Page 51 of Savage Escape

“Yeah, yeah.” Nate perched on the edge of the bed and had to take a few breaths to steady himself.

He’d been shot before, a few times actually, so he was familiar with the burning sensation running up his leg and arm. Didn’t mean he particularly liked the feeling, it was just familiar.

Tortured and starving was a new thing to him. He wasn’t exactly hungry. He felt hollow and shaky and like he might die ifhe didn’t eat, but the thought of food made his tongue sit heavy in his mouth and his stomach churn.

“Are you in pain?” Reid wasn’t paying attention to him; his full focus was on the mercenary and the handheld... doctor things (were definitely not the right words but Nathan could only ask so much of his aching brain) in his hands.

“Yes, shit.” A throb in his head made him lurch forward.

“Need more drugs?”

“I don’t want to be all loopy again so soon.” The vibration of his voice caused his head to throb harder.

“You won’t. I’ll give you something to numb the pain, but keep you alert.”

“M’kay.”

“So remind me, ‘cause I’m kinda fuzzy on this, why exactly were you in Moscow again?” The voice was not Reids. It was Holden’s. Pissy, snippy Holden. Mentally, the soldier groaned.

In waltzed Holden, looking all kinds of angry and impatient. The same way he’d looked when Nathan had jumped off the roof and broken his arm twice. Despite all outward indicators, it was his ‘concerned’ face. Nathan didn’t want to deal with him or his many faces.

“Vacationing.” Nate tried to keep the snap out of his voice, but it wasn’t working. Holden, the darling, was immune to Nathan’s bad moods. Well, he wasn’t so much immune as he was just ignoring it. For the moment.

“You hate crowds, you hate Moscow in particular, and you don’t ski. Did I miss any other tourist attraction that you could possibly pretend to have an interest in?” There was a very short pause, in which Holden pretended like he expected an answer. “Or were you really there because that’s where Marskib’s base of operations is and you’re still keeping tabs on the son of a bitch?”

As usual, Holden cut right to the soft spot and went at it with both barrels. Nathan held in another groan. So maybevacationing wasn’t the only thing on his Moscow itinerary, but that didn’t mean he’d gone looking for trouble. He’d just happened to be in Moscow and he’d just happened to frequent seedy pubs and he’d just happened to slip in a question or seven that just happened to revolve around Marskib and his organization.

“Nate, I know what it’s like to fail a mission, but it was not your fault. And you can’t go off on your own with no backup!”

“Holden.” Guilt knifed his insides until he felt like he was going to puke. “Can wenotright now?”

“Fine.” Holden folded his arms across his chest and shifted his position against the wall.

Nathan ignored the guilty rage building in his gut and watched through the throb in his head as his brother glared at him.

Holden took after their mother in looks. He was shorter than Nathan by two inches. He had her bright blue eyes and her soft smile. Nathan took after their father, being the bigger and beefier of the two. But when Holden was angry, their father showed through his features, what with the scowl and the pinched lines of his face and the way his eyebrows pulled down in the middle. Nathan closed his eyes against the sight. He did not want to think about his scumbag father.

“Okay.” It took all of thirty seconds for Holden to start in on him again. “So then, let’s talk about the mercenary you brought home.”

“Her name is Caden, and what about her?”

“She’s amercenary, Nathan.” He made sure to annunciate every sound in the word like Nathan had never heard it before.

“Yeah, she is.” Nathan shifted in his seat on the bed to crack an eye open at his brother. “What’s your point?”

His hackles were in the upright position and a scowl was growing on his face. Nathan internally sighed and resignedhimself to an argument because that’s what Holden’s scowls always meant.

“Well, I guess my point is that she is a mercenary. A woman who kills, maims, and steals for money, and you have her in the same house as Mom.”

“Stop with that look.” Nathan was growling and glaring and getting all kinds of offended.

“What look? I’m not doing any look!”

“Yes, you are! It’s the ‘I disapprove because I’m a jerk’ look.”

“Well, I disapprove and my face is gonna show it.” Holden shook his head in seeming disbelief and Nathan wanted to deck him. “Why do you think this is a good idea?"

Nathan let out a sigh and ran a hand over his face. Holden, by nature, was suspicious and untrusting. It was most likely wreaking havoc on his protect-what’s-mine mindset, but the man was going to have to deal with it.

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