On Her Master's Secret Service (42 page)

He pressed her behind him as Evans walked up. Evans was holding a semiautomatic in his hand. “I see you came to get your bitch. You lied, Warren. I believe you mentioned Special Agent McKay was no longer with us.”

Carlos kept screaming, but Warren seemed to have gotten his panic under control. “It’s easy enough to remedy. You have to remember, he needs us alive. Don’t you, Alex?”

Warren was coming up on their left side, Evans on their right.

Alex didn’t say a word, merely tried to back up.

“I can’t move.” Her heels were against something scaly. “There’s an alligator behind me.”

She could feel it breathing against her skin, its huge body coming halfway up her calves.

If they couldn’t back away, there was no escape.

“Yes, you’re right. He needs one of us alive. Well, let’s face facts.” Evans had a shit-eating grin on his face. “He needs me alive. I’m the only one who can put your dear brother away. He doesn’t want Edward Petty in the Oval Office now, does he? Petty here gave you up so nicely. I have to admit I was a bit surprised when he arrested me. I rather thought I was done for. And then he takes me to a little coffee shop and gives me his proposal.”

She felt Alex tense. God, they were right. Without any evidence, Edward would just go on with his career. Tears threatened. Alex was standing in front of her, his big gorgeous body ready to take any bullet that came their way. He wouldn’t give her up. And he couldn’t help but try for justice.

Evans stared at them. He didn’t move at all, a predator with his prey in his sights. “He would let me go if I did this one little job for him. Just one little clinic. He knew how much I hated them, you see. It all started to go wrong when women forgot their place. Clinics like that and those fucking shelters, they’re the problem. I don’t understand you, McKay. I think that’s why I find you fascinating. You really should be on my side.”

Eve took a long breath. She had to get them out of here. Very slowly, she brought her foot up and back, praying she could reach the other side of the gator. It seemed to have fallen asleep, unlike the rest of its brethren. They were all twitching and moving, but no, she had to back up to the lazy boy.

“Why on earth would I be on your side, you piece of shit?” Alex’s free hand reached back, giving her something to balance on. He kept his attention moving between the two men.

“Because of your lifestyle,” Evans replied. “McKay, you opened a whole world for me. In some ways, I truly do feel gratitude to you. I admit, I started to check out the lifestyle as a way to hurt you, but when I began training Eve, I realized that this was the life I was born to lead, one where women knew their place.”

Alex growled his response. “Her place is at my side.”

Evans shook his head. “Her place is at your feet, begging for your mercy. Women are weak. They need a man’s guidance and without it, they fail. They’re born whores, McKay. Everyone knows it. They aren’t smart enough to know how to properly live. They’re vain and ignorant. They require a Dom.”

“Which just goes to show me you have no idea what it means to be a Dom. My submissive is also the goddess I worship. Her trust and love are gifts to me. One that I can never properly repay. Stay back, Warren.” He shifted his firing arm toward Warren.

She wasn’t going to let Evans’s words get to her. He was a madman. Nothing he said meant a damn thing. Eve found the mud behind her and managed to step across the alligator’s big body. “About a foot and a half, babe.”

Alex jumped back as though his body could measure distance perfectly. He landed in the mud, but he never took his eyes off the targets.

Evans sneered their way. “What a disappointment you are, McKay. She is lovely, but she is nothing but a vessel. If you were half the man I thought you were, you would have killed her. She gave it up. All I had to do was slap her around a couple of times and her thighs spread wide.”

Humiliation flooded her.

“As she should have,” Alex said, his voice choking a little. “She knew what her Master would want. Death before dishonor is for idiots. My wife had one job to do when you took her. She had one order to obey. Stay alive and come home to me. That’s the difference between us, Evans. I don’t need to be the only man who’s had her body. I’m the only one who has her heart, and that’s what matters. You know nothing about being a Dom or being a man. And you know fuck all about loving a woman.”

His eyes narrowed. “I know that you need me, and either Petty or I are going to eventually take a shot at you. It’s inevitable. Oh, look, I believe Carlos has finally bled out. What’s going to happen when you take a couple of bullets to the gut? So why don’t we make a deal?”

