Into the Mist fmg-1

by Maya Banks

  They hustled Tyana into the helicopter, and Eli didn’t ask. He piled in behind them, leaving Mad Dog with the Falcon secondary.

  Eli and Jonah exchanged a long look before Jonah finally nodded his acceptance.

  The helicopter rose as the two medics worked in unison, one intubating her while the other started dual IVs.

  * * *

  Eli paced the confines of the waiting room of the private hospital. He’d refused treatment himself, and one of the medics who’d brought Tyana in slapped a bandage on the bloody crease on his arm, but Eli didn’t give it a second glance.

  He wanted answers. A lot of them. Gabe was dead. Ian and Braden were being examined by the Falcon doctor, Marcus, so he couldn’t even ask them what went down with Gabe.

  And Tyana. He closed his eyes. She was still in surgery. Her prognosis had been grim with the amount of blood loss. Jonah and Mad Dog stood at the far window, their faces locked in stone. Damiano sat with his face in his hands, alone, away from the others.

  Several hours into their vigil, Ian and Braden walked into the waiting room accompanied by Marcus. Faint hope glimmered in their eyes. He wanted to ask about Gabe but forced himself to first ask what Marcus had been able to determine.

  “He thinks daily injections will work for a while and the inhibitor will work for sudden and uncontrolled shifts,” Ian said as they gathered close to Eli.

  “But as I told your men, it could only be temporary. If they become acclimated to the drug, the effectiveness is lost. It could very well be that what has happened with Damiano will happen to them,” Marcus added.

  Eli nodded grimly.

  “Jonah is in the process of getting me all the data and computer files from the research facility. If there is a way I can find the original chemical composition used in the attack in Adharji, then maybe I can offer a more suitable alternative. Until then, as clichéd as it may sound, you can only take it one day at a time.”

  Marcus turned and walked over to sit by Damiano. Eli could hear him ask if Damiano was okay and if he needed another injection. Eli turned his focus on the two brothers.

  “What happened to Gabe?”

  A mixture of anger and sorrow crossed their features.

  “Tyana didn’t betray us, Eli,” Ian said. “Gabe did.”

  Eli’s brow twisted, and he leaned in closer. “What?”

  “He admitted it right before he died,” Braden said. “We got to him too late to get him out. He has a sister. A sister for God’s sake. He said that Esteban was threatening her, using her to make him sell us out.”

  Eli dragged a hand through his hair, caught the strands in a bunch and clenched his fist. “I don’t understand.”

  “He pleaded with us to save her,” Ian said quietly. “He said Esteban wants her. Rambled on about how he was stable. It didn’t make a lot of sense. Told us there was information in his laptop on how to find his sister. Said she was all he had.”

  Eli swore. Then he closed his eyes. Gabe had betrayed them? It certainly made more sense now. How else would Esteban have known they were in Argentina?

  “Why have Tyana go after us, then? It makes no sense.”

  Braden shrugged. “Maybe she was insurance in case Gabe flaked. He had to know she had some serious motivation to want to bring us in if it meant helping Damiano.”

  “I hate to break up the reunion, but you and I need to talk,” Jonah broke in. His eyes glittered, and behind him, Mad Dog stood, arms crossed, obviously planning to be a party to whatever conversation ensued.

  Eli turned to Ian. “Find Gabe’s laptop. Figure out what the hell this stuff is about his sister. We’ll figure out what to do about it later.”

  He stepped away from the brothers and eyed Jonah and Mad Dog cautiously.

  “Sorry about your man,” Mad Dog said gruffly.

  Eli nodded and wondered if they’d overheard Ian’s statement that Gabe had been the one who betrayed them.

  “I’m in a huge quandary about what to do about you,” Jonah said. “I should take you out.”

  Eli stared levelly at him. “You can try.”

  “I’d love to be able to blame you. Place all the blame on you,” Jonah continued, ignoring Eli’s challenge. “But I’m afraid Ty shoulders most of the blame for the situation she got herself into. Personally, I think you’re bad news. If I had my way, you wouldn’t be within a country of Ty.”

