Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) (20 page)

What started out as mischief combined with a need to show Niko that she wasn’t helpless, turned darker. Angry. Just like in the restroom in Moscow.

Men had hurt her family. Had hurt her. Now it was her turn to give out pain.

She’d never again be a victim. She was strong. She had the power to make that man with the gaudy red vest get out of her way. So she did, using her heel to smash into his kneecap when he grabbed for her.

He went down. Jenna moved through the crowd lashing out ferociously. Lost in the thrill of the fight.

#

Niko was going to kill Jenna. He shoved his fist into a soft gut. Swung his other elbow out and up and felt it connect with cartilage.

You’re not going to give it to them,
he’d ordered.
He
was the one who’d needed to throw a few punches, but he’d resigned himself to just watching. Knowing that even with Jenna’s training, taking on a bunch of drunk, belligerent assholes was stupid. Surviving a bar fight depended as much on luck as on skill.

So what did Jenna do? She started a fucking fight.

Knuckles connected with his ear and Niko staggered into the bar. He shook his head and waited for the ringing in his ears to settle.

He’d gotten the fight he wanted, and he’d damn sure be enjoying himself if he wasn’t so worried about Jenna.

The crowd started to thin, the energy winding down. It was time to get out, find Jenna, and drag her home before the cops arrived. He threaded his way through the fight, ducking and weaving, pushing people out of his way as he headed for the back of the room.

Finally he stepped away from the crowd into open space. He scanned the few patrons who weren’t brawling, looking for Jenna.

She wasn’t there.

Shit.

He was about to wade back into the fight when a body was ejected from between two burly cowboys. The fighter crashed onto a table and came up swinging.

The men at the table held their beers in one hand and grabbed the fighter’s arms with their free hands, trying to keep the fighter down.

And as Niko drew closer, he understood why.

Jesus H. Christ. He was going to puke. The fighter was Jenna and her face was coated in blood. Exactly how she’d looked in the photos taken after the attack. How each member of her family had looked.

But what stopped him cold was the way she was snarling and struggling against the men’s grips, trying to get back into the fight.

What the fuck was wrong with her?

“Jenna?” It took three tries before she caught onto the fact that he was calling her name.

She blinked and her eyes lost some of their wildness.

“You can let her go,” Niko told the men. “I’ve got it.”

The men shared a glance, then shrugged and released Jenna.

She slid off the table. Her arms moved and Niko stepped forward, afraid she was going to take a swing at the men. But she just shot them a glare over her shoulder and shook out her arms.

Niko herded her into a quiet corner. Blood trickled from cuts and scrapes on her face, including a new slice running from her forehead into her hairline. Fuck. Someone had pulled a knife on her. Niko clenched his jaw as he fought back the fierce urge to kill the person who’d hurt her. But she needed his help, so he forced himself to stay calm. Her white hair was dark with blood, meaning there had to be another wound on her scalp.

“Does your head hurt?” he demanded, taking her skull in his hands and running his fingers lightly through her hair, searching for the wound. “Do you feel dizzy?”

“No.” Jenna sounded sulky and slightly breathless.

His fingers found the source of all the blood. Shit. Her gunshot wound had reopened.

His wave of relief barely had time to register before it got slammed out of the way by anger. “Do you have
any
fucking idea how stupid that was, starting a bar fight? Not to mention you’re recovering from two freaking gunshot wounds and a concussion!”

Jenna bared her teeth and shot him a glare full of attitude. “Get over it. I needed to test myself.” She raised her chin defiantly. “You’ve been babying me.”

“Babying you? Babying you!” He swabbed a finger through the blood on her scalp and shoved it in front of her eyes. “You really think I’m the kind of monster who can draw blood from a woman who’s no threat to me? You think—”

The jukebox blasted into a rocking rendition of “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” reminding him of where they were.

O-kay. He needed to calm down. She was hurt. No matter that she looked mean as a bobcat, ready to snap his fingers off if he got too close. She needed gentle treatment, not yelling. And they were in public. He needed to get his temper back under control.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When the urge to shake some sense into Jenna passed, he tilted her head up so he could check her pupils.

