Page 64 of Assassin's Game
“Levi”—Mikaela’s voice fell like cool rain in the midst of a hellish desert—"you were there with no backup, with too much going on to be aware of every detail of security. You thought we’d drawn his attention away. This isn’t your fault.”
If anyone knew about taking blame, it was Mikaela.
“It is my fault,” Levi shouted. “I didn’t keep her safe. I should’ve iced this son of a bitch the minute I found out who he was,” he said and bared his teeth at Sullivan. “I should never have risked her.”
“You were doing the right thing,” Mikaela said.
“Fuck the right thing!” Resolve tightened Levi’s already jagged features. “Fuck everything. Abby is all that matters.” His muscles tensed in his arm, and I gathered myself for a last-ditch, futile tackle to save an innocent man’s life.
“Wait!”
It wasn’t Mikaela who spoke, or me or Remi. It was Sullivan.
The man raised a placating hand, his dark eyes fixed on Levi, the knowledge that he would die in the next few seconds written clearly on his face. “Don’t shoot. I can help you.”
The smile Levi gave him would have most men shitting their pants. “Do you think you can help me?”
Sullivan’s gaze flickered, but I had to give it to him—he didn’t give up. “I can. I—” He looked to me, to Remi, the only ones he could see without turning his head and seemed to affirm that nothing would save him but his next words. “I can help you find X. I can.” He swallowed. “I know where he is.”
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nix —
Levi paced the length of the main room like a tiger searching for a way out of his cage. The man’s rage at X’s incursion into his home was understandable; it also brought home exactly how dangerous Levi could become. The bonds of civilization barely held this man back. If I’d had any doubts as to whether he could hold his own with our caliber of team, those doubts were gone.
Remi stood nearby, his gaze on Levi but his attention on the phone. His lifeline to Leah, his fiancée. These men… From what Eli had told me about their childhood, I understood how they’d become the Assassin, how they’d managed to build the skills necessary to match soldiers with lifelong training. I also saw how important their women were. Abby and Leah were the softness the brothers thought they’d never have. That they’d never deserve.
That made the women their touchstones—and also their fuse, just waiting for a spark to set them off. Dangerous didn’t begin to cover it.
Remi ended his call and pushed his phone into his pocket. “I’m going back,” he said, walking toward where we still congregated around the couch.
“Everyone’s all right?” Eli asked.
Remi nodded. “Bryant is there. He brought Geneva in, so she’s with Abby. Leah kept Brooke home today. I just… I need to be there.”
I butted into the brothers’ conversation without thought. “I think it would be smart for all of us to go back.”
Eli rubbed at the stubble on his cheeks, which was not sexyat all. Levi walked over and planted his fists on the couch’s tattered back. “Why is that?”
I squared off with the man. “Because there is safety in numbers, maybe? How better to protect your family and mine,” I said, reminding him that Maris was at the mansion as well, “than to surround them with as many guards as possible?”
The feral edge Levi hadn’t managed to release slipped away as he considered the idea. “Yeah.” He straightened, rolled his shoulders. “Yeah, I agree.”
Eli released a huge breath next to me—relief. The crisis had passed.
Well, almost passed. I glanced at Sullivan where he sat in the chair, as still and silent as he could manage. Prey trying desperately not to bring attention to himself.
“I’ll go ahead then.” Remi glanced at Sullivan, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. “You’ve got the details here covered?”
Silence. I startled when I realized he wasn’t asking his brothers—his gaze was on me. I jerked out a clumsy nod. “Of course.” My guys were already headed for the computer setup to begin dismantling. “We have this covered. Get back to your fiancée and daughter.”
His features softened slightly at their mention, and then he was crossing to Levi for a low-voiced conversation I didn’t try to listen to. We had something more important to focus on.
A glance at Eli showed his focus on Sullivan as well. That intense look… A shiver went through me. How could I have ever doubted that this man was lethal? Sure, the playboy thing was good cover, deliberately or not, but I could no longer miss the danger that rode under his skin. Or the power in his hands when they touched me.
And why did that have my nipples pebbling under my shirt?
