Dragon's Prisoner: A Curvy Girl Military Romance (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 4) Page 13

  “Don’t act all casual about this!” Stephen came at him, fists raised but stopped inches from him. A look of horror crossed his face, and he dropped his fists again. Probably because of how he’d nearly killed him with a single blow before.

  Actually, Adam could use that against him. If he could play on that guilt, then maybe Stephen would be open to just letting him leave… Or at the very least, he’d make a mistake that would allow Adam to get away again. And this time, knowing he was being tailed, he’d be able to evade his hunters. He dropped his shoulders to make himself look defeated and peered longingly through the trees, careful to let just the right amount of uncertainty slip through.

  “I have to save Karey, Stephen. I know that you guys don’t understand. But I have to save her. It’s my fault that she’s in this situation, and I can’t just leave her.”

  Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Because you love her.”

  The almost defeated tone of his voice made Adam reel back. “What? No! It’s my fault that she’s in this situation because it was my plan. I’m the one who got her trusting me, and I can’t just break that trust.”

  “Because you love her. She’s your mate.”

  Adam opened and closed his mouth several times, uncertain how to respond to that. She wasn’t his mate, and he didn’t love her. They hadn’t spent nearly enough time together for that. He just felt responsible. That was all there was to it. But as he opened his mouth to say so, Stephen shook his head.

  “You never would have agreed to have sex with her—”

  “I gave her oral sex, it’s not—”

  “It’s exactly the same, functionally at least. Now shut up and let me finish, will you?” Stephen glared at him. “I know you, Adam. We’ve been working together for a few years now. You never take a woman home unless you know her at least a little bit. And for you to throw out the rules… that’s not just isolation and hormones. You truly, deeply care for her.”

  “That doesn’t mean love.”

  Stephen shrugged. He looked… almost upset. “I guess not. It’s close enough, though.”

  Adam frowned at him. “Why do you look so upset about that? It doesn’t matter what I feel for her; the fact is I’m responsible for her. I can’t just leave her to whatever the Alpha will do to punish her!”

  “I know. It’s just that you being in love with her… well…” Stephen’s cheeks darkened to a real crimson, and he ducked his head. “It just means that I… well…”

  Adam wasn’t sure what he was trying to get at. He shook his head. “Look, whatever this is about, I don’t have time for it. I have to—”

  “It’s just that I…” Stephen sighed heavily. “It’s just that I was hoping that maybe I might… possibly… not be crushing on someone who doesn’t return those feelings. Again.”

  Adam’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. He didn’t know what to say. He had no idea that Stephen felt that way! He really didn’t know what to say. “I…” He floundered as his cheeks heated. “I didn’t know you were gay.”

  “I’m not. I’m bi. Does it make you uncomfortable?”

  Adam shoved his hands into his pockets, shrugging. “Well, I mean. It’s surprising. You never made any sort of indication.”

  “Of course I didn’t. We’re teammates and we have to rely on each other, and there are the communal showers.”

  “But you don’t even shower with us—Oh.” Adam realized what that meant. Stephen always avoided being naked around the others. They’d teased him, and he just said he liked his privacy. But was it because he was giving them, or more specifically Adam, his privacy? “I don’t really know what to say, man. I thought you liked Maura.”

  “I do. Haven’t you ever had a crush on more than one person? I’m just tired of developing feelings for people I don’t stand a shot with.”

  Adam had to laugh at that. He strode forward and slung an arm around Stephen’s shoulder. “Hey, maybe you don’t stand a shot with me, but let’s be honest here. You never took the chance, either. And no, I don’t see guys that way, but I assure you that Maura does.”

  “She’s my boss and so off-limits it’s not even funny.” Stephen shook his head. He let out another sigh. “But… Since you do have feelings for Karey, and I can’t convince you to give up this insanity of your own volition… she called your cellphone.”

  “What?” Adam stiffened. “How do you know?”

  “Because we picked it up when you left it in that last hotel room you were in. I mean, that was your reason for leaving it, wasn’t it? So we’d pick it up and wouldn’t be able to continue to track you?”

  “And you’re just telling me this now?”

  Stephen gave him a look. “You’re not part of the Blaze Ops. You quit. She’s part of the Pack, our enemy.”

  “You still could have—”

  “I’m telling you now. Karey called the Academy and she’s saying that she will only talk to you. I was sent to bring you back. I was hoping that I could talk sense into you first, but I can see that’s not going to happen. So try not to be an idiot when you get there, okay?” Stephen’s gaze turned concerned once more. “We miss you. And you might be able to get your job back if you—”

  “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

  “Okay. Fine.” Stephen rubbed his face. “But you will come back with me, right?”

