Tame Me (Alpha Four, Book 2)

by Mia Dymond

  She stood frozen in place for a moment, weighing the option of opening the door or not. Chaos had made the decision perfectly clear – several times – yet she couldn’t help but be curious. She was safe on this side and besides, whoever stood on the other couldn’t enter unless she let them in. With a frustrated sigh, she descended the stairs and then peered through the peephole.

  James stood on the front porch holding his briefcase. This visitor wasn’t the least bit dangerous.

  O, geez! This better be important.

  She plastered a fake smile on her face, punched in the alarm code, and then opened the door. “James? What a surprise.”

  “I’m sorry, Kat.” He shoved a stack of papers at her. “I brought these for you to sign and he followed me here.”

  She frowned, puzzled by the apology. “Who followed you?”

  “Me.”

  As soon as Steven Hawthorne stepped into her line of vision, a gun in his hand and pointed straight at her, realization set in. Chaos had been right about him. And opening the door was a very bad idea.

  He gave James a shove from behind. “Inside, both of you.”

  Kat unwillingly led the way to the living room while she racked her brain for the best course of action. She was determined not to allow Steven to kill her, James or Chaos. Could she somehow get the gun away from him? He was intent on killing her, after all, so she really didn’t have anything to lose.

  “That’s far enough. Where is Taylor?”

  “Why?”

  Steven ignored her question and looked around the room while aiming the gun first at her, then at James as if he wasn’t sure which one was the biggest threat. “Is he here?”

  “Perhaps you should’ve asked that question at the door.”

  “Answer me,” he demanded.

  “Yes.” She sighed and tossed the papers to the sofa in a haphazard pile while she squeezed one arm against the bra cup that held her phone, hoping to trigger speed dial. She had no idea who she might call, but anyone would be better than no one. “You can’t get past him, Steven.”

  Steven snorted. “You underestimate my abilities.”

  “We know about the money you stole from the charity. It’s too late to run.”

  “The money is the least of your worries, my dear Kat. You’ve got much bigger problems.”

  Not exactly sure what he meant, she decided to bait him. “I do?”

  “Don’t play stupid, you’re much too smart to pull that off. I’m speaking about the threats and the bomb that was intended to end your life.”

  “You know about that?”

  “I do.”

  “You were behind it?”

  “There’s no evidence linking me to any of your trouble.” He waved the gun back to the open door. “Enough chatter. Let’s go.”

  “Where?”

  His face reddened. “It doesn’t matter. I said, let’s go.”

  Fighting the urge to defy him once again, Kat followed behind James as they moved toward the door. She stopped short just inside as a fleeting thought tickled her brain. Could she press the panic button on the alarm panel without risking her life? And if she did, could Steven easily escape?

  She pushed the thought out almost as suddenly as it had formed. Steven wouldn’t hesitate to kill both her and James, and although the cameras would record the action and lead to his capture, she couldn’t leave that memory with Chaos. Not after he’d lost Melaina.

  Still, she couldn’t resist another jab.

  “Why are you taking us anywhere?”

  His low chuckle made her skin crawl. “You must think me a fool. I am fully aware of the intelligence of both Taylor and his security system.”

  Her back muscles tensed as he placed the gun barrel between her shoulder blades. “Now move. And don’t even think about pressing any buttons on the way out.”

  ***

  With his body still humming from the morning’s events with Kat, Chaos turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and grabbed a towel. Why he’d waited so long to love her, he’d never understand. Not only was their chemistry explosive in bed, her compassion and uncanny ability to understand him made things even more combustible. And with her undeniable and unrelenting strength, she’d taken a broken man and made him whole again.

  He scrubbed the towel over his body, wrapped it around his waist, and opened the bathroom door. Immediately, the hair stood on the back of his neck. The house was deadly quiet – not one single creak of the rafters or footsteps anywhere near. Kat wasn’t a trained soldier, he should have heard her by now.

  He grabbed his weapon from the night stand by the bed and released the safety, immediately on full alert as he made his way down the stairs.

  “Kat?”

  His gut clenched when she didn’t answer. He glanced at the alarm panel, even more disturbed when he realized the security system was off. Hell. Common sense told him she wouldn’t have left the house on her own. Not only did she not have a reason, she wouldn’t risk her safety. No, she had opened the door and someone had forced her out.

  He moved his gaze around the room, attempting to find something out of place, when the front door burst open. He lifted his weapon and aimed.

  “Where’s Kat?”

  Carley barged right on past him, followed by Ace, Rebel, and Thunder.

  “Gee–jus, Carley!” He lowered his weapon while his heart pounded double time and he bit his tongue to keep from telling her how close he’d been to taking her out.

  “Well, where is she?”

  “I’d like to know the same thing.”

  Carley’s eyes widened and his stomach took a severe dip. “I got a call from Kat’s phone. It sounded like she was in trouble, so I came right over. I called Ace on the way – obviously he spread the word.”

  “She called you? What did she say?”

  “All I could hear was muffled voices. I think she dialed me in her pocket. I recognized her voice, but couldn’t make out the other ones. Just that they were male.” She frowned. “Did we interrupt something?”

