My heart pinched. No. Fuck, no. That bastard! The breath whooshed out of my lungs. I turned away from everyone, trying to get a grip.
“I’m sorry, man,” Tracker murmured. “That’s what I saw.”
“What the fuck are we waiting for?” Tony demanded. “Let’s go find her.”
Everyone glanced at Noah, who was rapidly typing on his iPad. “I’m searching for houses that resemble Tracker’s description. Give me a few minutes…”
Luke squeezed my arm. “Hey. Don’t give up. Tracker said he couldn’t tell if she was dead or not, so she might be alive.”
I dragged in a breath, forcing my lungs back to life.
Oh Liz. I’m so sorry.
“I know you care for her,” Luke murmured so that only I could hear him. “And I know I’m not normally encouraging of relationships, but that girl’s vibe was all good, man. She cares for you, too. I felt it. If nothing else, at least you should know that your feelings aren’t one-sided.”
I heaved out a sigh and slowly nodded. “Thanks, man.” I wanted Liz to genuinely want me, but the girl was so skittish I wasn’t sure if she was truly interested in me.
Had I finally found the girl of my dreams, only to lose her before I even made her mine? What if Mateo had hurt her? What if he’d killed her?
“So let’s discuss Mateo and what we know about him,” Nate suggested, drawing everyone’s attention. “We know he can mask his emotions and was able to fool Luke. We know he can change his appearance so that he can look like anyone he wants. We think he was ordered by Ellington or someone within The Company to try to infiltrate our group and kill as many dregs as he could. He failed in his mission, so he took a hostage. We don’t know if Mateo is his true identity or if he’s taken on Mateo’s appearance and is actually someone else. And that’s a bit freaky. We know we killed The General, so he can’t be The General.”
There were nods of agreement from around the room.
“So, did he take Liz simply because it was the only way for him to escape Ryan and Luke without being killed? Or was there some other reason he took her?”
Silence fell while everyone contemplated that.
“Mateo’s an opportunist,” Luke supplied. “He’s a quick thinker. He knew stealing Liz was the only way to keep from being killed, so he grabbed her, using her as a shield to escape. And now that he has her…” he trailed off, glancing apologetically at me. “Who knows? But Liz is a strong girl,” he went on, holding my gaze. “She might not be a physical fighter like Nishi. But she has an inner strength that I believe will help her get through this. So you can’t lose faith, Ryan. We all know to never assume anything, because assumptions can often be wrong.”
I jerked my head in a nod, getting his meaning. He wanted me to believe Liz was alive and that we would get her out of there in one piece. I just prayed she had enough inner strength to overcome whatever Mateo did to her.
Nishi stepped forward, wrapping an arm around my waist. “You really care for her,” she announced quietly. “I can tell you do. And I have to say I like seeing you in love. I’ll bet Liz is amazing.”
My face burned as all eyes turned to me. Liz was amazing. She was incredible.
Shannon came up on my other side. “I have to agree with Nishi. It’s nice to see you care for a woman. I can’t wait to meet Liz.”
“She’s not a hookup,” I said quickly, wanting to clarify. “She’s special.”
“We know,” Shannon said with a warm smile. “We can tell.” She squeezed my arm.
And now everyone knew Liz was changing me.
Before, all I’d wanted was hookups. But Liz made me want more. Liz made me want her. For a very long time. Was this love? I’d known Liz for less than twenty-four hours, but I felt like I’d known her forever. Was it possible to love someone so soon after meeting them?
Until Liz, I had never really put another person’s feelings before my own, especially a woman’s. I had never thought about love and sex together at the same time. I mean, deep down I’d wanted that happily ever after like the other dregs had found, but sex had just been sex, and I’d never had any feelings for the women I’d bedded.
I did care for Liz, more than I could explain. Did that mean I loved her? Of course, I wanted to sleep with her. The girl was hot. And we clicked. She understood me. We shared a love of numbers. She was different than any woman I’d ever known. Just thinking about her made me soften inside, my chest feeling with warmth.
