“Get your asses right back on that plane,” he was yelling at the dozen soldiers watching him dispassionately. “I didn’t ask you to come out here and I’ll be damned if you’ll risk your asses like this.”
“Sorry, Major. It’s not happening.” The unofficial leader of the unit shook his head. “Took us weeks to arrange leave without giving a proper reason. We’re not going back.”
Dash was cursing. Elizabeth watched from the doorway of the cabin as he raged. She hadn’t seen Dash so worked up over anything. He was usually calm, holding his control tightly in check. It was more than obvious he was ready to lose it, if he hadn’t already. Some of the words spilling from his lips she hadn’t even imagined existed.
“Jonsey, are you that eager to make that new wife of yours a widow?” he yelled heatedly at one of the younger men. “Son of a bitch, I thought you loved that girl.”
Jonsey was a tall, lanky young man. Maybe twenty-five, with wide hazel eyes and thick red hair.
“I do love her, Dash.” Jonsey nodded solemnly. “I’ve had a year with her. A year I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t pulled her out of that hospital they bombed. Cindy agrees with me being here. I’m not going back.”
Elizabeth could hear Dash growling in irritation.
He turned to the man beside Jonsey. He was nearly as tall as Dash, with short, spiked brown hair and deep brown eyes. His face was lined with exhaustion and he had obviously had enough of Dash’s temper.
“Don’t you even start on me, Major,” the soldier snapped back. “I’ve not slept in a week to bring my ass out here and I’m not in the mood for your god complex, either. So just tell me where I can sack out for a while and then we’ll discuss your plan of action when I wake up.”
He was snarly. Elizabeth perked up, as did several of Simon’s Ladies. They sauntered from the house, immediately drawing attention. Eyes were bugging out of sockets as the men caught sight of them.
“Hell, Simon’s here,” one of them seemed to sigh in reverence. “Oh man. This is gonna be a good fight.”
“Excuse me, Major. I might have found someone to keep me warm.” The soldier looked damned near ecstatic as one of the Ladies sidled up to him, cooing gently about his weariness.
“Damn you, Chase.” Dash was growling now.
“Give it up, Dash.” Merc, the tall Feline Breed, growled back from the sidelines. “This isn’t just about you anymore, or about your woman. Chill out and accept the help or ease back and we’ll do it ourselves. You’re mated now. Mated to a woman proven to be able to conceive easily with Breed young. We can’t afford to lose you or her.”
Fury ignited in Dash. Elizabeth watched as his head lowered, turning as he stared at the Feline in building fury.
“My woman is not a breeder for the fucking Breeds,” he snarled, his voice low, dangerous.
“She will be if you get your ass killed. Whatever Breed the Council managed to make mount her. Her and that kid. You want to risk it?” Merc was only a bit larger than Dash. If it came to a fight, either man could have come out the winner. “Get a handle on yourself, boy. You never were alone in this world.” He nodded to the soldiers. “And you sure as hell aren’t now. Let’s all get some rest and we’ll see what kind of plan you have in place. And stop growling at me. It’s pissing me off.”
As she watched, Elizabeth was aware of Simon moving up behind her, watching curiously.
“Could get interesting now,” he said softly. “Dash thinks he has to do everything on his own. Thinks he has to save everyone he takes under his wing. Usually manages to, too. But he doesn’t accept help so well. It will be interesting to see how gracefully he accepts us poking our noses in his business.” Simon sounded like he was looking forward to any fight that arose.
“Fuck,” Dash finally snarled so violently, so furiously, Elizabeth flinched.
He turned away from them and stalked away from the cabin, moving purposely into the woods surrounding it as she moved to follow him.
“Wait.” Simon caught her arm. “Give him a few minutes to work through it first. Let’s get these boys fed and bedded down for a while. They’re a tired bunch. Then you can go after him.”
———
What the hell had happened? Dash couldn’t understand it for the life of him. He had fought to stay distant from the men he fought with, to do his job, keep their asses alive and go his merry way. If knowledge of what he was had leaked out while he was fighting with them he would have put every man in whatever unit he was in, in danger. The Council didn’t care who they killed. But evidently he hadn’t stayed distant enough. He had over two-dozen fighters standing in the clearing of the cabin awaiting orders. Orders he didn’t want to give. He didn’t want to lead them into his personal battle and have one of them die because of it.
