“Do you understand?” the brunette asked impatiently. “You have to go. Tell him the deal is off. It’s every man for himself now.”
She spun to leave.
“How did you find him? He took out the GPS you had embedded in his hand,” Ashtyn called after her.
She half-turned, a slight smirk on her face.
“You think that we would trust a known assassin? Of course we slipped another tracker on him.”
“Who do you work for? Who else is coming for us?”
Her bemused expression faltered.
“I don’t know,” she replied and Ashtyn could see she was being sincere.
She strode outside but a second later, she was back, her dark eyes glittering with something Ashtyn didn’t understand.
“Tell him to leave me alone now. I have saved his life. Tell him we’re even.”
She was gone again before Ashtyn could ask her what she meant by that but she exhaled, relieved to see her gone.
Rushing to close and bolt the door, she hurried back to Xander’s bedside and rocked him gently.
“Xander. Please wake up,” she whispered. “Xander! We have to get you to a hospital.”
Suddenly, like a blow to her gut, she realized that even if he lived, she would never see him again after this.
If he was being hunted, he needed to disappear underground and while Ashtyn would eventually be in danger when Khan’s men sorted through the mess, she could not leave without Viola.
“Xander,” she said urgently. “Please wake up. You’re in danger and we have to go.”
He groaned quietly in his sleep but there was no moving him.
Fear spiraled through her body, but she willed herself to be calm.
What am I going to do, she thought, slipping her body onto the mattress beside him, pressing herself against him.
She was trapped. She really should just leave him here alone. After all, as far as he knew, he still had the contract to kill her. But she would just tell him that the woman had released him from all obligation and told him to run and go into hiding. You don’t seriously think he’s just going to believe you if you say the woman called the contract off, do you? He’s going to think I somehow killed Mr. Smith, and that Mrs. Smith just got away. What was she supposed to do? She didn’t even have a phone to call an ambulance for him, and he still hadn’t fully regained consciousness. She should leave. Now. While she still could. But he saved Viola. He risked his life and got shot for her. I owe him.
Clenching her hands in his shirt, she gulped back the lump in her throat.
This is ridiculous, the devil on her shoulder prodded. The man is an assassin, a convict, and he might still want to kill you.
But are you any better? The angel on her other shoulder asked. You almost killed him with an overdose and you’ve been a smuggler for years. Not exactly a pillar of society, hmm?
Yet why did it feel like they had known one another for years? They had certainly been through more than any couple she knew.
There was no denying it; they were two obscure peas in a pod. Would she ever find anyone in the world who could understand her as well as Xander?
Tears slipped onto her cheeks but she didn’t fight them, burying her face into his chest as she heard vehicles approaching, sirens blaring in warning.
It was too late. Their chance to escape had passed.
Xander was going back to prison and she would likely follow.
She didn’t move, her back to the door as the pounding started. She squeezed Xander closer to her frame as if she hoped to shield him from the impending chaos, but when the door flew open, Ashtyn knew she had no choice but to face the music.
“Interpol! Show me your hands!”
Slowly, she turned to address the officers swarming the one roomed cottage, raising her hands over her head as she remained on the bed.
“You too!” an agent yelled. “Show me your hands!”
“He’s unconscious,” she told him, choking back a sob. “He needs a hospital. I think he’s been shot.”
“Is that Xander Van Hoyt?”
Ashtyn pursed her lips together, unwilling to answer the question.
If she lied and said no, there would be more trouble for her later, but there was no way she was throwing him under the bus unnecessarily.
“Tell me!” he demanded. “Is that Xander Van Hoyt?” Ashtyn merely squeezed her lips together firmly, staring the man down.
“What’s your name?”
The question came from a man in a dark suit, standing near the door, his white hair combed away from his regal looking face.
There was something about him, something she recognized, but Ashtyn couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“You’re not in trouble,” the older man told her, his eyes encouraging. “What is your name?”
“Ashtyn,” she heard herself breath, and the confession shocked her.
Why did I tell him my real name?
At her side, the officers were trying unsuccessfully to rouse Xander, although he seemed to be coming to slowly. The soft moans and labored breathing indicated that he was becoming aware of the pain he was in.
“Ashtyn, is that Xander Van Hoyt?” he asked, and she found herself growing alarmed as he approached her.
“No,” she finally answered. “It’s not.”
A sardonic smile touched his lips.
“I think you’re lying,” he said and she felt a shiver of dread.
“What are you going to do to him?” she asked, swallowing her fear.
He blinked once and suddenly Ashtyn realized what it was about the man which had triggered a memory in her; he had the same unusually colored eyes as Xander.
“I am going to take him with me,” he replied.
Ashtyn shook her head and closed her eyes.
“No,” she said flatly. “You can’t. He had a deal with Interpol. He can’t go back to prison.”
The man chuckled softly.
“He’s not going back to prison. He’s coming with me. For a much very important purpose.”
