Ruled

by Elle Kennedy

  Instead, he’d let Sloan suck him off and now they were standing around planning their day.

  The back of his neck suddenly began to itch.

  “Yeah, I can drop in on Bethany,” he answered. “And if you need help with that broken pipe, I might be able to—” He stopped when footsteps sounded in the hall.

  When Reese appeared in the doorway, Rylan instantly knew something was up. The soft, rosy-cheeked woman who’d been in bed with them last night was gone. Her hair was no longer sex-tousled, but pulled back in a tight, low ponytail. Her brown eyes were no longer blazing with passion, but damn near vacant.

  Sloan noticed the difference too, because his expression flickered with unease. “Morning,” he said carefully.

  “Morning.” Even her voice was different. Cooler, more reserved. “I need both of you downstairs.”

  Rylan and Sloan exchanged a wary look. “What for?” Sloan asked.

  “Got something important to discuss,” was all she supplied. “I’ll wait for you guys down there.”

  With that, she turned on her heel and stalked off, leaving them alone in the bathroom to wonder what the hell was going on.

  They dressed in silence and then went downstairs to the small meeting room. Reese had her maps out and was placing a painted bullet on one section, a sight that made Sloan stiffen. Rylan didn’t know what that represented, but it was clear that Sloan didn’t like it.

  “What’s going on?” the man asked brusquely.

  Gone was the hazy-eyed seductress of last night. A steely-eyed military leader looked back at them. “There’s one outpost in the southwest that still needs to be taken out. Here.” She jabbed her finger on the map.

  “Reese . . .” Sloan warned.

  She was having none of it. “We strike now and we strike fast.”

  “We have no good intel on this outpost. All we know is that it doesn’t contain any supplies and it’s supposedly lightly guarded, but they could’ve made changes to it since the last time we took a look. Which was . . . six, seven months ago? Plus, we haven’t heard back from any of the other leaders,” Sloan argued.

  She waved a careless hand. “We’re not going to hear back from them for a while—they’re busy with their own missions. But the council has to be reeling. This is the perfect time.”

  Rylan knew Sloan wouldn’t like what he had to say, but he said it anyway. “I agree. Let’s strike now. Garrett’s definitely taken out his outposts by now, and the council’s got to be scrambling for answers. Being hit at these different outposts will thin their ranks. They’ll be rushing to the four corners trying to figure out who’s behind the attacks.” He paused. “How many men are supposed to be at this outpost?”

  “Five to ten.” Reese was eyeing him in approval.

  Rylan tried not to preen like an idiot, but damn, he craved that approval. And Sloan’s too. For some fucked-up reason, he wanted to show them both that he had more going for him than what hung between his legs. He could be Reese’s left hand while Sloan was the right.

  Last night, Sloan had looked to him for support. They’d acted as a team. A solid, cohesive unit that had taken care of and pleasured their woman—and each other.

  And it had filled him with more satisfaction and contentment than he’d ever thought possible. He couldn’t get enough of either one of them. With Reese, he was drawn to the fight in her. The woman wouldn’t do a damn thing that she didn’t want to. She certainly wouldn’t have spread her legs for some dirty traveler in exchange for a sack of potatoes if her man ordered her to. Reese would never allow herself to be used like that.

  And Sloan . . . he was as steady as a rock. He wouldn’t use a person for his own benefit. Hell, the man would cut off his own arm before he’d let anyone hurt the people he cared about.

  So yeah, maybe Rylan wanted to be a part of that. And . . . since he was being so damn honest with himself, he couldn’t deny he was excited about torching another Enforcer station. There were only two things worth doing in life: fucking and fighting.

  Well, he’d already fucked last night, and now Reese was asking him to fight. This was a no-brainer for him.

  “Five to ten men,” he echoed thoughtfully. “That’s it?”

  Reese pointed to the map. “Maybe not even half as staffed. It’s got no supplies, and it’s nowhere near the city. It’s protecting nothing.”

