C H A P T E R F O UR - - - D A N I E L L A

Great. This was what I was looking for in my evening.

Dani murmured quietly when she awoke, falling back and forth on a bench, her head throbbing in pain and her wrists zipped together in front of her. At the very least, they'd buckled her seatbelt.

"Good morning, sunshine. Enjoy the view, I hear it's the greatest drug nation has to offer," someone said from the front seat, blue and gold eyes flickering in the rearview mirror at her.

"Fuck you," she murmured groggily, laying her head on the headrest and instantly regretting it.

The smooth bounce of the armored vehicle as it moved over the forest floor made her sick, though her gaping head wound and the low end of her adrenaline high certainly helped. It took her a second to get her bearings and clear the first traces of hysteria from her mind.

The Silk Slayers were not among them. These were fighters. It didn't take more than a quick glance to notice. They were dressed in jungle camo gear, drenched in perspiration, and filled the small area with manly odors that made her jaguar sniff at the air hungrily.

Shifters. Big, powerful shifters. Shit.

Therefore, it was going to be difficult for her to escape this predicament. Her thoughts were racing, and she attempted twisting her wrists in the bonds. Tight but not overly so. They did not want to stop her blood flow. It must not have been completely lost. Though she couldn't quite hear it, she could definitely feel something hum in the air. Something that nearly caused the air around her to crackle

She quickly understood as she opened her eyes once more and saw the man sitting next to her with a deep, almost obscenely golden look. A single blink caused the gold in his eyes to vanish in an instant and be replaced by a gray and blue that was as alluring as the whirling depths in front of them. She could sense his hyperawareness of her presence because the hairs on the back of his arm sprang up when he turned his head away and looked out the window as though she didn't exist.

She spotted yet another jaguar. She felt a part of her light up with eerie interest.

They weren't typical shifters, particularly not in the military. They were loner types who enjoyed working alone and didn't enjoy group dynamics as much as, say, lions did. Dani knew they were fierce and unbeatable once they joined forces, though. But considering the circumstances, it seemed strange to see another person of her type crammed into a little car alongside her.

"You want to tell us who you are, or is that something we really must know? " The driver made a joke, his eyes glistening with laughter that no one else in the car seemed to be experiencing.

She paused to assess the circumstance. The sun was already risen when the driver made his way through the bush on a crooked path. She wasn't very drunk, but she knew she had to have been out for at least an hour. She was also unfamiliar with the areas of the bush they were walking through. She had no clue where they were going at the moment, but perhaps if the window had been open and she had been able to smell them, she might have known.

The passenger seat was occupied by a man who appeared to be recording the events and was broadly formed and strikingly composed. In their right ears, she could see unremarkable communications equipment that was completely opaque. She could not identify them because of the lack of insignia or other distinguishing features on their clothes. She did, however, notice dog tags straining beneath their shirts, off their muscular chests and against the cloth.

Also strongly identifying them as Americans was the driver's mild Creole accent. Dani wasn't sure if she was being driven to death or merely taken on a joyride, but at least that was a comfort. She was berating herself for her careless choices, or she was blaming herself.

You had the option to board that vehicle. You would have been more accurate. You've now completely ruined the plan.

There was a lot of truth in that, but she knew in her heart of hearts that she couldn't truly curse herself too severely. It was a reflex and automatic. Dani had no doubt that Ron had put his revolver to his shoulder and was ready to shoot the man in the face. Despite the fact that she was unsure of the identities of the guys, their weapons and digital forest camouflage made it unlikely that she could deny that they were at the very least more capable men than the twerps she was running with. She had done what needed to be done because she didn't want blood on her hands, even if they weren't the good folks. if only for a moment, taken out Ron and received a punch to the face from Louie as a result. Everything was fair; she had earned it. The most terrifying aspect of it was that she had not in the least expected to survive it. The objective in this situation was meant to be survival.

Finally answering with the most girliest grin she could muster, Dani said, "I believe it's more fun if you guys guess."

The driver laughed, and if she had wanted to, she could have read amusement in the man sitting next to him's expression. She was seated next to a man, but he said nothing and gave her no attention. She caught a glimpse of his fingers ticking nervously on his knee out of the corner of her eye. She made a little frown. Nothing about him suggested that he was the restless sort, yet that one clue gave her more information than she may have needed to know.

