Javier (Alpha Heroes #12)

Chapter Thirty-three

Missy

“So, you’re not mad at me for leaving?” I sat at the edge of the sofa, holding on to Thena’s manicured hands. “You don’t hate me? You don’t hate us?”

“Of course not.” Thena squeezed my fingers. “I could never hate you, any of you. Will you please believe me?”

“I believe you.”

I smiled and blinked away tears. My big sister was the kindest, most caring, devoted person I knew. She’d never lied to me, and she’d always made sure I felt her love. That was what I felt radiating from her right now. Love, joy, and gratitude for this reunion.

We sat in the living room of the villa Tracker Team had designated as their staging area. It opened to the lawn at the bottom of the hill. Finn stood outside our door and Micah had gone to talk to Allen to secure our way out of the resort later tonight once our BB escort arrived.

The room was nice, although not as fancy as the treehouse suite. As soon as we arrived, I’d shed the sheet and changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top. While I dressed, Thena had brewed us some fine tea from the resort’s courtesy collection. For the last half an hour, we’d been sharing the highlights of our time apart.

I was horrified to hear the details of our father’s murder, the tale of betrayal that had befallen our family and Tracker Team, and the ordeal Thena had to go through in order to survive. I was so thankful to Dash for coming back to protect Thena when she needed him the most. I’d always loved the guy, but now that I understood he’d risked it all to keep Thena safe, look for Cece and Affie, and find me, my admiration for him only grew.

“I don’t know what to say.” I turned the mug in my hand. “I hate myself for leaving you alone to deal with all of this.”

“Oh, Missy, please don’t,” she begged. “I taught you better. Self-hatred is a waste of time. It’s not like you had a lot of choices. Father was out of control. I thought I could tamp down his greed, but I was wrong. You, Cece, and Affie did the right thing getting out from under his thumb. You’ve got a right to choose happiness.”

“You taught us to stick together,” I said. “That’s how we survived after Mom passed away. That’s how we made it when Nix died. But then Father turned into an even worse tyrant, and we felt that escaping him was the only way. You knew this. We asked you to come with us, and yet you refused. Why?”

“I made a promise to Mom before she died.” Thena let out a sigh. “I swore to her that I would take care of Father, so I had to stay.”

“ What ?” I gawked. “Why didn’t you tell us about this promise?”

“I wanted to tell you, but I feared the three of you would stay behind on my account.” She shrugged. “I wanted you guys to be free, to be happy.”

“I should’ve known you stayed behind because of your sense of duty.” I groaned. “I’m so sorry that I acted so selfishly and left you with such a heavy load to carry.”

“Never apologize for making good decisions for yourself,” Thena reminded me.

“Javier told me the same thing the other day.”

“Well then, the guy’s got sense.” Thena flashed a quick grin before she sobered up. “I understood your decision all along. It was only when Dash showed up and told me we were all in danger that I knew we had to find you. And now, I can’t lie. I’m so glad to have you back. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Me, too.”

We fell into each other’s embrace again. In the last thirty minutes, it had become a regular occurrence. It was as if we needed that physical touch in order to believe our reunion was real.

“Life without you was so lonely.” I sighed, content in my sister’s embrace. “I felt cut off, like a tree without roots or a body without limbs. The Sisters of Charity were very kind to me, but I missed you, Cece, and Affie. I can’t stop thinking about them. What if the assassins catch up with them before we find them?”

“I’m worried, too.” Thena took a deep breath. “We’re doing everything in our power to make sure we find them as soon as possible. Dash says that, since we know Cece and Affie, we have a big advantage over the hired assassins trying to locate them.”

“I pray that’s true,” I murmured.

Thena reached for the pot and got us a refill. She didn’t put any sugar in her tea, but it warmed my heart that she remembered I liked two cubes of sugar in mine. She handed me the steaming cup.

“What if Cece and Affie are…” I stared into my tea, unable to say the word.

“They’re not dead,” Thena said with confidence that blew me away.

I met her gaze. “How do you know?”

“I just do.” Thena picked up her mug.

“You seem so confident.” I wrapped my hands around the warm mug, trying to dispel my dreadful thoughts. “Has there been any news on their whereabouts?”

“We have clues.” Thena took a sip of her tea. “We’re following up on them.”

“I hope we find them soon.” I bit down on my lip.

“You used to bite your lip just like that when you were little.”

“Did I?”

“You were the cutest, sweetest little baby.” Thena’s eyes lit up with her memories. “I remember holding you for the first time and knowing you were a gift from the universe.”

“I’m not a baby, or a sweet little girl anymore,” I ventured. “Haven’t been for a while.”

“I know.” Thena’s eyes rounded. “You’ve changed a little. Or perhaps a lot. We both have.”

“I’ve been working on myself,” I said. “Baby Missy, Prissy Missy, and Mousy Missy are out. I’m just Missy now.”

Thena arched her eyebrows. “You were always quiet and shy, and you were the baby of the family, but you were never prissy or mousy to us, and we all adored you.”

“I needed a lot of help growing up.” I wiped a fugitive tear from the corner of my eye. “All that fainting. You were always so worried. I’m so grateful I had you by my side, but in the last three years, I’ve turned the tables. I’ve spent my time caring for others.”

“I get what you’re trying to say, Missy. I really like the woman you’ve become. So, no more baby girl for you. Now, tell me the truth. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I sipped on my tea. “My time with the nuns taught me a lot about the world we live in. Getting out of Nicaragua was hairy, and I can’t even begin to tell you how frightening Bekker and his NWO are, but until today, we were safe here. Javier is highly skilled at his job and he took excellent care of me.”

“Oh, yes.” She put her cup down and winked at me. “I can see that.”

