“He is one of them! He is an agent!” a voice cried from his back. Cole reached down his ankle to retrieve the small revolver tucked in his ankle holster and strapped firmly under his trousers. And at the same time leaped in a bid to shield himself with one of the ammunition crates as hell broke loose and shots flew around.
Breathing heavily he landed on the concrete floor, in between tall crates, and quickly pressed his back to one, holding up his gun. He felt a certain pain on his side and slipped his hand under his bulletproof vest worn under his undershirt. His hand came out bloodied. He had been hit on the spot not covered by the vest. He cursed, panting heavily.
He saw something small rolled into his corner and his eyes caught the grenade before it could blow him to smithereens. In reflex, he reached forward to pick it up and threw it towards the right corner of the open ground. An explosion rented through the air, and body parts flew everywhere with one landing in between his legs. Cole jerked back hard, sat up, and found himself in his bed.
He cursed loudly from the jolt of pain that tore through him from his side. The pain helped in snapping him out of his nightmare as he gradually accepted he was in his room, far from the location of the incident, and like similar others, had survived it.
He glanced down and saw his bandages had been replaced. Someone had stripped him and he was only wearing his boxers. His massive, muscled chest heaved in the dimly lit room.
"Cole?" Jerome called, and Cole snapped his face up and saw the old man getting up from a seat on the other side of his bed, holding his gun. He directed his gaze to the figure standing by the door and saw Aaron fidgeting on his feet.
"I'm going to kill you," Cole let out an animalistic growl, jerking out of bed.
"Cole, calm down. It was an accident, man!" Aaron quickly said, looking genuinely frightened when Cole placed his feet on the floor and stood up.
With a practiced speed that was almost inhuman, Cole stalked to the door to grab the shorter man by the throat. He landed a brutal blow to his left eye, retrieved the taser gun from his belt holster, stood back, leaving about seven feet in between them, and fired it, directing it to his arm. He watched with satisfaction as Aaron shook like a ragged doll and fell to the marble floor jerking violently. Aaron coughed, drooling as he rolled on the floor groaning in obvious pain.
"Keep the fuck away from me, Aaron! And if you ever point a gun at me again, I'm going to fucking kill you," Cole promised. The other man nodded looking in great pain.
"He saved you, you know. You shouldn't have gone inside the cell of that creature. You know better than to mess with merchandise, Cole Miller," Jerome interjected. Cole directed an angry gaze at the older man.
"Creature? Merchandise? Jerome, that's a human being! What the fuck is wrong with you all!" He saw the older man paused to glance at Aaron on the floor and a knowing look passed between the two men. Cole deduced there was more to the chained lady and it didn’t look as if they were willing to share. "What do you want to do with her?" He asked.
"A client wanted her, and your father already completed the transaction. Her new owner will come to take her away after the funeral. We asked all our clients to give us a few hours to lay Alexander to rest before business commences," Jerome explained.
Cole schooled his features not to gape at the old man. He spoke as if he was giving out a cattle or a horse, not a living breathing human being!
"What information were you trying to get from her?" Cole asked, holding Jerome's gaze.
"I was thinking of letting you have the details after the funeral before we let them have her. But since you asked — in the course of securing the merchandise—"
"Kidnap you mean—" Cole corrected with gritted teeth.
The old man looked uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and continued, "---while your father and his team were trying to take her, your father was mortally wounded. The one responsible escaped and we want to know their hiding spot."
"I thought by now he would have retired from that—"
"He was retired, but this particular assignment was different. He wanted to be there and see for himself—" Aaron supplied with effort, trying to sit up..
"---and he got himself killed," Cole said. “Why wasn’t I told how he died?”
“You didn’t ask,” Jerome replied and a bit of that exasperation showed in the old man’s face again.
“I’m asking now!” Cole replied in a low steely tone.
“As Aaron said, he was wounded in the raid… I mean in the course of securing the merchandise,” Jerome replied. Cole’s eyes narrowed, watching the older man keenly he had a gut feeling a chunk of that story was missing. But he intended to get the rest from the girl.
“If you wanted to find her lair, you could have made it easy for her to escape and trail her,” Cole said as he continued to watch the two men, hoping they would let something slip.