  “Let’s skip the chitchat, okay?” Eli snapped. “If you want to take this outside, let’s go. But to be perfectly honest, when Tyana wakes up, I don’t want to have to explain to her that I killed her freaking team.”

  “You seem awfully confident that she’s going to wake up. She took two bullets for you, Chance.”

  “She’ll live,” Eli gritted out. He wouldn’t entertain any alternative. She had to live.

  “You better hope she does because if she dies, your life isn’t going to be worth a damn thing.”

  “You’re right about that,” Eli said quietly. “If she dies, my life won’t be worth a damn thing.”

  Mad Dog’s eyes flickered, and his expression eased slightly.

  “Why did you come for us?” Eli asked. “Why bother? It’s obvious you’d prefer I wasn’t breathing.”

  Jonah stared coldly at him. “Because Ty would have come after you by herself. She was willing to quit Falcon for you. Tell me, Chance, are you worth it? Did she choose wrong?”

  Eli let out a long, pent-up breath. Tyana had been willing to give up her team for him? He shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

  Then he stared back at Jonah and hardened his gaze. “If you think I’m going to spill my guts to you, fuck off.”

  Jonah pressed in close, their noses just an inch apart. “If you think I’m going to hand over my sister to you, you fuck off. She stays with Falcon. With her family. If you want any part of her then you’ll have to come on her terms.”

  Eli didn’t back down. “What the fuck is this, a job offer?”

  Jonah relaxed the tiniest bit. “Falcon could use you. Your men need Marcus. We aren’t going to let Ty go. So you figure it out.”

  “Your human relations skills suck ass.”

  Mad Dog broke into laughter again. “Yeah, well get used to it. It doesn’t improve. Trust me.”

  Eli slid his gaze over to Mad Dog.

  “She was ours first,” Mad Dog said softly. “We look out for her. Always. If you have an interest in being part of her life you need to know that. It’s a package deal. We aren’t going away.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Eli muttered. “Do we at least get our own bedroom?”

  Jonah scowled again. “It wouldn’t be a good time to remind me of just how close you got to Ty. Now do we have an understanding?”

  Eli nodded. And hell, what else could he do? His team had gone to shit. Gabe was dead and now they had his sister to contend with. He needed Falcon, as much as it pissed him off to admit. But more than that, he needed Tyana. If having her with him meant putting up with her surly-ass legion of brothers, then oh well.

  Chapter Thirty

  Tyana opened her eyes and stared up at a pristine white ceiling. Her entire body felt stiff, and she quickly discovered that moving wasn’t much of an option. Panic set in. The last thing she remembered was being hauled down to a lower level by Esteban’s henchmen. Had she survived only to be held prisoner?

  “Hey, there she is.”

  Relief, sweet and cooling, washed over her as she heard Mad Dog’s voice. His face came into view along with Jonah’s. A warm hand closed over hers, and she slowly managed to move her head enough so that she could see Damiano sitting next to her.

  She was in a hospital. Alive. And there was a reason moving was so difficult. She glanced down to see her left arm and shoulder swathed in bandages and her left leg encased in stiff plaster.

  “What the hell did they do to me?” she grumbled.

  Relief sparked in Jonah’s dark eyes. Amusement lit Mad Dog’s. Then she saw him. Eli. Standing in the backgro
und.

  Their gazes locked as she looked hungrily at him. He was alive. He was safe. She went weak with the knowledge.

  Mad Dog bent over, temporarily obscuring her view of Eli. He kissed her forehead. “You scared the shit out of us, baby girl.”

  “The only reason I’m not kicking your ass is because it wouldn’t be a fair fight,” Jonah growled. “You look pitiful in all those bandages.”

  She laughed and promptly regretted it as pain wracked through her chest. Mother of God, she hurt. D squeezed her hand, and she turned her gaze to him. “You okay?” she asked softly.

  His eyes looked suspiciously wet. Then he shook his head. “Only you would wake up after three days in the hospital and ask if I’m okay.”

  Her eyes widened. “Three days? Was it that bad?”

  Jonah nodded, his expression grim. “We thought we were going to lose you, Ty.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Too much fun being a pain in your ass.”

