Cy put his arm around me and gazed steadily at the woman. “You can take Leo back to the ranch and I can call in when I get to the field. The other option is that my little lion is right and we all go in together. They outnumber us but I bet they can’t outsmart us.”
The woman was silent for a long moment and then she threw up her hands in frustration. “Still as stubborn and as hard headed as always, Cy. You can’t ever make things easy. You’re impossible. If I didn’t know that it’ll take me twice as long to find the field without you, I would throw some cuffs on you to keep you all out of my hair. I don’t like involving civilians but I don’t see how I can stop you from sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“I’m not a civilian.” That came from Grady at the same time Cy snorted and said, “Show me a man who lives out here you wouldn’t want to have at your back, Ten. You know we protect what’s ours.”
She didn’t have a rebuttal.
Because while Cy might not be what I imagined a cowboy to be, he sure as hell was what I’d always imagined what a hero should be.
No Man Left Behind
The trip back the way we came went slightly faster with Webb able to hitch a ride on the four-wheeler behind the pretty park ranger. She didn’t look like she loved the idea, especially when he refused to give up his weapon, but he was still bleeding pretty steadily and unable to use the arm with the bullet hole through it, so she didn’t have much choice in the matter. The rain picked up again, which made the now loaded down horses slip and slide even more in the mud and loose brush. Cy had insisted on taking every single weapon and as much of the canned provisions as he could from the ranger’s cabin. Officer McKenna didn’t like that plan either, but apparently, she knew Cy well enough to know that arguing with him would be futile and a waste of time we didn’t have. Cy was worried about his brother. Webb was worried about his brother. I couldn’t let myself think about what may or may not be happening to Emrys if she was in the wrong kinds of hands.
If I let my mind go there, it was going to nosedive right into the worst-case scenario which would render me worthless and useless on this very risky expedition. I was the only one who didn’t know how to use a weapon, the only one shaking from more than the cold, and the only one who seemed like they were struggling to keep it together. So instead of thinking about Em and how she was holding up, I was turning over the fact that Cy and the park ranger clearly had history. He had loved and lost, was still missing pieces to his heart, but that didn’t mean the man was dead or had lived like a saint in the passing years. I was wondering why the stunning and seemingly perfect for him woman who was part of our rag-tag group hadn’t stuck.
Almost as if he could hear my thoughts, he turned to look at me and slowed Edgar down so that he could ride next to me. Rain had made his dark hair even darker and the chill turned his skin a rosy pink that didn’t suit him. He was uncomfortable and concerned, two things he made an effort to conceal but the feelings managed to shine through anyway.
“How are you holding up, Sunshine?” Instead of being comforting, the rasp of his voice grated across my skin.
“I’ve been better.” My tone was cool and so was my gaze as I considered him for a long moment. “You and the blonde? What’s that all about?” I sort of hated that I felt compelled to ask because I had no claim on him. The fact that I wanted to know made me realize I also wanted to own enough of him that I was entitled to the information. It was foolish but I couldn’t stop the sense of propriety where he was concerned. In almost no time at all, I considered him mine, which was insanity considering I had spent a lifetime skipping out of the reach of anyone who wanted to love me enough to call me theirs.
“Ten? We went to high school together. Her folks own the ranch that borders ours. She left about the same time I did with big plans to join the FBI or something like that. I’m not sure what brought her home. She doesn’t talk about it much.” He lifted his eyebrows up and lifted a hand to wipe the water gathered on his forehead with a flick of his wrist. “She came around after my wife left and we spent some time together, still do if either one of us gets lonely enough and doesn’t have any other option available. She never asks for much and she’s always gone before morning.” He shrugged a shoulder and met my gaze steadily and unashamed. “We never really got along as kids and honestly we don’t really mesh well outside of the bedroom. But we both have something the other can use, so it’s easy enough.” The corner of his mouth curled up in a sardonic grin. “It’s not like there is an endless amount of women to choose from out here. Ten is just that . . . a ten . . . and she gets that all I have to offer her is a couple hours in bed. She’s good with it because that’s all she has to offer as well.”
I pursed my lips together and shifted my gaze away from the intensity of his. Those gray orbs could get as sharp and as pointed as the blade of a knife when he was using them to peel layers away from whoever they were trained on.
“You have more to offer than your dick, Cy.” He was smart, driven, protective, and he pushed. He pushed and pushed until he shoved you right into wanting to be the kind of person who could match him passion for passion and strength for strength. Not to mention how much he cared about his family and making sure everyone he loved was taken care of. He gave up his own life and his own chance at love in order to preserve a legacy that he never wanted. He sacrificed his own happiness and future to make sure his brothers would have something that would always be theirs. He lost everything so that his father’s hard work and memory would never be forgotten. Right now, he was risking his own neck because he didn’t know what was going on with one of his siblings.
He was absolutely a good time when he was naked and demanding but he brought about a million more important things to the table than his impressive cock. Any woman willing to settle for a few hours in the dark, without experiencing all the other amazing things that made Cy larger than life, was shortchanging herself and him.
