“Devon,” he said when she was pulling off her top.
Doubling over him, she stole his mouth because it was still a novelty that she could touch and play with his body without him putting up a fight. When he turned his head and took hold of her shoulders to force their mouths apart, she worried that she might have assumed her freedom too soon.
“Uh,” she panted and tried to seek his mouth, but he was too strong, so she had to stay where she was, farther from his kiss than she wanted to be. “Lord, please.”
He considered her for a few seconds. “I do love you,” he said. “And if you didn’t know that already, I still have work to do.”
“No work. No work,” she said, shaking her head and pouting to try and reach his lips. “I know it. I knew it. I’d never agree to be your wife if I didn’t.”
“And you will be?” he asked. “My wife?”
It was amazing how quickly shock could become excitement. People got married on impulse all the time, and although they’d just had sex for the first time last night, they’d been in an undeclared relationship for months now, like he’d said. So it wasn’t much of a leap that they would tie the knot.
They just made the decision in an unconventional way, which given how their whole relationship had been so far, shouldn’t be a surprise.
If he was doing this to distract her from the horrors that she may see, it worked. He didn’t put up a fight and he didn’t rush away. In fact, for the rest of the day and the rest of the night, she saw no one but him.
They made love. They made plans. She sketched. He worked. And Devon got insight into how their life together would be. No amount of speculation pre-Zave could have matched up to what she’d found with him.
Their relationship would have bumps, and they did have a tendency to fight. But, he made her feel a wider range of emotions than any other person ever had, and while it hadn’t occurred to her to think about marriage this early, he had a plan and he’d never steered her wrong, so she’d go with it. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that she didn’t want to lose her lord, the man she loved. The recluse, the genius, the sex-god, the savior. Xavier Knight was hers, and she wouldn’t be letting him go.
TWENTY-FIVE
She was now officially Mrs. Devon Knight.
One thing became clear quickly: the Kindred were efficient. With Zara at the helm whispering to Brodie, who in turn whispered with Zave, decisions were made quickly and not a second of time was left idle.
Kadie must have been tasked with keeping Devon busy, because they spent most of their time together when she wasn’t with Zave. Kadie would explain what was happening and tell her relevant stories as the others worked. Zara would disappear with the men and come back to give brief updates and advise of any changes.
When it had come time to leave the island, Bess bid them adieu, and Devon didn’t know who was more worried, Bess about the Kindred, or the Kindred about the one they were leaving behind. But they’d done this before and Bess knew the contingencies. She knew how to sail, too, so if she had to get off of the island in a hurry, she could use one of the boats moored in the sheltered marina.
They took both helicopters to the mainland and left them on the KC roof. Brodie and Tuck were tasked with moving the gear from the helicopters into the trucks waiting for them in the private parking area of the KC building.
While they were doing that, she and Zave did the deed. Zara, Kadie, and Thad came with them to the courthouse. Before they entered, Zave took her aside to give her a diamond so big, Devon was sure she’d develop carpal tunnel just from holding it up. He insisted it was just right and took her inside before she could put up more of a fight.
The wedding itself was quick, words were said, papers were signed, and Devon didn’t have much of a chance to savor it. Zave was more detached than she’d have liked him to be, but she understood that he was getting into a zone for what would happen next.
Going straight to the airport, she got no alone time with her new husband. They were ushered onto a jet, and the staff at the hanger were dismissed by Zave before he and Thad went through a series of checks. Brodie and Tuck transferred everything that was needed from the trucks into the plane.
Having never been on a private plane before, Devon was amazed by how pristine and gleaming everything was. They entered into a kitchen with the cockpit to the left and the cabin to the right. There was seating for fifteen people divided into three separate areas with a bathroom at the back of the plane.
Zara fixed drinks while the men did their work. The three women went to the sofas that faced each other in the farthest aft section of the cabin, giving the men space to talk and plan. Then, without any warning, they began to move, and then they were in the air and there was no going back.
Devon hadn’t flown much in her life, and she’d always been nervous when the wheels left the tarmac. This time, though, she didn’t feel that same anxiety despite it being a much smaller craft than those she’d travelled in before.
As Kadie and Zara laughed about something, Devon excused herself to give in to her urge to seek out Zave. She went through the cabin where Brodie and Tuck were sitting in facing armchairs. Their expressions were serious enough that she assumed they were discussing the mission. Devon expected one of them to stop and question her, except they didn’t even look up.
A great thing, she learned, about a private plane was that she could do whatever she wanted without cabin crew getting in her way or arguing about regulations. Going through the kitchen, she entered the cockpit where both men turned to look at her. Seeing the man who’d made love to her that morning seated up front with his aviators in place and his headphones over his ears, she forgot about their final destination for a minute.
Reaching for his hair, she had to feel if he was real.
“I’m going to take a break,” Thad said, probably reading more into her smile than she meant to reveal.
Thad took off his headphones, squeezed past her, and left. Although she liked being alone with her new husband, Devon didn’t want to interrupt what they were doing.
