Hunter (In the Company of Snipers Book 14)

by Irish Winters

  Only...

  What would Meredith think?

  Hunter stilled his blade. It quivered. It wanted to do its job, and he wanted to let it, but her sweet chastisement gave him pause. Was he no better than this despicable man whose life he now held in his own bloodstained hands? Worse, was Masters right? Was he, Hunter, cut from the exact same cloth? Was his soul as dark and lifeless, as unworthy of her?

  Think. Alex Stewart’s favorite damned word, now Hunter’s conscience. Think.

  A trickle of sweat beaded at his brow, perched, like him, to fall. This was one of those pivot points when a singular decision could determine the rest of his life. Why the prickly conscience now? Hunter knew the answer. Meredith.

  He lashed out. One long fang-mark nicked Masters’ leg from his bloodied shinbone to his pin-cushion kneecap. Masters whole body winced. He’d just taken one for his home team. The game was over.

  Hunter leaned forward and wiped his blade on the shirt hanging from his victim’s elbows. Master’s winced then, too, but Hunter just did that to scare the guy. He rolled the cramp out of the back of his neck and pushed to his feet, then sheathed his blade.

  “Bastard,” Masters hissed.

  Hunter gave him one last message. “Damn straight, and I’m proud of it. Now, go to hell.” He punched Masters a hard one. Wouldn’t Merry be surprised?

  Rounding the tree, Hunter still had to answer to Seth.

  “You end him?”

  “No,” he answered truthfully.

  “Why not?” The recrimination in Seth’s voice caught Hunter short.

  “Because that’s your job, buddy. The day will come. He’s all yours.”

  Seth glared, but relented, the hint of betrayal in his eyes fading. “You bet your ass.”

  “Besides, you’re a hundred times more important. Let’s get you home.”

  It took Hunter fifty yards of carrying Seth before he paused to get a better grip on his buddy. Backing into the cover of vines and shadow, he stopped to catch his breath. Seth leaned his face against him, his arms around his neck, barely holding on.

  “Man, what’s happening? Why’d we stop?”

  “Shhhhh,” Hunter cautioned. Now wasn’t the time to speak. A group of ten or eleven men thundered down the path to the burned out TEAM camp.

  Seth slumped weakly into his arms. “Let me down,” he groaned. “I’m done, man. Let me die.”

  “Never,” Hunter growled. He did what he should’ve done all along. Securing his rifle, he set Seth’s feet to the ground long enough to hoist him over his shoulder like a brother. Burdett’s men had better get out of their way.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  If anyone intended to shoot me, they’d have done it already, wouldn’t they? Meredith rationalized on her way back to the cave. She still had that sneaky sensation someone was watching her, but she had yet to spy anything or anyone out of place. The birds still chattered like teenagers in the high school halls. Insects buzzed while frogs croaked and hummed. All of those creatures would grow silent if a predator was near, right?

  She counted on it.

  The first portion of the crossing was easy. Calm water pooled at her left. Her confidence soared. The challenge began at half-point where the river ran faster. Her boots were too large. They made walking on dry land an effort, but balancing on wet rocks with the current tugging at your soles? At this rate, she’d be doing the splits in the middle of the river. Not a pretty sight.

  Stepping gingerly onto the first water covered rock, her right foot slid forward. She pressed the fruit against her chest to redistribute her load. Just as quickly, her left boot slid into the river. Hurriedly, she pulled it up and rocked backward, striving to keep her balance. One more wrong step, one more water-filled boot, and Hunter would never let her live it down.

  This wasn’t rocket science. How hard could it be to bring home the bacon, so to speak? Meredith turned cautiously, facing downstream and edging sideways. Step by step. Breath by breath. Flatter rocks were just a few feet away, some of them dry. She’d be home safe. Biting her lip, she picked up her speed. Her load shifted. Sticking her butt out, she ended up tilting her upper body forward. It was a struggle to keep those men’s boots from slipping when—

  SPLASH!