“I know that, Leo, but I don’t choose to offer more than what’s in my pants to just any woman. I’m selective because there hasn’t been a woman who made me forget what I had, and made me dream about what I could have . . . until you.” As always, when he said stuff like that, I felt it all the way through my body. His words had power. When he spoke what he meant, it felt like his honesty tore through me and eviscerated everything I thought I knew about caring about another person.
I cleared my throat and lifted a hand to absently rub at my tender shoulder. “We don’t make any sense.”
It hurt to say, but it was true. I wanted this consuming, burning, engulfing thing that coiled and tangled around us to have reason and rationale but it didn’t, which made justifying it and fostering it seem not only impossible but also wasteful. This kind of emotion and uncontrollable reaction should belong to two people who could do something important with it. It deserved to belong to people who could fully appreciate it, instead of the two of us, who were scrambling so hard to exploit it in the little bit of time we had with one another. We weren’t savoring, we were rushing through it, trying to absorb it all before it burned us both out. Cy had scorched me through and through, but I was going to torch him as well, and when we were done, the ashes were going to be blown away.
He reached out and grabbed a piece of my hair that was curling out of control due to the weather. The curl he tugged on sprang right back into its tight ringlet making him grin at me. “It’s been my experience that the devil you know is the one who brings hell to your doorstep. I don’t know why it’s you who makes me feel like I’m functioning fully instead of going through the motions. But it is you, Leo. You make lonely look ugly and a lot harder than it has been these last few years.”
I couldn’t think of anything to say to that because I didn’t want to tell him that I was terrified of what my lonely would look like now that I realized that’s what I’d been all along. With my heart pounding and my skin shivering from the reality of how empty my existence would be once I got hom
e, I changed the subject to the one that was obviously weighing heavily on his mind.
“Do you think the guys who shot at us have Emrys and Sutton?”
His jaw clenched and a muscle ticked in his cheek making him look fierce and ferocious. This was a man who would take care of his own, no matter the personal cost, and there was something about that protective streak that soothed my own abandoned heart. If Cy ever loved me, I knew there was nothing on this Earth that would drive him away. His love was a bond that couldn’t and wouldn’t be broken, making handing over my heart that had been unwanted in the past seem less dangerous.
“I don’t know, but I do know that Sutton will do everything in his power to keep your girl safe if they were taken.” That’s what I was afraid of. Emrys was the easier target but if the men with the guns tried to take her, the middle Warner brother would have made them go through him first. That didn’t bode well, for either of them.
“Why would they take them? If they wanted us off the mountain, why drag them back to the place they’re trying to keep everyone away from?” I hated the questions I was asking but I disliked the answers he was giving me even more.
“They may want to make sure that they aren’t telling anyone where the clearing is, but more than likely if they took them, it’s to use as leverage in case the rangers show up. Or even worse, the DEA.” His tone was heavy with dread but I appreciated the fact that he wasn’t trying to placate me.
“You think they took them to use as hostages?” My voice broke and my hands curled around the reins so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
“Could be. We don’t know anything at this point and it’s better not to speculate. If we start doing that, then it’s going to make us go off halfcocked without a plan. We can’t do that. Right now, we’re operating like we’re going in there to pull my brother and your girl out of the fire. If we start acting like we’re storming the castle for blood and vengeance, all that’s going to get us is panic and pain.” He flicked his head to the side again as the rain picked up and made his inky lashes spike together.
“I don’t know how you can be so calm about everything. Inside, I feel like there are a thousand buzzing bees trying to burst through my skin and every organ and muscle I have feels like it’s tied into a knot. It’s taking every scrap of self-control I have not to freak out and fall apart. I’ve never been so scared in my life.” I refused to think about what my life would be like without Emrys there to keep me grounded. She was my port in the storm; without her in my life, I would endlessly drift. I had to get her back. That was the only option I was allowing.
“You’re here regardless of what’s happening on the inside right now, Sunshine. Your girl would be proud of you because you’re doing what you need to do, even though you don’t know how many ways it could go bad and you’re scared. That’s brave and ballsy.” He sounded proud as well, which made me sit up a little straighter in the saddle.
“Aren’t you just a little bit scared, Cy?” I didn’t think he would admit to it if he was, but like always, he surprised me.
He turned his head to look at me and the silver shield that masked his gaze slipped away and the foggy color darkened with fear and uncertainty. “I’m scared out of my fucking mind.”
The fact that he trusted me enough to show me his vulnerability, his soft underside, made me slip a little closer to feeling like if circumstances were different I could love him forever. There was nothing Cy wanted to hide from me and the fact that he was so open with his strengths and weaknesses, made me feel like I had known him since the beginning of time.
The rumble of the four-wheeler suddenly died out and the ranger’s voice echoed to where we were trailing behind her in the trees.
“It’s going to be dark soon, so I say we camp here for the night and then head the rest of the way in on foot tomorrow. If we take the four-wheeler they might hear us coming since sound travels so far out here.” She hooked a thumb at Webb who was still holding onto her from behind. “City boy here says that it’s only about three miles in from where you first encountered the clearing.”
