Rogue (21 page)

Somehow, my own gun was in my hand.  It was steady as I raised it.  I flicked off
the safety, and my finger found the trigger.  A small hole appeared in the center
of Jonas’ forehead.  His face went slack, and he crumpled to the ground.  I squeezed
the trigger again, and Ortiz’s body jerked.  His blade slipped from his hand as he
fell.

Derek stood alone in the alley, his mouth hanging open in surprise, his brow furrowed
in confusion.

So beautiful.

My body slid to the side, and my cheek collided wetly with the ground.  Rain fell
into my eyes, but I couldn’t manage to blink it away.

“Sharon!”  My name was muffled, obscured by the ringing in my ears.  “Sharon!”

An arm hooked under my shoulders, lifting me.  Pain screamed through me, sharpening
my senses.

“Oh, fuck.  Sharon, look at me.  Look at me!”

His order compelled me, and I managed to blink.  Derek’s gorgeous features were twisted
with anguish.

Derek shouldn’t be hurting.  But he wasn’t really crying.  That was just rain.  Wasn’t
it?

I tried to reach up to brush the wetness from his cheeks, but my arms wouldn’t move. 
Panic spiked through me.  Why couldn’t I move my arms?

A small, terrified whimper shook at the back of my throat.  There was a metallic taste
on my tongue, and something wet and hot filled my mouth.

“It’s okay.  You’re going to be okay,” Derek reassured me, but his voice broke.

The world began to darken around him.

“No!”  He shook me.  Pain flared, but it wasn’t enough to pull me back to him.  “You
stay with me.  That’s an order, god damn it.  I love you, Sharon.  Do you hear me? 
I fucking love you.  Don’t you dare leave me.”

I love you, too, Derek.

My heart broke as the blackness took me, blotting out his perfect face.

Chapter 18

My world was pain.  Everything throbbed, and a deep ache penetrated my side.  Each
breath hurt.  My soft moan burned on its way up my throat.

“It’s okay, Sharon.  You’re okay.”  The voice was shaky with strain and touched with
relief.  A large, warm hand gripped mine.  The scent of pine and man surrounded me.

“Derek.”  His name was little more than a croak.  I tried to open my eyes to look
at him, but everything swam around me.  Nausea rolled through me, and I gave up within
seconds.  My mind felt fuzzy, dulled somehow.  “What’s happening?”  I managed to slur.

“Everything’s okay.  Just rest.  I’ll be right here if you need me.”

Rest. 
It was an order.  And Derek would stay by my side.  I trusted him completely.

With that knowledge, I fell back into merciful blackness.

*  *  *  *  *

“How is she?”  Reed’s voice was a soft, concerned rumble.

“I’m fine.” 
The reassurance was automatic, but it never left my lips.  The words seemed to get
caught in my chest, and only a strange, rattling noise came out.  I tried to swallow,
but my mouth was completely dry.

“Get out.  You’re upsetting her.”  Derek was trying to make my friend leave.

Something teased at the edges of my mind, piercing my initial concern over my physical
state.

Jonas.  The Russians.

I forced my eyes open.  My lids felt thick, heavy, but I managed.  “What’s happening?” 
My mouth shaped the words.

Derek cursed.  “She’s supposed to be resting.”  He shot a nasty look in Reed’s direction,
but even the angry twist of his features couldn’t diminish his perfection.

I remembered my fear as I watched Jonas draw his gun on Derek, and the round, dark
hole that my bullet had left in his forehead.

I squeezed Derek’s hand.  “You’re okay,” I managed to rasp.

His disbelieving golden eyes turned to mine.  “You’re comforting me?  Sharon, you’re
the one who was stabbed.  You scared the shit out of me.”

“What’s going on now?”  My voice was a bit stronger this time, but my tongue still
felt like sandpaper.

“What’s going on now is you’re going to drink some water.”  Derek took a cup from
the table beside my bed and placed the straw at my lips.  I obediently took it into
my mouth and drank.  “Then you’re going back to sleep.  You’re in the hospital.  The
doctor said you punctured a lung and lost a hell of a lot of blood.  You’re going
to be fine, but you have to rest.”  He shot a glare over his shoulder.  “Which means
they’re leaving.”

I followed his eyes to find a crowd of people hovering just outside the door.  Well,
there weren’t actually that many people.  There were just three large men who took
up enough space to block my view of the hallway.  Reed, Clayton, and Kennedy all wore
matching expressions of concern as they regarded me carefully, taking inventory of
my wellbeing.