  “Not nothing,” Sloan reminded her. “Hudson said the council is establishing a colony out there. There could be more soldiers there than anywhere if it’s being considered as the location for a new city.”

  Sloan made a good point, but up until now, Reese’s instincts hadn’t steered them wrong. “I’m with Reese on this,” Rylan said quietly. “She was right about launching the outpost attacks and she was right to keep you here in case Enforcers showed up.”

  Sloan ran a ragged hand through his hair. “This is a low value target. We’ve got tired fighters and our ranks are depleted. We haven’t even gotten our men back from Mick or Brynn.”

  “Mick’s probably finishing up his attacks and sending them our way. I bet they’ll be here in a couple of days,” Reese said, sounding impatient.

  “Who are you going to leave to protect Foxworth?” Sloan challenged.

  Now she looked annoyed. “Last time I was leaving, you said I could put anyone in charge. Even Randy, remember?”

  Sloan’s expression darkened. “And I was wrong. I was wrong then, but I’m not now. Look, let’s send some runners out first, gather some intel, and then figure out what to do next.”

  “If we send a scout, we might alert the Enforcers. Let’s use the element of surprise.” She turned to Rylan, expectant.

  Again, he backed her up. “Agreed. I’m still not seeing the point of waiting.”

  “This is a bad idea,” Sloan said flatly.

  Reese smiled. It wasn’t a full-fledged grin, but a fierce one, full of teeth and a lot of anger. “If you don’t want to come, then stay here,” she told Sloan. “We don’t need you.”

  * * *

  Sloan froze. Beside him, Rylan sucked in a breath as if he’d been the target of the blow Reese had delivered, but it was Sloan’s gut that took the punch. He nearly staggered backward from the force of it. For a second, even Reese looked stricken.

  But then her features hardened and she bent over the map, brushing away the bullets and rolling the papers into a tight tube.

  It was a sight Sloan was used to. Sometimes Reese coped by shutting down. She wrapped her defenses around her and there was no penetrating them. No amount of cajoling or even sex would bring her out of it. She raged and fought and then when it all got to be too much for her, she turned off. Jake had found that out early on, and he’d complained bitterly about it to Sloan on more than one occasion.

  Well, fine. She could shut down all she wanted right now. But Sloan knew that her and Rylan’s assessment about this mission was dead wrong. Something bad was out there. He could feel it in his bones, but he also knew he wouldn’t stay behind.

  “I’m coming with you,” he said grimly. “I don’t fucking like it, but I’m coming.”

  Reese’s eyes flared with relief, but it was Rylan who clapped him on the back. “You’ll see, brother. This fight will be so easy, you’ll wonder why we even bothered arguing about it.”

  Sloan looked at Reese. “When do we leave?” he asked with resignation.

  She dumped the rolled-up map on the desk across the room. “First thing in the morning. I’ll tell the rest of the crew.”

  “Fine. I’ll get the supplies. Rylan, you handle the vehicles,” Sloan ordered. “Gas ’em all up and make sure they’re ready to roll out.”

  As Reese and Rylan discussed the transportation they’d need, Sloan stood there with his fists clenched and his throat aching from the agony of keeping his fear locked down. He knew that throwing a temper tantrum
wouldn’t succeed in changing Reese’s mind. She was stubborn as fuck, and she’d made up her mind.

  What bothered him, though, even more than this reckless plan of hers, was the crushing sense that she was drifting away from him. He’d dreaded this moment, and he didn’t even blame Rylan for it, because Reese’s distance had always been inevitable.

  Ever since Jake’s death, Sloan had watched her brush aside more than one lover whenever shit got too real for her. He’d thought all their years of friendship made him immune to that, but he should’ve known better. The moment he’d unzipped his pants, he’d become a threat to her carefully composed armor, whether she admitted it or not.

  “Sloan.”

  He lifted his head and met Reese’s big brown eyes. “Yeah?”

  “We’re going to need to get some sleep tonight, but . . . I don’t see why we can’t enjoy some after dinner entertainment. You down?”

