by Silver James
Hands grabbed her, pulled her from Nick and tossed her into waiting arms. She was aware of men—many more than had been on the ground. A huge man stood at the door manning some sort of machine gun. Another man had both of her babies and two more hauled Nick onboard. She heard a metallic ping as three men clamored inside, the last making a leap because the helicopter was already lifting off.
The man at the door squeezed the trigger and Peni could no longer even hear herself think. The helicopter banked sharply and she started to slide across the floor before a muscled arm circled her waist and reeled her in. A moment later, she was seated between two men, both of them working to fasten her into a harness. She felt rather than heard the snap of the clip holding her in. An instant later, earphones settled over her head. While noise continued to assail her ears, it was muted now and she could hear individual voices.
She stared at the man across from her. He ignored her in favor of the twins and she realized that they, too, wore hearing protection. Peni leaned forward, reaching for them. There was more room between the seats than she initially realized. The two PJs knelt there, doing something she couldn’t see.
The man on her right tapped her and said, “He’s okay with the kids.”
“Are you sure?” Peni certainly wasn’t. He was dressed for combat, complete with guns and knives and there was something wild and fierce in his expression. A sliver of fear wedged itself into her spine.
Her question was rewarded by friendly chuckles coming through the earphones from several voices. She blushed when the man in question flashed a smile that would have curled her toes had she seen it before meeting Nick. Peni sat up a little straighter. That wasn’t true. As she gazed at each man in the helicopter, she discovered they were all handsome in their own ways but none of them was Nick. Nick was hers and he would take care of her and the children.
“If it’ll ease your mind some, I grew up in a large, extended family. We all herded the wee ones. They’ll be fine just where they are. You look like you need a bit of a break.” The lyrical lilt of Ireland wove a song through the man’s voice and Peni was charmed by it.
“Aye, and if ya be keepin’ that up, ya’ll be givin’ her man a run for his money with the bonnie lass.” The soldier sitting next to the Irishman winked in her direction. “Ya need to keep an eye on that bugger. He’ll talk you right out of yer knickers with that accent of his.”
Peni pressed her lips between her teeth but a laugh escaped as a snorting giggle. Speaking of accents, the speaker had a right fancy one himself. “You’re not English—”
His face clouded up and he gave her a fierce, narrow-eyed look. “Wash your mouth out. ’Tis a son of Scotland, I am, tried and true.”
“Oh. Of course you are.”
The quiet man on her left stiffened and she glanced at him. He was staring at her neck and shoulder. He nudged one of the PJs on the floor with the toe of his boot.
“What?” The guy snarled, looking around. His eyes narrowed and he swiveled on his knees
“Blood.”
She froze. Blood? Where? On the babies? Frantic, she tried to jerk out of the shoulder harness holding her in her seat. The man put one large hand over hers to still their scrabbling.
The PJ reached up, touched her chin to turn her head then glanced at the man who’d spoken. She breathed. Not the twins. But how did she get blood on her? Using a large square of gauze he’d wet with some sort of clear liquid, the PJ gently scrubbed at her neck and shoulder. He whistled a relieved breath through his teeth.
“Not yours, hon.”
Peni caught the glance he exchanged with the man next to her. If the blood wasn’t hers, then who— She stopped breathing. Nick. She remembered the grunt Nick made in her ear as they ran toward the helicopter. Had he been shot? Worried, her gaze fixed on Nick who lay still on the floor. She couldn’t see his face as the other PJ knelt between them.
She discovered she was clutching her seatmate’s hand but he didn’t seem to mind. No one said anything, nobody explained. All she could do was watch as the helicopter flew over an endless dark occasionally criss-crossed with golden moonlight and cloud scud.
She wasn’t wearing a watch and had no sense of how much time had elapsed. The men on the floor continued to work on Nick. Several of the other men teased the guy holding the twins. The silent man on her left watched her through eyes that reminded her of a bird of prey. The Scot wasn’t quiet. He was fully engrossed in the bantering but there was a sense of wildness about him—one both easy-going and predatory. The dichotomy was one she didn’t want to think about.
