Javier (Alpha Heroes #12)

Chapter Thirty-one

Missy

I perched at the edge of the bed, still wet and shivering, enveloped in a blanket Javier had snatched up and wrapped around my shoulders. Then he grabbed a towel from the stash in the closet and used it to dry me. A memory jolted me out of my state of shock.

“How many snakes were in the shower?” I closed my eyes and envisioned the dreaded creatures before I opened my eyes again. “Five?”

“Affirmative.” Kneeling in front of me, Javier dried my legs and feet. “Five vipers, one extra-large, four regular size.”

“Six,” I squeaked, fighting to find my breath and stop the shakes wracking my body. “There were six snakes in my dream.”

“What dream?” Javier frowned.

“I had this dream a while back,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “It came true. Sort of.”

“You told me your dreams don’t always become reality,” Javier reminded me.

“This one did. At least part of it did. Water, lots of it, running over flat stones. And six snakes.”

He set the towel aside and considered me closely, his whiskey eyes studying my face.

“I know it sounds crazy,” I admitted. “I could be wrong, but…”

“Better safe than sorry.” He got up, planted a kiss at the top of my wet head, and undid the bed and looked under the pillows, no doubt to make sure there were no other snakes around. When he was sure the bed was safe, he said, “Hang tight. I’ll be right back.”

I respected all living creatures, including snakes. I understood their important role in the ecosystem, but my terrifying experience in the shower was still fresh in my mind, and my imagination was playing on my fears. I spotted slithering shadows everywhere.

“We should leave this place,” I mumbled as Javier approached the closet. “We should get out right now.”

“It would seem logical to leave.” He took another careful step forward, his gaze roaming the space. “On the other hand, this could be exactly what our enemy wants us to do. Bekker might want to scare us out of the resort to ambush us on the way out.”

“Oh, God.” I hadn’t thought of that.

“We’ll get out, you’ll see,” Javier promised. “But only when we’re good and ready to go. Right now, I need to make sure the suite is safe.”

He opened the closet door carefully, slowly. When no snakes slinked out, he reached out for a wire hanger, unraveled it, and fashioned it into a metal stick.

“Your boots,” I called out, my voice shrill when I realized he was still walking around barefooted. “Put them on. No, wait! Check them before you do.”

Javier flashed me a cursory glance and approached his boots cautiously, shook them a little, and poked them with his wire stick. Once he was sure they were snake-free, he put them on. It was some consolation that he took my concern seriously. At least he didn’t think I was totally bonkers.

“Given a choice, in their natural habitat, a snake will try to sneak away from a human,” he pondered aloud as he tied his laces.

“They want to be left alone.” I lowered my feet to the ground. “I’ll help you look.”

“Sit tight,” Javier ordered, rising to his feet. “It’s easier to see movement when only one of us is moving.”

He was right.

“How did the snakes get into the shower?” Javier asked, as he secured the bathroom door.

“A drone,” I said. “It dumped the snakes over me.”

“Fuck the fuckers,” Javier swore a foul string and moved back to the closet. “The vipers were forced into a defensive situation.”

“By someone who knew this,” I pointed out.

“Someone like that son of a bitch, Bekker,” Javier suggested.

For the first time in my life, I wanted to kill someone and his name was Wilbur Bekker.

Javier hooked the wire thought the straps of his duffel and slowly dragged it out of the closet. “If he went to the trouble to dump those vipers in the shower while you were in it, he probably has a backup plan.”

“While you were in the bathroom helping me out, someone could’ve let another snake loose in here.” Paranoia sent ice crawling up my spine.

“It’s possible.” Moving carefully, he unzipped the bag. “The same person who took down the protective mesh over the shower may have been in a position to release another snake.”

“That’s what I think, too.”

“No worries.” He probed the duffel with the wire. “If there’s one or more snakes in this room, I’m gonna find them.”

When he was sure there were no snakes in the duffel, he pulled out his flashlight and his M4. I held my breath as he checked the room in a grid pattern, poking his stretched-out hanger in every nook and cranny, moving the furniture, using his flashlight to check every corner low or high, even climbing to check the rafters.

