Twisted Mercy (Red Team Book 4) (31 page)

She flicked her light at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope. Lion said they were down here somewhere.”

* * *

Hope woke slowly the next morning. Mads’ body was spooned up against hers. She felt his big palm on her arm, stroking her. He brushed her hair back over her neck, then leaned close and kissed the area he’d uncovered. She felt his mouth move up her shoulder, trailed by a line of tingles on her skin.
 

She didn’t open her eyes, didn’t want to interrupt what was happening—she wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t a dream. His hand moved from her shoulder down to her breast. He nuzzled her neck again and pushed his hips up against hers. He was hard and wanted between her legs, but she couldn’t seem to wake enough to move.
 

He moved his hand from her breast, over her side to her hip. He reached bare skin again when he stroked her thigh. She’d worn only a big T-shirt to bed the night before. And her panties. Easing his hand around the front of her leg, he lifted her thigh and slipped his cock between her legs, a stiff, hot bar of flesh.

Mads moved his hand between her legs, slipping his fingers beneath her underwear. He found her sensitive core, spread her folds, and stroked her there as his cock moved between her thighs. She moaned, then leaned back and wrapped one arm around his head. He kissed her, still stroking between her legs. He lifted her leg and eased into her. She moaned again, losing herself in the sensations.

He moved inside her, slowly, slipping in and out. He set his cheek against hers. The bristles of his chin dug into her skin. He kissed her chin, holding himself there as he started to move faster and harder in long, deep strokes.

He slipped his other arm beneath her ribs to hold her tight. His fingers worked her clit as his forearm locked her hip against his. When her orgasm hit, the only range of motion he allowed her was to back against him. She cried out. He slammed into her, once, twice, before his body went still and his release throbbed inside of her.

Hope relaxed against him. The sun was leaking through the blinds, sending stripes of light into her room. The morning was utterly still and hot.

She and Mads had spent hours in the tunnels, exploring every nook and cranny, it seemed. They didn’t find the acid pools. The sun was almost up when they got back to the garage. They’d changed and collapsed in her bed, too tired to even shower. Mads had held her the entire time they’d slept.

It was the best night of her life.
 

And then everything that had happened poured back into her mind. His calm agreement to kill Lion. Taking them to the rodeo so that he could orchestrate Lion’s abduction. His whole secret life.
 

What was she even to make of him? And, God, he still smelled so good. Especially now, after they’d made love. She eased away from his body. He removed the rubber, then got up to toss it and returned to the bed, lying on top of the covers.
 

She looked at him across the white sheets of her bed. His olive skin looked dark and sinful. He didn’t hide himself beneath the sheet. He wasn’t self-conscious of his nudity. She reached over and spread her fingers through the dark fur on his chest.
 

She lifted her eyes to his.

He smiled.
 

She touched his jaw. She drew her hand down his neck to his chest. “Did you get some sleep?”

“Yeah. Some. I wanted to wake up before you.”

“Why?”

“So I could watch you.” He grinned. “And wake you.”

She braced her head on her hand, mirroring his position. Her eyes searched his. There was a heat filling her heart that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Truth—she was falling for him. Falling hard.

She smiled, trying to tuck away her unwelcome feelings. “You watched me?” She winced. “Did I snore?”

His smile gave nothing away. “Maybe.” He reached over and fingered some of her hair as it lay over her neck. “I’ve only ever woken up next to a woman three times. I didn’t want to miss anything this morning.”

“You’ve woken up with me. Three times.”

“Yeah.”

She wished she could capture time, lock it in place. It was marching forward so fast. She had a terrible fear that her time with Mads was nearing its end. She sat up, folding her legs as she faced him. “What happens now?”

“I’m going to see Lion. I need to find out about those acid pools. And I want to understand more of his mission here. You need to have a normal day. Work on bikes. Be here.”

She reached over and caught his hand, forking her fingers through his. “He is safe with you, isn’t he?”

“As safe as I can make him.”