  He finally cracked a smile. And then he bent and touched her cheek in a gentle gesture. “I love you too, little sister.”

  He stood and glanced back at Eli who was still in the background, standing there, hands shoved into his jeans pockets. Jonah directed a quick glance at Mad Dog and Damiano, and they started for the door.

  “We’ll be back later to check on you,” Damiano said.

  A few seconds later, she and Eli were alone. He walked slowly to the side of her bed and sat down in the chair vacated by D. He reached tentatively over and curled his hand around hers. His fingers trembled against her palm.

  “Ian and Braden?” she asked fearfully.

  “They’re fine,” he said.

  “Gabe?”

  Eli looked down and shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  His eyes flashed back up to hers. “Don’t be sorry. Gabe was the one who betrayed us. I let you walk into a trap. I let my men walk into a trap. You should have left us, Tyana. You never should have come back for us.”

  He broke off and looked to be struggling to compose himself.

  “How could I not?” she whispered.

  “You took a bullet for me. You took a bullet for my men. You owed us nothing, Tyana. I’m so goddamn mad at you for putting yourself in front of me. It should have been me.”

  His thumb stroked over her hand, gentle where his words were harsh.

  “I need you,” she said simply, and this time, it was easy to say. Light amidst the pain. Relief.

  “And I need you,” he said hoarsely. “Where does this leave us, sugar?”

  She pushed the pain and her blurry vision aside so she could focus. Sleep was calling to her, but this was important. Maybe the most important thing she’d ever do. Besides, laying your heart out wasn’t supposed to be easy.

  “I don’t know what you want…what you expect from me, Eli. But I can’t change. I’m a part of Falcon. My job is dangerous. Falcon is my family, though.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted into a crooked smile. “Jonah has already laid down the law in that regard. I think he was afraid I’d haul you away over my shoulder.”

  “I still have to find a way to help D. That priority hasn’t changed. I’m just going to try to be smarter about how I do it.”

  “That’s good, sugar, because between you and me, I don’t want you chasing some other guy down and seducing him.”

  She smiled and groaned.

  “We can do this later,” he said as he tenderly smoothed a hand over her brow. “You’re hurting. I can see it in those gorgeous eyes of yours. You need rest.”

  “No. Not yet.” She shook off his interruption and went back to the heart of the matter. “Can you accept that, Eli? Do we have any sort of future together?”

  He leaned over and took her free hand in both of his. He brought it to his lips and kissed each finger. “Jonah and I had a little talk. Seems he isn’t opposed to me joining Falcon, and he’s made it clear that’s the only way you and I will be together.” He laughed. “Protective, that one is. I imagine we’ll butt heads because we’re both used to being the boss, but I can deal with it.” His expression grew serious again. “What I can’t deal with is being without you.”

  She sighed, part in contentment and part in bone-deep weariness. “That would be perfect. Then I can look out for your ass.”

  He shook his head. “Life with you is going to be interesting to say the least, sugar.”

  “Eli? What about your team?”

  He sobered. “They’ve got some long days ahead. Marcus has examined them and has them on the same regimen he started Damiano on before he grew immune to it. We’ve got some loose ends to tie up with Gabe. A sister we didn’t know he had. I think your team just grew by three men. Think you can handle that?”

  She touched his mouth with her hand as his grip around her fingers loosened. “I think you and I will make a great team, Eli. I won’t lie to you and say it doesn’t scare me to death. I’ve never relied on anyone but myself and Falcon. I don’t know how good I’ll be at this, but I want to try.”

  “We’ll work it out, sugar. I’m not going anywhere. Now I want you to get some rest, okay? You’ve got a long recovery ahead of you.”

  She made a face, but her eyes were already closing. Try as she might, she couldn’t keep them open.

  She felt Eli’s lips on hers, light, loving. “I’ll get the nurse to give you something for pain, sugar. Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Tyana’s room resembled an army training camp. Six men, well, seven, if you counted the mild-mannered Marcus, stood in various poses, from slouching against the wall to being draped across too-small chairs. And Eli was parked on the bed next to her, his body pressed against her side.

