Edge of Obsession (SKALS #3) (12 page)

Swallowing against the uncomfortable
surge of emotion, he watched them haul her into his study. A cold chill raced down his spine as he watched Laychee leer over her, and later, the men he’d seen on the video call in the warehouse. His teeth cut into the sides of his cheeks and flooded his mouth with the sweet coppery tang of blood as the rest of the puzzle slowly started to fall into place.

The neurotoxins they’d injected her with were a cold move. Completely paralyzed, she’d been unable to move, but
the horror in her eyes was unmistakable. She was like a butterfly caught in a deadly spider’s clutches: alive, but mostly dead, and all too aware of the cruelty they inflicted. His fists balled, the short crescents of his nails biting deep into his palms as they beat her, but what happened next damn near destroyed him.

One of the men trailed the barrel of a pistol up the inside of Taylor’s thigh until it disappeared beneath the bloody and tattered hem of her tee. His insides burned as if they’d been
doused in gasoline. Clamping a hand over his mouth, Sebastian dropped against the back of his chair. He ripped his gaze away, unable to bear the sight of them violating her. His breath came in labored spurts. It took him a moment to realize the anguished noises flooding the room came from his own throat.

Gouging his
palms against his closed lids, he fought to keep the tears at bay. Dinner threatened to resurface and his heart shattered. She didn’t deserve that. No one did. Rape wasn’t an uncommon form of torture, but it was one he’d always abstained from. Being inside a woman was far too personal, the connection existent no matter how fleeting. What those men did to Taylor wasn’t subjective. It was sick and brutal. Even by his standards.

It took everything he had not to
hurl the laptop across the room. Knowing what they did was too much. Whatever Josh had done, whatever gruesome ends those men had met, it wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would. He launched his glass into the mantel with a heated snarl. Minutes ticked by as he struggled to get himself back under control. For a moment, he regretted not watching the tapes before he’d visited Dominic. At least then, he would have had the satisfaction of knowing someone still suffered every ounce of humiliation and torture Taylor had endured. Dead or not, the son-of-a-bitch could count himself a very lucky man.

Pulling his thoughts back to the present, Sebastian
glanced up in time to see Henderson stagger into frame and prop himself up against the doorway. Despite the blood running down his face, the guard managed to get two shots off before taking a hit to his midsection. He caught the third assailant on his way down.

Realization
struck Sebastian with a physical force. His breath faltered and shame spread clear down to his core. He’d almost taken the guy out when he caught Taylor giving him a cup of coffee. He’d almost eliminated the only thing that kept her alive. The thought numbed him and, pinching the bridge of his nose, he winced. That small act of mercy had been his only saving grace. If not for Henderson, Taylor would have died.

Frowning, Sebastian
pushed those thoughts aside and keyed into the security system’s data logs. Only two automated calls had left the house that night. One had triggered the application on his phone. The other bounced back as unreturned from headquarters. His brow furrowed at the lack of response. It wasn’t concrete enough to peg anything as deliberate on Marx’s end, but it did nothing to lower the red flags of caution either. Had Josh placed a call requesting backup by then, or was there another reason there had been no response?

“Seb?”

His head snapped up at the lilting notes of Taylor’s voice. Doing his best to pull himself back together, he tried to force a reassuring smile. “Yeah, baby?”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you in bed?”

One side of his mouth lifted in a rueful tilt. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He shut the laptop and stood before carefully
picking his way over the shards of broken glass and making his way to where she stood. Worry shone in Taylor’s grey eyes, dimming them to a shade of dark iron as she took in the sharp slivers on the floor.

“What happened?”

“It’s nothing, Taylor. I’ll take care of it. Go back to bed. I will be right up.”

She bit her lip, doubt and uncertainty lining her face.

“Now, Taylor,” he directed.

Images of
the men assaulting her on the floor slammed through him without warning. Guilt and shame battered him as he wondered how she could even bear to set foot in that room. Sebastian slammed his eyes shut. He was going to get sick. Plowing a hand through his hair, he staggered back a step and turned away. Taylor rushed to his side, her hands fluttering over his back in a frantic show of concern.

“I’m all right,” he said, twisting out of her reach. “
Just stop it and get out of here before you cut your feet.”

“Please don’t
push me away. Don’t shut me out. Talk to me, Seb. Tell me what’s wrong so I can help fix it.”

A half-crazed laugh bubbled from his lips. Turning, he regarded her with a questioning tilt of his head.

“Fix it? No, Taylor. There is no fixing it. If I had any decency left in me at
all
, I would tell you to run as fast and far away from me as you could, but I can’t, and I don’t.” He shook his head. “Even that wouldn’t help. There’s nowhere to hide. No way to escape and I just can’t keep
doing this!
”

The last words
left him in a frustrated roar. Whirling, he cleared the desktop with a furious sweep of his arm. Taylor cried out. Terror branded her face as she stumbled away, her hands raised in entreaty. His heart ached at the sight of her, but he had no words of comfort to give. He was too empty and consumed with rage. When she finally spoke, her voice was so quiet he had to strain to hear it.

“
Seb…you’re scaring me. Please talk to me. I need to know that we’re okay.”

He
flung his arms open in hopeless exasperation. “Nothing is okay, Taylor.
Nothing
. Everything is so screwed up right now, and I don’t see a way out of
any
of it. Not for you, and not for me. Is that what you wanted to hear? Does that make you feel better?”

“
What do you mean?”

He refused to answer. He couldn’t. The reality of it all hurt too much
. He’d already dragged her too far into the cesspool surrounding his life as it was.

