so damn good for his age. There were times when I wondered if he ever aged at all.
“You can do whatever you want,” I urged them. “Really. Just pretend I’m not here.”
“That won’t happen, and you know it,” Klaus replied. “I need to get you out of here. Damn it, we weren’t supposed to call in any other boats unless we absolutely needed to.”
“Because of you, we have to risk blowing our cover,” Miles added, looming over me. “Congratulations. We’ve been waiting all this time to—”
“All right,” the other one said.
I didn’t know his name yet, but I already liked him much more than the other.
He held up a hand to silence his friend. “We don’t need to rub it in. She knows she made a mistake.”
“Speak for yourself, you thug,” I whispered.
“In case you forgot, I’m trying to take your side in this,” he hissed. “And my name is Gate, though I can easily behave like a thug when pushed into it.” He spoke with a slightly musical note in his voice, almost a lilt.
He wasn’t American by birth. How did my mother wind up working with so many different types of people? And what was she doing with them?
“Well, Gate, I appreciate your assistance, but I didn’t make a mistake. I wanted to be part of a mission, and here I am. No mistake about it.”
“Damn, you’re stubborn.”
“None of this matters. We have a job to do, and we’re already wasting time.” Klaus looked like he was ready to blow a fuse. “There’s no way Mary would allow us to continue with the mission while she’s here, so we have to contact her and get a boat out here right away.”
“Could we take her ourselves?” Gate suggested. “It wouldn’t cut too much time out of our schedule. We don’t even have a schedule, per se.”
“Negative,” Klaus growled. He sat on the stairs, leaning his forearms on his thighs. “Frankly, it’s not even a good idea to bring another boat out here right now, in case there are eyes on us. But I wouldn’t make that call. It would be up to Mary.”
“Can’t you just leave her out of this?” I asked.
“You know I can’t do that. She would never forgive me for it.”
“I’ll stay here on the boat. I wouldn’t step foot outside. You have my word.”
I didn’t know a chuckle could sound so nasty. “I don’t trust a word you say.”
I cringed inwardly, but did my best to maintain my composure. “I need some air. It’s getting a little stuffy in here. Why don’t the three of you decide what you want to do while I wait up there?” I pointed to the top of the stairs.
Gate raised an eyebrow. “How are we supposed to trust you not to leave the boat?”
“Let’s think logically about this,” I suggested. “I don’t know where I am or why we’re here. Would it make sense for me to leave the boat? I just want to get a breath of fresh air—I’ve been down here for ages. Hours, I guess.”
The three of them looked at each other. Finally, Klaus shrugged. “It’s your funeral if you decide to leave.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He got up to give me room to climb.
I heard the three of them muttering to each other as I waited, looking around. I took a deep breath and held it for a slow five count, willing myself to calm down.
Why here, on some unknown island? There were no buildings that I could see, no tourists. The sand looked fairly untouched. And we hadn’t pulled up to a dock—the boat sat just off the shore, sort of aimlessly floating. There was a rope ladder leading down to the water. Not exactly the sort of set-up that provided confidence.
But I was here. I was going against Mom’s orders. It was better than sitting around, knowing she was watching me, no matter how busy she was with her work.
This was her work? Dealing with thugs and meatheads? Why? For a moment, just the briefest moment, I wondered if she was some sort of drug kingpin. Or queenpin. Was there such a thing? Why else would she always be so secretive? Why were we always moving from place to place?
Why did she still treat me like a child who couldn’t be trusted to live on her own when I’d already finished grad school with honors? Why couldn’t I live on my own? Who were her enemies? Why was she afraid?
I turned my attention to the conversation going on below deck. I certainly didn’t have any friends down there. The three of them argued over how to deal with me. Tie me up? Gag me? Leave the island? Back and forth while Klaus kept reminding them of how much time they were wasting.
“We have to contact Mary, no matter what.” I thought that might be Gate.
“You’re right. This is ridiculous. She’ll be pissed, but she needs to know—and if she already knows Martina is missing, she’ll be even more pissed when she finds out we didn’t tell her right away.”
Crap.
I looked around, wild with panic. Where was the radio?
The controls were all up in a slightly elevated cabin above the deck.
I threw myself up the stairs, behind the wheel.
There it was. I hoped it was the only one.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, before picking up the fire extinguisher and slamming it into the console.
5
Gate
“What the hell was that?” Klaus was back on deck almost the moment we heard the crash, immediately followed by Miles and me.
I had a sick feeling about what we would find when we got up there.
And I was right. The radio was smashed all to hell. And there was Martina, chest heaving up and down, holding a fire extinguisher.
“What is wrong with you?” Klaus asked, barely holding onto his temper.
I could understand why he struggled. Any screams or shouts might be picked up by whoever was waiting for us.
