22. Matheus
The second I hang up, my pulse thrums, loud and powerful. Violence swells inside of me.
I know what I have to do, but the SUV has slowed down for some reason.
I’m trapped. My wings are clipped. If I had my motorcycle, I’d be unstoppable.
“What’s going on?”
I thump the headrest, practically pushing myself between the two front seats to get a better view.
“Why the hell have we stopped?”
“Traffic, sir,” the driver replies. “Looks like there’s roadwork.”
My temper sparks. Adrenaline sends my veins jumping. Impatient and antsy, I roll down the passenger window and stick my head out.
There are cars and trucks as far as I can see.
Shoving my back into the seat again, I fish out my phone and try to call Mama, then Sinéad. No answer from either of them. I don’t have time to sit here waiting.
While I consider what the fuck to do next, a glossy black motorcycle pulls up beside me. Instincts has me reaching for my gun and pointing it at the rider who slowly flips up their tinted black visor.
The corners of my mouth helplessly tug wide and my body warms.
Dani.
Liquid silver eyes crease at the corners like my little firecracker is grinning too, and then she pulls off her helmet.
“Need a ride, baby?”
Wearing fingerless leather gloves, she captures stray strands of hair and tucks them behind her ear. Natural ebony lashes blink slowly as she studies the awestruck smile on my face.
Her pupils flare. The crown of gray framing them grows thinner in the seconds we stare at each other, falling deeper in this new territory we”ve claimed.
Oh my God, she’s hot.
Unfortunately, now isn’t the time to get horny. My family needs me.
“The hit on Dré was meant for India,” I tell her, opening the passenger door and getting out. “She’s at the hospital. Want me to drive?”
Dani laughs, soft and girly. “I know the way. Hop on. And don’t worry, I’ll take good care of my little crow.”
“Little?” I jest with a chuckle. “There’s nothing little about me, baby. And you know it.”
She grins. “You’ll have to refresh my memory later.”
“Refresh your memory?” I scoff. “It’ll be branded on your pussy for eternity. Mark my words.”
“It’s a date.” She smirks, all traces of hostility well and truly obliterated behind dark desire.
She deserves to smile, laugh, and feel loved. We both do.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Dani urges.
She shoves her helmet on her head, shrugs out of her bulky backpack and hands it to me to wear instead.
Revving the engine, she motions for me to join her on the back of the motorcycle.
Without a helmet of my own, or any fucks given, I shove the straps over my shoulders and climb on behind her, putting full trust in my woman.
I ignore the security guys who swiftly exit the convoy to the front and back of my vehicle, their only job to protect me.
In position, I slide my arms around her narrow waist, getting high on the rush of being close to her, combined with the mechanical power surging as we take off.
We weave around stationary cars and shoot up the inside lane blocked off by orange cones. Dani ignores the temporary change of traffic lights when they switch to red again.
With me holding on tight, she drives like a demon, expertly picking up speed when we hit the straightaway.
Even though lives are at stake and my loved ones are in mortal danger, riding with this woman lights up my whole world.
I’m not lonely anymore.
This is the feeling I’ve chased all my life.
A mix of danger and Dani.
Cartel justice and dark desire.
Fast-paced action makes me come alive. I don’t want to be chauffeured about day in and day out, suited and bored. I’d rather roll up my sleeves and get stuck in––The Covenant way.
It doesn”t take long before we’re parked at the rear of the hospital near an emergency rendezvous point. I dismount first and wait for Dani to kill the engine.
When she yanks off her helmet and throws her leg over the back, I grab her elbow and jerk her into me. Her chest bumps into mine and her lips part, minty breath warming my face.
Dani’s dark brown hair woven with natural threads of gold shines and her eyes come alive, sparkling in anticipation. My blood is liquid fire now. Beyond normal.
“You owe me a morning kiss, little firecracker.”
Crowding her smaller leather clad frame, my hands cup her cheeks, and my lips cover hers—firm and possessive.
She whimpers and my heart rate spikes. I shove my tongue inside her mouth and let it play with hers. It’s warm, wet, aggressive, and hot as fuck, because she’s into it.
Dani wants me––for me.
No bullshit.
I secure her head in place and control the pressure, the urge to unzip her jacket sweet agony.
Leather squeaks softly when she throws her arms around me and stuffs her fingers into my hair. The sharp tug of her urgency gives me chills.
She moans as my mouth eats up hers and my hand glides to her ass, squeezing it.
Her taste burns through me, heating my belly. My dick fills, hard and thick. I’m dry fucking her in the open, so ready to fill her up. Fuck, the timing is all wrong.
“How did you know where I was?” I mumble into her mouth, breathing hard at the self-control I struggle to muster.
She blinks up at me and licks her lips while feathery puffs of air warm my face.
“I asked Dragon if I could be assigned to a special mission. I expected him to say no…” She shrugs. “But he agreed.”
