Authors: Abby Blake
She crossed her arms and waited for him to explain.
“Jessie Evans is claiming that you are not Mikayla Noone.” He watched her smile falter and then her face flush with anger.
“That heinous, callous bitch. I suppose she managed to figure out that Mikayla Noone wasn’t my name until I turned eighteen. Did she figure out who I was? Did she fill you in on all the sordid details?”
She was shaking and looked ready to wring the woman’s neck, but all Lachlan could think was how proud he was of her. Instead of letting the woman undermine her, Mikayla was ready to kick some ass.
“No, she didn’t,” Bryce said from the doorway. “She doesn’t know your real name.”
“My real name,” she said, emphasizing the word “real” with an almost growl, “is Mikayla Davidson.” She turned to face Bryce and Matt as they came in the room. “Before I married you my name was Mikayla Noone. Noone as in No One. Who I was before that is none of her goddamn business.”
“I totally agree,” Bryce said affably. Mikayla was holding her jaw so tightly that Lachlan was beginning to fear for her teeth. “But the courts might think otherwise.”
“Why?” she asked, obviously irritated beyond measure.
“Because Jessie Evans is claiming that our marriages are not legal and that we provided false information to the courts the last time.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” she said, sounding completely and totally exasperated. “Jessie Evans is a fucking cow.” Lachlan really wanted to spank her ass for swearing but couldn’t quite wipe the broad smile off his own face. When his wife had a reason she was quite magnificent in her anger. “Call our lawyer. Tell him to contact this man,” she said as she typed a name and contact details into Lachlan’s data tablet. “He will confirm that my details are sealed and none of Jessie Evans’s goddamn business.”
“Okay,” Lachlan said happily, “problem solved. Thanks, Mikayla.”
She looked shocked by his answer. Jessie Evans deserved every harsh word that came out of Mikayla’s mouth, but he was happy to let the matter simply drop now. If Mikayla was able to provide them with enough details to discredit Jessie Evans’s information, then that’s all he needed to know.
“You—” She cut herself off, looked between the three of them, and tried again. “You don’t want an explanation?”
“Nope,” Bryce said as leaned against Lachlan’s desk and crossed his ankles. He was the picture of relaxation, and Lachlan grinned as Matt tried to follow his lead. Matt, however, wasn’t quite as successful, and his need to always be in control reared its head.
“But if you want to tell us…” he said but trailed off when he saw Bryce’s reaction. “Fine, okay, shutting up now.”
Mikayla smiled at him, her anger completely gone.
“You’re not going to be happy until you know,” she said quietly.
Matt shook his head. “No, honey, I’m fine. I know who you are now. That’s what’s important.”
“So you have no curiosity over what happened before I met you.” Lachlan tried to hide his laugh as Mikayla looked very confused. It was obvious Matt really wanted to know.
“N–no,” he lied. Mikayla half grinned, half frowned, but told him anyway.
“It’s not that big a deal,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “You already know I didn’t have any family before meeting you and your brothers. As a kid I was bounced around in the foster system. By the time I was sixteen, I wanted nothing more than to be in charge of my own life.” She ran a hand through her hair, and Lachlan realized with a small jolt that she wasn’t nearly as calm as she was pretending.
“Anyway, there aren’t many jobs a sixteen-year-old can get that will pay the rent and buy food, so I fell in with a group of people who weren’t exactly honest. By the time I realized what they actually were doing, I was in pretty deep.” She took a big breath as if there wasn’t quite enough oxygen in the air and then lounged against the wall in an obvious effort to appear calm. “So, basically, I turned state’s witness, helped to prosecute the leaders, and got myself and a couple of others out of the mess we were in.”
Lachlan glanced at Bryce and realized he was probably thinking the same thing he was. The level of security surrounding her new identity meant that the people she’d testified against were seriously high on the criminal food chain. The fact that Bryce hadn’t been able to learn anything through official channels meant that Mikayla was probably lucky to have walked away alive. Thank God they hadn’t tried Bryce’s unofficial channels.
“Are you safe now?” Bryce asked. Lachlan could see the muscle ticking in Bryce’s jaw and suspected he was feeling as worried as Lachlan. All the color had drained from Matt’s face.
“Yes,” she said reassuringly. “Even if they manage to figure out who I am, the people who went to jail because of my testimony are long dead. Do you remember the Andromedes Prison ship disaster?”
Andromedes? Hell, did he ever. While transferring notorious crime bosses, the intergalactic transport ship had been attacked and boarded by members of a major crime family. The captain had ordered the self-destruct, and the explosion had obliterated the prison ship and the ship belonging to their attackers. Passengers on a passing cruise liner had recorded the whole thing. About a year later, the prison ship’s internal security images had been released on intergalactic news channels and left very little doubt as to the fate of both the prisoners and crew.
“Fuck me,” Matt said on a breathless wheeze as he finally took a seat.
“Matt,” she said as she moved to sit beside him. “It’s okay. Even if there are any family members left, the government seized all their assets and I doubt they have enough money to worry about seeking revenge. I was a pretty small piece of the case that convicted them, and they didn’t know my part in it.”
“Then why take a new name? Why not go back to your old name?”
“Because it wasn’t who I was anymore. Mikayla Noone might’ve been no one, but the memories I have of my childhood were not worth holding on to. I wanted to start anew. If I hadn’t fallen for Jet’s lies, I might still be Mikayla Noone, quiet, efficient administration assistant.”
She smiled that hauntingly sexy smile, and Lachlan wanted nothing more than to drag her over his desk and love her until they didn’t have the energy to move. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said to Bryce.