“You didn’t faint,” he said as he tore the couch apart.

“You’re right.” My lips twitched, crookedly perhaps, but I had something to be proud of.

“You are so brave, Angel.” He kept up his methodical search. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. I was as scared as a cat at the dog pound in there.”

He wanted to cheer me up. I managed to steady my smile.

“I need you to tell me exactly what happened before I went in the shower.” One by one, he checked the kitchenette’s cabinets. “Can you do that?”

“I’ll try.” I took a deep breath and willed myself to recall. “It began with the drone whirring overhead…”

It took me a few minutes to tell Javier everything I could remember. He listened quietly, taking in every detail and asking lots of questions. By the time I finished my story, he’d completed his search and no object in the room had been left untouched.

“Clear,” he reported. “Other than the vipers in the bathroom, there are no snakes inside this suite.”

I let out a breath of relief.

He slid out his cell and punched the dialer. “Allen? Guzman here. Account for your men. I bet a million dollars one of them is missing. Find him. Put everyone on high alert and call a snake removal expert.” He listened to whatever the other man said on the horn. “No, you don’t need to come up here right now. I got it under control and this could be a distraction to stage a full-fledged attack. Use every asset you’ve got to secure all access points and reinforce the perimeter around the hill. This attack might or might not be over. It pays to be on guard.”

With the call made, he sat down beside me, and, laying his rifle on the mattress, gathered me in his arms and pressed my face into the crook of his neck.

“We survived,” I whispered, my voice still shaky. “We’re alive.”

“Of course you’re alive.” He crushed me to his chest. “You didn’t think I was gonna let anyone hurt you, did you?”

Anyone else would’ve thought of themselves. But not Javier. For reasons I couldn’t figure out at the moment, this made me mad as a March hare.

“You’re insane.” I smacked my hand on his soggy T-shirt. “I’m very angry with you.”

“Come again?” He drew back and cocked his eyebrows at me. “I thought you’d be relieved to be out of that hellish shower.”

“I am relieved.” Now that the worst was over, my brain was kicking in. “But you should’ve gotten out of the bathroom and called for help. What did you do instead? You went in there to get me .”

“I did that—”

“Because I’m your freaking job,” I snapped. “I know. I get it, but guess what? Nobody should die because of a stupid job, least of all you!”

“I didn’t do it because you’re my job.” He cupped my chin and smiled down at me, sending warmth racing across my skin. “I reckon you may know that by now.”

In my terror-fueled fury, I couldn’t even begin to process that.

“I wasn’t a total idiot,” he added. “I did improvise some protection.”

“Yeah, and it was brilliant, but it wasn’t foolproof, or snake proof, and you knew that. And still you went in that shower!”

“It’s okay, Angel.” He trailed his fingers over the side of my face. “It’s over.”

“Javier Guzman, you could’ve died!” I spat. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

He just smiled.

“And why are you grinning like that?” I demanded, shaking off his touch. “Do you find any of this funny?”

“ Funny ? No, not funny.” He leaned down and planted a peck on my lips.

“Then why the grin?”

“Because…” He hesitated.

“Spit it out!”

“Because you’re mad crazy furious.”

“And how’s that cause for celebration?”

“Perhaps it means that you might care an itsy-bitsy bit… for me?”

He didn’t let me respond to that. His lips dropped down to my mouth and his body enveloped mine. His kiss stole all my anger and transformed it into a firestorm of desire. Of course I cared for him. After seducing me in my dreams, surviving the last week, and after we’d shared our bodies so freely, how could he not know this?

I set out to show him with a vengeance.

I dropped the blanket and rubbed my naked self against his body, sucking at his lips, seeking out his tongue, gorging on this brave, amazing man who’d walked through a bunch of deadly snakes to rescue me.

It struck me then: the man from my dreams had become the man of my dreams.

My kisses were desperate, panic turned to passion, want so strong that I needed him inside of me to be warm again, to cope with the terror, to remind me that, although he could have died, he was alive and so was I.

Desperate for him, I pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossed it aside, and brushed my fingers over his naked torso, kissing and licking his nipples, running my hands over his shoulders and down his muscular sides, before I dipped my fingers in his sweats and caressed his erection.

