Renegade: Special Tactical Units Devision (STUD) Book 3

by Sandra Marton

  At first, the world was a blur. Then, gradually, he became aware of things. The slowing beat of his heart. The dampness of sweat on his skin.

  Annie, lying beneath him.

  He stirred. She sighed. He started to ease himself off her—he had to outweigh her by seventy, eighty pounds—but she made a whisper of protest and held him closer.

  He smiled and buried his face in her hair…

  And realized he hadn’t worn a condom.

  What the hell…?

  It was the first time in his entire life that he hadn’t. At age sixteen, in the hayloft of Sally Webster’s barn, he’d had his first sexual experience that didn’t involve his own right hand and, yes, he’d worn a condom.

  He’d never not used one, and there’d been no reason not to use one tonight. He had condoms in his gear. STUDs especially got ranked on about it, but Special Ops forces had long ago figured out that condoms weren’t only for sex—they could also hold life-giving liquids like water in an emergency. And they served nicely as rifle barrel covers in seriously bad weather and mud.

  He knew he should be upset about the condom thing…but how he could he be upset over anything when what he’d just experienced had been so fantastic? There had to be a better word, but right now, fantastic would have to do.

  Carefully, he rolled onto his side with Annie in his arms. “Honey?”

  She sighed, her breath warm against his throat. “Mmm?”

  Such a lovely sound, that whispered “Mmm.”

  “Sweetheart. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, laying her hand over his heart.

  “That’s it?” he said teasingly. “You’re fine?”

  She drew back a little, titled her head so she could see his face, and smiled. “Are you looking for compliments, Lieutenant?”

  He grinned. “Well, if you want to toss one my way…”

  She laughed and snuggled closer. He closed his eyes and drank in the hot, silky feel of her body.

  Dammit.

  She didn’t know that all this skin- to-skin contact, the delicate pressure of her hips against his, the sweet rub of her nipples against his chest, was starting to drive him crazy. He was getting hard. And this was too fast, too soon.

  Not for him.

  For her.

  She was new to this. She needed a chance to rest.

  She sighed and put her leg over his thigh. He could feel her heat. And, man, he was going from hard to harder.

  “I’m more than fine,” she said. “I’m wonderful.”

  “Yes,” he said solemnly, “you are.”

  She blushed. He loved that blush, especially while her hand was moving over his chest. Down over his abs….

  “I never imagined it would be like this,” she whispered. “Being with you… I never thought…”

  “No. Neither did I.” Gently, he brushed his lips over hers. “I always knew it would be incredible, but this—this was…” He cleared his throat. “Honey. I didn’t use a condom. I just—I should have, but I didn’t think.”

  Just for a second, her eyes seemed to darken. Then she smiled and traced the outline of his mouth with the tip of her finger.

  “It’s alright.”

  “Yeah. But…” He cleared his throat again. “I’m clean. You need to know that. And just in case… I’m here for you, princess. I’ll always be here.”

  There it was again. That swift darkening of her eyes. He knew what she was thinking, because he had the same thought.

  They had created their own world, but it wouldn’t last. Reality was out there, searching for them. And it would find them; they both understood that.

  But not yet.

  Not just yet.

  And he wanted her again.

  There was only one solution. He had to get up, move away from her. There were things he could do to keep busy. Get the thermal blanket from his pack. Check the horse again even though it didn’t need checking. Prepare the MREs. Say the alphabet twenty times, count backwards from one hundred…

  “Declan?” Annie rose up on her elbow. She leaned over him and her long, dark hair made a silken curtain around his face and hers. “Please. Stop thinking.”

  He reached up, took a strand of her hair and let it drift through his fingers.

  “Am I that easy to read?”

  “What we have now… It’s more than I’d dared hope for. And I know—I know we’re in danger, that what lies ahead is—is unpredictable.” She smiled, and he saw the glitter of unshed tears in her eyes. “But for now, we’re together. We have each other. I don’t want to think about anything else even if it’s just for a little while.”

  He cupped the back of her head and brought her mouth to his for a long, deep kiss.

  “We’re going to get through this, sweetheart. I swear it to you.”

  She nodded. “I know you’ll do everything you can,” she said softly. “For now, though…for now, I just want you to make love to me.”

  His body’s response was swift and unmistakable. Annie laughed. Her laugh was sexy, husky, purely female, and he loved the sound of it.

  He caressed her breasts, licked and sucked her nipples, kissed his way down the length of her body.

  She sighed. Moaned. Experimented with touching him, with trailing light kisses down his belly until she reached his engorged dick and he was crazy with the need for release.

  Take her, everything in him said, take her now, hard and fast…

  But he held back.

  It was worth it just so he could whisper, “My turn,” and roll her on her back.

  So he could watch her eyes blur when he tongued her nipples, when he slid his hand between her thighs and stroked her clit, when he moved over her and entered her inch by slow inch, filling her, stretching her until she sobbed his name and he knew he was making her world come apart.

  She arched towards him, her cries soft and sweet on the night air as her orgasm begin to claim her.

  She was coming because of him.

  Because she loved him.