He laughed and asked his question anyway. “With that type of experience behind you, how did you fall for Jet’s lies?”
She shrugged and tilted her head to the side. Her smile seemed a little crooked. “I guess, like a lot of people, I wanted to be loved so desperately I didn’t try to look past the surface.”
“And now?” Matt asked as he pulled her onto his lap.
“Now, I am loved by eight very incredible men who I know will love me regardless of my colorful past.” Matt looked very relieved by her answer.
Bryce looked thoughtful for a moment and then said a little hesitantly, “I might still have the right contacts to create a background to go with the rest of you.”
Mikayla smiled slightly. “Angels or devils?” she asked.
“Angels,” Bryce said with a smile. “All legal and, well, sort of aboveboard, I promise you. I have a friend who creates rock-solid backgrounds for undercover cops. I’m certain he can fill in a few blanks for you.”
“Okay,” she said, looking more relieved than Lachlan would’ve expected. “Maybe if there are enough details, Jessie Evans and her bloodhounds might back off.”
“It’s settled then,” Bryce said with a nod as he stood up. “No time like the present.” He grinned as he left the room and Lachlan marveled at how easily Bryce could contain his curiosity. Despite the fact that Lachlan would deny it until his last breath, he really wanted to know Mikayla’s name before she’d changed it.
She snuggled into Matt’s embrace and looked more relaxed than she had in a long time.
“Why don’t you two go take a nap,” Lachlan said with a quick wink, partially wishing he could be there as well but also realizing that Matt needed to spend some quality time with their wife. The man still looked very pale.
Mikayla smiled at Lachlan, mouthed the words “thank you” and then whispered in Matt’s ear. A smile broke across Matt’s face at the same time he lifted their wife into his arms and carried her from the room. Lachlan laughed quietly as he realized the ungrateful bastard hadn’t even said goodbye.
* * * *
Matt’s arms trembled slightly as he held Mikayla close. He’d known she was reluctant to talk about her past, but he never would’ve guessed the reality. God, he wanted to lock her in his room and never let the world near her again.
They’d barely made it out of Lachlan’s office when the proximity alert started shrieking once more. He could hear Lachlan cursing as he collected his weapons, and Matt got out of the way as Bryce bolted down the hall to the communications room and then came running back a moment later.
“What have we got?” Lachlan asked him.
“We’ve got two ships. One aft,” Bryce said as he ran toward them. “One…ah…not aft?”
“Not aft?” Lachlan asked with a raised eyebrow. Bryce just shrugged. He’d spent most of his life on Earth, so it was no surprise he wasn’t familiar with ship terminology.
“Stay with Mikayla,” Lachlan ordered Matt.
“We’ll be in the lab. I’ll keep her safe.” Matt promised as he put Mikayla on her feet and grabbed her hand.
Together they ran to lab and found Ryan sitting calmly reading the intergalactic news on the computer.
“Did you know,” he said as they entered the room, “that the mouse tears have been declared an illegal substance?”
“What?” Mikayla and Matt asked at the same time.
“Nice of the medical consortium to tell us, huh?”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Matt said, knowing he sounded completely pissed off. The only reason they were still on this strange jungle planet was because they were protecting the female scientists. If the profit—legal profit at least—had been taken out of the mouse tears equation, then it was a good bet that the medical consortium would pull their research funding. Considering their track record, it was even more likely that they would abandon their scientists right here.
“Are the girls safe?” Matt felt Mikayla bristle at his use of the term “girls,” but he didn’t have time to apologize. With two ships worth of raiders and probably the rest of his brothers outside trying to track them down, he felt responsible for all four women in his care.
“Ty is with them,” Ryan said reassuringly. “I was talking to them when the alarm sounded.”
Matt nodded, grateful that he didn’t have to figure out how to keep Mikayla safe and somehow get the scientists here or Mikayla over there. Ryan seemed a little too calm and entirely engrossed with his computer until Matt realized he was monitoring the teams’ movements.
Lachlan and Bryce had headed toward the larger of the two raiding vessels and John, Brock, and Peter had headed out the front door to intercept the smaller craft. Matt almost held his breath as twin images from their own satellite played on the screen.
“Oh my,” Mikayla said with a stifled laugh. “You weren’t kidding when you described the potency.” On the screen you could very clearly see John stun two men who’d basically wrapped around each other and were pressed together like a sandwich. Matt had the fleeting hope that they were gay and then dismissed his concern just as quickly. What did he care if those two ended up having an awkward conversation? They shouldn’t have been on the planet in the first place.
Lachlan and Bryce weren’t so lucky. Five women had stepped off the larger ship and quickly spread out. Even on the tiny screen it was obvious that they were well armed and fully prepared to defend themselves.
“Call Bryce and Lachlan back,” Matt said urgently.
“I can’t,” Ryan said frantically as he did something and started talking to John. Within moments Brock, Peter, and John were all headed toward Lachlan and Bryce’s position. Fortunately, Lachlan and Bryce had already discovered the armed-to-the-teeth status of their newest visitors and stopped to assess the situation.
Matt could finally breathe when he saw his brothers all head back to the station without making contact with the raiders.
Within minutes they’d all gathered in the dining area, and a swift agreement followed. Only one of the female scientists, Misha, had argued to stay, but when Ryan showed her the news bulletin, she’d blanched and quickly agreed with everyone else.
Whether their contracts were void or not, none of them were willing to risk their lives any longer to stop the harvesting of what was now an illegal substance. It was like being caught in the middle of the poppy fields as a drug war broke out. None of them wanted to be the collateral damage.