Fear gripped her at the thought of Alex bleeding among the hungry reptiles.

“I’m not making a deal with you,” Alex said.

Evans took a step closer. “I think you will. I’ll take Eve off your hands. She gets to live. You get to live, too. We begin our game all over again. The other option is that you both die here and now. Let me see if my partner can persuade you.”

A shot rang through the air, and she felt Alex’s body jolt as though struck by lightning. His arm came up, shifting around and firing.

Warren Petty gave a loud gasp and then Eve watched as he fell over into the pit, a hole in his head. He slipped under the surface.

God, Warren. He was a horrible human being, but she’d seen his children born.

Alex stumbled back into her, his weight slamming into her. She stayed on her feet, but only just.

“Alex?” Her heart stuck in her throat. She wrapped her arms around his waist and felt warm liquid begin to coat her skin.
Alex’s blood. Oh, god. No. No. No.

Alex fired, but his aim was off.
Because he has a bullet in his gut.
Eve bit back a scream as Evans pulled the trigger and Alex’s body jerked, sending them both to the mud. She cradled him, trying to protect him, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Stay alive, baby. Sean will come for you. Ian will come for you,” he said. He seemed to have lost control of his arm. The second bullet had lodged into his shoulder. The SIG fell down, slipping into the mud. “Love you so much. Love you, baby. Forgive me.”

“Don’t you go.” Her heart threatened to stop. He was right there. He was in her arms. He couldn’t be dying. He couldn’t be bleeding out in the mud and the dirt.

She couldn’t live without him and that meant one thing. Eve had spent so much of her life allowing events and the actions of others to mold her world. She’d clung to her own submission because it was her nature. But she finally understood. She might be Alex McKay’s submissive, but she was his woman, too, and he was not allowed to die. He was not allowed to leave her alone on this earth. A well of strength possessed her. She was the passive one, the observer. It had been her life for so long, but she was surrounded by women who never gave in.

She had Alex’s strength, but she had her sisters’ strength, too.

Grace, who quietly fought for her place.

Serena, who never accepted less than a happy ending.

Avery, who refused to allow tragedy to mold her life.

And Kristen. Somehow Kristen had become her sister, too. Kristen had stepped in front of a bullet to save Alex. She was fierce in her will to do good.

They were all with her, a great sisterhood of strength.

“I guess it’s just you and me again, Eve. I’ll be the right Master for you.” Evans stood over her.

Her Master needed her. The SIG had slid beside her. She finally knew the truth. She’d almost seen her own death, but the truth had evaded her. Now it was clear. Justice didn’t really matter in that moment. Righteousness slipped away.

At the end of everything—there was only love. And it was worth fighting for.

Eve picked up the gun and fired without hesitation. No warning. No forethought. He was evil. He threatened someone good. And she was suddenly a warrior for good.

Michael Evans, terrorist, rapist, tormentor of women, stared down at the hole in his chest.

Eve fired again.

Evans fell to his knees, raising his gun.

Again, the kickback made her shudder, but she clicked again and again because justice didn’t matter. Revenge didn’t matter. Only her man mattered. He needed her.

“Sweetie, I’m pretty sure he’s dead. Please stop shooting so I can get Alex out of here.” Sean’s voice penetrated her primal brain.

She dropped the gun. Sean was here. She could move from warrior to wife again. She placed her hand on Alex’s stomach, trying so desperately to staunch the bleeding. Tears poured from her eyes, pain from her soul. “Please help him.”

She could lose him. God, she’d just gotten him back. Tears poured from her eyes. She just couldn’t lose him.

“I fucking hate reptiles.” Sean kicked at a gator, pushing it back. He knelt down in the mud beside her. “Alex! Alex McKay! You wake the fuck up right goddamn now!”

She heard the door slam again and then Jake was suddenly in her line of sight. “
Evie
? Are you hit?”

She shook her head. “He wouldn’t let them touch me.”

Her husband. Her Master. Her Alex. He wouldn’t let them get her. He’d sacrificed himself. God, he couldn’t die.

Please. Please. Please.
She made a thousand deals with the universe in that moment. Anything to let him live.

“We killed the rest. They tried to get here, but we got them. The area’s secure, and we called a bus,” Jake said.

