by Donna Grant
Andrew closed his eyes and counted to ten as he clamped down on the rage that threatened to explode. “I thought you wanted me to bring the Loughmans to justice.”
“We have something else for you to do first. The eldest son, Wyatt, just placed a call to his team. The Delta Force group is now readying to go to him. We have a member there. Make sure he’s up to date on what to do. Then, I want you to recruit another.”
“Sir, I don’t have the weeks that usually takes.”
“Then threaten a family member. I don’t care what you have to do, Andrew, but we want the Loughmans finished by dawn tomorrow. You’ve never failed us before. Don’t start now.”
Andrew opened his eyes, his mind already sorting through the various ways he could get to members of Wyatt’s Delta team. “I’m on it, sir.”
“Good. We’re expecting a grand celebration. Not just because of the Loughmans’ deaths and the destruction of everyone helping them, but because you will bring us Ragnarok.”
His task had just become harder, but failing wasn’t an option. Andrew knew what happened to those who didn’t give the Saints what they wanted, and he wouldn’t be one of them.
“Yes, sir.”
Andrew disconnected the call and hurriedly placed another as he got into his car. “I need the names and information of everyone on the Delta Force team with Wyatt Loughman. You’ve got ten minutes to get it to me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Wyatt brushed the hair from Callie’s face. She stirred from her slumber bent over her desk and took a deep breath as she raised her head. Her wince contorted her entire face as she sat up.
In those few treasured moments before she realized he was there, he saw a woman who wouldn’t let anything keep her down. No matter the pain in her body or soul, she kept her gaze forward, never looking back.
Callie was the type of woman who would sacrifice herself for those she loved. The type of woman who wouldn’t think twice before rushing toward danger if it meant saving others. She was a fighter—both for herself and the innocent.
She was resilient, spirited, gutsy, and vibrant.
Simply put, she was everything he wanted and hungered for. If only his life had been different, then he could be the kind of man she needed.
But fate hadn’t given him a smooth, easy road to travel. His path had been lined with blood, death, and betrayal.
Callie’s head turned as she looked at him suspiciously. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He held out the plate of food. “It’s been hours since the soup. Nat thought you might want something more substantial.”
“She was very right.” Callie took the plate from him and hastily bit into the sandwich. Her eyes closed as she chewed, savoring the food.
Wyatt wondered if he’d ever found such pleasure in simply eating before. Since most of his meals were in a package that he prepared while in combat, he didn’t allow himself to taste anything. Not when the food had to be scarfed down before they had to move positions or were locked in battle again.
Callie’s eyes opened. Once more, she found him staring. This time, there was no derision on her face. “What is it?” she asked softly after swallowing.
“Nothing. I need to change your bandages.”
“Right,” she said and took another bite.
He started to help her up, but she stopped him with a look. Wyatt stood back but remained close in case she needed him. Callie moved slowly, but she stood and walked to the medical room.
While he gathered the necessary items, she sat on the table. He moved her hair aside to look at her neck first. Her skin was warm, her tresses soft. He held the strands in one hand, staring at it. Damp. Which meant she had taken a shower.
“I had to get the dirt and blood off me,” she said. “It was everywhere, and I couldn’t stand my own smell.”
His gaze lowered to look into her blue eyes. “Tell me Natalie was with you.”
“Everyone was busy.”
“You could’ve fallen or passed out.”
She put her hand on his chest. The connection slammed into him with the force of a grenade. Being this close to her, looking into her beautiful eyes, he yearned to kiss her.
“I was careful.”
Her voice was low, breathy. She too felt the magnetism that drew them together. It was undeniable, irrefutable. It was irresistible. The hunger, crushing.
If he didn’t press his lips to hers and taste her, he would die. He needed her warmth, her softness … her scent.
He released her hair and gently cupped the back of her head. Her legs parted, and he stepped between them, bringing them closer. Blood pounded through his body and went straight to his cock.
Her lips parted as her lids drifted closed. The moment his mouth touched hers, he released a tormented groan. She had no idea what she did to him, how she kept him aroused and aching for her.
How he would walk through the fires of Hell just to feel her skin beneath his palm.
For years, he’d kept the memory of a girl alive, but now, the woman was in his arms. A woman who stole his heart with a smile. A woman with a fiery spirit who laughed in the face of overwhelming odds.
A woman who matched him in every way.
Her tongue slid along his lips, making him burn. If it weren’t for her injuries, he’d already be inside her. His tongue dueled with hers as the kiss deepened.
Desire roared as the flames of temptation licked against them. The longing to be one with her again smoldered within him, driving their passion higher.
Her hands skimmed up his arms and around his neck. The feel of her palms along his body was glorious, but it was nothing compared to what her moans did to him.
“Hey, guys,” Natalie called out as she entered the base.
Wyatt ended the kiss, but he couldn’t make himself step away from Callie. He mourned the loss of her touch as she lowered her arms.
“There y’all are,” Natalie said with a smile.
