by Faith Gibson
Maveryck stared at the screen, noticing the pins holding it in place were on the inside. With no other choice he extended a claw and sliced the mesh away from the frame, holding his breath. Natalia still didn’t move, so he hoisted his body as silently as possible and slipped into her room. Landing without a sound, he eased his way to the opposite side of the bed, and using his lion’s speed, he grabbed the woman from around the waist, pulling her from the bed. Her left hand came away with a pistol in her grip. Maveryck grabbed her wrist, keeping the gun pointed toward the ceiling. She pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession, and white dust rained down on their heads. Natalia kicked and wiggled, doing her best to get away. She set her feet to the mattress, pushing against his larger body, but it was useless. She was but a slip of a female, and he outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. Plus, he was a Gryphon. She was no match for him.
“Shh. Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.” Yet. “Natalia, settle,” he coaxed against her ear. She relaxed in his embrace, her ass hitting right at his groin. Mav swallowed down a groan at having this feisty woman pressed against him. The scent of wildflowers assaulted his senses, and before he realized what he was doing, Mav turned his face so his nose was against her neck. He stupidly inhaled. Natalia shivered, and Mav held her tighter. He moved so he could stand, and when he did, she tried to wrestle the gun away again.
“Сho ty khochesh', suka!!” Mav didn’t speak Russian, but he did understand pissed-off female.
“I said I don’t want to hurt you, but if you continue pulling that trigger, I won’t have a choice,” he growled. He pushed her down onto the bed and used his weight to secure her while he took the weapon away, tossing it on the floor out of her reach. She wiggled beneath him, and his cock forgot who they were dealing with and why they were there.
“Ty cho ebanuti?”
“You can curse me later, Natalia. Or should I call you Tatiana?” That was the wrong thing to say, because she headbutted his nose. “Ow, shit. Calm down, woman. We need to talk.”
“Get off me!” she yelled, doing her best to buck him off.
Mav rolled to his feet, taking her with him. He banded both his arms around her waist, locking her arms to her sides. He leaned his head against hers so she no longer had the advantage of the back of her head. “Like I said, we need to talk. I need answers, and I’d rather not hurt you to get them.” Natalia sighed, and her body relaxed minutely.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Maveryck Lazlo,” he answered honestly. Natalia gasped and tried to turn her head to look at him. With his tight hold on her, all the move did was put her face against his neck. It was her turn to inhale, and Mav bit the inside of his cheek to keep from moaning.
Closing his eyes, he blew out a breath. “Here’s what I know: You’ve been staking out the clubhouse from across the street. You’ve also been following the Hounds. I know you’re an assassin. Here’s what I don’t know: Why did you feel the need to get a new identity? Who do you work for? Did you follow me into the grocery store? Are you stalking all the Hounds or just me? And before you answer, let me just say, you have one shot to tell me the truth. You might be an expert with a rifle, but I don’t need a gun to hurt you, or make you disappear. One chance, Natalia. One.”
Chapter Fourteen
Natalia
Maveryck Lazlo was in her home. How? How had he found her? Or bypassed the alarm? The security cameras outside should have picked up his movement. Ever since getting home from the grocery store, she had spent all her time thinking about the man and his sons. She knew why he was there. He knew she’d been searching for him, or one of the Hounds. Her fear at being grabbed out of her sleep had turned into anger. When he laid out what he knew, the fear turned to resignation. He knew who she really was. Maveryck wanted answers, and she wanted to live. He told her she had one shot, so she opted to tell him the truth. If he knew she was the one who warned him, maybe he wouldn’t kill her.
Natalia deflated in his arms. She turned her head away from his neck, because really, the man smelled too delicious. Not like cologne or aftershave. No, he smelled like clean skin and... She turned her head before she did something stupid like lick him. He was holding her hostage, for god’s sake. Her body was doing its best to override logic.
“I…” She cleared her throat. “If you know who I am, then you should know why I needed a new identity. My father was killed, and my cousin Mikael took over the family. He kicked me out of the house. Out of my home. The only home I’d ever known, and he said I needed to leave. He tasked me with finding my father’s killer. I didn’t know where to start looking. I was approached by… actually, I’m not sure who they are. I got a call one day from someone who knew all about me. About my work for the family. They said they would help me with a new life.”
“What did they want in return?”
“For me to work for them. I knew Mikael would never let me have a moment’s peace, and I needed a job. The little I had saved was in an account monitored first by my father and then by my cousin. I have no formal education, and I couldn’t simply put out a resume with my experience.” Natalia shouldn’t admit to this stranger she was an assassin, but he already knew that about her.
“Why are you following me?”
“The people I work for, they put a contract out on you.”
“And you accepted it? No questions asked?” Maveryck all but growled in her ear.
Natalia shivered. Again. “No. I mean, yes I accepted, but I had plenty of questions. Before I received the contract, I was sent photos. Pictures of you with your Club. I didn’t know who you were, but I had seen you before. There was no note or any identifying information with the package, only the photos. I searched the internet, trying to find more about the Hounds, but your internet presence is lacking. I already had plans to go on vacation, so I put the photos aside and went. When I returned home, I was emailed a contract. Your contract. I began following the others when I couldn’t find you.”
