Elite Metal-ARE-epub (15 page)

He dashed out of the room and ran into a blonde wearing a crisp black suit and pearls.

“Poppy?” he asked as he steadied her on her heels.

“I came as soon as I could.”

“Really?” Apparently tact with the females was not his strong suit.

She straightened her spine. “I know you think me prickly, but Alayna is my friend. I came to be with her. And you.” She seemed to add the last part on reluctantly and she didn’t give him any time to respond. Her gaze flicked to the door behind him. “How is she?”

“Awake. Groggy. I was going to get the doctor. We need to get out of here. ASAP.”

“I couldn’t agree more. I can’t wait to talk to her.”

“Hold up.” He grasped her around her thin bicep as she moved to walk past him. “She’s upset about losing Korovin. Don’t upset her further. Make her laugh, make her smile. Do not make her cry. Got it?”

Her shrewd green gaze swept him up and down before she sighed. “So it’s like that, huh?”

“Yep.”

The right side of her lips curled up. “Go get the doctor, Steele. I’ll take care of your girl.”

He gave her a sharp nod and let her go to search for their ticket to freedom.

A few hours later the three of them were strapped into Warbucks’ luxurious Beechcraft and winging their way over the Arizona desert.

Alayna was in the seat at his side, sleeping thanks to a cocktail of painkillers and exhaustion. She leaned against the side of the plane and he kept her little hand tucked into his. Running his thumb over her fingers again and again, he paused every so often on the pulse point in her wrist. A sling tied her injured shoulder tight to her side and around the purple and red bruise on her cheek, her skin was pale, but she looked less like a corpse and more like his beautiful woman at peace. Thank God for that.

“Are you ready to talk shop now?” Poppy asked quietly from her seat opposite them.

He cast a glance at Alayna’s face and when she didn’t bat a lash he turned his attention to Poppy. “Depends on what it is.”

“Chrome.”

No point in being obtuse about who she was speaking about. “What about him?”

“After the lake patrol caught up with the yacht, all of the injured on board were transported to the hospital, including Laskin. One of the ghost team members was able to sneak into his room and have a little chat.” She paused to smile. “Laskin was the messenger for Korovin’s next directive involving an adoption agency specializing in foreign adoption. Instead of kidnapping children, Red Wolf wants to locate the mothers first while they’re pregnant and defenseless, kidnap them and take the infants at birth for sale. Homeless. Teenagers. The ones he thinks won’t be missed.”

“Fuck. That’s…”Even he had no more words for how awful that was.

“That’s Red Wolf. In return, Korovin was passing on information on the whereabouts of a presumed dead Marine. Chrome.” Her gaze narrowed. “Now Laskin is in no position to convey that information to Red Wolf.” She paused and gave him a wolfy smile. “But Korovin is still out there and could send word at anytime. We must get Chrome before they do.”

“I get it, but I’m the last person he wants to see.”

“You are his only hope, Steele.

The last time they communicated wasn’t with words but with fists. Chrome’s anger had fallen on him. After all, it had been Steele’s contact. His mission. It had been his call to proceed without Venus giving the go ahead. And no one knew how to hold a grudge better than Chrome. “I think he’d rather take the bullet.”

“Bring him in, Steele,” came a soft, but firm directive by his side.

“Hey, baby. Didn’t mean to wake you,” he said and kissed her forehead.

Alayna stared up at him…with pride maybe. He sure hoped so.

“He needs you probably just as bad as you need him. And
we
need him.”

“And the others,” Poppy added.

“The others?”

“Korovin knows for certain Chrome’s location, but the whereabouts of your Elite Recon brothers and sister may have already been compromised. The ghosts are confirming it now but I fear what they will find. If he found you two, it’s only a matter of time before he finds the others. We need to get Chrome on board as soon as possible and the others picked up before Red Wolf goes after them.”

“What we need to do is shut down Korovin. With him still playing both sides against the middle we’re eventually going to lose. And we can’t get to Red Wolf until Korovin’s out of the way.”

“Agreed. That’s why anonymous footage is being leaked to the media tomorrow of him on the boat. Illegal drugs. Prostitution. Due to some other interdepartmental complaints we have information that says he’ll be let go. Very quickly.”

“And all that means is he’s going to be desperate since he can’t just push papers around all day and sell out innocent people.”

“Which is yet another reason why it’s so perfect to—”

“Bring the entire team back together?”

“That’s the plan.”

All of them. Together again. If it meant securing their safety, he’d take anything Chrome decided to dish out.

“It already has.” That terrifyingly sweet smile lifted Poppy’s lips. She relaxed in her seat. “I’ll go get my laptop and start arranging the details in the bedroom so Alayna can get some rest. As soon as we get you two settled into your permanent quarters, perhaps Chrome will be extracted and enroute.”

“I stay wherever Alayna stays,” he said, squeezing her hand. “So those quarters better be one and the same.”

“I’ll make certain that’s arranged.” Poppy stood and fastened the button of her jacket while smiling at Alayna with a triumphant grin. “I’ll collect from you when you’re feeling better. Sleep well." Poppy squeezed her hand and walked to the back of the plane with a secondary door leading to a private office.

Wanting to ask Alayna a few questions while they were semi alone, he waited for Poppy to close the door.

“What was that about?”

“Oh, ah,” she looked away and a pink flush crept up her neck. “We, huh, well.” The more she stammered the more intrigued and concerned her grew. “Back at the hospital, Poppy told me she was arranging for my things to be placed in the same cabin as yours. I said that was crazy and she bet me that you would want me to stay with you before we got back to the compound.”

And the hits kept coming. He was going to pay for his loss of control for the rest of his life. “You bet against me, sweetheart?”

