Epilogue #2
Devyn was everything he wanted in a woman.
Oz might love his petite wife, but Lucky tended to be attracted to taller women.
And at five-eleven, Devyn was the perfect complement to his six-two.
She was slender but muscular, and he knew she worked out often.
She kept herself in shape so she could wrangle the animals she helped care for as a vet tech.
She was also smart, empathetic and kind, but wasn’t afraid to say what she thought, especially when it came to her big brother. It was obvious the two had a good relationship, and Lucky loved watching them together.
Yes, Devyn was pretty much a perfect package in his eyes. Good-looking and with a fantastic personality to boot.
But he could see the constant wariness in her eyes, and it killed him. He wanted to slay all her dragons, or at least stand at her side while she slayed them, and she refused to give him a chance.
If he hadn’t been watching Devyn so closely, he would have missed what happened next.
She was talking with Gillian when she received a phone call. She reached into her pocket and answered it without looking to see who was on the other end. The frown on her face alerted Lucky that whoever had called her wasn’t exactly welcome.
She said something to Gillian and walked away. Then, with her back to the others, she had a short phone conversation. After she hung up and put the phone back in her pocket, Devyn headed around the corner of the house without a word to anyone.
Lucky stood. Was she leaving? Just like that?
He was on the move before he thought about what he was doing.
“Where are you going?” Grover asked as he passed him inside the house. Lucky was going to try to head Devyn off before she could actually leave, and the quickest way to get to the front of the house was to cut through it.
“Devyn got a call from someone, and she’s not happy about it,” Lucky told his friend.
Grover sighed. “Shit. I told Spencer to call later tonight.”
Lucky stopped to glance at his friend. “Your brother?”
“Yeah. He’s been bugging me to get Devyn to talk to him.
I guess they had a disagreement before she left Missouri, and she’s been avoiding him.
And Mom too. He asked for her new number, and I gave it to him.
I mean, he’s our brother. Why wouldn’t I?
I don’t know what’s going on, but I want them to kiss and make up so we can be the close-knit family we’ve always been.
But I told him we were having this party today.
I asked him to wait until later to call her. ”
“I wasn’t close enough to hear who she was talking to, but I’m guessing he didn’t wait,” Lucky said.
Grover looked devastated. “I hate not knowing what the hell is going on with them.”
“I’m on her,” Lucky told him.
“I appreciate it,” Grover said.
Lucky nodded and opened the front door. He wasn’t looking after Devyn as a favor to his friend.
He was doing it because he admired Devyn.
Liked her a hell of a lot. She was a great friend, a hard worker, and funny as hell.
Anytime he was around her, Lucky felt as if the pressures of his job simply disappeared.
She made him feel…grounded. He’d never felt that way about any woman before.
He was relieved Grover hadn’t pulled the “don’t go near my sister” crap that so many men did.
He was all for Lucky dating Devyn. Which was great—except Devyn didn’t seem to be interested in dating anyone.
Firming his resolve, Lucky headed straight for her. She was fumbling with her keychain, trying to unlock her car door.
He came up next to her and wrapped his hand around her keys. “I got it,” he said softly.
As a testament to how upset she was, she didn’t protest. She let go of her keys, giving them to Lucky.
“I’m driving,” he told her, pushing his luck.
But again, Devyn simply nodded and headed around the front of her car to the passenger side. Lucky unlocked the car and they both got in.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Lucky asked after he’d started the engine.
“Just take me home,” Devyn said softly, shaking her head.
Lucky wanted to press the issue, but he wouldn’t force this woman to do anything.
He wanted her to come to him when she needed help.
When she was happy and wanted to share her excitement.
When she was sad and needed comforting. He wanted everything with Devyn, and he’d do whatever it took to prove she could trust him, that they were perfect for each other.
For now, he needed to get her home. Where she felt safe.
Then he’d do what he could to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
She’d always accused Grover of being stubborn, but she had no idea.
She was about to see exactly how stubborn this Delta Force soldier could be.