Ashtyn opened her eyes and stared at him uncomprehendingly.
“Such as?”
“It’s a matter of national security,” he told her. “I can’t disclose the details, but I can assure you, he will be in good hands.”
She scoffed.
“Forgive me if I don’t take the word of an Interpol agent. That’s how he got into this mess in the first place.”
“My name is Drake Conway,” he told her. “And Xander is my son.”
A shocked gasp flew from her lips. “But how did you find him? He doesn’t remember you. What if he doesn’t want to go with you?” The questions tumbled out before Ashtyn could stop them, her need to protect Xander flaring brightly.
Drake held up a hand to stop her tirade. “All I will tell you, is that a long time ago, I lost all four of my sons because of a terrible mistake. Xander is now the third one I’ve found. Together we need to find his last brother. And then, then together we will defeat an old enemy.”
Epilogue
New Orleans, Louisiana – Six Weeks Later
The happy sound of jazz piping through the French Quarter almost made Ashtyn’s heart burst.
She could not believe that she was back in her hometown after the harrowing life she had led in Paris.
When she had stepped off the plane at Louis Armstrong International, her fears that she wouldn’t remember the place she had longed for so desperately proved to be unfounded.
Xander squeezed her hand comfortingly.
“Is it how you remembered it?” he asked, sensing her body tense at his side.
Ashtyn nodded and looked up at him.
“I can’t believe I’m here,” she murmured, staring around as if she expected it to disappear.
“You’re here,” he told her softly. “We’re both here. Paris is the nightmare. This is the reality.”
She nodded, grateful that he had joined her.
In truth,
she hadn’t known what to expect after Drake Conway had come into their lives. He was a larger-than-life force who had swooped in and made everything go away with the swipe of his magical hand somehow.
“Who is your father?” Ashtyn whispered when Xander’s conviction was quietly overturned and they were brought back to Virginia to Drake’s massive estate.
“I don’t even want to know,” Xander replied, as the older man swept his son into a private conference while Ashtyn was left to roam the perfectly manicured grounds in Leesburg.
It had all been so overwhelming, being whisked out of Europe in a covert private plane.
“I can’t leave my sister!” Ashtyn protested but Drake had shaken his head.
“Arrangements have already been made for Viola to be transferred to the best medical facility in Louisiana. She has been stable, but she is looking at months of inpatient recovery for both the drugs she was fed and the psychological abuse she suffered. You will visit her in six weeks when the doctors permit it.”
Ashtyn could only stare at him, dumbfounded.
“How did you know about her?” she gasped. “Who are you?”
“I told you,” he replied, with a warm smile. “I am Drake Conway.”
None of it made any sense, but there was no way to question Drake and expect to get an answer that was open and honest.
“Your past…indiscretions have been forgotten,” Xander’s father told them. “You have nothing to fear about anything catching up with you. You are free to live normal lives…well, as normal as they can be going forward.”
Xander and Ashtyn exchanged nervous glances.
“And my sister?” Xander asked. “What about Sarah?”
Drake paused and studied his son’s face.
“I will ensure that Sarah is cared for. Of course, she won’t be punished for what happened with your adoptive parents. The abuse she suffered was subtly documented.”
Drake lowered his eyes and Ashtyn could read the shame in them.
“It is my fault it happened. They should have been vetted better. What happened in that house should never have occurred.”
An uncomfortable silence followed as Xander recalled the conversation he had had with his father in the hospital while he was recovering from his gunshot wound.
“Why have you resurfaced now?” Xander asked and he could hear the anger in his voice.
Drake hung his head.
“I have been searching for you for twenty-eight years,” he replied. “You and your brothers.”
“Brothers?” Xander echoed. “There is more than one?”
“Yes, you have an identical twin and two older brothers.”
“Why – what?” Xander stuttered. “What are you talking about? I mean, I know about Aiden but there are two others? Did you throw them away too?”
Drake’s face and quickly drawn breath showed the depth of pain that accusation caused him.
“I had no choice but to find you other homes. There was a grave danger following us. Your mother was killed…”
He trailed off and looked away as he relived the terrible moment.
Suddenly Xander remembered his tattoo and chills exploded over his body.
Could it be real? Had that dream actually happened to him?
“What are you thinking about?”
Xander brought her back to the present and she forced a smile.
“I’m excited to see Viola. The doctors say she’s doing really well.”
He leaned across the table and smiled at her but Ashtyn could read something behind his mossy eyes.
“Are you comfortable here? Do you have everything you need?”
She nodded slowly, examining him cautiously.
“I have you, so yes, I do have everything I need,” she replied. His smile faltered slightly.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about,” he told her and Ashtyn felt her heart begin to beat erratically.
“What does he want you to do?” she muttered, already knowing it was about Drake.
“I need to go away for a while,” Xander replied quietly, glancing around as if he was worried about eavesdroppers.
“How long?” she asked sadly, clenching her teeth to keep from arguing.