Callie turned her head to the side so he could get to the wound on her neck. “Wyatt wanted to change the bandages.”
“I can do that,” Nat offered.
“I got it.” Wyatt inwardly grimaced when he heard the way those words came out more of a growl than he’d intended. He gently removed the bandage from Callie’s neck.
There was a beat of silence before Natalie said, “Ah, okay. Is there anything I can do?”
He felt Callie’s eyes slide to him before she said, “I could use your help since you can move around better than me.”
“Sure. I’ll wait for you by your desk,” Natalie said.
Wyatt inspected the wound before putting on a new bandage. He then shifted to her right side and lifted her shirt. As he inspected the injury, he waited for her to hold up her shirt. When she didn’t, he looked up to find her staring at him.
“Why did you kiss me?” she asked.
He knew nothing less than the truth would satisfy her. So he gave it to her. “I wanted to.”
“That’s all I get? You wanted to?”
It was so much more than that, but he couldn’t tell her the rest. “Yes. You wanted it, as well.”
“So I did.” She drew in a breath and released it. “We never talked about our night together.”
This was one area he wasn’t prepared to discuss. “Do we need to?” he asked and turned to get the fresh bandage.
“Yes.”
He briefly closed his eyes before he faced her again. “All right.”
“I’ll go first,” she said.
He gave a nod and lifted her shirt once more. This time, she took it from him so he could have both hands to work. The fact that the side of her bare breast was within inches of his hands and face was a special kind of torture, especially after their frenzied kiss.
“I know we have a past,” she said. “And we shouldn’t have given in to desire. I had a weak moment because I wasn�
��t sure if I would live through the night or not.”
The more she spoke, the pit in his stomach that had been there since his mother died began to expand as a sinking feeling came over him.
Callie swallowed. “I wanted to feel alive. I just didn’t want you thinking that there was something starting between us again.”
To his horror, he saw that his hands were shaking. Everything she’d just said was exactly what he’d been telling himself. Why then did it hurt so fucking bad to hear it? Why did he feel as if the pit inside him was about to swallow him whole?
He glanced up at her since she was now staring at him. He was going to have to get some words out, something that let her know he understood and agreed.
There was a heartbeat of time where his mind went black. He couldn’t come up with anything except for the bellow of loneliness and rage that threatened to break free.
“Of course.”
Two words. Two simple words, but they cost him much more than anyone would ever guess.
Yet he couldn’t figure out why. Hadn’t he agreed with Maks about their lives being too complicated and dangerous to have any kind of relationship? Hadn’t he told himself that Callie was better off without him?
Hadn’t he intended to leave and return to his old life once the Saints were finished?
No matter how many times he told himself all of that, it didn’t diminish the anguish within him. It was the first time he felt lonely—and came face-to-face with the solitary road that stretched endlessly before him.
“But you kissed me.”
He paused in his tending and turned his gaze to her. As he looked into her blue eyes, he saw the truth as clear as day. She was finished with him. Even if she still felt the attraction, she was going forward—not backward.
And he was stuck holding onto a memory that was disappearing out of his hands faster than smoke.
“It won’t happen again,” he stated.
There was a second when he thought she might change her mind, but the pragmatic Callie gave a nod and faced forward. Wyatt took his time finishing with her because he knew it might be the last time he touched her.
All too soon, he was done. She flashed him a smile and carefully slid off the table before heading out of the room. He remained, wanting the silence and isolation.
He leaned his hands on the table and let his chin drop to his chest. Much to his dismay, he recognized that sometime between returning to Texas and now, his feelings had taken control.
While he’d been systematically attempting to justify his intention to walk away from Callie again, his heart had gone in another direction.
The career he had worked so hard and long to obtain no longer mattered. Nothing but Callie mattered anymore.
And he’d lost her.
The truly sad part was that he’d lost her years ago but hadn’t comprehended it until now. He’d known of her love back then. Like a jerk, he’d expected that love to remain alive.
He’d wanted her to forget him, and he’d made damn sure he left her nothing to hang onto. The ironic part was that he was the one left holding onto something that had been dead for a long time.
The walls he’d constructed around himself—those indestructible barriers—had now crumbled to dust. With a few honest words, Callie had gutted him.
It was nothing less than he deserved.
“The satellite imagery is here,” Callie called out.
Wyatt straightened and looked at the old bandages. Callie’s wounds would heal, and as long as she remained in the base, their enemies wouldn’t be able to touch her.
That alone gave him comfort.
He pivoted and stalked from the room and stopped beside Callie. “What do you see?”
“I see two distinct camps,” she said as she pointed to the screen.
He nodded as looked. “The smaller of the two will be Ahmadi’s men.”
“I guess we should be grateful that they didn’t bring more people,” Natalie said.
Callie’s lips twisted as she continued to stare at the computer. “Except the Saints brought in more. They have almost thirty in total. And none of this includes the Reeds.”
Wyatt noted that she’d stopped calling them her family.
