“Thank you,” she whispered into his hair as she clung to him.
“I told you I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, my sweet Stella,” he said softly. When she looked up at him, he swore he saw the love in her eyes.
“Well, before we go, she needs to meet and greet all of your security. Line them up, Danforth.”
“I don’t like you bossing me around,” he stated. “You’ve left a mess for me to clean up.”
“DADDY! They saved me again. Do it for Christ’s sake and stop being a dick!”
He actually gasped.
Zayn laughed. “I like her bossy. It’s sexy.”
The man stormed away.
“Are you going to be okay alone?” Dakota asked, checking out his body.
“Yeah, once I get her into the house, I can keep the place locked down. We have security. I’ll make sure she’s safe.”
“Can I cuddle with…?”
He stared at her. “You had better be saying my name,” he said, teasing her.
“I was going to say Odin, but okay.”
“Tossed over for a dog. How embarrassing. Then again, my dog is a fine one.”
He pointed at the man. “Don’t make me hurt you. I stopped a car. Imagine what I can do to a fleshy meat suit?”
He got the point.
“Stella will be safe.”
“Good. We’re taking a little trip to Best’s home address, and then to a few of the spots in the man’s GPS. Hopefully, we find his cohort.”
“Can you drop us off?” Zayn asked. “I don’t trust anyone to drive us anywhere, and I’m pretty beat up. If they wanted to make a move, now is the time to do it.”
They got it.
“Yeah, we’ll drop you off, and you make sure the house is in lockdown.”
Oh, he would.
“Stella, sweetness, go get your bag. We’ll have you look at the men outside. If you see any you think were involved, point them out.”
“You’re not going to kill them, are you?”
He tensed. “Why?”
“They weigh on your soul. I can see it in your eyes,” she said, touching his injured cheek.
“Yeah, I don’t have a soul. I lost that a long time ago, honey.”
She didn’t bat an eye.
“Then I’ll fill its place.”
His heart skipped.
She already was. For the first time, in a long time, he felt whole.
“Get your bag, sweetness.”
She headed up the stairs. When she was gone, both men with him grinned.
“I’m not pussy whipped,” he said, warning them.
Rogue patted him on the shoulder. “Someone’s getting married. Can I be the best man?”
He snorted.
“You two can fight for it among yourselves. The winner takes all.”
Both men laughed.
It was amazing how fast a bond could be made. From them to him, and from him to Stella.
Fate…
She had a freaking plan.
Most of the damn time.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
Chartres Street
When she got there, she pulled out the key that Elizabeth had given her and checked out the location.
Someone was rolling in the bucks. This place was the shit if she ever saw it. From the gorgeous stone exterior to the window boxes filled with decorations all the way up the building.
This place was a-freaking-mazing.
Still…
To say that Sarah was nervous would be an understatement. She was scared shitless.
There were so many possible ways this could go down. She could knock and he’d close the door in her face.
She could knock and no one would be there.
She could…
Sarah had to stop.
She was making herself insane. Instead, she just went with it and hoped for the best.
When she knocked on the door, no one answered. Gently, she slid the key in, and then opened the door. At the security keypad, she used the number Elizabeth had given her, and she prayed that they were the same as the outer gate.
When the red light went green, she was good to go.
Dragging her luggage inside, she looked around. The place was pretty spectacular. She didn’t know why she was shocked.
Callen had bought it for his wife.
That woman had all the luck.
He was a famous author, married to a deputy director of the FBI, and they both worshiped Elizabeth ‘kickass’ Blackhawk.
Why was she surprised?
Inside the main area, she walked around. It was decorated like some French home you might find during French Classical times.
But it was missing something.
A Christmas tree!
It really needed one.
Still, the home was really big and very pretty.
In the kitchen, she looked around. While she told herself that she was looking for Dakota, that was a lie. She was learning the lay of the land.
She wasn’t leaving without him.
Honestly, if he kicked her out, she was screwed. She’d given up her job as a marshal. She only had him in her life.
Climbing the marble staircase, she stopped to look out one of the balcony windows at the top of the stairs. ‘Rogue Park’ was across the street, and she could see ‘Café Du Monde’ right there.
There were people milling around, Santas dressed in their holiday fare, and someone selling trees.
Well, shit.
They needed one of them.
After all, she was like his present.
This was pretty amazing. Sarah had always wanted to see New Orleans, and it looked like she was getting her wish.
It was such a unique place in the world. It’s where French met Southern, and a whole lot of bizarre mixed in.
It was perfect for them.
Heading down the hall, she checked out the surrounding space. The furniture looked to be the real deal.
