Chapter 10
10
MERI
M eri crouched low next to Reyna, her breath steady, the Glock cool against her palm as she watched the compound through a pair of night vision binoculars. The night air was thick with the promise of violence, but she didn’t flinch. Not anymore.
They had positioned her and Reyna at the ridge, providing them and a few other team members with a perfect viewpoint over the courtyard. She wasn’t supposed to engage—just provide backup, monitor movement, and call out threats to the team. That had been the plan.
But plans changed. She was tracking Bear’s movements as he and the Cerberus team advanced through the darkness, silent as death itself. They moved with ruthless efficiency, sweeping through the outer perimeter, taking down guards before DeLuca’s people even knew they were under attack. Fitz took point on the south entrance, Archer flanked left, and Bear…
Bear was a goddamn force of nature.
He moved so fast that she could barely follow him through the binoculars; his massive frame sliced through the compound as if it were his natural habitat. He didn’t hesitate. Every movement was precise, every strike brutal. She had heard some of the other Cerberus people talk about his abilities, but she’d never seen him—not like this.
This didn’t appear to be merely combat to him. This was destruction. She realized he was intent on making them pay for every moment she had suffered, every nightmare she had lived, and he was doing so without mercy.
Her pulse hammered as she shifted her focus. The courtyard was crawling with DeLuca’s men. The fight was loud now, gunfire erupting from every direction. Fitz barked orders over the comms, Archer’s gun cracked from somewhere on the ground level, and Bear continued to move through the chaos like he owned it.
“West tower,” Meri murmured into the comms, spotting movement. “Two guards repositioning.”
“Got ‘em,” Archer replied. Two more shots rang out, followed by silence. “Down.”
“You’re good at this,” quipped Reyna.
Meri shifted her binoculars lower, scanning the bodies littering the ground, searching for the one face—the one bastard—she had been waiting for.
And then she saw him—the man who had held her down. The one who had whispered threats against her ear, his breath hot with whiskey and cruelty. The one who had laughed as he had fastened chains around her wrists, yanking them too tight just to watch her flinch.
He had a gun raised, covering the retreat of another man—one who Meri recognized immediately. DeLuca. He was slipping through the back entrance, heading toward a vehicle parked outside the compound.
Bear was on the other side of the courtyard, fighting his way through three men at once. He wouldn’t make it in time.
Her heart pounded. This wasn’t a dream.
“Reyna, look behind the mansion. There’s an exit that wasn’t on the plans.”
Reyna looked to where she was pointing. “Oh goodie. Sometimes we get the money shot.”
Meri didn’t like that it would be her to end their lives.
Reyna must have realized what she was thinking. “No one saved you, but you. I’m just in the best position to ensure it never happens again, and I wouldn’t have spotted them without you.”
Meri watched as Reyna’s finger curled around the trigger. Slowly, she squeezed.
The rifle kicked against her shoulder as the bullet slammed into the man’s skull, dropping him instantly. Blood sprayed against the vehicle he had been covering, his body crumpling to the dirt like the nothing he was.
The shot sent DeLuca scrambling, his panic evident as he shoved the driver aside and lunged into the vehicle.
“Meri,” Bear’s voice crackled over the comms, his tone sharp, assessing. “Status.”
Her breath hitched, but she steadied herself, watching DeLuca fumble with the ignition. “Reyna took the shot. DeLuca is about to escape through an exit that wasn’t on the plans.”
There was a beat of silence. Then, “Good girl.”
The words sent something fierce through her. Pride. Validation. A deep, resounding satisfaction.
“Don’t you just love when they say that,” said Reyna, covering the mic to her comms unit.
Bear was moving now, closing in on the vehicle as DeLuca tried to peel away. Fitz and Archer were flanking him, cutting down anyone who was trying to reach them. This time, there would be no escape.
Meri charged past Reyna and the others, heading down to see for herself. Her breath burned in her lungs as she reached them standing over the body. The distant echoes of gunfire and the sharp orders of the Cerberus team securing the compound drowned out the rough scrape of her own breathing.
It was over. The bastard who had touched her, the one DeLuca had told to break her, lay sprawled at her feet, a bullet hole between his lifeless, vacant eyes. Reyna had pulled the trigger. No hesitation. No second-guessing.
She didn’t feel relief. Not yet. But she didn’t feel regret, either.
“Meri.”
