Den of Mercenaries

by London Miller

  “No!” the girl cried, trying to pull away, which only added to her sister’s panic as fresh tears bloomed.

  But it wasn’t until she kicked the man in his shin, making him grunt and loosen his hold on her did he finally react.

  “You stupid, little—”

  But he never got to finish that statement, not when a dagger was suddenly embedded in his neck.

  There was a moment of suspended disbelief as they all watched him drop to his knees, his breaths gurgling out of him until he slumped over, before the men reacted, but by the time they did, it was too late for them.

  Red picked off two before they could even look in Luna’s direction, but the other two were smarter, darting out of the way.

  “Call it in,” Luna said panting, ducking behind another container.

  “You sure you want to do that now?” Celt said sarcastically.

  “Now would be a choice time.”

  Screams echoed in Luna’s ears as some ran, others huddled into the back of the container, and Carmen’s men were picked off one by one.

  “Let my sister go!”

  Luna had her gun in hand and was rounding the corner before she heard the scream—before she saw the man attempting to use the girl who could be no older than ten as a human shield.

  “Put her down, and I won’t put a bullet in the middle of your forehead,” Luna warned, aim never faltering.

  The man’s eyes were wild as he swung to face her, his own gun pointed at the girl in his arms rather than Luna. “Move, and the girl is dead.”

  “Red?” Luna said beneath her breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

  “I don’t have a clean shot.”

  “Look at me,” Luna said, knowing she would have to do this herself. “You’ll be dead before you can pull the trigger.”

  “You sure about that?” the man taunted.

  Luna’s gaze flickered to the little girl as she whimpered, tears in her eyes as she held still, too afraid to move with the gun pointed at her.

  “You’re going to be fine,” Luna told her, not focusing on anything other than her. “I won’t—”

  Luna felt the bullet hit a millisecond after she heard it, then a second came, the force of them sending her stumbling back.

  Red’s voice was high and frantic in her ear.

  Celt’s was the same.

  But she couldn’t focus on either as the blooming pain took her breath away, nearly sending her to her knees.

  Out of her peripheral, she could just see the man who had shot her, the satisfaction in his eyes as he lifted his gun again to fire once more, but before he could, Skorpion was there.

  No one as big as Skorpion should have been able to move that silently—to sneak up behind someone without them realizing.

  But Luna was thankful for that talent of his when he suddenly had hold of the man, and before he could even acknowledge that someone had gotten the drop on him, the man’s neck was broken with a brutal twist of Skorpion’s hands.

  With her attention on Skorpion, Luna hadn’t realized the screaming had died down, Celt and Red had joined them, both with their weapons trained on the other man who had wisely let the girl go in a bid to save his own life.

  “Whoever talks first,” Red said as he pulled out a length of rope and began tying the man up, “gets the best deal.”

  “You have—”

  Celt launched his fist into the man’s face, preventing him from finishing whatever he thought to say.

  Sirens could just be heard in the distance, and it was now time for them to get the hell out of there.

  “He’s going to be fucking pissed,” Skorpion said dryly as he looked around at the bodies on the ground. He carefully looped an arm around Luna’s waist then another under her knees before scooping her up.

  Trying to laugh through the pain, Luna didn’t disagree. “But the job got done, and one was left alive to tell his story, so everything is good.”

  Skorpion shook his head. “You think he’s going to give a shit about that? No, he’s going to be pissed that you got hurt.”

  Yeah, Luna thought dryly, that too.

  “Next time you want to play fast and loose,” Skorpion said, ignoring her wince as he inspected the rapidly darkening bruises on her side, “try not to get shot while doing it, yeah?”

  Luna tried to laugh through her pain, but the sound cut off when Skorpion’s fingers probed at one of the sore spots. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  She dropped her shirt, taking a careful breath through her nose before exhaling as she remembered quite vividly why she had never wanted to get shot.

  Thankfully, she’d had her vest on, so the bullets hadn’t penetrated, but from the pain she was in, it almost felt like they had.

  Red and Celt were off in the kitchen, talking as they usually did when they were all together. Had Syn and Grimm been there, it would have been like old times when they did assignments that called for all of them to work together.

  At least before Grimm had been lost, and Syn … well, before Syn reverted back to his former crazy.

  A flash of headlights and the rev of engines had Luna looking from Skorpion to the front windows, knowing with some certainty who was there.

  “You shouldn’t have called him,” Luna said softly, her heart skipping a beat at the thought of Kit walking in.

  It wasn’t that he was coming here to see her, necessarily, that had her freaking out, rather that this would be the first time Red and Celt met him.

  Was it stupid of her to care what they thought of him?

  Sure, they had their preconceived notions of what he would be like—they knew of his relation to Uilleam, after all—but they were like brothers to her, and she wanted them to like him.

  “I didn’t. I called the other one. It seems your brother-in-law decided to relay the news.”

  Great. Just, great. “Red, be nice,” Luna called and could just see him narrow his eyes at her.

  “I am fucking nice.”

  “That’s exactly my point. You have a tendency to be a little abrasive.”