Hauling her eyes away from the twins, her gaze collided with the man who’d led them from Casa Blanca. Goosebumps prickled on her skin as a shiver slithered down her spine. His stare didn’t waver, nor did his expression change. Mouth spitless, she attempted to wet her lips so she could offer a smile without cracking dry lips. His response was merely a blink—a slow hooding of gray eyes that looked right through her. Just when she decided she’d failed whatever test this was, he dipped his chin in a small acknowledgment.
A voice ghosted through the earphone, breaking the stalemate. “This is your pilot speaking. Please return to your seats and buckle your seatbelts. Return all seatbacks and tray tables to the upright and fixed position. Flight attendants, prepare the cabin for landing.”
The men laughed. Peni didn’t. She caught the tight timbre of the pilot’s voice, recognized the worry hovering just beneath the humor. She didn’t comprehend she was fidgeting until two hands, one from each side, settled on her—one on her jittering knee, the other on the hands she’d fisted in her lap.
Shortly after, Peni recalled the need to breathe as lights and the ground all rushed to meet the landing helicopter. The craft settled on the tarmac of an airport with a gentle bump. She lunged toward her children only to be brought up short by the harness anchoring her in her seat. Her cheeks flushed as the men laughed.
The man who seemed to be in command dropped to the ground and was immediately met by a curvy woman with red hair—the color unmistakable despite the shifting airport lights. He bent to kiss her. A second woman approached. She was older, with short gray hair that glistened whenever light hit it.
The man on Peni’s right fiddled with her harness and released her. The twins had already disappeared, passed through the door to those who had already disembarked. The redhead detached herself from leader and immediately started checking Luiza. Peni all but fell out of the helicopter and would have if the big door gunner hadn’t caught her as she pitched forward.
Things were jumbled after that. A man who looked a lot like Nick climbed out of the front of the helicopter. He barely glanced at her as he moved to the back. Other men appeared with a stretcher. Peni’s head spun as she tried to keep track of the twins and Nick. When Nick appeared from the helicopter, he was strapped to the stretcher and four men carried him. The redhead and the man who’d held the twins during the flight walked toward a hanger with her children. She fought loose and lunged after them only to be brought up short when the older woman stepped in front of her.
“Your kids are safe, Ms. Comanescu. The woman is a pediatrician. She’s checking them over to make sure there are no ill effects from tonight’s misadventure. You’ll join them in a moment.”
“I…” Peni looked around, frantic. “I don’t understand.” She tried to dodge but the woman cut her off. “I want my babies.” She raised her hands to push the woman out of her way, but the door gunner circled her waist with his arm and held her in place.
She struggled, trying to kick and hit the man. “Let me go!”
“Calm down, Peony. We aren’t your enemy. You can see your children in a moment.” The woman’s voice held the whip of command.
Still panicked, Peni twisted around just in time to see Nick wheeled away on a gurney. “Nick!” She kicked out but the woman was out of reach. “Where are you taking Nick?”
“To a nearby clinic. A doctor will take a look at him. He wa
s shot, Peony.”
She wilted. Nick was her anchor, her protector. She was at the mercy of these strangers. The big soldier put her on her feet. Her knees threatened to give out and she locked them to remain standing. The man stayed at her back, as if he thought she might bolt. Which, to be honest, was a very likely possibility. Except her children had now disappeared into a darkened hangar. She lunged out of his loose grip and sprinted toward the hangar.
This time, the woman let her pass.
Chapter 12
PENI GRAPPLED with her feelings. Three days had passed since she and Nick had been plucked from Mimosa Key. She wasn’t sure exactly where she was—maybe Pensacola, based on a sign she’d glimpsed. She’d been shuttled from the hangar in an SUV with blacked-out windows and deposited in this four-story business suite hotel.