  Downstream she tumbled, face-first with her mouth opened wide. The fruit went with her. Sputtering, she bobbed to the churning surface, flailing for anything solid to latch onto. A tree branch would’ve been nice. Her waterlogged boots pulled her down like concrete until her feet slipped out of them. Under she went, her good deed forgotten.

  A powerful undertow dragged her under the lip of the rock edge she’d tumbled over. It was a fight to keep her face above water. She swallowed a quick mouthful of air, but down she went again. Her lungs clamped shut. Courtney!

  Flashes of churning shadow and light fueled her panic. Every breathless kick took more effort. As hard as she tried to break the surface, the turbulence sucked her farther down.

  Suddenly everything got worse. The icy-cold clench of a slithering tentacle circled her waist. Snake!

  She screamed underwater, sucking in a lungful. The snake prowled overhead, reaching for her. Its fangs slithered over her shoulders and nipped at her neck. Shoving away from it, she flailed, but it was no use. The reptile bit into her hand and dragged her upward. How cruel!

  Deprived of oxygen, nothing made sense. It must need her out of the water before it could eat her. Not happening! She dug her fingernails into its hard skin, searching for its neck. She refused to be swallowed alive!

  But damn it was a powerful beast, built of writhing muscle, and gripping the bones in her hand harder. Tighter. It dragged her upward, toward daylight. Meredith screamed one last bloodcurdling underwater protest as the mighty serpent slapped her on shore like a fish.

  Landing facedown, her sodden hair hung like seaweed over her eyes, choking as the river spewed out of her burning lungs in wrenching gasps. The snake slithered alongside her legs, but she was afraid to look at it. Any second now it would strike and she would die.

  But how odd. The darned thing felt—warm.

  Strong hands flipped her onto her back. Two massive legs straddled her, and two very big paws took possession of her waterlogged breasts. She slapped at the beast when it squeezed her chest, needing to see what monster had hold of her, a snake or a gorilla.

  “Breathe, Merry, damn it! Stop fighting me and breathe!”

  Bleary-eyed, she ceased struggling. Hunter?

  Meredith launched herself away from the river and under his chin. She sucked in an enormous gulp of air, and just as quickly, spat it in his face with a mighty, “Snake!”

  Frantically, she brushed her wet hair out of her eyes, needing to see where that snake had gone. It was still out there. Coiled and waiting to strike. She was sure of it.

  Hunter encased her inside the steel bands of his arms, his chin on the top of her head.

  Scared, she tucked her feet under her legs. That snake was big enough it could get Hunter too.

  “What the hell were you doing in the river? I told you to stay put.” He didn’t sound as angry as she’d expected, probably because her head kept knocking into his chin, making it hard for him to really chew her out.

  She pulled herself into a ball until she was completely between his legs, not willing to offer any part of her extremities for that serpent’s next meal. “F-f-food.”

  “Why were you on the other side of the river?”

  “S-s-snake.” She tried again. ‘F-f-fruit. M-m-monkeys.”

  He stilled, and she could hear the thunder in his chest. Between her chattering teeth and his pounding heart, all they needed was a pair of steel drums and a steel guitar for an island beat that would’ve rocked the world.

  Wait a minute. How’d he know I was on the other side of the river? “D-d-did you...? W-were you...?” She looked up at him, trying to form one coherent sentence. “You saw me?”

  His brows slanted. “Yeah. After I got back wi
th Seth. I took him inside, but you were gone. You scared the hell out of me, but there you were, playing in the river.”

  “I wasn’t p-p-playing. I was d-d-drowning.” She blinked the water dripping from her hair out of her eyes and lifted her hand to show him the fang marks. “And I saw a really big s-s-snake. Look. It tried to eat me.”

  “That wasn’t a snake, Merry.” Hunter tucked one hand under her thigh, pulling her close. “That was me. I kept reaching for you, but you fought me off until I had no choice but to dig into your hand to pull you out. My God, you’re a hard woman to rescue.”

  She shook her head. He had it wrong. She knew what she’d felt, and it was long and slimy and cold and—it had latched onto her wrist and hand. Just like he’d said. And it was kind of hairy. She looked closer at her fingers. Her knuckles were bloodied and scraped. Not with fang holes, but with scratch marks. Blinking another trickle of water out of her eyes, she stopped shaking. “It was you?”