Her name was a low growl, threaded with dominance, with something dark and satisfied. She turned to find Bear watching her from across the lawn, blood streaked across his forearm, his vest scuffed from the fight. He looked lethal, every inch the warrior who had cut through DeLuca’s men with ruthless precision, but his focus was entirely on her.
His gaze swept her, taking in every inch, his eyes burning with something deeper than approval. It was pride. Satisfaction. Possession.
She wasn’t a victim anymore. She wasn’t something fragile to protect.
The realization hit harder than the battle itself, harder than the gunfire or the fight she had spent so long anticipating. She had earned her place—not as some broken thing Bear had rescued, but as something far stronger. And Bear knew it.
Her fingers tightened around the gun. “He’s dead.”
Bear stepped closer, closing the space between them in slow, deliberate strides. “Yes, he is.”
He didn’t touch her. Not yet. He let her stand there, let her own the moment, the victory, the final severing of the past that had haunted her. He waited.
Meri lifted her chin. “I don’t regret it.”
Bear’s lips curved slightly, his voice low and rough. “Good.”
Then, and only then, did he reach for her. His fingers closed around her wrist, gently prying the gun from her grasp. She let him take it, not because she couldn’t hold it, but because she didn’t need to anymore. He flipped on the safety and tucked it into his waistband, lifting his other hand to her face, his thumb brushing her temple, before trailing down to trace her jaw.
Bear exhaled sharply, his fingers tightening at her jaw. “You’re fucking perfect, little one.”
A tremor passed through her—not fear, never fear with him. Just something deep, something visceral, something that made her pulse hammer against her ribs. He tilted her chin up, his breath ghosting over her lips, but he didn’t kiss her. Not yet.
“You came for me,” she murmured.
Bear’s gaze darkened. “Always.”
A sharp whistle cut through the tension, pulling them both back to the present.
Fitz strode up to them, rifle slung over his shoulder, his face grim but satisfied. “The compound is secure. We’re cleaning up. Archer’s in the east wing handling the last few holdouts.” His gaze flicked between them, assessing, before landing on Bear. “DeLuca’s on the run.”
Meri felt the shift in Bear instantly. The change in his stance, the lethal calm that settled over him like a predator who had finally locked eyes on his prey. He released her, his fingers trailing down her arm before he turned away.
“Where?”
Fitz jerked his head toward the south entrance. “When his man fell, he took the SUV and headed to a set of tunnels. We found a passage leading out beneath the compound. He’s got maybe a five-minute head start.”
Bear’s expression didn’t change. “Not enough.”
He turned to Meri, his hand cupping the back of her neck, grounding her, as if making sure she was still solid. Still standing. Still his.
“Stay here.”
She should have argued. Should have pushed back. But she didn’t need to. Not this time. Because this wasn’t her fight anymore. It was his.
She nodded. “Go.”
Bear kissed her, hard and claiming, then released her and stalked out of the room, Fitz falling in beside him. Meri watched them go, a slow, steady pulse of something dark curling in her gut. She wasn’t worried about him.
Because Bear was hunting. And DeLuca was, in Bear’s mind, already dead.
DeLUCA
He jerked to a stop, jumping out of the SUV and heading into the tunnel. It was damp, the air thick with the scent of sweat and desperation. His footsteps echoed against the narrow stone walls, his breath ragged, panicked.
He knew.
He knew the second the alarms had gone off that this was it. That the empire he had built, the empire he had bled for, had crumbled beneath the weight of a single mistake.
Her.
He should have never marked her. Should have never let himself think he could strike at Cerberus this way and then sell her off to his wealthiest client.
Now, he was running.
The sound of boots behind him sent another shot of adrenaline through his system. He pushed forward, lungs burning, pulse hammering.
A shot rang out.
Agony tore through his knee, dropping him instantly. He hit the cold stone floor with a cry, his hands scrambling against the slick surface, trying to push himself up.
Another shot.
His other knee.
DeLuca screamed.
A shadow filled the tunnel entrance. Slow, deliberate steps echoed against the walls, closing in with the kind of patience that made his blood run cold.
He knew before he saw him. Bear—the man who had torn through his operation like a goddamn hurricane. The man who had ripped Meri from his grasp… the man who was about to kill him.
Bear crouched, his gun held loosely in one hand, his expression unreadable. “Not so fast, DeLuca.”
DeLuca gritted his teeth, trying to drag himself backward, leaving a smear of blood in his wake. “You don’t have to do this,” he gasped. “You got what you wanted.”
