by Honor James
Bending her head, she touched her forehead to her mother’s knuckles and sighed. “Please, Momma, just give up.” She begged her mother again. “You have done all that you could in life. Just let go, Momma.” She begged the woman again.
“Not till you swear you will never be as stupid as me,” her mother put out on a groan, a gruff tone that didn’t sound at all like the songstress that she had been in life.
“I promise, Momma. No man is worth my own self-esteem.” And that was part of what it cost her mother. It had cost her mother her self-esteem. It had cost her her family because her father and mother had turned their backs on her as soon as it was made known that she was pregnant, but no husband was anywhere near in sight.
“Good. One day you will find that son of a bitch and you will make him pay, right?” Charlotte Wagner demanded of her daughter, did not ask her.
Lina winced but nodded. “Yes, Momma.” It hadn’t always been like that. At first Charlotte had honestly thought that Lina’s father would come back, that he loved her just as much as she loved him. When it became clear, however, that Talon wasn’t going to return for his one-night stand, and the resulting child from said one-night stand, the anger for the man turned to the child, and that’s when hell actually began for the child.
* * * *
2012
Wrong place, wrong time. Wasn’t that just the tune of Lina’s life? She had been working in the ER when a young, shifty, and weird-looking man came in and grabbed her. With a gun to her side she was forced from the ER and her life had changed. It had changed so dramatically in that moment that nothing else would ever be the same again.
She had done everything they had asked for her to do. She had taken each and every single measure that she had been told to do and why? Because a man’s life depended on it? No, she could have somehow gotten word out for help, right? Thirteen days. For thirteen days she had been caring for the massive man that was broken, battered, and more abused than any individual ever should be. For thirteen days she had followed, to the letter, every single instruction she had been given because she was terrified that this man would be harmed even more.
Lina was doing what she vowed she would never do. She was putting a man’s needs before hers. She was putting her life on the line for a man. Her mother would roll in her grave if she had been buried instead of cremated. As it was, Lina could all but feel her mother’s displeasure from the great beyond. But, she would do whatever was necessary in order to ensure that he lived.
Standing at his side, she adjusted the flow of the IV and leaned close. “I’m back,” she whispered very, very quietly and prayed that they didn’t hear her again. The last time that she had spoken to the man she had nearly gotten her jaw broken. No, it was best to speak very softly and pray they didn’t hear her again. “Please don’t talk,” she whispered to him and ran a cold cloth over his forehead and touched her hand to his chest once more. Inside it was killing her. She was again watching someone die, something that she had made it her mission in life never to do again, which was why she had gone into emergency medicine so that she could save lives.
Going to the water bottles that were lined along the mud wall, she brought one back. Unscrewing the cap, she leaned into him. “Just a sip. Enough to wet your mouth just a bit,” she whispered quietly. She lifted the bottle slightly so that he could get at least a dribble of drink into his mouth, standing on the step stool so that she could be more even at his height.
Chapter Three
Taking the little dribble she gave him, he let it move over his tongue slowly and swallowed. Licking his lips slowly, he peered at her through his swollen eye. She was pretty and very definitely scared. He got a little bit of her scent, but it was so overwhelmed by the blood he knew was his he couldn’t tell anything about her. Parting his lips slightly, he hoped she’d get the hint and give him another little bit more.
Lina took the hint and leaned in to give him another sip of the water. Leaning in close, she whispered to him. “I have to find help.” She spoke at barely above a whisper, low enough so that hopefully only he would hear her. “I don’t know how, but I have to find you help. Next time they send me out I’m going to try to get help.” She knew that it was dangerous. God, she knew that it was likely going to get them both killed, but she was bright enough to realize that one way or another they were both dead anyway.
Shaking his head slowly, Aiden mouthed “no,” and stared at her. Licking his lips, he peered at her and wondered if, maybe, with her as close as she was, he could speak mentally. Don’t do anything that will get you in trouble, he forced out through the pain of his head. Seeing her wide eyes, he knew she’d heard at least something. They will be looking for me. They will find me. We just have to wait.