She batted her eyelashes and said, "How about you show me yours and I'll show you mine?" She definitely couldn't really count on employing her feminine cunning while blood was gushing from her forehead.

"Miss," the driver said, "I think you're mixing up who caught whom here."

Chatty, isn’t he.

Dani chose to remain silent while gazing out the window because no one else tried to pull anything more from her. They couldn't have given any thought to what she saw because they hadn't covered her eyes and she wasn't hidden in a trunk. That indicated that they had plans to either murder her or later relocate her to a safe location where she couldn't create any issue. She bit her lip carefully and attempted to determine if she had any role to play in this predicament, but it had left her feeling relatively comfortable about her current circumstances.

Before the automobile abruptly came to a stop, appearing in the middle of nowhere, it was another thirty minutes. Dani could hear rustling and things being dragged out of the rear of the large armored vehicle as the guys filed out. After that, a door was opened, and the man who avoided her look bent over her and unbuckled her seatbelt.

As his hand glided up her calf to loosen the belt, she couldn't help but exhale as their bodies met. The jolt ran like a ball of lightning from her knee to her toes and then to the top of her head, warming her all over, as if someone had tased her. She glanced at him with big green eyes, and they both momentarily stopped moving.

He was so cute, fuck.

Darkness and rough lines, all at once beautiful and ominous. His canine badges briefly protruded from his sweat-stained dark gray shirt as he halted over her, his lips unnaturally near. Square, enormous shoulders dug into her. He had a stiff jaw that gave the impression that he was clenching his teeth, and his lips were thin but had a deep Cupid's bow. Dark brows, a strong Roman nose, and eyes that made her feel like the hunted, not the hunter, for the first time in her life.

Finally, he murmured, "Come on," reversing and opening the car door widely to give her some space. "We have to leave."

His voice was flawless, even. Growly and raspy, as though he had smoked too much, yet it just improved it. Dani had spent a significant portion of her adult life around every macho male cliche she could think of, so the fact that he smelt like a genuine guy was significant. But this man? The genuine stuff, he was. Quiet, dignified, and radiating power. She was certain that they would be fucking by the time the clock struck twelve if she had met him at a pub.

Shaking her head, she got up from the chair and waited for him to shut the door and thrust her in front before moving. A voice in her brain urged her to go, but it seemed more interested in how long it would take this huge wall of a man to catch her than in whether she would succeed in doing so.

He led her to a door that was hardly more than a hatch in the underbrush. She could see the other two men securing the car as she peered over her shoulder. She could make out another mound about a hundred feet to the right, which to the inexperienced eye appeared to be dense vegetation, but she could infer that there was a similar automobile below.

He opened the door and took her down a narrow, dark staircase, lowering her into the depths of the night. The lights flashed on as she walked down the last step, making sparks dance in her field of vision as she had been acutely aware of his presence behind her the entire time.

They were in a modestly sized yet roomy bunker. Doors leading to numerous adjacent rooms were visible to her. It had a musty, stale scent that suggested it had been abandoned for some time and had just lately been used. Dani was about to spin around and make a sassy remark about whether this was the guy with her's strategy for first dates when she was stopped short by a gurgling growl from the rear.

He pointed in the direction of the sound and said, "That way."

C H A P T E R F I V E - - - D A N I E L L A

His eyes are captivating.

Dani did as she was ordered without saying anything, feeling an acute sensation in her shoulders as she went forward, his presence making her squirm slightly. She came to a halt at the entrance and almost ran into him. Her knees were wobbly from being so close to him. It was truly absurd. She wasn't the type of girl to swoon over any man, no matter how damned scorching gorgeous and deadly he was.

Yet, here you are, she thought, a momentary feeling of irony in her voice.

However, the scene in front of her was not pleasant. She knew the man on the cot right away as the lucky motherfucker who hadn't been shot in the head a few hours before. His side and arm were shredded and torn, and blood was still pouring through while two guys worked on him, one much tenser than the other.

"I brought a visitor," the guy behind her stated stiffly, his voice sweet in her ears.

"Oh, look, Jordan, it's your knight in shining armor," one of the men remarked, looking up and nodding.