The redhead visited once a day to check on the twins but remained tight-lipped about her name or the names of the silent men who rotated guard duty in the living area around the clock. One had finally admitted that Nick, while he’d been shot, wasn’t badly injured and was recuperating elsewhere.
Frustrated, Peni stayed in the bedroom with Luca and Luiza, coming out only to get food when it arrived and to fix supplemental bottles of formula for the babies. On the fourth day, the swarthy man with eyes like a hawk knocked on the door. He opened and entered without her permission and handed her a cell phone.
“Nick,” he said before slipping through the doorway and closing it behind him.
“Nick?” Her voice quivered and she didn’t care. Peni was so tired of being strong, of being stoic. She was scared and separated from the only person who made her feel safe.
“Hey, baby.”
She didn’t try to hold back the tears. “Are you hurt badly?”
“Naw. Flesh wound.” Pain lanced through his voice but Peni ignored it.
“When are you coming to get us?”
Long minutes passed before he said, “Yeah…about that.”
Her heart sank and a sob escaped despite her desperate attempt to swallow it.
“I understand,” she whispered and clicked off the phone. It shattered when she hurled it against the tile wall in the bathroom. Her guard likely heard but he didn’t enter her room. Both babies were crying now. She scooped them out of the crib and cuddled them to her chest, her tears mingling with theirs.
“I know better,” she whispered to them. “I can’t trust anyone but myself.”
And she began to plot her escape.
****
THE CELL PHONE slipped from Nick’s numb fingers and he caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror as he turned to his cousin. Dom visibly winced. Yeah, he felt like shit. Looked like shit. But what he’d just heard in Peni’s voice? That had eviscerated him and his ravaged face showed the emotional toll. Still, his pain was nothing compared to hers.
“I have to fix this.”
Dom stared at him, his face a blank slate—except for his eyes. “You almost died.”
Nick shrugged and couldn’t hide the wince. “You’re being dramatic just like when we were kids.”
“Yeah, and I love you too, asshole.”
He stared at the man who was for all intents and purposes his brother. “I want the motherfucker.”
“We all do.” Dom scrubbed his fingers through his hair. Nick recognized the gesture for what it was—a sign of his cousin’s frustration. “The shooters were gone by the time McBain got the cops there. Vasile claimed no knowledge of them. His bodyguard was in the villa with him and showed no signs that he’d been outside.” His expression was bleak as he added, “They’ve got nothin’ on him.”
Nick pushed off the bed and swung his legs over the side.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude. Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
The frigid temperature of his blood didn’t allow even a frosty smile. “I’m going after Vasile.”
“You aren’t in any shape—”
“Screw that, Dom. Peni—the twins—they won’t be safe until that fucker is burned to ashes, with a stake through his heart, and buried six feet in the ground.”
“No such thing as vampires, bro. Don’t you think that’s a little overkill?”
Nick ripped off the tape holding the IV drip needle in the back of his hand. “Keep her safe, Dominic.” After a short hesitation, his cousin nodded his assent. Able to breathe again, Nick asked, “Are you going to get my clothes or do I have to take you down and steal yours?”
****
PENI HAD ZERO ODDS of escaping. She wasn’t a gambler but she had to try. The pediatrician worried about her—and the fact that Peni didn’t sleep. The gullible woman had finally left a small bottle of sleeping pills. Only one of the grim-faced men who had rescued her and the twins remained as her guard. It was the sandy-haired Irishman with blue eyes that reminded her of a husky who now constantly watched her without comment.
This was her one chance. She made a pot of coffee, mixing crushed sleeping pills in the coffee grounds. She knew the man drank coffee through the night to stay awake until she stopped moving around. She’d watched and listened while making her plans. He slept little but eventually, he too would tire.
