by Liliana Hart
“Stay,” he said. “Don’t go back to New York.”
She looked up at him in surprise. “I’ve got to take Coltraine back and get him booked.”
“I told you I loved you.”
“I know. I love you too. You’ve made me realize I’ve kept myself closed off, not letting people in because I’ve been too afraid of getting hurt.”
“So is that it? You’ve realized what you’ve been missing and now you’re just going to go back to New York and leave Surrender behind? Can you really do that? Just walk away without giving it a chance? Surrender healed me when nothing else would. But I’d leave in a heartbeat if it meant I got to spend another day—another lifetime—with you.”
His breathing was harsh and something that felt an awful lot like fear clutched at his belly when he saw the look of surprise on her face. He could feel her slipping out of his grasp like grains of sand.
“And I know I don't have the right to ask, but I'm going to anyway because I've got nothing left to lose. Could you stay? Could you be happy here? Leave the city and your job and your friends for a small town with a bunch of people who will want to know every inch of your past, present, and future?”
She clasped her hands in front of her and took a step closer, her gaze never straying from his. “No,” she finally said. “I couldn’t stay here for that reason.”
Lane felt as if someone had just knifed him in the gut and he was bleeding to death. His body was numb. He'd laid himself bare and she'd rejected him. And dammit, he wouldn't do it again. He had his pride. He nodded stiffly and then turned away to head back to the bedroom. If he didn't escape now he'd end up on his knees begging.
“I couldn’t stay here for them,” she said before he could get away. “But I could stay here for you. I will stay here for you. I told you I loved you too. I meant it. I’ve been without a family for too long. Be mine.”
He felt the smile spread across his face. “Is that a proposal?”
“No, but I’ll say yes when you decide to ask me.”
He opened his arms, waiting, and then he let out the breath that had been trapped in his lungs as she walked into his embrace.
“It turns out Surrender is in need of another good cop. What do you say to that?”
“I say one step at a time, Deputy Greyson. One step at a time. But feel free to love me in the meantime.”
“Always,” he said, leaning down to seal the deal with a kiss.
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FOREVER WICKED
A Wicked Lovers Novella
by Shayla Black
CRIMSON TWILIGHT
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
by Heather Graham
CAPTURED IN SURRENDER
A MacKenzie Family Novella
by Liliana Hart
SILENT BITE: A SCANGUARDS WEDDING
A Scanguards Vampire Novella
by Tina Folsom
DUNGEON GAMES
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
by Lexi Blake
AZAGOTH
A Demonica Novella
by Larissa Ione
NEED YOU NOW
by Lisa Renee Jones
SHOW ME, BABY
A Masters of the Shadowlands Novella
by Cherise Sinclair
ROPED IN
A Blacktop Cowboys ® Novella
by Lorelei James
TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT
A Midnight Breed Novella
by Lara Adrian
THE FLAME
by Christopher Rice
CARESS OF DARKNESS
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by Julie Kenner
Also from Evil Eye Concepts:
Tame Me
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Acknowledgements from the Author
Thanks to my readers who keep asking for more MacKenzies. This is for you. And thanks to Liz and MJ for inviting me to be a part of this amazing project.
About Liliana Hart
Liliana Hart is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of more than twenty-five novels. She lives in Texas in a big, rambling house, and she’s almost always on deadline. She loves to hear from readers.
Sizzle
The MacKenzie Family
By Liliana Hart
Now Available!
The next installment of the bestselling MacKenzie Series…
A killer who taught her everything she knows…
A mission that pits her skills against his…
And a new partner that makes her body…Sizzle
When Declan MacKenzie asks Archer Ryan to do a special job for MacKenzie Security, Archer has no choice but to say yes. He owes Declan his life, and Declan more than has his hands full with his own family problems. Little does Archer know he’ll be chasing a would-be recruit all the way to hell and back. Or maybe Alaska just seems like hell.
Audrey Sharpe works for no one but herself. Not even when the most elite security company in the country wants her. She doesn’t have time to worry about MacKenzies. She’s racing against the clock to hunt down the man who taught her everything she knows and to stop him from killing more innocent people. When sexy, but tough as nails, Archer Ryan keeps getting in her way, Audrey has to decide whether he’ll be an asset or a distraction her body and mind can’t afford.
* * * *
Hospitals reminded him of death—the cloying antiseptic that didn’t quite mask the bitter smell of urine and blood, and the insistent beep of machines that pumped life into the fragile human body.
When it came his time to go, he’d rather be taken out swiftly—in the line of duty preferably—without having to linger and waste away while a machine allowed him a few more precious breaths.
