Storming His Heart (21 page)

Good Lord. How powerful was this guy?

“I’m sorry, Richard,” she apologize, inserting a note of meekness to placate him. “But you know what it’s like to lose a brother. It’s so hard for me to believe.” Real tears, the sadness mingled with fear that Thorne might actually be dead, proved better than acting.

Apparently she’d said the right thing, because Glass’s anger disappeared under a wave of surprising compassion. “Yes. I know how hard it is to lose your other half. Like dying but having no way to go free. Stuck in a rotting corpse that doesn’t know it’s past due.”

Shit. Glass had gone beyond crazy into fucking nuts. She laughed inwardly, more than slightly hysterical. Trapped only God-knew-where with a madman with an ax to grind. Talk about one hell of a social life.

“
Storm? Storm, where are you?
” Thorne and Max seemed to shout before they quieted, buffered by Glass, she assumed.

The relief in hearing Thorne made her lightheaded. That or Glass’s roughness had pushed her past her limits.

“Wake up. Stay here.” He yanked her wrists together and bound them with coarse rope, then tied her to the post of the bed she lay on. A bed in a dank, dark cave somewhere below the surface of his land. They couldn’t have gone too far, not with Thorne and the others waiting nearby the cabin.

She tried to think but had trouble. Glass moved away, and she tracked his movements as he climbed a ladder and disappeared from sight. Yet no matter how hard she tried to once again contact her family, she found nothing but silence for her efforts.

The bastard. The small sense of compassion she’d felt for Glass, seeing his grief and insanity, paled next to her rage at being involved in this in the first place. If the asshole hadn’t been so busy trying to be Mr. Popular at Westlake, none of this would have happened.

Determined not to give up and to make use of her short separation from Glass, she tried again.
“Thorne! Uncle Max! Glass has us underground somewhere. A cave. He’s got me tied up and he has a gun.”

Her uncle answered. “
We’re close, Storm. I think Jurek’s team just found the entrance to a tunnel underground. We never saw him leave with you, so he must have another passage from the house.”

The pounding between her eyes increased.
“I think I’m losing you. He’s shielding himself and me somehow.”

“I know. It’s taking me and your brother to get through.”
He grew muffled, then returned in a stronger voice.
“We’re coming. Sit tight, sweetheart. And don’t make him angry. Do whatever he tells you.”

Glass returned, and when he drew closer, the candlelight flickered over his smug expression. “They have no idea where to look.”

She cried harder, letting herself use the pain from her throat and temples. “I’m so sorry, Richard. I never meant to hurt you. I swear. I wish I could have met your brother.”

He frowned at her and tapped the gun against his leg. “We’re the same person, Storm. Don’t you understand that by now? You met him. You met me.
We’re fucking one,
” he ended in a shriek and she curled into a ball, as far away from Glass as the rope would let her, prepared for a beating.

But he didn’t beat her. He dropped his gun and leapt onto the bed, flattening her beneath him. “Enough talk. They’re stupid, but even they’ll figure out we’re no longer in the house soon. Why don’t you give me what you’ve been holding back? What you gave Savage?” he sneered.

Glass mashed his lips against hers, mauling her while he stole her ability to breathe.

Go easy, gently,
she forced, but after using so much of her gift and enduring his abuse, she started to tire.

His enthusiasm grew, as did the urgency of his body. The asshole was getting off on hurting her. He pressed harder against her, leaving her in no doubt of his intent. When he encircled her neck with his hands and began to squeeze, she struggled in an instinctive bid for survival.

He was so strong, so undeniably insane was all she could think as she blinked into his eyes closing to slits as he cut off her air. She sent out one last pleas to her family, praying it would go through.
“Uncle Max, Thorne. Not…going…to last…”

“Jurek’s coming. Hold on,”
Max sent her.

She forced herself to go limp and lost herself in the blackness of unconsciousness.

Richard and his brother had never felt so powerful. They teetered on the verge of orgasm, from not only Storm’s soft curves, but from the emotional rollercoaster of want and need and love.
She loves us. Always loved us. It was Savage who screwed us over. That fucker who ruined it all.

“Richard, my boy, you’re
alive
.”