"The contract of her procurement and sale has a limited time. Catching her was extremely difficult and we couldn't take any chances. Your father figured we could get her to spill but all our tactics haven't yielded results—"
"Including threatening to rape her?" Cole said and pointedly glared at Aaron. The other man instantly averted his gaze. "Who is your ‘merchandise’ buyer?" he asked, enunciating the despicable word and directing the question at Jerome.
"You can't get involved, Cole," Aaron quickly interjected. Cole darted a fierce glare at the man.
"Did I speak to you, Idiot?" Cole growled. Aaron swallowed hard, his face turned red.
"Antonio Rufus, " Jerome answered, drawing his attention.
"He is the head of a human trafficking ring," Cole supplied with gritted teeth, a deep worry developed inside him.
"We don't concern ourselves with that. He has made the payment and he can do whatever he likes with the merchandise."
The mention of that word again from the old man, and the manner in which he said it, so detached, made Cole tighten his fist.
"Please, rest, Cole. The funeral will begin in—” he paused to check his time, and continued, “---four hours from now. Aaron here will come to get you—”
“I don’t need a babysitter, just tell me where?” Cole snapped.
“The meadow field your mother and brothers were buried in.” Jerome supplied. Cole nodded stiffly.
“I will be there,” he said. He saw Jerome hesitate for about a minute before nodding. Cole held his hand to his wounded side and walked back to the bed.
“A doctor is here on standby if you need medical care. It was dense of you, Cole, to overexert yourself that way, knowing the extent of your injury," Jerome said, making Cole halt his strides. Jerome walked to stand a few inches away from Cole and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder before returning his gun. "I know that look in your eyes. I see it every time anyone dares to challenge your father. He made me swear to protect you with my very life. And I did swear despite knowing the same blood flows in your veins. Please, don't make my job difficult. Son, do as you are told, and let's get this over with," Jerome added.
"I'm not going to be your lap dog, Jerome," Cole replied through gritted teeth. The older man sighed.
"No. I didn't think you would," he replied with a wistful smile and left. Aaron followed him out. Cole didn’t relax his posture until the door clicked shut. He let out a deep sigh and placed the gun on his nightstand.
If selling the girl to Antonio Rufus was his father's way of exacting revenge, it was indeed fitting and cruel. Having the detailed information about how Antonio Rufus treats his 'merchandise', the girl was about to literally jump from a frying pan into a blazing inferno. He cursed silently.
The problem was that he didn't think he could do anything for her. Even the federal bureau had been unable to do anything about the bastard despite the kind of resources at their disposal. And his father's men can not afford an all-out war against the man either. It would be suicidal. He hated to admit it, but Aaron was right. He can not afford to meddle in this. The thought of the stunning girl being repeatedly drugged and brutally raped made him flinch.
He paced back and forth trying to think of any way he could help the girl. He knew trying to run off with her would be too obvious. He needed to make sure to act normal and distance his involvement with whatever may ensue which means he was going to need a fall-man. He sighed. Sacrificing one life for another person, even if the person is a stunning female, doesn't seem fair.
But one thing was crystal clear: if he didn't do something now before the funeral when everyone was distracted, she would be—majorly—fucked.
