Blake, Abby - Sweet Captivation [A Bride for Eight Brothers 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (5 page)

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“For what?” she asked, just a little bit startled.

“For reminding me that things aren’t always what they seem, and for verbalizing the feeling I have in my gut. You’re right. It doesn’t add up, and I’m not willing to abandon Bryce until I have unequivocal proof that our instincts are wrong.” He hugged her to him a moment longer and then said, “I need to collect a few things and then we’ll get going.”

Once he left the room, she got quickly to work.

* * * *

Lachlan walked into the room holding what looked to be an old-fashioned hand gun. Not the plastic, electronic stun gun crap favored by law enforcement these days but a genuine Heckler & Koch P30 handgun, same as his grandfathers would’ve used a hundred years ago. Stun guns were fine if you wanted to stop someone, but old-fashioned projectile weapons were still preferred by the military because they made it that much easier to kill.

For a brief moment Bryce wondered if Lachlan was going to shoot him for upsetting his pregnant wife, but Lachlan merely moved past him and grabbed a couple of electronic hunting rifles out of a closet on Bryce’s right.

Feeling confused and more than a little foggy Bryce’s second thought was that there was trouble coming. He moved quickly, ignoring the pain lancing through his brain. “What’s happened?”

“Nothing. Yet. Just getting prepared.”

“Prepared for what?” Hell, panic threatened to engulf him. He’d been careful to make sure he wasn’t followed here, but with the pain messing with his head, it was entirely possible he’d fucked that up as well.

“You’re obviously expecting trouble to follow you, so the three of us are going to spend some time at Grandpa’s old hunting cabin.” Lachlan didn’t explain, but Bryce was already assessing the advantages of that tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. Apart from being isolated and well away from any tourist areas, it was also wedged against a solid rock wall and easily defensible. It even had a hidden room that had been used by bootleggers to hide their illegal alcohol when the cabin was first built nearly three centuries ago.

“Th–thanks,” Bryce managed to force past the tight knot of emotion lodged in his throat.

“Don’t thank me, thank Mikayla. She’s the one who saw through your bullshit,” he said gruffly. “I was ready to kick your sorry ass out the door.” Bryce might almost have believed that if Lachlan had been able to say it without the relieved grin. Clearly, whether Bryce deserved it or not, he had two people willing to believe he was worthy of living, and he couldn’t have been more grateful.

* * * *

“How the fuck can I get off this goddamned planet if it won’t stop snowing?” Matt paced the small area of the communications room like a caged lion. He stopped several times to glare at the satellite images, but even faced with the full force of his anger, they didn’t change. Mikayla, Lachlan and Bryce were holed up in the old hunting cabin hiding from whatever disaster Bryce had brought into their lives.

Shit, if he could just get off this icy planet, he’d head straight for their little hideout and beat the living shit out of his twin. He had no right involving Mikayla in his mess. Lachlan should’ve grabbed their wife and run as far and as fast as he could in the opposite direction to whatever danger threatened Bryce. What the hell had Lachlan been thinking?

“No let up in the storm?” Matt glared at John, making it very clear he wasn’t going to answer that stupid question. Fuck, if the storm was over Matt wouldn’t be here. John gave him an irritated grunt and asked another question. “Have we heard anything from Brock?”

“Brock?” It took a moment for Matt to realize it was already Sunday. He’d been so focused on getting off this frozen rock he hadn’t given thought to much else. “No. When was he due to check in?”

“Yesterday,” John said, sounding really peeved. Matt could agree with the sentiment. The last thing they needed right now was one more disaster to deal with.

“Get Ryan and Ty up here. We have to assume that Brock needs assistance.”

* * * *

“I’m sorry, little one,” Lachlan said as he came into the room, “but the storm hasn’t let up, and Matt still can’t leave the planet.”

It was so stupid that her eyes filled with tears. She was safe here with Lachlan and Bryce. She had nothing to worry about, but knowing Matt was coming home soon had filled her with joy. But every delay messed with her hormones, and she dissolved into a miserable mess. God, she hated crying. She angrily wiped her eyes and forced herself to stop.

“Any idea when?” Bryce asked in a voice so like Matt’s that she wanted to cry all over again.

“Not at the moment,” Lachlan said as he sat beside Mikayla and hugged her close to his side, “but he’ll be here as soon as he can.” She could feel the tension in his arms, and fear wriggled its way into her mind.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

He seemed startled by her question, but then he blew out a deep breath and said, “Brock is late checking in.”

“Brock is missing?” Adrenaline flooded her system, and she tried to stand up. Lachlan held her back, and she hit out at him, slapping his hands away as she struggled to her feet. “How long has he been missing?”

When it looked like he was going to try and avoid that question, she growled again, “How long?”

“Three days.”

“Three days? Three whole days and I’m only hearing about this now! Who the hell do you think you are, Lachlan Davidson? Why did it take so long to tell me that one of my husbands is missing on a goddamned snow planet?”

“Mikayla,” he said quietly, not quite making eye contact with her. “We didn’t want to worry you. He’ll be fine. Brock knows the area. He’s got almost as much experience as I have.”

“Almost,” she ground out through clenched teeth. “Almost! He doesn’t have anywhere near your experience. You should’ve gone with him. Shit, you stayed behind to babysit me when you should’ve been working alongside Brock. You two always worked as a team on that planet. I should never have let you stay. You should be with him. Fuck.”