“Liz is fucking amazing,” I said aloud. “She gets me. We just click. I don’t know how else to explain it. Is that love? I don’t know.”
“It’s love,” Logan and Tracker both said at once.
Shannon and Nishi chuckled.
The other dregs nodded.
“You’re so fucked,” Tony said. “Now your life will never be the same.”
Jacob shook his head with a soft laugh. “It’s true, but it’s not a bad thing. I wouldn’t trade Anna for anything. She completes me in a way I never imagined.”
The others again nodded in agreement.
“Your relationship with your dreg partner will still be there,” Nate added, glancing at Luke, who had moved to the edge of the group, probably to remove himself from all the emotions floating around. “In fact, it doesn’t really change. But loving a woman does change you, in a good way. And I have to agree with Nishi and Shannon. I like the Ryan I’m seeing now. He doesn’t care about his appearance more than he cares about his girl.”
Silence stretched. I wasn’t sure if Nate was insulting me or not, but I decided not to take offense. Everyone seemed to think I was in love with Liz, so I was going to go with the consensus and say they were right.
“It’s confirmed,” Shannon said with a smile, exchanging a glance with Nishi. “You are in love. And I can’t wait to meet the girl who made you fall.”
Noah glanced up from his iPad. “I found it,” he announced, motioning Tracker over. “Take a look. Does this look like the house you saw?”
Tracker studied the photo. “Yeah, that’s it.”
Several minutes later, we were heading out. We’d convinced Nishi and Shannon to stay behind, telling them it would be safer for them to wait here. Normally, Nishi would have argued, since she was a trained fighter and rarely left Logan’s side, but she didn’t want to leave Shannon alone. So she agreed to stay behind with Shannon and wait for our return.
The house was in the Adventure District, only a few miles from our current hideout. The sky had darkened during our meeting indoors, the sun now long gone for the night. We welcomed the darkness. It only made it easier for us to sneak in.
We parked a few blocks away, then crept forward.
Nate signaled with his hands, pointing us in different directions. We went in teams of two—Nate and Tony, Tracker and Jacob, Logan and Noah, and me and Luke.
We all stealthily slipped in.
Nate and Tony went in the back, with Tracker and Jacob close behind them. Luke and I went in the front, with Logan and Noah right behind us.
Gunshots rang out from the back before we’d even reached the front, indicating the other dregs had encountered the soldiers. Then Luke kicked the front door in, and we rushed forward, shooting anyone we came across.
Solders flew at us, shooting back. We kept surging forward, knocking them down one by one.
It only took us about three minutes to clear out the resistance. Then we headed down the hallway, Logan and Noah in front this time while Luke and I stopped to finish off any soldiers who weren’t dead yet.
Noah came out of the first bedroom, his eyes sad. “Don’t go in there,” he warned, pressing a hand against my chest. “It’s not…pretty.”
My heart stopped. Why? What was in there? Was it Liz?
Oh fuck, was she dead?
Logan sighed, stepping out of the room behind Noah. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, man. She’s…gone.”
No! No, goddammit, not Liz! No!
My throat constricted. My che
st squeezed. I sucked in air, but no oxygen entered my lungs.
Not Liz! It can’t be her! It can’t!
I shoved past them, pushing my way into the room.
And drew up short.
A woman lay unmoving on the bed. Someone had beat the shit out of her, her body bloody and bruised, and her throat had been slit.
The breath whooshed out of me in a rush.
Noah was right. It wasn’t pretty. It was disgusting. If Mateo had done this, then that little shit needed to suffer, and suffer long and hard.
A laugh bubbled out of me. Then my legs gave out and I collapsed, hitting the hardwood floor on my knees, more laughter leeching out in near-hysterical bursts.
And that was extremely inappropriate, because hey, a woman lay dead only a few feet away, and that wasn’t funny in the least.
But I was so overcome with relief, it was all I could do.
Laugh.
