“Let’s get a move on. We need to get out of here,” Bayden called out to everyone.
“Guess we better get going.” Conlan held his hand out and helped her up.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about all of the stuff with Zaira. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s on our side.”
I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
On the way back to the ship, she was sick several times. She couldn’t wait to get back to Molly and sleep in a soft bed. The effects of the rev hadn’t lasted long, but they’d been intense with nasty aftereffects.
Once they made it back, she found the room she and Molly had shared on their maiden trip to Ryon and collapsed onto the small, but comfortable bed. Thad gave her some pain medication for her headache, and she fell asleep once the ship leveled out after liftoff.
Chapter Thirteen
“Wake the fuck up!” Stryder bellowed.
Ellie sprang from the bed. Her eyes were still blurry from the hangover and pain medication. When she saw Stryder’s deadly stare leveled on her, her stomach churned.
“What’s wrong?”
There had to be something terribly amiss for Stryder to pay her a visit. “Come with me.”
The unease crept deeper into her bones, and she had an overwhelming urge to curl up in the corner.
“You can’t do this.” Sarek said from behind Stryder.
“Fuck I can’t. She’s worthless to us. We can’t lose Bayden because of her. I warned him about bringing her with us in the first place. He’ll have to deal with the consequences of his decisions. If Zaira wants her in exchange for him, so be it.”
Thad appeared. “Sarek’s right. You can’t just feed her to the wolves, man. You know he’d kill you for it.”
Something awful had happened. When she met Thad’s somber gaze, her heart sank. The
him
Stryder was talking about had to be Bayden.
Stryder snarled again. “Not on his best day. Besides, I owe him my brother’s life. Do you think I can stand by while he’s tortured and murdered because of her?” He jerked his head toward Ellie.
“We can’t let you do it, bro.” Conlan said from behind Sarek and Thad.
Tortured and murdered? Suddenly, her head felt is if it’d split in two with the pressure building inside, and the headache had nothing to do with the hangover this time. The men were now arguing, but she only caught words here and there. “That bitch…” “Going to kill her…” and so on. Finally, she couldn’t take any more and stood.
“Stop it! Everyone stop it!” She screamed the words as loud as she was able and was amazed when the room became quiet.
“Someone tell me what’s going on.”
Silence.
“Tell me!”
“Zaira convinced Bayden that she might have some information about…well about someone we’ve been trying to track down for a long time.” Conlan rubbed his nape. “He went with her once we landed on Cerbys. An hour later we got a vid message from her saying that she’d drugged Bayden and was going to turn him over to Mykal if…”
She threw her hands up when he didn’t finish right away.
“She wants you, and I’m going to give you to her,” Stryder said.
“No, you aren’t.” Thad straightened to his full height behind Sarek.
“Yes. I am.”
“You’ll have to go through all of us first, bro,” Conlan said.
“No problem.” Stryder flashed a bit of fang.
“Stop it! Sheesh. Are you guys a bunch of teenagers or what?”
“Pretty sure last time I checked, I was past my teenage years,” Conlan said.
“Never mind.” She’d laugh at his obvious outrage over his lack of manliness if the situation wasn’t so dire. “Why does she want me?” She frowned.
“In case you didn’t notice, she doesn’t like you much. You do remember that she drugged you?” Thad gave her a stare that shouted, “duh.”
“Yeah, I did notice, but where I come from that isn’t usually a reason to kidnap someone.”
“You aren’t on Earth any longer,” Stryder said. “Besides, Zaira’s been after Bayden’s dick for longer than any of us can remember. It’s no secret you and he have a thing for one another. Zaira’s a vengeful bitch. We’ve tolerated her because she’s damn good at obtaining intel.”
Anxiety gnawed at her insides. If Stryder was this upset over the situation… Stryder didn’t strike her as a man who got rattled over nothing. “But if she wants Bayden so bad, why would she be willing to trade him for me?”
“Did you miss the vengeful bitch part?” Stryder asked.
“No.” Ellie looked around at the men as sudden silence fell over the room. “You aren’t telling me something.”
“We don’t believe she has any intention of trading Bayden for you,” Conlan said. “Her goal is most likely getting her hands on you to have a little torture time. Because you know, that vengeful bitch thing Stryder keeps mentioning.”
