The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Twenty-Two

H is dick in his fucking hand, Santos sneered. “You can’t shoot me, motherfucker.”

Can and would. “I don’t give a fuck who you’re related to. Dante said to protect the asset.”

White as a fucking ghost and looking panicked as fuck, Ludeviene’s eyes darted between me and the piece of shit lying next to her.

“The asset can’t have a little fun?” Emphasizing asset, Santos mocked me.

I raised my aim from his dick to his head. “She look like she’s having fun?”

Like a fucking amateur, the kid stuck his head through the hole that used to be the bedroom door. “Everything okay, boss?”

Two sets of footsteps came up the outside stairs.

Fuck .

I kept my aim on Santos. “Tell the others to stand down, kid. Resume your post.”

“You sure?” he asked.

Santos smirked, then the fucker stroked himself. “Unless you want to stay and watch how it’s done, kid .”

“On it, boss.” The kid couldn’t retreat fast enough. “Hey,” he called to whoever the fuck had come in the house. “We got it covered. All’s good. Go back to your posts.”

“What the fuck happened?” a deep voice asked.

“Santos” was all the kid said.

A collective laugh went through the living room.

“ Thomas ,” I warned, yelling over my shoulder, my glare steady on Santos.

“On it,” he hollered back a second before I heard the slider open and close.

His pants around his ankles, his dick still in his hand, Santos lay next to her and stroked himself again. “Can’t take your eyes off me, huh, amigo?” He grinned. “You want a piece of me or her? Maybe both?”

I counted off the number of steps up to the house as seconds in my head. Whoever had come inside would’ve at least cleared the stairs by now.

My aim steady on Santos, I stepped toward the bed. “You know what your first mistake was?”

Santos chuckled. “Not inviting you to the party?”

“Not saving any ammo to shoot me with.” Quicker than the fuck could take his hand off his dick, I flipped my rifle and struck him once in the face with the stock. Before the blood came gushing out of his broken nose, I repeated the strike on his fucking balls.

Howling out in pain, his hands flew from his nose to his junk, and he rolled off the bed. “You cocksucker !”

Ludeviene started to shake, but I couldn’t pause to deal with it. The second I broke through the window, our time was up.

Retrieving the one weapon the fucking captain hadn’t taken from me, I yanked my K-bar from its sheath clipped to my belt. Squatting, I held the serrated blade to Santos’s throat. “You know the second mistake you made, motherfucker?”

“You’re dead,” he ground out, spitting a mouthful of blood at me.

“Thinking just because Dante told me not to shoot you, I wouldn’t kill you.” I cut his motherfucking throat.

Shock contorted his face as blood spewed like a fucking faucet.

Zero remorse, I stood and wiped my blade on the bedding.

Face white, body trembling, the woman I came here for cowered away from me like I was a goddamn monster.

Santos made one last gurgling sound, and I told myself it was for the best. Pulling her dress down, I used my K-bar to cut first her wrist then her ankle restraints before reaching for her gag.

Avoiding eye contact, she jerked away from me.

I glanced out the broken window, but I couldn’t see shit now that it was dark. “We don’t have much time,” I warned. “I’m just untying the gag.” I reached for her again. “Your hair’s caught in it.”

Shaking, her wrists and ankles bruised, she flinched, but she didn’t move away.

Mission intent, I shoved my rage down at the state she was in and untied the gag, doing my best not to pull her hair. Tossing the spit and blood-soaked fabric aside, I had to address the bigger issue. “Are you injured, or do you have your period?” Either way, I couldn’t risk swimming her out of here now, not through shark-infested waters.

Heat hit her bruised cheeks as she sat up, and she barely shook her head, but she didn’t say shit. Still not looking at me, she gingerly touched one of her wrists.

Period it was. “Okay, sweetheart, we gotta move.”

She glanced at the floor, then crossed her arms and shook harder.

His eyes open, blood pooled around his head, Santos lay prone.

“He’s dead. Don’t worry about him.” I shouldered my borrowed rifle and took her arm.

A small gasp came out of her dry lips and she flinched, hard.

