Page 90 of Marked for Obsession

Unable to keep from it, Jax slid his hand to the nape of her neck and pulled her mouth to his. Giving her a hard, chaste kiss, he stepped back out of the room and waited for her to shut the door.

As soon as he heard the lock engage, he took off for the gun safe tucked away in the back corner of his walk-in closet. Re-arming himself with two different pistols and extra mags, Jax put one in his waistband and kept the other gripped tightly in his fist.

After racking back the slide to put one in the chamber, he checked the footage from his phone. His pulse spiked when he saw all three ATVs pulling to a stop at the front of the house.

Fuck!

Ready to fight to the death to keep Poppy safe, he left the room and went back downstairs. Wanting them to think they had the element of surprise, he ran to the alarm system mounted on the wall near the front door and disarmed it.

With no time to find a better position, he kept his eyes on the windows while crouching behind the kitchen’s large island.

Gun at the ready, Jax forced a steady breath and waited. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long.

The front door burst open. Using the reflection from the microwave mounted on the wall in front of him, Jax could see two men as they charged inside. One went high while the other stayed low, just as he’d been trained.

With their own guns pointed out in front of them, they remained in place as they visually cleared the immediate area.

These guys are no amateurs. Then again, neither am I.

Jax shot up from behind the bar. Weapon aimed, he shot a double-tap to the first guy’s chest, both bullets hitting the bastard center mass.

Body flying backward, the guy fell through the open doorway, landing outside with a hard thud on the porch. At the same time, the second man, the one who’d gone low, trained his weapon on Jax and pulled the trigger.

Catching a glimpse of a third man entering the cabin, Jax was forced back behind the island to avoid getting hit. Under the fog of war—as it was called in the military—what took place next felt as if it were happening in slow motion.

Both men continued shooting in Jax’s direction, essentially pinning him down with a barrage of bullets. Chips of granite rained down from the sky as the intruders’ ammo struck the countertop around him.

From the corner of his eye, Jax saw the third man begin his ascent up the open-framed stairs. He pointed his Glock and pulled the trigger, but the asshole actually had the nerve to shoot back.

Fuck!

Forced to slide his body around the far end of the island, Jax held his protected position between it and the row of kitchen cabinets. He had to stop that man from getting upstairs.

Because it was at that exact same moment when he realized everything that mattered most to him was up there.

Knowing Poppy was in danger, Jax was left with no other choice. Sending up a silent prayer to a God who’d probably long ago forgotten him, he forced her out of his mind and became the deadly warrior he was trained to be.

Mirroring a scene like something from the wild west, Jax pulled his backup pistol free and shot to his feet. Ignoring the incoming bullets flying in his direction, he kept his sights trained on the bastard in front of him while pulling both triggers.

Over and over, he continued firing, refusing to stop until the twin mags were empty and the son of a bitch was dead.

Not taking the time to wonder how the hell he hadn’t been hit, Jax took off for the stairs. Pushing himself to the max, his only thought was getting to Poppy.

With the threats below extinguished, he kept his focus lasered on the area in front of him. His heart threatened to pound right out of his fucking chest, the fear he felt for a woman who’d somehow become his entire world morphing into a living, breathing thing.

Calling upon his deepest inner strength, Jax managed to push back the terror and remain on point for the situation at hand. Poppy needed him focused and ready, and he’d be damned if he would let her down now.

I’m coming for you, baby. Just need you to hold on a few seconds longer. I’m here, and I’m coming for you.

The thought had barely rolled through his mind when he heard two succinct shots ring out from somewhere upstairs.

No!

“Poppy!” Driven by a rage unlike any he’d ever known, Jax ran the rest of the way to his bedroom. He’d been on countless missions. He and his fellow SEALS had saved more innocent lives than he could count.

But as he entered his bedroom with his weapon at the ready, there was only one life…only one woman…who mattered.

He just prayed he wasn’t too late to save her.

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