Authors: Elaine Levine
The space was massive. A cozy fireplace was built into a nook in one corner of the room. Next to it sat a round, pine table with a six chairs. The other half of the room was taken up with the business end of the kitchen. An industrial-sized fridge, a separate freezer, a six-burner gas stove, double wall-mounted ovens, a big sink and dishwasher. The island, the angled breakfast bar, and all the regular work surfaces were black soapstone. Decorative tile backsplashes covered the walls behind the counters. There was enough space for several people to work simultaneously.
Eden set Tank’s bag of food and supplies down by the breakfast bar. Ty carried her duffel and, holding her hand, drew her deeper into the house. As soon as they stepped into the hallway, people began to gather in the wide entranceway. Lots of people. Ty’s eight other team members, an older couple, two women, two dogs, and a black cat. Tank was curious about the animals, but didn’t leave Eden’s side to go check them out.
Owen stood in front of the big antler table, his arms folded across his chest. He looked at their joined hands, then sent Eden a glance that wasn’t entirely welcoming.
“Did you have any trouble?” he asked Ty.
“The black Mercedes that hit us in town was prowling around her apartment. Otherwise, no.”
Owen nodded. “Eden, I don’t think you’ve met Mandy Fielding.” A lovely, copper-haired woman standing next to Rocco waved to her. She nodded back.
“Fiona Addison is another of our guests.” Eden looked at the girl he indicated. She had a short cap of blond curls and was of an indeterminate age—sixteen or twenty-six, Eden couldn’t tell. She nodded at the girl.
“And finally, Kathy and Dennis Jackson. They’ve worked for Blade’s family for many years. If there’s anything you need for yourself personally, let them know. If there’s anything you need to do your job, let Max know.”
Eden frowned. This wasn’t sounding like a weekend visit. She shifted her gaze from Owen to Ty. His lips were pressed in a thin line. A muscle jumped in his jaw. “What’s going on? I told you I needed to be back at work on Monday.”
“Let’s discuss this in the den.” Owen waved them on to the room next to the kitchen.
The guys of the team followed him. Mandy headed upstairs with Fiona. The Jacksons slipped back into the kitchen. Eden gave Ty a dark look, then set her duffel down and followed the men into the den, Tank at her heels. Ty closed the door behind them.
“Eden,” Kit began, “we believe there are going to be additional drug transactions made in the near future. We need your help.”
She looked around at the impassive faces of the men sitting and standing in various places around the room. Nothing mattered to them except the mission. Anyone, anything they needed to complete it, they’d use. She shot a glance at Ty, wondering if his little seduction at her apartment had really been as spontaneous as it had seemed.
“And what about my current job? I can’t exactly call my boss and say I’ll show up when I show up.”
“Ask for extended leave,” Ty suggested.
“I just canceled my vacation when Sherri and Trudy went home. Now others are taking their summer leave. I can’t be absent.”
“We’ll compensate your time,” Kit told her.
“Right. And whenever it suits you, you’ll kick me to curb. No thanks. I have a steady thing in my current job. I need that.”
“We’ll pay double your annual salary and guarantee you a year’s work,” Kit offered.
Again, Eden looked around the room. “You know, you guys are like a cult. I don’t want in. I’m not a joiner. I don’t drink Kool-Aid.” She started toward the door, but Ty stopped her.
“What will you do when the WKB comes for you again and I’m not there?” he asked.
She gave him a look that she hoped sliced him to the quick. “I’ll do what every other law-abiding citizen does when they’re in trouble. I’ll call the police.”
“And you’ll get them, and perhaps yourself, killed,” Owen said in a low and dispassionate voice. He nodded at Kit, who took out his phone and played a recorded phone conversation that picked up a couple of seconds into a call.
“...I understand you set a valuable resource free, recently. A Miss Miller and her working dog, Tank.”