And I understood the urge to yell at her. Strangle her. Beat her and throw her overboard.
“Do you know what you just did?” I asked in voice which shook with rage. “You left us here on our own. If we need backup, we can’t ask for it. It’s just us now.”
“What is wrong with your head?” Miles spat.
“I couldn’t let you call my mother,” she whispered, eyes wide.
She was just figuring out what she did.
I wondered if she ever gave thought to anything before taking action.
“You self-centered bi—” Klaus looked as though he were about to do what I had already pictured doing.
I positioned myself between the two of them, looking at him.
“You won’t get anywhere by doing something like that.” I didn’t need to verbalize what that “something” was.
We all knew what I meant—including her.
“I didn’t know you might need backup,” she whispered. “I didn’t know. I just thought it meant you would have to keep me here with you until you were finished. That’s all. My mother’s going to kill me when she finds out I even snuck off with you. But she’ll find out eventually. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want her to find out now.”
Klaus snarled. “You’ve damned this entire mission, you worthless—”
“Enough.” I placed my palms on his chest, holding him in place.
To my surprise, the big guy didn’t fight back. He struck me as the type who didn’t let anybody tell him what to do—a lion shifter wouldn’t back down, especially when they felt as though they were being challenged as the alpha.
All of this must have passed through his head as we glared at each other for a long, silent moment until he relaxed.
My dragon roared in satisfaction, even if he hadn’t gotten the blood he really craved. It had been a long time since we were in a good fight.
Once I was sure he wasn’t about to shift and attack, I turned to Martina with my teeth clenched tight enough to crack a walnut.
Except for her dark brown hair, she looked just like her mother did when she was that age. Roughly the age at which we’d rescued her, I estimated. Her eyes were just as blue—and wide with apprehension. She knew I wasn’t her friend.
I didn’t want anybody to hurt her, but that was only for the sake of the mission and our relationship with Mary. “You may have just destroyed our hopes of saving a group of people who mean a lot to us,” I informed her, my voice tight.
“Don’t tell her why we’re here,” Miles hissed.
“What difference does it make now?” I challenged without looking at him. “We’re stuck with her now, so she may as well know the truth. We’re here to rescue a group of family members who your mother and her group tracked to this island. This remote, uninhabited island where there is no cell reception and now, no chance of calling in additional assistance should we need it. Congratulations.”
She gasped, finally dropping the extinguisher.
It rolled on the floor of the cabin, sounding louder than it normally would have thanks to the silence which had fallen over all of us. The only sound once it came to a stop was that of gentle waves lapping against the boat.
“I didn’t know it was that dangerous or important.”
“Obviously.”
“I’m so sorry. I really am. Maybe it can be fixed?” She looked down at the broken radio, still trying to be hopeful in spite of the obvious. She had really done a number on it.
I should’ve known she would pull some bullshit move like that the moment she was out of our line of sight—not that I knew her all that well, but I had a distinct feeling about the sort of person she was. After all, she had stowed away on a secret mission she knew nothing about by hiding in the closet. What wasn’t she capable of?
“We don’t have a choice right now but to try it,” Miles muttered, elbowing his way past her to get to what used to be the radio.
He argued with Klaus over the best way to proceed while I hung back, feeling useless. Our clansmen were waiting to be saved, and we were playing with a broken radio.
She touched my arm and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
“I know,” I mouthed back before turning my attention to the work.
I did understand how sorry she was. Not that it mattered. The only thing keeping me from chewing her out was her relation to Mary—and the way she seemed genuinely sorry. Like a child who couldn’t help but make things worse for herself.
“You really pretty much demolished this,” Klaus announced, looking around as he crouched in front of the console. He stood. “Where did she go?”
We all looked around. She was gone.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned, closing my eyes. “Do we need to tie her up?”
Miles snorted. “We might, at this rate. What happens when she wanders off to wherever the clan is being held and announces that we came to rescue them?”
The two of them stared at me as though I were in charge of her and had fallen asleep on the job.
The message was clear. “Well. I guess I have to bring her back. Lucky me.”
“I want her out of here,” Klaus reminded us, as though we needed reminding.
Miles evidently agreed.
I wished I could so readily join in, but something warned me against it. My dragon? It could’ve been. Either him or instincts I hadn’t been pressed into using for many, many years. No matter where it came from, the certainty that she needed to stay with us sat in my gut. Immovable. Unshakeable.
“You know we can’t do that,” I reminded him. “I admit, she’s inconvenient, but we have to move on as though she weren’t here. I’ll try to talk her into being a bit more… agreeable, but we have to meet her halfway. Got it?”
They exchanged a look I couldn’t interpret.
“Got it?” I asked again, sharper this time.
Miles shrugged and went back to work.
