by Susan Bliler
“I warned you not to fuck with her!”
She recognized her brother’s enraged tone. After spending weeks with him, it was still difficult to think of Mason EnemyHunter as her family, her brother.
“I’m keeping her safe! Look at her!”
Remy? What were they fighting about?
“It’s the best way, Mason, and it’s the only way if you’re going to allow her to finish training.”
“Maybe I’ll call the whole damn thing off!”
NO!
“Go ahead,” Remy challenged. “If she were mine, she wouldn’t be anywhere near…”
There was a loud crash, then Mason’s rumbled growl. “She. Is. Not. Yours!”
“GENTLEMEN!” Jenny bellowed. “She’s waking up.”
Harlow forced her weary eyes open. She was still in the infirmary. Her drugged gaze jerked around the room until her eyes landed on Mason, then jumped to Remy. Their hands were fisted in each other’s shirts as they turned to scowl at her. She let her eyes drift to Jenny, clearing cleared her dry throat. “Can you put me back out?”
Jenny smiled.
“Leave us,” Mason commanded. “Both of you!”
Harlow turned her gaze to Remy watching as he stared at her, his expression softening for a moment before he masked it, exiting the room with Jenny fast on his heels.
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
She fought a wave of dizziness as she forced herself to a sitting position. “For what?”
“Damn it, Harlow! This isn’t a joke. I’m gonna kill that bastard when I get my hands on him.” He paced the room angrily. “You should have told me what was happening.”
“Training was happening,” she supplied coolly. “Everyone gets a little roughed up.”
“I saw your medical records. You weren’t getting roughed up; you were getting your ass kicked.”
Indignation rose swiftly, lending her the strength to hop off the table. She had to brace herself for long moments before she trusted her legs to hold her up. “You’re exaggerating. I’m fine.” Though when she curled an arm around her midsection, she felt odd material and looked down to see that her midsection had been wrapped. She made to take a step for the door, but when her knee buckled, Mason caught her, setting her back on the exam table with a displeased growl.
“I’m pulling you out of training. We’ll find you a position elsewhere.”
Harlow froze. He couldn’t do this to her. She’d be the laughing stock of the tactical team if she let a few bruises end it for her. She turned determined eyes on her brother. “I’m not quitting, Mason.” She hadn’t known him long, but one thing she’d learned quickly was that asking didn’t work with her brother.
“I’m not leaving you out there for those damn humans to attack you.”
“I’m one of those damn humans, and you can’t make me quit.” She fought the tremble of her lower lip at the thought of giving up.
He shoved an angry hand through his light-brown hair. “Don’t look at me like that.”
She knew he hated to see her upset, and if she had to use it to get her way, she would. Conjuring up tears wasn’t difficult. She’d had a long day, and with the threat of being pulled out of training, she was raw with unshed emotion. “If you pull me out of training…I’ll leave.” She watched his jaw work as his eyes flashed dangerously.
“You’re not staying on that team.”
“I wasn’t going to. Remy…Commander McCabe moved me to a different team. Let me finish what I started.”
“The only other teams are the Spec Ops who’ve just been sent on mission, and Remy’s team of Walkers.”
“Yes.”
Something dark crossed his features. “I told you. I don’t want you near Remy McCabe.”
“Why?” she challenged. “What is it with you two? Why do you hate each other so much?”
“There’s nothing with us two! I simply despise the man.”
She didn’t have to be a Walker to know her brother was lying to her. “I mean it, Mace. Let me stay on Remy’s team or ship me home. Those are your options.”
“This is your home,” he ground out from between clenched teeth, but she could tell some of the fight had left him.
“Look, you don’t like Remy, for reasons only God knows, but it’s a suitable option. I get to keep training, and you get the peace of mind of knowing that he’s keeping an eye on me.”
“I don’t want him keeping an eye on you!”
“He won’t let the other trainees rough me up.” She shook her head. “That’s all I meant.”