Why wasn’t she surprised?
Opening one door, she found a neat area and a big wolf watching her.
Well, holy shit!
She didn’t move.
“Hi, doggy,” she said.
It stared at her, it’s gray eyes watching her.
“Are you a good doggie?”
He hopped off the bed, and she tried not to freak out. There was no way she’d get out the door before it was on her.
Crap!
This was bad.
As the dog moved toward her, she’d read something about they could sense fear, and not to run or look away.
She got down, praying it was the same for wolves.
“I’m Sarah,” she said, holding out her hand.
It sniffed her.
“Can you sit?”
It did.
“Can you roll over?”
It did.
She laughed.
“You don’t by any chance give kisses, do you?”
The dog licked her face.
“I FREAKING love New Orleans!” she said, laughing. “Want to come with me to find my man?”
The dog watched her.
“Which way to Dakota?”
She followed behind to the top of the house. Sarah wasn’t sure why he skipped a floor, but maybe the dog knew something that she didn’t.
On the top floor, she opened the big mahogany doors, and she knew it wasn’t his. The cologne smell was off.
She’d know his scent anywhere. She was like a wolf tracking her mate.
Then she looked down and laughed.
The big dog bumped her leg.
“Okay, we’ll keep going.”
Yeah, this wasn’t his area.
On the middle floor of the big house, there was a giant canopy bed. It was neatly made, and in it, she could smell him.
That wasn’t enough.
She was going to make sure.
Opening the closet, she found his normal attire. Bringing one to her nose, she nearly wanted to weep.<
br />
God!
She found him.
This was where she was going to put her things. She wasn’t leaving, and he was going to have to accept that.
At the dresser, she saw a pile of change, a folder with Bonnie’s name on it, and a shoe box.
Gently, she opened the box.
Inside, what she found nearly stopped her heart.
There were all her letters.
Elizabeth had to have been the one who got them to him. She really loved that woman at that moment.
Sarah checked them out.
They had been opened, read, and reread. The crease in them showed wear.
That was a man who was in love.
This helped her.
She was doing the right thing.
He did love her.
“I’m here, Dakota. Where the hell are you?” she asked, looking around.
The dog barked.
Well, it looked like she was going to get her gear and cop a squat, or better yet…
She would buy a Christmas tree.
This was a new day
Sarah wasn’t giving up.
Heading down, she was thinking of their future.
She was going to get him to commit.
This was going to be the best holiday season ever.
She knew it.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
When they dropped them off, he was given the code to the security and the key. Zayn was going to get them both off their feet. It had been a brutal day, and they would be so much safer in his locked bedroom. Then he’d only have to watch one door and one wall.
Besides, he needed to pop something. He was ready to drop from the pain radiating through his body.
As he headed in, he reached for the control pad.
It was deactivated.
That alone set him on guard. Rogue had just told him that he was going to need to deactivate it.
He pushed Stella behind him and rounded the corner. When he did, he pulled his gun in time to have someone else pull hers.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He focused on her. “Sarah?”
She looked confused as she was decorating the tree she’d bought.
“Yes, I’m Sarah. Do I know you?”
He holstered his gun. “No, but I know you. I’m Zayn Thundercloud. This is Stella Harrington.”
“You look like you got run over.”
He laughed. “Now I see why Dakota loves you. You’re blunt.”
She stared at him. “He told you about me?”
He laughed, pulling his girl under his arm. “Yeah, he told us about the love of his life, Sarah Valley.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Uh, are you okay?” Stella asked.
“Why the hell can he tell the world he loves me, but he can’t say it to me without running away?”
“Oh, honey!” Stella said as the woman began crying. “It’s okay,” she stated.
They moved back into the living room.
“I knew I smelled pine,” Zayn stated. “It’s a great tree,” he said, realizing that it was going to be Christmas soon.
“I wanted to surprise him,” she said, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. “He’s going to kick me out,” she said, taking a seat on the couch with Stella.
Zayn didn’t want to really deal with girl drama, but Stella was already clucking over the woman.
Well, so much for a pain pill and sleep.
“What happened?” Stella asked.
Then the dam broke, and Zayn and Stella did what they could to comfort her.
Dakota was a total asshole.
And here was the proof.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
Logan Best’s
Apartment
When they got there, it was empty. The place had nothing in it, and there wasn’t even furniture. They knew because they broke in to case the joint.
The place was cleaner than clean.
It had been wiped.
They didn’t doubt that the man who tried to take Stella a while ago made sure his pad was empty in case something like this happened.
He likely had a hidey-hole that he used to stay out of sight.