“Am I allowed to be here?” she asked. “He doesn’t have to leave if it breaks some rule or—”
“It’s fine,” Zave said, taking her hand out of his hair. “What do you need?”
“I wanted to see you,” she said, trying to absorb all the buttons and screens spread out in front of him. “It’s amazing that you know how to do this.”
“I know how to do a lot of things.”
She didn’t need to be reminded of that. His skills were wide-ranging and given some of the other feats he could accomplish, flying a plane probably wasn’t a big deal to him. “Are you nervous?” she asked.
He checked something on the dash in front of him. “About what?” he muttered.
There was so much ahead of them, and behind them, that he could take his pick. Nervous about flying a plane when so many people he cared about were entrusting their lives to him? Nervous about the married life they’d just agreed to embark upon? Or nervous about what would happen after they touched down?
Their wedding night would be in Mexico, wherever they were sleeping tonight, although she didn’t know where that was. At some point, he would have to leave with Brodie and Tuck to break into the cartels’ meeting room. It wasn’t exactly romantic, but her suffering was part of the reason they were doing this and she was as proud as she was terrified.
Folding her arms on the back of his chair, she lowered her mouth to his head. “Is your head clear?” she asked. “I should’ve said after, shouldn’t I? I’m an idiot. You shouldn’t have been thinking about weddings and marriages and—”
“I’m not,” he said. “I’m thinking about altitude and wind speed and—”
“This minute you are, but shouldn’t you be focused on what’s going to happen south of the border?”
“If you’re talking about the wedding night…”
It wasn’t like him to joke, so this was probably a sign t
hat he was bored of her ranting. “Xavier!” she exclaimed.
He twisted to examine her and sealed his lips as he inhaled. “Sit down,” he said, nodding at the chair Thad had vacated.
“I’m not sitting there. I don’t know how any of that stuff works.”
He took her hand to guide her away from his chair. “I didn’t tell you to fly the plane, I told you to sit down.” So she did, with his help. “I’m happy that you said before. I’m not thinking about our marriage. I was more stressed before when you were single than I am now that you officially belong to me. This inspires me.” His fingers ran over her diamond.
Mesmerized by its glittering beauty, she held it up. “It’s ridiculously huge,” she said but was smiling.
“It needs to be.”
“Why? It’s not like you’re compensating.” Leaning over the center console, she cupped his groin, but he took her hand away to remove her body from the controls between them. “Sorry.”
“It needs to be that big because there’s a GPS tracker under it. I chose the thing and picked it up on the morning we got the marriage license because I had to tweak it in the lab.”
Devon should’ve known, and she understood now why she’d been left alone in the back of a limo for a half hour while he ran “errands.” He wanted to keep her safe, wanted to secret his tech into her every possession to keep tabs on her, not because he wanted to control her but because he wanted to give her security.
Touching his face, she swooned. “Lord.”
“Not here,” he almost sniggered and kissed her knuckles before giving her back her hand. “You go back there and start planning the reception.”
“I can’t stay here with you?” she asked, scanning all the bells and whistles around Thad’s station while slapping her hands on her knees. “This could be fun.”
“I’ll teach you to fly when we get home. This isn’t the best time to add that stress to my life.”
Standing, she clasped his face to kiss him. That was when Thad came back in. She climbed out of his seat and squeezed herself behind Zave’s to give him room to return to his post.
“You need more time?” Thad asked.
She shook her head. “The man’s not stressed about marrying me or about facing off with a dozen Mexican cartel bosses. But when I ask him what that button does—”
“Say no more,” Thad said, laughing and holding up a hand. “The patient control freak isn’t the best teacher. No, that’s unfair, he’s a fantastic teacher as long as you do exactly what you’re told, when you’re told, how you’re told, and don’t deviate.”
Zave was relaxed and didn’t react to the jeering. She patted his shoulder. “I’m going to talk wedding cake. Don’t work too hard, you two.”
Zave knew what he was doing, Thad did, too, and the plane was big enough that they could take breaks whenever they needed them. She might not have had aspirations to be Kindred, but now that it was happening, now that she was a part of their crew, Devon embraced their methods. They might not be able to change the whole world overnight, but if this mission was successful, they could save the lives of dozens, maybe hundreds, of women.
While the cartels were in disarray and trying to reform a hierarchy, there wouldn’t be women snatched from their lives and sold into slavery. Little by little was better than nothing at all, and Devon was honored to be a part of this team.
Zave had told her to go back to sleep. Devon could tell by the number of orgasms he dished out that he was trying to exhaust her. He’d reassured her that all of the Kindred were bunking together in the next room and that the only reason they had their own was because this was their wedding night.
But it didn’t matter how much he tried to soothe her, relax her or reassure her, every time she heard a noise or he moved an inch, she pounced up expecting to see him sneaking out.
Eventually, he did.
Instead of lying in bed alone, listening to nothing, worrying about the man she’d just married, she went to the next room to join Kadie and Zara after she heard them laughing, a sure sign that they weren’t sleeping. Devon thought she’d be in for the long haul, she expected to pace and worry for hours. But they weren’t gone for more than ninety minutes.
