COWBOY ROMANCE: Devon (Western Contemporary Alpha Male Bride Romance) (The Steele Brothers Book 2)

by Amanda Boone

  He took off into a run. The mission was one thing but this woman was another. And even as he ran, he continued to try to convince himself to turn around and take a deep breath, to take control of his emotions. But her figure had disappeared before him. He peered through the night, but he could no longer see her, only the man that held her, trembling from the strain.

  Javen crossed the street, reaching out for the masked man with the knife. He yanked him by the collar and a drove a punch right into his face. The man yelped in pain, releasing Valerie from his grip. She tumbled onto the ground, but picked herself up as soon as she could and took off into run, sprinting back into the main street. The other man immediately followed after her, dislodging his own knife from his belt.

  Javen pivoted on his heel to make after the man chasing Valerie, until he felt a strong grip on his ankle, ripping his foot from under him. Javen stumbled, throwing his hands out in front of him to catch his fall. He turned just in time to see the man swinging a knife at him. Javen grabbed his wrist with one hand, blocking the swing, then ripped the knife out of his hand.

  The man landed another punch into Javen’s gut, sharp pain spreading all across his body. Javen clenched his jaw, ignoring his screaming, torn abdomen and delivered another blow to the man’s face. His knuckles cracked at the impact, the man’s blood covering his hand. Before he had a chance to regain his composure, Javen jabbed the knife into his torso, his hand shaking with the resistance of the man’s abdominal muscles and internal organs. He lurched over, a sound something like the mix between a grunt and a screech pressing out of his bloody lips.

  Javen did not hesitate to turn around. By the time he had crossed the street, he could just see the man hopping over the short fence that separated the sidewalk of the seawall from the main road. Javen pushed himself, energy coursing through his veins, his lungs selfishly drawing in air, then discarding his hot breath.

  It didn’t take him long to see that he wasn’t running fast enough. The man had all but caught up with Valerie. Javen could feel her fear radiating through his veins, begging and hoping for help.

  A yelp escaped from her lips as the man grabbed her by her hair and yanked her back. Her feet lurched from under her and slammed onto the ground.

  Javen pushed himself still harder, kicking up sand as he ran.

  The man revealed his knife, the glinting metal flying through the air as he drove it into her gut. She screeched in pain. Her sobs and yells dangling in the night air.

  “Hey!”

  The man looked up just as Javen reached him. Anger turned his vision red-hot, beads of sweat sprouting on his forehead as he grabbed hold of the man’s neck. The man knelt before him, weakened by his grip, but Javen couldn’t bring himself to stop. Valerie shook and writhed beneath him, her breath catching as blood flowed freely out of her gut, but he still could not bring himself to stop.

  He detested these men for hurting her, for taking it upon themselves to destroy an innocent woman simply because they had the capability to do so. Javen could feel her silent, desperate plea for deliverance. It was a poison dragging him down but he would not block it out even if he could find the strength. He wanted to feel her pain. For the first time since Tyri, he needed to feel something other than the devastating hole her death had left behind. Valerie was his emotional scape goat. He was well-aware of this but that didn’t mean he could stop it.

  The man had begun to turn purple before Javen came to. He released his hands from his neck, a gasp falling out of his mouth. He couldn’t kill another sentient being. It was an absolute and unforgivable crime for Kaharans. So, he snatched up both knives and stowed them away in his wet suit.

  While the man remained unconscious, Javen turned his attention to Valerie, whose blood had already begun to pool all around her body. She had stopped writhing and had assumed a far more peaceful state, her chest rising and falling ever so slightly with her breath. Javen acted fast, ripping off her shirt so that he could then use it as a make-shift bandage for her wound. He took note of her fascinating features—her clear skin, tainted with the hue of a yellowing cauliflower, her hazel eyes and her ears, nearly as pointed as his. But he refused to let himself dwell on any of this. He needed to get her help.

  His first thought was to take her to the hospital, but he shot that down quickly. How could he justify delivering a badly injured Valerie James? He wasn’t a family member or known associate. In fact, he barely knew her himself. They would almost certainly think that he had something to do with the men that did this to her. He shuddered to think what the General in Kahara would do if his informant relayed the information that he had been tangled up in human affairs. That was completely unacceptable.

  Besides, what could the humans offer her amongst their sub-par and often incredibly barbaric treatments? She would be safer if he took her back with him. Besides, whoever sent these men to hurt her would be quick to check the hospitals for her first and then all of his efforts would have been in vain.

  So, Javen hoisted her over his shoulder, easily carrying her light body to the ocean. He focused on his breath, his chest rising and falling as he sucked in as much oxygen as he could take. He was going to have to breathe for the both of them. The water rose first to his knees, then his chest, then his neck. The weight of the woman began to drag him down as he the water pulled up over his head. He let her lead him to the depths, drawing her lips to his, ever so often, to make sure that she had enough gaseous nutrients.

  As he continued down farther and farther into the ocean, as the waters took him over, he realized that he had never felt calmer. Something about this woman’s presence silenced the demons in his mind. With every breath he blew into her system, he couldn’t help but feel as if they shared something bigger than the universes that had separated them.