He went inside his closet to get his fanny pack and quickly checked inside to make sure his custom-made micro spy-camera jammer was inside. He took it from the bag, picked grey-colored joggers to pull on, and slipped the device inside his pocket.He came out and his eyes settled on the glass cup on his nightstand and he went to pick it up. He figured wandering around with a glass cup in hand might serve as a good cover. He loved his ability to come up with viable, solid plans, whenever under pressure.He pulled the exit door to his room open and found the hallway empty. He had been expecting to find the place well guarded to prevent him from wandering off again. He supposed Jerome didn't think of him as a danger now because of his wound.He walked leisurely down the hallway, ignoring the cameras embedded at th
He reached up her stretched arm and gently unclipped the iron bracelet holding her up. She went lax in his arms. Cole groaned hard at the painful pull her weight caused on his side."Can you stand on your own?" he asked."I need a minute…" she said in a breathless tone. Wrapping her arm around his neck they both held still for a short while.She buried her face in the nook of his neck, rubbing her face against his skin. Cole swallowed gently, positioning her to press against the entire length of him. She pressed hard to his front and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She parted her legs making him lift her from the floor as she wrapped her legs around his strong legs, opening up her legs for him.Cole cupped her ass again, giving her the re
Cole felt feathery touches on his pectorals and his eyelids flipped open. Breathing steadily he stared into the face of his father’s merchandise. She had washed and released her hair from the bun and now the black, wet tendrils framed her face and fell down her front covering her naked chest. She knelt beside his low height bed and thus he couldn’t see how far they reached. A frown wrinkled his eyebrows when he saw the bruises on her face had disappeared.He blinked wondering if it was the trick of the light. The room was dimly lit with only his bedside lamp on, reduced to a low glow. But then she was pretty close and he had pretty great eyesight to the point he had earned the nickname eagle-eye amongst his team.He watched her lips part, distracting him from his thoughts, and his hungry gaze settled on the seductively shaped flesh. They weren&rsquo
The bullet wound and stitches were gone. There was no sign on his skin to indicate he had been scratched not to mention shot six times! His chest heaved and could even hear himself breathing. The sound was unusually loud in his ears. He shut his eyes for about a minute, counted one to ten, took a deep breath then opened his eyes again and found he had indeed seen right - his skin was cleared of any mark.He jerked up, turned around to face the bed, and backed away. Isabelle was still there on the bed, sleeping peacefully on her side facing him. Her glorious full hair was dry now and the beautiful wavy curls fell all over her shoulders and face. Her hair was really long.Cole didn’t know what to make of the situation. And the reminder that Jerome had referred to her as a creature made him swallow hard. His eyes involuntarily lowered to his cock, he didn&rs
With Isabelle's lowered gaze she didn't see the look in his eyes, but when he continued to stay still she braved a look at his face and what she saw made her feel pain. He looked almost disgusted peering down at her. She resisted the urge to whimper.She shifted back into her human form and stood up in front of him. Their gazes met and he looked away."Take your bath, and put some clothes on. I'm going to ring for some food to be brought up. You need to eat whatever they bring for sustenance," he paused, still not looking at her, and walked around her. Isabelle swallowed a shaky breath. The pain in her heart increased. She thought he probably thought of her like an animal now just like everyone else, and not worthy of him. Pain tore through her.She reached for his cover clothes and wrapped them ar
Isabelle heard muffled voices but with her hearing ability enhanced by her wolf, she heard everything that was being said clearly. She visibly relaxed and dropped the gun in a far corner shielding it with the folded blankets. Someone from the kitchen had brought in his breakfast and he was asking for the person to get someone to fix the coffee machine in his room."... unless you don't mind me calling you every other minute for a cup," he said. Isabelle heard the other person laugh. "Has Aaron and Jerome eaten breakfast? I hate to keep them waiting for the funeral,” Cole asked."No, sir. They haven't. Aaron just came in for coffee when you called for breakfast," the voice replied."Great. I should get to it then.”"Yes, sir."
Cole cursed and ran his fingers through his hair."Isabelle…" he called again when she still didn't look up, he lowered to his knees, reached for her face, and cupped her chin, making her turn around to face him. Her eyes and nose were red from crying and he felt a protective surge so profound he breathed through parted lips. "Don't ever say that to me again. I'm going to get you to safety if it's the last thing I do. And nobody and nothing is going to stop me. Do you understand me?"She nodded hesitantly. Her lips trembled and tears streamed down her face again. Cole fought the urge to kiss her. She looked so damned vulnerable and fragile that he almost forgot she wasn't some helpless female. Her natural beautiful features slowly drew him in. He longed to taste her full pink lips again and feel the soft flesh moving against his.
"Shit!" Aaron exclaimed."What?!" Jerome said and the knocks on the panel walls stopped."Cole is fighting the guards guarding his father's casket.""Jesus!" Jerome exclaimed and then Isabelle opened her eyes. She saw that the light was still on and didn't hear the door close either. She was about to exhale when she heard running feet and then the light was put off and the door banged hard. She waited until the main door was shut before she slowly curled up against the pillow, pulling the blanket over her body. She had been saved again by Cole.Cole headed to the casket like a determined bull. He didn't even know why it was even necessary or why he was so enraged. He might be able to make sense of his actions later but the audacity of the assholes needl