Lina shook her head. “You don’t have time,” she whispered. “I’ve been tending you nearly two weeks. I can’t do anything else here for you. I have to try.” She had to get him safe. She didn’t understand that driving need, but she needed him to be safe, and it was eating at her as well. Somehow, someway, she would find him help.
No! Aiden said sharply and flinched at the ringing it caused. They are coming for me. How he knew, he couldn’t say except…Allister! Bro? he tried cautiously.
Thank the motherfucking Gods! Allister’s voice was strong in his head. We’re inbound, two minutes out. I need details, Aiden, anything and everything you can give me.
Swallowing, Aiden looked to her again. My brother and our Teams are coming to rescue me. They are two minutes out before everything goes to hell. I need you to tell me how many are in here, weapons, and if anything was done to the doors like explosives. Back to his brother, he smiled in his head. Got myself in a pickle here, bro. One thing I can tell you for sure, the woman here, do not hurt her. She’s been helping me, held against her will by those here.
Lina nodded. Leaning in closer, on her tiptoes, she whispered against his ear. “Eleven men, just outside the door. Eleven men, two women, and I don’t know what explosives look like but there are these like gray putty ropes around the doors. When I come in it’s only through the one door.” She heard rustling outside the mudroom. “We are in a mudroom that looks like it’s been dug out under a basement. And there is only the one door out, and that leads to the room where the thirteen are.” She pulled back and swallowed, hard. “I don’t know how they will get in.” She looked up at the chains that held him. “I wish I could somehow at least get you down,” she admitted.
Aiden spoke to his brother again, providing details. Bro, there are shape charges around each of the doors but for one where all the people stick around. Eleven men, two women, not including my friend in here. I’m in a dug-out mudroom of some sort, an addition to the place and less-than-stellar location I have to say.
Got it, Allister told him in a firm tone. Skittles has a satellite we’re borrowing for this. We’ve got a big heat signature we’re guessing is them. We’re tossing in several flashbangs so warn your friend it’s going to be loud, really, really loud. Allister relayed the information to everyone else quickly as they all checked weapons and got set to rappel to the ground, fast.
Letting out a breath, Aiden focused on her again. I need you to cover your ears in about one minute, keep your mouth open and your eyes squeezed shut. They are going to use something called flashbangs, and a lot of them. They will stun and disorient everyone in the room. They create a burst of light much like a mini sun and put out a sonic boom. That’s why you have to have your eyes tightly shut, your ears plugged, and mouth open. The percussion wave of the sonic boom will shatter your eardrums if you don’t leave your mouth open. When I tell you, face away from the door and do as I’ve instructed. When you start hearing ringing in your ears put your hands up and let them see you are unarmed.
Lina nodded. “What about you?” she asked him and saw the stoic look on his face. When she counted down the time in her mind, she leaned in close to him, placed her hands over his ears, and pulled him close so that she could
press his face to the crook of her neck.
What happened next was a shock. Jesus H. Christ, he hadn’t been kidding. Thankfully she had kept her mouth open when she pulled him closer. She hadn’t closed her eyes fast enough, so lights danced before them, and she couldn’t hear anything, at all. Holding him tightly she tried to protect him as best she could. In her mind she could hear her mother bitching her out from one side to another about putting a man’s welfare before her own.
Cursing her, Aiden kept his lips parted so the percussive wave didn’t deafen him permanently. His eyes were nearly sealed shut so he didn’t need to worry about that. Damn woman. But so brave. Listening to the firefight and the snarls and curses, he knew the men were inside and taking everyone down. Get off the stool and behind me, he said to her. I’m a hell of a lot harder to kill than you are, sweetheart. Do it now and remember, keep your hands up and away from your body when the others come in. They will be hyped up on adrenaline and the fight.
This man had to be off his meds if he thought Lina was going to stand behind him in this. Moving closer to him, she wrapped herself as close to him as she could, holding onto him even though she couldn’t hear or see anything right now. She was seriously hurting but she had this deep and crazy sense to protect him, needed to protect him no matter what.