  Sloan knew perfectly well she was trying to distract him with sex, but the hot look in her eyes, coupled with the wicked groan that Rylan let loose, had something warm curling south of his stomach.

  He licked his dry lips. “We’ll see.”

  Those words sounded as weak as three-day-old coffee. Reese gave a slight smile, Rylan winked, and Sloan went over to the rec hall to count guns, cursing himself the entire time.

  * * *

  Morning rolled around fast. Sloan had intended for them to get at least some sleep, but the sex had been fueled by anticipation of the fight and no one had wanted to rest, not when there was a hard cock to suck or a hot sleeve to fuck.

  Still, he felt weighed down by fatigue as the three of them started out in the truck barely past dawn. Nash, Davis, and Sam tailed behind them in the other truck, while Beckett rode ahead on his motorcycle.

  “Sloan . . . you know I appreciate your caution, right?” Reese’s quiet voice drifted over from the passenger’s seat. “Just because I don’t choose to follow all your advice doesn’t mean I don’t value it.”

  “I know.” And he did know. He was done sulking. There wasn’t much point to it when they were on their way to attack another outpost.

  He’d just have to make the best of it. The important thing was that they were all together. And he was doubly glad that Rylan was with them, resting in the backseat in anticipation of taking the next round of driving. They would be on the road all day and night.

  Reese, meanwhile, was fidgeting beside him. She tapped her fingers against her knee, shifted every other second, fiddled with the radio dials even though they were listening to dead air. “I saw you coming out of Bethany’s house before we left,” she said after a beat of silence. “How’d she look?”

  “Sleepy. Apparently the baby kept her up most of the night. She needs full-time help, I think.”

  “Maybe we could ask Christine to move in with her,” Reese suggested.

  “That’s a good idea.”

  “One of my few?” she asked tartly.

  He slid a surprised glance in her direction, wondering why she was bitching when she’d already gotten her way.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. Her cheeks turned pink and Sloan knew it wasn’t from the morning chill. “Oh, hell, Bethany’s baby still bothers me, all right?”

  “Gosh, sweetheart, I had no idea you were having problems with that,” he said wryly.

  She sighed and let her head loll back against the seat. “Christine told me yesterday that she wanted to have a baby, and I stood there full of a weird kind of jealousy over a fourteen-year-old. It was damn embarrassing.”

  He tightened his grip on the wheel. “I’d have kicked Bethany out a long time ago if I knew it was going to affect you like this.”

  “You would not.”

  “Would too. I’d let the whole town burn down if it meant keeping you happy.” Sloan’s gaze flicked to the rearview mirror. “I’d keep the one in the back, but the rest of them can go to hell.”

  “Thanks a lot,” came the sleepy reply.

  Reese studied him curiously, as if she didn’t quite believe what he was saying. But Sloan was dead serious. Yesterday, as he’d counted the guns for the third time because he wasn’t paying close enough attention the first two times around, he’d come to a conclusion: he was perfectly willing to take whatever scraps Reese threw his way.

  He knew she was a complicated woman. Only a person who felt as deeply as she did would’ve ever thought to shake her small fist at the council and believe she could take it down. And he loved her for it. He loved her enough that anything she gave him would be enough.

  “I love Foxworth, so no, please don’t set it on fire when we get back,” she retorted, but her twinkling eyes belied her indignant tone.

  “Nah, you don’t love Foxworth,” Rylan spoke up, leaning forward to fill the open space between the two front seats. “You love the people. And you need to stop obsessing over Bethy’s baby—you already have a town full of kids, gorgeous. Maybe it doesn’t register for you since you’re so used to it, but those kids look to you for guidance and comfort and support. You’re their mama in every way that counts.”

  Reese frowned.

  “Hey, it’s true. We both know passing a kid through your legs doesn’t give you some kind of special status. It’s what you do with the kid afterward that makes you a parent.”

  “Well, then that makes Foxworth all the more important, doesn’t it?” Reese replied with a faint smile.

