Waggs: An Eidolon Black Ops Novel: Book 7

by Wade, Maddie

  Eidolon wasn’t above the law when it came to people dying, but they certainly had more leeway than most. Boy scouts they were not when it came to criminals, but innocents would be protected at all costs.

  “Thanks, Jack. Liam or Deck can come in with me if you want to make sure.”

  “I trust you, Waggs, but if you want one of them in with you then be my guest.” He glanced at the two-way glass. “He’s definitely a professional. The only reason he failed was that you were there. You saved her life.”

  “It should never have got to that. I should’ve seen him. Known he was there.”

  Jack shook his head. “Don’t go there, man. It only leads to a dark, dead-end road.”

  Waggs knew Jack was right, but he hated the thought that anyone could get the jump on him.

  “Is Willow okay this morning?”

  “Yeah, she has a headache, but I left her watching cartoons cuddled up with AJ. Mitch is staying close, and so is Bebe.” He’d wanted to stay with them, but a more significant part wanted to pummel the man who’d tried to take her from him.

  Decker walked calmly out of the interrogation room, closed the door, and seconds later entered the viewing room. “He isn’t talking. What are his readings like?”

  Waggs glanced at the monitor and saw his pulse, heart rate, and reactions were all within a normal range and stable. Even cuffed in the hands of men he knew would hurt him, he was calm or maybe not. “He thinks we’re private security. That we have the same laws and rules to follow. He has absolutely no fear for his life because he thinks the worst that can happen is that he goes to jail. A man like him would think that was a walk in the park.”

  Decker caught on quick. “So, we show him who we are. That we don’t play by the same rules.”

  Waggs nodded. “Can you monitor his reactions and point me in the right direction?”

  “Yes, of course. What are you going to do?”

  “Show that mother fucker we don’t play by the rules.”

  Jack nodded, and he knew whatever happened in there he had his back. At that point, Waggs would happily do time if it meant protecting those he loved.

  Taking a breath outside the door, he composed himself, wanting to catch this man off guard. He checked he had what he needed, and then pushed through the door. He could hear Deck in his ear telling him that his appearance got a slight reaction. That wasn’t enough, Waggs wanted this fucker on the back foot.

  “I see you recognise me.” He walked closer to the man who looked at him with feigned boredom. His wrists were cuffed behind his back to the chair, but his legs were free. Taking care not to put himself in danger, Waggs struck fast, stabbing the blade of his K-Bar straight into the man’s thigh to the hilt before dragging it back out.

  The man screamed. The shock made him react to the pain he hadn’t expected.

  Waggs calmly walked back to the other end of the room and wiped the knife clean. “Now you probably thought this would be a walk in the park. A nice cushy job. Taking out a woman and her kid and having a vacation to boot.”

  “That’s good, Waggs.”

  “Then you were probably a little annoyed when she gave you the slip and came here, but you found her, so no issue. Only, she found herself some protection and that probably put a dent in your plans.” Waggs glared at the man who was now silent but sweating as he glared daggers at him. “How am I doing so far?”

  Silence.

  Waggs shrugged and kept going as if his response was of no consequence. “That fine, I’m gonna keep going.” He was trying really hard to remain easy-going and play his part, when all he wanted to do was break every bone in his body, and if he didn’t talk, maybe Waggs would get his wish. He wasn’t usually the bloodthirsty one, but right now, he was definitely that man.

  “So, you found her; she has protection, you take your time to watch them.” He spun and pointed. “Good job, by the way. We didn’t see that coming. Then my colleague caught you, but you’re a professional, and you can keep quiet. What is the worst we can do?”

  Waggs twirled the knife through his fingers as he walked slowly forward, and the man began to fidget.

  “His heart rate is one-forty and rising. Keep pushing, Waggs.”

  Waggs bent low and got in the man’s face. “Thing is, we don’t play by rules. We’re free to do as we please and have the protection of the highest authority in the land.”

