“Did you remember anything else?” Skip stepped forward, encroaching on their space, but while she felt Chogan tense his posture he hadn’t said anything verbally.
“Just his face. I already told you all about it, but in my nightmare I could see him—stone cold is all I could see like he didn’t have an ounce of humanity in him. His skin was more pale white which tells me he’s either lost his tan living in a snow state, or he…wait,” she remembered his voice. “He’s not American. His accent was British I’m sure.”
“British?”
“Yeah. I heard him on the phone and he wasn’t American. I mean he could be a citizen now, or living over here, but that accent was just too perfect to be born and raised here. Then again,” she thought about it. “He could have perfected it on his own. Some people do that. But with the paleness of his skin and that accent, I think he’s definitely not American born and raised.”
Chogan looked to Trace. “On it,” Trace assured him as he walked out of the room. She had no doubt he had enough information to find what he needed, or at least to get them more knowledge of who this enemy was. Had she remembered this all sooner they could have already been working on tracking this guy down.
“I’m sorry I didn’t remember sooner.” She looked up into Chogan’s hardened face. He had taken on the look of a warrior ready to attack. There wasn’t a hint of a smile on his face or in his eyes. That hard look was sexy, but lethal just the same.
“The mind will uncloak the hidden facts in its own time. Don’t apologize for something you can’t control.”
She nodded and rested her head on his chest. “In my nightmare he found me. When he came into that closet he saw my shadow on the wall in front of me. He found me and he killed me too, or at least he came before me with his gun in hand. The silencer pointed at my head and his finger was getting ready to ease back when I woke up. It was so…terrifying…so real.”
His arms tightened around her. She knew what he must have been thinking and she didn’t doubt his ability to keep her alive now, but in her dream he wasn’t there.
“I’m glad he didn’t find me. I’m glad you came home. I’m glad you’re protecting me.” She let the palm of her hand rest against his chest. She would be even happier when she knew she was free from him—from all of them who might be working with him. She wanted to know that she could walk out the house without wondering if a bullet was going to pierce her skull too. She wanted to know that she wouldn’t have to wonder if every man in blue that she passed was linked to this killer, this assassin, and was just waiting to take her out—and she didn’t mean in the dating sense.
“Maybe I should move.”
“You should stay where you are,” Chogan nearly growled. Did he think she meant move out of his arms? No. He knew. She could tell from that increased stone look in his eyes that he knew. The storm was brewing within him and it was growing more into a Category-5 hurricane meets supernova, meets nuclear war.
“I just mean that with everything…with what happened…I don’t want to go back to work in that hotel. I didn’t finish school because of my family. Maybe I should move to a small town where nobody knows who I am and just wait tables or something. What else is there for me at this point?”
“I’m not going to have my wife living in some backwoods town waiting tables.”
“What?” Wife? Did he say wife?
“I have a home in the city that you’ll live in with me—your husband, your mate. The job…well that’s up to you but no need to rush finding one. I have enough to take care of you while you find a safe,” he stressed the word safe, “job.”
“I never thought cleaning rooms wouldn’t be safe,” she reminded him of that fact because safe jobs could turn into horrifically unsafe jobs in a blink of an eye. “America,” she sighed. “Land of the free, home of the crazy.”
He chuckled and so did Skip and D-camp. At least she could bring a little laughter into their world. Right now everything was so tense and stoic that they needed a breath of laughter.
“Maybe I’ll figure something out for a nice job to keep me busy and help me make money to help out around the house. I don’t mind being a stay at home wife I guess—well, if you ever ask me to marry you.” He hadn’t asked and she hadn’t said yes.
“Marry me,” he said more than he asked and so she looked at him with the most stern look she could muster right now. He gave her one of his award winning sexy smiles. It was that look that told her he was a man who was not going to take no for answer and that he would pull out all the stops to make her his bride. “Please, marry me?”
“Yes.” She smiled brightly. “I will marry you—once we get everything taken care of where we don’t have to wonder if this guy is going to pop out of a box and start shooting or something like that. We can do the Justice of the Peace. I never really wanted a big wedding anyway. Your parents, if they want you to marry me that is, could be our witnesses.”
“Nope,” he nodded with assurance. “My parents love you and would gladly be a witness, but we are not doing a JP wedding. We’re doing this wedding native meets military style.”
“Oh we are, are we?”
“Yep. You in Native garb…hmm…oh yeah, I can see that.”
She laughed. “Me, in a nice subtle dress is what I see. Subtle modern with a hint of Cree jewelry and things.”
He shrugged. “As long as it’s quick to get off you,” he uttered those words so seriously that she knew what he meant. He didn’t want her in something that would take a long time to get off, or that he would have to apologize for ripping off her. Not that she imagined he would apologize. He had ripped her clothes off before and hadn’t apologized at all for that. She was starting to think he rather liked ripping her clothes off. Maybe she should wear something she didn’t mind having ripped apart so he could do it more often.