Eden felt a chill wash over her as she listened to the smooth Middle Eastern voice on the recording. Someone she didn’t know, someone these men felt was an enemy, knew about her and Tank.
“I wonder,”
the man continued,
“did you do that because she was ineffective? I am thinking of hiring a dog trainer myself and wondered if you recommend her.”
“Depends. What do you need a working dog to do?”
Kit’s voice answered.
“Oh, any number of things. Most important would be to decommission the dog and his handler so that you cannot use them anymore.”
“That would have little impact, Amir. There are hundreds of other dogs and their handlers available to us.”
“Yes. And perhaps I will kill each and every one you use. Miss Miller is a very easy target. She is outside so much of her day. I could have her taken out at any time during the week. And her dog. And while I’m there, I could terminate all of the trainers at her job so that none of them would be available to help you. The news would spread quickly in the industry. Other trainers would suddenly find themselves less available to work with you.”
“Amir, if you feel the need to kill, then you will kill, whether your target is Miller and Tank, her peers, or random people you encounter on the street. Do what you need to do. I cannot sway the mind of a psychopath. Nor do I care to try. Just know this. You’ll be held accountable for your crimes.”
“Allah is the only judge I care about. It is His work that I do. I have immunity in this country. The worst you can do is deport me.”
Kit laughed.
“No, Amir. I will end you.”
Kit stopped the audio playback.
The dread Eden felt before deepened tenfold. That Amir character had threatened not just her and Tank, but all the people and dogs at the center where she worked. She couldn’t go back there now. “That’s terrible. Would he really go after the center where I worked?”
“Yes. It’s what we’re dealing with,” Owen said.
“We have to warn them.”
“I’ve spoken to your boss, the police in Cheyenne, the state police, authorities at the base, and the FBI. They are well aware of the situation. This is why I wanted Blade to retrieve you,” Owen told her. “You’re safer here with us. We need you to stay here. And while you’re here, we’ll put you to work—if you’re willing. You do not need to work to stay here. That’s entirely up to you.”
Eden sent Ty a disbelieving glance. He hadn’t even come down to see her of his own free will. God, she’d jumped into bed with him, had the most amazing sex of her life, and none of it meant anything to him.
“Did you know about this before you came over tonight?” she asked Ty.
He shook his head. “Not until Kit called while we were on our way back.”
She crossed her arms and forced herself to pull long, calming breaths. “So that’s it? Welcome to Hotel California?”
“Eden,” Owen brought her attention back to him. “There are plenty of empty rooms upstairs. Please select one for yourself.”
She looked at Ty and shook her head, then left the room, shutting the door behind her and Tank with a bit more force than was needed.
Val broke the silence that followed her exit. “Wow. That is one pissed-off female. Sucks to be you, Blade.”
Ty hurried into the hall after Eden. He found her standing at the base of the stairs with her duffel in hand. She looked friendless, frustrated, and very small in his monstrous house. Her pride just about broke his heart.
CHAPTER NINE
Eden was aware of Ty following her out of the den. She didn’t turn to look at him. “Which room is yours?”
He took the duffel from her and led her upstairs. “I haven’t picked one.” He opened the door to the empty room next to Fee’s room, then set the duffel on the foot of the bed.
“Then where do you sleep?”
“Lately? In Rocco’s truck outside your apartment.”
He’d been there all week? Why hadn’t he stopped by? Why hadn’t he called? She looked away from him. She was letting him blindly manipulate her. He’d been guarding her because Owen or Kit had sent him to do it. He’d seduced her and pretended to miss her because it was part of the mission. What a muffin-head she was.
“I’m sorry, Eden. I didn’t mean for you to be trapped here. It’s why I didn’t try to see you or talk to you this week.”
Eden nodded. “Sure. I get it.”
“I would do anything to keep you safe, and right now you aren’t safe by yourself.”
“Anything?” She arched a brow. “Even lie?”
He met her look. “That and much worse.”