  He smashed the blade into the other thigh, and the man let out a sound that only an animal should make.

  Waggs retreated taking his knife with him and again wiping it clean. The man was bleeding nicely but not enough to kill him. He’d been careful enough to inflict wounds he knew would hurt like fuck but not kill him. “Now, are you ready to tell me your name and who you work for, or are we gonna keep playing games?”

  “If I talk, he’ll kill me.”

  “If you don’t, I’ll kill you and I’ll make sure you feel every second of it in the most painful way. See, that woman you tried to hurt is mine, and I get pretty pissed when someone threatens what’s mine.”

  The man saw the truth in his eyes and lowered his head in defeat.

  “You got him, Waggs.”

  “Lorenzo Costasis. I work for Ralph Edwards.”

  “Why does he want Willow dead?”

  “She has a thumb drive with manifest numbers on it and the details of the girls. Dumb bitch should’ve kept her nose out.”

  Waggs struck him, knocking the chair backwards as rage threatened to make him let go of his control. “Mind your fucking manners when you talk about her.”

  The man spat blood onto the floor and looked up at him with a sneer. “You think you can stop him, but you have no idea what you’re getting involved with. This is bigger than Edwards. It goes all the way to the top.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Waggs hauled the chair straight and felt the door open behind him and glanced to see a smiling Liam behind him.

  “You started the fun without me!”

  Waggs sneered at the dangerous, bloodthirsty look on his friend’s face. “Sorry, catch up. I can wait.” Waggs stepped back and saw fear cross Costasis’ face.

  “No, wait, I’ll talk.” He didn’t try and get a deal, obviously knowing walking away with his life would be the best he could expect in this situation. “Ralph has connections in the military. Someone high up is helping him move the product around.”

  “By product, do you mean women?” Waggs couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice.

  “Yes, it’s easy for women to disappear in a war zone. Your brother found out. It’s why they killed him.”

  Waggs vision went red, and before he could consciously understand what he was doing, he was beating Costasis. His fist hitting him over and over as his brain tried to understand the words.

  Liam grabbed him and dragged him off the man with Jack, who’d entered the room at some point, helping him. Waggs was breathing hard, his emotions out of control as he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

  “I suggest you start giving us names and explain what the fuck else you know before I let him finish what he started.”

  Waggs staggered from the room, leaving Jack and Liam to handle the next part as he tried to wrestle for control. He pushed the exterior door open and felt fresh air filling his lungs as the smothering grief tried to eclipse him.

  He sucked in blessed oxygen as he held his hand against the wall so his legs wouldn’t cave. He heard the door open but didn’t look up, not having the energy to do so.

  “You okay?”

  “No.” Waggs answered Deck’s question honestly for probably the first time ever. Waggs sunk to his ass on the ground and cursed the sun that was at odds with his mood. “I’m in love with my twin brother’s fiancée, and I have no clue if she feels the same. I let her almost get killed. I miss Aaron like an ache in my chest that won’t go away, and now I find out that the reason he died is because of a secret he was keeping from me. He never mentioned his suspicions
, not once, and what does that say about us? I thought we were as close as two brothers could be, and we had no secrets.”

  Decker sat next to him on the concrete in his designer suit and rested his elbows on his bent knees. “First, you didn’t let her almost get killed. She’s fine and so is the kid. Second, any idiot can see she is head over heels for you, except perhaps you. Missing Aaron is inevitable. You came into the world together, spent every day together. A bond like that won’t be broken by death. When you love someone like that, and they die, it leaves a gaping hole in your life that can’t be filled. Sometimes the pain is the only way to know you’re still alive. You lock everything away, so it won’t hurt, numbing yourself but the pain still gets through.”

  “You sound like you know something about that.” Waggs was sure this was the most Deck had ever revealed.

  “I do, more than I ever wanted to and one day I’ll tell you my story but not today. Today you have to reconcile yourself with the grief and guilt you feel over loving Willow. It’s all woven into the loss you feel. You say you never kept secrets, but you did. Why did you never tell Aaron how you felt about Willow?”