“I’ve got movement,” Callie said. “They’re coming in from different sides.”
He watched as she switched screens to the small cameras placed around the ranch. He spotted the men. “It’s my team,” he said and grabbed his rifle on the way up the stairs.
As soon as he reached the barn, he pressed the button that closed off the base. He might need his team, but that didn’t mean he trusted them enough to let them know about Callie or the base.
Maks looked down from the hayloft. “They’re almost here.”
Wyatt nodded. He’d been born for this type of work. It was the only thing he excelled at. No matter who or what came at them, he was prepared to die for the safety of the world—and for Callie.
“You all right?” Owen asked as he walked up beside him.
He’d never be fine again. “Yeah.”
“You don’t look it.”
Wyatt turned his head to his younger brother. “We’ve got a bioweapon with unknown uses hidden below us with Natalie and Callie. We’ve got the Saints, Reeds, and Ahmadi’s men coming. I’m in my element, little brother.”
“Yeah,” Owen said, his shuttered look saying he was unconvinced.
Wyatt walked from the barn to greet his team.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Callie?”
She blinked and looked over at Natalie, who was staring at her. “Yeah?”
“You okay?”
“Sure.”
Natalie raised a light brown brow. “You sure? Because I’ve said your name five times before you heard me.”
“I’m just thinking about the upcoming battle.” It was a lie. A boldface, outright lie. Her thoughts were centered smack dab on Wyatt Loughman.
Her stomach churned viciously. She knew that feeling. The one that said she’d done or said something she shouldn’t. The feeling that alerted her that she’d messed up royally.
Or was it just wishful thinking.
Wyatt’s kiss had sent her heart soaring. The same feeling of freedom and love that she recognized all too well from once before. Except she wasn’t the same girl as before—nor would she be discarded so easily.
She wanted to be the one to let him know that she didn’t need him, that he could leave any time, and she would be fine with it. It all went to plan. Even his reaction.
Yet it all felt so … wrong.
It was everything she could do not to cry. Her heart actually hurt, as if she could feel it slowly breaking into a million pieces.
“Callie? What is it?” Natalie pressed.
She shook her head, refusing to put her emotions into words. “In Orrin’s office, there is a folder with Wyatt’s name on it in the bottom right desk drawer. Inside the file is a piece of paper with the names of his team members. I need it.”
Natalie hurried to do as asked and returned with the paper. “Do you think they’re with the Saints?”
“I’m not going to take any chances.”
“It’s not like there will be something that says any of the men are Saints.”
Callie shrugged as she typed. “I know, but the more I know about their home lives, family, and such, the better we’ll be able to know them.”
“Because you don’t trust Wyatt?”
She stopped typing and looked into Natalie’s green eyes. “I trust him completely. It’s everyone else that hasn’t sided with us I’m wary of.”
“I wish Orrin, Mia, and Cullen were here.”
“Me, too.” Despite the knowledge that Orrin was alive, Callie still wanted to see him, to hug him and feel for herself that he was hale and whole.
The closer the Delta Force team got to the barn, the more frantic Callie’s fingers moved over the keys. She looked up one team member after the other, scanning infor
mation and pictures as she looked for anything she saw as a weakness that could be exploited by the Saints.
As she read the files, she realized each of the men was more like Wyatt than she expected. Men with little to no families, lethal combat skills, and all of them with numerous commendations and medals for acts of valor and heroism that the public would never hear about because of classified missions.
She was about to give up on finding anything useful when she saw something that caught her attention. Her heart plummeted to her feet.
“Wyatt,” she said into the microphone that led to his COM. “We might have a problem. Danny Mazza.”
“What about him?” Wyatt whispered.
She licked her lips. “I looked into your team. I couldn’t find anything that would cause me to think the Saints might try to use any of them until I found that a young girl from Kentucky just filed papers with the military stating that Danny is the father of her child.”
“He’s not dating anyone,” Wyatt said.
“It was a one-night stand.”
There was a beat of silence before she heard him murmur, “They could use her against Danny. Fuck.”
“Nice work, Callie,” Maks said through the COMs.
She wished she were up there with Wyatt to look each of the Delta Force members in the eye. After everything their group had been through and survived, it wouldn’t be right for the Saints to get to them through Wyatt’s team.
But it was a distinct possibility.
“I think I might throw up,” Natalie said as she plopped down on a chair. “This constant state of my nerves being twisted as we try to guess what the Saints might do is horrible.”
“Which is why they have to be ended.”
Natalie gaped at her. “You sound just like Owen.”
“You don’t want them gone?”
“Oh, please,” Natalie said with an irritated expression. “Those assholes put a hit on me. Of course, I want them gone, but you can’t just take out a group like this in a day, a week, or even a month. Callie, this takes years, with a group big enough to make waves against the Saints. So far, it’s just nine people against thousands or more.”
Callie winced at the pull in her side. “Every uprising had to start somewhere. It was just a handful of people who stood against the British that began the American Revolution.”