2
Ace had been in plenty of life-or-death situations. He’d never been as afraid as when he studied Ruby shuddering in Liam’s grasp as they rushed down the corridor to their apartment across the hall from hers on the fourth floor of the Shields complex. It was pretty fucked up that even as he severed the connection with Jordan and prepared their living space to be overrun by the rest of their team, part of him was jealous as fuck that his partner got to be on comfort duty.
He’d been dying to know what it would be like to have Ruby in his arms for months. Of course, he’d prefer it to have been under far different circumstances. And hell, who knew if his bum arm would even work long enough for him to shelter the woman both he and his partner had a massive crush on?
Ace glanced over in time to watch Liam sink onto their humungous leather couch while rubbing Ruby’s back and murmuring some ridiculous reassurance in her ear. Over her shoulder, he met Ace’s stare, his golden gaze as disturbed as Ace was himself that they might be lying to her.
What if this mess didn’t actually end up all right?
It was an epic clusterfuck he could barely comprehend, never mind fix.
Fuck. He’d spent the last several months feeling—no,being—completely useless as the bones in his arm knit themselves back together with assistance from an array of titanium hardware. Sidelined, he’d watched Liam charge into danger over and over, while Ace’s less-toned-than-usual ass warmed a chair in the command center instead of having his partner’s back.
He’d barely gotten his cast off and started regaining his strength when this happened.
Son of a bitch.
Ace didn’t have long to pout before footsteps clomped down the hall from the direction of Tavish and Legend’s apartment. Legend bellowed, “Yo! What the fuck is going on?”
Ace yanked open the door to admit them before they busted it down. In their place, he would have done the same. Code Red was one they’d never used before at the Shields’ headquarters. An attack on their home base. It was a circumstance they’d dreaded and trained rigorously for because they, and more importantly, the loved ones of some of their teammates lived on the premises.
It was their worst nightmare that the evil bastards they stalked and eliminated could find them there. They’d practiced for all sorts of emergencies—an invasion, a siege, hell, even a bombing. But not this.
How could they fight some keyboard warrior who could be anywhere in the world and still threaten Ruby along with the rest of their team, which had become family by choice?
The duo bristled as they entered, fully prepared to kick ass. Tavish’s ginger man-bun bobbed as he scanned the room. Behind him, Legend—who gave Liam a run for his money in the size department, though he was dark where Liam was light—peered over his head, relaxing when the only thing he spied was the three of them huddled together.
Ruby clung to Liam, burying her face in the crook of his neck and beefy shoulder. Ace knew what it felt like to be bundled up in all that muscle and steel even if he only experienced it during the precious moments they were fucking. With Liam’s arms around her, it would be possible to imagine she was safe even though it was only an illusion. Even Liam, or Ace, or the rest of the badasses they lived and worked with wouldn’t be able to stop the people coming for her now. They weren’t fighting a typical war.
Her tears left a damp spot on Liam’s T-shirt and she croaked, “This is mortifying.”
She tried to peel herself from his hold, but he didn’t budge, refusing to let her scoot away simply for the sake of her pride. Not when she needed what little comfort they could give and no one in their inner circle would blame her for taking it after she’d been so viciously attacked.
“No one here is going to judge you. Stay.” Ace ran his fingers through her hair from where he stood guard beside them on the other side of the arm of the couch. He wiped tears from her silky cheek with his thumb.
“You okay, Ruby?” Tavish asked, his Scottish accent thickening as he transitioned from fight mode.
“No,” Ace responded at the same time she said, “I will be. Just…shocked, I guess.”
The elevator dinged in the hallway at the same time the door to the stairwell clanged. Within seconds, the available air in the room was sucked out and replaced by a horde of bristling, do-gooder assassins.
Jordan strode inside flanked by Sola, Aarav, Marcus, Kennedy, Knox, Nolan, Ransom, and Levi. The gang instinctively spread out across the open living and dining area, while covering the door and windows. Jordan turned to his soldiers and said, “James is on his way in. Someone will need to let him in the back way.”
Which they all knew meant through their secret access in the basement. James—their office manager, who used to be a construction worker—had built the tunnel with assistance only from his previous and trusted crew. It connected to the cellar of their friend Devra’s restaurant, a few blocks over.
“We’re on it, boss.” Levi jerked his chin toward the exit. Ransom pivoted on his heel before the partners had even come to a stop, off to do whatever the team needed.
“Report,” Jordan ordered as he faced Ruby, his tone clipped but calm.
Ruby drew a shaky breath. She still needed a minute and Jordan wasn’t about to wait. So Ace volunteered what he could. “Ruby was working on something downstairs and hackers attacked her. They fucked around with code that shouldn’t have been able to be changed. And when she caught them, they came after her. It has to do with crypto. They also stole her money before threatening to do worse than just take her cash if she didn’t start minding her own business. Right? Is that the gist of it?”
Ruby looked up at him as if amazed he could recap even that much. He knew he had a habit of putting his boot in his mouth and he honestly didn’t care to pay attention to most serious subjects, but when it came to her—and especially her safety—she had his full attention.
“That’s a good start.” Ruby nodded. She cleared her throat and scrubbed her eyes with white-knuckled fists.
Being surrounded by their friends might make her feel slightly steadier. Though only physically. The real danger here wasn’t something Ace could punch or Liam could shoot.
“Thanks…for coming so fast.” Ruby tried to get herself together, but her hiccups undermined her attempts at putting on a brave face.