Archer Ryan waited patiently as the elevator rose to the top floor, his hands relaxed by his sides, and none of the nerves he felt at being in a hospital visible. He understood why the meeting had to be here, but he didn’t have to like it. Especially since he’d been called back early from vacation. The time spent with his daughter was precious, even more so since it was limited to holidays and summer vacations. But he’d come anyway.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The scents and sounds were different here than the rest of the hospital. This was the private wing, and most of the money to build it had been donated by the MacKenzie family. It looked more like a hotel than a hospital—the walls were painted a soft green and the rooms were suites, so the families of the sick could be comfortable while they waited to see if their loved ones would live or die.
The carpet, soft and plush beneath his feet, silenced his steps, and he handed his security identification to the nurse at the front desk so she could scribble his name.
It had been eight weeks since an explosion had almost ended Shane MacKenzie’s life just outside the MacKenzie Security compound in Surrender, Montana. The damage to his body had been terrible to witness, but Shane’s cousin Thomas had managed to keep him alive until a helicopter could airlift him to the hospital. There’d been no possible way to save the leg that had been lost in the explosion. It had been a miracle he hadn’t lost them both.
For six of those eight weeks Shane had been in a coma, every day a new roll of the dice. The swelling around the brain had worried the doctors more than anything, and they’d warned Shane’s family that his mind might never be the same.
Archer had known Shane a few years now, and he couldn
’t imagine what the former Navy SEAL Commander was going through. Shane was meant for active duty, and according to Shane’s older brother Declan—and Archer’s boss—Shane wasn’t fighting very hard to live.
The MacKenzie family had been taking turns at the hospital, making sure there was always a familiar face for Shane to see. Declan had set up a makeshift office in the little lounge area attached to Shane’s room, and more often than not, there were other MacKenzies in and out as well. The security company was a family business after all, and Declan was the heart of it. Anyone who knew anything about MacKenzies understood that they always stood together, through the good times and the bad. And this definitely constituted as bad.
Dec had called while Archer had been lounging on a beach in Hawaii with his daughter, Stella. She’d just turned sixteen and was growing up before his eyes, and he’d wanted to give them both a memorable vacation before she started back to school the following week. He wouldn’t have too many more years to enjoy her all to himself. She’d grown into a beautiful young woman, but she lived with her mother—his ex-wife—in Northern California, and between his job and her school schedule, their time together was much too infrequent.
The door that led into Shane MacKenzie’s suite of rooms was open, but Archer knocked before he stepped inside. Declan MacKenzie sat behind a desk that had been set up in front of the group of windows that looked out on the parking lot. He commanded it as if hospitals were his normal place of business—his laptop open and the sleeves of his shirt rolled to the elbows as he talked softly into his cell phone.
The MacKenzies were all cut from the same cloth. When you saw the five siblings together, there was no doubt they were related. They all had hair as black as pitch and an arresting combination of physical features that made you look twice in their direction. Dec’s eyes were gray as fog and one didn’t have to look at them long to know that he wasn’t a man to be messed with. The scar that ran along his jawline only added to the sense of danger.
Declan nodded at Archer when he came in the room and pointed to one of the chairs in front of the desk. Dec looked like a man who’d had too little sleep and too much worry.
It had been Declan’s fiancé, Sophia, who Shane had been protecting when the missile had exploded. She was safe now, and the man who’d tried to kill her was dead, but Shane’s future was still very much in the air.
Dec hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair with a sigh, rubbing his hand over his face.
“Thanks for coming,” he said. “I’m sorry to cut your vacation short.”
Archer settled back in his own chair and crossed his ankle over his knee. “I figured if you were calling me back from vacation, then it was probably important.”
“How’s Stella?”
“Pissed you cut her Hawaiian vacation short.” Archer grinned at Dec. “She says you can make it up to her later though. She suggested you give me a raise so I can buy her the car she’s been begging for.”
Declan snorted out a laugh. “Christ, I can’t believe she’s driving. Seems like yesterday she was asking for piggyback rides.”
“That’s what happens when you get old. Don’t worry, it won’t be too long before you have your own kids asking for piggyback rides.”
The look on Declan’s face was content, despite the stress of the last weeks. He’d finally ended up with the woman he’d loved for years, and Archer was happy for his friend. Declan wasn’t just his boss. Archer had worked many a black ops mission with Declan before they’d both decided to get out of the game. It had been a no brainer to follow Declan when he’d opened his own security company.
“How’s Shane?” Archer looked to the connecting doorway that led to Shane’s hospital room. The beep of monitors was soft and he could hear the low hum of the television in the background.