“Great. She needs to save me first, and then she has to watch my humiliation," the guy rasped, his body tensing.

Dani took a step closer, frowning. She could see the jagged edges of the wound, where the bullet had ripped through his hand and side. It appeared to have gone completely through, which was a good thing. Even though his lung hadn't collapsed, the individuals tending to him were plainly not doctors. After enough time in the field, every soldier would have received adequate instruction in what to do in the event of severe injuries, but this would only get them so far.

"Have you guys have a medic on staff?" She questioned after noticing the tattoos of the SEAL eagle, trident, pistol, and anchor on Jordan's ribcage, just above the entry wound.

He screamed, his eyes gleaming with anguish, "I am the medic." She said, struggling to hold back the grin, "Ah. , see that you planned this properly."

"Oh, screw you. Please maintain your sense of superiority and leave your wit at the door. I'm in agony and can't strike girls right now."

"Man, you couldn't punch anybody. Are we going to watch as your friend loses the use of his right hand or are you two fools going to break the ties that are around my wrists so I can aid your friend here? ”

The four men were pressed together, and Dani inclined his head to one side. When it came to her, if that was all they had to worry about, she was in excellent standings, despite the skepticism in their eyes.

An authoritative voice from behind them said, "Cut them off."

When Dani turned back, she saw the man who had been sitting in the passenger seat glaring at her and crossing his arms over his chest. He had to be in charge of the team. Thankfully, the man who appeared to be about to go on a rampage stood up, pulled a knife from his belt, and slashed the ties around Dani's wrists. Before signaling for the guys to disperse so she could get a better view of the injured man, she swiftly massaged them.

She knelt down and brought the medkit to her, mumbling, "Thank you."

She wasn't a qualified medic either, but she'd made it a point to study as much as she could after witnessing two of her squad mates bleed to death when the medic wasn't on duty. The side wound had been sufficiently cleaned up by the guys, but the hand was so fragile that they were at a loss for what to do with it other than debride it. As she observed the exposed tendons and bones with the blood coagulating around them, her nose scrunched.

"Can you clench your fist?" She whispered, seeing that Jordan was in excruciating pain but maintaining remarkable composure.

She could tell that everyone in this group was a shifter, which both made life simpler and more difficult. However, at least no one was holding a pistol to her head. Nevertheless, she could still feel the towering, powerful presence of the man with the gray-blue eyes. She was far more relaxed and at ease than she probably should have been as a result.

"Are you concerned that I'll punch you? " Jordan enquired, making a sardonic jest.

He hissed in pain as he twisted his hand into a fist despite her expression. The tense-looking man was clearly fidgeting.

The person in charge responded, "Easy, Mitch," placing a hand on the man's shoulder and yanking him back. "You're not helping at all. Will you send Tim and Tom to clean the equipment? ”

The two men who had been working on Jordan, Tom and the driver Tim, rose up and nodded solemnly. They exchanged glances with Jordan, who then waved them off while maintaining enough composure to hide his distress. Jordan, the person in command, Dani, and her mysterious favorite remained in the bunker as the trio marched off.

Before any of them could say anything, the upper hatch had already closed with a loud thud.

"It's fantastic that your hand can move. You must be a shifter, then. Is she your twin? "Is that where the other man went?" Dani said while pointing with her chin in that general area.

“That cheerful motherfucker? Sure is," Jordan said with a chuckle. “He doesn't like it when one of us tries to end our lives, so don't worry about him. I believe he has it against me.”

She said, "That'll assist with the healing then." Twins have always had the advantage of healing more quickly from injuries when their partner is nearby.

"I'm grateful, by the way. For what you did there," Jordan remarked, losing all sense of humor.

Dani brushed it aside and responded, "No problem."

As she worked on Jordan's hand and side, making sure the side wound hadn't ruptured anything crucial and stitching it up, the temperature in the room seemed to fall a few degrees. Jordan's hand was kept in a fist while she removed shrapnel from the wound because she was aware that if there were any remaining foreign objects in the area, shifters' accelerated healing may cause significant harm. When she got her hands in the flesh of one of their comrades in arms, it seems like no one wanted to question her too much, but she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

They used to be SEALs, if not now. What in the name of God are they doing in the jungle?

