23. Warner
WARNER
STRONGER – THUNDERSTORM ARTIS
The stairs leading to Tom’s apartment are hellish on my swollen limb, but I claw back any evidence of my pain. We’re twelve hours out from leaving the country. This is not the time for my useless leg to flare up and hold our team back.
“Just take it slow.” Ember stands above me, watching each stiff movement.
“I’m alright.”
“I don’t know why you bother to lie to me. It’s never worked.”
“Worth a try.”
Lips mashing together, I brace a hand on the sleek metal banister while swinging my prosthetic up to tackle the next step. She always sees straight through me. It’s incredibly annoying. Though, come to think of it, I’m sure she feels the same way when I read her like a book.
“We’ve got one team member recovering from a car accident and one being stitched up after his twin stabbed him.” She runs a hand over her face. “Not exactly the A-Team, are we?”
“Price of doing business,” I grunt back.
“At least Tom’s out of the hospital now. I can cross one person off my list of worries.”
Sure enough, he received the all-clear after weeks of agonisingly slow recovery. Tom’s lungs are badly scarred from the pneumonia, but he’s well enough to continue healing at home. Or rather, the impenetrable fortress that I’ve erected in his apartment.
“Pretty sure our list of worries extends beyond that.” I catch up to her so we can ascend together. “How do we know that Gunnar is even telling us the truth?”
“I’d say he has a pretty decent motivation.”
“Axel’s deal is bullshit, and you know it.”
Ember shoots me a glare. “I have zero intention of allowing Axel to surrender to that lunatic. But as long as he thinks that’s going to happen, we will pump Gunnar for all his intel.”
“He isn’t a reliable source.”
“We’re fresh out of those.”
Well, shit. I can’t quite argue with that.
“Not even Dominic Pit or the other prisoners will confirm if Nolan Madden is in Estonia.” Ember shakes her head. “They’ve all accepted their fate behind bars. No one is talking but Gunnar.”
“I know, Em.”
Her desperation is obvious. And I don’t blame her for it. With Gael’s threat looming and a possible ID on Gracie’s location, Ember’s racing to end this battle before there are any more lives lost.
Yet that doesn’t mean we should trust an international bounty hunter with about as much credibility as the monsters we’re hunting. For all we know, he’s leading us straight to Gael and Nolan Madden. Not offering them up to us on a silver platter just to win his brother’s head.
“Gunnar places Nolan’s base of operations in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn.” I grab her shoulder to halt her at Tom’s door. “I’m willing to go, but we will not put anyone else at risk. That includes you.”
“I have to find her.”
“And we will. But no more casualties.”
“What else do you expect me to do?” she hisses.
“Stay safe! Follow orders! Be careful!”
Ember begs me with her big storm cloud eyes. I’d still lock her in a fucking closet to stop her from undertaking this mission. It’s a high-stakes, international rescue op. Hardly a walk in the park. The reward is great, but so are the risks.
“Gael doesn’t know we’re working with Gunnar.” I tug the end of her braid, rubbing the blonde and red strands between my fingers. “We’ll use that to our advantage and hope we catch him by surprise.”
“What if Gracie is already dead?” Her lip trembles the smallest amount.
Hand lifting to brush over her mouth, I smooth the tiny tic. “You can’t think like that.”
“I’m being realistic. What if we’re too late?”
There are times when being the ultimate authority in our team sucks. Point in case. No one else has the heart to tell Ember that this could all be for nothing. Though it seems she’s having the same doubts already.
“Then I’ll happily hold Gael down while you take whatever pound of flesh you so desire from his corpse.” Her lip shudders where I pull it free. “And I’ll do the same thing for Nolan Madden.”
“I don’t want revenge,” Ember mutters. “Only justice.”
“Will you settle for an end to this nightmare?”
“Not if it doesn’t involve bringing Gracie home.”
Dismissing me, Ember turns to tackle Tom’s new fingerprint ID scanner. It protects his steel-reinforced, Sabre-fitted door, the crown jewel in a whole host of improvements. Growling under my breath, I catch her around the waist and spin her to face me.
She makes a small squeak when I back her up into the front door, aligning our hips and bodies in perfect correlation. Her head tilts up to mine as I clasp her chin between forefinger and thumb to prevent her from looking away.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re going to listen to me carefully, Ember.”
Defiance barely covers the sheen of real fear roiling in the thunder-stricken skies that paint her irises. Bravado aside, I know she’s scared. Terrified even. We’ve come so far to reach this point, and the end feels within reach.