“Missy.” He groaned, his voice husky. “We need to—”

“Yes, I know, but right now, Allen is taking care of business and we can’t go yet.” I planted my hands on his chest and pushed back. “I need you badly. We’ll make it quick.”

He fell back on the bare mattress of his own accord. I crawled over and straddled him, already soaked between my legs, unashamedly so. In one swift movement, he grabbed my wrists and flipped me over, pinning me beneath his body. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held him there. Rocking his hips, he stroked my pussy with his rock-hard erection, sending shivers of pleasure bolting through my body.

“Get rid of your sweats and get inside me, now,” I rasped.

“Angel, I—”

His body tensed a second before his cell alerted. He moved so fast. One moment, I was beneath him, enjoying his heat, ready to take him. The next second I sat on the bed and he was on his feet with his carbine aiming at the front door.

The door burst open. The sunlight cast a shadow over the figure that stood at the threshold. The outline of a soldier wearing a tactical vest and holding up a rifle with his eye to his scope froze in the foyer’s darkness. My stomach plunged. Had Bekker and his mercenaries arrived to finish us off?

Javier stood between me and the intruder, using his body to shield me. My heart hammered in my throat. I snatched a sheet and covered myself.

“Stay behind me,” Javier ordered, his carbine pressed into his cheek.

“What the fuck?” The man in the foyer swore.

I knew that voice.

Peeking around Javier’s body, I watched as the intruder dropped his aim to the ground at the same time Javier lowered his weapon.

The newcomer’s infuriated voice boomed in the room. “What the hell have you done, Guzman?”

Moving swiftly, the man hooked his weapon over his shoulder and stalked forward, out of the shadows and into the light. I gasped when I finally made out his face. His clenched jaw was covered with an elegantly groomed stubble and his long, straight nose flared at the nostrils. His salt-and-pepper hair glinted under the light. The man’s dark, deep-set eyes narrowed on Javier,

Standing before us, tall, fit, and as graceful as always, was none other than Nix’s best friend, Thena’s boyfriend of ages, and Javier’s boss: Dash Dagger himself.

And he looked pissed.

***

Javier

“Let me explain.” I lifted my hands in the air even as Omega stalked toward me, his stare as black as that of the Grim Reaper’s himself. “Boss, I—”

The jab to the face left me seeing stars, but it was the blow to the guts that doubled me over. I took both with complete resignation, distantly aware of Missy’s screams. Making a supreme effort not to fight back, I gritted my teeth and straightened.

“Take this.” I engaged the safety and handed my carbine to Missy before I faced Omega again. “Go ahead. Do your thing.”

“Come on,” he muttered, spitting mad. “Fight back, you motherfucker.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t gonna hit a man who had a right to beat me to a pulp.

“If I survive,” I said. “I’d like a word with you.”

Wham . He landed another punch on my face. This one cut my lip on my tooth. I swallowed blood, but the tooth was still there and, even though my fingers curled into fists, I managed to control my reactions. Justice hurt, but what the hell. Omega deserved his revenge.

“Stop this!” Missy screamed, knotting the sheet under her arms before she flew off the bed. “Dash! I said stop!”

I shook my head and blinked the haze from my eyes just in time to see him coming at me like an enraged bull. He shoved me against the wall. Omega pinned me down with a hand to the throat and I let him.

“She’s like my sister,” he growled, sending spittle to sprinkle my face. “How dare you?”

“If you don’t stop right now, I’m never going to speak to you again.” Missy dangled from his right arm, using all of her strength to stop Omega. “I mean it, Dash.”

A vein popped on Dagger’s forehead as he squeezed, cutting off some of my air supply. Omega wore a gentlemen’s veneer most of the time, but he was a beast in a fight and he didn’t play games when he was pissed.

Missy jumped on his back, screaming like a banshee out of hell. Omega ignored her and kept me pinioned against the wall. I gave him credit for not crushing my windpipe. Flirting with the edge of hypoxia, tasting the blood in my mouth, I grinned. I didn’t care if Omega decided to kill me, fire me, or turn me into a slab of shredded meat.