“So, you followed me and my boys into the store?”
“No. That was purely coincidence. I have a question. Did you get a copy of the contract in your mailbox?” Natalia fisted her hands to keep from grabbing hold of Maveryck’s thighs.
“Yes. Was that you?”
“Yes.” Natalia leaned her head back against his chest. When his cheek pressed against her head, she jerked away.
“Why? Why did you warn me?” Maveryck’s arms loosened a little.
“Because something felt off about it. I don’t go around killing innocent men. I do have a code.”
“And you? Who would want you dead, Natalia?”
“Wh-what?” It had to be her imagination. Because she could’ve sworn Maveryck brushed his lips across her hair.
“There’s a contract out on you as well.”
“Contract?” Jesus, could she not speak in sentences? “How do you know that?”
“Because I accepted it.”
Fear chased down Natalia’s spine.
“While I was off looking for you, you were hunting me,” he admitted. “Who do you work for?”
A contract on her? Probably her svoloch’ cousin. And she and Maveryck we’re supposed to kill each other. Now that was fucked.
“Natalia?”
She saw no reason to lie at this point. Either she was going to die in the next few minutes, or she could convince Maveryck not to pull the trigger. “Nexus.”
Maveryck sighed, and his breath tickled her ear. “We have a big problem then.”
“You killed my father.” She didn’t know it was him, but she had that gut feeling.
“Yes. And since there’s someone wanting you out of the picture, I’m guessing it’s your cousin putting the hits out.”
Natalia took a deep breath. “I’m glad your bike was faster than my bullets.”
Maveryck chuckled. “Me too.”
Natalia remembered the way her father and his guards had been killed. The same as the pedophile. Ma
veryck didn’t use guns, so more than likely his weapon of choice was hidden somewhere on his body. That didn’t bode well for her, especially with the position she was in. If he chose to take her out, she would never see it coming.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“Not today.” Maveryck leaned his head against hers. Why did he keep doing that?
“Thank you, I think.”
“I need to talk to my brother. He needs to know Nexus can’t be trusted. If they’re pitting their operatives against each other, we need to end our association with them.”
“Maybe they’re in it for the money. If the price is high enough, maybe they think anyone is expendable.” Natalia hadn't worked for the organization long. “How long have you worked for Nexus?”
“Going on twenty years.”
“Wow. You must have started young.” She didn’t know how old he was, but Maveryck looked like he was in his early thirties.
“I’m older than I look,” he muttered.
“So, what now?” Natalia needed to disappear.
Again.
“Now, we come up with a plan, but I need to get home to my sons.”
“Who’s watching them?” He told her in the grocery store he didn’t have a wife, and she hadn’t seen a woman at his house.
“My brother and his ma… girlfriend.” Maveryck turned Natalia, keeping her in his arms. “Are you still planning to kill me?”
“I never was. That’s why I put the contract in your mailbox.” Natalia’s arms were caught between her chest and his, so she unfisted her hands, laying them flat against his chest. Maveryck sucked in the slightest of breaths, but she felt it. She felt a lot of things, and none of them good considering the situation. She wanted to lean in closer. Press her lips to his. Natalia wanted to get as close as possible. She just plain wanted. She had ever since running into him in the store.
“Natalia,” Maveryck groaned.
“Huh?” She took her gaze off his lips and searched those blue eyes that had been haunting her dreams. It was hard to see them in the dark room, but she didn’t miss the way his breath tickled her face. Maveryck tightened his arms, and she slid her hands up his chest to his neck. She caressed his skin with her thumbs.
“This is a bad idea,” he grumbled.
“A very bad idea,” she whispered.
Maveryck gripped the back of her hair. “Fuck it,” he said before touching his lips to hers, angling her head the way he wanted. Since she had never been kissed before, she hadn’t known what to expect. She always thought kissing a man would be awkward, but this was anything but. Maveryck was soft yet crushing. Tentative yet demanding. Submissive yet controlling. In a word, it was perfection. When his tongue swept into her mouth, exploring, she met him stroke for stroke. Twisting, twirling, tasting. Fire stoked her belly, dipping lower. She had never felt such need clawing at her to be with a man. All the sex she’d experience before had lacked something. Now she understood what.
Passion.
This... this was everything, and it was only a kiss. With this stranger. A man she was supposed to kill. With their bodies so close, breathing each other’s air, Natalia didn’t want to kill him. She wanted to protect him. Protect his boys.
But who was going to protect her?
Maveryck pulled his lips from hers and pressed their foreheads together. He inched back, probably so she wouldn’t feel his erection. Too late. He was breathing heavily, his eyes closed. One hand was rubbing a slow path up and down her spine while the other remained tight on her hip. Natalia rested her cheek on his chest. His heart was thundering, matching her own quick beats. There was so much Natalia didn’t know. Didn’t understand. But in that moment, she knew she wanted him. Any way she could get him.
