MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance)

by Claire Branson

  Cravings.

  She stood up and practically tiptoed to the makeshift kitchen about eight hundred feet out of the way. It had only taken the city council and the FBI about two weeks to get this whole thing prepared for inhabitation. One of the things they so kindly thought of was a small stove, a four burner electric—something you could basically plug into the wall—and a kettle. They knew she would be working on a book… and that she was addicted to coffee.

  She went to work, pulling the two mugs out of the paper bag she had stowed away and throwing two hefty spoons of instant in them. She wasn’t sure if they had had any before the guard switch, which had only happened a little over an hour ago. She wouldn’t bring herself to ask in order to make sure. She knew that they would just wave their hands and tell her she shouldn’t bother herself.

  She placed the kettle on the stove and watched it turn red hot. As she leaned against the table, slipping her feet out of her shoe in order to air out her toes, she heard a banging sound. Her heart stopped, but she scoffed at herself, placing her hand on her chest.

  “Calm the fuck down Valerie,” She whispered to herself. This whole mess had turned her into a little stress sponge.

  “We’re here for the girl!”

  “Girl?” she grimaced at this.

  “Don’t come any closer.” It was one of the guards.

  A window shattered, something dense skidding across the floor.

  “Get down—!”

  “Ms. James!”

  Valerie dropped down onto the floor. Half of this was some sort of survival instinct, but the other half was just her being too frightened to hold herself up. No sooner had she clasped her head in between her knees did a blast shake the whole warehouse. The ground lurched, throwing Valerie out of her hiding place. She grunted, flexing her skidded knee.

  A gun shot cut through the air.

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” she said as she crawled her way back behind the small counter.

  There were more gunshots, but they sounded like they weren’t hitting anything; simply ricocheting off the walls and hitting metal cans. She only heard the thump of metal to flesh once…

  Twice…

  She didn’t need a finance degree to put that together. She stood up, revealing herself to the mobsters she knew had just won the fight, wildly regretting not informing the guards that she was going to make coffee before she did it. Maybe then, they might have died knowing they were sacrificing their lives for someone who truly cared.

  “James!”

  Valerie glanced over her shoulder. Three masked men. Always masks. It was that eerie detail that let her know they wanted more from her than just her life.

  She took off into a sprint, veering off to the right, then to the left. They were running too fast to be able to aim their subpar guns properly, but she did it just in case. She slammed herself against the backdoor. As soon as it gave way, a red, hot alarm poured into the entire establishment.

  Valerie zipped through the cool, crisp air, the smell of the ocean assaulting her nose. She had made as many as twenty steps before she heard the door slam open for them. She was on her way. Eight years of track had trained her to outrun almost any human she’d ever come across. A smile slipped across her face, a strange kind of defense mechanism against the stress that threatened to overcome her.

  But as soon as she had followed the road all the way to the sea wall, she saw something just ahead. There was one more body rushing towards her, masked, just like all of the others.

  She let out a gasp and lurched to a stop, glancing all around her for an out. Then, she took it, crossing the street, and running straight into an alley… but the alley didn’t actually have another side. She slammed into a brick wall, her arm scratching across the rough surface.

  I still have time.

  She rushed right back out into the main road, but she had miscalculated. There was a body right there waiting for her. His heavy hands grasped her shoulders, cutting off the circulation in her arms. “Let me go!” Stupid, instinctual words.

  He wiped his hand across the face, the slap easily drawing blood. Her cheek split on the inside of her mouth and she turned to discard the blood and spittle onto the asphalt. One breath, then another, then she drove a hard kick into his gut. For however big and strong he was, this small gesture was enough to decapitate him. She squeezed from in front of him, but before she could take another step, another man yanked at her arm and twisted it behind her. He slammed his body against her back and, in one fluid motion, slipped a knife out of his belt.

  She could already feel the blade cutting into her skin…

  Chapter Three

  Javen strolled along the seawall. Sometimes he couldn’t help but detest earth and everything about this forsaken planet, but at other times, he could not deny the uncanny resemblance between it and Kahara. It was easy to see how some of his own had managed to immerse themselves here. The warm wind greeted his face, drying his hair and wetsuit. He climbed up the next flight of stairs he could find, stepping onto street level.

  It was as he was reveling in the peace of the night that he saw something odd in the distance. He slowed down and stared harder. It was a woman racing towards him. A street lamp bathed her in its warm glow such that he could just make out the long thick hair, the high cheekbones and strong jaw… the hazel eyes.

  “Tyri!” he said, but he shook his head before the words could even finish leaving his lips. No. Not Tyri. Tyri was dead.

  Valerie James. Odd that on the very night he video blogged about her for the first time, they happened to actually run into each other on the street. When he looked back up at her, it became apparent that she was running… from something. Two men followed her closely, right on her heels. He could sense her as clear as day.

  Fear.

  There were other emotions, but that one dominated above all else. He sped up just as she veered off the street and into an alley.

  “No.” Javen had been there before. He knew it was a dead end. She was handing herself a death sentence. His heart raced as his mind started whirling around in circles. His mission was straight forward: collect a census of humans that carried the Kaharan blood line, then report back to Kahara for further instructions. If he were to seriously entangle himself into human affairs, he would give away his presence. That had to be avoided at all costs. He could not leave a footprint on earth whatsoever.