Dec’s face said it all—the worry and anguish were plain to see. “His body is healing. The doctor said the area where they amputated is healing well. They were able to save the knee, which will be helpful when he’s ready to wear a prosthetic. His other leg has had two surgeries already and pins were put in, but everything is looking fine there. They don’t think he’ll have to have any more surgeries on that leg, just a couple of skin grafts. The ribs are still giving him a little trouble, but the doctor said that was to be expected since they were cracked. His last brain scan was clear.”
“But?”
Dec blew out a long breath. “He still isn’t speaking. To any of us. He’s shut himself off, just staring at the T.V. or the wall. My mother is in there with him now. She reads to him and talks to him. We all do. But he never responds. He won’t talk to the trauma psychologist that keeps coming by or the doctors who monitor his progress.”
“It’s understandable, Dec. He’s had his whole world taken from him. Commanding that team was his life. And he’ll never lead them again.”
“I know. And he’s so fucking angry I just keep waiting for him to blow. You can’t see it by looking at him, but I know my brother. His eyes are dead. I’ve seen men who had eyes like that, and nothing good came from it. And that terrifies me. His rage is festering beneath the surface, and until he lets it loose he’ll never start to heal. At least on an emotional level. I don’t know what to do for him.”
For the first time Archer could recall, Declan looked helpless, and he had no idea what to do for his friend to make it better.
“You know I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
Dec pulled a file from beneath the massive stack of papers on his desk and tossed it to Archer. “Yeah, well, that’s why I called you back early. I need to stay close by for now and I think you and I are the only two people suited to this job.”
Meaning that the job required black ops training. Archer raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m listening.”
“What do you know about Oblivion?”
“Just whispers really. Only that it exists. It’s an off the books spook organization. The areas they work are murky at best and always dangerous. Even my security clearance didn’t allow for much more information than that.”
Dec nodded as if that’s what he expected. “Three years ago, team members of Oblivion were contracted to find and terminate Proteus.”
Archer let out a low whistle between his teeth and felt his adrenaline surge. He and Dec had both had run-ins with the terrorist known as Proteus in the past. They’d never won against him.
“Oblivion was able to link Proteus to a man named Francois Renard. Renard was a broker, and the one Proteus most often used. Somehow Proteus found out about the link and had Renard taken and held in an abandoned military base in France.”
“A leak on the inside?”
“Suspected, but never proven. Oblivion knew Renard had been taken and had a team sent out to observe and assess whether an extraction was possible. It turns out Proteus was always a step ahead of the ops team. He’d planned that the team would try to rescue Renard and booby-trapped the whole place with explosives.
“It was run as a standard op. The scouts went in first, taking out guards and clearing the areas. Two agents were assigned to go in specifically for Renard and bring him out. Agents Jonah Salt and Audrey Sharpe.”
“Oh, damn.” Archer felt his blood run cold. Bits and pieces of what had happened on that mission had trickled to different parts of the agency. It was impossible to keep everything quiet. But they’d done a pretty good job of it. Whatever happened in France had been sealed and buried deep in the CIA vaults.
“Making a long story short, the base was blown to shit and so were most of the agents inside. A couple made it out with critical wounds. Salt and Sharpe had barely reached the perimeter when the blast went off, no doubt a timing miscalculation on Proteus’s part or we’d have found their body parts along with the other agents. They made it out and managed to get back to their safe point to wait for extraction.”
“I remember hearing about parts of this before they swept it under the rug.” You couldn’t belong to the agency witho
ut knowing who Jonah Salt was.
“Yeah. The two of them missed their meet for extraction, so undercover agents were dispatched to check out the scene and see what had gone wrong. They found Sharpe’s body. She’d been shot three times in the chest and was hanging on by a thread when the team got there. The room had been ransacked and Salt was nowhere to be found. Sharpe died twice on the table during surgery.”
“But she’s alive?”
“She’s alive. They never found Salt’s body. His car went over the side of a cliff and there wasn’t anything left to find. They pulled parts of the wreckage up, but there wasn’t enough conclusive evidence to show tampering. There was, however, evidence of another car being involved, an extra pair of skid marks along with Salt’s that went to the edge of the cliff. Someone knew who they were and hired a hit on both of them.”
“Please tell me you didn’t call me in to search for Proteus. I’m good, boss, but I think that’s a job for more than one man.”
“Hell, I’d trust you to take Proteus out before any of those new recruits they’ve replaced us with. Jesus, they’re infants.”
Archer grinned. It felt like they’d barely been older than that when they started.
“But no. That’s not your assignment. I want you to bring in Audrey Sharpe.”
Archer raised a brow in confusion. “Bring her in for what? Isn’t she the agency’s problem?”
“She resigned her position with the agency while she was still in the hospital recovering. And then as soon as she was able, she disappeared. Oblivion has been looking for her, but not with much enthusiasm. They never got to fully debrief her. They figured she was PTSD and it was best to let her go.”