Because the woman on the bed wasn’t Liz.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Liz
They say God doesn’t give you more than you can handle. They say that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. They say that strength is something that comes from deep inside you, and that sometimes in order to find that strength, you must be pushed to your limit.
After that soldier went out the door, leaving me alone with Mateo, I had to fight the biggest battle of my life. I had to dig as deep as I could in search of the strength I would need to survive.
While Mateo had been arguing with that soldier, I’d been untying my wrist from the bed. Mateo had tied me in a hurry, so he hadn’t done a very good job this time around. I had myself free even before he came back to the bed.
The moment Mateo was within reach, I attacked.
I had read once that gouging out someone’s eyes was a good way to fend off an attack. So when he leaned over me with a leer, I struck, aiming my fingers for those cruel black eyes.
But of course, Mateo was quick. He smacked my hands aside before I could do any damage, then shoved me roughly back onto the bed. The repulsive bulge of his erection pressed into my stomach as he ground himself against me in a show of power.
“I told you if you fought you would get hurt, you dumb bitch.” Then he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head to the side. Lowering his head, he sank his teeth into my neck.
I gasped at the sharp pain, the instant swell of blood indicating he’d broken the skin. Bastard!
My sudden desire to live, to fight back, trumped my urge to cower and hide. I somehow managed to yank one of my hands free, and while the sick freak was lapping at the blood on my neck, seemingly lost in a lustful daze, I jammed my thumb into his left eye.
Mateo reared back with a howl, then he slapped me.
My face stung, my ears ringing from the blow. But I wasn’t going down without a fight. Fuck him. I clawed at his face with my free hand, scraping my nails down his cheek.
He hit me again, and this time I tasted blood. For a moment, dizziness spun in my head, and I blinked, desperately trying to hold onto consciousness.
His furious face loomed over me as he leaned forward, morphing into a young boy, then an old man, then Luke, and finally, Ryan.
I let out a sob, squeezing my eyes shut.
It’s not Ryan. It’s not him. It’s not Ryan.
“Look at me, Lizzie,” he taunted. “Look at the face of the man who’s going to fuck you into submission.”
I whimpered.
No. Don’t look. It’s not Ryan. It’s not him.
“Oh, Lizzzz,” he continued in a singsong voice. “Look at me. Come on, just a peek. Open your eyes, Lizzie girl. It’s me, Ryan.”
No. It’s not him. It’s not. Don’t look.
He slowly eased his weight off my stomach.
Then crushed his mouth over mine.
I squirmed, my free hand flailing for something to tear at, to wound. I scraped along his side, I stabbed my nails into his ass, I clawed at his back. But all I succeeded in doing was exciting him further.
He grabbed my chin, and forcefully opened my mouth, thrusting his tongue inside. I gagged, arching away, trying to pry my mouth free. Then I bit down, trying to take the vile monster’s tongue off, but he pulled back just in time, and my jaw clamped down, my teeth jarring as they slammed together. He eased all the way off my stomach as he struggled to control me, leaning his weight on my captured wrist and holding it there while he reached for my other hand.
I thrust my hand down, trying to elude his grasp, my fingers accidentally coming into contact with his most vulnerable spot. I stilled. Then I acted instinctively, my survivor mode kicking in hard. I latched onto the vile organ, squeezing and twisting as hard as I could.
He yelped, bolting backward, releasing me. Then his hand swung forward, slapping me again. Hard.
This time, I passed out for a few seconds—or was it minutes?—before consciousness gradually returned. Urgent voices pulled me back to the present, and I was vaguely aware of him rolling off of me and stumbling toward the door.
I lay there for a moment, my head spinning, my mind slowly clearing.
Something felt…wrong. A coldness seeped into my skin and I blinked, lifting my head to stare down at myself.
My clothes were gone.
Bile threatened its way up my throat. No. No. He didn’t rape me while I was passed out. He didn’t. He couldn’t have. I’d wounded him. I’d squeezed the life out of his disgusting prick. There was no way he could have raped me after that.