  But Valerie had just run right into one of the men. Javen stopped walking, biting his lip. Maybe, by some miracle, she could take care of herself. Maybe she had been secretly trained to fight. He watched her drive her knee into that man’s gut, clenching his fists in approval, but then the other man kicked in and grabbed her. Javen saw the metal of a knife glinting in the moonlight.

  He took off into a run. The mission was one thing but this woman was another. And even as he ran, he continued to try to convince himself to turn around and take a deep breath, to take control of his emotions. But her figure had disappeared before him. He peered through the night, but he could no longer see her, only the man that held her, trembling from the strain.

  Javen crossed the street, reaching out for the masked man with the knife. He yanked him by the collar and a drove a punch right into his face. The man yelped in pain, releasing Valerie from his grip. She tumbled onto the ground, but picked herself up as soon as she could and took off into run, sprinting back into the main street. The other man immediately followed after her, dislodging his own knife from his belt.

  Javen pivoted on his heel to make after the man chasing Valerie, until he felt a strong grip on his ankle, ripping his foot from under him. Javen stumbled, throwing his hands out in front of him to catch his fall. He turned just in time to see the man swinging a knife at him. Javen grabbed his wrist with one hand, blocking the swing, then ripped the knife out of his hand.

  The man landed another punch into Javen’s gut, sharp pain spreading all across his body. Javen clenched his jaw, ignoring his screaming
, torn abdomen and delivered another blow to the man’s face. His knuckles cracked at the impact, the man’s blood covering his hand. Before he had a chance to regain his composure, Javen jabbed the knife into his torso, his hand shaking with the resistance of the man’s abdominal muscles and internal organs. He lurched over, a sound something like the mix between a grunt and a screech pressing out of his bloody lips.

  Javen did not hesitate to turn around. By the time he had crossed the street, he could just see the man hopping over the short fence that separated the sidewalk of the seawall from the main road. Javen pushed himself, energy coursing through his veins, his lungs selfishly drawing in air, then discarding his hot breath.

  It didn’t take him long to see that he wasn’t running fast enough. The man had all but caught up with Valerie. Javen could feel her fear radiating through his veins, begging and hoping for help.

  A yelp escaped from her lips as the man grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back. Her feet lurched from under her and slammed onto the ground.

  Javen pushed himself still harder, kicking up sand as he ran.

  The man revealed his knife, the glinting metal flying through the air as he drove it into her gut. She screeched in pain. Her sobs and yells dangling in the night air.

  “Hey!”

  The man looked up just as Javen reached him. Anger turned his vision red-hot, beads of sweat sprouting on his forehead as he grabbed hold of the man’s neck. The man knelt before him, weakened by his grip, but Javen couldn’t bring himself to stop. Valerie shook and writhed beneath him, her breath catching as blood flowed freely out of her gut, but he still could not bring himself to stop.

  He detested these men for hurting her, for taking it upon themselves to destroy an innocent woman simply because they had the capability to do so. Javen could feel her silent, desperate plea for deliverance. It was a poison dragging him down but he would not block it out even if he could find the strength. He wanted to feel her pain. For the first time since Tyri, he needed to feel something other than the devastating hole her death had left behind. Valerie was his emotional scape goat. He was well-aware of this but that didn’t mean he could stop it.

  The man had begun to turn purple before Javen came to. He released his hands from his neck, a gasp falling out of his mouth. He couldn’t kill another sentient being. It was an absolute and unforgivable crime for Kaharans. So, he snatched up both knives and stowed them away in his wet suit.

  While the man remained unconscious, Javen turned his attention to Valerie, whose blood had already begun to pool all around her body. She had stopped writhing and had assumed a far more peaceful state, her chest rising and falling ever so slightly with her breath. Javen acted fast, ripping off her shirt so that he could then use it as a make-shift bandage for her wound. He took note of her fascinating features—her clear skin, tainted with the hue of a yellowing cauliflower, her hazel eyes and her ears, nearly as pointed as his. But he refused to let himself dwell on any of this. He needed to get her help.

  His first thought was to take her to the hospital, but he shot that down quickly. How could he justify delivering a badly injured Valerie James? He wasn’t a family member or known associate. In fact, he barely knew her himself. They would almost certainly think that he had something to do with the men that did this to her. He shuddered to think what the General in Kahara would do if his informant relayed the information that he had been tangled up in human affairs. That was completely unacceptable.

  Besides, what could the humans offer her amongst their sub-par and often incredibly barbaric treatments? She would be safer if he took her back with him. Besides, whoever sent these men to hurt her would be quick to check the hospitals for her first and then all of his efforts would have been in vain.

  So, Javen hoisted her over his shoulder, easily carrying her light body to the ocean. He focused on his breath, his chest rising and falling as he sucked in as much oxygen as he could take. He was going to have to breathe for the both of them. The water rose first to his knees, then his chest, then his neck. The weight of the woman began to drag him down as he the water pulled up over his head. He let her lead him to the depths, drawing her lips to his, ever so often, to make sure that she had enough gaseous nutrients.