  Waggs drew back, his eyes widening. “Are you serious right now?”

  “Humour me.”

  “Because it would have hurt him, devastated him, and ruined what we had between the three of us.”

  “Why do you think he kept his suspicions about Ralph from you?”

  Waggs understood what his friend was saying. “To protect me. He was only a few minutes older, but he was always trying to protect me.”

  “My point is we all have secrets, even from those we love, and if I had to make a bet, I’d say he knew how you felt about Willow.”

  Waggs felt sick at the thought. “I hope not.”

  “Either way, you need to find a way to make it right in your head or you and Willow might as well call it quits now.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  Decker stood and brushed down his trousers to get the dust off. “Then find a way.”

  “Why do you always wear a suit?”

  “It helps block out the pain.” Deck didn’t elaborate, and Waggs didn’t ask.

  The back door was thrust open, and Jack poked his head out. “We have a name, and you’re not going to like it.”

  Chapter 12

  Willow had only heard from Aiden once today, and that was a short text to check up on her. Physically she was feeling fine, but emotionally she felt wobbly. Fear for AJ and Aiden, the unnerving worry that Aiden had one foot out of the door, his feelings for his brother and the attrition for being with her threatening the tenuous bond they shared.

  It wasn’t anything he’d done, more what he hadn’t done. She’d made it clear the last few weeks she wanted him, but last night had been the first night they’d shared a bed. Sure, they had kissed and touched, but he hadn’t ravaged her as she’d hoped. He was affectionate and caring, but that was him all the time, and she was deathly afraid she was already losing him when she hadn’t had the chance or the balls to tell him the truth about AJ.

  The door opened, and she looked up, her heart jumping to her throat when she saw Aiden. The expression on his face was one she’d seen before. It was raw, hungry, desperate, and she felt a thrill go through her body as he stalked toward her with purpose.

  Willow rose from the couch as he stopped a few feet from her, as if he didn’t trust himself to come closer. Her body ached to be filled by him, her underwear damp from need and her pulse hammering in her neck.

  “Where’s AJ?”

  Even his voice was like broken glass, low and growly and full of desire she recognised. The room was alive with it, and she wanted it as much as he did. “Autumn and Mitch have him. He’s having dinner with them.”

  As the last word left her mouth, he began to move in a slow prowl that had her backing up, a primal part of her seeing the danger in the man before her. Her breath came in short pants, her chest heaving.

  She hit the dining table, and she stopped with no place else to go as Aiden pressed his hard body against hers.

  His thumb came up, and he rubbed it over her bottom lip. “Tell me no.”

  Willow didn’t want to tell him no, she wanted him like this. hungry, exposed. Nipping his thumb with her teeth, she heard him growl and then he was kissing her. His mouth wasn’t gentle as he forced her to open for him, his tongue demanding entrance as it licked into her, his hands already on the skin of her belly, the rough texture against the soft skin an exquisite torture.

  Willow wanted to feel him beneath her fingers and shoved at his jacket, barely hearing as it fell to the ground behind him. Her hands grasped at his shirt, pushing it up so she could explore the warm muscles underneath. Aiden stopped, reaching behind him and dragged the shirt over his head, tossing it to the floor as he grabbed her by the hips, his mouth back on hers, taking like a starving man as he placed her on the table.

  “I fucking love your body.”

  Willow felt the smirk on his lips as he pushed her until her back hit the cold wood. He stepped between her legs, the hard ridge of his cock teasing her centre through the flimsy fabric of the leggings she wore. Aiden ran his hand down her neck, between her breasts, not touching where she needed him as she squirmed, wanting him closer.

  Suddenly he took hold of the thin tee at the v neck and shredded it down the middle, leaving her in only a lace bra and the leggings. His eyes feasted on her as his hand ran reverently over each breast before he pulled the lace down and splayed his hands over each breast, pinching the nipples, his eyes darkening as he watched them bead into hard points desperate for his touch.

