Page 78 of Toxic Vengeance

It took all his strength not to reach for her. To pull her close and crush her to him. Take that lovely face between his hands and wipe away every trace of fear and pain from her eyes with his touch, his lips. “Aye. Sleep well.”

The door closed behind her and the room suddenly felt colder, her earlier words haunting him. He’d once failed to protect the men under his charge. They’d all paid the ultimate price for it, while for whatever reason he’d survived.

Never again. He would protect Kiyomi and the other Valkyries while they were here, by whatever means necessary. He was prepared to do whatever it took to keep them safe.

Full of restless energy, unsure what the hell to do about his escalating feelings for Kiyomi, he roamed the lower floor of the house, finally stopping in the kitchen. While the kettle heated he leaned over the counter to peer through the window into the growing gloom outside, unable to shake the unease growing inside him.

The October sky was gray and leaden, heavy clouds looming to the west. A storm was coming, and not just of Mother Nature’s making.

They’d all best be ready when it hit.

****

Wow. That meeting had been one hell of an eye opener, and Eden wasn’t sure what would happen now.

She crept into Zack’s room and gingerly shut the door behind her. He was asleep on his right side, facing away from her, and the sight of him like that with his torso bared and the bandages wrapped around his waist turned her heart over.

The meds she’d finally forced him to take a few hours before they landed should be wearing off now. She stripped, snuck around the other side of the bed and carefully crawled up beside him. The blinds on the windows were open, allowing just enough light from the twilit sky in for her to see his face. He needed a shave, though she liked the rugged look on him.

He stirred and opened sleepy eyes to focus on her. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “You’ve got a bit of a fever.”

“Yeah, feels like it.” He winced as he shifted to slide an arm around her. “What’d I miss?”

She told him about the meeting, about what Kiyomi had said.

Zack’s brows drew together. “Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. And whoever the Architect is, sounds like they’ve been after us for a while now.”

“Would she really do it? Hand herself over to Rahman?” he asked, frowning.

“She’s prepared to do it, but it’ll never happen because we’d never allow it.” Sending Kiyomi back into the hands of her captor just on the chance that they might be able to find out who the Architect was? No way. “Between you and Amber working your magic together, hopefully we can get a lock on Rahman and an identity for the Architect so we can come up with some plans and go after them as a team.”

He hummed thoughtfully, his thumb sweeping across the skin between her shoulder blades. “And if we can’t?”

“Then we’ll figure out something else.” She wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to Kiyomi, but she could imagine easily enough. No way would they subject her to more of it.

“Glad to hear it,” he agreed, tugging her close to brush a kiss on her lips.

“Amber found evidence that Bennett ordered the hit on Chris and me, and your friend John. Bennett wanted to be thorough in covering his tracks.”

“Fucking bastard.”

Yep. At least he’d died a traumatic death, though they still didn’t know who the killer was. “Oh, and Megan and Ty are engaged.”

“Huh? When the hell did that happen?”

“I guess it’s been coming for a while now, but she finally said yes just before we boarded the plane.”

“The one that caught on fire, or the other one?” he said dryly.

Eden grinned, thankful everything had turned out. “The first one.”

Setting a hand on his chest, she eased back to look into his eyes. Today had been a massive wakeup call. She’d come so close to losing this man, and hearing about Megan and Ty had given her the added strength to go after what she wanted. To believe that kind of happiness could be possible for her with Zack.

“I couldn’t stand for anything else to happen to you,” she began. “For you to get hurt again. You…” She swallowed, gathered her courage. “You mean too much to me.” She’d tried everything to get over him and put him behind her, but she never had, and now he’d cracked open something inside her that can’t be sealed up again.

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