Silence settled between them and Harlow could only watch as Mason began pacing, his jaw working all the while as his expression darkened. He was going to lose this battle, and they both knew it.
“Mace?”
“Fine,” he barked as he spun on her. “But if I find out that Remy McCabe has laid so much as a finger on you, I’m going to wipe him off the face of the Earth.”
Lay a finger on me? “It’s not like that. He’s my trainer, not my…”
“He’s your nothing!” Mason was in her face in a flash. “And so help me, Harlow, you’d better remember it!” Turning, he stalked angrily from the room, the door drifting closed behind him.
For someone who was supposed to have just been saved from her own personal hell, she was taking quite a beating from the two main men in her life.
Chapter 12
Three weeks later, and nowhere near fully healed, Harlow was standing at attention in formation with four male Walkers. The sight was pitiful. The top of her head barely reached the Walkers’ collar bones. Still, she lifted her chin and stood as straight as possible. Stone faced, and refusing to be intimidated by her new digs.
Remy had made her stay in the infirmary for a full three-weeks to be monitored. David hadn’t broken any bones, but she had cracked ribs, and that was enough to shove Remy into over-protective mode. He’d ensured her nutrition was back up to par, had her head scanned to make sure there was no permanent damage from her concussion, and was making sure her ribs had the best chance at healing. He’d visited her daily and, like her brother, had tried to talk her into quitting training. It seemed no one wanted her as a Walker Sentry. She’d hoped to get some backup from Nyree and Beth, but Mason hadn’t been lying when he said the other Sentry team had been sent out on mission.
Mason had informed her that morning that he’d stop by the infirmary to escort her back to the training field. He’d wanted to introduce her to her new team, but she’d ditched him. The last thing she needed was her older brother attempting to intimidate her new teammates into accepting her. Instead, she’d woken early, showered, pulled her hair back into a tight pony tail, dressed in her black BDUs, and double-timed it to the training field. The all-Walker team hadn’t been difficult to find.
She’d stepped onto the field to discover her old team, minus David, lounging around, waiting for training to begin. They’d greeted her warmly…maybe too warmly. Their sentiments seemed sorrowful, and she felt a pang of guilt for abandoning them, but she had to do what she needed to finish her training, and this was the only way Mason would allow it to happen. After a round of hugs her ribs ached, but she hid it as best she could. Her former teammates were large, but their size was nothing compared to that of the members of her new team.
The Walker males stood in perfect formation with little small talk, except for one member who’d later introduced himself as James. Not wanting to appear timid, Harlow introduced herself to each Walker in succession. She knew one, Shane. He was the one who’d done some one-on-one training with her. The other Walker was Recker, who had been the one to break into her house and drug her. A fourth teammate, Legion, was apparently away on a mission, but it must not have been too dangerous because James made goo-goo eyes and fanned himself when he told her. After that, James took a moment to explain that the team was aware of the problems she’d endured on the human team. He assured her that no Walker would ever intentionally harm a femal
e, and that if any Walker on the team injured her, even unintentionally, he’d take care of it. He explained that one of his best friends, York, had recently mated a human woman and, out of respect for her, he wouldn’t tolerate the slightest affront to Harlow.
Harlow nodded gratefully, but couldn’t help but wonder if Mason had paid the Walker to be some form of personal bodyguard.
Without warning the Walker men snapped to attention. Dazed, Harlow’s eyes shot forward, and she snapped to her best rigidity.
Remy stalked past as he began barking orders. It was odd to see him like this. He’d been so attentive and almost gentle with her when he’d visited in the infirmary. Watching him from the corner of her eye she felt her attraction to him soar, knowing she’d have to work even harder now to keep her distance. She was on an all-Walker team after all, and where the humans on her previous team hadn’t scented her attraction to Remy, the Walkers standing beside her surely would.
“Fall out!” Remy commanded, but Harlow didn’t move.
Too busy formulating a plan to hide her infatuation, she’d missed his entire dialogue. Turning, she made to follow her team when Remy caught her arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Turning to face him, she kept her eyes averted. “With my team, Sir.”