  Willow felt every nerve in her body come alive as he lowered his head and sucked a nipple into his mouth. Her back arched off the table, and her hands grabbed on to his hair for purchase, needing him closer, faster, more. “Aiden, I need you.”

  He ignored her pleas, working her body at his own speed until she was mindless with the need for a climax. Her body was on the precipice as he slipped his hand inside her panties and stroked the silken flesh of her pussy lips. Her hips bucked and, not content to lay still, Willow reached for him, cupping his cock through the denim of his jeans.

  The hiss of pleasure ignited her, and she squeezed the hard length. Aiden unsnapped the button and lowered the zipper, giving her access to his dick. She could see the swollen length leaking pre-come and knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him, his control a façade.

  He stepped away, and she groaned at the loss of the hard flesh beneath her fingers, but as he dragged her leggings and panties down her legs and tossed them on the floor and stood watching her like a damn marauder about to conquer her body, she could only stare. He was built all over, every dip of muscle a treat for her eyes. The sexy V of muscle that led its way to the prize made her mouth water, and she licked her lips.

  “Killing me, Wills.”

  Lifting her legs, he spread them wide, placing each foot on a chair, so she was exposed to him. Bending, he swiped the flat of his tongue through her folds, and she clamped her legs around him as he kissed, licked, and sucked her until all she could see, or think about, was the need to climax. Her mind and body in freefall as he worshipped her until her heart was torn and bleeding at his feet. Only he could make her whole, catch her when she fell.

  She had one hand in his hair, the other holding on to the edge of the table as her orgasm rushed toward her, sensation building, terrifying her with the intensity of it, knowing it would crush her if he took himself away after they had shared this. Everything was changing, and she was scared to let go, frightened she’d burn up until there was nothing but ash.

  Pushing two fingers inside her, he worked her, the wetness leaking from her as everything went still. The world became silent and then she was falling, her body pulsing with pleasure, clenching around his fingers as he continued to suck her clit hungrily.

  Boneless as she came down, she watched as he stood. The evidence of her arousal all over his chi
n so erotic, she felt her body begin to burn for him. Aiden kept watching her as he shucked his trousers and, beautifully naked, rolled a condom down the length of his cock. She tried to reach for it, but he gripped her wrist, kissing the underside softly and reverently.

  “If you touch me now, this will be over.”

  Instead, she reached her arms up for him, and he obliged, kissing her masterfully as if they had all the time in the world, and maybe they did. The thought sent joy blooming through her as he cupped her ass cheeks and lifted the bottom half of her body. Open and needy for him, she felt him nudge his cock at her opening. Then he pushed in, not stopping, seemingly not able, and she loved this side of him. Her body burned, the sting of intrusion after so long without sex a shock, but it only added to the pleasure as he filled her. He remained still, studying her like she was a priceless jewel out of reach and precious.

  “Aiden, please.”

  “You’re the most perfect vision in the world. So damn beautiful it aches to look at you sometimes.”

  His words were guttural, dragged from him, and then he was moving. Stroking into her as his eyes remained on her, each word he uttered cutting deep until she was sure she’d die from the feeling she felt coming from him.

  Aiden wasn’t gentle—this wasn’t making love or fucking, it felt like a claiming. He owned her body and soul and she let him take and take because what he gave her was tenfold. Her body began to tingle, a kaleidoscope of colour dancing in her vision as her muscles began to tighten, clamping tighter and tighter, searching for the peak before she fell, calling out his name until her throat ached.

  Aiden’s hands dug into her hips as he pounded into her faster, harder, seeking his own pleasure. As his body stiffened and she felt his release, another smaller climax hit her as her nails dragged along his back and his weight fell on her.

  Both of them were breathing hard as they lay on his dining room table, naked, exhausted, satiated. Neither of them had the energy to move as they caught their breath and Willow stroked his sweat-soaked hair. “Is everything okay, Aiden?”