“I will not lose you now that I’ve found you,” I whisper harshly, pinching her chin tight. “Not for justice, revenge or whatever you want to call it.”
“We have the advantage.” Ember stares back at me without flinching. “Nolan Madden doesn’t know that we have his location. We can extract Gracie and apprehend him in one fell swoop.”
“Just like that?”
“Not exactly. But this is the lead we’ve been waiting for. We can’t allow fear to control us now.”
This fucking woman.
Only Ember can lecture me about grand, heroic gestures and still turn me harder than steel with the rough timbre of her voice. That fiery defiance is one of the first parts of her that I fell in love with.
Uncaring of our location, I frantically crush my mouth on hers. Abrupt. Heavy. A dominant display of just how hard I’ll fight to keep her on the safe side of this fight. Even if she hates me for it.
At least she’ll be safe.
Ember furiously kisses me back with all the rage that’s kept her going until now. The sheer, unbreakable will to confront her abusers. Her need for redemption wrapped up in this teenage girl’s stolen life.
We’re a messy tangle of emotion, both grasping each other and trying to find some sense in the unthinkable. She can’t walk away from this case. I can’t protect her from it. We’re on a one-way track to an ever-nearing collision, and still, she refuses to stop.
I push my hand beneath her cropped black tee, fingers splaying over soft skin. Ember winds an arm around my neck, pulling me closer so she can deepen our kiss with a hot swipe of tongue. It makes me growl down deep like some kind of wild animal.
I’m itching to touch her. To cast all final doubts aside and slide so deep within her, she can’t ever hope to dig me from her veins. I want to own Ember, to love and fucking cherish her. To hold her close and share her with those I care about most.
I want her.
And I don’t care who that will hurt.
If we’re walking into a firefight, I refuse to do it without cementing her place at my side. No matter the complications or countless problems still to sort. I’ll take the small slice of her heart she’s willing to part with and charge ahead as a happy man.
Tearing my lips from hers takes great self-control, but I find the sense to do it, tucking my face into the crook of her neck and breathing her in. Her scent seeps freely, all feminine and floral. She shivers against me when I lave my tongue up the side of her neck, throat to ear.
“Fuck, love. I want to throw you against this door, spread your gorgeous legs wide open and sink my cock inside your heat.”
She moans lightly, her fingernails scratching against my scalp. “You sure do choose your moments.”
“Your brother’s going to skin me alive for even laying a fingertip on his little sister, but I’m past the point of caring. I refuse to hide the way that I feel. We’ve already wasted far too much time.”
“Warner…”
“No, Em.” I nip her neck, tongue roving beneath her earlobe. “You. Are. Mine.”
The way she shivers and mewls in response only solidifies my choice. Tomorrow could be the end of this case. Or even us. But I’m not facing it without wiping any trace of uncertainty aside.
Reluctantly, I release Ember to reposition my throbbing cock. She glances down at the bulge straining against my jeans and snorts in amusement.
“Tom really will kill you if you walk in there sporting a massive erection.”
“Massive?” I waggle an eyebrow.
“Of course, that’s the only part you’re concerned about.”
“Given the rumours I’ve heard from my teammates, I’m taking it as a compliment that you’re willing to use the ‘M’ word after sleeping with them.”
“Who told you that?” Ember’s mouth falls open.
“You did.” I tap her chin to click it shut. “You’re incapable of falling apart quietly, love. I heard everything from my office while Hyland fucked you into an oblivion.”
“Oh.”
“And Axel isn’t exactly subtle when it comes to you either.”
Seeing her blush dark-pink is a pure delight. I hold that image in my head while tackling Tom’s security system to access his newly reinforced apartment. I’ll need something nice to think about while he breaks my face for trying to fuck his sibling.
The sound of conversing voices guides us into the kitchen living area. I offer Jamie a nod, standing in the black-and-white tiled kitchen and chopping ingredients for dinner.
“Hey. Cooking anything nice?”
“Lasagne.” Jamie smiles happily. “Tom’s favourite.”
“Did you two finally move in together?” I gesture towards the marble counter.
He points at me with a vegetable knife. “Mind your own business, mister.”
“Just saying. You seem pretty comfortable here.”
“How about we discuss your love life instead?” Jamie winks salaciously. “The fancy security system you installed outside has a door camera.”
“Ah,” I splutter. “Yes. That.”
“Indeed, that. You have some explaining to do.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Tom calls out.