Cy shook his head. “More like five. Boss took off on Leo and bolted a few miles into the woods. It’ll be a long walk if you’re still losing blood.”
Webb let go of the pretty blonde after she gave him a look cold enough to leave frostbite and gave a lopsided grin. “I’ll be all right but if for some reason I slow everyone down, I’ll hang with the horses and the extra radio in case things go to hell and we need to call in the troops.”
The ranger rolled her very green eyes and started pulling things out of a big canvas knapsack that matched her drab uniform. “There is no calling in the troops this far out, and half the staff is searching for bodies in the river.”
The reminder that people had ended up dead, his brother possibly one of them, because of the goings on deep in these woods, was enough to sober Webb up and wipe the smile off his face. He gingerly climbed off of the four-wheeler and took the sleeping bag she shoved at him with a grunt, as she was a little too rough with his injury. He paled noticeably and the ranger looked like she was on the verge of apologizing but she quickly bit the words back and turned to Cy.
“We should come up with a plan before we trek toward their compound in the morning.” Cy nodded as the older man cleared his throat and held up a hand.
“Not to step on anyone’s toes here, but up until a few weeks ago I was a highly decorated agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency. I organized search and destroy operations all over the world. If anyone is going to come up with a plan to storm the castle, I think it should be me.”
Cy exchanged a look with the ranger and then shrugged. “Fine by me, as long as whatever plan you concoct ends with my brother and Emrys getting out of the compound unharmed, if they are in fact there.”
“I was a federal agent, Mr. Warner. It was my job to protect people, not to put them in danger.” The older man sounded a little put out and I couldn’t blame him. There was a lot of suspicion on Cy’s face and in his tone and the pretty forest ranger looked even less impressed by the man’s credentials.
“What do you suggest, Grady? I want someone up there to answer my questions about my brother and I doubt we make that happen if we roll in with guns blazing.” Webb maneuvered himself to the ground so that his back was resting against the muddy wheel of the four-wheeler—the wet ground and the soggy perch not seeming to bother him at all.
“Guns blazing is your style, not mine, Webb. I think we need to cause a distraction, then we need to get someone into the spot where the growers have to be camped out near the grow field in order to protect the crop. Once we have eyes on the inside we can find out for sure if Sutton and the girl are there. If they don’t have our people to use as leverage, then there is no need to risk our necks. If they do have our people, then after the initial distraction we need to create a second one, an even bigger one, so that we can smuggle them out in the chaos. Chances are they’ll have people watching Sutton and Emrys if they do have them, but if we make two messes for them to investigate, then they’ll have to have all hands on deck. It’s not a foolproof plan by any means, but I think it’s one that will get us the best results.”
Cy crossed his arms over his chest and exchanged a look with the ranger and then shifted his gaze to me. “What kind of distraction are you thinking?” His expression clearly stated that it better not involve my being in any kind of danger. “The crop in the field hasn’t come to the surface yet, so burning their drugs isn’t an option.”
I inclined my head toward Edgar who was packed with a mini arsenal. “There’s a flare gun in that stash you took from the cabin. That might work as the initial disruption but I don’t know what we have on hand for the second one, especially if it needs to be a bigger bang.”
Webb let his head fall forward so that he was looking at the ground between his feet. His voice was still a little weak but the determination in it was evident and unwavering. “You leave the second round o
f fucking shit up to me.” A smile that wasn’t nice at all twisted across his features.
“You aren’t going to do anything stupid, Webb. I won’t let you.” Grady scolded the younger man in a no-nonsense tone that Webb ignored.
“We’re well past the point where you can control what I do, Grady. I want to know where my brother is and if these dicks had anything to do with his disappearance. If I get to rattle a few cages along the way, well that just sounds like a good time.”
Ten shook her head, which sent water flying off the brim of her ball cap. She pointed a finger at Webb, which made him grin. He apparently liked being bossed around and taken to task by the leggy blonde. “City boy, you sound a little too eager to start trouble, if you ask me. If you’re a liability, I’ll cuff you to the four-wheeler and come back for you when this disaster is all cleaned up.”
Webb held up his hands in front of him in mock surrender. “I’ll behave . . . for now. I am serious about handling the second wave of distraction though. That means Cy and Grady can get into the compound once we find it and look for Sutton and Emrys. Leo can handle the first distraction from a safe distance, keeping her cute ass out of the line of fire, and you can keep everyone covered.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “Your ass is pretty spectacular, as well. I don’t want you to think I didn’t notice.”
The woman huffed and copied Cy’s stance with her arms locked over her chest. “Forget cuffing you, I may just shoot you and leave you for the mountain lions.”
Cy made a low noise in his throat that sounded like a growl and narrowed his eyes at the injured man. “Mention Leo’s ass again and you won’t have to worry about what Ten has in store for you, because I’ll rip your fool head off your body with my bare hands.”
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