Ravaged River: Men of Mercy, Book 6: A Military Romance Series

by Cross, Lindsay

  She licked her full flushed lips and the need to kiss her nearly took him to his knees.

  He had to stop, had to put some distance between them and get his dick out of his brain.

  Hoyt took a small step back and dropped her hand. The cold rushed back in, wrapping around him with an insidious twist. “I need you to listen. What I have to tell you is important.”

  Hoyt braced his feet shoulder width apart and crossed his arms. “Sit down.”

  Hayden sunk onto the mattress. “What is it?”

  How should he broach the subject? He’d always been better with moving straight to the facts, delivering blunt answers. But that was with his team, his brother. Tough men who could give a shit about feelings and emotions. But right now, Hayden’s feelings and emotions mattered. They mattered a lot. He cleared his throat. “We confirmed the link between Malik’s uncle and the terrorist organization. I think he is a threat to you.”

  Hoyt gave himself a silent pat on the back. That hadn’t sounded so bad. He’d done a good job of playing down the real threat—that terrorists would track them down and kill them all.

  “What kind of threat?”

  “The kind we are used to dealing with and fully equipped to handle.”

  Hayden’s gaze narrowed. “You mean terrorist? You think he wants to hurt me?”

  “It’s not that simple—”

  Hayden held up a hand. “Don’t sugar coat it for me. Just give it to me straight. I want to know the truth. I can handle it.”

  Hell, he’d barely been able to handle it—how was she supposed to? It was so bad that their entire team had been sent into a scramble. They were gathering up their families and moving them here, close to headquarters on Hank’s property. Hell, the situation was so bad Hank had trusted Hoyt to watch over his daughter.

  And Hayden was giving him the evil eye, like he was thinking about lying to her or something. Fine, if she wanted the truth, he’d give it to her.

  “Malik has been tracking us. Ethan has managed to uncover some hidden digital footprints. I think Malik’s been using your connection to get to our Team. To your brothers.”

  19

  Hayden froze on the spot, the blood leeching from her arms and legs. “What? How? Aren’t your identities all kept secret?”

  “They were, but the information was leaked to the leader of ISA, who we think sent it to him. We’ve already taken out two of his people. Not counting Malik, we know there are more, but we just don’t know how many.”

  “I know you think I’m wrong, but I just can’t believe it.” No wonder he’d reacted so violently in the field.

  This wasn’t happening. It wasn’t real. Stuff like that didn’t happen here. At home. Not again.

  “How can you guard this place? Dad has over a hundred acres.” She tried to picture it like in the movies. Big guys with machine guns and guard dogs walking around the yard.

  “We’ll have roving guards and thermal cameras. I’ll set up over watch. We can protect you, Hayden, all of you. As long as you stay put in your dad’s house.”

  Why was he just standing there? She needed him to put his arm around her and hold her close. This was turning into a nightmare. Men hunting them. Trying to kill them?

  Hoyt would be here constantly, watching her. Protecting her.

  Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.

  But then what about school and her job? Graduation was just a few weeks away, and if she skipped out on finals, she’d lose everything. “I can’t stay here. I have finals in three weeks. The professor’s funeral. I have to present my research to the board. I have to go to work.”

  “You think a part-time waitressing gig and research is more important than your life?”

  “Not more important, but it is important.”

  If possible, Hoyt seemed to grow even bigger, his muscles rippling over his arms. “This isn’t some bully. These are trained killers who have only one goal. And that goal is to kill anyone tied to Task Force Scorpion.”

  Hoyt stalked closer, but Hayden stood where she was, holding her ground. “So we’re just supposed to let them take our freedom? Doesn’t the president always say we’re letting the terrorists win when we change our lives out of fear?”

  “Dammit, Hayden, he doesn’t have to be afraid. His limousine has more armor than our Humvee, and he’s constantly surrounded by Secret Service. These people are here. In your front yard. Right now. I’m not letting you leave these grounds.”

  “Try and stop me.” She clenched her trembling hands into fists and stepped closer to him, toe to toe.