When the coffee finished dripping into the carafe, she poured a cup for herself, ignoring the man as she returned to her room. Peni immediately dumped the cup in the bathroom sink. She waited a tense hour before cracking open the bedroom door to peer out. The man sat in the arm chair he preferred, a cup on the table at his elbow while he watched something on TV. His eyes flicked to her and she sucked in a breath before carefully closing the door.
She checked again after another hour ticked by, then a third. Finally, when she looked out at 4 a.m., his head was thrown back and a gentle snore rumbled in his chest. This was her chance. She shrugged on the backpack she used for a diaper bag and slung the twins from each shoulder, holding them to her chest.
Slipping through the door, Peni crept across the living room. She didn’t much believe in a God but she prayed anyway. Prayed the babies would stay asleep and quiet, prayed that she could get downstairs, prayed that she could find a cab, prayed that Luca and Luiza would be safe. She made it to the exit door, eased off the security chain and with utmost care, unlocked the deadbolt. A breathless moment later, she was in the empty hallway. Ignoring the elevator, she headed for the stairs. It was only four flights.
As she approached the exit doors on each lower floor, Peni tensed, waiting for that moment when the door slammed open and she was taken prisoner again. When nothing happened, she skipped down more steps to the next until she arrived on the ground floor. Peeking out, she saw no movement, just a hallway stretching off in each direction. Her gaze lit on a red exit sign. Bingo.
All but running down the hallway to the door that would lead to her freedom, Peni stayed focused on escape. She’d found almost $500.00 stuffed in the backpack, put there by Nick. It wasn’t much, but far more than she’d had before fleeing Boston. It would be enough to get her someplace else, someplace where she could drop off the map again. Someplace she could nurse a broken heart.
****
“SO?”
“So what?” Nick glanced over at his cousin. They’d been sitting in this rental car for hours. He’d stared at the front door of Vasile’s South Bay town house until his eyes were bleary.
“She’s a submissive.”
This was not a conversation he wanted to have with his cousin, despite their shared sexual interests. “Yeah, and?”
“Can you be her dominant?”
“Seriously, Dominic? You want to go there? Jeez.” Nick rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. “I’ve never touched her. Not like that.”
“Seriously?” Dom was all ears now.
“We’ve kissed. I’ve held her while she slept to keep her nightmares away. That’s it.”
“Seriously?”
“I don’t want to have this conversation with you, cuz.”
“You care about her.”
Nick cut
his eyes to the other man before lifting a shoulder in a stiff shrug. “A man can’t not care about someone like Peni.”
“Can you curb your own tendencies?”
Staring harder at the front door, he willed their prey to come outside. He wanted to think about killing Peni’s tormenter, not the gentle sweetness of the woman herself. “A good dominant understands what his submissive needs and he provides it. Because that’s what it comes down to. It’s all about the sub—what she wants and needs. But you know this, Dominic.”
“Does she trust you?”
“Hell no. Would you trust me in her circumstances?”
Dominic canted his head, considering. “Maybe. You’ll have to work to win her, especially since she’s naturally submissive and weak. You can’t take agency away from her.”
Wishing he sat in the driver’s seat so he could squeeze the life out of the steering wheel, Nick fought the urge to strangle his cousin. “You don’t get it. She’s not weak. Peni is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.”
He clamped his hands on his thighs, forcing his fingers to unknot from the fists they’d formed. “She’s a helluva lot stronger than me, Dom. She just doesn’t know it.” He glanced at his cousin. “Yet.”
Nick inhaled, closed his eyes to exhale. “Most of all, I want her to trust me, to understand that when she falls, I’ll catch her. Every damn time.”
A hint of a smile lifted the corner of Dominic’s mouth. “You want to love her.”
“No, man,” Nick replied, his voice hoarse. “I already do.”
Chapter 13
“AND WHERE MIGHT ya be sneakin’ off to in the middle of the night?”
Peni didn’t scream but it was only because she was too scared to breathe. The lanky Irishman emerged from the shadows surrounding a bench. He’d been sitting there waiting for her. She wanted to cry but she had no tears left.