“Wrong.” He released her and pointed in front of him. “It’ll be you and I for some one-on-one. I need to make sure you’re up to snuff.”
She glanced over her shoulder at her team who were forming a fight circle and preparing to battle.
“Today, EnemyHunter!”
Turning, she faced forward and marched to the spot where he’d been pointing. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her former team in a circle of their own, two combatants in the center duking it out. Fear hit hard. She didn’t know if she was up for this. How hard did Remy expect her to go?
Turning to face him, she lifted her balled fists, but still didn’t meet his eyes.
He squared off against her and she disappeared in the shadow his larger body cast over her. “Eyes on me.”
She didn’t look up. Instead, she kept her eyes pinned to his chest, hoping to be quick enough to move when he did.
She wasn’t.
One second she was tensed and ready to go, the next his large foot swept hers out and she was falling. He caught her, quickly lowering her to the ground before his big body pressed into hers.
***
Remy had Harlow pinned to the ground, and even then she refused to meet his gaze. Indignation flared to life, and for all his worth, Remy couldn’t understand why her refusal to make eye contact wounded him. It was like she was trying to hide from him. He wondered if she was upset because he’d taken her to the infirmary. Maybe she was mad that Mason had found out? Maybe she was still too injured to be back with the team. Or, just perhaps, she simply didn’t like him.
“Look at me!” he challenged, collaring her throat with one strong hand.
Tentatively, Harlow’s eyes found his. Beneath his hand he felt the slender column of her throat convulse as she swallowed, the pulse of her heartbeat tripping before increasing in speed beneath his fingers.
Staring down, he was careful not to crush her. Hell, when he’d tripped her he didn’t really expect her to fall, so he’d had to move really quickly to ensure she didn’t hurt herself when she went down. Now, staring at her as she kept her eyes pinned over his shoulder, he noted how the deep-green of her eyes was darker around the edges, fading to a near-hazel in the center, little flecks of gold erupting in time with the roiling emotion he scented coming from her. Fear, frustration, anger. And…something else.
“Why don’t you look at Walkers?” he demanded.
She didn’t hesitate. “I’m trying to make a habit of not forming bonds. It’ll save me heartache should anything happen to a teammate.”
The scent of her lie was bitter, like marigold. His hand tightened around her throat and the scent of fear spiked.
“You know I can scent the lie. Why try?”
She struggled beneath him, and he growled from the exquisite friction caused by her slight framed pinned beneath his. It reminded him of fucking her.
“Stop!” he commanded, fighting back a wave of arousal. It took all his strength to keep a full erection at bay. As it was, he was half-hard where he rested in the cradle of her thighs.
“A lie is less humiliating than the truth,” she spat. “Get off of me.”
He didn’t budge. “And the truth is?”
Harlow snapped her eyes to his, then attempted to turn her head away, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“I need to know if you have an aversion to Walkers, Ms. EnemyHunter. I’m not letting you near my team until I know you’re willing to accept them. If you can’t even look them in the fucking eye, then I find it difficult to believe that you’d take a bullet for one of them.”
“It’s not them, it’s you!” Her delicately-flushed cheeks paled with the admission and this time, when her angry eyes met his, he saw them flash with resignation.
“Meaning?”
“I don’t look at you because it reminds me of what we did. What we shared.”
Just that fast the becoming blush was back, burning high on her delicate cheekbones. This time when she jerked her head to the side to avoid his gaze, he allowed it.
“I’m…attracted to you, as if you didn’t already know, and it’s bad form. I don’t want to be the stereotypical recruit who’s infatuated with her instructor.”
The air bloomed with the sweetness of her honesty. He couldn’t help but query in a husky tone, “And are you?’
Harlow’s gaze jerked back to his. “Get. Off. Of. Me!”
Remy rolled to the side, capturing her wrist as he moved. Standing in one fluid motion, he pulled her up, steadying her with his hand at her lower back. She quickly jerked out of his grasp and rounded on him.