“Why the fuck are you grinning, you son of a bitch?” Dagger snapped.

“Because…” I rasped and smiled at the same time. “She’s worth the pain.”

***

Missy

I perched my arms around Dash’s neck and dangled like a flimsy cape over his back, pounding and kicking him, screaming bloody murder while threatening him with slow torture and penile amputations. If he heard me, I couldn’t tell. His entire body was rigid against mine.

“Dash!” A familiar voice cried out behind me. “What on earth are you doing?”

Like a miraculous apparition, Thena swooped down on us. My jaw dropped. My big sister Thena was here, standing right next to me, as tall, willowy, blond, and beautiful as I remembered her to be.

“Hello, baby sis,” she said sweetly even as she grabbed onto Dash’s bulging forearm, the one he was using to pin down Javier. “A proper welcome as soon as we untangle these two jackasses. Javier, surely you can help end this madness?”

“Nope,” he drawled through his bloody lip, adding to my frustration. “I won’t.”

“Why not?” I demanded, also struggling to shift Dash’s other immovable arm.

“If the man wants to kill me, let him,” Javier rasped. “He’s got good reason.”

“Dashiell Dagger, you will let go of this man immediately,” Thena ordered in the stern tone of a Marine drill instructor. “Dash! Stop this fuckery, you big bag of testosterone. Let go of Javier. Now!”

Teeth gritted, Dash released Javier. Thena pulled her furious boyfriend to the opposite side of the suite. Javier fingered his throat and inhaled a few gulps of air.

“You’re bleeding!” I spotted the blood on his lips. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Javier rasped. “Let Omega do what he has to do. I totally get the guy.”

“Really?” I squeaked. “If that’s the case, then there’s more than one idiot in this room.”

“We talked about this,” Thena was saying to Dash across the suite. “I told you about the stars.”

“I remember.” Dash scrubbed his face. “I just can’t unsee what I saw.”

“What’s this about the stars?” I tossed the question out to Thena.

“I’ll explain later,” she called back.

“It’s a theory,” Dash said.

“It now appears to be a fact,” Thena stated sternly. “Dash Dagger, you’re going to have to give Javier a break.”

I was curious about this star theory, but a sudden fit of wrath had me whirling away from Javier and marching across the room. Along the way, the folded sheet parted before my legs and trailed my steps, snapping behind me like the tail of an angry dragon.

Mousy Missy was officially dead.

“You hurt him.” I poked an accusatory finger on Dash’s tactical vest. “What’s your problem? Why did you feel the urge to make him your personal punching bag?”

“He…” Dash hesitated, something I didn’t remember him ever doing. “He had a mission to accomplish. Instead, he took advantage of you.”

“ He took advantage of me ?” I straightened to my full height, even though this still made me the shortest person in the room. “That’s a pretty primitive assumption on the part of your tiny, puny, deranged brain. How do you know I didn’t take advantage of him ?”

“ You ?” Dash stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “You’d never take advantage of anyone, baby girl. Ever.”

“Well, maybe you’re wrong.” I planted my fists on my hips. “You better get a hold of your caveman. You hurt the man who saved my life.”

Dash’s Adam’s apple rippled on his throat but at least he had the wisdom to keep his mouth shut.

“He was never going to truly harm Javier.” Thena’s lips twitched, diverting my attention from a baffled-looking Dash to her. “I promise.”

At last, I got a good look at her. She didn’t seem older than when I’d last seen her on that fateful day when we’d parted ways. Okay, so maybe the lines that cased her wide mouth had deepened a touch, but this hardly mattered. She broke out into the warm smile I’d missed so much, the one that lit up her gray eyes and made them shimmer like pearls.

My anger melted away, replaced by a bond that was as old as I was. I walked into her arms and clung to her with all I had. We melted into each other. A hint of Thena’s jasmine scent enveloped me.

“You’re here.” Eyes burning with tears, my heart soared.

“I came to find you,” she whispered in my ear.

This was the woman who’d raised me since my mother died, my rock, the person who’d kept our family together and anchored my life for so long.

