Laurel reached over and covered his hand. He squeezed her fingers, then brought it to his lips before murmuring, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she answered before either of them thought about their vows being broadcast to the rest of the team, Nolan included.
Jace cleared his throat, unsure if he should shout out to the other guy while he was on the clock and laser focused. And then the moment passed. They spotted the turnoff to the clearing ahead, and suddenly the anticipation phase was over. It was go time.
“They’re pulling in now,” James told the rest of the Shields. “Everyone on high alert. Let’s get this done as quickly as possible. Be safe, Laurel-loo.”
“Will do,” she answered before putting the SUV in park.
Jace circled around the vehicle and helped her down even though she didn’t need his assistance. He’d rather wrap himself around her and keep her from being so much as seen, never mind exposed to the man responsible for the agony they’d endured.
The one who was standing not a hundred feet away in the center of a small clearing, definitelynotin line with the tiny gap in the trees that would have cleared Aarav to take a head shot and finish this before it began.Fuck.
“Haven’t seen you two in a while. You’re looking good,” Draven called with a smirk as they drew near, but nottooclose to where he stood with Cherrie by his side. He scanned Laurel from head to toe. In addition to being a pervert, he was smart. “Come here.”
Every instinct Jace had rebelled. He didn’t want that immoral fuck touching Laurel. Nor did he like the thought of Laurel anywhere near the trajectory of Aarav’s shots. The Shields respected the fuck out of the sniper, but the margin of error there was too damn small.
Laurel hesitated, but Draven grabbed her wrist and yanked. She crashed into his chest. Jace could smell the overpriced cologne the man practically bathed in from his position a few feet away. He didn’t blame Laurel for gagging when it smacked her in the face.
“Fuck,” Aarav snarled through the headpiece. “I’ve got him in my sights, but he’s not an idiot. If Laurel so much as flinches, I could tag her too.”
“Hold,” Jordan commanded.
Terror paralyzed Jace. A tiny flicker of motion over Draven’s shoulder caught his attention. He tried not to look, feeling more than seeing Nolan stalking through the shadows. He had to believe the man was going to keep them safe as he’d promised he would. He’d never let them down yet, but this felt wrong on every level.
“Enough chitchat,” Draven snarled, any hint of civility vanishing in an instant. “Tell me who’s after me. Here I was kind enough to let you two go, and you repay me by siccing rabid dogs on my business partners? You were ancient history. Why now?”
Laurel shrugged. “We’re living our own life. Maybe you should mind yours.”
Draven slapped her across the face, making her head whip to the side.
Jace growled and stepped closer.
“Don’t! He’s got a gun!” Cherri screamed at them, sealing her own fate. The last words she got out were, “He’s not alone either!”
And then Draven shook his hand down, his gun falling out of the sleeve into his hand. With one motion, he took her out. Cherri didn’t even have time to make a sound before a dark spot blossomed on her forehead.
NO!
In the tree line, a commotion broke out. Fighting amongst the soldiers on either side of this invisible war. Jace wondered how often shit like this happened and people were oblivious, going about their day-to-day lives without any knowledge of the seedy underbelly of the world swirling in the shadows around them. He wished he could be that oblivious. That he wasn’t watching Cherri’s lifeless body drop to the leaf-covered ground in slow motion. Suffering over in an instant.
Aarav hissed a curse, then a tree exploded in the distance and Jace was sure the sniper was covering Sola’s ass with his large caliber rifle rounds. It wasn’t like he could help Laurel, not with her entangled with Draven. Close enough to make Jace’s skin crawl. The gun in his hand, now aimed at Laurel, meant there wasn’t a damn thing he could do. Instead, he stood there, helpless.
Chaos erupted around them, leaving them to weather the eye of the storm with the one person he hated most on the planet. Something inside him snapped.
“I’m going to draw his attention to me. Get Laurel out of here,” he breathed, hoping the comms could pick up his warning.
“No!” Nolan bellowed. Jace heard him in stereo—both through his earpiece and from not as far away as he would have thought in the clearing.
Jace didn’t listen. It was too late. He was already in motion. The instant Draven glanced toward the noise Nolan had made, Jace charged.
Draven whipped his hand up, gun pointed directly at Laurel’s heart. But a roar that could have belonged to a Viking warrior or some prehistoric animal in agonizing pain ripped from Nolan. He exploded through the underbrush, diving in between Draven and Laurel.
He jerked when a bullet smashed into his chest and a second hit him a bit higher as he crashed to the ground. All Jace could see was the wash of blood that ran like a curtain down Nolan’s neck. But before Draven could pull the trigger again, Jace tackled the asshole while Laurel screamed Nolan’s name.
It happened even faster than the gunshots. Jace barreled into Draven, taking him down. The gun clattered from the other man’s hand. Nolan didn’t even reach for it. Instead, he somehow levered himself up, then planted his knee on Draven’s sternum. He wrapped his hands around Draven’s neck and wrenched, putting every fiber of muscle he’d built up during his endless workouts to use.
The sick sound that echoed through the clearing was one no amount of music would ever erase from Jace’s memory. If there was any doubt as to what Nolan had done, the fact that Draven now stared wide-eyed in a completely unnatural direction, almost directly behind him, would have clinched it.