  Black shirts, camo pants and combat boots. They looked like they were ready to go to war. While they’d refrained from carrying their rifles into the hospital, Tyana knew that Mad Dog would be sporting his knives.

  This was verified when he laid a sheathed knife on the bed next to her. It was identical to the one he’d given her before. The one she’d lost in Buenos Aires.

  She trailed her fingers over the polished hilt and smiled up at him. “Thanks, Mad Dog.”

  “Don’t lose this one, okay?”

  “She’s grown way too fond of those damn things,” Jonah grumbled.

  “I taught her well,” Mad Dog said.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked pointedly. “Doc says I can get out of here tomorrow, and after three weeks in here, I’m ready to crawl out if I have to.”

  Beside her, Eli stiffened. “Just cool your jets, sugar. You’re in no shape to do anything but what we tell you.”

  “Uh oh,” Mad Dog mumbled.

  Damiano cracked a grin while Ian and Braden glanced warily at Tyana.

  “When I get out of this cast, I’m going to kick your ass for that,” she said darkly, and elbowed him in the ribs with her good arm.

  “Well until then, I’d say you’re as helpless as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest,” Eli said smugly.

  She sighed. “I ask again. What’s the plan?”

  Jonah’s lips worked as he suppressed a smile. What was the world coming to when the brooding bastard was actually lightening up?

  “We go back to the island,” Jonah said. “We’re flying you home.”

  She glanced up at Eli a little anxiously.

  “Don’t worry, sugar, I’m coming too. Jonah even promised me a place at the dinner table if I mind my manners.”

  She laughed then looked over at Ian and Braden. Jonah also looked questioningly at them.

  “Braden and I are flying back to the States. We dug out the information on Gabe’s sister. If Gabe was telling the truth, then she’s probably in a lot of danger. I don’t know how much contact Gabe had with her so I don’t know how much, if anything, she knows, but we aim to find out.”

  “Need back-up?” Jonah asked.

&nb
sp; “No, it’s better if we do this alone. We want to attract as little attention as possible, and the last we heard, Falcon wasn’t exactly welcome in the U.S.,” Ian added with a grin.

  “That’s what happens when you blow shit up in Uncle Sam’s backyard,” Mad Dog murmured.

  “Will you be okay?” Jonah asked, and to Tyana’s surprise, he actually sounded concerned. Maybe her weeks in the hospital had resulted in a little male bonding.

  Braden nodded. “Marcus has been monitoring our progress. We’ve only had one uncontrolled shift in the last three weeks. The injections seem to be working well, and we have the inhibitor as back-up, and in a worst case scenario, we have tranquilizers that would knock an elephant on its ass.”

  “All right. If you need help, you know how to reach us.”

  Tyana’s gaze found Damiano, who had been quiet throughout the entire conversation. “How are you doing?” she asked softly.

  Marcus slid his hand over Damiano’s shoulder and squeezed in a gesture of support.

  “Better,” D replied. “I won’t say great, but I’m working on it.”

  “We’ll have plenty of time to work on it while you babysit me on the island,” she consoled.

  “I thought that was my job,” Eli said as he slid his arm around her neck. He landed a kiss on her temple, and she scowled.

  “Cut that shit out,” she grumbled. It was embarrassing in front of all the guys.

  He chuckled softly in her ear then leaned in closer. “If that makes you uncomfortable, I probably shouldn’t tell you that Jonah has moved you and me to our own wing. I’ll leave you to figure that one out.”

  Her cheeks warmed, and she fought the blush as it crept up her neck.

  The entire room burst out laughing. She watched them in awe, her heart lighting up as the people she loved most in the world smiled and joked.

  This…this was family. Her family. And that felt pretty damn good.

  About the Author

  Maya Banks is the pen name for Sharon Long, who writes for Samhain under both names. She lives in Texas with her husband, three children and assortment of cats. When she’s not writing, she can be found hunting, fishing or playing poker. A southern girl born and bred, Maya loves life below the Mason Dixon, and more importantly, loves bringing southern characters and settings to life in her stories.