Verdria's Heart [Lush Valley, Tennessee] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Robyn Reigns

  Sully’s phone finally signaled Ghost’s incoming call. Before everyone knew it, Sully started firing off commands to his team leaders through the telecom before he explained Verdria’s situation to his friends. “Team one makes sure the perimeter is secured, team two acts as point, and once the perimeter is secured, you guys head in. Team three stands back as lookout. Is that understood?”

  “Owen and I will be moving in with team two.” Ryker checked to make sure his two personal guns were locked and loaded as he moved out with the men. “You already know there is no holding us back.” He patted his brother on the back as he rushed to get to the SUVs. “Come on. We need to get going.”

  Sully was already behind the steering wheel of the first vehicle, waving them over. They hurried in, waiting with bated breath to hear what Verdria’s situation currently was. He knew their friend wouldn’t speak until the doors were closed and the car moving. The mercenary remained stoic and seemed to collect his thoughts prior to explaining the situation. “Ghost couldn’t call sooner because he didn’t want to put the mission at risk, and he wanted to be sure no one else was being harmed. It appears Monty is holing up in a small, abandoned warehouse approximately twenty minutes south of the valley. He has a large number of highly trained men holding the perimeter. Ghost said he could barely make it in and out of there undetected, so he apologized for not being able to get your woman out without help. The man wanted to play it safe, but he said that we need to get there urgently because the guy holding your woman was beyond sadistic. Urgency should be our priority is basically how he phrased it. Knowing Ghost and the things we’ve seen, that can’t be good. He won’t even tell me what the crazy-ass guy is doing to your woman. He wanted you both to enter the rescue with a level head.”

  “Is anyone else being held there?” Owen asked. “Did he mention how difficult it would be to get into the building?”

  “Only Verdria is being held. He said as long as we had enough men to overpower the guards inside and out, it should be a cake walk getting in. His only concern is trying to get your woman safely away from psycho man.”

  “We can worry about that once we get in there.” Ryker rubbed his eyes, trying to relieve the mounting tension. Right now, all that mattered was that they knew where Verdria was and they would be there soon to rescue her. The rest of the ride happened in silence as the urgency and stress of the situation hovered in the atmosphere.

  Everything seemed to happen as if in fast forward until Ryker and Owen made it inside the warehouse. Sully and Mack’s men were able to overpower all the guards on the outside without any incident. The teams worked very quickly and quietly, their efficiency amazing. The old warehouse was easily taken. There were only a handful of men to subdue. All the guards were decently trained, but compared to ex-military special ops mercenaries, there was no competition. Monty’s men had no choice but to submit or die.

  Once the warehouse was fully secured, Ryker followed Ghost’s directions to the room containing Verdria and Monty. No matter what he found in the room, he knew he needed to keep his emotions under complete and total control until Monty was contained and his woman safe from any further threats. Owen, Sully, and Mack were directly on his heels. As he walked through the entrance, Ryker only had eyes for Monty. He feared losing his mind if he even glanced to look at Verdria. He knew she was the shadowed figure suspended from the ceiling to his left. If he even thought about what happened to her right now, he feared he would become remiss. He didn’t want the madman hurting anyone else. When he met the man’s eyes stare for stare, Ryker could see his sadistic vileness. The insane light within his eyes made him cringe. Instinctively, he knew there would be no negotiating with this man. When Monty poised the blade toward Verdria, Ryker didn’t hesitate for even one second. He pulled the trigger as he aimed to incapacitate. A quick clean death for this man wouldn’t be just. The shot rang out and caught the man through the arm holding the blade. Another shot rang out from behind him, and a second bullet struck his right knee. The man collapsed from the bullet wounds.

  * * * *

  Owen stood behind his brother, taking in the scene before him. He had to close his eyes and open them again, hoping this was just a bad dream. His poor beautiful woman was hanging suspended from the ceiling. Her wrists and ankles were bound. Blood freely flowed over her creamy naked skin. She was covered in so much blood his heart nearly stopped. Considering what she looked like, he feared she was dead. The insane man stood in front of her wielding what looked to be a scalpel blade. All Owen knew was that he needed to get to his woman. As he took the few steps to reach Verdria, he heard the bullets fired behind him and saw Monty fall to the floor. With no thoughts of his own safety, he ran through the crossfire to help his woman.

  He barely managed to hold himself together. Owen couldn’t function until he saw that she took a shallow breath and felt her weak but steady pulse. Tears freely fell from his eyes as he assessed his sweet girl. There was so much blood he could barely find the wounds. He started releasing her bonds as Ryker stepped forward to help. Arms outstretched, he caught her limp, weak body as she fell free from the restraints. They needed to get her to the hospital. The bleeding needed to stop, and she needed to be stabilized. Ryker covered her with a rescue blanket as he helped reposition her in his arms and they both hurried to one of the SUVs. Owen didn’t care about Monty as long as he was contained. Their friends could clean up his mess. Getting Verdria taken care of was more important. Driving her to the hospital would be faster than waiting on an ambulance to get out here. As soon as he was tucked into the back seat with his precious bundle secured in his lap, his brother took off like a bat out of hell to get them to the emergency room. He prayed they were in time to save their woman. Hopefully her wounds looked worse than they really were. He worried mostly because the physical wounds could heal, but he knew emotional ones tended to leave worse scarring.