  As he continued down farther and farther into the ocean, as the waters took him over, he realized that he had never felt calmer. Something about this woman’s presence silenced the demons in his mind. With every breath he blew into her system, he couldn’t help but feel as if they shared something bigger than the universes that had separated them.

  Finally, he reached the outer chamber of his underwater home and lab. He wrapped his arm around her torso, the strongest grip he could manage, then used his free hand to pull open the door to the chamber. Water rushed in, pulling him in with it. The door, which had been set by a timer, shut as soon as Javen could get himself and Valerie into the other side. A trap door lined with a vent opened under them, suction pulling at their bodies and emptying the chamber of all the water that had rushed into it.

  Javen let out a gasp, his lungs constricting at the shock as he looked up at the ceiling. His jaw swung open, buckets of air pouring in. Once he had caught his bearings, he looked back down at Valerie. For one wild moment, embarrassment flashed across his mind at the sight of her transparent bra but he dismissed the thought. She was absolutely stunning…

  But she wasn’t moving.

  Chapter Four

  Valerie had been saved by an angel. That was the only explanation. Death had greeted her with his insidious sneer but a force stronger than it had intervened and ripped her out of its clutches. Her mind was empty of all of its worries. Thoughts about the book and the investigation and the men who wanted her dead had no bearing in this new head of hers.

  But something wasn’t right.

  She was falling, her arms flailing around her for something, anything to grab onto and coming out empty handed every single time. Her chest felt hot and heavy, like someone had reached their hands into her rib cage and wrung out her lungs like a giant sponge.

  Ah. But there it was.

  Relief.

  Something like a kiss of air lifted her out of this, the glorious sensation of lips that cared for her. But alas, it only lasted a short minute.

  And then she was falling all over again.

  She felt like she had been filleted, her insides drawn out for everyone to see, but none of that mattered. She was cold. Frigid air froze her cells, that essential life energy quickly slipping away from her. There was desperation in the back of her mind, but it was not her own. There must have been another person there. She knew it had to have been her savior, but when she tried to open her mouth to tell him that she was okay, to thank him, her body wouldn’t move.

  There was a heavy blow to her chest.

  She let out a scream in her head, her back arching in pain. The sharp sensation traveled through her veins, but so did something else. It was like that kiss of air, but it lasted longer. It was far more crisp.

  It reached down and out to the far recesses of her body from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Then, more of the blows to her chest. She could taste the salt of the waves of water rumbling up through her chest. She could feel the beginnings of her eyes rolling open.

  She was aware of the hands on her sternum but she had to push herself. She began to scrunch up her abdomen, but the sharp pain stopped her. Still, she willed herself awake, using her own strength and that of her angel.

  Finally, she was able to wrench herself out of the depths. The force of the water rushing up through her throat propelled her off of the ground. Her head of thick wet hair flew around her, splashing salty water onto the walls. Strong arms clasped around her, a hand slamming on her back as water poured out of her mouth. The burn of salt and bile lingered, stinging her throat.

  “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  Valerie wiped her hand across her lips, blinking her eyes open so that she could get her first glimpse
of the man that had saved her. Her heart started pounding against her chest at the sight of him. He had the most interesting eyes—dark purple with a kind of gray haze over them. His face held a precise bone structure with high cheekbones and a strong jaw. The wet hair laying down his neck and shoulders, punctuated with shades of gray, framed his perfect face.

  Valerie absentmindedly placed a palm on his strong chest, feeling his heartbeat under her hand. “Hi,” She whispered.

  He leaned into her. “Hi.”

  His warm breath sent her heart into overdrive. “I have to get you inside.” With that, he lifted her up into his arms.

  Valerie bit her lip, clutching onto his wet suit for support, but she didn’t need it. He held her as if she barely weighed over twenty pounds. She glanced all around her. She seemed to be in some sort of compressed chamber, but he took her to a door and entered a code into the small keypad. A loud buzzing sound rang through the chamber.

  Valerie winced as he pressed a large button under the keypad, allowing the door to open and revealing a dark corridor. He carried her through the hallway, which then opened up to an even larger space. There was a full, stainless steel kitchen and then an even smaller area that housed a day bed and a desk with a white lamp next to it.

  He set her down on the bed and clicked the lamp on. “What is this place?” Valerie asked, pressing her back against the back of the bed.

  The man went into his kitchen, which, upon second look, looked a lot like a lab as well, complete with test-tube holders and pipets. “It’s my station. I’m here on… scientific work.”

  Valerie narrowed her eyes. An underwater lab didn’t make much sense to her. “So, you’re a scientist?”

  He shook his head as he pulled open the fridge and retrieved an unmarked bottle of water. “I’m a Lieutenant in the military.”

  Valerie’s stomach lurched. “Are you Cuban?” She demanded as she took the water from him. Her mouth watered just at the sight of it, but when she took her first gulp, it became apparent that the sweet liquid was the farthest thing from water. As it splashed down her esophagus and into her empty stomach, she found that the pain in her abdomen was already starting to go away. She shifted the cloth that had been wrapped around her to reveal a wound that had already begun to crust over.