Richard rolled off the limp form beneath him with the intent to fire his gun at the intrusion when he realized he no longer held it. Had he dropped it? But then it didn’t matter, because Jurek was there with a look of surprised joy on his face. In his secret hideaway. Jurek had found them, finally.

Their mentor stood in arched doorway leading to the forest exit and held his arms wide open. “I can’t believe it’s you! When I heard you were alive, I didn’t dare believe. Come here, my boy. My favorite agent. The golden boy. It crushed me when I thought I’d lost you.” Jurek had tears in his eyes. The man didn’t spare a glance for Storm Buchanan, focused only on Richard.
On them.

Overjoyed, they took two steps toward Jurek when people suddenly poured into the cave behind Jurek. More flew down the ladderway, from where he’d just come. Then Rafe Savage appeared out of nowhere and knocked him down.

“You piece of shit,” Savage growled and pummeled him.

They couldn’t process it all as lines blurred and pleasure melted into pain. What was real, what wasn’t? They had no idea about anything anymore.

“She’s okay, just unconscious,” Thorne Buchanan said.

“Rafe, enough!” Jurek yelled. “You’re killing him.”

Savage punched them once more and ceased, but they felt the damage all the same. Their stomach hurt, they couldn’t move their mouth and their left eye swelled so badly they couldn’t see out of it.

Then a giant weight lifted from them as Savage shoved them—him—aside and reached for the woman. He bent over Storm, took her in his arms and murmured endearments that made no sense. When she groaned, Savage hugged her to his chest, swearing to never let her go.

“Richard?”

He blinked up into Jurek’s stern face and felt a sense of separation from himself. He had been Richard for so long, yet he was also himself. Part and apart, yet together.

Jurek nodded to himself. “Not just Richard. Jonathan too, hmm?”

Richard and Jonathan smiled, and their entire body lit with pleasure, ignoring the pain. “You know me,” he tried to say but couldn’t form the words since his jaw wouldn’t obey.
You finally see us as we are. Two entities, one man.

Jurek motioned to his men, who lifted them to their feet and dragged them out of the cave, because their legs refused to work. The group went the long way and exited into the woods, near the main road.

Once outside, a moment of clarity struck. The psychic edge that fueled their instincts for self-preservation kicked in. Before they could take a step toward the cluster of dark SUVs, where more agents stood with guns, Jonathan—he knew his name—tore free and dashed into the woods, heading for his cabin.

“Brother, I’m coming!” he garbled through an all-consuming pain.

Footsteps neared behind him, but he wouldn’t let his enemies keep him and Richard apart any longer. As if in slow motion, he stepped on a pressurized device, heard a soft click…and died.

Richard waited for him with open arms.

Chapter Fourteen

Three days later, Storm still hadn’t heard from Rafe. Her neck still bore bruises, as did the lower section of her abdomen, which had turned a dark purple. And her voice remained scratchy. But she’d fared much better than Thorne, who had a hard time mending in the hospital with broken ribs, a fractured femur and a bruised lung. The swelling in his face had healed much faster than the swelling of his ego. During her visits, no less than a dozen nurses had stopped by to flirt and linger over his heroic exploits.

Apparently, Rafe had visited her brother in the hospital with tall tales to the staff about Thorne’s superhero status. But had he come to see her? No.

On the upside, at least Luc had forgiven her. She’d explained her worries and had promised not to tell her parents what had really happened. Uncle Max was a different story. She didn’t look forward to her debriefing next week, when he would
consider
okaying her return to work.

Her mother and father were due to return from their vacation. She should have been happier. She truly loved her family.

Instead, she moped, hurt and confused about her relationship with a man who’d said he loved her but refused all contact with her.

A car pulled up in her parents’ driveway and she hurried to the front door. She yanked it open only to see Thorne leaning against the reluctant man of her dreams.

She glared at her lover—her
ex-
lover—and then ignored him. “What are you doing here? Well, Frankenstein? Nothing to say for yourself?”

Thorne’s lips twitched and turned into a groan. “Still hurts to smile. I couldn’t miss Mom and Dad’s homecoming, now could I? Besides, I hate hospitals. Too many sick people there.”

Storm gently helped him to the couch. “What about Miss April?”

“Who?” Thorne asked in confusion.