God help her, she believed him. “Will I see you tonight?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to miss a night that we could spend together.”

She nodded. “Me either.”

* * *

Max went over to the boys’ Quonset late that morning. None of the boys were there. He walked to the back where Lion bunked. He was at his desk. He looked up with his ancient eyes.
 

“Ready?” Max asked. Lion nodded. He put his book and papers aside and led the way outside. He was dressed in his standard black hood, long-sleeved tee, and black jeans. It seemed like hot attire here on the surface, but it was cool underground.

They crossed the section of the compound between their bunkhouse and the edge of the forest. They went across the Forest Service road and climbed up the steep incline of boulders and shrubby pines.
 

When they were at the top of the ridge, Max looked around at the amazing view. He could see for miles toward the north and east. The view fed his soul. When he was in the hole at Callum, he forgot places like this existed. He looked at Lion.

“I’ve spoken to Hawk, my second in command.” Lion met his eyes. “We’ve decided to help you fight King.”

“Do the boys know?”

“No. Only Hawk. We will work slowly on retraining them for what their lives will be after we’ve stopped Armageddon. For now, it is too dangerous for them to know more. It’s okay for you to be around, since King has said to protect you.”

“Right, then I’ll follow your lead on that.”

Lion’s eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected Max to follow anyone. “Let’s go in.” He went over to a door hidden near a huge boulder. The ground cover living on the hatch lifted up with it. Inside was a narrow set of stairs carved into the granite. A steel door sat at the end of the short passageway. This was like the one at the entrance under Hope’s garage, but this had a huge dial on it with a combination lock. Lion gave him the combination.

The tunnels were dense and low, supported with heavy wooden beams. “Was this once a mine?”

“It was. Over a hundred years ago. It was almost the end of the Friendship Community. They lost several of their men to the madness of the gold rush.”

Lion closed the hatch behind them, then he closed the access door. Took Max’s eyes a minute to acclimate to the absolute blackness inside, but Lion’s didn’t. He moved quickly through the maze of tunnels, passing through two more doors. The last one joined up with the missile silo system. The tunnel led to stairs down to an area that turned a bend. They followed the wide curve that revealed three segregated sections, all separated by thick walls. Steel girders led from the path they were on over to the far wall. Each had a small cubby that looked like they contained old control panels.

Lion stopped and stared down into one of the skeletal floors. “These are the acid pools.”

Max pointed his flashlight into the pit. Twenty feet down, murky brown water sat as still as glass. “You think they still hold some of the chemicals from the silo’s active days?”

“I know they do. Holbrook dropped two cubs down there. I can still hear their screams. It was what he held over our heads for so long. Most of my current pride remembers that. It bought their absolute loyalty.”

“Do the cubs know how to get into this area?”

“They know everything there is to know about the tunnels. They can’t watch it without knowing all of its spaces…and its dangers.” He pointed to a platform about ten feet up. “That tunnel leads back to the entrance where my sister is living. I’ve pulled some panels over to block it. The cubs are not to come in here, but they do know about it. And they are not to come through that third door that we came through.”

He looked at Max. “If Armageddon isn’t a just option, why were these tunnels built? They held weapons that deliver massive human casualties. King isn’t the only one who realized Armageddon’s the only way to restart life from the beginning.”

“Life can’t be restarted, Lion. It doesn’t work that way. The guys told me about the things they showed you when you were at the house. You saw what would really happen in the aftermath of an Armageddon. The policies that led to the positioning of these weapons have been changed. Governments approach life and war differently now. For the most part. That’s why the weapons that were once here are not here any longer.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Max handed his helmet to Hope. She hadn’t seen much of him over the past day and a half; he’d been busy in the tunnels and with Lion. The nights, though, were theirs. He loved her hard and gently and everything in between.
 

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“For a ride.”

Hope frowned at him as she took the helmet. Mads was an “all-in” kinda guy. He never softened his comments or his passion or his beliefs. And he didn’t expect her to either.
 