She nodded. “Okay. As long as that’s clear, we know where we stand.”
“Eden, what happened at your apartment—”
“Don’t, Ty.” She held up a hand. “You had your fun. Let’s just move on.”
Something cooled in his features, draining the warmth from his eyes. He nodded over to the nightstand. “Max made a list of our numbers. Call any of us if you need something. You can’t go outside alone, remember.”
“I run in the mornings with Tank.”
“I’ll get one of the guys to go with you. I’m not much of a running partner yet with this leg.”
She went to the door and held it open, signaling the end of their conversation. “I think we’re finished here.”
He started toward the door, but paused as he came even with her. “Eden—”
She cut him off. “Good night, Ty.”
He stepped into the hall, and she closed the door on him. Leaning her forehead on the cold wood, she thought about how happy she’d been to see him at her door earlier in the evening, the way he’d convinced her to come out here, the way he’d seduced her. Criminy Crickets, she’d just eaten it up like a starving dog.
She dug her toiletries out of her duffel and took them to the bathroom. If she was going to be here an indefinite amount of time, she’d best settle in. She’d only brought enough for the weekend—hopefully she’d be able to go get more things from her apartment soon. She washed up, changed, and had just gotten into bed when a faint knock sounded on her door.
A blond head popped into her room as Fiona leaned around the door. “Eden? Are you awake?”
Eden put the light on. “Hi.”
Fiona opened the door fully. “Want some company?”
Eden smiled. No, actually. She just wanted to go to sleep and pretend this day, this month, had never happened. “Sure.”
Fiona crossed the room to Eden’s bed and sat on the end of it. Before she could say anything, there was another knock on her hallway door.
“Eden?” a woman’s voice came quietly through the portal. “Are you up?”
Fiona smiled and hurried over to open the door. “Come in.”
Mandy looked from Fee to Eden. “Am I interrupting?”
“Of course not! I just got here.” Fee told her, grinning as she pulled her inside.
“Do you think it’s okay to bring the dogs in?” Mandy asked as her two sleepy dogs followed her into the room.
Eden shrugged. “Sure. They already introduced themselves in the hall earlier. That’s Tank, by the way. He’s used to meeting other dogs.”
“This is Yeller and that’s Blue,” Mandy said, pointing to the golden retriever and the blue heeler. “They aren’t as well disciplined as Tank, but they’re fairly calm.”
With that issue resolved, the girls walked over to the bed and stood there looking at Eden. She wasn’t at all certain what to make of them.
“What’s on your minds?”
Fiona and Mandy exchanged looks. “We want to know
everything
,” Fee said as she settled back on the foot of the bed. Mandy sat next to Fee. “Ty said you two met at Winchester’s the night they had that fight. Were you there when it happened? The guys were all so banged up the next morning.”
So, he’d mentioned her to them. Interesting.
“It was bad.” She nodded. “I was with a couple of friends. We were separated afterward. My friends were taken by the WKB and beaten pretty badly. I ran into Ty again a couple of days later. I guess he’d just gotten out of that snake pit. I don’t know what that was all about. It’s crazy to think there was a snake pit so near the house where we were staying. Anyway, he showed up there and helped me get them to the clinic. And then Owen saw that I have Tank and asked me to search Ty’s house. And here we are. I’ve somehow gotten mixed up in all of this. How about you guys?”
“I own the ranch just south of here,” Mandy told her. “The people the guys are after blew up my equestrian center.”
“Geez. That’s not good. You’re lucky you weren’t hurt. Did you lose any horses?”
“No, thank goodness. It was still under construction.”
Fee sighed. “It was my stepdad, in fact, who did that. The guys were worried if they sent me back to the house where he’d lived, that I’d be in danger from his associates. So they’ve kind of adopted me. I help with cooking and chores and watching Zavi, Rocco’s son. At least until I go back to school in the fall. It’s all volunteer, but they’re giving me room and board.”