Page 100 of When He Hunts

Ronan caught it. Caught the guy’s fingers. Rammed them onto the hard runway and heard the bones snap. He smiled down at his howling prey. “Didn’t I warn that would happen if you touched her again?” Only this jerk had done more than touch her. He’d kidnapped Luna. Aimed a gun at her. Ronan was through holding back. He was sending this creep to hell.

“Ronan,stop!”Gray’s bellow. And, of course, killjoy that he was, Gray appeared like an avenging angel. He had his weapon up and pointed at Ronan.

Friends don’t do this shit.

“I need him alive,” Gray added. “You can finish whatever this is when I’m done with him, okay? But first, he has to take us to Marcus. End goal, man. End goal.”

Ronan felt a featherlight touch along his back. His head whipped around.

Luna stared at him.

He stared back at his end goal.

Without a word, he leapt to his feet and pulled her against him. His head lowered over hers. His body curled around hers.

And all the agents who’d been hiding around the airport finally sprang from their hiding spots.

Too little, too fucking late, assholes.

“I knewLuna was in the air shortly after the plane’s liftoff.” Gray sat behind some random desk in a random office at the small airport. “Didn’t quite understand why I was getting data telling me you were on the plane, too, but I guess that makes sense now, huh? She was wearing your watch.”

Ronan was sitting in the chair across from him. He had Luna on his lap. She’d tried to move—twice—and twice he’d hauled her right back into place. He couldn’t stop touching her. Not yet.

Luna raised her left wrist. “I borrowed the watch. Don’t even know why.” Her head turned. She stared straight at Ronan. “That’s a lie. I wanted a piece of you. I put on your watch because I was hurting.” She swallowed. “You left me.”

“I wasprotectingyou.”

“How’d that work out?” she asked.

Fuckingpoorly.

“The pilot is going to be okay,” Gray rolled right on. “No worries. Save your concern.”

Ronan spared him a glance. “He was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Of course, he’s okay. He was one of your guys. You had him stationed on the island—as what? Backup in case I screwed things to hell?”

Gray shrugged. “I like to have agents in place in case of emergencies. I thought he’d help Tyler when you left, but then, he was approached by our piano playing asshat with an offer of fifty grand if he made an unscheduled departure from the island. Considering the hit that had been placed on you and the fact that Marcus ditched the surveillance crew that I’d had shadowing his steps, I thought my guy should take that flight and see what developed.”

“Cameron drugged me.” Luna shook her head. “Me and Esme and Tyler. How are they? Are they going to be all right?”

“Tyler and Esme are both currently pissed as hell, but they are recovering well. A doctor from the retreat is with them. You can rest easy on that score. They’ll be transported from the island as soon as the storm passes and taken to a local hospital for a complete evaluation. By then, of course, the exchange will have been made.”

The exchange. Ronan narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t want me killing Cameron because you want him to lead you to Marcus.”

A nod. “Your earlier suspicion was correct. Marcus is here, in Key West. If we catch him in the act…” His gaze dipped to Luna. “Then we catch him paying for an abduction, we get him for attempted murder…and maybe we even find his freaking trophies. In short, we nail him to the wall permanently.” His hands flattened on the desktop as he leaned forward. “We do all of that, and Luna gets her life back.”

“Maybe Luna doesn’t want to be risked like that,” Ronan snapped. “Maybe Luna?—”

“Maybe Luna doesn’t wantyouto be risked, but you didn’t give her a choice, did you?” Luna snapped right back.

It was in that moment that Ronan realized Luna wasn’t scared. She was hotly and completely furious. With him. “Uh, Luna…”

“Not a word did you say to me before you left! Not. One. Word.” Her eyes flashed. “You left while I swam!”

“I told Tyler what to say?—”

“You could have said something to me. As in, directly. You could have waited one whole minute and said, ‘Thanks for the great sex, Luna.’”

Gray coughed.

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