  Chapter 11

  Verdria’s physical injuries turned out to be mostly superficial, much to Owen and Ryker’s relief. There were only one or two deep wounds that had been through her abdominal muscles and deep on her back. The doctor was thankful that the wounds were not deep enough to cause any internal damage. She almost needed a blood transfusion, but they got her to the hospital in time to stabilize the bleeding. It tore his and Ryker’s hearts apart when they saw what that psychopath put her through. Her torso almost looked like Frankenstein’s body. She had to have over two hundred stitches to close the cuts and slices. Her poor wrists and ankles were scabbed and bruised. Black and blue handprints ringed around her neck. Owen was mostly worried about the fact that she wouldn’t wake up. She had been in a deep sleep for nearly three days now. The doctors keep telling him not to worry. It was probably a healing sleep because her mind and body both went through a major ordeal.

  Owen hated seeing his sweet girl like this. She looked so fragile in the large hospital bed. Especially with her body hooked up to the intravenous line and monitors, she had so many tubes in and around her he was afraid to touch her. Her normally creamy skin looked even paler if it were possible against the white hospital sheets. Wishing he could hold her body against his, he sat right next to her, cradling her small, delicate hand against his larger palm. All he wanted to do was keep her safe and protected. Feeling her skin against his comforted him.

  As he continued to stroke the skin along her hand, he looked up to watch his twin. Ryker sat near the room entrance watching over him and Verdria. The man was stoic. Owen knew he was hiding his pain. He knew his brother was blaming himself for this last incident with their woman. Always so hard on himself, Ryker was the type that forever carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. If he weren’t so worried about Verdria right now, he would be confronting the idiot and trying to make him see the light. Blaming himself wasn’t going to get them anywhere with their woman. He needed to be of sound mind for her when she woke up. The man was too stubborn for his own good.

  Owen and Ryker both turned their h
eads toward the door as a noise drew their attention. Simon came strolling in. His usual spirited and hyper attitude was turned solemn today. Owen noted that it was the first time he came to visit since the day of the incident. He was busy talking his sister into coming out here for a visit. Since this was going to be a new environment for her, he had to be with her nearly every step of the way. Apparently, Simon almost flew out to England to even travel with her all the way out here, as well. This woman Olivia was a real mystery. It would be interesting to meet her, especially because he remembered Verdria saying she was the closest thing she had to a sister.

  “Still no sign of her waking up yet, huh?” Simon slowly approached Owen’s side to get closer to his friend. His English accent seemed thicker. Worry and sadness were apparent in his voice.

  Owen kept stroking her hand. “Nope.” His voice was rough, and he sounded like he had a sore throat. “She’s been the same. I’ve even been talking to her over the past few hours”—he shrugged—“but still nothing.”

  “Don’t be so dejected, mates. I know Verdria, and she’s a true fighter. She’s going to pull out of this. I’ll beat her bloody arse if she doesn’t wake up soon.”

  Thankfully, his brother changed the subject. “Did your sister make it in okay?”

  “Yeah. Liv got here just fine, and I have her settling in okay. She’s not going to be visiting Verdria until she gets out of hospital. Too many bad memories.” His voice drifted off as if he was recalling one of them. Shaking his head out of a reverie he said, “I’m hoping she’s going to want to move out here to the valley. The change would do her good. I could have sworn someone said an equine vet was desperately needed out here. If the town is all Verdria said it was, I know I’d be happier out here as well.”

  “She should be able to work out here just fine as long as she’s good at what she does.” Ryker got up and moved to be closer to him and their woman. “I’m sure Verdria would love having both of you out here. If it makes our girl happy, it makes us happy.” He moved forward, kissing her on the forehead and then her lips. Before pulling back, he ran his knuckles along her cheek and jawline. Quietly, for her ears alone he whispered, “Please, baby girl. You need to wake up for us. Owen and I need you real bad.”

  * * * *

  The dream was so vivid. She could feel both her men holding her close. Ryker’s soft lips pressed gentle kisses along her body, while Owen’s strong fingers traced silly designs over her skin. Her two men were holding her safe, sandwiched between them. Their strong, muscular bodies sheltered her and protected her from the world. Not wanting to leave this fantasy behind, she tried to delve down deeper into the darkness, but the light was breaking through. Aching pain racked her body. There was no escaping it. She was being forced to surface.

  Light stung her eyes as she tried to open them. Discombobulated, she didn’t know where she was, who she was with. She couldn’t remember why, but she feared opening her eyes. Her mind kept telling her it was safer to stay in the darkness, but the sound of Ryker’s voice pulled her awake. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized Ryker was standing over her. She could feel Owen’s fingers on her hand, but it hurt too much to move her head and find him. It felt like she had been hit by a truck and had a very bad hangover all at the same time.

  “Look, Ry, she is opening her eyes. Simon, can you get the doctor? That’s it, sweetheart. Come back to us. It’s okay. You’re safe here. Ryker and I are here. We’re never letting you out of our sights again.”