I turned my face away from the water, allowing the straw to drop from my lips.  My
mouth no longer parched, my voice came out sounding almost normal.

“Don’t go.  I want to know what’s happening.”

The men didn’t move.  Instead, Kennedy looked to Derek.  I realized with a jolt that
my boss was seeking his permission.

“I want you to stay.”  The words were directed at my friends, but I looked to Derek,
too.  I could snap at him to back off and tell him he wasn’t the boss of me, but I
knew he just had my safety and comfort in mind.

After a moment, he nodded.  “Just for a little while.  And only because I know you’ll
get yourself worked up over not knowing what happened.  You have fifteen minutes.”

Kennedy nodded his agreement and approval as he stepped into my hospital room.  It
seemed much too small to fit the four large men, but somehow it managed.  I felt crowded
in by them, but not in an uncomfortable way.  Their hulking presences made me feel
cared for, protected.  That didn’t grate on me like it might have before I met Derek. 
Instead of irritation, I just felt gratitude and affection.

“What’s going on with the Kings?”  I asked quickly.  “Did we take out the
Muertos?
”

Kennedy grimaced.  “Not quite.  Ortiz is dead, Reyes is in a coma, and the other two
Kings who were at Decadence last night aren’t talking.  Although one of them has a
broken jaw thanks to Clara, so that might change in the future.  The good news is,
you killed that fucker Jonas.”

I glanced over at Derek to gauge his reaction to the pronouncement that his father
was dead.  His face was a careful blank.

“You stopped the alliance with the Russians and left a power vacuum within the tribe. 
Santiago is trying to step into Jonas’ place and take control.  If he succeeds, we’ll
have everything we need to take them out, and possibly enough to destabilize several
other tribes as well.”

I nodded, absorbing that information.  “But what about the Russians?  They got away,
didn’t they?”

“Yes,” Kennedy confirmed.  “But we’re looking for them.  Clara Peterson is particularly
keen to find the man Jonas addressed as Dimitri.  When she heard how he talked about
his sub, she became very insistent that she be included in the investigation.”

I remembered what Clara had told me about her abusive ex trying to take away her safe
words.  If she had heard the audio of Dimitri gloating over having taken them from
his slave, then I fully understood why she felt a personal connection to the case.

“And Charlotte?”  I pressed.  “How is she?”

Derek’s hand tightened around mine as his muscles flexed, and he glared wordlessly
at Kennedy.  The men had obviously already had this discussion.

“She’s still with Javier,” Kennedy told me.  “It would look suspicious if she left
the Kings now, right after Jonas’ death.  Santiago would look weak if he let her go
back to Derek.  She’s safe with him for now.  Clayton just went to check in on her.”

Clayton nodded in affirmation, but his lips were a thin slash.  Something was troubling
him about the situation.  He probably didn’t approve of the fact that Kennedy was
leaving Charlotte with the Kings, but he wouldn’t say anything against his boss.

“I’m staying on the case with the Kings,” Reed supplied to break the tension.  “I’ll
be keeping a closer eye on the
Muertos
and I’ll be trying to figure out how the hell they were tipped off that we were FBI. 
They knew to run just before we hit the place.”

“Am I missing the party?”  Smith’s words were lighthearted, but they were heavy with
weariness.

I looked up to find him standing in the doorway, and I let out a little gasp.  I had
never seen him look so haggard.  Rough around the edges, yes, but not… shattered.

“What the hell happened to you?”  I demanded.  “You look like shit.”

His wry smile was more of a grimace, and it didn’t quite reach his eyes.  “Back at
you,” he said, with a pointed gesture at my hospital bed.  “I just came by to make
sure you’re okay.  I’m glad to see you’re well enough to insult me.  You’ll be up
and kicking my ass in no time.”  He raked a hand through his already disheveled black
hair, and his eyes turned inward.  He was distracted, disturbed.  “Listen, I have
to go.  I’m glad you’re all right, Sharon.”

And with that, he turned and left.

“What’s wrong with him?”  I asked the guys.

Clayton’s lips twisted in disgust.  “He found a woman at Decadence who’s been abused. 
She had been whipped bloody and was going into withdrawals.  As far as I know, he
hasn’t left her side since the bust.  She’s going through detox now.”

Derek’s hand tightened on mine again at the mention of the woman.  His eyes burned
with that sense of chaos that robbed him of the control he so desperately needed. 
He was obviously deeply disturbed that the woman had been in his club.  There couldn’t
have been a crueler sign that the safe haven he had built was destroyed.

