Top Gun Tiger (Protection, Inc 7)

on in his eyes, and she feared for him. He was fighting the wizard’s order as hard as he could—as hard as it was possible for a man to fight. When an irresistible force meets an immovable object, can both survive the collision?

Destiny’s own love and determination burned through her. Her tiger roared, and her woman’s strength fused with her tiger’s fury. It wasn’t enough to break the wizard’s hold. But it was enough to crack it.

“I love you,” she forced out through lips that would barely move. “I’m not afraid.”

And Ethan replied, though he too had been silenced. His whisper sounded like a tiger’s growl. “I love you. I’d die before I’d hurt you.”

“Kill her,” Lamorat ordered again.

Ethan folded his arms across his chest, but otherwise didn’t move. His face, which had gone red with effort, suddenly went white.

“I take back my order,” Lamorat said quickly.

The instant the wizard finished speaking, Ethan collapsed at her feet.

Destiny’s heart almost stopped. She wanted to drop down beside him, to check his pulse and breathing, but she couldn’t move. All she could do was stand there and watch and wonder, in the worst moment of her entire life, if he had died so he wouldn’t hurt her.

Then she saw his chest move as he inhaled, and the rush of relief almost made her collapse herself. Maybe it would have, if she wasn’t already under magical orders to stand.

“I took back my order because I may still have some use for him,” Lamorat said. “If I’d let it go one more minute, the strain of trying to defy me would have stopped his heart. So that’s where we stand. You can obey me, or you can die.”

He paused, obviously expecting a dramatic silence to fall. After all, no one was able to speak.

In that pin-drop silence, the barely audible whirr of the miniature drill that had been going the entire time they’d been distracting him was suddenly very noticeable indeed. Lamorat whipped around just in time to see dust drift down from the last of the pencil-tip sized holes that had been drilled around his hidden door.

But not in time to do anything about it. The door fell in, forcing him to jump back. It smashed down a bare inch from his feet.

Drat, Destiny thought. She’d seen Fiona pull that trick before, and she’d hoped the door would hit him over the head.

But the figure standing in the hole in the wall where the door had been wasn’t Fiona. It was a man Destiny had never seen before.

“Let them go,” the stranger said.

“Silence!” Lamorat snapped.

“Nope,” replied the stranger. “I like the sound of my own voice. That’s the one thing you and I have in common.”

Destiny’s spirits rose. Whoever the man was, he was obviously on their side, and Lamorat couldn’t control him. So he must not be a shifter. She wondered who he was.

Lamorat frowned in concentration. “Freeze!”

The man in the doorway gritted his teeth. With obvious effort, he took a step forward.

“I know you,” Lamorat said. “You’re Subject Nine. Carter Howe.”

“Got it in one.” Carter Howe took another step forward.

Destiny watched him with even more curiosity. She’d never met him before, but she knew who he was. He was the tech billionaire who’d been presumed dead in a plane crash. In fact, he’d been kidnapped and held by Apex until Fiona and Justin had released him. But she’d been under the impression that he was a shifter, though she didn’t know what kind, so she didn’t know why Lamorat’s power wasn’t working on him.

Lamorat edged a step backward, though unfortunately not close enough for anyone to touch him. “I read your file closely, so as not to repeat past errors. You were Apex’s failure. Broken. Ruined. The fact that you can resist me at all only proves what a monstrosity you are. Still, even that thing inside you can’t fight me for long. FREEZE.”

Carter wavered, stumbled, and nearly fell. He had to grab one of the empty cages to catch himself. Then he pushed himself upright again. He and Lamorat stared at each other, locked into a silent showdown.

And Destiny, who had been fighting all along, felt the wizard’s hold on her loosen. She still couldn’t budge from where she stood. But she could kneel down beside Ethan and take his hand. His eyes didn’t open, but he traced the letters O and K on her palm with his nail.

Thank God, she thought. She doubted that he’d faked his collapse, but he’d obviously recovered a lot more than he was letting on.

If only they could distract Lamorat a little bit more, they might break his spell entirely. Maybe if they all shouted at once…?