“
Do you still love me?” she asked, her voice breaking.

His eyes snapped to hers and flared with disbelief.
How the hell could she even
ask
that? Rage clouded his vision, drenching the room in a dim, red haze. Then, her words sank in. Crossing the room, he reached for her only to have her inch away, doubt and accusations contorting her face. His instincts threatened to get the better of him, the desperate, innate need to capture and subdue anything that tried to escape. Before those impulses could strengthen, he lunged and caught Taylor in his arms. She stiffened, twisting in her efforts to break free.

“Stop it,” he
growled, crushing her against his chest. Her fists balled. Sensing her intentions, he tightened his grip. Her struggling was bad enough. Hitting him was a surefire way to trigger every vile instinct SKALS had ever installed. “I said stop!”

She froze
, snapping to rigid attention upon hearing the forceful boom in his voice. A small shudder wound through her body, making it tremble against his. Stroking the back of her head, Sebastian buried his nose in her hair.

“
Stop fighting me,
” he warned. “I love you, Taylor. You are my entire world. Nothing is ever going to change that and nothing is ever going to tear me away from you. I promise.”

Much to his relief
, she relaxed some in his arms.

“Then what is it?
Why won’t you tell me?”

“I can’t
. Josh doesn’t even know the full extent of things right now. You have to trust me, Taylor. You have to believe everything I’m doing is to protect you and make a better life for us. I swear to you, I will do that with my dying breath if that’s what it takes.”

She paled. “Sebby…”

“Shh. I shouldn’t have blown up like that. Work is just starting to get under my skin. We’re fine, baby. Everything is going to be fine,” he soothed, planting a tender kiss against her head. “Go back to bed. I will be up to join you in a minute.”

“
I don’t feel good.”

“All the more reason for you to get
some sleep,” he murmured.

He brushed his lips across her brow in gentle search. If anything, her skin felt co
ol and clammy. Concern washed away the final remnants of his anger, and Sebastian’s eyes drifted shut. She tried to hide it, but she’d been tiring easily since they’d been home. He felt a twinge of guilt knowing the evening had probably been too much for her.

“
Don’t worry about anything tomorrow. I’ll bring dinner home. You just stay in bed and take it easy. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard and too fast.”

“
It’s just nerves. I’ll be okay.”

“
What did I just say?” he asked, the hard edge creeping back into his voice. “It’s not worth you running yourself into the ground. This isn’t up for discussion. Get your butt in bed and keep it there or I will make you wish you had. Is that clear?”

“Crystal,” she grumbled.

Fisting her hair, he wrenched her closer. Using her startled gasp to his benefit, he crushed his mouth against her parted lips. Taylor slackened in his grip, her body melding against his in a humble show of acceptance.

“Lose the attitude,” he warned
, rubbing the sting out of the back of her head before he released her. “Don’t keep pushing me, Taylor. The next time you do, I guarantee you won’t like how I rein you back in.”

“Yes, Sebastian. Goodnight.”

“Night, baby.”

He watched her pad down the hall with a slow shake of his head. From the beginning, he’d conditioned her to respond to his touch
. He’d wanted her to need him, to crave him as surely as she craved the air she breathed. What he hadn’t counted on was the way those games would affect him. That desire cut both ways. A mere kiss spurred instant hunger. His body ached with longing and the desperate need to be inside her again, despite the fact that they were both exhausted and sore. Cursing, Sebastian levered off the doorframe and started picking up his office. He’d hoped the mindless actions would cool his blood and dampen his desire but, in the end, it was the memories of what had happened that ultimately dosed those flames.

Fingers curled around his mouth, Sebastian stared at the wall and watched the seconds tick by. His thoughts were a frantic whirlwind. The morning meeting had gone well, but Marx’s plans had thrown a definite wrench into his plans. The director was bringing in fresh blood, new members to fill the vacant slots in the team. Not only did that mean the added hassle of training those men, but it meant unforeseen obstacles as well. Extra wild cards he didn’t need. He couldn’t help but think it was a shrewd move on the commander’s end, and that led him to wonder what bases Marx was trying to cover.

Then there was phase two
, the expansion of power. Whatever the hell that was. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around the entire scope of that project or what it might entail. All he knew was it wasn’t good. His instincts warned as much, and his instincts never lied.

Frustrated with the silence and continued profanity of his thoughts, he
pressed the intercom and requested the guards summon Vince.

T
he door swung open a few minutes later. Once inside, the newly promoted intelligence officer glanced around and seemed to slump with relief upon not seeing Josh. Sebastian’s eyes narrowed as he wondered what kind of tension was brewing between the two of them. Lowering his face into the shield of his tented fingers, he squeezed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to mask his annoyance.

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

“I did,” he managed. “Did you have a chance to look into things?”

“
Yes, sir.” Vince gave a stalwart nod of his dark blond head.

“Good. Enlighten me. Who was working that night?”

“No one else was on call that night besides yourself, Agent Chase, and Marx.”

He sat up straighter and frowned. “No one?”

“No one. As strange as that is, there’s more.”

Sebastian urged the man on with an impatient wave of his hand. “
I don’t have all day, Vincent. Continue.”

“The short staff raised some questions, but not nearly as much as the lack of security.
We usually have a minimum of twenty armed guards securing the premises at night. That evening, only four stayed on the clock.”

His eyes narrowed with that l
ittle bit of information. “Anything else?” he bit out coldly.

His teammate shifted from one foot to the other and lowered his head.
“No, sir.”