She had an idea, but she dared not say it since the knowledge had shaken her too much. She finished up her work in silence and then picked up a syringe, holding up a bottle of mild sedative for Jordan to see. It wasn't entirely out of the question that these men were from The Firm, and when she'd thought "losing patience" meant "getting fired," it could have also meant "being collateral damage during a raid."

"All right, I'll give you two milligrams of this. You won't sleep otherwise, I'll wager. Are you okay with that? ”

She also cast a peek behind her. Both the stony-faced commander and his depressed companion were resting against the wall, arms crossed, looks unreadable.

"All OK. Confirmed that she's giving me a two-point-five, Lieutenant."

Dani extracted the prescribed quantity from the syringe and handed it out for the lieutenant to see.

Lieutenant... most likely a shifter squad, she reasoned.

Few shifters ever went through officer training, preferring to battle rather than sit at a table cramming theory that their animal sides could accomplish without thinking. That meant they were frequently commanded by twerps considerably beneath them, something Dani had discovered while in the service herself.

He nodded and took a step back, saying, "It's the correct amount, Jordan."

Jordan's arm was the location where Dani swabbed and inserted the needle to immediately deliver the medication. Inhaling deeply, Jordan tilted his head back and peered up at the ceiling.

Finally, sounding exhausted, he replied, "I owe you a beer, Miss."

She sneered, "You owe me at least three."

She wasn't expecting the guy behind her to laugh. Looking back, she can see that it was the one that gave her brain a headache and made her stomach lurch. He was even adorable when he was grinning, by golly.

This was really unjust. Being imprisoned against her will while dealing with a botched mission, facing her own death, treating a wounded soldier she didn't know was difficult enough, but now she had to cope with becoming wet because a hot man made a sexy as fuck sound when he laughed? Oh my God, that was a lot.

As soon as Jordan was out like a light, Jerome stated, "Miss, I think it's time you and we have a conversation now." Jerome then stood up straight.

Dani inhaled deeply, quieting her pounding heart.

In an effort to persuade her frail body to stop acting like a girl and start thinking like the professional she was, she pleaded with herself, "Get your mind back in the game." It almost succeeded.

Her knees were still a little wobbly, though, as she got to her feet and left the room in the direction she was pointing, with her lovely tormentor following close after. And that was just very unfair.

C H A P T E R S I X - - - S HA U N

Shaun wished he could bite his knuckles. His hands were wanting to move on their own, and it was getting absurd trying to control them.

She was very near, and she smelt fantastic. The man wasn't the only one who was turned on; the jaguar was nearly roaring with passion, making him squirm every time he moved too close to her. And he had no idea what her name was.

Shaun watched her walk inside one of the secondary rooms, the one where he slept, her beautiful locks bouncing on her shoulders. She needed a shower, she must have been fatigued, and her wound had not yet been treated, yet she was utterly devastating throughout.

Jerome led her to a chair, and Shaun came to a halt at the door, closing it but standing against the doorframe like an ominous ghost. Jerome probably didn't need him there and didn't protest on the grounds of adding some intimidation to the situation, but Shaun wouldn't have left if he'd been instructed to. He wasn't trying to defy the lieutenant, but he couldn't shift his body any more away from her than he had to.

She sat down hard, and her body language indicated tiredness. Shaun wanted to pick her up and place her on the bed, wrap up over her, and keep her safe until she was relaxed and everything was fine. The concept made him visibly cringe.

What’s wrong with you, man? Snap out of it.

Easier said than done.

“You want to tell me why you chose to help Jordan? You didn’t have any reason to,” Jerome started.

The woman shrugged, putting her elbows on her knees and leaning forward a bit, a sly look in her eyes that could have almost doubled for amusement if she hadn’t looked so damn worn and ragged.

“I figured I could play both sides a little. You know, keep my life interesting,” she noted with a smirk, one that Shaun wanted badly to kiss off her lips.

“Hey, we can make this easy or we can make this hard. You can tell me who you are or I can bundle you up, throw you back in the jungle for your friends to find you and see what they make of you,” Jerome said, flashing his teeth in a predatory snarl that Shaun knew all too well.

