Page 107 of Taken By the Convicts
IVAN
“Don’t ask again,”Ivan snapped at Reece as they raced to the bunker. “The guards don’t know what happened to Jayce. I’m hoping he escaped and Hawke didn’t take him again.”
Ivan held his tatt to the scanner. “If he escaped, he’ll return here. Standard protocol. Either way, we need supplies before we resume searching for Melina.”
Reece grunted behind him. He didn’t need to see the man’s face to know what he was thinking. He’d lost Melina, and Hawke’s camp had been abandoned. The longer they took to find her. . . No, Ivan wasn’t going to let his mind go there. He’d treat this like any other op.
As soon as the bunker door opened, Ivan snapped his arm up, stopping Reece. The lights were on below; someone was in the bunker. He hoped it was Jayce, but he couldn’t take any chances.
His nerves frayed, Ivan descended the steps and drew the blaster he’d taken from a guard. He aimed, and then Reece thrust his gun arm up as Melina stepped out of the kitchen.
“You’re here!” she shrieked with joy as she ran into Reece’s arms and he lifted her high in the air, spinning her around before setting her down again.
Ivan sank to the bottom step as all the letdown from the adrenaline surge caught up with him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think as he watched the joy on her face as Reece hugged and kissed her.
“Welcome back. It took you long enough,” Zev said, holding a steaming mug of coffee as he exited Jayce’s room down the hall. He poked his head back into Jayce’s room, “They’re both here. No injuries.”
Ivan lowered his head between his knees and laughed. Fucking bastard Zev. Ivan knew the man couldn’t stay away from her, despite how he’d left.
A hand sifted through his hair. Melina stood in front of him, alive and well. All the days and weeks and stress of trying to keep her alive, of trying to make a unit out of men who each had his own agenda, caught up to Ivan.
Tears streamed down his face.
She pulled his head against her stomach as she leaned over him, whispering. He wasn’t even sure what she was saying, only that it soothed him to hear her voice, to feel her hands rubbing his back, caressing his cheek.
“You’re slowing down,” Jayce said.
Melina stepped aside and Ivan lifted his head. Jayce’s face was covered in bruises and he was holding his side, but he wore that stupid-ass grin of his that said he was fine.
Zev held a hand out to Ivan to help him up. “We have to talk at some point.”
“No shit. I need to know who you are, Zev, and what you’re doing here.”
The man nodded, though his brows pinched. He had expected Ivan’s reaction, just like Ivan had known he hadn’t seen the last of Zev.
Right now, Ivan didn’t care if Zev was the devil incarnate. The man had saved Melina, and for that, he owed him.
Chapter Thirty
MELINA
The men sat at the kitchen table, no one saying much. Mostly, their eyes followed her, though Ivan’s moved to Zev a fair amount.
“You can’t throw him out,” Melina said.
“Did I say I was planning to?” Ivan asked.
“Not in words. This time,” she said before noticing how Jayce was bouncing in his chair like he was nervous. Jayce didn’t get nervous. He got combative, secretive, maybe even arrogant, but not nervous. “Are you okay, Jayce?”
“My side itches.”
“You’re not a good liar, Jayce.” The problem was that Jayce was a good liar. He was hiding something.
“I want to hear it all, Zev,” Ivan said, not willing to wait any longer.
“There’s not much I can tell you. After I left here, I heard that Hawke was targeting Jayce to get to Melina. He considered him a weak link in your unit.”
“Hey,” Jayce protested.