  She loved him.

  His own vision blurred. He took one last, deep thrust, and when he called out her name, it was with the fierce determination of a warrior.

  She was his, and he would kill any man who tried to take her from him.

  * * *

  He left her only to dispose of the condom, get the thermal blanket from his gear and spread it over her, then stoke the fire. A pair of owls hooted to each other; somewhere in the distance, an animal howled. There’d once been wolves in this wilderness. Maybe there still were.

  By the time he lay down again and gathered her into his arms, she was asleep.

  He drew her closer.

  He loved holding her. He loved being with her. He loved everything about her and though it came close to scaring the crap out of him, what he truly loved was her.

  What kind of fate or destiny, karma or whatever you chose to call it had brought her to him under such seemingly impossible circumstances?

  Yeah, but nothing was truly impossible.

  He was living proof, otherwise he’d still be in New Mexico, maybe working with horses or, more probably, holding down a job at a mine.

  Annie burrowed closer. He stroked his hand up and down her back. Despite the blanket, her skin was cool. He dropped a light kiss on her hair and gathered her against him.

  She made another of those little mmm sounds.

  He’d told her he didn’t want to hear her story. Not true. He not only wanted to hear it, he needed to hear it. Why had she pretended to be somebody she wasn’t? Why had she left him? And what was this stuff about her uncle? The self-appointed king, Cyrus? The guy sounded like a stand-in for a wicked stepmother. It was a lousy metaphor, but so what?

  She needed help and he’d come close to letting his ego keep him from helping her.

  And then there was what she’d said about Suwaith. An invasion?

  Dec yawned.

  He was bone-weary. And hungry. She had to be hung
ry too.

  Okay.

  Twenty minutes of shut-eye and he’d get up, get dressed, go and check on the horse—one of the best early-warning systems on the planet, as far as he was concerned. Then he’d wake Annie, open the MREs, and then—and then—

  And then, he was asleep.

  * * *

  Something woke him.

  A snort. A low whinny from the horse.

  Dec sat up.

  It was still dark; the fire had burned down to coals. He could barely see a foot ahead of him.

  He waited, listening, every sense on alert. An ominous silence filled the night. No insect sounds. No distant howls or hoots.

  The hair on the back of his neck rose.

  Somebody was out there. And, yes, now he could hear something moving through the high grass.

  He put his lips to Annie’s ear and whispered her name. Her eyes flew open and met his.

  “Honey. We may have visitors.”

  She opened her mouth to speak. He shook his head and put his finger against her lips.

  “No talking. Just get your clothes on, fast. You got that?”

  Her nod was frantic.

  “That’s my girl,” he whispered.

  He gave her a quick kiss. Her lips clung to his and it took everything in him to push her gently away.

  They dressed quickly. He opened the snap on the sheath that held his knife, took the safety off his rifle.

  The horse snorted again.

  Dec moved quietly forward.

  His pulse quickened. Was that the wind? Or was it…

  Voices.

  Definitely voices.

  Two men exchanging guttural whispers in a language he’d heard before. He understood only a few words, but it was enough. They were scouts, working miles ahead of their party.

  He could smell them—the stink of rancid grease and cheap booze drifted to him on the night air. They were still maybe twenty-five, thirty feet away.

  He and Annie had been found and it was his fault. He had forgotten to be cautious and now her life was at risk.

  Annie crowded against him.

  “Two men,” she whispered. “One says he’ll kill you while the other—”

  Dec held up his hand to silence her. Then he clasped her wrist and drew her away from the entrance.

  “Just two,” he said. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  “Tell me what to do.”

  “Move as far back into the cave as possible.”

  “I don’t want you to face them alone. Tell me how I can help.”

  “You can help by doing what I told you to do.”

  “Give me a weapon. A knife. A gun. I know how to shoot, Declan. My father taught me.”

  “Annie, goddammit, we’re wasting time.”

  “I told you, I know how to shoot!”

  What had he told himself just a little while ago? She wasn’t a liar. Dec nodded, unholstered his Glock and gave it to her. “Hold it with two hands. Then just point and pull the trigger. Pull hard. You got that?”

  “I’ve got it.”

  “We’re going to be fine, honey.” Nothing like sounding convinced even if you weren’t. “Just stay put until I tell you it’s safe. Okay?”

  “Declan.” She took a breath. “Listen to me. If everything goes bad, I’d rather die than go back.”

  His jaw tightened. What had they done to her? Something awful enough so that she’d sooner lose her life than be captured? And he, asshole that he was, had doubted her story.

  “Didn’t you hear me? We’re going to be fine.”

  “I know. But—but just in case… You can’t let them take me. Do you understand?”

  He reached for her, kissed her, looked into her eyes.

  “I won’t let them take you,” he said. “I swear it.”

  She gave a quick nod.

  What he’d told her was the truth. Of course, he would give his life for hers—and if it came to more than that… If there was no other choice, he’d take her with him into death.

  But he had no intention of dying on this day. He’d only just found the woman he loved. He was not going to lose her now.

  “Go,” he whispered.

  She vanished into the darkness of the cave.