“As long as it takes,” he answered softly.
“Can you please stop speaking in riddles?”
He sighed.
“As long as it takes to eliminate Oculus.”
She gaped at him.
“We just left behind murder and mayhem to start fresh. Are you that eager to run back into a world where people want you dead?”
“We can defeat them,” Xander said firmly. “Drake has abilities of his own. And he’s found two of my brothers already. Now I need to convince Aiden to join us.”
Ashtyn stared at her half-eaten jambalaya, her appetite gone.
“I thought your brother hated you.”
“He does, but Ash…”
She looked up slowly.
“What?”
“These are the people who killed our mother.”
Ashtyn felt shame and she nodded, swallowing any more of her objections.
“When are you leaving?” she asked, unable to meet his eyes.
“As soon as you tell me that you’ll wait for me.”
Their eyes met and a slow smile formed on her lips.
“You’re a fool if you think you can get rid of me that easily,” she replied. “But you have to promise to visit me often when you’re gone.”
His eyebrows raised in surprise.
“You want me to project to you?”
“Only if you want,” she replied quickly, embarrassment coloring her cheeks.
“Oh, I want,” he nuzzled her ear playfully. “Do you have any idea what I can make you feel while I’m in your head? What I can make you do?”
Shivers racked her body as images were pushed into her mind. Her breathing hitched and her nipples instantly turned rock hard. A small moan escaped her as she saw a picture of him driving his cock deeply within her pussy as he had her pressed up against a wall. Her head was thrown back in bliss and her legs were wrapped tightly against his body, angling herself so that he could strike even deeper within her. The image made her core gush with wetness, and he hadn’t even had to touch her. Oh my god, this might not be so bad, she thought, smiling up at him.
“I do,” she sighed.
Xander smirked, looking proud of himself as he came to crouch at her side, his eyes locked on hers. Suddenly, his face became serious as he stared lovingly into her eyes.
“I will come back to you,” he promised, grabbing her hands and bringing them to his lips. “I swear it.”
“You better,” she replied with a confident smile, leaning forward to kiss his mouth. “Or I’ll kill you.”
Aiden turned his back on his twin, the only blood family he had, a long time ago; their disagreement about how to use their powers driving a wedge between the two.
Then just when things with his little daughter get tense, Sage, a child psychologist appears in his life, and the connection between Aiden and her is cataclysmic.
Now his family has turned up, and it turns out he has not one, but three brothers, all with powers of their own. And they need his help to fight the organization that tore them all apart when he was a baby, and is now threatening his daughter.
But how can he drag Sage into this mess? He should cut her loose so she stays safe from Oculus...and from him.
HARD
Limit
Prologue
New Haven, Connecticut – 1989
It was the first supper Drake Conway had eaten at home in over two months and he smiled lovingly at his wife, wanting to treasure every second of the idyllic moment. Who knew when he would be granted such an opportunity again? He was already taking a major risk being there that night.
No one knew where he was; he had violated protocol to see his family and the consequences of such a blatant disregard for the rules could be devastating.
Drake shoved the dark thoughts from his mind, turning his attention back to Shirley and the boys.
I deserve to be a normal man for one night, he reasoned. I have earned it.
“Darling, these potatoes are melting on my tongue,” Drake announced, and Shirley smiled beguilingly, placing her elbows on the table as she eyed her husband.
“I put in a special ingredient,” she confessed, winking a light blue eye at him. “It’s like I sensed you coming home today and knew I needed to make them extra special.”
Drake grinned, a surreal quality overtaking him as he looked around the mahogany table. It was difficult to reconcile Major Drake Conway, Department of Defence Special Forces with Drake Conway, husband, father and fantasy football player.
They are two completely different people. I don’t even know if they would like one another if they were to meet, Drake thought wryly. He wondered if Bob next door would recognize him in his suit and official standing.
“I no like potatoes!” three-year-old Xavier declared, pushing his fork about the plate in disgust, and the one-year old twins babbled in agreement. They smashed their tiny fists against the plastic trays of their high chairs, sending a spray of mashed vegetables all about the elegant dining room.
Shirley sighed but before she could answer, Ryder interjected.
“I don’t like potatoes,” he corrected his younger brother. Xavier shook his head.
“No,” he insisted. “I no like them!”
Drake grimaced slightly and turned to his middle son.
“Your mother worked very hard on this dinner, Xavier,” he chided. “You should be thanking her, not criticizing her cooking.”
“Drake,” Shirley laughed, rising to take the three-year-old’s plate from him. “He doesn’t know what that word means. Sometimes I think you forget how small they are.”
Drake glanced at Xavier and they exchanged a private smile.
“I don’t know, honey,” he replied, winking at the boy. “I don’t think you give them enough credit sometimes. Children are like sponges.”
Shirley chuckled as she stepped into the kitchen.
HARD Series Box Set: Bad boys with powers Page 34