He leaned back and pulled her into his arms. His back resting against the headboard and her body safely tucked in his embrace. She heard the guys leaving them alone. She knew Chogan needed to work, to lead, to do something other than hold her but she didn’t suggest that he leave her there alone. She liked being in his arms. It had been so long that she had dreamed of this moment that she just didn’t want it to end—the connection was so right, so perfect, so addicting in a good way. She could never get tired of this man.
Chogan paced the room as Olivia slept. She had cooked for him and Skip again, but he noticed she had barely eaten. He caught up with her in the one place she couldn’t get away from him—the shower. Naked, wet…yeah, that was a genius idea for a conversation—not. He had taken her hard and fast in the shower reaffirming once again that she was alive and safe. He was going to make sure she stayed that way.
He never thought he would be fighting his most important battle on the home front, but this was his most important mission. Finding the man who ended his sister’s life and destroying any chance of him taking out Olivia too was his mission and he wouldn’t fail, he couldn’t fail. He was angry, in love and a Marine on a mission not to mention a man who had raised the war flag and was on the protect and neutralize the threat path.
He stopped his steady guarding pace when he felt his phone vibrating. He made sure he went out of earshot in case she awakened. One thing about Olivia was she had stupendously good hearing. The woman could hear the ancestors whispering from the clouds given the right circumstances.
“Chogan,” his tone was all business and man on mission. He knew one of his men was calling because they were the only ones with the number.
“Got it,” D-camp’s voice came through clear. “It’s not good, Chogan. I have enough on the law side of the bad guys, but this Dark Angel assassin found one thing we couldn’t.”
“What’s that?”
“Her sister.”
He swiped his hand through his hair. “She doesn’t know where we are so why would he go after her?”
“Leverage. He’s already passed her off to the officer who happens to be MIA right
now. And,” he stressed the word “and”. “The special conditions unit may have been compromised.”
Chogan growled. “We make our stand here. Bring it in,” he signed off, alerted the rest of the team and contemplated just how much to tell Olivia. Running the situation through his mind he decided to go “need to know” and this she didn’t need to know.
He left the upstairs entertainment room behind and found Skip working with the guns again.
“I’m prepping,” he said as he rechecked another weapon.
“You hold her down. If it comes to that you do not let her out of this house.” She and her sister might not be standing on solid ground but he knew Olivia and he knew she would very much want to save her sister. Right now he didn’t trust she wouldn’t risk sacrificing herself to save her last living family member. Plus she still felt guilty for not being able to save Amber. He doubted she was going to think with the sane part of her brain if it came down to having to watch another death—one she couldn’t save here either, but would more than likely try.
“Are you going to tell her?”
“And risk having her try to sneak out of this house with an attempt to bargain with the enemy?—Her life for her sister’s life? No. Need to know only and right now she doesn’t need to know any of it.”
“Copy that.” He nodded his approval.
Chogan didn’t doubt that the men would have made the same decision. He knew they would have. Convincing Olivia that he had done what was best might not be so easy.
It occurred to him later that maybe he should have asked where they had found her, but he honestly didn’t care. The woman wasn’t his concern and he wasn’t going to make her it either. After what she had put Olivia through he couldn’t say he cared about the woman at all. But family was family. Olivia wouldn’t let Keisha’s past actions cause her not to care about her life. No, his woman would try to fight hell to keep her sister alive, and he couldn’t allow her to put herself in the path of a bullet.
He had his own preparation to do right now. He would check in on Olivia again once he got a few things checked around the parameter. “I’m going to check our gear,” he pointed to the window.
“Copy that. Everything looks good on the monitor but I know we need to stay alert like we would in the battlefield. No slacking just because we’re back on home ground.”
“Exactly. This is a war, and I plan to make sure we win it.”
Olivia’s sleeping hours had been restless, even when he was holding her, so it didn’t surprise him that she was taking what he would call more nap than sustainable rest time during the day. Ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there, that’s all her mind would allow her. The nightmares were strong and that wasn’t something he was qualified to fix. The altitude was getting to her a little, but since she had told him about her problem he made sure he handled it, keeping her hydrated was essential.
When the night hours rolled in he had showered and then came to lie beside her. She turned toward him and cushioned herself closer to his body holding on to him as if he were the only thing that could keep her safe from the images that stalked her mind. He had seen death. He had lived it, been tortured and still survived. He knew what hell that could bring upon the mind, but the difference was in his upbringing, his military training, and his ability to have time to come to some sort of balance between the images he saw and the ability to shut off the horror with a flip of a switch. Olivia didn’t have any of that. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw, had never seen it before, had never felt the horror that would come to her every night after watching Amber being murdered right in front of her. No matter how much he wanted to help her he knew he couldn’t take away this part of her pain.