“Please tell me you don’t have a girlfriend,” she begged against his neck. She pressed a kiss to the pulsing vein. “Or boyfriend,” she added, licking at his Adam’s apple. Maveryck’s hand on her back stilled, so she waited, resting her cheek against his. Squeezing her eyes closed, she held her breath.
“I have neither. The twins’ mom walked out when she was six-months pregnant. She sent me a text with some bullshit excuse about needing to find herself. I know now that was a lie. What she needed was to hide my boys from me. For four years, she kept my sons a secret, until...”
Maveryck cleared his throat. “I still don’t know why. Hell, I didn’t even know she was pregnant. I wanted that. I wanted the wife and kids. The white picket fence. I wanted what my parents have. That forever spent with the one person who just gets you. Who has your back no matter what. I... Fuck, Natalia. So much in my life is upside down right now. Taking care of the twins. Making sure they know they’re loved after their mom just handed them over like a cheap business transaction. Figuring out who wants me dead. Who wants you dead. I just—”
Natalia kissed him. She ran her fingers through his beard, scratching at his jaw beneath while she tried her best to comfort him with her lips. She carded her free hand through his dirty-blond hair. Hair that he’d cut since she chased him through the woods. Never had she been so happy to have missed a target. Twice. She wasn’t shooting at him the last time, but she had a feeling her bullet had hit close when she shot at the pedophile.
Natalia ended the kiss and cupped his cheeks in both hands. “My life is upside down too. Has been my whole life. My mom died when I was six, taking with her any chance I had at a normal life. If normal was even possible to begin with being Anatoly’s daughter. I didn’t understand until I was older why I couldn’t go to school with my friends. Why I had a tutor instead. Why my father only spoke to me when he was training me to shoot a gun or take a punch. Why I wasn’t allowed outside the grounds. When I was little and I fell and scraped my knee, I didn’t have someone cleaning it off, putting on a bandage, and kissing it better. I was told to get up and not fall again if I didn’t want scars. I learned to drive when I was thirteen. I could barely reach the pedals. But I didn’t learn so I could take the car to the store or go visit friends. I had no friends. I was taught defensive maneuvering so I could get away from someone chasing me. Chasing him.
“On the outside I was Tatiana Volkova, my father’s number-one guard. Later, his trained killer. On the inside, I was that little girl who missed her mother something fierce. Who loved playing dress-up. I guess I’m still that assassin, but I’m also that lonely little girl. So yes, your life might be upside down, but you have real brothers and your Hound brothers. I’m assuming you still have both your parents. And you have those precious little boys. Upside down or not, you have everything, Maveryck Lazlo. Me? I have nothing. I have no one.”
Ryker
Betrayed was too weak a word to describe how Ryker felt. He kept to the shadows, knowing she wouldn’t be home for another week. At least that’s when she was supposed to meet him there. He knew where the security cameras were. He had the alarm code, which was why he was able to get into the house in the first place. He called Lucy and had her disable the cameras. He didn’t want to involve her, but he also didn’t want to get caught. Ryker didn’t want anyone in his family to know what he had been up to for the last several years. Or who with. But staying alive was more important than keeping his secret.
The first time he met his handler, they had done an assignment together. She had been an operative back then. Rarely did contracts call for more than one person, but his old handler, Mercury, had insisted. Ryker and Proxy, as she was now known, came close to losing their lives that night. They had met for three weeks prior, planning, scoping, planning some more. During those nights together, Proxy had tempted Ryker with her easy countenance, her long, slender legs, her strong voice. Nothing about the woman screamed “assassin,” but that made her a good operative. No one saw her coming. Ryker sure hadn’t. The sex had been nothing more than scratching an itch for both of them. Close proximity and all that. She easily seduced Ryker, and before he knew it, they were in bed more than they were out of it.
Four years later, and he
still met her in this house once a month. Twelve weekends out of the year, his body was satisfied in ways it hadn’t been since he lost Juliette. He wasn’t in love with Proxy. That ship had sailed with his wife. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have needs like every other male. Proxy needed him just as much. In their line of work, it was hard to have a relationship. Not that he wanted one. Proxy did, even if she didn’t say it aloud. He could see it in her eyes every time he walked out the door. And walk away he did. Every time.
Now, though, someone was gunning for him. Putting out a contract on his brother was the same as painting a target on Ryker. Maveryck was his brother. His blood. Part of his heart. All his brothers, along with his parents and older sisters, filled that void left by the death of his wife. Now, his niece and daughter filled more of the void. He was glad he hadn’t let Proxy in. Now more than ever. She was playing with fire, and when he figured out why, she was the one who was going to get scorched. Ryker would turn the world to ash for his family. And when he got his hands on Proxy? She would rue the day they met.
He didn’t want to believe she could be this cunning, but Ryker had seen the worst the world had to offer. He wouldn’t take her out without proof, thus the reason he was there in that house they used for sex. But he was staring at it. The proof she had been using him all this time. He just didn’t know why. He had a week to figure out what he was going to do about it. A week to figure out how to make a handler from a worldwide assassin organization disappear. When he did, her sai would be no good against the wrath he would bring to her.