Rafe replied with a hint of a grin, “I think she means your nurse. You didn’t hear her mention a brief stint as a centerfold? I tried not to overhear, but I was helping her manage your stubborn ass back into bed at the time.”

He lifted his gaze to hers, and she couldn’t miss the hunger in his eyes.

She didn’t know how to act around this man who tied her in knots. So she turned to her brother. “So how did you end up with Rafe?”

Rafe answered her. “You ought to be thanking me. I’d just arrived to visit the walking wounded here when I saw him trying to sneak into the elevator. Don’t worry, I checked him out with the staff. He’s okay as long as someone can watch over him.”

“I don’t need a nursemaid. Though maybe Miss April—”

Storm interrupted, “Why are you really here, Rafe?” She crossed her arms over her chest, annoyed with him. “Why have you been ducking my calls?”

Thorne settled back and watched them with a smirk on his face.

“We need to talk
.
Privately.” Rafe glared at her brother. “I’m not putting on a show for you.” He walked a few steps away but stopped when Storm didn’t follow. “Please, Storm. A few moments of your time
without
an audience?”

She huffed, “Fine. Follow me.” She led him out on the back porch for some privacy. “Well?” When he said nothing, just stared at her with those intense brown eyes, she swore. “Your time is ticking away, Savage.”

“You are so beautiful. That raspy voice is really sexy. God, I missed you.” He kissed her before she could protest, and like every other time they touched, she didn’t want it to end.

But she wasn’t a doormat, and it still hurt that he’d avoided her. To her way of thinking, Rafe Savage had some groveling to do. When he let her go, she asked on a breath, “Why did you stay away?”

His eyes narrowed. “Because I was afraid I’d beat you. What the fuck were you thinking to offer yourself up to Glass like some damn sacrifice?” He gripped her shoulders tight. “I almost died when he hurt you. To know you were in there with him, to see you lying on that bed…” He choked and clutched her to him.

He hugged her so hard she groaned.

“I feel like a ragdoll.”

He eased back and lifted her shirt, looking for injuries.

She tried to slap his hands away, but he persisted. “Rafe, my brother’s in there,” she hissed.

“I know.
In there.
And your parents will be home in six minutes.”

“What?”

“The foresight thing. Hard to ignore. But don’t try to change the subject. That bruise on your stomach looks like it hurts. Poor baby.” He knelt and kissed it.

Her arousal burned. In seconds she was wet.

“Your nipples are hard.” He stood and ran his hand down her belly and under her panties. Callused fingers slid through her folds and he groaned. “And you’re wet. God, I love how you respond to me.” He removed his hand and hugged her closer, careful to treat her gently. “I’ve been dreaming about holding you. I missed you so much, baby. It’s been killing me to not make love to you.” His voice lowered. “To taste you again.”

“Well, same here.” Storm tried to ignore her racing heart. If they were anywhere else, she’d have dropped her pants and let him put that tongue to work. “You said you loved me.”

“I do.” His growing smile mirrored her own.

“Well, I love you.”

“I know. While I spent the past three days pissed as hell at you, I cleaned up my place and made some room. Of course, the study is mine. But I have no problem turning the spare bedroom into an office for you. I doubt you’ll stop working for your uncle after we’re married.”

“We—
what?
”

He kissed her with a tenderness that shook her, his caresses over her bruised neck full of warmth and caring. She melted into his embrace, more than conscious of the erection prodding her belly through the press of their clothes.

He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have your whole world turned upside down? When the one person you care about more than life says the words you’re afraid of, but desperately needing to hear, and all at the wrong time?

“I had sworn off serious relationships for a lot of reasons. For years I flew solo. And then I met you. From the first, you were special. You threw me into a bar brawl. You stole my witness, and you nearly screwed up my Locklen investigation.”

“Hey, you—”

“How is it you managed to tie me in knots when I was the one with the cable ties?” he asked in a husky voice. “Storm, you make me feel things I never thought I could feel.” Rafe’s eyes had a watery sheen and Storm couldn’t look away. “I love you, baby. If anything had happened to you, I don’t think I’d have survived it. I want to marry you. I want you to have our children. You and me, together. Not just now or tomorrow, but forever.”