Bear cocked his head, his voice almost lazy. “Not yet.”
DeLuca swallowed hard. “I can make you rich. I can?—”
Bear shot him in the elbow.
DeLuca howled.
Bear sighed, standing to his full height, towering over him like the executioner he was. “I’m not interested in your money.”
Blood dripped onto the floor, mixing with the dirt, the sweat, the fear. DeLuca tried again, his voice shaking. “You need me. You think you’ve won? There’s always another buyer. Another ring. You can’t stop it—not without some inside help.”
Bear lifted his gun, leveling at the point between DeLuca’s eyes.
“We’ll see about that.”
He never heard the shot that killed him.
MERI
Meri stood in the middle of the blood-streaked front lawn, surrounded by the wreckage of the night. The air was thick with smoke and the coppery tang of death, the compound still humming with the aftermath. Bodies littered the ground, weapons discarded, walls marked with bullet holes and blood splatter. The fight was over.
But her hands still shook—not from fear. Not from regret. But from the sheer force of everything that had brought her here.
The man who had touched her, who had tried to break her, was gone. Bear had disappeared into the tunnels after DeLuca, Fitz and Archer close behind him. She had heard the gunshots, muffled but still audible, and knew exactly what they meant.
DeLuca was dead.
It should have felt like victory. Like closure. But instead, it was just... quiet.
She forced herself to breathe, to slow the rush of her pulse. She had done what needed to be done. She had stood her ground. She had taken her shot. And yet, the weight pressing down on her didn’t lift.
Because this wasn’t just about survival anymore. It wasn’t about escaping. It was about what came next.
The sound of boots behind her, deliberate and sure, warned her he was coming only a moment before a warm hand closed around her wrist, spinning her into a solid chest. She didn’t resist, didn’t fight the way Bear wrapped himself around her, his arms banding tight as if making sure she was still there, still whole.
He smelled like gunpowder and blood and something uniquely him, something grounding. She knew she would remember that scent forever. His hands traced over her arms, her back, checking for wounds even though he already knew she was unharmed.
“It’s done, little one,” he murmured against her temple, voice rough, steady. “You’re safe.”
Safe.
The word sent something sharp and unfamiliar through her chest. She had never felt safe—not truly. Even before they took her, before the nightmare began, she never felt untouchable, never felt safe without anticipating trouble.
Now, there was nothing left to run from. No one left to fight. No threat lurking in the dark, waiting to pull her back into the abyss.
Her fingers curled into his shirt. “I don’t know what that means.”
Bear’s grip tightened, his breath a steady, grounding presence against her hair. “It means you don’t have to look over your shoulder anymore. No more running. No more hiding.”
Her chest squeezed. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
Bear pulled back just enough to tilt her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. “You live.”
A sharp, unsteady breath slipped past her lips. “I don’t know how.”
His eyes softened, but his grip didn’t. “Then I’ll teach you.”
Meri searched his face, trying to find something to hold on to, some way to ground herself in the reality of what came next. Bear had pulled her out of hell, but he had also given her purpose. Given her something to fight against, something to push against when everything else felt too much.
Without that fight, she wasn’t sure what remained of her. Bear seemed to read her thoughts, because his grip shifted, his fingers sliding around her throat, firm but not restrictive, just enough to remind her who she was. Who she belonged to.
“You’re mine, little one,” he murmured. “You don’t have to figure this out alone.”
Her pulse jumped. The reassurance shouldn’t have settled her, shouldn’t have made her knees weaken. But it did. Because Bear wasn’t just offering safety. He was offering himself. His dominance. Control. Structure. A steady hand to guide her through whatever came next.
Meri swallowed hard. “And if I don’t know what I want?”
Bear’s expression didn’t change, his thumb brushing along the curve of her jaw. “Then you let me decide until you do.”
Her breath caught, her fingers flexing against his chest. Could it really be that simple? Could she really let go of the fear, of the endless loop of fight-or-flight that had ruled her for so long? Could she really let someone else shoulder the burden for a while?
Could she trust him with this—this last, fragile piece of herself that she hadn’t even fully acknowledged until now?
She wasn’t sure, but Bear was.
His grip on her chin tightened slightly, just enough to refocus her. “I’ve got you, little one.”
Her throat went tight. “You always say that.”
“And I always mean it.”
The words settled into something deep inside her, something she hadn’t let herself believe until now. The nightmare was over. But the next chapter? That was something entirely unknown.