An ambulance.
Yes. They needed one of those. She held onto Alex. She noticed Jesse behind Jake, but it didn’t really register.

Sean moved into position, pulling Alex off her body. “Keep those fucking monsters off me.”

He put his hands over Alex’s heart and pressed down five times before covering Alex’s mouth and breathing in.

Eve scrambled up and prayed to the heavens.

Dallas, TX

Eight weeks later

Sanctum looked more like a garden tonight than a dungeon, and the smell of jasmine permeated the whole club. Alex looked out over the space, a deep feeling of satisfaction in his soul. His second wedding was smaller than the first, but the people they loved surrounded them and that was all that mattered.

Eve laughed at something Grace said and Alex felt his whole body tighten. She was so beautiful she took his breath away. And she was his. A two-carat diamond sparkled on her left hand and there were more diamonds around her throat, a collar commemorating the trust and love and connection between them.

“Alex, this is the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been to.” Serena looked lovely in her bridesmaid dress, but he knew that look in her eyes.

“I’m not letting you interview me, Serena.” He looked around for Adam or Jake. Serena had been like a dog with a bone since she’d found out the standoff with Michael Evans had taken place in an alligator pit. Apparently she thought it would make a great hook for a book.

“I just want to know how it felt, Alex. I could really use something like this for my next book. I need sights and sounds and smells and emotions.” She placed a hand over her ever-growing belly and sighed. “I would hope after all the help I gave you that you could just tell me a few facts.”

He thought about growling, but it was his wedding day and Serena had been helpful. “It was a mud pit filled with snapping alligators. It smelled like ass and not particularly clean ass. It smelled like ass that hadn’t been washed ever. As for emotions, well, I kind of didn’t want to get torn apart by alligators.”

Like Warren had been. He felt a fierce smile cross his face. When they’d drained the pit, his former partner had been in pieces. There was justice in the world.

Simon stepped up to the bar, looking perfect in his tailored tux. Alex could practically hear the unattached subs drooling, but Simon ignored them, preferring to frown affectionately at Serena. “You giving him hell again, love?”

Serena sighed. “He won’t talk about the gators. It makes me sad.”

Simon ordered a vodka tonic and shook his head. “He’s got
PTSD
.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I don’t have
PTSD
. I’ve got regrets, though. The feds can link the fertilizer to Evans, and they have cell phone records of Warren calling Evans. But I can’t bring down Warren’s brother without witnesses.”

It was the only damn thing he regretted about the whole affair.

The senator had held a large press conference apologizing for his brother’s actions and accusing Warren of being the one who had the affair with Carmen Garcia. So far, everyone was buying it. The senator looked golden.

“He’s a weasel,” Serena said. “I’m not voting for him.”

Jake walked up, holding his hand out to his wife. “None of us will be voting for him. Adam is going to dig up the dirt. We just have to be patient. Now, dance with me, baby.”

He led Serena off, but Alex was still thinking about the problem of Senator Petty.

It was the only thing that had gone wrong. Well, maybe not the only thing.

“I also wish I knew where she went.” Alex took a long drag off his ridiculously expensive Scotch. Apparently nearly dying in an alligator-filled bog opened up the purse strings because he’d gotten several bottles of increasingly old
Glenlivet
as gifts. And the fifty-year from Ian was past heavenly.

“Are you talking about the Kristen girl?” Simon asked. He’d sent a lovely batch of alcohol to Alex’s new house. He would likely start a trend. A liquor bouquet.

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help but wonder where she’d gone. He’d woken up in the hospital, recovering from surgery, and one of the first things he’d felt was a deep gratitude because he could have been shot earlier in that day, before he’d had a chance to defend his wife. Kristen had made that happen. No matter why she’d done it, she’d saved Eve and that meant something to Alex. He’d asked about her just about everywhere he could and he’d gotten nowhere. She hadn’t been back to her condo.

“Well, I’m intrigued. I have to admit it,” Simon said. “Any girl who can wake up from major surgery, pull out her IVs, and walk out of the critical care unit is a female I’d like to meet. Not to mention the fact that she managed to avoid all the security cameras. We should seriously consider bringing her on the team. We need some females.”