  Finally, he reached the outer chamber of his underwater home and lab. He wrapped his arm around her torso, the strongest grip he could manage, then used his free hand to pull open the door to the chamber. Water rushed in, pulling him in with it. The door, which had been set by a timer, shut as soon as Javen could get himself and Valerie into the other side. A trap door lined with a vent opened under them, suction pulling at their bodies and emptying the chamber of all the water that had rushed into it.

  Javen let out a gasp, his lungs constricting at the shock as he looked up at the ceiling. His jaw swung open, buckets of air pouring in. Once he had caught his bearings, he looked back down at Valerie. For one wild moment, embarrassment flashed across his mind at the sight of her transparent bra but he dismissed the thought. She was absolutely stunning…

  But she wasn’t moving.

  Chapter Four

  Valerie had been saved by an angel. That was the only explanation. Death had greeted her with his insidious sneer but a force stronger than it had intervened and ripped her out of its clutches. Her mind was empty of all of its worries. Thoughts about the book and the investigation and the men who wanted her dead had no bearing in this new head of hers.

  But something wasn’t right.

  She was falling, her arms flailing around her for something, anything to grab onto and coming out empty handed every single time. Her chest felt hot and heavy, like someone had reached their hands into her rib cage and wrung out her lungs like a giant sponge.

  Ah. But there it was.

  Relief.

  Something like a kiss of air lifted her out of this, the glorious sensation of lips that cared for her. But alas, it only lasted a short minute.

  And then she was falling all over again.

  She felt like she had been filleted, her insides drawn out for everyone to see, but none of that mattered. She was cold. Frigid air froze her cells, that essential life energy quickly slipping away from her. There was desperation in the back of her mind, but it was not her own. There must have been another person there. She knew it had to have been her savior, but when she tried to open her mouth to tell him that she was okay, to thank him, her body wouldn’t move.

&n
bsp; There was a heavy blow to her chest.

  She let out a scream in her head, her back arching in pain. The sharp sensation traveled through her veins, but so did something else. It was like that kiss of air, but it lasted longer. It was far more crisp.

  It reached down and out to the far recesses of her body from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Then, more of the blows to her chest. She could taste the salt of the waves of water rumbling up through her chest. She could feel the beginnings of her eyes rolling open.

  She was aware of the hands on her sternum but she had to push herself. She began to scrunch up her abdomen, but the sharp pain stopped her. Still, she willed herself awake, using her own strength and that of her angel.

  Finally, she was able to wrench herself out of the depths. The force of the water rushing up through her throat propelled her off of the ground. Her head of thick wet hair flew around her, splashing salty water onto the walls. Strong arms clasped around her, a hand slamming on her back as water poured out of her mouth. The burn of salt and bile lingered, stinging her throat.

  “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  Valerie wiped her hand across her lips, blinking her eyes open so that she could get her first glimpse of the man that had saved her. Her heart started pounding against her chest at the sight of him. He had the most interesting eyes—dark purple with a kind of gray haze over them. His face held a precise bone structure with high cheekbones and a strong jaw. The wet hair laying down his neck and shoulders, punctuated with shades of gray, framed his perfect face.

  Valerie absentmindedly placed a palm on his strong chest, feeling his heartbeat under her hand. “Hi,” She whispered.

  He leaned into her. “Hi.”

  His warm breath sent her heart into overdrive. “I have to get you inside.” With that, he lifted her up into his arms.

  Valerie bit her lip, clutching onto his wet suit for support, but she didn’t need it. He held her as if she barely weighed over twenty pounds. She glanced all around her. She seemed to be in some sort of compressed chamber, but he took her to a door and entered a code into the small keypad. A loud buzzing sound rang through the chamber.

  Valerie winced as he pressed a large button under the keypad, allowing the door to open and revealing a dark corridor. He carried her through the hallway, which then opened up to an even larger space. There was a full, stainless steel kitchen and then an even smaller area that housed a day bed and a desk with a white lamp next to it.

  He set her down on the bed and clicked the lamp on. “What is this place?” Valerie asked, pressing her back against the back of the bed.

  The man went into his kitchen, which, upon second look, looked a lot like a lab as well, complete with test-tube holders and pipets. “It’s my station. I’m here on… scientific work.”

  Valerie narrowed her eyes. An underwater lab didn’t make much sense to her. “So, you’re a scientist?”

  He shook his head as he pulled open the fridge and retrieved an unmarked bottle of water. “I’m a Lieutenant in the military.”

  Valerie’s stomach lurched. “Are you Cuban?” She demanded as she took the water from him. Her mouth watered just at the sight of it, but when she took her first gulp, it became apparent that the sweet liquid was the farthest thing from water. As it splashed down her esophagus and into her empty stomach, she found that the pain in her abdomen was already starting to go away. She shifted the cloth that had been wrapped around her to reveal a wound that had already begun to crust over.

  The man laughed, the sound bringing a subconscious smile to Valerie’s face. “No, I’m Javen Ning and I do not have any earthly affiliations.”

  Valerie furrowed her brow. “That doesn’t make any sense,” She said.