“I’m going to do my job, and I’m going to do it professionally, which means I’m going to keep my distance from you!”
“I’m the lead on your team,” he smirked.
Harlow dropped her eyes, turning away to mutter in a barely audible whisper, “And that’s all you’ll ever be.”
She was heading for her barracks before Remy could reply and it irked him that she thought she could simply dismiss him and…them! Frowning, he made to follow after her. She wasn’t in charge of how their relationship progressed, and she sure as hell wasn’t in charge of who he… He stopped himself. What am I doing? There was no Remy and Harlow, and it had to stay that way. She was right. He was her instructor, her Commander, and aside from a relationship being improper, there were more pressing issues, like the fact that she was Mason’s sister. A sister, he’d vowed to never touch!
Chapter 13
Monroe’s hand absently pressed the intercom button on his phone as it buzzed. He’d been pouring over invoices for hours. While it was Mason’s job to ensure finances were in order, every once in a while, Monroe liked to double-check to ensure there wasn’t anything his CFO missed.
“What?” Monroe growled, knowing his assistant Lilly was used to his abrupt demeanor.
“Uh, I’ve got a caller on the line demanding to speak with you. Says it’s urgent, but won’t provide a name and no number is showing up on the caller ID.”
Monroe lifted one hand, the other keeping his pen gliding over the paperwork beneath his fingers. “Put it through.” The line clicked and there were two short beeps before the call was transferred.
Monroe picked up the phone. “What?” he barked, annoyed that the caller had the audacity to contact him without willingly providing even a name to his assistant.
“They found you! You’ve got incoming!”
“What?” he snarled again as his hand stilled in its task of signing papers.
“ETA five minutes, Monroe! Get your people secure. Trouble’s coming to your fucking door!”
He recognized the voice. “HEY!” he shouted, trying to hold the ca
ller on the line. “Who? How? When?”
The sound of gnashing teeth carried over the line. “It’s them! And they’re coming RIGHT FUCKING NOW!”
“Get your ass here!”
“No.” The caller retorted. “And if you send Walkers after me, they won’t be coming back!”
The line went dead, and Monroe stared at the receiver for only a moment before shooting up from his desk and bellowing, “KING!”
***
Aaron rolled his eyes as he stood with Harlow’s former human team, milling about outside the chow hall after lunch. “I don’t believe in romancing,” he declared, responding to a verbal jab from Josef regarding love.
Brian gave him a high five. “Hell, yeah!”
Beside him, Josef smiled with an approving thumbs up.
And Harlow had had enough. Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent Enough! Her day had started out crappy when she’d confessed her true feeling to Remy. She’d hid out in her barracks until lunch then, like an idiot, she’d opted to sit with her old team at chow. And that had been a terrible mistake, as she’d had to endure listening to them disparage women for over an hour. “Present company excluded,” Aaron kept chiming in, smiling at her.
They’d groaned about how needy women were, they’d joked about how easy women were, and then they’d all taken turns regaling each other with stories of their exploits. Harlow was Fed. Up. Turning to Aaron outside the chow hall, she gave him an angry sneer. “Do you believe in pussy?”
Aaron’s brows hit his hairline. “Excuse me?”
Harlow shrugged, trying to rein in her anger. “If you believe in pussy, you’d better get acquainted with romance, real quick,” she snarled. “You won’t get the first without the latter. Not for long, anyway.”
Aaron scowled. “I’ve had plenty of sex without romance.”
“Exactly.”
Confusion clouded his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Meaning?”
Harlow turned fully to face him. “Meaning, you’ve had ‘sex’, Aaron.” She cast her gaze to include Josef and Brian. “You all have. But if you’ve only ever had sex without any romance involved, then you’ve never shared any real intimacy with a woman. I’m sure you’ve fucked in every position imaginable.” She cocked her head. “But what women allow you to take from them is nothing compared to what it can be like when it isn’t you taking, but a woman giving. A woman sharing.”