Equal in size. Not over dilated.

A couple loads of tension slid off his shoulders.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” Before he did something stupid like wade back into the mob and beat the shit out of every person who’d touched her.

He grabbed Jenna’s hand—fuck, even her
hands
were a bloody mess—and dragged her out of the bar. Once he was behind the wheel of his Jeep, he let his temper loose on the road, taking the winding mountain road at suicide speed.

Chapter 16

Somewhere along the ride home Jenna’s anger morphed into excitement. Pride. She walked into Niko’s cabin feeling more alive than she’d felt in years. Colors jumped her. Smells dueled for dominance. Sounds pierced her eardrums. Energy raced around her bloodstream at the speed of light, making it impossible to stay still.

She jigged as she walked. Moved her head side to side as if she were listening to music.

She’d kicked butt tonight. It had been so easy to start the fight. And she hadn’t panicked! Nope, not her. She’d let anger take control and after that, nothing could hurt her.

God, she felt fantastic! She’d needed this so much.

All week she’d been growing increasingly frustrated and angry because there was still no news on Kai. The SSU’s searchers hadn’t found so much as a trace of him, and despite wracking her brain, she couldn’t come up with any information likely to pinpoint his whereabouts.

Every night before the nightmares woke her, she dreamt about finding Kai. About serving vengeance and finding peace.

Being unable to act drove her crazy.

And her sessions with Niko only made it worse. True to his word, he sparred with her, but she’d been acutely aware that he was holding back.

Sometimes she came close to taking him down, but Niko was relentless, ruthless, and unpredictable. He always managed to best her. No matter how well she fought, he never praised her. Mostly, he looked disgusted.

Even tonight he wasn’t happy for her.

Well, tough. She was so electric, even his rain-drenched mood couldn’t dim her. She was the queen of the world tonight. And she wanted to celebrate. For the first time since the attack, she felt like dancing. She turned to Niko, about to suggest—

“Come on,” he ordered gruffly. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Geesh,” she muttered as she followed him upstairs. “Who put a bug up your butt?”
Although,
she thought, tilting her head to the side to better watch his body as he climbed the stairs in front of her,
Niko’s butt is very fine.
Eyeing the taut muscles as they worked beneath his jeans, she wondered what he’d do if she leaned up and nipped him.

Ohmigod. She clapped her hand over her mouth. Her feet jammed into the stairs so hard, she overbalanced and almost toppled backwards.

Where the heck had that thought come from? She’d never wanted to put her teeth on a man before. Yet…she really did want her mouth on Niko. The thought totally turned her on.

God, she should have seen this coming. The other reason their sparring sessions left her frustrated was her growing attraction to him.

Since that night in Moscow she’d been intensely aware of Niko as a male. Waking in his arms each morning, her cheek against his heart, was a new source of comfort. And the close contact of their training sessions left her hot from more than just exertion.

Well, why shouldn’t she act on her attraction? Just for tonight. If she could seduce him, it would certainly discharge her excess energy. And prove she’d fully healed from the attack.

Then tomorrow she’d lock her desire away again, so it wouldn’t interfere with her mission. But tonight was about her.

“Jenna? You coming?”

She rolled her eyes up at Niko, knowing she must look like an idiot, standing in the middle of the stairs with her hand over her mouth. She let her arm drop and nodded.

Then she followed his sexy butt up the stairs.

Niko had the basin half full with steaming water when she walked into the guest bathroom. He’d lined up face cloths, antiseptic and bandages along the side of the sink.

“Sit.” He pointed to the other side of the counter.

Feeling strangely awkward, like a teenager forced to sit next to the boy she had a crush on but was scared to death to talk to, Jenna hopped up and sat on the edge of the Formica.

Niko tested the water with his finger and nodded in satisfaction. Her mouth went dry as he rolled up his sleeves, revealing muscular forearms sprinkled lightly with dark hair and intersected by white scars.

Tiny butterflies started fluttering in her stomach as she was hit with another wave of sexual awareness. Oh damn. Maybe letting these feelings rule wasn’t such a good idea after all.