  “We know they’re here—we just don’t know who they are. That’s why they’re called sleeper cells. You really want to risk your life over a semester of school that you can retake anytime?”

  “Excuse me? You think it’s that easy? I can just call up all my teachers and ask them to hold off on flunking me?” Hayden barely restrained the urge to scream. She spun around, ready to stride out of the room.

  She wasn’t about to let some threat control her life, even if the thought of terrorism scared the living crap out of her.

  Hoyt’s next words stopped her in her tracks. “Do you not remember what I said this morning? They killed Professor Latham.”

  When she could breathe again, she slowly spun back around to face him. “No, it was Professor Rhoden. I saw the police drag her away this morning on the news.”

  “They’ll clear her by tomorrow. She had nothing to do with this. We let the police take her to distract the real culprit. If he thinks we don’t know, he might get lazy. Make a mistake.”

  “How do you know for sure?”

  Hoyt’s entire expression pulled tight and shut down, like someone had reached up and flipped off a switch. Dread as heavy as a boulder settled in her stomach.

  “I’m the one who found him. I found a room upstairs filled with intel on ISA, on our Team, our families. I found evidence against Malik.”

  Hayden started to shake and jerk, her body as unsure of how to react as she was of what to feel. “What?”

  “He’s the one who signed all the student visa’s, Hayden, coincidences this big don’t happen. He was involved.”

  Hayden sank back onto her bed, unable to hold herself upright for one more second. Her entire world had been twisted and turned upside down. “I can’t believe it. He wouldn’t have mistreated a mouse. There’s no way he sponsored terrorists.”

  “I’m sorry. I know he meant a lot to you, and I didn’t want to tell you, but his murder leaves little doubt of his involvement. Rhoden didn’t do it.”

  Bile shot up her throat and Hayden swallowed hard and dug her fingers into her comforter. Tears blurred her vision. No. No. Not Latham. Not him.

  She felt the mattress dip beside her and then Hoyt’s warm presence was next to her. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but I need you to understand how serious this situation is.”

  Hayden heard him as if through a long, broken tunnel. Too much. She couldn’t process the information.

  “The terrorists took him out to cover their trail. They knew we’d discover the connection. Latham got close to you to use you.” Hoyt touched her hand, hesitant, and then his fingers wrapped around hers and his thumb stroked the back of her hand.

  Hayden jerked, her thoughts warping beneath the weight of his words, unable to process or fully comprehend. Latham used her? He treated her like family. Like a granddaughter…

  “I would never ask you to drop out of school or quit your job unless your life was in danger.” His soothing strokes turned into small circles, the touch mesmerizing her. Hypnotizing her.

  Lulling her to forget about Latham and terrorism and all the horrors in the world. But she couldn’t. Just like she couldn’t believe Latham was guilty.

  No matter what Hoyt said, she knew Professor Latham hadn’t knowingly helped terrorists, just like she knew he hadn’t used her.

  She had to figure out a way to prove them wrong, but she couldn’t do it wh
ile locked up in this house.

  “You know what you said about the Secret Service?”

  “Yeah.” He held her gaze, strong and steady.

  “I’m gonna need my own detail.”

  *

  “I have to tell you, I love your new ride.”

  Hoyt cast Hayden the meanest glare he could pull off, and she reacted by wiggling on the overstuffed leather seat of the most luxurious ‘off-road’ vehicle he’d ever seen.

  Fucking Hummer. Not only had it aided and abetted a terrorist in nearly killing him, but it was now helping Hayden put her life at risk. If only the commander hadn’t latched onto his idea to use the beast to lure out other suspects. “Hank is going to beat my ass. Your brothers are going to beat my ass.”

  Hoyt pulled into the crowded parking lot in front of Stanley Hall, stopping and starting every few feet as college students blithely walked in front of him, heads down, focused on their phones. By the time Hoyt actually parked, he was a tightly coiled spring ready to shoot out of the SUV and knock some students’ heads together. Their lack of awareness astounded him.