My eyebrows drift skyward. “What was the special mission?”
“Watching over you.”
“Wow…” I inch back, running a hand through my hair and trying so damn hard to ignore my throbbing dick. “He trusted you to monitor his favorite brother? That’s not like him. Is there something I need to know?”
A stupid niggle of jealousy catches me off guard, dark and unwanted.
Giovanni is head over heels in love with his wife. I have no reason to suspect he’d make a move on Dani. But it”s uncharacteristic of him to trust anyone, least of all a Blanco.
“Are you surprised he’d put faith in his best agent?” She bats her lashes and smiles oh-so-sweetly. “Or you don’t think I’m good enough, smartass?”
“Oh, you’re good enough, baby,” I quip, smiling. “So, fucking good.”
Stepping into me, Dani rises to her tiptoes and brings her mouth to mine. When our lips crash together again, it”s explosive. Electrifying.
She sucks on my tongue and grinds her hips into my dick. I grunt, too turned on to think straight. After a brain melting moment, I reluctantly tear my lips away, panting.
I clear my throat and force as much restraint as possible. For now, business has to be first. After that, I’d fulfill her every filthy wish.
“We don’t know who to trust, Dani. There’s a security team assigned to Dré’s room on the sixth floor. He was moved from ICU into a restricted access ward. Carina and Indy have their own bodyguards too. Lozano’s eldest son tried to get the Zanettis to betray us. There’s every possibility he approached our own men as well.”
Dani’s face is flushed and her lips a little swollen from our kiss. But she looks at me seriously.
“Which means you’re a target too.” She leans in, grabs the straps of her backpack, and slides them down my arms. “I brought your balaclava.”
Dani quickly unzips the bag and pulls out two ski masks.
“Are the babies still in the hospital?” she asks.
I take the wool face covering from her and roll it onto the crown of my head, wearing it as a hat for now.
“Yeah. They’re in the neonatal unit while Dré is in recovery. Sin won’t let them leave without her and she won’t leave Dré.”
“Where’s India likely to be? With the twins, or Sinéad?”
A wisp of hair drifts across her wet lips in the light breeze.
The bulge between my legs gets harder and my muscles tense.
“Tommy thinks she’ll be with my mama and Carina,” I say, breathing out hard. “Which means India is most likely in the twins” ward. When we get inside, you head straight to Sinéad and stay with her. I’ll look for Indy. Gio will have a team flying in as we speak, and he and Tommy are on their way too. Backup should arrive any minute.”
Dani digs out a switchblade from the bag and holds it between us.
“Here, take this…and Mat…” Her cute nose scrunches and her expression turns dark. “Don”t take any chances. Protect yourself first. No matter what. Promise me.”
“They’re my family, Dani. I’ll protect them the same way I’d protect you. I hope you can extend your promise to have my back and keep them safe too.”
“Matheus,” she warns, her voice fierce and firm. “Do not take any risks.”
I nudge her chin upward with my knuckles and gaze into her eyes.
“Stay with Sinéad. I’ll come for you when I can, okay? And don’t disappear this time.”
She swallows and looks away, forcing her emotional shutters to slam into place.
“Understood, Crow. Stick to the plan. Protect the Souzas at all costs.”
At that moment, the fire alarm goes off and my spine goes poker straight.
“Fuck. They must be here already.”
Dani backs up and fixes her balaclava over face.
“I’m guessing they’re emptying the hospital. I’ll head straight to André’s room.”
Turning to the fire exit doors, her sexy body covered in leather and her beautiful features hidden, she glances over her shoulder to find me with a serious sheen glistening her eyes like gunpowder.
The profound intensity of her stare twists in my chest.
“Be careful, Crow,” she calls out, her voice a little breathy, but her stance every bit the savage sicario I know her to be.
I manage to contain my impulses, even when she darts away from me before I can respond. I’m hot on her heels though, jogging from warm sunshine into artificial light.
Letting her take the lead for now, I brush against the heavily painted pale green wall and stay a few steps behind, swearing under my breath when the electricity suddenly cuts out.
Backup generators automatically kick in, keeping the life support machines on and other necessary healthcare equipment working.
Emergency lighting flicks on too, but the lights overhead blink like we’re in a horror movie.
Moving deeper inside, medical staff and worried visitors crowd the main entrance while we linger in the shadows and check the floor plans stuck to the wall.
The mission takes us to different floors. She’ll go her way and I”ll have to go mine. Separating doesn’t sit well with me. Despite that, this isn’t just any mission, and I’m not the only one our enemies should fear.
Dani holds the monopoly on murder.
Catching her eye, I point across the corridor to the illuminated sign for the stairs. Dani nods and darts ahead of me, pushing through the swinging door.