“Agreed,” Thad said.
Ellie’s stomach was a ball of twisted knots and dancing butterflies. She’d fallen in love with Bayden, and he’d saved her and Molly’s lives. How could she not give hers in return? But what about Molly? Her chest ached at the thought of abandoning Molly, and ached even more at the thought of someone dying for her. There was no choice in the matter.
“I’ll go.” Ellie raised her chin, squared her shoulders and leveled a stare on each of the men daring them to argue with her—which might’ve been funny if the situation were different.
“You know Bayden will kill us all if we take her to Zaira,” Conlan said.
“If we don’t take her, we may never get him back.” Stryder slammed his fist against the wall. “We know Zaira’s not going to go through with the trade, but she doesn’t know we know that. If we take Ellie, give Zaira the impression we’ll do the trade, we can use Ellie as a bargaining tool to gain more time to find Bayden. If we walk in there with nothing…”
“We can’t make her do it,” Thad said. “It’s not right, man, and you know it. It goes against everything we stand for.”
“No. Stryder’s right,” Ellie said. She turned to Sarek. “Will you swear to me on your life that you’ll take care of and protect Molly if something happens to me?”
Sarek nodded as tears glistened in his eyes.
“You can’t do this,” Conlan whispered. “Bayden would rather die than trade himself for you. He saved you. I’ve known Bayden since we were kids. He wouldn’t want you to die for him.”
She ignored him and continued. “If I do this, every single one of you”—she pointed to each man, one by one—”have to give me your word that you’ll always protect Molly. That if a situation like this ever happens after I’m gone, she’ll never be sacrificed. If you can make that promise, I’ll go. She’s my responsibility, just as Bayden is yours. I can’t die knowing Molly might be in danger one day.”
“Zaira probably won’t kill you,” Conlan said. “At least not right aw—”
“Shut up!” Thad said.
Thad dug an elbow into Conlan’s ribs. “Ooomph.”
“Will you tell Molly good-bye for me, Sarek? Tell her I love her, and that—” Her stomach twisted, and she swallowed around the lump in her throat. She launched herself against Sarek, soaking his chest with her tears.
“I’ll take care of it, Ellie. Bayden wouldn’t want you to do this.” Sarek wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, soothing her.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m an adult, and I can make my own decisions. I can’t let that happen to Bayden. I won’t let it happen.” She stepped back and looked at Stryder who was still glaring at her. “I love him, Stryder. I won’t let Bayden sacrifice himself for me. I don’t know what I ever did to you to make you hate me, but I’m glad you’re a loyal friend to him. I’m glad he has all of you. Don’t ever let him down. Don’t ever let each other down. Now do what you’ve wanted from the start and take me to Zaira.”
“We need to make a plan. If I have anything to say about it, we’re all coming back…alive,” Thad said through gritted teeth.
“Let’s do this.” Stryder’s eyes seemed to gleam with a little less hatred for her and maybe held a tiny bit of respect? Maybe, but his ferocity hadn’t dissipated any.
* * * *
“I thought you said she’d know if you guys came after Bayden,” Ellie whispered out the side of her mouth, barely moving her lips, to Stryder as he made a show of pushing her along.
“That’s why the others aren’t leaving until after we near our destination. Zaira will most likely only instruct one of her four lackey spies to stay behind and watch the ship. Sarek can easily provide a distraction for the others to slip out undetected.”
“Four? How do you know there are four?”
He grunted. “Because I do. The rest will be hired guns. She won’t have many unskilled players on her team. She’s too damn cunning for that.”
“Is it because of your special vampire senses?” She giggled, nervous not because he was a vampire and hated her, although that didn’t help, but because, at that moment, she might well be marching to her doom.
“What do you know about it?”
“Only what I read on the computer.”
“Yeah, and we know how accurate that information is.”
Her cheeks heated. He was right, and his extra twist of sarcasm made her wonder if Bayden had confided in him about her jumping to conclusions over the tattoo on his back from that
accurate
information.
“Look, I know you don’t like me, but if this doesn’t turn out well for me”—she swallowed past the lump forming in her throat—”promise that you’ll always have Bayden’s back.”