  Celt huffed out a laugh as he looked over at his brother in arms. “He’s a teddy bear.”

  They bantered back and forth, at least until the front door swung open and there Kit stood, the Wild Bunch at his back.

  The tension in the room climbed, and she noticed very quickly the way Red and Celt came around to stand with Skorpion—her own personal wall of protection.

  But despite the disapproval bleeding out of them, Kit only had eyes for her.

  “I’m fine,” she said as he drew closer.

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” he whispered for only her to hear.

  “You’re the husband, then?” Celt asked, his tone dripping with contempt.

  He didn’t ask about The Kingmaker, nor about just who Kit was—he only wanted to know about his relationship with Luna.

  She loved him a little more for that.

  Kit, who hadn’t bothered to pay anyone else in the room any attention, finally looked away from her and to Celt.

  “I am, and you must be the Irishman she wanted to help.” Kit’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “A pleasure, I’m sure.”

  “Yeah,” Red said with a shrug of his shoulder. “Calavera is good like that—being there when someone needs her. Bang up job you’re doing.”

  Kit merely looked amused, but Fang and the rest of the Wild Bunch weren’t.

  “Careful there, Russian,” Fang said.

  That was the thing about Red, he never backed down from a challenge. “Or what?”

  “Red,” Luna said, giving a slight shake of her head for him to back down, even as Kit said the same to Fang.

  “Fang?” Red asked, disbelieving, once he heard the name.

  If possible, Fang looked more annoyed, his gaze narrowing further, but it was Thanatos who let out a surprised chuckle.

  When Invictus glanced at him, he shrugged and said, “I like him.”

  “They came to see
how you were doing,” Kit interrupted, then added, “and they’ll be leaving now.”

  “Fair enough,” Skorpion announced as he dropped a hand on Celt’s shoulder. “We’re out.”

  Before he left, he mussed Luna’s hair, threw up a shaka—he was a surfer through and through—before heading out the door with Celt and Red following reluctantly.

  With them gone, the Wild Bunch didn’t stay much longer.

  When it was just the two of them, Kit skimmed his gaze over her, trying to ascertain for himself that she was fine.

  “I’ve had worse,” Luna murmured, more to herself than to him as she went ahead and lifted her shirt to show him the mottled bruises, knowing he would want to see them.

  “That doesn’t make me feel any better,” he said, and she noticed, as he raised his hand to skim his finger over her side, that his hand was shaking.

  “Skorpion broke the neck of the one who shot me.”

  “That does ease my need to kill someone, but why had you been close enough to get hurt in the first place?”

  Whether it be Kit or Uilleam, she knew one of them would question her about what happened, but either way, she didn’t regret her decision.

  Luna attempted to look away from him, but he gently turned her back to facing him.

  Seeing no other choice, she said, “There were these two girls—sisters. I know they weren’t the job, but …” She trailed off, thinking of the scared expressions on their faces. “What’s going to happen to them?”

  “As of my last update, most are being reunited with their family, though that’s still going to take a little time for some because a number of them are from different countries. But if it makes you feel any better, none of them were hurt.”

  Luna breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.” As the adrenaline of the night began to wane, Luna leaned against Kit and closed her eyes. “I’m ready for this all to end.”

  Kit brushed his hand over her hair without offering a response but he didn’t have to.

  Tomorrow, it would all be over.

  Chapter 12

  Pain dragged her from sleep, but Luna ignored it as best she could while dragging herself into the bathroom. She entertained the notion of trying to take a shower, but after taking one look at the garden tub next to the windows, she quickly changed her mind.

  The hot water soothed her aching muscles—with the aid of the painkillers she took before climbing in—and almost made her feel human.

  “How are you feeling?” Kit asked, walking into the bathroom with only a pair of gray lounge pants on.

  No one should have been as attractive as Kit was first thing in the morning, but she wasn’t complaining.

  “Like you beat me in my sleep,” Luna responded, wincing as she turned to better face him.

  He ran deft fingers through hair that had grown a shade longer over her absence in his life. Kit was always so careful to keep himself groomed, but she was rather glad to see that extra length on him.

  Kneeling beside her, he asked, “Are you ready for today?”

  “I’m not sure if that’s the right question since I won’t be there during the whole confrontation.”

  Luna didn’t know the details, only that Kit and Uilleam had a meeting planned for Elias, and Kit had promised that by the end of it, everything would be resolved.

  “I still don’t understand why I’m not allowed to have my five minutes with her,” Luna went on, resting her arms on the side of the tub as she drew closer to him.

  “You will,” he promised. “Just not today.”

  “What’s he planning on doing?” Luna asked, tracing a wet path up his arm with her finger. “He’s been very … quiet about it. Normally, he’s eager to tell anyone who’ll listen about his master plan.”

  “D’you think you will feel any better about what we’re doing if you know what’s planned?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered honestly, “but I won’t know unless you tell me.”

  After a moment, he tilted her chin up, pressing a light kiss to her lips before he got back on his feet. “Watch the news today at one.”