When she didn’t listen, Aiden didn’t argue. He couldn’t. His head was ringing even more. Hearing his brother, Aiden looked up slightly. Don’t hurt her! he growled at his brother as he stormed closer. She’s mine! he snarled and then went blank as he realized the truth. Stunned, he hung there beaten to hell and back again, but he knew, without a doubt, she was his mate. Holy hell!
Lina felt him tense and held him tighter. Her hands still covered his ears and held him tight to her shoulder. If someone was going to start to fire, they would have to get through her first, and she knew it. She couldn’t, wouldn’t let him go. Ears ringing horribly, she felt like sobbing but didn’t. Couldn’t. She wouldn’t give whoever was near them the satisfaction of knowing how afraid she was and how much he meant to her.
Staring at his brother, Allister shook his head. “Great timing, bro,” he muttered, moving in closer. Easing around to Aiden’s back, he winced visibly. His brother was nearly unrecognizable except for the Dragon tattoo that sat at the small of his back, wings up for a defensive strike, the body over his left ass cheek with the tail that wrapped down and around his left thigh. Leaning in, he tapped the woman’s nose. “Hi.” He grinned at her. “I’m Allister, Aiden’s brother. The guy you have a death grip on. You can let go now. We’re here to get you and him out. But we need you to let go so we can get him down, all right?” he said a little louder than normal since he had a feeling she couldn’t hear much of anything right then.
Lina frowned and looked at the man. He was perfection, drool worthy, but even though he was, she still didn’t want to let go of the man she held. She shook her head, frowning. She looked at the man she held, then the other man, and then back to her man. “Twins?” she shouted, not realizing she was shouting though.
Wincing at her volume, he waved a hand to indicate to keep it down. Nodding, he smiled. “Twins,” he said to her. Shifting, he gently took her hand. “Come on, step down and let the guys take a look at you just to be sure you’ll be okay.” Pointing to Trey, who held up a med-kit, he lightly tugged on her hand. “Come on, no one will hurt you. Promise.”
It’s okay, sweetheart, go and let Trey check your ears out, Aiden said quietly. Allister won’t hurt you. He knows I’d kill him if he did.
You can’t even kill a fly right now, she shot back to him in his mind. “All right.” She hoped that the volume was down when she said it. She took the hand offered to her and then added, “Don’t you dare hurt him. He’s been hurt enough.”
“Aiden’s my twin. Trust me, I know just what pain he’s suffered and is suffering,” he told her, taking her hand and gently helping her off the stool. Guiding her over to Trey, he sat her down. “Trey, this is…a friend,” he shrugged. Patting her hand, he let go and went back to his brother to look at how he was strung up. “This is going to hurt, bro,” he murmured, knowing the woman couldn’t hear him.
I know, Aiden murmured softly to his brother. Just do it quick so I can pass out, he told him, peering at him through the one semi-good eye.
Nodding, Allister waved over the Bear twins. “He’s going to drop like a bag of hammers. Get ready,” he told them and moved to the control panel. At their nod he hit the release and flinched at the scream of pain from Aiden as he fell and then the absolute silence. Shaking, he ran a hand over his head and walked back to where they’d eased him down.
“His shoulders are both dislocated,” Mac said as they checked him out slowly. “He needs a hospital, but I don’t think we should take him anywhere near the human ones.”
“We’ll take him back to base. Our doctors should tend to him,” Allister said honestly, dropping to a knee beside his twin. “Gods, what the hell did they do to him?”
“Anything and everything they could,” Sully said honestly. “The why is what I’m really curious about.”
Lina winced as she watched her man falling to the ground. Lord, she wanted to rush forward and catch him herself, but she didn’t. She looked up at the big guy tending her and frowned. It wasn’t until the next man walked in that she felt fear, plain and simple, unadulterated, fear.
