Top Gun Tiger (Protection, Inc 7)

“Who’s going to tell Lamorat we lost one?” Kritsick asked.

Lamorat, Ethan thought. What a weird name.

“I will,” Ayers said. But it was only after a long silence. Ethan realized

that they were all afraid of their boss, funny name or not. “Come on. We have to go.”

Ethan lay still and listened to their retreating footsteps. The pain in his head made it difficult to think, but he willed himself to clarity.

“Three out of four prime candidates,” they’d said. That meant the rest of his team must be alive, and intended to be used for… something.

Shane Garrity, one of Destiny’s teammates at Protection, Inc., had once been in the Air Force. Ethan had only heard his story second-hand—Shane didn’t like to talk about it—but he knew that Shane had been on a mission when he and his team had been knocked out with drugged darts, then kidnapped by a black ops agency called Apex. Their disappearance had been covered up with a false report that they’d been killed in action.

That sounded incredibly similar to what Ethan had seen and heard. The only problem with that theory was that he’d been under the impression that Apex had been destroyed by Protection, Inc. In fact, Ethan had helped out on one of those missions. But was Apex really gone? Or had it only suffered a setback and the loss of some bases?

Ethan bet on the latter. Those people he’d overheard had to be from Apex. But that meant his men were in grave danger. The Apex agents had called them “candidates,” and Ethan had a terrible feeling that he knew what they were candidates for.

Shane hadn’t just been kidnapped, he’d been tortured, experimented on, made into a shifter and given special powers in a process that few survived, and forced to become an assassin. He and one of his buddies, Justin, had been the sole survivors out of the eight airmen who’d been captured. The last Ethan had heard, Justin was still so traumatized by the experience that he was living in self-imposed exile, refusing Shane’s attempts to bring him home.

Ethan had to rescue his teammates before Apex killed them. Or worse.

Chapter 5

Destiny

Destiny couldn’t believe how much Protection, Inc. had changed. Two years ago, the agency had been full of unhappy misfits. Hal had been a driven workaholic, Lucas had been brittle and arrogant, Nick had been in a permanent state of rage, Fiona had been snippy and secretive, Shane had been haunted and hollow-eyed, and Rafa had created an elaborate false front to disguise his loneliness.

Destiny had liked to think she’d been the only normal, cheerful person there. But now that years had gone by and everyone else had found their mates and sorted out their problems, she had to admit that she, like Rafa, had only been better than the others at putting up a false front. Like the old movie had said, they’d been dancing as fast as they could.

Now Protection, Inc. was full of happy people who’d found themselves when they’d found love, and the only unhappy misfit was her.

“I’m pregnant!” Grace announced, beaming. “Two months along!”

Destiny wasn’t surprised. She couldn’t tell from any change in her figure, but her purple curls had an extra shine and bounce, and she just seemed overall glowy. Even more than that, Grace’s mate Rafa had recently acquired a permanent grin, so engrossed in some wonderful news he couldn’t wait to share that Destiny was surprised he hadn’t literally walked into a wall.

“That’s great,” said Hal. “Our twins and your child will be so close in age. They’ll get to grow up together.”

“Only six months apart,” said Ellie. “Almost triplets!”

“Now that’s what I call a pack,” remarked Nick. Nudging his mate Raluca, he said, “If we got started right now, ours and theirs would practically be quadruplets.”

“I am not getting pregnant tonight,” Raluca said firmly. “First I finish my degree, then I launch my business. Then we have children.”

Nick looked wistful, but said, “You’re the one who gets pregnant. Your choice.”

Raluca traced his silver dragon armlet with a slim finger. “Our children will have big brothers or sisters to look after them.”

Nick glanced at Rafa and chuckled. “Watch out, man. Little brothers and sisters exist to annoy the fuck out of their elders.”

“Not in this case,” said Rafa. “I expect yours will acquire excellent manners… from their mother.”

Nick grinned. “My mom had great manners. Doesn’t always take.”

As the rest of the bodyguards and their mates congratulated Grace and Rafa, Destiny added her voice to the chorus. She’d probably never have children of her own, but at least she’d have friends’ kids to babysit and spoil. Ellie was only a month away from giving birth to twins.

She hoped Ethan would come back in time for the birth. Destiny had known he hadn’t wanted to deploy again, though of course he hadn’t said so. But she could see the weariness in his eyes. He hadn’t looked like Shane or Justin, thank God, like he’d spent the last couple years choosing every night between nightmares or not even trying to sleep. But he’d looked like Hal and Rafa and Destiny herself had when they’d left the military to start Protection, Inc. Like they were… done. Ready to move on.

He could move on. His time was almost up. But when she’d asked him if he was going to re-enlist, he’d shrugged, then said, “Probably” without looking particularly enthusiastic about it.