My face went red. “I don’t want him to lose his job because of me.”

“Dash is just protective of you, of all of us. He won’t be mad at Javier forever, especially now that he knows he saved your life.” She paused and studied my face. “Is it truly love?”

“I don’t know how he feels about me, but I said the truth back there. I love him. And…”

“And what?”

I set my cup down. “This will sound crazy to you.”

She leaned back on the couch and crossed her legs. “Try me.”

“I dreamed of him.” I took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I dreamed of him before he came looking for me.”

***

Javier

I snatched the creature from the air, caught it right under the head. Mouth open, fangs dripping with venom, the viper writhed, thrashing its muscular body in my grip. The fucker was stronger than I expected and fierce in its own defense.

One step, two steps, wrench the screen doors open, then the sliders…

I pitched the snake into the suite, sent it flying all the way to the other side, and slammed the doors shut.

“Holy shit.” I forced myself to breathe. “Did that just happen?”

I turned around to find Dagger’s face leached of color, staring at me with a look I’d never seen on him before.

“What?” I asked. “If you’re thinking of turning me in to the humane society, that snake just tried to kill you.”

“I know.” His throat rippled. “You saved my life.”

“Holy fuck.” King rushed to us. “Is everyone all right?”

“No.” Omega’s gaze slid down my right arm. “Your hand.”

I turned my wrist and found a thin trail of blood on the side below my thumb.

“It’s just a scratch,” I wiped off the blood and watched as the streak of red swelled again, oozing from two small holes etched into my skin.

“Ferranti, down here, now,” Dagger shouted. “King, get on the horn. Alert Bozeman. We need to—”

His voice became a distant drone. I didn’t hear the rest. A flame flared from the wound, a burning sensation growing and spreading to the rest of my hand and up my arm. My heart began to gallop like a racehorse, and my pulse swooshed in my ears. My knees went weak. It all felt surreal and yet the pain spiking through me was very real.

“Sit.” Dagger pushed a chair under me. “Hand on your lap. Don’t move.”

Ferranti trotted up the stairs. “What’s up?”

“Snake bite,” Dagger reported. “Move!”

“Fuck.” Ferranti took my pulse. “Too fast. Help me out here, Guzman. Try to slow down your breathing as much as you can.”

Inhale… Exhale… In… out... It was my turn to work on my vagus nerve. Hard to slow anything down when my heart was banging so hard.

“We need antivenom.” Ferrari zipped open one of his pockets and pulled out his med kit.

“There’s a hospital in range.” King relayed from whoever he was talking to on the cell. “We’re notifying them now. They’ll be expecting us.”

“We can’t just go.” I clenched my teeth against the burning pain. “Bekker is waiting for us to make a move. If we leave Missy and Thena behind, he’ll come for them. If we take them with us, he’ll attack along the way.”

“I’m aware,” Dagger said, his phone glued to his ear. “Let me worry about that shit.”

Meanwhile, Ferranti cleaned and disinfected the wound. He pulled a pen from his pocket and drew a circle around the punctures and also the time of the bite. For an instant there, the world whirled. I understood how Missy felt right before she fainted. I fought not to pass out.

“Goof?” Ferranti waved his hand across my face. “Are you listening to me?”

“I hear you.”

“We’ve got some time.” He selected a bandage. “They’re good with snake bites here. If you have to get bitten by a viper, this is the place to do it.”

“Right.”

My body felt hot as a coal on fire. I wiped off the sweat beads forming on my forehead. I looked down at the redness spreading over my right hand and watched the wound swell before my very eyes. Blood continued to ooze from it, a little too fast for my taste.

A paragraph from the Raider’s snake catalogue flashed before my eyes: The Fer-de-lance venom is designed to kill its prey and initiate the process of pre-digesting the tissue. It affects the blood’s ability to coagulate, leading to internal bleeding and low blood pressure so the prey can’t run away. Without antivenom, death for a human occurs within hours, provided the patient is not allergic to the venom, in which case death can occur at any time.

Fucking great. I was snake prey. Any time now, my tissues would begin to decompose from the inside out. That is, if shock, cardiac arrest, or a stroke didn’t kill me first.

I hadn’t been afraid of dying a day in my life. In my line of work, death was a significant probability, but for a moment there, panic rushed through my system. I’d finally earned my chance with Missy. She’d stood up for me, unafraid to tell the world about us. She’d declared I was the man she loved. And now I was on my way out?

A wave of regret washed over me. I’d wasted so much time. I’d kept away from her when I should’ve devoted my every second to being with her. I hadn’t told her that I loved her. Hell, I hadn’t even claimed her as mine as she’d done with me in front of everyone today.

“Hey, King?” I called out while Ferranti bandaged my hand.

“What is it?” King crouched by my side.

“Tell Missy I love her.”

“Fuck, no.” King grimaced. “I ain’t telling her shit. You tell her.”

I tried again, dizzy as a lizard stuck on a top. “But if I die—”

“You’re a big, mean, tough motherfucker.” King got on my face. “We’re gonna get you to the hospital.”

“Bekker and his mercs are not gonna let us get there and you know it.”

“Fuck the fucker,” King swore. “We’re getting you there. They’ve got the antivenom waiting for you. So, you fight for time. You fight to stay alive. You got that?”

“Bitten by a fucking snake,” I muttered as the burning pain pulsed through my veins. “What a fucked-up way to go. The gods in Valhalla must be laughing their asses off. I’m pure venom right now. This fucker’s gonna die a miserable death.”

“You will not die,” Dagger snapped. “That’s an order, Marine.”

“I wasn’t talking about me.” I smirked through the agony. “I was talking about the snake.”