I gently turned her arm. Goddamn it . A gash ran the length from elbow to shoulder, but it’d started to scab. “Okay, sweetheart, it’s not bad, but it’s gonna have to wait until we get out of here before I can address it.” I reached for one of the restraints, and she jerked away from me again.

Fuck this.

I took her chin and forced her to look at me. “I’m not one of them. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m here to get you out.”

Her eyes welled, and she averted her gaze.

“Ludeviene?” Goddamn it, I didn’t have time for this. After I got her the fuck off this island, I’d address every last scrape and issue she had, but right now I needed to know if she was okay to move. “You good to go?”

She stared at nothing like it was her new religion.

Fuck. Fuck.

Not talking, not making eye contact—she was in shock. I’d seen this shit plenty of times downrange, but we were out of time, and I couldn’t address it now. So I gave her the best I could.

“I’m not tying you back up.” Dropping her chin, I used my knife to cut a length of the material before taking her forearm and holding her arm out. “I’m wrapping your cut. It’ll stop the bleeding for now.” I wound the material around her arm twice and tied it off snug.

She winced, then her stare cut to the mess on her thighs.

Fuck, the look on her face was killing me. I turned her toward the bathroom. “Go clean up. I’ll see what I can find for you to wear.” I glanced at her feet. “You got any shoes?”

She shook her head.

“All right, sweetheart, no problem. Go.” I scanned the grounds out the window again before I stepped over Santos’s body.

I heard the bathroom door close and water turn on as I shoved the fucking wardrobe away from the door. The handle still intact, I opened the door, but as soon as I did, it fell off the hinges. The hallway wall across from the bedroom was riddled with bullets. I was fucking lucky not more than two guards had shown up.

I grabbed my bag off the coffee table, then went back through the bedroom to the bathroom and knocked. “It’s me. I have some clothes.”

The water shut off, and after a beat, she opened the door. Her dress still on, she’d pulled her hair up into a bun and washed the blood off her thighs. Her face, wrists and ankles bruised, she looked like Santos had beat the hell out of her, and I wanted to kill the fucker all over again.

I handed her the bag. “Find whatever you can in here. You’ve got ten minutes. Stay here and wait for me. I’ll be right back.”

I left her and did a quick and useless search of the house for weapons, then I found the kid on the porch with the rifle in both of his hands like a death grip again. Not wanting to get fucking shot by him, I warned him of my presence before pushing the slider all the way open. “Hey. You left the door open.”

He jumped and turned toward me, taking his eyes off his post. “Oh, sorry, boss. Wasn’t sure if you wanted it closed?”

Christ. “Don’t turn your back on your post.” I stepped out on the deck.

“Oh sure, sure.” He faced the grounds and marina again.

“Give me that.” I nodded at his AR-15.

“What, why?” he asked, handing it over.

“Because you’re holding it wrong.” I positioned the stock against his shoulder correctly and put his finger on the trigger guard.

“You broke through the window,” he blurted. “Dante’s going to be pissed.”

“Santos was strangling her,” I lied. “No choice. I’m here to protect the asset, not fucking cater to that sick fuck’s sexual deviance.”

The kid whistled low. “Don’t let Dante hear you say that. I mean, Santos is known for being rough, but he usually never hurts them. Well, you know, not permanently.”

Slitting his throat was too humane. I should’ve gutted Santos. “How many men are guarding the dock?”

“During a regular shift?” he asked, keeping his finger in place.

“Yeah.” I moved his other hand off the magazine and placed it under the barrel.

“Three. And usually the captain is down there too, but he took Boss—er—the other boss and Addis for a run.” He held the gun closer and used the sights.

“Better.” I adjusted his hand slightly. “They took the yacht?”

“Yep,” he said proudly, as if the answer was a damn test he nailed.

“The other two boats have the keys in them?” Fuck, I didn’t want to have to kill this kid.

He lowered the rifle and his face fell. “Yeah, why? Are they coming?”

“Is who coming?” The last goddamn thing I needed were more obstacles on this island.

“A team, or men, or a private security outfit, whatever you want to call it. Dante thinks the cavalry is coming for the girl. He warned us to be on guard, especially at night.”

The cavalry wasn’t coming. I was already here.