Damn. He sighed wearily. He was pissed as hell, but he knew those men wouldn’t leave. Not unless he did. And they would follow. They were damned good men, too. The best. As good or better than the unit he had lost in Afghanistan.
He stopped his furious trek up the mountain, pausing at a sheltered bench of land that looked down on the cabin. Tents were being pitched and voices were raised as coordination among the men began to establish itself. He knew the minute he saw the first arrivals that this mission had turned into something more than just the fight to save Elizabeth and her child. It was now a fight to establish dominance, to show the Council and those who would strike out against the Breeds in general that there was a bigger battle than they wanted to face.
There was no way Grange could anticipate over two-dozen men moving in on him. Men so adept, so well trained in every area of battle, that he didn’t have a chance of fighting against them.
Finally his lips quirked in amusement. Grange would fight and there was always the chance of losing one or more men in the group. Dash could do nothing but make certain they planned for everything and pray they all got through it alive. It was all he could do.
As he sat there, watching with narrowed eyes as the clearing turned into an armed camp, he watched Elizabeth leave the cabin slowly. Damn. She was like a ray of sunshine. Moving past the soldiers working around her, she headed up the mountain. She was graceful, a creature of such fluid movement and erotic design that it made his loins clench in sudden hunger. How had he ever deserved anything so beautiful to call his own? He couldn’t make sense of it, but he had never wanted to fight it, either. As though he had waited all his life for that moment in the diner, his body had instantly recognized her scent, her dark eyes, her quiet strength.
She was a mate that would fight beside him and would protect her young and him, if needed, against all odds. She had proven that in her determination and quick thinking in saving Cassie. She wouldn’t balk, no matter what was needed.
“Done pouting yet?” She moved to him, watching him in concern as he gripped her wrist and pulled her down between his thighs.
He nestled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her, and propped his head on her shoulder as he watched the action below them.
“They’re damned good men,” he said softly. “Good fighters, too.”
“Yeah,” she agreed softly. “They seem to be.”
“Jonsey, he has this pretty little nurse for a wife. She was hurt badly in that bombing. Lots of bleeding, in shock. I didn’t think she would make it.” He sighed. “I kept telling her how Jonsey was on his way. She loves that boy, Elizabeth. I guilted the hell out of her. She lived because she knew she had to. Knew if Jonsey saw her like that, all bloody and broken and dead too, that he wouldn’t survive it. They were married a year later. Took her that long to recover.”
“She sounds very strong.”
Dash nodded.
“Simon and those women.” He shook his head. “They’re like trouble waiting to happen. But they’re damned good at cleaning it out and celebrating later. The man has his own personal harem devoted to his pleasure and his happiness above all things. They’re dangerous as hell, and at any given time are ready to reward any man lucky enough to become deserving of their attention. But all Simon has to do is lift his finger and they’re back in his arms. They love that crazy cowboy more than he deserves sometimes.”
———
And on it went. Each man. Another adventure, another tale. He knew every facet of their personalities, what made them strong, what made them weak. What made them love or hate.
Elizabeth sat against him and not for the first time, marveled at the man who had walked so calmly into her life and took it over. The man who had given her his love before he ever met her. Who had dreamed about her as he lay in a medicated stupor and woke up because he saw her crying.
For the first time in her life, Elizabeth knew what love was. Not just his love for her, but his love for those men working to set up a usable camp and determined to fight by his side again. His friends.
Finally, he was quiet, watching as she was, holding her close as he grunted or chuckled at some action below them. Simon’s Ladies were, of course, helping. In ways that made Elizabeth blush a bright crimson. They were earthy, strong women. And Simon looked on like a proud parent as they tempted and teased the appetites of many of the men below. They steered well clear of Jonsey, though, and he made certain he steered clear of them.
“Time to get ready,” he finally sighed quietly. “We leave here tomorrow night, Elizabeth. Grange returns in a week. You sure you want to do this?”
Oh, she was damned sure.