  “What happened? Where am I?” She struggled speaking through her cotton dry mouth and sore throat.

  She saw Ryker move closer to the bed and then he lightly ran his fingers along her hair and down to her cheek. His voice remained soft and quiet to her ears. “You’re in the hospital, baby. Don’t worry about what happened right now. Just remember you’re safe.”

  “It hurts, Ry.” Tears started collecting at the corners of her eyes from the pain. Her body wanted to react with shivers and tremors.

  “The doc will be here in a sec, and then we’ll help with the pain, baby. Please just stay with us. Simon said he’d kick your ass if you don’t pull through this.”

  “You and Owen aren’t hurt, and you’re both safe, right?”

  “Yeah, baby girl, we’re just fine.”

  “Good, I needed you two to be safe and okay. I need to go back into the darkness now. He can’t touch me there. There’s no pain in the darkness.”

  Just as she closed her eyes, she saw Simon come striding back in followed by Dr. Colbert. Her mind was hovering between dream and reality. The doctor quickly examined her. He must have given her something for pain. There was a sensation of floating as the pain gradually disappeared. She kept fading in and out. It was difficult to concentrate on the conversation around her. But, she knew these people. Hearing them reminded her of being safely at home.

  That voice sounded vaguely familiar. It must be the doctor speaking, she thought to herself. “You both know this is a good sign. She just needs a little more time. She’ll be awake longer each time she opens her eyes.”

  “I don’t get why she kept talking about the darkness like that, doc. She said it was safer in the dark. Do you get it?” That had to be Owen, he was always the more expressive one and worry seeped through his words.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Crawford. You would need to ask her about it when she is awake and coherent. She may not even remember what happened to her.”

  “Yeah, doc, I know. Sometimes I think it would be better if she couldn’t remember, but that wouldn’t be fair to her. I think she would need to know what happened so she can heal and move on.”

  “If you guys need anything else, just come and grab me. I think your woman is going to be just fine. She is a fighter. Besides, any woman that would have to handle the two of you day in and day out would need to be stubborn and tough.”

  She could have sworn she heard one of the twins say, “She is beyond stubborn and challenging.” Right before she escaped back into the darkness.

  * * * *

  Over the next couple of days, things happened just as the doctor explained. Verdria kept drifting in and out of consciousness. As the pain meds were decreased and as time passed, she gradually made her way back to the here and now. One or both of the twins was always by her side. Neither of them ever strayed too far. They were bound and determined to keep their new promise of never letting her out of their sight.

  When she had bouts of wakefulness, one or both of her men were always there supporting her, holding her hand, touching her, and comforting her. It was during these times they would talk and get to know a little bit more about each other. Her body hurt so much she could barely move. They helped her make it through the worst bouts of pain. Owen sometimes had her laughing from stories about him and Ryker getting in trouble as kids. Of course he was always the angel and Ryker was always the one getting into trouble. They were even able to break the last of her boundaries and got her to speak about how she grew up without a real family. Somehow they got her to talk about her insecurities, how she feared trusting people because they never stayed in her life. She thought it was probably the drugs that made her loose-tongued. It couldn’t be because of the love and ease she found being with both her men.

  The word love was still never mentioned between any of them. Verdria was glad because it still wasn’t time. She couldn’t move forward with these men until she healed and was whole again. It was almost like she took two steps forward then four steps back. Her heart wanted and needed to love them, but her mind still kept telling her she should shy away. No one would tell her what happened on the day she was taken. Verdria knew she would not be able to move on with her life until she could get closure.

  As her pain lessened to more of a dull ache and she became more aware of her surroundings, she also realized how badly injured her body was. She never liked looking at her nude body in mirrors to begin with, and now she was going to despise it. Memories of the day she was taken see
med to be in the fringes of her mind, but it was like she couldn’t grasp the memory and pull it to the front. As her body slowly healed, bits and pieces of her memory gradually began taking shape. The downfall was trying to remember that day would also bring about a headache. The more she tried to force herself to remember, the worse the headache would get. It was bad enough that her body was going to be scarred. The scars would forever be a reminder of Monty. But she knew remembering how and what he did to her would be the only way for her to emotionally heal.

  * * * *

  Ryker felt like he and Owen made a lot of headway with their woman over the past few days while she was stuck in the hospital. He knew if they could get over this one last major hurdle, their relationship would be cemented. Reliving the torturous events with Monty was the last thing he wanted his woman to do, but he understood it would be the only way for her to get settled. His brother and he would hold her hand and be with her every step of the way. If it were up to him, it would be the last painful incident she would ever have to deal with.

  Happiness surged through him as he entered Verdria’s hospital room. He was glad they were finally able to get her home today. She would heal quicker and feel better while surrounded by supportive “family” and friends. He knew Simon and Olivia’s presence would be a major healing balm for his woman. She looked 90 percent better. Color was back in her cheeks, and they had a rosy hue to them again. Her eyes were shiny and bright, the dull lackluster and shadows were finally gone. A healthy glow once again surrounded her.