Maybe not. But he could have hurt me in other vile ways.
I swallowed hard, slowly sitting up.
Movement across the room caught my eye, and I jerked my head up. Mateo was pulling his pants on, then creeping toward the door. He paused, peering out into the hallway. While I stared, he morphed into something else. Something deceptively small and weak. A woman.
But I knew better. The only weakness in that man was his mind, which was filled with sickness.
Oh no, he wasn’t! I wouldn’t allow him to sneak away like this!
That bastard had stolen my dignity. He might have done vile things to me while I’d been passed out. He’d slapped me, hit me, hurt me, and he’d killed a woman and abused another. He needed to pay for that.
I lunged up from the bed and launched myself at him from behind. Landing on his back, I clawed at his face, grabbed at his eyes, trying to wound him in any way I could.
He stumbled beneath my weight, tripping out into the hallway.
I was no longer Liz, the shy, nerdy girl. I was now a wounded beast. An animal. Insane with rage and fear and vengeance and a desire to hurt the monster who’d hurt me, I became a caged wildcat fighting back against my abuser.
Cursing, Mateo flung me off, his face changing back to his own. Then he rounded on me, his eyes filling with a rage so intense, so inhumane that my breath halted in my lungs, my heart literally stopped beating, and all the blood drained from my face. I realized in that moment that he was going to kill me, that I was going to die.
Not if I could help it.
I barreled forward, ramming my head into his stomach, knocking him back into the wall behind him.
Just then, the unmistakable sound of rapid gunfire filled the house, the deafening roar making my ears ring. Mateo flung me aside and bolted to his feet. I crashed to the floor, landing hard on my ass.
With a barely perceptible flash, he disappeared down the dark hallway.
Shadows approached, their soft footfalls and the faint whisper of clothing reaching my ears. I scrambled back against the wall, breathing heavily, my body sore and aching in too many places to contemplate right now. If more soldiers were coming to kill me, there wasn’t anything I could do to stop them. I had no fight left in me. I was drained. Exhausted. Too weak to care.
Sudden grunts and groans, and the smacking and thwacking sounds of hand-to-hand combat reached my ears. Someone was fighting close by.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
S
omeone was dying not far away. I hoped it was Mateo. I hoped whoever was here was killing him right now.
Another thud.
Then a whisper of sound as someone loomed over me.
“We’ve got a live female,” a male voice announced. A light clicked on, illuminating the once dark hallway.
I blinked up at a large man with shaggy blond hair who held a hand out to me. “We’re here to get you out, ma’am. Don’t be afraid.”
I hesitated, looking into kind, light brown eyes. There was something so trustworthy about him that I slipped my hand in his, allowing him to gently pull me to my feet. He removed his coat and draped it over my shoulders.
“Thanks,” I whispered, pulling it closed in front of me.
Suddenly other men swarmed around. All of them big and powerful-looking.
“Get Ryan,” one of them murmured. “I think this is his girl.”
Ryan. I latched onto that, my eyes going wide as I glanced around.
“Ryan,” I whispered. “Where is he?”
Then Mateo’s face filled my mind, his features morphing into Ryan’s.
Look at me. Come on, just a peek. Open your eyes, Lizzie girl. It’s me, Ryan.
I reared back. “No, don’t trust him! It might be Mateo!” Any one of these men could be Mateo in disguise.
“Shh! Liz, I’m here.” Ryan materialized in front of me, his voice soft. “It’s really me, I promise.”
I let out a sob. “But, how do I know it’s really you? Mateo changed his face. He made himself look like you.”
Ryan’s gaze never left mine. “Let me hold you, Liz, and you’ll know. You’ll feel it’s me.”
I hesitated, trying to fight off my panic. I jerked my gaze to the other men, who all eyed me sympathetically. These were the other dregs. They had to be.
I spied Luke standing a few feet behind Ryan.
Tears swam in my eyes. “Is it really him? Can you tell me?”
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