Page 96 of When He Hunts

Her eyes fluttered helplessly closed. By the time she managed to open them again, she was outside. Water was hitting her face. Raindrops? It was the raindrops that helped Luna to keep her eyes open even as she heard a dull whirring.

“But you’re not gonna be singing for anyone ever again. Not when he’s done with you.” After those words, the man who’d been carrying Luna shoved her onto what felt like a cushioned seat.

Her eyes focused for a moment on his wrist as he pulled a belt across her body and secured her in place. On his wrist, she saw a striking snake. “Ronan?” Hope came. Relief. She was safe with Ronan.

Her focus was on the snake. A snake she’d seen plenty of times on Ronan’s left wrist. No way could she forget those curving lines and the sharp fangs poised to strike.

“Nah. Not even close.”

Her head turned. For a moment, she was eye to eye with the man. And his eyes were the wrong color. His face was the wrong face.

He smiled at her. “Told you to run from him when you had the chance, sweetheart. You should have listened to me. Now you’re going to die and so is he, and I’m going to get one big fat payday.”

The words poured onto her, but her mind was just working too slowly. She couldn’t comprehend what he was telling her. She knew him, though. He was the?—

“The fucking piano player!”Ronan snarled into his phone. “Listen to me, Gray, we are screwed, do you understand me? I’m not on the damn island, I can’t get hold of Tyler or Esme, and there’s someone there—the fucking piano player—who has to know who I am! He’s got the same gang tat.”

“Shit,” Gray said. Then, “Shit.”

Kane was securing Harris. Ronan was losing his mind. Lightning flashed overhead and rain pelted down on him. “The island was supposed to be safe!” More than that. Luna should have been safe. It was the reason he’d been able to walk away.Luna was safe.Or so he’d believed. But the acid eating away at his insides told him she was not.

He had to get back there. Immediately.

“Calm down,” Gray made the mistake of saying.

“Fuck yourself,” Ronan told him flatly.

“Look, don’t panic. You know the cell service on the island is sketchy—maybe the calls just aren’t connecting. Maybe?—”

“Marcus wanted me kept in Harris’s club. That means he wanted me out of the way because he’s handling other business. It’s a distraction.He’s going after Luna.The guy sounded way too calm on the phone. Didn’t ask enough questions. Didn’t push enough. Just said he’d be here. Not like he had to arrange things or coordinate or do any shit to fly down. Just that he’d be in the club tonight.That means he’s fucking already here.Don’t you get that?”Or, worse, he wasn’t right there in Key West.He’s with Luna. Could already be on the little island while I’m stuck here.“He could be out there with her now, killing her. Killing my wife! And you think I’m just sitting my ass here? You think I’m going to calm my ass down? You think?—”

“She’s not your wife,” Gray pointed out.

Wrong thing to point out. “I am going to kick your ass.” He heaved in a breath. “Then I’m marrying her.” The words stunned him as soon as they left his mouth. “I’m marrying her,” he said again, testing them this time. Weird as hell, but they felt right. “I ammarryingher.”

“Yeah, okay, I heard you the first time. How the hell is a hitman gonna marry a dead woman?”

“She’s not dead!”A near roar.

“No, no, she’s not. I meant pretend dead. Jeez. She is definitely not dead right now. Let’s take more breaths. I’ll call the owner of the island directly.Hehas a phone that never fails, especially when the call is coming from me. Unless the weather is shit, of course, and?—”

Thunder blasted around Ronan. “The weather is shit.”

Gray cleared his throat. “No boats will be running. There’s an amphibious seaplane that ferries back and forth sometimes, but no way will it take off in this weather.”

A amphibious seaplane—a plane that could land on either water or a typical runway. Hell, yes, that would be one hell of a lot faster than a boat. He’d already wasted too much time trying to make contact with Tyler and Esme and getting Gray’s crazy ass in the loop. “I’m flying out.”

“What?”

“I’m finding a plane. You’re getting me a pilot.”

“I…do have a pilot fairly close,” Gray’s very careful voice. “There’s an airport in Key West.”

Yeah, he knew about it. He and Luna had passed it when they first came to Key West.

“But the pilot, uh, he’s?—”

“I can fly,” Kane reminded Ronan as he closed in, seemingly coming from nowhere. Typical Kane style.

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