“I’m sure, Dash,” she promised him quietly. “I miss Cassie. I want it done and my daughter safe. I want it over.”
“Come on then.” He moved to his feet and pulled her up beside him. “Let’s go whip these boys into shape. We’ll let Simon’s Ladies take care of their lusts and then we’ll start planning. We’ll get him, baby, and then we’ll go home.”
Chapter Thirty-One
A week later Elizabeth was being dragged roughly into the house that had been rented in the small town she had run from two years before. Dash had a manacled grip on her wrist, his body was vibrating with fury and she wasn’t any less pissed.
Behind them, Simon and his Ladies trailed more slowly, as did several others of the group that amassed together. The rest were at logistical points around the Grange estate or working with the two guards that had been bribed from Grange’s service. She and Dash had been slipping through town, testing the determination of the men Grange had in place to catch her.
His orders to her had been precise. She knew when she slipped from the shadowed alley to be certain Grange wasn’t in the car they had been watching that he would be pissed. That he would, in no uncertain terms, let her know how displeased he was. But she hadn’t expected this.
She had been so close. She had nearly been in the right position to check the identity of the two men when Dash had grabbed her, dragging her back into the alley and then to the car awaiting them on the other end. He had been chillingly silent, angrier than she had ever seen him.
“Dammit, Dash, stop dragging me around.” She tugged on his hold as he pulled her up the staircase.
She was fighting tooth and nail, but it was follow him or be dragged. She wasn’t in the mood to incur any more bruises along the way.
Dash was madder than she had ever seen him. Stone-cold enraged rather than growling mad. His expression was savage, his lips pulled back in a silent snarl as he glanced back at her, his golden eyes glowing with liquid fire. She was almost trembling in fear.
When he reached their bedroom door, he opened it, jerked her inside and turned to close it with deadly silence. The snick of the lock turning caused her to flinch.
“I won’t be manhandled this way by you,” she charged him fiercely, trying to ignore the weakness in her knees as he faced her.
“Take your clothes off.”
“Why?” she snapped. “So you can show me my place? Under your body? I was safe, Dash.”
“You broke formation. You disobeyed orders. Do you know what I would have done to Jonsey, or Chase, or any of the others who so blatantly threatened not just the mission but also their own lives?”
His voice was deadly.
Elizabeth shook her head. “I was safe.”
“You were a fool. You were being tricked, Elizabeth. There was another vehicle pulling in no more than ten feet from you. You were nearly seen,” he told her quietly, the dark, harsh timber of his voice making her tremble.
“They wouldn’t have seen me,” she argued furiously. “I was being careful.”
“And if they had?” he asked her with deadly calm. “If they had managed to take you or, God forbid, just kill you and have it done with. What then?”
She blinked up at him, horror filling her. “They couldn’t,” she whispered. “I was hidden.”
“If you had moved forward so much as another inch, you would have been seen,” he said, his voice still throbbing with fury as he jerked his shirt over his head. “You risked my men, but even more, you risked my
mate.
Possibly my child, and everything we’ve planned for, Elizabeth. Now take off your clothes.”
“Why?” She backed away from him, the horror of what she had nearly done still vibrating through her. “I’m sorry, Dash. I was being careful. I just thought…”
“I didn’t tell you to think on this mission unless it went to shit real fast,” he informed her coldly, his hand going to his pants. “Now take your fucking clothes off before I rip them off.”
“Not like this.” She shook her head desperately. “Not while you’re so mad at me, Dash.”
He stilled. “Mad at you?” Agony resonated in his voice now. “You think this is mad, Elizabeth? This isn’t mad, baby. If I were mad I’d be stripping the hide off your bones with every insult I could come up with. I’m not mad. You scared me out of ten years of my life. Now take those fucking clothes off.”
He didn’t stop undressing after casting her that first, incredulous look. Before her eyes, he dropped his weapons, his boots, his clothes, standing before her gloriously naked and aroused. Adrenaline was still pumping through her body, fear and remnants of anger and a sudden excitement that shocked her. He was going to take her whether she wanted him to or not. Like a traitor her body heated, her pussy clenching in hunger. She backed away from him.