  He glanced down at his towel, wishing like hell she had. “No. You heard more than one voice?”

  “Yes. Two others. That’s when I disconnected and called Ace.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Who then started issuing orders.”

  “Yeah,” Ace mumbled, “like that did me any good.”

  Thunder jumped right in. “Brief us, Chaos.”

  “I was just taking a shower. Something’s not right.”

  “What the hell does that mean? We know something’s not right – your woman’s AWOL.”

  He covered the distance to the sofa in three long steps and pointed at the pile of papers. His heart skipped a beat. Sonuvafreakinbitch.

  “Hawthorne.”

  “Come again?”

  “Hawthorne has something to do with this. We find him, we find her.”

  Thunder rubbed the back of his neck. “You mind telling me how you came to this conclusion?”

  “Look around, Captain. You said it yourself, I’m a neat freak. Except for the pile of paper on this cushion, which happens to be the tally sheets from the charity dinner. Hawthorne had them last.” He released a hard breath. “If she has her phone, we can track it.”

  “No time. I’m on him.” Rebel exited out the front door before anyone could respond.

  Carley rubbed her forehead. “Does he even now where he’s going?”

  Thunder gave her a glare that he and Ace knew better than to question. Carley, however, didn’t seem bothered.

  “That’s not an answer, Thunder.”

  “Cool it, short stuff,” Ace answered. “Rebel’s sixth sense is never wrong.”

  “Change your towel, Chaos.” Thunder unclipped his cell phone from the holder on his hip. “Time to go to work.”

  Chaos double–timed it upstairs and grabbed the jeans he had laid out on the bed earlier. Not bothering to take the time, he went commando, slipping his t–shirt over his head just as he de
scended the stairs. Thunder stood at the bottom.

  “I’m driving. We can’t have you blowing something up out of frustration.”

  A distinct air of déjà vu blanketed him. Losing Melaina had cut him in two and threatened to leave him handicapped forever. Then Kat barged right on in and took over his heart. It would be a cold day in hell before he lost her too. He followed Thunder out the front door and climbed into his truck.

  “Where did everybody go?”

  “Rebel went to check out a property that Hawthorne owns, a metal building down by the marina. Ace and Carley went to check out the Abbott’s beach house.”

  “Ace took Carley with him? As back up?”

  Thunder snorted. “He’s keeping her on a tight leash. Otherwise, she would have gone out on her own.

  “So, where are we going?”

  “To back up Rebel. Something tells me Hawthorne will head for the water. My gut says Rebel’s on their tail and I want in on the action.”

  Chaos checked to make sure the clip in his weapon was fully loaded. “I’ll take some of that action.”

  “I thought you might.” Thunder nodded toward the back seat. “I grabbed your pack out of your truck, so you’ve got all your favorite toys on hand.”

  He simply nodded. Now if they just had confirmation of Kat’s whereabouts and a plan, they’d be golden.

  ***

  Kat kept her eyes closed while she took a mental inventory of her body. Other than a bump on her head and a mother of a headache, she seemed fine. The last thing she remembered was having her hands tied behind her back and Steven shoving her into the back of a car. She must have hit her head because it was lights out, until now.

  Her hands were still tied behind her and she was cold. She inhaled a deep breath through her nose but the musty odor didn’t give her a hint about where she was. She slowly opened her eyes, grateful to find she hadn’t been blindfolded. She figured out she sat in a fairly large, open room with a concrete floor and there was a stack of barrels on her left, but the room was so dark she couldn’t see much more. A tiny bit of light seeped through a window to her right, but not enough to clue her in on her surroundings.

  A voice beside her caused her to roll on the floor away from its source.

  “Kat, are you awake?”

  She squinted in the darkness, able to make out a square pair of glasses. It was then she remembered she hadn’t been alone. “Oh, James! You scared me to death. Where are we? Do you know?”

  Kat sat up and leaned against the wall next to him.

  “I’m not sure. I think it’s some kind of warehouse.” He inhaled a deep breath. “I can smell the ocean.”

  “I left Chaos a hint, but we need to find a way out of here.” She inched away from the wall. “Let’s see if I can get your hands untied. Turn and put your back against mine.”

  Once they sat back–to–back, she began the daunting task of tugging on the amazingly tight knots that bound him in hopes of setting him free.

  “I wonder why he left us alone.”

  James voiced the exact question she tossed around in her own mind. “I have no idea.” She continued working the knot with her fingernails. “He’s a sick lunatic with an equally sick plan.”

  “I’m so sorry, Kat, I should’ve never come to the house.”

  “This is no one’s fault but Steven’s.” She worked the knot back and forth. “Honestly, if you’d resisted, I believe he would’ve killed you and I couldn’t live with myself after that.”

  Finally the ends of the rope fell free and she nearly wept. “Can you move your hands?”

  “Better, but I’m still tied.”

  “This is going to take longer than I thought but at least it’s progress.”

  “We may not have enough time. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Just try to relax your hands. Once I get a few undone, it will go faster.”