They came back one at a time, Thad first, then Tuck, after him was Brodie. Arriving in a drove may have aroused suspicion. One guy on his own was less conspicuous. Brodie sent her back to her room without any apology for evicting her.
She couldn’t tell if he liked her or not, but he endeared himself when he explained that Zave would go crazy if he walked into an empty bedroom. When he put it like that, she couldn’t refuse. The last thing she wanted to do was worry her lord.
When he did get back, he didn’t answer her questions, just told her they needed to rest and demanded that she sleep. Except she couldn’t. Not until he wrapped her in his arms and pulled her body to his. They’d never slept wrapped in each other, and it was a comfort she couldn’t have known. With her ear pressed to his chest, she’d fallen asleep.
The next morning was regimented. Awoken at a specific time, everyone was washed and given clothes that would help them blend in to the surroundings. Devon was given an earpiece, although from how she understood the plan, the Kindred members wouldn’t be separated from each other. The guys had planted a bug in the meeting room, and just as Zara had said, Devon was expected to listen in on the meeting to translate.
Devon refused breakfast, only to then be scolded by her husband in front of everyone. He declared that they had to eat a certain amount of time before an op to ensure they had the energy to carry it through and because no one could anticipate everything that might go wrong. The Kindred had to know when their members had last eaten and drank something, in case they were separated from the group and got into physical trouble.
To her, that meant in case she was kidnapped. Given her past, it was the first place her mind went. It wasn’t like she could fall from a plane. If she was in a car wreck, they’d all be in the same predicament because they were planning to travel in one vehicle.
Being tense and edgy already, Devon didn’t need to deal with Zave’s attitude, as well. Maybe he’d forgotten that she was new to this or was just dealing with his own anxiety. Whatever the reason for his abrupt behavior, she did as she was told and ate something.
Before they left, they had one last briefing in which she was reminded to only use aliases for the duration of their time in this country. The other instruction drummed into her was that she should stick close to a male member of the group. Devon wasn’t sure if Thad counted, as he wasn’t included much in the men’s discussions.
Brodie, Zave, and Tuck would huddle to talk, excluding the others. But they shouldered the greatest responsibility since they all had a female in the mix. Except she was new and Kadie was staying at the motel, so Devon wasn’t sure if romantic entanglement was the reason or if this was the way it had always been.
It was hot but still early in the day when they piled into the Jeep and got moving. Last night, the men had unpacked supplies in the spot they’d all be hiding in to watch the day unfold. The meet was taking place at another motel. One that was far away from any town, situated on an abandoned road.
Being in the middle of nowhere was the perfect location for what these men wanted. Surrounded by nothing but dust and cacti, even if there were twenty vehicles parked outside, there would be no one around to notice them.
This was neutral ground, and it was central too. The owner of the motel had been told to bolt a couple of days ago. Devon had wondered if he’d ever return, and it was a shame if he did because he’d be shocked to find what the Kindred left for him.
The shelter of a rocky peak a couple hundred feet away gave them a place to hide themselves and their vehicle. Setting up base under an overhang, they had shade and cover, while the Jeep was in a position behind the outcrop that curled around their base.
Brodie took up position at the forefront, closest to the motel, with a terrifying weapon hid
den under camouflage. Watching him set up the rifle, she noted his professional efficiency and didn’t know if she should be impressed or horrified.
Thad was there with little to do, he was just a medic, so he sat at the rear with her and waited, which was all they could do until the meeting started. They’d positioned themselves early, giving plenty of time for the dust to settle before any of the cartels would arrive.
Every time a vehicle drove along the road, her heart raced. The first drove straight on by, maybe to check things out or just in coincidence that this long, remote road was someone’s route to somewhere. Devon didn’t know what was at the end of the straight road, but not many people wanted to go there if the lack of traffic was any indication.
When the first truck pulled into the motel parking lot, she hoped it wasn’t filled with innocent passersby looking for a place to spend the night. Two other vehicles weren’t far behind, and two mean-looking, tattooed men piled out of both.
Suspicious and arrogant, they gave each other wide berths, preferring to gesture and call out to each other. But she couldn’t hear anything specific and wouldn’t until they went into the meeting room and the bugs were activated.
Zara gave her paper and a pencil, and Devon began taking notes as soon as the voices began to fill her ears. More vehicles showed up and more men trooped in to the single-story structure that was surrounded by concrete arches leaving a wide porch all around that made it impossible for Brodie to get a line of sight apparently.
The men in that meeting room spoke to those they arrived, rather than with the others, so she couldn’t decipher anything that might be relevant. They were talking over each other, too, which made it difficult to pick out details.
The hall they were in was some kind of game room and the largest space on site. A bedroom wouldn’t have been big enough for all the people who came. There was no restaurant or bar. She only knew this from overhearing something Brodie said.
Falcon (Kindred #5) Page 28