“Hey,” I said softly, calling his attention away from his turmoil.  “It’s over now. 
Everything will be okay.”

He nodded curtly, but his stony expression told me he wasn’t ready to believe it. 
He was too afraid it wasn’t true.  I would just have to prove to him that we could
set his world right again.  He could find the peace he needed with me at his side.

“Thank you for inviting Garrett and Gemma to Decadence on the night of the bust, Derek,”
Clayton cut in to distract Derek from his black mood.  “I appreciate you giving me
the opportunity to personally arrest the fuckers who drugged Rose.”

Some of Derek’s tension eased as Clayton reminded him that he had done some good. 
“I was happy to help with that.”

“And you’ll get your club back soon,” Kennedy reassured him.  “We need to do a shit
ton of paperwork to get you cleared and process the fuckers who were using at Decadence,
but I’ll make sure your licenses aren’t permanently revoked.”

“Thank you.”  Derek’s voice was still a bit clipped, and his hard expression let me
know that he was still angry with my boss for keeping him from his sister.

Despite my interest in all this new information, my jaw split in a wide yawn.  I wasn’t
sure how long I had been unconscious, but a few minutes of lucidity had left me suddenly
exhausted.

“Right.  I think that means our time’s up,” Kennedy said before Derek could kick them
out.

I thought about protesting, but I really was tired.  “Will you be back?”  The question
was a touch anxious, colored by the wave of emotion washed over me.  The guys really
cared about me, and I had almost left them forever.  Now that I truly understood them
and accepted every part of their natures – even the overbearing Dominant part – I
didn’t want to waste one more minute being annoyed with them or pushing them away.

Clayton smiled at me warmly.  The sight didn’t give me the butterflies it once would
have, but it did fill me with a rush of affection.  “Of course,” he told me.  “If
Derek allows it.”

My hand became a vice around his, a silent warning.  “He’ll allow it.”  There was
a limit to how much control I was willing to give him.

Kennedy chuckled.  “I’m glad to see Carter hasn’t broken you of your sass.  I would
have missed it.”

My mouth almost fell open.  I thought my boss hated it when I questioned his authority. 
I realized that my determination to save Derek had given me the courage and drive
I needed to defy Kennedy when it really mattered.  And the appreciative light in his
eyes let me know that he respected me for it.  My submission to Derek hadn’t made
me weaker; it had made me stronger.

“I wouldn’t have her any other way.”  Derek’s lips twisted up in a small smile, and
his eyes glowed with intense emotion.  The sight of it took my breath away.

“We’ll see you later, Sharon.”  I was aware of Reed squeezing my shoulder before my
friends shuffled out of the room, but I couldn’t tear my gaze from Derek’s.

“I fucking love you.” 
I remembered his last words to me before I had lost consciousness.  Of course his
declaration of love included an expletive.  I grinned up at him like a fool.

“I fucking love you, too, Derek.”

He threw back his head and laughed.  It was a rich, joyous sound.  He was still laughing
when he brought his mouth down on mine.  He was more gentle than usual, but his lips
were still fierce.  I tried to lean up into him, craving more, but he pulled away. 
His fingers wound into my curls, holding my head against the pillow.

“Don’t move,” he ordered.  “You’ll hurt yourself.”

Before I could protest that I wanted him to kiss me properly, his lips brushed against
my neck, starting at my ear and working their way down to my collarbone.  My soft
moan wasn’t one of pain.  Then his teeth sank into the sensitive flesh where my neck
met my shoulder.  I gasped, and my eyes flew wide.

“You’re biting me!”  I cried, a little shocked by the sudden flare of sweet pain.

His hot tongue pressed against my skin, giving loving attention to the area he had
bitten.

“I would do so much worse if I could.”  His chuckle rumbled over me.  When he pulled
back from me, his golden eyes shone with possessive light.  “I warned you I would
tan your hide if you let anything happen to yourself.  As soon as you’re fit enough,
you’ll receive my discipline.  I can promise you won’t be able to sit for a week without
feeling remorseful.”  His fingers tightened in my hair.  “Then maybe you’ll remember
to never, ever do anything like that again.”

Warmth flooded my chest at his fierce protectiveness.  I knew he meant every word
he said.  He would always take care of me, cherish me.  And that meant accepting his
punishments as well as his praise.  My body burned in anticipation of his correction,
for the structure he would provide in my life.  My job was dangerous, and I couldn’t
always control all the variables.  Last night had proven that.  But Derek wouldn’t
allow me to blame myself when things went wrong.  When guilt threatened to weigh me
down, he would take it from me.