Page 82 of Deceptive Lies

“Feels wrong,” he muttered, absently rubbing his chest because it felt too tight. He wasn't used to anxiety like this on a mission. Of course, he always worried about the safety of his team, they weren't just his colleagues but his family as well, and Cade had a kid at home who’d already lost her mom, so he always worried a little more about his bigbrother. But he was never consumed with fear like he was in this moment.

Because never before had the stakes been this high.

His brothers were his family, he loved them unconditionally, they’d all been there for each other through the hell of their teenage years. But Willow was his future. She had the power to complete him in a way he hadn't even known that he needed to be completed. She filled holes in him that had scabbed over but never completely healed.

Now she could be gone.

“It feels wrong because you care about her,” Connor said sympathetically. Leave it to his twin to be on his side no matter what.

As grateful as he was that none of his brother’s had questioned his sudden and completely unexpected obsession with the woman he’d saved from certain death, he needed them to grasp just how deep those feelings already ran.

They needed to understand that losing Willow would break him in a way that losing their parents hadn't.

“It feels wrong because something isn’t right,” he corrected. Cooper just wished he could put his finger on what exactly that was.

“This just because you're into her?” Jake asked, his assessing brown eyes studying him in that calm way he always did. Jake was a quiet man, he thought more than he spoke, he always assessed every situation, noticing the tiny details that others often missed. Not only was Jake an asset to Charlie Team, but he was an asset to their family as well. Cooper couldn’t have picked better stepbrothers than Jake and Jax, and he saw them as his brothers as much as those who shared his DNA.

“No. I can't explain it … I just have this gnawing feeling in my gut,” he replied.

“What do you want us to do about it?” Cole asked.

“Want us to get closer to her? Get eyes on her?” Jax asked.

Yes.

That was exactly what he wanted.

Maybe if he could get her in his line of sight, he could figure out what had him tripping out.

Before he could say that, the dot on the screen suddenly startedmoving at a much faster rate. It was what they’d been waiting for but now it didn't seem so good.

It meant that Willow had been taken.

It meant that they’d gotten what they wanted.

It meant they could finally stop sitting around and actually do something.

Finally end this, follow the dot that would lead them to Mahmoud and take the man into custody. Or kill him. Which is absolutely what Cooper would prefer. The man had hurt Willow, littered her soft skin with so many bruises that she was more multicolored patchwork quilt than human being right now. The man deserved death. Ideally, a long, slow, painful one.

“Show time,” he said, forcing a grin because the knot in his gut didn't fade.

If anything, it felt worse.

While he should be feeling relief that he was finally heading off after Willow and would soon have her back in his arms where she belonged, his nerves were ramping up.

Cade was sitting in the driver’s seat, and started up the engine, taking off in the direction that Willow was moving.

Had they hurt her when they grabbed her?

Fear for what she was going through pulsed through his body. Just because she’d signed up for this didn't mean Willow wasn't going to be scared when Mahmoud’s men kidnapped her.

“Won't be long,” Cole consoled him, slapping a hand on his back.

“Bet anything that Mahmoud is already in the area. Shouldn’t take them long to get Willow to him,” Connor added.

However long it took it would be too long.

Every second that he didn't have her safely on his lap, his arms wrapped around her, his face buried in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent, it hurt. A physical ache inside him.

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