For the few seconds she’s out of sight, a flurry of panic crawls over me. Flying into the stairwell, I gaze up at the shadowy mouth of a twisting staircase fringed by a red metal banister, the space lit only by the emergency exit signs on each floor.
Peering up through the gap, I catch a glimpse of her.
My heart pounds from the thrill of the chase, flight after flight. While she effortlessly slips into her professional persona and treads each step at speed, laser focused on the mission, I’m eyeing up her ass.
It’s perfectly round and edible in those tight leather pants she decided to wear today. She must have expected a long day tailing me on her motorbike.
I take the wide stairs two at a time, intermittently checking over my shoulder to make sure we’re not being followed. There’s every chance the fucker who set off the alarm brought friends.
Just to confirm my suspicion, a burst of gunfire ahead of me steals my breath. I push on faster, my gun drawn and aimed into the dark corners.
Turning left, there’s a dead guy wearing a tactical vest slumped under the third-floor sign. I smile inwardly and jump over him, forever impressed by my little firecracker’s no-nonsense skills.
Behind me, the sound of heavy footfall drifts upwards. I peer over the banister where two armed men are following us in hot pursuit. I’m not exactly covert with a bright white shirt on, which would make me easy to spot.
Doesn’t matter. I won’t give either of them a chance to reach Dani, even if I’m outnumbered.
While they get closer, I back up onto the rectangle landing and press my spine into the wall, ready to shoot.
Eventually they come into full view with their sub-machine guns pointed right at me. I slow down my breathing, aim at the closest fucker, and pull the trigger.
At the same time, another bullet rips through the air and both men drop.
A tingle of awareness hits me. My gaze cuts to the upper flight, where Dani’s gun still points downward. The whites of her eyes glow as she waits a moment to check that both men are dead.
I don’t say a word. Neither of us does, but I silently make a promise that she’d never regret falling in love with me.
Content the lifeless fuckers before me are worm food, I shove my firearm in the waistband of my dress pants and steal their machine guns, slinging the straps over my shoulders.
I’d be all out of bullets at this rate. So, the more ammunition I have, the better chance of our survival.
On the move again, I continue to track my little firecracker up the winding stairs, all the while staying on high alert.
My heart leaps when muttered male voices fill the hollowness, the sound filtering downwards.
Hunkered low, I shuffle around the bend, aligned with the railing, and gaze up the stairs where Dani stands rooted in place on the next landing, held at gunpoint.
A handful of armed men have appeared through the lobby door and have her surrounded. My lungs tighten. A violent surge of overprotectiveness and chaos hisses through my veins from my head to my toes.
I dig deep and take a steadying breath before my temper turns feral.
These guys haven’t noticed me yet and they sure as fuck don’t realize they’re too close to the wrong woman. Not because she’s a trained killer—because she’s mine.
Sticking close to the metal bars, I climb a few more steps, take up position, and shout, “Get down, Buffy.”
Instantly, she obeys, giving me a clean sweep to let off a few rounds. While I spray bullets from one side to the other, she crawls to the wall and puts her back against it, expertly firing at a few guys who hadn’t been hit yet.
The massacre plays out in slow motion. My muscles brace, absorbing the machine gun kick back and my heart pumping wild.
As I continue upwards, more soldiers spill into the stairwell from above, their heavy footfall echoing up the stairwell. Finally on the same level as Dani, her gaze follows mine, both of us knowing it’s only the two of us against way too many.
Our eyes connect briefly. The depth of her silver gaze, fierce and protective, matching the emotions knotted inside of me too.
I take a deep breath, step in front of her and continue to empty the machine gun. Simultaneously, she maneuvers herself around me and bumps her rigid shoulders into my spine.
Back-to-back, we work as a team. Dani targets the men behind me, and I shoot up the fuckers behind her. Together we’re solid. Both of us determined to shield the other.
Once my side is clear, I do a one-eighty and stare at the fallen soldiers littering the stairs, completely unfazed.
Bodies are everywhere and blood spatters on the walls like radical artwork. It’s carnage. And the supercharged buzz I get when her silver eyes find mine, it’s electric.
She’s the missing link that pulls everything in my life together.
“You good?” I ask, cuffing her wrist, needing to touch skin and meeting leather instead.
She nods and sets a gloved hand over the top of mine, squeezing it. Bare fingertips brush my knuckles, and my blood turns to liquid fire.
“We have to split up now, Crow,” she whispers. “This is your floor.”
“Remember what I said,” I remind her, hearing my pulse quicken in my ears. “Backup is on the way. I’ll find you, okay?”
“You’d better,” she replies, casting me a warning look before setting off again.
I watch her hop over the bodies on her ascent and fight the uneasiness gripping my chest.
Rolling back my shoulders, I toss the empty machine gun, steal another from a dead guy’s hands, and turn in the opposite direction, ready to stand between my family and the enemy.