  Kat didn’t have enough time to test that theory. Loud footsteps sounded just outside the door and then something scraped inside the lock. A key, she assumed. She quickly moved away from James and they both scooted back against the wall just as Steven entered the room. Light rushed inside, forcing her to blink several times in rapid succession.

  “Good. You’re awake, Kat.”

  “Were you worried about my health?” she drawled.

  “Of course not. I just need to keep you alive for a short time longer.”

  “Where are we?”

  “In a holding cell. Our ride will be here shortly.”

  “Where are you taking us?”

  “To the bottom of the ocean, of course.”

  James gasped beside her, his fear readily apart, and something inside her snapped.

  “You know, Steven, I’m tired of this whole charade. You’ve made me play this game of cat and mouse for weeks and I’m exhausted. Kill me if you must but at least tell me why I was the target.”

  She held her breath while she wondered if he would take the bait. She figured if she could stall him while he explained, Chaos would have a better chance of arriving in time. He’d always been reasonable in the past but with his eyes narrowed and a sickening smirk on his face, Steven didn’t even look like the same person.

  “You owe me an explanation,” she taunted.

  “I don’t owe you anything,” he answered with an icy tone. “I am a very important man and you are nothing to me.”

  “Obviously I’m someone to you, or you’d have no reason to kill me.”

  He snickered and crossed his arms over his chest, the gun still pointed at her. “So, you want an explanation, do you?”

  “You owe me,” she repeated.

  “Although I disagree, I’ll give you what you want. But listen carefully, my dear, because I will only tell you once and then I will kill you.”

  ***

  Chaos squeezed the arm rest of the passenger’s side door as Thunder slid his truck across the gravel in the marina’s parking lot until it finally came to rest in a marked space. A metal building sat just barely in sight in front of them and since it was the only one other than the bait shop, he concluded that was the structure that belonged to Hawthorne. Seagulls squealed in the warm afternoon as they flew over the water and the unusually unoccupied dock. Several slips sat empty; the boats that were present sloshed on the waves. Only one other vehicle was parked in the area and he would bet his left testicle that it belonged to Hawthorne. Slimy sonuvabitch.

  “I’m sure Rebel ran the plates,” Thunder said from beside him.

  “See anyone inside the vehicle?”

  “Negative.”

  He moved his gaze around the area one last time. “Did Rebel clear out the place?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Let’s party.”

  With Thunder hot on his tail, he sprang from the truck and sprinted toward the target, both of them screeching to a stop when they spotted Rebel crouched on the side. As soon as he saw them, Rebel left his position and joined them.

  “He’s alone,” Rebel told them. “No back–up.”

  Chaos licked his lips and swallowed hard. “Is Kat with him?”

  “Kat and Foster.”

  “Foster?” Thunder frowned. “What the hell does he have to do with this?”

  Rebel shrugged. “Don’t know, but he’s with her.”

  “Think he’s in on it?”

  “No. His hands are tied as well.”

  “How’s the best way inside?”

  “I cased the whole place. The whole building is twenty feet by twenty feet. One door in the front, one in the back, and one window on the left side. Not much room to maneuver in gunfire, but just inside the front door, there are two rows of barrels stacked to the ceiling. Should provide adequate cover.”

  “Is Hawthorne inside?”

  “Negative. He was in the car when I got here, but he’s not now.”

  “He’s in there,” Chaos said with absolute certainty.

  “If he is, he’ll need to leave the do
or open for light. I didn’t see any bulbs.”

  “Where’s Ace?”

  “Loading.” Rebel gestured at a boat parked in a slip near the front door of the building. “I told him I’d signal when we’re ready to get in position.”

  “What did he do with Carley?”

  “In the cabin.”

  He muttered a curse. Every single one of Kat’s friends proved difficult. “Seriously?”

  “She wouldn’t budge.” Rebel shrugged. “She finally agreed to stay hidden in the bottom of the boat.”

  Chaos glanced at the building. “We’ll go in through the front and use the barrels for cover.”

  “What’s the plan?” Rebel waved toward the marina to signal Ace. “Total destruction?”

  He nodded, serious as the heart attack that threatened to overtake him if his heart continued to beat out of control. “Whatever it takes.”

  Thunder handed them each an earpiece microphone and then stuffed one in his own ear. Once his was in place, Chaos stuffed several flashbangs into his pocket just as Ace appeared beside him.

  Chaos branded his weapon. “Ace and I will go in first. I’ll create a diversion so he can take a shot.”

  Thunder nodded. “We’ll take the doors. Radio when you need company.”

  Chaos led the way as he and Ace quickly but silently jogged to the front of the building, encouraged by the open door. He nodded at Ace and then entered the area. Rebel was a helluva tracker. The interior was exactly as he described and he and Ace took advantage, hiding behind the first row of barrels.

  Adrenaline pushed blood through his veins at an alarming speed as he forced himself to remain hidden and analyze the action. Very carefully, he eased his head around the edge of a barrel and caught sight of Hawthorne with a gun pointed directly at Kat and Foster. Fear threatened to weaken his knees while blood red anger colored his vision. Yet, in the midst of it all, Kat seemed remarkably cool, engaging Hawthorne in conversation. The woman had an excellent stall tactic.

  “Tell me,” she demanded.