“I didn’t want to presume anything about us.” She stared at him. “I love you, Steele, but there’s still a lot about me you don’t know, and I’m assuming the same for you. This week has been so crazy and new and I didn’t want to…hope…” she trailed off and stared out the passenger window.

In that last little word her fear of rejection reached out and popped the balloon on his distress caused by her lack of faith in his feelings towards her. She was right. Their relationship was new, but the thought of being responsible for her pleasure and security twenty-four seven? Perfect. The thought of not being with her was completely frightening. Alayna was a fighter and lord knew life knocked her on her ass more times than one should ever have to bear. Her caution made sense. Soon there’ll come a time when she would never have to doubt him again.

“Come here,” he said and raised the armrest between them and unbuckled her seatbelt. Her being eight inches away was eight too many for his liking.

The fact that she didn’t hesitate to fall into his arms went a long way to soothe over his worry.

“Make no mistake about it, Alayna Devlin, you’re my girl.” He brushed his lips over hers and then lifted something from his pocket. He handed her back her collar. “Bound by me and to me. I quite definitely like the sound of that.”

Her answering laugh sounded like musical chimes to him, for it was the first bit of laughter he’d heard from her since that early morning when he’d let fear rule him.

“And I’m your baby.” She straightened with a steely strength in her gaze. “In the bedroom.
You
make no mistake, Adam Steele, I’m not out for the count. I’m going to help you get your team back together and be a productive member of Elite Metal.”

“Fuck.” He sighed, then laughed with self -deprecation. He had always said he wanted a woman who was independent. He just never realized how terrifying it would be to watch his woman exert her independence. “One thing at a time. The only thing you need to concentrate on is being able to function without pain medication. I’m aching to show you just how much I love you.”

Her eyelids lowered over her sex-clouded gaze. “Can I get a sneak peek?”

“Oh, baby, if only I wasn’t afraid of hurting you.”

“Just a little peek?” she cooed and latched her mouth over his t-shirt to tug at his nipple ring with her teeth.

“Fuck, baby. You are damn persuasive.” He glanced around the cabin’s interior and chuckled. “Hey, now we can join the mile high club.”

“I heard that,” Poppy said in a stern voice as she rejoined them with a laptop in her hands. “There will be no sex in this plane. Ever. Just as there will be no sex in the main house, the command room, or any place else I may have the misfortune of being in the vicinity of. Am I clear?”

Steele met Alayna’s laughing gaze and mouthed the word, “Later.”

“Promise?” she mouthed back.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Jennifer Kacey

Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her family in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. She’s the Amazon top seller and award winning author of the Members Only Series and the Surrender Series along with several standalone novels and novellas. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

Social Media Links

Website -
http://www.jenniferkacey.com/

Blog – The Decadent Divas -
http://www.thedecadentdivas.blogspot.com/

Facebook –
https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.kacey.7

Facebook Author Page -
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferkaceyauthor

Twitter -
https://twitter.com/JenniferKacey

Goodreads –
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6941549.Jennifer_Kacey

Pinterest -
http://pinterest.com/jenniferkacey/

Anna Alexander

Anna Alexander's literary world changed at age thirteen when a friend gave her a copy of Kathleen Woodiwiss's "A Rose in Winter." With her mind thoroughly blown, she decided that one day she too would be a romance writer. With Hugh Jackman's abs and Christopher Reeve's blue eyes as inspiration, she loves spinning tales about superheroes finding love.

Sign up to receive news about Anna's latest releases at
http://eepurl.com/Q0tsz

Social Media Links

Website -
http://www.annaalexander.net/

Blog – The Decadent Divas -
http://www.thedecadentdivas.blogspot.com/

Facebook –
https://www.facebook.com/anna.alexander.94

Facebook Author Page -
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-Alexander/282170065189471?ref=hl

Twitter -
https://twitter.com/AnnaWriter

Goodreads –
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1335912.Anna_Alexander

By Jennifer Kacey

Chrome’s Salvation

By Jennifer Kacey

Text Copyright Jennifer Kacey 2015

Edited by: Heather Long

All Rights Reserved

Discover more titles by Jennifer Kacey at
http://www.jenniferkacey.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Dawn V.

For Elite planning sessions at RT, late night phone calls, and some of my favorite texts.

You’re one in a googooplex and I’m so thankful to call you friend.

Chrome’s Salvation

By Jennifer Kacey

A former leader of Elite Recon, reduced to nothing more than an apathetic existence.

Until his girl’s life hangs in the balance…now nothing will stand in the way of him coming back to life.

Chrome had it all. Exactly what he wanted. A career in the Marines he loved, fighting alongside his brothers and sisters to protect the US from everything set out to destroy it. Then on their last mission as
Elite Recon
they were double-crossed…and everything went horribly wrong.

Cammie needs help rescuing her siblings from the clutches of a man determined to crush everything she holds dear.  But she has no one to turn to. No one to lean on when she’s trapped in a world she never knew existed. Lost in a world of pseudo-normalcy Chrome’s reduced to nothing more than existing. Day in. Day out. Nothing to live for.

Until
his
girl’s life hangs in the balance. Now nothing will stand in his way of coming back to life.

Love at first sight is a myth. Or so Chrome thought. Everything he thinks is true disappears in the presence…of his salvation.

Chapter One

Kids.

They were drooling, shitting, screeching miniature humans.

Screaming kids on an airplane? Chrome’s own personal hell.

Chrome
.

A nickname given to him years ago in the Marines, and one he was supposed to take to his grave. Erased.

Now he went by Charles. That’s what his new driver’s license and birth certificate said. He’d had it for the last two years since
Elite Recon
had been disbanded. A group of military trained men and women, assassins so lethal he still wondered which day would be his last. He’d ceased looking over his shoulder the day he was relocated and told to blend in and find a life.