Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

“We can’t let these people kill innocents, no matter who they are. They don’t get a pass. That’s why you let Mills walk out of here with you when you could have taken him. We don’t operate that way and we never will.”

Amaryllis decided she didn’t mind connecting her life to Malichai’s, not when his GhostWalkers thought that way. They stood for the people she wanted to stand for. She wanted to be like they were and she was going to throw her lot in with them.14Trap Dawkins glared at Malichai. “What were you told about trying to do exercise on that leg? Are you deliberately trying to make it worse?”

Trap was difficult at the best of times. He was an undisputed genius and owned so many patents Malichai had lost count. Draden and Wyatt were best at handling him, although all of the Ghost-Walkers on their team had gotten fairly good at being around him and not taking offense. Trap was very high-functioning Asperger’s. His father had murdered his mother and siblings and then his uncles had taken his remaining aunt, the one who had raised him, and raped and murdered her. Trap had retreated even further into his mind and really, who could blame him?

He’d joined the military to learn to be strong, to make certain no one could ever take anyone from him again. He’d gotten that way, but he’d also developed habits of not speaking when he didn’t want to and losing himself in his work for weeks on end. He was abrupt, rude and didn’t give a damn if anyone liked him or not.

Malichai knew, under all of that roughness, Trap was dedicated to the men and women in their unit and family. And then he’d met Cayenne and fallen like a ton of bricks. She had never been out of a cage, not unless she was being experimented on or they were testing her abilities to defend herself against a team of supersoldiers. It was always a life-or-death test and at the end of the day, Cayenne was alive, and the team was dead. Eventually, the man who was running the laboratory had become so fearful of her, he had scheduled her for termination. Trap had been the man to set her free.

The last few days, when Trap had come with just a few of the team, he’d mostly remained silent, and stayed away from everyone, just doing his job, but now, he seemed to have strong opinions.

Malichai ignored Trap and concentrated on Cayenne. She was a little thing, deceptively so. Her hair was shiny black and if you looked closely, you could see the red hourglass running through the back of it when the silky strands settled a certain way.

“How are you, sweetheart?” he asked, because he liked her. They all did. She was elusive, but she was kind and sweet and loved Trap with everything in her.

She gave him a tentative smile. “Good. I’m so sorry about your leg, Malichai. We’ve all been very worried. Nonny sends her love and says to tell you she’ll be cooking something very special when you get home.”

“I really appreciate you coming, Cayenne, but I’m worried about your safety. You could give birth at any moment.” It was a shot in the dark, but he was a doctor and he’d thought a lot about the possibility of when Cayenne could have gotten pregnant.

Trap was insane for her. He probably hadn’t taken the time to protect her from pregnancies and she would know very little, if anything, about birth control with her background. If she’d gotten pregnant immediately, she would definitely be close to giving birth. When Malichai had asked Trap directly, he hadn’t really given an answer.

“Any of us are capable of delivering a baby,” Trap answered gruffly. “Stretch your leg all the way out. Zeke told me that your woman is a psychic healer.” He glanced at Amaryllis, who was staying absolutely still, almost holding her breath.

Trap damn well knew Amaryllis was a psychic healer. He’d been there when she was with Rubin trying to save his leg. He was diverting attention from Cayenne and her pregnancy on purpose. Malichai wanted to strangle him. Malichai threaded his fingers through Amaryllis’s to give her reassurance. Trap had shut down any other questions directed at Cayenne over the birth of their child so he just shrugged and moved on, answering for Cayenne’s sake. “Yes, and she saved my leg a couple of times.”

Amaryllis couldn’t let Cayenne think that and Trap knew better. “Rubin really saved his life. And we both worked on the leg together,” she corrected.

Cayenne sent her a small smile but didn’t respond.

Trap ran his hands over the damaged leg from the top of Malichai’s thigh to his ankle. “What did you find?” he asked Amaryllis.