Chapter 7

• Calum was quiet for a moment. “I need to call Devin.” He turned and looked at Asher. “Get everything to the docks.” Turning slowly, he then paused and looked at Tripp. “I want you and Amari to keep watch at the docks. No one goes near the boats we’re using.”
• Tripp nodded. “No problem.”
• He turned and looked at Deva. “I need you and Taggart to get on some scopes and keep watch of the island and the road to the harbor.”
• Deva nodded. “I’ll go get changed and then toss the rest of my gear into the van.” She glanced at Taggart for a second. He was giving her a look she didn’t understand. “I’ll need a rifle.”
• “You can take mine.” Asher straightened from the doorframe.
• “Okay. I’ll be back in a minute.”
• “I wait outside.” Taggart turned and left the room.
• “We can go earlier if we need to.” Tripp watched Calum.
• “Get ready in case we do. I’m going to call Konner and Devin.” Calum went in the direction of the kitchen.
• Deva grabbed her bag and ran up the stairs. It was going to be a long night. Just as long as the outcome meant they still got everyone off that island, she didn’t mind sacrificing sleep.
• ~
• Taggart parked the car where the trees would hide it. Any light glaring of the windows wouldn’t allow them to do this in secret. He was still having a hard time not staring at his beauty, Deva. When she had come outside, his heart danced around in his chest. She was dressed in dark clothes from her sexy neck all the way to the ground. That wasn’t what had surprised him. She had a gun strapped to her leg on one side and a knife on the other. His beauty looked so appealing, looking all dangerous.
• Deva pulled the rifle case out of the back, stopped, and looked at him. “What?”
• Closing the door, he went around to the back. “What, what?”
• “You’re staring at me again.”
• He couldn’t have stopped his mouth from smiling if he had tried. “You look very sexy, my beauty mate.”
• She rolled her eyes at him.
• “Do you know how to use that?” He pointed to the gun strapped to her body.
• She snorted. “No. I just wear it because the holster matches my boots.” She walked by him and started going up the hill.
• “You are making me love you.” He said loud enough that he was sure she would hear. It was no a joke. It was happening. She was most perfect mix of woman and warrior, and it kept a fire burning in his belly. Pulling the rifle out of the back, he closed it and followed her.
• When he got to the top of the hill, she was already on her tummy on the cool earth. She had a good spot with a rock to rest the rifle on. He went over and checked the direction she would have in her sights. Setting case down, he decided he would position himself to look in the other direction and watch the road. The bonus was he could look at her this way and do his task. He didn’t need a rock to use. He could lay there and hold his weapon for hours without movement if needed. All that he had done with his men fit the description he had heard a few times since coming here. They were good at the long game.
• Checking the view through the scope, he moved it to make sure it would be in focus for him to go from the road to the water’s edge. “How is it you know how to use gun?” He glanced at her to see she didn’t stop her task to look at him.
• “Before I joined the Alliance team, I used to work clan security.”
• This surprised him. She was all the surprises. “Your mam and pa didn’t object to this?”
• Her soft chuckle sent a shiver over him. “No. I have three very girly girl sisters, so I was like my dad’s boy. We would go hunting and fishing.” She hissed out a breath. “My sisters were too busy being dressed in pink and frills.”
• Taggart smiled and moved the weapon slowly to check area. “I no know what a girly girl is, but I very happy you are no this way.”
• “What about you? Any brothers or sisters?”
• He was happy she was wanting to know about him. He only hoped that what she found out didn’t make her wish she had not. “There is a sister. We are all that is left.”
• “Of your family?”
• Taggart lifted his head and looked out at the night. “No. My clan is gone. We are all that there is now.” He looked at her.
• “I’m so sorry. What happened?” She turned and looked at him, and even in the darkness, he could see that she was concerned for him.
• He looked through the lens again. “In my country, if you no follow what they want—” A movement in the scope had him pause, but the car turned to go the other way. “—then you no exist no more.” He moved the direction back to check along the water.
• “Who is they?”
• Her voice was so soft it made him not want to say anything to change her tone. Blowing out the breath from his lungs, he shifted into a more comfortable position. “The ones for to represent Alliance.”
• “The ambassadors?”
• “Ja. Ambassador.”
• “Wait, the ambassadors are responsible for your clan being gone?” Her tone was no so soft now.
• “Ja.”
• “Does Shepard Addison know?”
• “He do now.”
• She growled quietly, and his animal was right there, ready to defend her. “They have to be stopped.”
• She was a fierce, sexy thing to him. “Ja. We—my men and I, we say to help stop Tomas here, and then when is ready, we will take your warriors there and make ambassadors no exist.”