Klaus grumbled the way a man who wasn’t accustomed to being told what to do grumbled in times like this. “Got it.”
“Good. Let me get her, then.” I was glad for the excuse to get out of there.
I needed to get my thoughts in order before meeting her on the beach.
And a plunge into cool water might be just the thing to screw my head on straight. I could hope, at any rate.
6
Martina
I couldn’t be around them any longer. Not when the tension was so thick, it could be cut with a knife. Not even a very sharp knife.
The water was deliciously cool as I lowered myself down the rope ladder thrown over the side of the boat. I would’ve loved to be able to enjoy it.
I waded to shore and hoped none of them would come looking for me.
Would we ever find shelter elsewhere on the island? I doubted it. It wasn’t a very large place and looked all but deserted.
I doubted we would find huts or anything suitable. We’d have to share the boat for as long as we were here.
One of the men would likely stand watch on the beach, taking turns every night.
“Damn it, Martina.” I pulled the elastic band from my hair and let the tropical breeze blow through it as I muttered angrily to myself. “What were you thinking?”
That part was easy. I wasn’t thinking. Now that it was me and three men on a mostly uninhabited island, now that the excitement of being part of a big mission had worn off, I felt more alone than I ever had. Which was saying something.
Aqua water, breathtakingly clear, swirled around my feet. I couldn’t go too far—after all, I didn’t know who else might be here with us. I wasn’t that stupid.
The beach was wide, deep, with sand of pure white and a line of palm trees marking the beginning of thick, dense jungle. What was behind those trees?
A sudden chill ran down my spine. Somebody was kidnapped. A lot of somebodies. Which meant there had to be a lot of people there, holding those somebodies hostage. And they clearly weren’t nice people, if they were capable of something like that. There was no telling what they were capable of.
Or I might have been letting my imagination run away with me.
“Hey.”
I jumped at the sound of his voice, like cannon fire in my ears.
He had snuck up on me.
Gate.
What an unusual name to go with his unusually impressive face and body. If I didn’t hate him, he’d be probably the single greatest specimen of manhood I had seen in just about forever.
I had to look at him from a scientific point of view, since my hormones might get me into trouble otherwise. It had been far too long since I had the freedom to even look at a man who didn’t work with my mother, which meant they were strictly hands-off and only saw me as Mary’s daughter.
I took a deep breath to center myself before speaking. “Hey, yourself. What’s up?”
His eyes seemed to darken from the color of the Caribbean to something like onyx. He didn’t appreciate my flippancy. “Oh, nothing. What’s up with you? Enjoying your walk?”
My nose wrinkled in distaste at his sarcasm. “Am I not allowed to do this?”
“No, actually. Now that you mention it, you have no business going for a casual stroll when we’re not sure what this island holds.”
I looked around, forgetting my apprehension from just moments earlier in the face of his frustration.
One of the things Mom and I butted heads over the most frequently was my stubbornness. So she’d told me.
“It looks fa
irly innocent to me. I would’ve screamed for help if it had come to that.”
He grunted, shaking his head. “Like you would have the chance to do any screaming.”
“You don’t know.”
“Neither do you. You have no understanding of what we’re truly up against—or who was taken prisoner.” He ran his hands through his already disheveled hair, like he’d been combing through it ever since he discovered me. “If you have to be with us, it would be for the best that you stay on the boat.”
“Where everybody wishes I were dead? Gee, what a treat. Thank you.”
“Nobody wishes you were dead.”
“You sure about that? Because I’m pretty certain Klaus would’ve killed me if you hadn’t stepped in, even if my mother would’ve killed him for it. Maybe.” I tilted my head to the side, eyeing him. “Wait. Let me guess. You’re the good cop now. You’re supposed to be my friend. Buttering me up to get me to let my guard down long enough to throw me over your shoulder and tie me up on the boat. Right?”
“Grow up,” he spat. “No wonder your mother never let you go on a mission. You’re a spoiled brat who has no idea what she’s dealing with.”
“Don’t talk to me about my mother,” I warned, walking away with my fists clenched. I wanted to use both of them on him, over and over. He didn’t know what he was talking about, the ignorant ass.
He jogged up behind me, still talking about things he had no understanding of. “Is that why you’re here, ruining everything for us? Issues with Mary? Because none of us deserves to be pushed into the middle of this.”
“That’s none of your business. I’m sorry if having a woman on your uber-important mission is such a problem. But it’s your problem.”
He touched my shoulder to stop me, and I shook him off.
“Don’t touch me. And please, I beg you. Don’t make fun of things that matter to me. Just because you don’t understand.”
He bent to pick up a shell, which he tossed out across the water. He was frowning—in the amber light from the late-day sun, even a frown made him more handsome than ever. It would’ve been easier to hate him if he weren’t so good looking.