  Time to move, and move fast.

  Dec jammed his gear bag and a couple of lengths of wood under the thermal blanket. It didn’t look much like two sleeping people if you got up close, but all he needed was a couple of seconds.

  As quietly as a big cat, he slipped close to the cave entrance, then flattened himself against the rocky wall. He knew they’d come in one at a time, exactly as he would in the same circumstances.

  A minute passed. Then two.

  The first man came in low. Light from the dying fire glinted on the knife in his hand.

  Dec let him get just inside the cave.

  Then he stepped forward, wrapped his arm around the guy’s neck, drew him up and back, and slit his throat.

  The man went down noiselessly. Dec kicked him aside.

  One down. One to go.

  And there he was. The second guy. Crouched down, moving more cautiously, knife in his outstretched hand.

  “Sahir?” he whispered. He stepped inside the cave. Slowly. Very slowly. “Sahir?” he said again.

  He grunted when Dec grabbed him, but that was all he managed before Dec’s blade slid into the nape of his neck and severed his spinal cord.

  He went down like a stone.

  Dec waited. Counted off the seconds just to be sure these two were on their own. After a little while, he heard the hooting of the owls and he relaxed.

  Nobody else was out there.

  He and Annie were alone.

  Well, alone except for two corpses.

  He squatted down. Checked each for a pulse and found none. One guy had a long scarf wrapped around his head and the lower part of his face; Dec used it to wipe the blade of his knife before returning it to its sheath.

  “Declan?”

  “Annie,” he said sharply. “Stay back.”

  Too late. She had already seen the bodies. Dec got to his feet, ready to go to her—this was not a pretty sight and he didn’t know what to expect. But when he looked at her, what he saw was a woman holding his Glock by her side, cool acceptance in her eyes.

  He reached for the gun and took it from her.

  “The man with the scarf was one of my guards at the kidnapper’s camp,” she said. “The other was one of my uncle’s thugs.”

  Dec nodded. The flatness of her speech, the expression on her face told him enough to make him regret he’d killed these two bastards as quickly as he had. He wanted to say something clever, something that would help her, but years of training had taken over.

  This was not a time to show emotion.

  It was time to get the fuck out of Dodge.

  “Okay,” he said briskly. “We have to get moving.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  He looked over at her. She was standing straight and tall. His throat constricted. How had he gotten so lucky? She was a beautiful woman with the heart of a tigress.

  To hell with training. He went to her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

  “I love you,” he said. “I’ve always loved you and I always will.”

  She wound her arms around his neck. “It’s the same for me,” she whispered. “I love you with all my heart.”

  He held her for a moment. It was hard to let go of her, but he had no way of knowing how close on their heels the men who’d sent the scouts might be. One last quick kiss. Then he told her to fold the blanket and stuff it into his pack along with the uneaten MREs, the pot, the cup and anything else they’d left lying around while he stamped out the remnants of the fire and saddled the horse.

  “That’s it,” he said moments later. “Let’s go.”

  “What about the bodies?”

  “No point in moving them.” A muscle knotted in Dec’s jaw. “I want whoever sent these clowns to kn
ow that this isn’t gonna be a walk in the park.”

  She nodded, but what he saw in her face made him curse, go to her and take her in his arms again.

  “Honey, I promise, I’m going to get you out of this.”

  She buried her face against his chest. “I know you will,” she whispered.

  Dec kissed her. Held her. Then he led her into the night.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Dec knew they were deep in the Copper Mountains.

  The mountain range was enormous. He’d traveled through it before. From the air, the Coppers looked like a series of dark brown and green folds, one high ridge following the other, interspersed with plateaus and meadows and narrow valleys.

  His GPS was gone, probably lost in their wild gallop away from the rescue helicopter. The best he could figure, they were twenty, twenty-five klicks west of the Syrian border, but he wasn’t comfortable taking Annie there. North would get them to Turkey. He knew a little about the area and felt better about it, but to go north they’d have to do another two, three days of riding, walking and climbing.

  When they’d first set up camp, he’d walked along the base of the cliff, looking for a way to the top. After about half an hour he’d found something that only an optimist could call a path, but it would do.

  He just hadn’t expected to make the climb in the dark, but he didn’t want to use his LED flashlight—why run the risk of putting an illuminated Here We Are sign over their heads?

  Luckily, the sky was bright with stars and the way up looked to be no more than twenty, thirty feet.

  He led the horse up the rocky slope on foot with Annie scrambling up beside him. The horse was nervous, snorting and tossing its head at the steep angle and uneven footing.

  It was a relief to reach the top.

  Dawn was still a few hours away.

  Dec wanted to put some distance between them and whichever bunch of killers was on their heels before the sun came up.

  Decision time. Which way to go?

  West towards Syria was the logical choice—but maybe logic wasn’t their best bet right now.

  “Okay,” he said. “Let’s take a five minute break.”

  Annie was breathing hard. She flopped down in the grass beside the horse. Dec got out the water and the map.

  “There’s a town west of us,” he said. “See? It’s fair-sized and the last I heard, it hasn’t seen any fighting.”