  Sloan looked up to meet Rylan’s eyes in the rearview mirror. Thank you, he silently conveyed, and Rylan tipped his head in response.

  “You promised to keep Foxworth safe,” Reese said softly, reaching out to touch Sloan’s arm. “I hope you haven’t forgotten that.”

  “Sweetheart, I haven’t forgotten a single promise I’ve ever made to you.”

  “What about all the promises you made me?” Rylan piped up, his blue eyes dancing playfully.

  Sloan lifted a brow. “And what promises would those be?”

  “You know,” Rylan gave the careless wave of his hand, “how you’ll suck me off whenever I ask, how you’ll let me fuck your ass, all that fun stuff.”

  Sloan snorted loud enough to drown out the engine.

  Yeah, he’d definitely take the man in the back along with Reese. And a part of him suddenly felt like pulling over, hauling Reese out of the truck, and laying her on the hood. Rylan could fuck her mouth while Sloan ate her out, all of them heated by the engine and the sex.

  They were a unit now, whether Reese liked it or not.

  22

  As Reese had expected, the outpost was nearly deserted. There were two Enforcers stationed out front, two in the back, and, she assumed, four more inside. That was the configuration they’d found at the other stations, though she supposed the Enforcers could’ve boosted security to protect the interior.

  Only, there was nothing to protect. All of Reese’s scouting had shown that this outpost didn’t contain any provisions; it was used only as a watch station. Which was the reason it hadn’t been included on their initial attack list, though they planned to take it out eventually.

  But the thought of eight Enforcers right there within her reach was too tempting to ignore. She needed to spill more blood. She needed to release the aggression that had been coiled tight in her gut ever since last night.

  She knew Sloan was still mad at her, but at least Rylan had her back. He fully agreed that they should take out this last western outpost, and he and Beckett were currently watching the front of the building. During these past three hours of watching and waiting, Rylan had been cracking jokes over the radio.

  Sloan, on the other hand, hadn’t said much. He’d spent most of those three hours sharpening his knife on a stone, which was pointless because he wouldn’t be using the blade. He and Reese were both armed with assault rifles, along with the handguns strapped to their hips and hidden in the
ir boots.

  The guards they were watching were oblivious to the fact that Reese and Sloan were hunkered down a hundred yards away in the wooded area bordering the outpost. Reese’s binoculars allowed her to keep a close eye on the Enforcers, who’d been smoking cigarettes and chatting since Reese’s group had begun their covert surveillance. Both Enforcers were in tactical gear, but the taller one also wore a winter coat with a ridiculous fur hood.

  Every time she saw the man’s coat, she was reminded that it was indeed winter, and yet it didn’t feel like it. Reese was wearing only a thin coat, a pair of leather gloves, and a wool hat to cover her red hair. Her knee-high snow boots were unnecessary because there wasn’t a snowflake to be seen.

  This was the mildest winter she’d ever experienced. Actually, it seemed like every winter in West Colony was getting warmer and warmer, not to mention shorter. Reese’s mother had once told her stories about melting ice caps in the north and the rising of the oceans, but Reese hadn’t paid much attention. She’d never cared about the geography of the planet—her only goal in life had been, and still was, to destroy the council.

  Now, as she and Sloan hid in a forest that didn’t have so much as a dusting of snow in the middle of February, she wondered if maybe the world had more serious problems than the Global Council.

  “I don’t like this.”

  Her head jerked in Sloan’s direction. “What don’t you like?” she asked. “The plan, or spending this quality time with me?” She couldn’t keep the bite out of her voice. She’d hoped that the peace they’d experienced during the drive would carry through to this mission, but it hadn’t.

  “The plan,” he said irritably, visibly clenching his teeth. “It’s too quiet. Too few guards.”

  “It’s exactly the amount of guards we accounted for. We might encounter a few extra ones inside, but I can’t see the Enforcers wasting manpower to guard one measly watchtower.”

  “They might,” he countered.

  “A waste of manpower,” she repeated, shaking her head. “They won’t be expecting us to hit it.”