“I’m so grateful for you, for being able to see you again,” I sniffled against her shoulder. “I have so many questions, so many things I want to tell you. I’ve missed you, Thena. If you only knew how much.”

“I’ve missed you, too.” She squeezed me as tightly as I was squeezing her. “Please, forgive Dash.” She drew back and met my eyes, managing to convey the same deep emotions clogging my throat even as she continued to speak. “You see, communication between alphas—even if they’re the modern version—can be forceful at times.” She admonished Dash with a look. “But I promise you, Missy. Dash is better than this. He would’ve stopped himself had we not intervened. Am I right, my love?”

“Right as always,” Dash replied briskly, but his glower fled across the room. “Even though Guzman knows what he deserves.”

“One hundred percent.” From his place on the other side of the room, Javier agreed, wiping the blood off his mouth with his hand.

Thena split her glare between the men. Uh-oh . I remembered how it felt to be the recipient of my sister’s disapproval. It was the same look she saved to reprimand Cece when she fell asleep at the breakfast table after staying up all night reading her big tomes. The same glower she fixed on Affie when she returned to the house after sneaking out in the middle of the night to go to the town bar and meet a boy or two or three.

“And here I was, looking forward to a magical reunion with Missy.” She shook her head, setting her soft curls aflutter. “What a sorry pair you are.”

“What a pair of idiots, indeed,” I piped up, not holding back.

“Missy.” She took my hands and inspected me from head to toe then lifted her eyebrows and smiled. “What was my baby sister up to when Dash so rudely interrupted?”

The blood ignited my face. Without any additional prompting, I could’ve confessed all my sins to her right there and then, but a low voice that seemed to lift from the very center of the earth interrupted the process of spilling my guts.

“Moving in,” The low baritone echoed from outside the suite.

“Who’s that?” I asked, letting go of Thena’s hands.

She grinned. “I think you’re about to meet the guys.”

Dash called out. “Move in.”

“Sorry, boss.” A dark giant of a man ducked under the threshold and stalked into the room, outfitted in street clothes but wearing a tactical vest and holding a weapon like Dash. “Miss Thena got impatient and we still had to secure the perimeter and make sure Allen’s men understood we were friendlies.”

“It’s all right, Bozeman,” Dash said, unable to hide his irritation. “It’s like King always says, Thena’s the wave no one can catch. She’s got a will of her own.”

“Apologies all the same.” The giant called Bozeman cocked an eyebrow at me. “Ms. Missy Astor, I presume?”

“You presume correctly.” I craned my neck to stare up at the muscled colossus.

“I’m Micah Bozeman.” He shot Javier a fearsome glare. “What have you done now?”

“Moving in,” a jovial voice announced before Javier could answer.

Dash called out. “Move in.”

“Clear from the roof.” A tall figure with a bushy beard and longish hair almost as red as mine dropped down and landed on the deck by the sliders, holding the biggest rifle I’d ever seen. He slid open the screen doors and stepped into the suite.

He stared from me to Javier and let out a cackle. “No, don’t tell me. You fucked up. Again?”

Javier gave the man the finger. “Go fuck yourself, Cooper.”

“Moving in.” Yet another male voice announced.

“Move in,” Dash said.

Two other men made an appearance, easing their way through the front door. The first was Kai King, whom I’d met before. He was dressed and equipped like the rest.

“Hey, Angel.” He nodded at me but went directly to Javier. “You okay, bro?”

My attention shifted to the last newcomer. He was lean, lithe, and also geared up and armed. He reconnoitered the room with a pair of generously lashed green eyes that stopped briefly over me before they moved on quickly to Javier and blinked several times. “Need a corpsman, anyone?”

“No need, Ferranti.” Javier snorted. “I’ll live. By the way. Heads up. Nobody goes into the bathroom. No one. Understood?”

“Why?” the one called Cooper asked.

“Because Javier said so,” I bit out, crossing the room again with the snapping sheet trailing behind me. “And none of you want to die.”

“ Die ?” Giant Micah stepped out of my way.

“Yes.” I’d let Javier do the explaining.