  “I won’t let them. I promise.” Hayden drew his attention from the swarm of people crisscrossing between the rows of cars on their way to the building.

  “This isn’t a good idea. There are too many people here. I can’t protect you.” Hoyt put the SUV in park and scanned the parking lot, stopping on each dark-haired male in range, which was a lot. Too many to watch.

  “I believe in you.”

  “Yeah, well you can believe in me all you want, but I can’t stop a bullet if I don’t see it coming.” Hoyt yanked his Beretta out, made sure it was locked and loaded, and tucked it at his back. His knife went into his boot. He was reaching for his rifle case in the backseat when Hayden gently touched his arm.

  That was it, just a slight brush of her fingertips, but it was enough to make him stop mid-motion.

  “You can’t go walking down the hallway with a rifle slung over your shoulder. People will freak out. Not to mention you’ll probably get arrested.”

  A steady stream of college students walked back-and-forth in front of the car, some angling up the sides in a hurry to get to class. The killer could easily be hidden among them. Hoyt’s gaze ping-ponged everywhere, locking in on one subject, catching another in his periphery. Surrounded by constantly roaming threats.

  Too many. “That’s it, we’re going back home. This is a mistake.”

  Hayden popped the passenger door and jumped out, slamming it shut behind her.

  “Dammit, Hayden, get back in here.”

  She kept walking, sliding along with the crowd, moving up the concrete steps to the glass double doors. Hoyt shoved an extra clip into his pocket and got out, jogging to catch up. “You’ve lost your mind.”

  She didn’t flinch, didn’t even blink. “No I’ve laid out a solid plan and I trust you to keep me safe.”

  “I need to check the area.”

  “I’m going to be late for class.”

  “I can’t keep you safe if you don’t do what I tell you to do.” Hoyt growled.

  “Why don’t you drop me at class and then you can make your rounds? There’ll be fewer people roaming the halls in about five minutes.”

  “I’m not leaving your side.”

  20

  Hayden shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the top row of the stadium seating in Rhoden’s classroom. The seat seemed so much smaller than normal, but that could be due to the oversized Special Forces operator crowding up the spot right next to her.

  Or the fact that Hoyt and his don’t-fuck-with-me stare was intimidating enough that all the seats around them were empty. Even the extreme weirdos—the ones with badass gauges in their ears and enough piercings in their faces to set off a metal detector-gave them a wide berth.

  She tried to slink down, but what was the point? She and Hoyt stood out like the boogey man in Disney Land. And the closest few, brave enough to sit within ten feet of Hoyt, kept shifting in their seats and looking over their shoulders.

  Hayden’s arm brushed Hoyt’s, leaving another trail of tingles in its wake. God, she needed…something.

  Sitting beside him shouldn’t make her tummy quiver and her nipples tighten into almost painful points, but it did.

  “I wonder who they got to stand in for Rhoden?” Maybe if Hayden thought about Rhoden long enough, she could ignore the steadily building heat between her thighs.

  Hoyt shrugged and continued to scan the room. Jeremy, one of her study buddies, turned to give her a wave, but he shrunk in his seat when he caught Hoyt’s glare.

  Hayden elbowed Hoyt. “Stop glaring at everyone. I won’t have any friends left if you scare them all away.”

  Hoyt gave her a one-sided smile, stretching his long muscular legs out as far as he could in the cramped space. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his massive chest. The King ruling over his subjects below.

  Hayden studied Hoyt, trying to see what everyone else saw. On the outside he looked deadly. Scary even, with all those black tattoos swirling over his arms. With his buzzed hair and the thin scar running down his face, he reminded her of a Viking.

  Deadly and devastating to her senses.

  His blue eyes cut to her with the barest hint of anxiety, revealing the core of her Viking’s vulnerability.

  Instead of chewing him out more, she sighed and tried to get her mind off the heat radiating from his body and how every time she accidentally brushed his arm, sparks flew across her skin. God, she wanted to straddle him and take his mouth in a long kiss. Devour him whole.