  “I’m sorry if I scared you,” he murmured into the top of her head. “Snakes don’t like fast water. They don’t frequent the rapids when they’re hunting.”

  “Oh,” was all she could say. This jungle had reduced her to a pitiful excuse for a female in one day. Raking her sodden locks out of her eyes again, she turned away from him, but he only clamped tighter and ordered her to, “Stay.”

  She stayed, not because he’d commanded her, but because she lacked the strength to stand. The river had taken everything—her resolve to be a good teammate and very nearly her life. Meredith leaned into Hunter’s hard, muscled chest. The steady beat of his heart eased her panic, but just that fast the tears came. “I c-c-can’t do this anymore. I’m not a-a-a soldier. I’m not a killer. It’s all too hard.”

  “There now, you’re safe.” His lips kissed the top of her wet head while she clung to his forearm.

  “I want to go home,” she sniffled.

  “Whatever am I going to do with you?” His hand smoothed a comforting trail over her head before it cupped her shoulder. “One minute you’re brave and courageous, but the next you’re fragile and sweet. How can a guy like me keep up with a woman like you?”

  She had no answer, so she sat there and shivered within the warm barricade of his knees, legs and arms. The devious river murmured behind her. It couldn’t be trusted. The jungle either. Only Hunter Christian was safe.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  He couldn’t let go of Meredith for the life of him. Not when he’d come so close to losing her. Damned woman. Every smart cell in his brain screamed at him to keep his distance and protect his heart, but he couldn’t, not with her quivering and crying the way she was.

  Soon the spell would be broken, and they’d have to seek cover, but for this one splinter of stolen time, he actually knew what he wanted. There was no confusion in his heart. Only Merry.

  He’d dragged her to the sandy side of the river, and there they sat, the cave within reach. As frightened as she was, she evoked that familiar storm of protective emotions. This woman commanded the alpha warrior in him, and she didn’t even know it.

  Hunter hungered for her, but married women were off his menu. Hell, all women were. He hadn’t cared for a particular one in years, and yet—he had. He’d just stopped looking for someone better. Why pretend to be a vegetarian when he’d already tasted the most succulent prime rib? Why settle for less?

  And yet he had settled. Too much always stood in his way—her husband for one. But Welch wasn’t there. Hunter Christian was.

  They sat curled together in a single beam of warm sunlight breaking through the immense emerald canopy overhead. With the mountain at his back, he felt some measure of safety. The tender feel of her body in his arms calmed the rampage in his heart. Like the magic of the moment, it wouldn’t last, but for now, Welch, Masters, Teach, and Brinkman EX ceased to exist.

  Even if he never told Meredith, Hunter was glad he’d let Masters live. He’d done that one thing in her honor. She sagged into him, limp and relaxed and calm, but holding on tightly. That was all he’d wanted, just once—for her to need him as much as he needed her.

  A piece of her lost fruit bobbed in a small eddy offshore. “What kind of fruit were you going to feed me this time?” he asked playfully.

  “I don’t know,” she said softly, pointing to the opposite shoreline. “A flock of monkeys was over there in that big fruit tree. See the one with flowers? I figured if they could eat that fruit, so could we. Only I fell and... it’s all gone.”

  “Makes sense,” he agreed, “but I don’t think monkeys flock.”

  She sniffed. “It looked like they flocked to me. They swooped down from the trees. I watched them a long time, and then they just kind of flew away.”

  Hunter grunted, still holding her, the one thing he seemed to be good at. Meredith sounded dazed, and it was no wonder. The river could’ve swept her away, and he wouldn’t have known where she’d gone. As it was, he must have walked past where she’d been struggling in the foamy undertow. The black clothes he’d badgered her into wearing had worked against her. He hadn’t even seen her there. The thought scared the hell out of him.

  She fit inside the contour of his body, between his legs, and snuggled up to his heart. He didn’t want to move, but they’d been out in the open too long. After the confrontation with Burdette’s men, he couldn’t take the chance. He waited until she breathed easier, not quite ready to end the magic, but keeping a close watch on the shoreline.