Cooper backed against the wall to let me pass. Kai watched me with an interested look, and the corpsman observed me warily from his place parked by the bathroom door.

“You.” I pointed to him as I arrived at Javier’s side. “Do something, now, before his face blows up like a freaking balloon.”

I took Javier’s hand. Everyone seemed surprised, including him. I made a point of ignoring the looks I got from the other guys. They’d all noticed that I was naked under the sheets and Javier was wearing only his sweats.

“What?” I snapped again. “Isn’t it obvious? It doesn’t take a freaking rocket scientist to figure this out. He saved my life, and I love him.”

Javier’s jaw dropped. He stared at me as if lightning had hit him.

Oh, my God . My face ignited. Had I said that aloud? I had, but it was true, and nothing he or anyone else could do or say would change how I felt. Even if Javi didn’t “do” love, I loved him, and that was that.

I raked the startled men with my glare. “Stop staring at me as if I had three heads.”

“Well, shit.” Dash scrubbed his face.

The other men exchanged glances, their eyes wide. Thena smiled at me, a proud grin. Javier shifted his gaze from my face to my hand, now intertwined with his. He flashed me a bloody grin.

I shrugged. “Sorry?”

He widened his grin.

“Ho, ho, ho.” Red-haired Cooper smirked. “What do we got here?”

Kai shot a glare in his direction. “Shut your hole, Coop.”

“Has Cupid’s bow struck Party Boy’s heart?” Cooper teased. “No disrespect to the lady, but I need to mark the date Goofman broke his rules and fell off his very own pedestal.”

Javier took a step toward the guy.

“Stop.” I tugged on his arm and cased the red-haired lout with my stare. “Cooper, that’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am.” His blue eyes glimmered. “Finneas Cooper, but I go by Finn or Coop.” He made a show of bowing at the waist. “At your service.”

“Advice for you, Finn.” I glowered at the man. “Better keep your beak closed before I do you a favor and rip the beard off your face. Goodman and I had a hard day.”

“ Goodman ?” The corpsman drew back.

“And you!” I gestured with my free hand. “What’s your name?”

“Matteo Ferranti, ma’am,” he said, cautiously. “They call me Matt. Ferrari’s fine, too.”

“Because you’re so fast?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

“In that case, what are you waiting for? I asked you to take care of Javi. Ice? Bandages? Get to work, please.”

“Right away, ma’am.” Matt got moving, but he exchanged a look with the others and mouthed an exaggerated, “Javi?”

“Holy fucking shit.” Finn, who was apparently hard to shut down, stared at me with a glimmer in his eyes, projecting something akin to respect. “Looks like Goof has met his match. She’s a hellcat.” He turned to Micah. “Didn’t you say in your brief that this one was supposed to be the easy sister, the baby of the family?”

“King is correct in that your mouth hasn’t caught up with your brain,” Micah pronounced formally. “Keep your opinions to yourself, Cooper, or I’ll buy you a new set of teeth.”

That shut Finn up.

Matt fetched an ice tray from the fridge, settled it on the counter, and, crossing the room, reached for the bathroom door. “I’ll get some towels—”

“No!” Javier and I cried out at the same time.

Every person in the room froze, but it was Dash who spoke up. “Guzman?”

“There are snakes in there,” Javier said.

“ Snakes ?” Matt jumped away from the door as if the knob had singed his hand. “Holy crap. What kind?”

“ Fer-de-lance ,” I said. “ Terciopelo, they call it around here.”

“Highly venomous,” Javier added. “As in deadliest.”

“I know what a fucking Fer-de-lance is,” Dash snapped.

“I fucking hate snakes.” Matt got as far away from the door as humanly possible, grabbed a kitchen towel, and wrapped the ice in it.

Micah frowned. “Did you say snakes, plural?”

Javier nodded. “That’s an affirm.”

“Sitrep,” Dash demanded.

“They used a drone to attack Missy with snakes,” Javier explained.

“Did you clear the rest of the suite?” Dash’s gaze darted all around the room as if looking for threats.

“Aye, aye, boss.” Javier managed a half-grin. “I’m stupid but I’m not that stupid. The inside of the suite is cleared. If there are more snakes, they’re not in here.”