Bulldog walked into the room and took in everything. He saw the young woman in the hoodie and dismissed her to look to Aiden. “How is he, boys?”
Lina began to edge toward the door. God, she had to get out of there. She had to get out of there before her worst nightmare in the entire world came true. She couldn’t believe it. She was seeing the large man there looking exactly the same as he had twenty-four years earlier in the only photos that she had of him, of her father.
“He’s in bad shape, Bulldog. We need to get him an evac out of here,” Sully said using Talon’s call sign as he turned to look at their boss. “Trey, runner!” he yelled as the girl bolted for the door. But Talon beat her there, easily, so much so she ran right into him and bounced off into Trey’s arms.
“Going somewhere?” Talon asked curiously as he stared down at the woman. “Who’s this?” he asked Trey as he steadied her and set her back in the chair with a warning look.
“She was tending Aiden, the doctor that Skittles mentioned. She’s also his bond-mate, too,” Allister said softly as he helped the brothers move his brother onto the gurney that one of Omega Team brought in.
Lina pulled back into herself, tugging the hoodie up and over her too-recognizable chestnut hair and dipping her head so that he couldn’t see her eyes, couldn’t see his eyes looking back at him. She jerked when he touched her and shook her head. Inside of her head she was panicking, pure and simple. She knew her heart was racing, knew that her blood pressure was through the roof, and knew she would pass out if he didn’t let her go. Good lord, her mother had to have sent this man here to remind her of just why you didn’t give yourself away for another.
Frowning at the woman’s odd behavior, Talon turned at the low threatening growl. “Who was that?” he asked. All eyes fell on Aiden, his lip, swollen and deformed, was clearly curled up over a longer-than-normal incisor.
“Holy shit,” Sully said, inching back a little as Mac did the same. Hell, even Allister moved a bit from his brother. “Al, what the hell, dude?”
“Shh,” Allister said as he listened to his brother. “He can feel her distress and upset and said to back the fuck off.” Looking to Talon, he grinned. “That’s the abbreviated version without all the nasty shit added in, just so you know.”
Lina looked to her fallen angel and whispered in his mind again. I can’t stay here. Oh God, please, I can’t be here. She felt tears falling. He’s a reminder of why I can’t love. A reminder of why I can’t give myself because giving yourself fully to a man only ends in heartbreak. Please, ask them to let me go.
You can’t lea
ve me, not now. Aiden breathed out through the pain. Please don’t leave me, not again. He still remembered the last time she’d bolted off. The memory cut through him harshly and it hurt worse than any other wound he had. I need you with me. I know you probably don’t understand, but you are everything to me. Please don’t leave.
Lina was crying and holding her arms tightly around her waist. Finally she nodded, let out a breath, and said, All right. I will stay, but please don’t ask me to be close to him.
Relaxing instantly, Aiden let out a breath. I don’t want you near anyone but me, he told her honestly. Come and hold my hand. Talon will stay away from you, I promise, he whispered gently in her mind. Wiggling his seriously painful fingers, he hoped she’d get the hint and come closer. Warning the others of what he’d asked her to do, he waited to see what she’d do.
Lina moved to his side. Her hand catching his hand in hers, she leaned in close to him. “Now then, calm down,” she whispered. She was sure that she didn’t see what she had thought she had seen, so she simply leaned in close to him. Her forehead to his, she whispered, “Calm down.” Lord, she didn’t know his name and he didn’t know hers. She knew nothing about this man. All she knew was that her father was tossed into her path. Was this some cosmic joke or something?
Hearing her thought, Aiden stilled and shot a look at Talon, who was talking with Trey and the others softly, not a thing amiss. Sweetheart, he doesn’t know, he told her honestly and waited until her eyes met his. I heard your thought. Trust me, if he knew he had a daughter, he’d have had you close to him all this time. I’ve been with Talon for the last…really long time. None of us knew about you. He could see she didn’t believe him so he let it drop, for the moment. I’m Aiden, he whispered. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. I was…distracted. What’s your name, little love?