She fastened the strap beneath her chin, then tightened it. His big helmet was always loose on her. He kick-started the bike, once, twice, then revved the engine and looked over at her, waiting for her to mount up behind him.
 

As they pulled out of the compound, he turned left and went deeper up into the Medicine Bow Mountains. He took the road’s curves and hills with a speed that only a powerful rider could handle. She leaned forward and tucked herself against him, tightening her arms around his chest.
 

After a short while, he pulled off the road and went down a dirt road a bit more slowly. He turned down a couple of different roads, each getting narrower and rougher, until he finally took what looked like a deer trail. He went very slowly now. The rumble of his bike bubbled up against the trees and brush around them, making it seem as if the world rumbled back at them.

He pulled up next to an outcropping of rocks and cut the engine. She dismounted and took the helmet off, shaking her hair out. He watched her with his complete focus. She held her breath, wondering what he would do next. He held out a hand. She set the helmet down and took his hand.

He led her up around the boulders. When they got to the top, nothing blocked the view of the valley below, the jagged cliffs across the ravine, or the steep mountains behind them. The sun was getting lower every minute.
 

He went back to the bike and returned with a blanket, a couple of bottles of beer and a picnic dinner she hadn’t seen him pack. She sat on the wide, flat rock and stared in awe at the view. He sat behind her, spreading his legs out on either side of her. He twisted the cap free and handed her a bottle, then opened his own.
 

She leaned back against him. “This is an amazing place. How did you find it?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I don’t want to know…or you don’t want to tell me?”

“Same difference.”

“Trust works both ways, Mads.”

“I was looking for a friend of mine. He’d been dropped into a pit and left to die.”

“Did you find him?”

“He got himself out and found us. You met him at his house. It was Blade—Ty.”

“Oh.” She shivered. They sat in silence for a while. Hope reached down and threaded her fingers through his. He moved his hand from beneath hers, then covered hers and folded it against her stomach as he bent his arm around her. It felt nice sitting here like this, being here with him, sharing this spot and this sunset.
 

“Mads, you know everything about me, but I don’t know much about you. I don’t even really know what you do or who you work for. I get that you have secrets, but I wish you could fill in some of the blanks.”

“Not much to tell. Standard story. Two parents. A sister. Five years in jail.”

“What?” She turned to look at him. “Who went to jail?”

“Me. Callum Penitentiary.”

“What did you do?”

“I hacked into a stock trading service and pulsed micro-trades, siphoning off a few mil for the guy who hired me.”

“How old were you?”

“Eighteen. Did it for almost two weeks before the Feds caught up with me. They locked me up and threw away the key. I hooked up with the WKB while I was there. And I killed a guy in prison.”

She remembered Mads’ earlier warning about himself:
Everything you fear, everything you hate, everything you’d condemn, I’ve done. I
am
that guy.
If she were honest with herself, that terrified her. But knowing him as she’d come to, she didn’t doubt that the man he’d fought had instigated it.
 

“What did he do to you?”

Mads huffed a short laugh. “What makes you think I didn’t kill him for the fun of it?”

“Because I think you treasure life.”

His face became fixed and tense. He pressed his lips together as he reached up to touch her face. “He’d ordered his guys to kill me. They caught me every chance they could, until I took the fight to him. He didn’t survive. I spent a year in isolation for that. No window. At first I had an hour a day out of the hole, but they took that away when I had a fight with a guard.” He sighed. “I lost everything, Hope. My family died while I was locked up.”

“What happened to them?”

“My dad’s drinking got worse. One night, he decided to take a shower. My mom noticed water flooding out of the bathroom. My dad had fallen asleep. He drowned in the small pool of water that filled the shower pan when his body blocked the drain.
 

“A few years later, my mom’s addiction to painkillers had eaten her brain. My sister, who was still in high school, had to care for her 24-7. She’d have occasional moments of lucidity. Now and then I’d get letters from her, but not often.