She was reacting way too strongly to Niko.

But then Niko wet one of the cloths and touched it lightly to a cut on her forehead. The heat from the cloth seeped into her, relaxing her despite the slight sting as water met wound. The gentleness with which he moved the cloth made her throat tight and achy. She felt…treasured.

Her sexual awareness changed into something softer, but infinitely more dangerous. Afraid of what she was feeling, Jenna closed her eyes.

Yet without sight, she became hypersensitive to Niko’s scent—sweat, clinging odors of cigarette smoke and alcohol from the bar, his uniquely spicy fragrance—and his sounds—the soft scrape of his shoe against the linoleum, the even rhythm of his breathing, the splash as he wrung out the cloth and rewet it.

For a time she just floated, basking in his soothing ministrations. Even when he cleaned the cut along her hairline, hesitating before touching the ridge of scar tissue, the peaceful spell cocooning her didn’t waver.

But when he dabbed at a cut at the corner of her mouth, her eyes flew open on a sudden jolt of arousal. He was close enough that she could see the tiny beard hairs pushing out from their hiding places along his cheek. Could count the grooves of his full bottom lip.

Mere inches separated her from his mouth. Suddenly nothing seemed as important as reaching forward and tasting him.

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips.

His breathing hitched and he jerked the cloth back, quickly turning his head away as he rinsed it out.

She inhaled deeply, then let the air out very slowly, trying to tell herself she wasn’t disappointed he’d turned away. But she’d never been a very good liar.

This time, when he turned back to face her, he held a bottle of antiseptic. “This might sting a bit.” Was it wishful thinking, or was his voice a bit husky?

She shrugged to let him know she accepted the discomfort, then almost groaned in sensual delight when the cotton ball slid over a cut at the corner of her eyebrow. It was sweet torture, the bite of the antiseptic negated by the gossamer touch of cotton.

And despite her best efforts, her eyes closed again.

Lost in her rising desire, it took her a moment to realize Niko had moved away.

She opened her eyes and saw him reach for the tube of antibiotic ointment. Who would have guessed that watching a man uncap a tube and squeeze ointment onto his finger would be erotic? But as she watched him, she felt herself grow damp with need. And when he touched her, stroking his finger lightly over her wounds, her breath backed up into her throat and her nipples hardened.

This time, she managed to keep her eyes open, but only by severe force of will. It was worth it, though. Niko’s eyes darkened as he moved from cut to cut. The tempo of his breathing increased.

Fire raced up from her belly and spread through her limbs as she realized he was feeling some of the same heat.

When there was only the cut at the side of her mouth left untended, Niko’s arm fell to his side. His eyes fastened on her lips and he leaned forward.

Every cell in her body quivered, waiting for his kiss.

But with an angry hiss, Niko jerked back.

“Sorry,” he muttered. Keeping his head turned away from her, he washed his hands, then returned the first aid items to the medicine cabinet.

Dammit, no!

This was the first time she’d wanted a man since before the attack. No
way
was she letting him ignore the sexual tension between them.

She waited until Niko moved away from the sink, then hopped off the counter. Before he could step away, she put her hand on his cheek, went up on tiptoe, and pressed her lips to his.

Every nerve in her body leapt joyously at the contact. His lips were soft and slightly open in surprise, and as she took his breath inside her, she could taste the beer he’d been sipping at the bar. It made her senses spin. Hmmm…drunk on Niko.

This must be how a recovering addict felt, tasting the forbidden after months of abstinence. Seconds ago she’d thought she was alive. Thought she understood what she needed.

She’d had no clue.

She moved her body against Niko, wanting to feel his arms around her and nearly groaning in frustration when he kept his arms rigidly at his sides. When after a few moments he didn’t return her kiss, her heart turned to lead.

He didn’t want her.

Oh, God. Disappointment flattened her. The burn of arousal flared into a hot flush of embarrassment. But as she started to step away, Niko’s lips moved tentatively against hers, gently exploring the outside of her mouth as his arms swept around her in a light embrace.