  “Whose plan was that?” Luna asked, watching him disappear back out the door.

  For two men who valued their privacy, she didn’t think either of them would go as far as adding the media.

  None of this was going as it should have.

  “Skorpion should be here shortly.”

  “I really don’t need a babysitter.” The only thing she wanted was to soak away her soreness then climb into her bed and try to relax.

  “He’s bringing Soleil, as I understand it.”

  That might have made her smile, but she knew the truth. “Whose idea was that?”

  “Someone needs to make sure that you won’t do anything reckless, and since you won’t listen to Skorpion or me, perhaps you’ll listen to her.”

  “He had a sketchy look about him,” Luna said, remembering the smarmy smile on the man’s face. “If I hadn’t acted—”

  “Something far worse would have happened to those girls,” he finished for her. “I’m not saying your actions were wrong.”

  He just didn’t like that she’d been injured in the process.

  “I’ll be on my best behavior.” She drew an X over her chest. “Cross my heart.”

  Once Kit left and the water had gone cold, Luna dressed, staying off her feet as much as possible until she heard the familiar roar of an engine.

  Soleil looked like her mother—same round, almost too wide brown eyes, with a heart-stopping smile that made you want to give her anything.

  Skorpion didn’t understand the notion of matching clothes either, choosing to let her wear what she liked so as not to, “staunch her creative growth,” as he liked to say.

  Luna barely had the door open as she caught sight of them, smiling at the way Soleil clung to his back as they headed her way.

  “Can we build sandcastles?” she asked in her adorably high voice.

  “The best sandcastles,” Luna assured her.

  Soleil slipped off Skorpion’s back once they got close enough, slamming into her legs. “Luna! Hi!”

  Soleil didn’t waste any time grabbing onto her hand and tugging her through the house, practically ignoring everything around them to get out the back door and down to the beach.

  “You’re looking better today,” Skorpion said, peering at her through his sunglasses.

  “Painkillers,” she said in return.

  “Fair enough.”

  He stood next to her, watching his daughter dart down to the water to fill her bucket before rushing back.

  Luna glanced down at her watch—only an hour and some change had passed since Kit left.

  She just needed to get her mind off things until it was time.

  “I’m going to grab snacks,” Luna said as she pulled the chain of his wallet to pull it free from his pocket, plucking a twenty-dollar bill from inside.

  So close to the beach, there were a number of fruit vendors and food trucks plus the occasional shaved ice stand.

  Luna found one that offered a combination of strawberry and blueberry and bought three.

  “I could never entertain the notion of having a wife, especially not one who doesn’t know her place.”

  From anyone else, that might have pissed her off enough to elicit a reaction, but she knew this was what Elias wanted.

  He wanted to find her weak spot, and what better button to press than one that was connected to Kit.

  “Is this the part where you threaten me?” Luna asked, turning to glance over her shoulder at the man who had been a grievance to her husband.

  “Not threaten, warn. I’m sure the Runeharts have told you of our plans at this point. I’m even sure that’s the only reason you haven’t gotten any closer than you have, but understand something, Luna. You’re treading dangerously close to territory that will not only get you killed, but I will personally see to it that the man you love and his dreadful brother both pay
for your foolish actions. Do I make myself clear?”

  “You’re forgetting one thing though, Mr. Harrington.” Luna gave a lazy shrug of her shoulder. “I’m already dead, or at least that’s what you’ve told Carmen Rivera, no? Because if I remember correctly, you made sure to reassure her that you had everything under control. You lied to your own client. What do you think will happen if she finds out the truth? Do you think you’ll become as expendable as Caesar? That can’t be good for business or your reputation.”

  Elias tried to hide his growing agitation, but that tic in his cheek was clear for anyone to see, and despite his intentions, he had tipped his hand.

  “Carmen isn’t stupid.” Even Luna had gathered as much over the months she had spent studying the woman and the moves she made. “She knows not to trust The Kingmaker implicitly. If she did, she wouldn’t have hired you, would she? Just as she planned to double-cross him, she fully expects him to double-cross her.”

  “You speak of what you don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Luna asked as she caught Skorpion at the edge of her vision, watching her with his arms folded across his chest.

  He didn’t move toward her, not just because he had Soleil with him, but because he knew she would signal him if she needed him.

  “With your husband, in fact,” Elias said, straightening his already straight tie. “Next time—”

  “I can promise you, Elias,” Luna cut him off, “there won’t be a next time.”

  “There will always be a next time, girl. I assure you.” Elias turned away. “Good day, Luna.”

  She didn’t move until he disappeared into the crowd of people, taking the melting snow cones back over to Skorpion.

  He already had his phone in his hand. “Call your man and tell him to speed things up.”

  Emotions, he’d been taught, should never be a part of a successful job.

  If he had wanted to make it far in the Lotus Society, he had to turn off everything inside him that might have meant he would hesitate, or stop him completely from completing an assignment given to him.

  “Kill it,” he’d been told as his handler pointed a gun at the smallest dog Kit had ever seen.