Her heart felt squeezed in her chest, like there wasn’t enough room for it to continue beating properly. Lachlan tried to pull her into his arms again, but she stepped away glaring at him angrily. She knew it was unfair to blame him. Hell, if she was truly honest she’d realize she was angry with herself, but temper, fear, and overwhelming sorrow demanded an outlet, and Lachlan was a convenient target.

“Mikayla, they’ll find him. I promise you, they’ll find him.”

“No they won’t,” she yelled belligerently, stamping her foot in anger. “You need to go. Brock needs you. You need to go.” Her knees wobbled as the realization that Brock may already be dead swept through her. “Please, Lachlan, you need to go find him.”

This time she did let him pull her into his arms. He shook with reaction almost as much as she did, and guilt washed through her. It wasn’t Lachlan’s fault. It was hers. If she hadn’t insisted they visit Earth to meet her in-laws, they would all still be on the mining planet, Brock and Lachlan would still be working together as a team, and Brock wouldn’t be lost god-knows-where.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled as she burst into tears once more.

“It’s okay, little one,” he said as he lifted her into his arms. “They’ll find him soon.”

“But what if they don’t? What then? Will you go find him?”

He seemed reluctant to answer but kissed her forehead and said quietly, “If they don’t find him by the time Matt gets here, I’ll go track him down.”

It wasn’t exactly the answer she wanted, but she held onto enough pre-pregnancy sanity to realize it was the best he could do. If Matt couldn’t get off the planet, then Lachlan wouldn’t be able to reach them anyway.

She closed her eyes and prayed that someone would find Brock before it was too late.

* * * *

 
Bryce stayed on the lounge, his leg resting on the chair in front of him and had never felt more helpless in his life. Even if he had the skills Lachlan possessed—which of course he didn’t—his shattered thigh bone wouldn’t let him do anything to help anyway. At the moment he was a useless lump endangering one of the brothers he’d tried so hard to protect and the woman who confirmed with every action and word that she was his brothers’ perfect match in every way.

They’d been at the cabin for three nights, and each day he’d learned a little more about the woman his brothers loved. She may have looked fragile, but she was pretty much the exact opposite. Even when she was yelling at Lachlan just now, Bryce could see that she was blaming herself for Brock going missing. It was also obvious that the hormone-induced crying was pissing her off, so it was a safe bet that she usually avoided tears.

Bryce closed his eyes as he silently admitted the stupidest part of his observations—he was falling for the woman himself. Even knowing that she was married to the seven men in this world with the most reasons to hate him, he wanted her in his arms. It had taken every ounce of self-control, and a good dose of pain from his leg, to keep him from leaping up and comforting her when she’d slapped Lachlan away.

He was almost asleep when the communicator signaled an incoming transmission. Hoping that it was good news, he levered himself out of the chair, grabbed the crutches Lachlan had purchased at the local drugstore, and made his way to the console.

The mountains made it difficult to get a clear signal, so they’d resorted to sending recorded messages back and forth to the mining planet. Bryce damn near crossed his fingers as he hit the play button to see the message. He really wanted to be able to give Mikayla some good news.

Matt’s image on the screen was a little disconcerting. Despite having not seen each other for nearly ten years, they both wore their hair the same way, and the expression on Matt’s face was eerily similar to the one Bryce saw each morning in the mirror.

“Lachlan,” Matt’s message started, “the snowstorm has finally let up. I’ll be on a transport within a couple of hours. It should take five days at the most to get to the cabin.” Matt took a deep breath before continuing his message. “Unfortunately, that’s the good news. We still haven’t heard from Brock, and Ryan and Ty haven’t had any luck tracking him down. They’ll keep trying, but at this stage it doesn’t look good. I don’t have a clue what to tell Mikayla. With the baby and all, maybe we shouldn’t tell her anything until we know for sure.”

Matt rattled off the details of his trip and then ended his message with, “And make sure that asshole stays far away from Mikayla. I’ll deal with him when I get there.”

Well it was nice to know at least one of his brothers was thinking clearly. Matt had more reason than any of them to hate Bryce. And even though Matt didn’t know the full story or the truth of what happened so many years ago, Bryce knew he deserved every ounce of anger aimed his way. He just hoped Matt avoided his broken leg when he threw him out on his ass.

* * * *

Three days later a small amount of good news finally gave Mikayla a reason to smile. Unfortunately, it also highlighted just how dangerous a job Brock had been doing. They’d finally been able to locate her missing husband, but that was where the good news stopped.

“We found him at the bottom of a sheer cliff face. He’s broken his ankle pretty badly and is in a lot of pain, but he’s alive.” Mikayla glanced over to Bryce and noticed that he was looking more worried now than a few minutes ago. What did he understand that she didn’t?

“Lachlan,” Peter’s message continued, “we need your help on this. None of us have the skills to get down there safely and get him back up.” Lachlan was nodding at the screen even though it was only a recording. He glanced at Bryce and then over at Mikayla clearly torn on where he should be.

“Go,” she said quietly. “Go and bring him home to me, please.”

Lachlan looked at Bryce again for a moment before nodding his head. “Matt will be here day after tomorrow. Bryce, I expect you to protect Mikayla with your life. Do I make myself clear?”

His tone of voice was like none she’d ever heard from him before. He’d always been commanding, but this was the type of voice she imagined a drill sergeant might use before sending soldiers into battle.

It took less than fifteen minutes for Lachlan to organize urgent transport to the mining colony. He was booked on the next flight off Earth and would need to change transports twice, but it would get him to the mining colony in a little over four days.

“When do you need to leave?” she asked when he came back into the main room with one of his bags.

“Just under two hours.”