Dash blew an angry huff. “Are the reptiles Bekker’s creatures?”

So, he knew, at least about the part where the mercenaries had followed us and almost killed us. Kai must’ve briefed him and the others.

“I’m gonna say, hell, yeah.” Javier winced when Matt pressed the ice to his face. He snatched the ice pack and held it against the corner of his mouth.

“How do you know this?” Micah asked.

“Because a bag of poisonous vipers didn’t drop from a drone in the sky at the exact time Missy was taking a shower without a motherfucker like Bekker plotting to do so.”

Thena rushed to me and hugged me to her side. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “But only because of Javier.”

The room went dead quiet. The men exchanged troubled glances. Now they understood what we’d just dealt with.

Finn eyed the door nervously. “Can those snakes sneak out of there?”

“Negative, they’re trapped in the bathroom,” Javier reported. “The door’s closed and the shower limestone walls are too smooth and sleek for them to gain any traction.”

Dash frowned. “And this attack happened…when?”

“Twenty minutes before you Rambo-ed your way in here making all kinds of assumptions,” I spat before Javier could answer. “Javier rescued me from the snakes. He went in there, barefooted.”

Thena stared at Javier, wearing a knowing smile that puzzled me. Finn whistled aloud. Micah’s hyperactive eyebrow jumped over his right eye, and Kai just kept smiling. Even Dash had the decency to look impressed.

“That took some guts, dude.” Matt pounded his fist on his chest twice. “Respect.”

“Guzman. Debrief. Now,” Dash ordered. “Bozeman, interface with Allen to get the snakes out of here.”

“Yes, boss.” Micah moved outside to get better reception.

“Ferranti, King,” Dash continued. “Secure the suite and clear the perimeter. We need to make sure the threat is contained. We don’t want to endanger any civilians. Cooper, you and Bozeman will escort the ladies to our staging villa at the bottom of the hill.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Finn shouldered his weapon.

“I need to get dressed.” I moved toward the closet.

“Just in case, hold on.” Javier retrieved my clothes himself. “You’re a go, Angel. Let me grab your shoes.”

“Angel?” Cooper and Ferranti chimed up in unison.

“I don’t wanna hear it,” Dash rumbled.

Javier checked my sneakers again then handed them to me. While I put them on, he grabbed a dry T-shirt from the closet and slid it over his head. After rechecking his duffle once more, he zipped it up and locked it. He slid the mesh doors open and settled the bag outside on the deck.

“Missy, Thena,” Dash ordered. “Get going.”

I could tell that Dash wanted Thena as far away from the snakes as was humanly possible. I recognized the adoring looks he sent Thena’s way. The lovebirds were back together. I was ecstatic for them.

Dash had always been an important part of my life. Now that I’d calmed down, I was glad to see him. I loved him like a brother. He’d always been there for me, the pillar upon which Thena stood. He and Nix had been my idols when I was growing up. They still were.

“Hey, Dash?” I walked over to him and surprised him with a hug. “I’m glad to see you. I missed you, too.”

“Same here, kiddo.” His arms closed around me, and I could sense the emotions radiating from the usually stoic man. “I’m so relieved Guzman found you, and so very grateful you’re okay. Sorry about, you know.” He knocked his head toward Javier.

“Apologies accepted, but next time use your mouth to talk, not your fists.”

“You got it, kiddo.”

“Love ya.” I planted a kiss on his chin and reached out for Thena’s hand.

“This way.” Micah gestured toward the front door as Finn took the lead.

“Good luck,” I mouthed to Javier as I left the treehouse.

“I’ll be all right.”

He winked at me, the hero who’d risked it all to keep me alive, the man I loved.

Still dressed in my unlikely attire, I tramped down the hill, holding hands with Thena, my heart full with the sight of her. I paused at the landing and took a last glance at the treehouse that had sheltered us for a week. I’d shaken off my labels and freed myself there. I’d gotten to know Javier and learned unimaginable pleasure in his arms. What would happen to Javier and I now was anyone’s guess, but two things I knew for sure: the danger wasn’t over, and much of it remained ahead of us.