His threats were rarely empty. They’d done it before with hostages that they didn’t really need, and let their own people sort out what to do with them. Usually though, it meant freedom for the party at hand. This time, Shaun was sure that the first person from the camp to get their hands on her would make sure she never had another chance to help anyone ever again.

His hands rolled into tight fists at the mere thought of it.

“You could do that. But I bet you won’t,” she said idly, her expressive eyes sparkling with something other than exhaustion.

It was like she was almost playing with them, taunting them. It made her even sexier than before and Shaun was cursing the moment he’d ever laid eyes on her. He’d made a point of keeping his life rational, on track, and without distraction. This beautiful, impossible creature had the capability to ruin all of that. And Shaun hated it when something fucked with his system.

“How come?” Jerome asked, cocking a brow and mirroring her faint amusement.

“Well, you guys don’t look like assholes. I mean, for a bunch who mowed down a camp full of thugs, that is, but my point remains.”

“You can’t build your expectations based on first impressions,” Jerome warned with a chuckle.

“True,” she agreed, shrugging her shoulders a little. “But aren’t SEALs supposed to have a code of conduct of some sort? You know, serve with honor and integrity and what not.”

Shaun felt himself tense. She’d seen Jordan’s tattoo, and almost every member of the squad had it tattooed on them at some point during their service. He flicked his gaze at Jerome and the lieutenant remained unflappable, as he always was during missions. The way that man could keep a cool head was impressive to say the least.

“What we were in our past has little to do with what we are now,” he noted coolly.

“I doubt that, though,” she said, the smirk hovering on her lips.

Without another word, she peeled up the side of her ratty, ragged shirt. Shaun’s muscles flexed halfway because he was instinctively worried that she was going for a weapon—impossible, because they’d checked her before tying her up—and halfway because the exposed flesh on her stomach and side longed to be kissed and touched by him. He had to put serious effort into not getting turned on by the fact that he could see a tiny bit of skin that he hadn’t seen before.

You are so fucked.

She looked at both Jerome and then at Shaun and it might have been his imagination, but he was pretty sure her gaze lingered on him longer than it needed to. Her fingers peeled at an invisible edge on her side, right on her ribs, and Shaun strangled a gasp of surprise as the flesh tore back, coming off smoothly with a hint of a ripping noise scratching at his ears.

It was a cover-up bandage, wide but perfectly matched to her skin tone and with edges so fine that it would have been impossible to tell it was there if she hadn’t taken it off. Underneath it, a crisp, sharp ink figure was revealed. The United States Marine Corps logo in simple black, close to her heart.

Shaun wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he definitely didn’t anticipate Jerome bursting into laughter, his body visibly relaxing.

“So you know, huh?” he asked, the corners of his eyes crinkling with laughter.

“I could guess,” she admitted, further confusing Shaun.

“Know what?” Shaun asked, feeling his heart beat far too fast and hard.

He could recognize that logo anywhere, but why the hell was it on a woman they’d found in a foreign drug operation, packing away cocaine? It made no damn sense.

“You want to tell her or shall I, Miss Daniella Gutierrez?” Jerome asked, giving the woman a look and then raising his hand to settle Shaun and show him everything was okay.

“You two seem to have such great rapport, I’m sure you can explain it better. But just so we’re clear here, you’re with The Firm, right? Did you know I was going to be there?” she asked, letting out a long breath and patting the shirt back over her exposed skin.

“No, we didn’t. I don’t think that’ll surprise you much, right?” Jerome asked, getting a confirmatory nod and an eye roll from Daniella. “I called it in after we extracted you and Jordan from the scene. When I said we had you alive, our handlers were more than happy to tell us that you were one of us and that we should send you home. But we weren’t alerted beforehand, so you know what that means.”

His brows were furrowed and he felt irritation boiling in him. Daniella dropped her eyes for a moment, nodding solemnly, and the air in the room seemed suffocating, thick. The Firm had been willing to let Squad Six kill one of their own without remorse, without warning, or having them try and get her out of there alive. She would have been collateral damage and it was dumb luck that she was alive.

“Wait, what? You’re with The Firm?” Shaun piped in, standing up straight.

Bile rose in Shaun’s stomach. This was exactly like The Firm to pull bullshit like that. If he had to guess, he was willing to place a stiff bet on the fact that Ace had to have something to do with the whole mess.