  But then Javen placed a soft hand on her cheek, his eyes locked on hers. “Of course it does. Just think hard enough and the answer will come.”

  Valerie let her eyes flicker shut. She knew that if she could bring herself to sense his emotion deep enough, she might be able to uncover what he was hiding.

  But something wasn’t right. Her mind kept hitting some sort of mental block. It was like he refused to let her in. But that didn’t make much sense, because in order for him to refuse her entrance, he would have to know that she was knocking on the door in the first place, which meant… “You can do it too.”

  Javen’s lips folded into a smile. He nodded slowly. “I’m like you.”

  Valerie let out a slow breath. “I thought I was the only one. Well… my parents… they were more like me. I mean, they seemed to always know what to say and how to act it was like they had a constant read of everything I was feeling.”

  Javen nodded, taking a sip of his own water. He then set it down and reached for a blanket, which he then used to cover Valerie.

  Valerie shook her head. This was impossibly thoughtful of him.

  “Your parents were like you.”

  “What are the odds?”

  “Pardon?”

  “What are the odds that you would rescue me? That you would be exactly like me?”

  But Javen just raised an eyebrow. “It’s not as much of a coincidence as you think.”

  “What? Do you mean you were searching for me?”

  Javen leaned into her, placing a hand over hers.

  Valerie resented that her efforts to hide her anxiety had been in vain.

  “I am looking to reunite our kind. I want to tell you more. I want to tell you everything, but I cannot breathe another word until I am certain that you are what I think you are.”

  “And how do you plan to gain this certainty?” Valerie asked. She resented the idea of being held just outside of this exclusive club.

  “I can run a DNA test right here in my lab. It will only take a few hours and then you’ll know. All of those questions you’ve had your entire life can finally be answered.”

  It all sounded far too good to be true. Insane almost. But Valerie felt herself drawn to this man. Just looking at him was enough to send her heart into overdrive and her body on fire. She didn’t know if she could control herself being alone in a secluded lab with him for a couple of hours. She feared the consequences of actions she held practically inevitable. “But I have to get back. They will be looking for me.”

  Javen flexed his jaw. “They will be looking for you, which is exactly why I can’t take you back. Those men, whoever they were, will be waiting for you at the surface. We have to give it time. They need to think that you’re dead. Or else you won’t be able to survive the seawall.”

  Valerie knew he was trying to be persuasive, she could see it in his magnificent eyes, but as hard as it was, she needed to try to see things with her own mind. She evaluated his statement at face value. A short cost-benefit analysis told her that it didn’t matter whether he was just trying to be persuasive or not, he was right.

  “Okay,” She nodded. “Let’s do it.”

  Chapter Five

  Valerie hated needles, but somehow, Javen made it bearable. After fetching her a change of clothes that consisted of a pair of joggers and a large t-shirt, he began to massage her arm. Valerie had been given shots hundreds of times to immunize herself against diseases and such, but she had never been prepped so thoroughly. It was like a dance with Javen, for his touch was gold and had the power to eradicate all of her fears.

  “What could a person like you have done to be wanted killed?” Javen asked, right when he stuck the needle into her elbow.

  Valerie winced at the strong ache. “What do you mean a person like me?”

  He shrugged, his brow furrowed in concentration. “You’re a beautiful, obviously smart, woman with an advantage over everyone else. What did you do to get yourself in trouble?”

  Valerie’s heart fluttered at the complement. “I ousted one of the largest drug trafficking groups in the world.” She couldn’t help but feel pride just saying it out loud.

  Javen’s lips stretched into a crooked smile. “Did you really?” He said as he took
the vile of fresh blood into the kitchen.

  For lack of anything better to do, Valerie followed him. “Yes.”

  “And how did you manage that?” He said, turning to her with a cotton swab in his hand.

  Valerie shrugged. “I’m an accountant for a corporate law firm out in Miami. It just turns out that that very law firm is owned by a man affiliated with this group.” Valerie shuddered to remember the gory details of how she went from a happy, healthy employee, to a disillusioned woman running for her life. “He was laundering their money.”

  “Please open your mouth. I need a DNA sample.”

  Valerie felt a warmth in between her legs as he placed his hand on her face once more. It only lasted one short, agonizing moment.

  “So, how are you certain?” He asked as he drove the swab into a test tube full of a blue-ish liquid.

  Valerie frowned. “However anyone is certain. It was obvious the numbers didn’t add up. And the more I went asking, the more walls I hit. Then I started getting threats…” Valerie had to stop here. The last four months of her life had not been the easiest.

  Javen poured the sample of her blood into what looked like a drive, then plugged that drive into her computer. He then turned his attention to the mixture in the test tube.

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  Valerie let out a humorless laugh. “It is utterly remarkable that you even care.”

  After sticking the test-tube in a boxlike machine, Javen turned to face her. He took a step towards her, putting less than a foot between the two of them. Valerie could feel his body heat radiating from him. She lifted her hands, an instinctual gesture, and laid her palms on his chest. All restraint had left her. She was too tired to deny herself what she really wanted.

  Javen brushed his finger against her thigh. It was a small movement, but it spoke volumes. “How could I not?” He whispered, his gaze falling on her lips.