As much as he didn’t like the fact that Devyn was avoiding her mom, and now Spencer, Lucky couldn’t help but be relieved he had a legitimate reason to push Devyn harder than he had before.
But if Spencer thought he could come into their house, so to speak, and ruffle some feathers, he was wrong. No one messed with their inner circle, not even someone related by blood.
Sierra Clarkson lay in the dirt in the back of the cell she’d been thrown into and tried to figure out how long she’d been a captive.
It was impossible; she’d spent too much time in the dark recesses of this mountain in Afghanistan to mark the passing of day and night.
She’d been moved from house to house and finally had ended up here.
In a cave in a mountain. It was an unconventional prison cell, but the bars that had been erected across the entrance to the alcove she was in were as strong as any in any conventional jail.
Not only that, but it was obvious the men who’d taken her from the military base where she’d worked had finally tired of using her as a punching bag. She was mostly forgotten now, lying by herself in the dark and trying not to feel guilty for actually being bored.
Bored. What a joke. A few months ago—at least, she thought it was a few months—she would’ve welcomed a chance to be bored.
The first month or so after she’d been captured, Shahzada and his followers had taken turns torturing her.
Discovering what made her cry. How they could inflict the most pain.
She’d figured out pretty quickly that the faster she “broke,” the sooner they stopped the beatings and threw her back in her cell.
There had been a couple other prisoners who’d joined her in this hell since then, and now her captors concentrated on torturing them, trying to get information about the military operations on the base.
It was stupid, really. The contractors they’d kidnapped didn’t know the ins and outs of what went on at the base.
Not the important stuff Shahzada wanted to know, at least. She’d tried to talk to her fellow captors when they were left alone, but they wouldn’t answer her.
Were too freaked out and scared to death.
One by one, they’d disappeared. Sierra didn’t know what happened to them, but she assumed it couldn’t be good.
And she didn’t understand why she was still here. What Shahzada wanted with her.
She didn’t want to bring attention to herself, but when they forgot to feed her or bring her a fresh bucket of water, she had no choice but to cry and carry on until someone remembered she was back here and brought her something to eat.
Mostly she was in limbo, and it sucked. But Sierra had always tried to be positive.
Things could definitely be worse. She could still be getting tortured every day.
She could’ve been raped. And she could be dead.
But she wasn’t. She was alive, and with every day that went by, her resolve to stay that way increased.
Someone would eventually have to find her.
Maybe because they were looking for someone else who’d disappeared.
Or maybe Shahzada would finally mess up and the military would go after him.
So she had to keep hanging on until that day came. In the meantime, she needed to do whatever it took to survive. Sierra had already learned how to cut short any beatings she might receive, and she’d begun to wonder what else she could manipulate her captors into doing.
Closing her eyes, Sierra sighed and did her best to turn her mind to better things than the hellhole she was currently stuck in.
Her favorite choice since the kidnapping was Fred Groves, known as Grover to his friends.
He didn’t look like a Fred in her eyes, so she’d always thought of him as Grover too.
She was amazed when he’d seemed to take an interest in her.
Usually no one noticed her, except to comment on how short she was.
But he had. And when he’d asked if he could keep in touch with her after his deployment, she’d been thrilled.
She’d only gotten to write him one letter before Shahzada had snatched her from base.
She often wondered what had become of that letter. Had Grover gotten it? Had he written her back? Did he even think about her? She didn’t know, but picturing the strong, handsome soldier in her mind was better than thinking about her empty belly or worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
Poor Sierra! How much longer will she be a captive? Will Grover be able to find her? You’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out because next up is Lucky and Devyn’s story, Shielding Devyn. :)
Lucky has to get to the bottom of what’s going on with Devyn and Spencer, convince Devyn that she can trust him, and get her to see that he’s more than just her brother’s teammate.
I have a feeling he’s got his work cut out for him.
Read on — Next up is Shielding Devyn and you can find out how it all shakes out!