“I am,” Daniella nodded, rolling back her shoulders now and slouching a bit in the chair, like she could finally take a breath that wasn’t calculated.

“Guess we all got lucky today, Daniella,” Jerome said.

“Call me Dani.”

“Fine, Dani. Thank you for making sure one of my boys didn’t get his brain blasted on the side of a Jeep. And for patching him up. I’m sure Jordan will bitch and moan about your handiwork later, but don’t mind him. He’s a big pussycat, really,” Jerome said, reaching out a hand to Dani.

She took it and they shook hands, her grip firm and sure. Shaun could see that from the way the tendons in her forearm flexed, and now, suddenly, he could look at her in a whole new light. The sureness of step and the way her body seemed to float when thrown into a mess that would have made any normal person falter, panic, and stumble was the result of years of training, muscle memory, and confidence colliding into the perfect combination.

She was a warrior, like they were. And he’d almost killed her.

“Don’t mention it,” she said, and there was a genuine smile on her lips now.

It was disarming.

“Shaun will get you settled in,” Jerome said as they released hands, with Dani looking at Shaun now for more than a simple stolen moment. “Give her a chance to clean up and check out that laceration on her head. I bet you need a good night’s sleep with some shitty air conditioning and stale rations, right Dani?”

“Sounds about right,” she confirmed with a chuckle, her mesmerizing eyes still locked on Shaun.

“I need to get a report from you as soon as you feel up to it. Apparently there’s a two-month gap between your last transmissions and the desk monkeys don’t like that. Shaun can take it, right? I’ll go check with the rest of the team and let command know you’re in one piece and of sound mind.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” she noted. “If I were of sound mind, I wouldn’t be in the middle of this fucking jungle.”

“Yeah, well, that’s a brand of insanity we all subscribe to,” Shaun muttered, drawing a grin out of her that damn near lit the room up.

“It’s settled then,” Jerome said, pushing open the door and stepping out with a nod to both of them.

Being alone with her was difficult, to say the least. He hadn’t realized he’d been staring before Dani grinned a little, cocking her head to the side.

“What, soldier? Like what you see?” she asked, batting her lashes in a way that was obviously full of at least a little bit of mockery.

“Impressed to see a dead woman walking, that’s all,” Shaun gruffed, slicking a hand through his hair in an effort to do anything other than sink into her.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, the fake coyness wiped from her face immediately.

Shaun couldn’t help but grin a little at that. She was feisty as hell and he bet her reflexes were topnotch. Serious little actress, too. Her body language could go from inviting to threatening at the drop of a hat, and for once he felt well-matched. He couldn’t banter with most women at all, fearing he would hurt their feelings and cause a big teary mess as soon as he said a word. Dani, though? He bet she could dish it back twice as hard as she took it.

“I had you in my cross hairs,” he said, pursing his lips lazily.

She stilled for a second. She must have known as well as he did what that meant, and he bet she’d seen the sniper rifle case being hauled out from the back of the vehicle. Shaun himself still couldn’t believe he hadn’t taken the shot, though every fiber in his body was trained to act when he had a clear chance in a situation like that.

But standing a few feet from her now, hell… she could arrest him from hundreds of yards away, making his hand falter, but at this distance, she had disarmed him completely. All he had now was his wits and even that seemed to be running dry when faced with her.

“Why didn’t you take the shot?” she asked, echoing the question rolling back and forth in Shaun’s head as well.

“Guess I did like what I saw,” he said, grinning wryly.

He was almost expecting her to lunge at him for that and get in a good punch or two, but she didn’t. Instead, she licked over her lips, her gaze flicking down to the toes of her boots and for a second, Shaun thought he spied a slight blush on her cheeks. That was surprising. Apparently she wasn’t all sass, then. It looked just as cute on her as her tough attitude did.

“Careful, soldier. You’re playing with fire here,” she said, looking back up and clearing the tiny note of surprise off of her expression.

She couldn’t fool him, though. He’d seen it, and now the dynamic was changed. Shaun shrugged his shoulders, pushing the door open in front of him and motioning for her to go through.

“I’m not afraid of getting burned,” he said.

He wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not.