“Hmm,” she moaned as she clutched his arm.
“Shh,” he mumbled close to her ear.
“Chogan,” she let out a breathless whispering plea. Was she searching for somebody to rescue her, or was there something else within those dreams—something professing a different kind of need.
“Please,” she sounded as if tears were saturating her voice. This wasn’t sexual. This was a need for a rescue.
As much as he hated to wake her he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a subtle shake. “I’m here,” he whispered as he shook her once more. Her eyes sprung open with fear and then softened with a sense of tranquility in his embrace. A soft smile curved her lips. “Hi,” she looked up into his eyes, the night moon shining through the cracks in the blinds.
“Hi,” he kissed her forehead. “Bad dream I take it.” He didn’t need to ask because he knew from her voice when she called for him.
“Uh huh,” she nodded before resting her head against his body. “He was there again. This time you were there. I wanted you to save me.”
“I will save you,” he assured her.
“I know you will. I trust you with everything I have left in me, but I’m still scared. I’m scared I’ll never be able to close my eyes again without seeing him there…without seeing her die.”
“I know.” He wished he could tell her life would go back to where it was but he knew it wouldn’t. She would carry this with her for a lifetime. It would get easier, but it would never go away. This was something he couldn’t dissolve for her. This was something he could only be there by her side for. He could only hold her when she needed to be held, and protect her when she needed to be protected.
“I love you,” she placed a soft kiss on his lips.
“I love you too, but you better not be saying that as a goodbye to me.”
She chuckled. “Nope. I just wanted to say it. I wanted you to know that I love you. I love being in your arms too.”
“I love having you in them. We should do this a lot more once we get this guy put away.”
“Yes we should.”
He was thankful she sounded at least a little like she expected to live.
“I thought I heard you say D-camp and Trace should be back tomorrow.”
He should have known she had heard some of his conversation with the men. He had gone into the entertainment room and spoke softly enough while on the phone with D-camp, and then the call to Trace was short. He had told him to bring it in, and he had mentioned that D-camp was coming back too. Clearly, conversations couldn’t go unheard with this woman unless her mind was occupied fully on something else. She must have been waking a little, like that lighter sleep between the awakened and the dream world.
“What else did you hear?”
“Nothing. Did they get their tasks taken care of then?”
“You could say that.”
“Please tell me. Don’t keep secrets from me.”
“Need to know,” he told her, reminding himself more than her. “But I’ll tell you that from this point on I need you to stay away from the windows as much as possible.”
“Chogan?” Her soft voice held inquisition within her words.
“Let’s just say that a war is coming to us, and that I need to know you’re staying safe so I can fight it without distraction of worry.”
She nodded and looked up into his eyes with a hint of fear, but he saw more gratitude than anything else. He would protect her. He would always protect her.
“Make love to me tonight,” her lips brushed against his. God if he couldn’t help but crave her more than he already craved her. He was hard, hurting with need and she was here looking up at him and asking him to give her more, to give her all of him, completely take her with passion. One look in her eyes had him soften his ride hard actions. He wanted this to be special for her, for him, for both of them. While it had been that kind of special before, right now he wanted to experience a softer side of love making with her. This woman could calm his rage, calm his unbridled passions, and still make him want her in every single way imaginable. Yes, this woman was his mate. She was the woman he had been waiting for, and now he had her. She was his.
He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly, letting his lips brush against the smooth p
ad of her lips. She tasted sweet like a peach ripened on the tree until perfection. He let his tongue slowly taste her mouth from crevice to crevice not letting one centimeter go unloved. Yes, this, this was what he wanted—the softness of her body pressed against his and the drumming of their hearts beating as one.
Chapter Six
“Are we ready?” Chogan’s question was directed at Skip because he knew exactly what he meant. Skip gave him the silent nod. The only person in the dark inside this house was Liv and he didn’t care. The situation was about to go hot. He was doing what he needed to do and he hoped she could forgive him for that. “Hold her down.” He gave the orders and watched as Skip carried them out, grabbing hold of her and anchoring her in his arms.
“What are you doing?” She yelped.
“Livvy you have to help me!”
“Oh my God! That’s Keisha.” She squirmed and tried to get free. To his surprise the woman was stronger than even he thought. She had expertly shifted enough out Skips arms to get free but thankfully Trace was on point, taking her down to the ground and anchoring her. “Let me go!”
He saw her claw at the wooden floor as if she could claw her way free if she just got a good grip on the floor beneath her, but Trace had a lock on her. Belly on the ground, hard pressed man on top of her back, she wasn’t going anywhere.
Kill List (Special Ops #8) Page 11