Christ!
The rats were going under, and they were so close to losing them.
“This is frustrating,” stated Rogue. “It’s harder when you try to do things the legal way.”
He laughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. Being the law is so much more difficult.”
They didn’t find so much as a scrap of paper.
As they were checking beneath loose floorboards, the man’s phone beeped.
Not his.
Not Rogue’s.
The dead man’s.
He pulled it out and pulled up the message.
‘We have to call off the meet. The heat is on. We’ll regroup tonight at the location we set. If you’re not there, we’ll assume you’re busted.’
“Well, that sucks.”
Rogue agreed. “What are we going to do?”
He wasn’t sure he had an answer. As a hunter, someone who chased criminals all over the US, he would have relied on his partner to do some legwork.
That was how they rolled.
He hunted, she did all his research.
God!
He missed her.
“I guess we’ll head back to the base and start looking up all of these addresses on Google to see which seemed like a place a bunch of kidnappers would hit to meet up.”
That sounded logical.
It worked for him.
Pulling out his phone, he messaged Zayn. He didn’t want to get shot when they walked in the door. The man was on edge as it was, and they didn’t need to be taking a trip to the ER.
Or morgue…
‘On our way in. It was a bust. Don’t shoot. It’ll be us.’
He waited for the reply.
‘You had better hurry. Something came up. Get here as soon as you can.’
Dakota sensed the urgency in his message.
“We had better get to the house and fast. I don’t like that text,” he said, calling the man but not getting any answer.
Something was up, and he didn’t know what the hell to expect.
Chapter Ten
Four Twenty-Five
Chartres Street
W hen he raced into the house, he didn’t know if there was an emergency or a fatality. With the day they were having, it could be either. He saw Zayn sitting on the couch with Stella by his side, doing normal things. In fact, they didn’t look freaked out, and he wasn’t sure what the hell was going on.
“What? You said something came up.”
He pointed toward the Christmas tree.
“When did we decide to put up a tree?” he asked. Truth be told, he didn’t want to think about the holiday. He was miserable and alone.
Well, he was with two killers.
That said it all.
“Take a closer look. You have a present,” Zayn said, sipping a beer.
Dakota moved closer, and the second he did, he saw her.
“Jesus.”
Sarah moved out from behind the tree.
“Hello, Dakota.”
He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do. The rational part of him wanted to tell her to run. The male part, that was crazy about her, wanted to hold her and never let her go.
“I came because you need someone to have your back. Bonnie is going to kill you because you’re obsessed. I have to fight for you. I have to protect the man I love.”
His heart skipped.
When he didn’t move, she headed his way.
“You’ve aged, Dakota. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders,” she said, standing right in front of him. When she reached up, she touched his scruffy cheek. There was a spattering of gray going through it, and he’d never looked sexier. From the brown hair, a little too long, to the deep brown eyes that showed so much pain—she’d never seen a more hands
ome man in her whole life.
He couldn’t breathe.
“I came because I love you, and I’m tired of being left behind. I came to make a stand with you.”
“Your job…”
“I quit. I turned in my badge, and I walked away from the ONLY thing I ever wanted to do.”
He looked horrified.
“Why?”
“Because I realized that it was just a job. You were the only thing I ever really wanted, and it was a way to find my soulmate. My heart can’t live without you. I quit to be with you.”
She waited for the anger.
She waited for him to kick her out.
“Oh, Sarah,” he said, pulling her into his body and bringing his mouth to hers.
No one in all his life had ever done something like that. She gave up her future for him. If that wasn’t love, he didn’t know what was.
When he set her mouth free, he stared into her baby blue eyes. “I love you, Sarah. God! I missed you!”
Tears filled her eyes. “Thank you for not throwing me out of your life again. I didn’t think I could handle it again if you did it.”
He wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m so sorry I hurt you six months ago. I shouldn’t have left you behind. I should have held out my hand and offered you the opportunity to go with me.”
“I would have quit with you that day, Dakota. I would have come here and helped you had I thought you wanted me.”
He saw that now.
His actions hurt her.
Then the fear settled in. “Bonnie,” he said, feeling that bone jarring terror. “She’ll aim at you.”
She stopped him. “Then, either way, Dakota, one of us will lose. If I stay away, I lose you. If I stay, you lose me. If we’re going to die, why can’t we have now? Why can’t I be with the man I love because you matter to me?”
He couldn’t answer her.
“If you send her away,” Zayn said, “we are going to kick your ass. You just gave us the lecture on love and how you missed her so much.”
Atonement: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book One) Page 16