  “Quit looking at me like that.”

  Hayden blinked, Hoyt’s voice pulling her out of the haze of arousal. “Like what?” she whispered back.

  Hayden grabbed the desk, needing something solid to anchor her hands in place, instead of letting them trail over to Hoyt’s muscular thigh.

  Muscles that seemed to bunch and shift under her scrutiny. Hoyt leaned forward, his forearms completely covering the surface of the small desk. His biceps contracted, pushing the limits of his T-shirt. Jesus. The man was a walking sex magnet. She wanted him. Suddenly taking all those little baby steps to win him back seemed impossible.

  Could she really hold out?

  Hayden let her gaze wander up his stacked shoulders and the bulging veins on his neck, not stopping until she got to his face. And the look there stole her breath away.

  Rage. A murderous, killing rage.

  Hayden’s heart stopped.

  She followed his direction down to the object of his wrath.

  Malik set a shiny briefcase on the podium at the bottom of the room and adjusted his necktie. “Class, for those of you that don’t know me, my name is Malik. I’m about to wrap up my doctorate and the university has asked me to finish teaching Rhoden’s class while she’s out on temporary leave.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  Her heart rate surged. She gasped and immediately slammed her mouth shut. A few of the brave souls closest to them turned to see what was the problem and immediately spun back around.

  Malik began the lecture, pacing back-and-forth across the raised platform in a move uncharacteristic of his typical smooth glide. Hayden couldn’t hear a word he said over the loud roaring in her ears. She’d never expected Malik to stroll into the room. Surely, if he was guilty he’d be in hiding right now. “What is he doing here?”

  “He doesn’t realize we’re on to him.” Hoyt eased his phone from his pocket and typed a quick message, then waited. A few seconds later the screen lit up with a response, but Hoyt tucked the phone away before she could take a peek.

  “Who did you just text?”

  “Backup.”

  “This doesn’t feel right. I’ve known Malik and Latham for almost four years. Neither of them are capable of what you think.”

  Hoyt finally turned to her, and she wished he hadn’t. He’d looked at her a lot of different ways in the past year. With love and longing, then with fear and
tension, but now there was pity in his eyes. Pity. “That is why they’re so effective. They are good at convincing people that they are normal, sweet. Right up until they put a bullet between your eyes.”

  She shook her head, her entire body trembling with the effort not to scream. But she couldn’t take the risk of setting Hoyt off.

  “I know you think I’m being emotional, but I’m telling you the truth. I have good instincts about people. I know they’re innocent.” She tried to cobble together a logical explanation, one that would sway him, but her mind was fragmented, shattered.

  She knew he was wrong, knew her brothers were wrong, but she had to figure out a way to prove it before it was too late.

  “What other proof do you have?”

  “You mean I need more proof than this?” Hoyt gestured to the gash on his forehead. Hayden winced. The menace emanating from him was dark and dangerous, and for a single second, Hayden could see the killer that struck fear in his enemies.

  “He can’t be your only suspect.” She’d figure out a way to eliminate him as a suspect altogether.

  She studied Malik, trying to analyze him the same way she was sure Hoyt was doing. His normally crisp button-up was rumpled, like he’d woken up late and forgotten to iron his clothes. Even his hair was off kilter. The choppy pattern to his voice, starting and stopping mid-sentence, radiated apprehension.

  “I know he looks Middle Eastern, but he’s from England. His parents are wealthy. Why would he choose terrorism?” She tried to keep her voice steady and reasonable, but she could tell from the way his shoulders stiffened she was just pissing him off.

  “You can defend your boyfriend all you want, but until we clear him, he is a suspect and we will take him in.”

  “Why do you keep saying that? I’ve never been in a relationship with him.”

  “I saw you with him.” Hoyt whispered through clenched teeth.

  “When could you have seen me with him. I’ve never been–” Hayden froze. That feeling of being watched at the party. “Were you following me? You were there last night, weren’t you?”