Page 140 of Trapped Truth

“No, I should be here for this. We need to iron out the plan.”

“It’s a straightforward raid,” he argues against my lowered head. “If anything, we have more of an advantage than usual by employing an inside person. That gives us an edge.”

“A fifty-year-old captive and her mercenary boyfriend?” I laugh a little maniacally.

“Well, when you put it like that…”

“No raid is without risk. Not when I’m marching the people I love into danger all over again.”

Hyland chuckles, his chest vibrating in a tiger-like purr. “Now you know how I feel.”

“I guess I do. Did you speak to Luke?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. Missing school and home.”

“Hopefully this won’t last for much longer.”

“I hope not.” He sighs hard. “Not being able to go to him when he needs me is fucking excruciating. But I refuse to put them in danger all over again. They deserve better than that.”

“You’re a good man, Hyland Wesson.”

“I’m a scared man. I don’t know about good.”

“Tell me what you’re afraid of.” I breathe in his intoxicating scent, letting it soothe my frazzled nerves.

“I want it all, Em. The case to be over, our lives to go back to normal, a happy future with you at my side. I want to see my son, safe and sound. Yet I don’t want to lose anything in the process.”

Craning my neck to peer up at his worried expression, I try to summon a look of reassurance. “You won’t have to.”

“All love is loss, red. Didn’t I tell you that before?”

“Well, I was kinda hoping you’d revised your opinion by now.”

“I have.” He ducks to press his forehead on mine, tangling our breath together, lips a torturous inch apart. “I’m willing to gamble everything because I love you.”

I wish the kiss he plants on my mouth didn’t feel like a goodbye. I wish I could whisk us all away from this place, going somewhere no danger lurks and our enemies cannot circle, baying for blood. I wish I could give him all that he wants without the possibility of loss.

But I cannot.

All I can do is fight for the people I love.

We separate at the din of raised voices emanating from the room behind him. The strategy meeting is in its eleventh hour of arguments, competing ideas and torn-apart schemes. Hyland looks as exhausted by it as I feel.

“Sure you don’t want that nap?” A tendril of hope colours his tone.

“I wish. Someone has to keep all these hotheads in line.”

“Hope you’re not including me in that statement.”

“Baby, you’re the biggest hothead of them all.”

His hips jerk forward, pressing pure strength into me. “Just the way you like it, right?”

“I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Another searing kiss and I reluctantly step back, grasping his huge paw instead. We enter the room together, immediately hit with competing voices arguing back and forth across the huge, snack-littered conference table.

“Stealth is the only option!” Obviously frustrated, Blaine holds up a shaking fist.