  “All I could think of was him,” she muttered tiredly.

  That did it. Magic time vanished with those seven blasted words out of her mouth, and Hunter was done being stupid. Holding her didn’t mean squat if all she could think of was her jerk husband. Hunter loosened his grip, untangling her from his arms. “Let’s move.”

  “What’s wrong?” Hurt trembled through her voice.

  Did he have to spell it out? He shoved off the muddy ground and away. “Damn it, now I’m as wet as you are.”

  “Sorry,” she whimpered, looking around as if she’d lost something and swaying like she might go down again. She might as well have been topless. He caught everything beneath her shirt, looking down at her like he had a choice. Those damn blue eyes filled with exhaustion, and right past them, the tempting swell of perfect breasts rose with every gasp. Nipples peaked to perfection from the chill baited him to touch and taste.

  “What’s wrong now?” he barked, his hand extended to keep her upright.

  “Nothing.” She scanned the river, eyeing that one piece of fruit bobbing near shore. “I just thought... I mean... I don’t have anything for dinner, and I... I really thought...”

  Fighting the tug at his heart, he cupped Meredith’s elbow to steady her, fully aware they needed to get undercover. She might be dazed and confused, but she wasn’t hurt like Seth. She’d live to go home to—him.

  “You ready?” he growled.

  She nodded, but her knees buckled, and the next thing he knew, she’d latched onto the waistband of his pants with one hand, clinging for support. Meredith looked like a drowned rat, her hair hanging down her back. The joyride over the rapids had knocked her around a bit. Dark bruises marked her arms and legs. Somewhere along the line, she’d bumped her forehead. A goose egg rose out of the purpling knot over her right brow.

  “You don’t understand,” she whined. “He’s all I’ve got, Hunter.”

  Argh! I don’t want to hear this!

  That was the problem. He did understand, and it was ripping his heart out. Like every other time he’d thought of Welch with Meredith, Hunter lost his grip and his patience. She had to be the only person on the planet who liked the jerk. He tugged her along. “Try and stay upright this time.”

  “’Kay,” she said softly, shuffling behind him, still holding onto his waist.

  His sniper sense was on high alert, the same as every other throbbing part of his body. There was no getting near Meredith without going up in flames. Molten lava coursed through his veins,
most of it pooled low and wickedly hot.

  She’s married, you moron. Knock it off.

  He scanned the opposite shore as they edged toward cover. The minute she stepped one bare foot onto the slippery rocks that lay between them and the cave, he knew he was in trouble. Meredith let go of him. She was afraid to fall, holding herself stiffly and awkwardly. This wasn’t part of the natural dam across the river, just a rocky stream fed by the waterfall overhead. If she wasn’t careful, it could push her back into the river.

  “Loosen up,” he encouraged, his hand outstretched for her to grab onto. “It’s not deep. Keep moving.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said, her eyes on her feet and the gentle current swirling around her. Her voice turned tight and whiny.

  “Meredith.” He snapped his fingers, urging her to take hold. “Grab on. I won’t let you fall.”

  Her gaze lifted, stabbing him with the tenderest, helpless blue eyes. He froze in the act of grumbling. He knew what he’d said, but now he wondered what she’d heard.

  I won’t let you fall...

  But he had, hadn’t he? He’d left her behind in a fit of adolescent temper after he’d found out she was pregnant. Had that one rash decision of his brought them to this point in time where they both stood the chance of being murdered?

  ”Kay,” she whispered, interlocking her icy-cold fingers with his. The simple action felt like so much more. Shaky and uncertain, each time she teetered too far forward or to the side, he stiffened his elbow to balance her. Her fear had turned this calm portion of the river into a marathon.

  “You good?” he asked at the halfway point.

  “Uh-huh. It’s just that you’d never understand. I really miss him.”

  Hunter counted to ten.

  “And I’ve been away so long.”

  Then twenty. Great. She’s gonna start crying again.

  “And everything’s gone wrong since I got here,” she all but wailed, working herself into a crying jag for sure.