“Always have. I don’t dislike you.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” she said.
“I was, let’s say…unhappy about Bayden bringing you and Molly to Ryon. I could sense then that Bayden’s feelings consisted of…more than casual affection. You know? Vampire senses. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he spiraled headlong into disaster where you were concerned. It was inevitable that you’d hurt him. Women don’t love Reapers. They only fuck us. Literally and figuratively.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way—”
“I don’t
feel
that way. It’s a proven fact.”
“I’m giving my life for him, Stryder.”
“Yes. That’s what changed my mind about you. You have to love someone to be willing to lay your life down for them. No one’s that big of a fucking hero without legitimate reason.”
“Oh.” She smiled, surprised that she could do so under the dire circumstances. “If we’re making confessions here, I can’t say I was too fond of you either. Honestly, you freak the shit out of me, but maybe you aren’t bad after all.”
“Don’t count on it,” he muttered under his breath. “Quiet. We’re almost there. Play your part and maybe we’ll have a shot at this.”
Anxiety slithered through her. At least half of the outcome of this charade depended on her acting skills, and she prayed she could pull it off for her, Bayden’s, and Molly’s sake.
* * * *
“Let me see him.” Stryder’s gravelly voice was unmistakable from the next room, and Bayden winced. Other than having the shit kicked out of him, he was good. He hadn’t doubted that his team would try to save him. He was only surprised that they’d come this quickly. He’d hoped they’d take Ellie back to Ryon before trying a rescue mission, but they hadn’t because not enough time had gone by for them to have done so. He wasn’t sure how the rescue would go. Zaira had bragged about the number of guards at the compound, including several snipers placed in strategic places. Even Stryder wasn’t impervious to a barrage of bullets.
He’d never thought Zaira would pull a stunt like this, even knowing her lust for revenge. He wouldn’t have been surprised had she found a way to get him back at some point in time, but not this, not as a cohort to Mykal. When she let him know that Mykal had sent Enforcers for him, his stomach had knotted, not because he was worried about dying, but because he was worried about his team getting caught in the crossfire. He knew there wasn’t much time left before the Enforcers showed their ugly mugs, and a successful rescue and escape would be tricky at best.
“My, my, my. Aren’t we acting confident considering the situation? I could simply take her, kill you, and keep Bayden.” Zaira’s smug voice made him grind his teeth. Then his heart lurched up into his throat and pounded loudly in his ears.
No. No! Stryder didn’t bring Ellie here.
“You could try, but even if you manage to kill me and Ellie, I give you my word you’ll die before I draw my last breath.”
Zaira’s pause told Bayden that Stryder’s threat had frightened her. And well it should’ve.
“I came as you asked. Let Bayden go and take me.”
Rage filled him. He’d never forgive Stryder, any of them, if something happened to Ellie. How could they let Stryder bring her here? They all would’ve known that he’d want them to protect Ellie. If they made it out of here alive, he’d kick every single one of those bastards’ asses.
“Let me see him.” He bared his fangs. “Now.”
“All right. No need to get upset. I may be a lot of things, but a deal squelcher I’m not,” Zaira said.
“A big fucking traitorous liar, you are. What’s the difference?” Stryder said.
The door opened, and two goons dragged him out.
They better be glad my hands are tied behind my back
. He was confident he could still take them. It simply would take the right opportunity.
When they guided him to the living area, he saw Ellie standing next to Stryder, and his gut clenched. Her eyes were spitting furious fire but instantly cleared and shined with relief when she saw him. She smiled, but he was too angry to return the gesture.
Bayden looked at Stryder. “Why did you bring her?” His words asked so much more—what were you thinking, how could you betray me like this, how could you put her in danger?—and he knew Stryder understood exactly what he was asking.
“She volunteered.”
Zaira clapped, and laughter erupted from her pink lips. “Priceless. You actually volunteered to save one of these bastards?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Zaira’s laughter abruptly stopped, and she arched one sculpted brow. “Seriously?” Ellie stared at her in silence, and Zaira huffed. “They’re a bunch of criminals. You can’t trust any of them. They were probably waiting for the right opportunity and the right amount of money to get rid of you.”
“Bayden would never do that to me.”