  Adam rolled his eyes. “I swear, Stephen, if this is a trick, I will rip your fucking head off.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Stephen gestured to the sky. “Let’s just get out of here before Maura finds out how close you were to Wolf territory, okay?”

  “Deal,” Adam grumbled and leapt to the sky.

  His heart beat rapidly as he raced back toward the Academy. For all he knew, this could be an elaborate trap to lure him back on his own. But Stephen wasn’t the kind to do all this—confessing feelings of attraction and then telling him that Karey had called the Academy. It just wasn’t like him. Teasing and joking, sure. But using something like this against another person? No way.

  So he had to believe that Karey was somewhere away from the Alpha. Somewhere he could find her and bring her back to the Academy, where she’d be safe. Protected from the Pack. Where he could see for himself that she was okay.

  Where he could wrap his arms around her and never let her go.

  They won’t let you stay with her at the Academy, he thought as he beat his wings. He cast a side glance at Stephen. They will lock her up and make her undergo all sorts of scrutiny. She’ll be in danger, waiting for the Academy to throw her in jail or for the Alpha to demand her back.

  He couldn’t let that happen. But what could he do?

  He glanced at Stephen again. If Karey was calling him, that meant he could arrange a meeting with her. All he’d have to do is buy another phone, get the service switched over to it. But Stephen would never allow him to do anything like that.

  Not willingly, at least.

  Adam grimaced. If this did work out the way he wanted, where would he and Karey even hide? Where could they go where they’d be safe. But the answer hit him like a jolt from the blue even as he drove his bulk into Stephen’s.

  Where would the Academy never think of looking for them?

  Fort Stinky Butt.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Karey never thought that Fort Stinky Butt would be so comforting, but it felt like coming home. Everything happened so quickly after Adam picked up his phone that she could hardly believe it was actually happening. But then Adam was there, flying with her, and she felt like everything was going to be okay.

  The Fort was still stocked with food and water and with winter coming to a close, it wasn’t nearly so boxed in either. When Karey asked Adam why they had come here, he told her that it was the last place that anybody would expect to find them.

  “Also, I had to take Stephen prisoner, and it’s the only place I knew of that could hold him.”

  Karey’s eyes widened. “You did what?”<
br />
  “Well, it was either that or have the Academy messing everything up again.” Adam shifted from side to side, looking guilty as hell. “And there are still a fair bit of blockers here, so…”

  Karey groaned and collapsed onto the sofa. “Great! Just great. I come back wanting to throw in everything with the Academy and take down the Pack to stop the suffering and instead I’m part of a kidnapping! We’re both going to end up in jail and… well, I guess if my father is stopped, then it’ll all be worth it.”

  Adam grimaced.

  With a sigh, she looked back up at him. However it ended up, if they could at least do that, then it’d work out. Somehow. This wasn’t how she had imagined this happening, but if it’s what Adam decided… well, then he had to have his reasons. She tried not to let the worst-case scenario of those reasons enter her mind… both of them being wanted criminals. A death warrant out on her head.

  “We’ll figure this out,” Adam promised quietly, and it was that promise that allowed Karey to quiet her mind.

  She smiled at him. “I know. I trust you.”

  Adam sat next to her and took her hand in his. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t stop them from sending you back. Did your father…?”

  “He was angry at first, until he learned that… well, that you were still concerned for me. Then he started to talk about how he could use that to his advantage. He sent me back. He wants me to lure you into joining the Pack, or at the very least get information on the Academy’s movements.”

  Adam’s brow furrowed. “Do you think he’s genuine or that he suspects you?”

  A cold shiver ran down her spine. “I don’t know. I can’t really say one way or another. If he does suspect me then… But I don’t think he does. I don’t think he thinks that I’m smart enough for something like that. But I don’t know.”

  She squeezed his hands tighter, as though that would give her certainty. No matter how she looked at it, it was dangerous for her and Adam. With the way things were now, they would be hunted by both the Pack and the Academy. And they had a prisoner? That was not going to look good, not for any of them! She could only imagine how furious Stephen was about this whole thing. He’d blame her, she knew, and then what would she do?

  Shaking her head, Karey tried to focus on what was happening right now. “What do we do? We can’t take down the Pack by ourselves. And with this…” she gestured to the basement door. “Nobody is going to believe that we’re genuine about wanting to take them down. I don’t mean that you were wrong,” she added hurriedly as Adam flinched. “I don’t know what was happening and I’m sure it was the only option you had. This just wasn’t what I was expecting.”

  “I know. It wasn’t what I was expecting either.” He flashed her a smile. “But then, I was expecting to raid the Pack’s compounds one by one until I found you and brought you back.”

  Her heart leapt, fluttering in her throat. Karey’s eyes widened. Were the reports that her Father had heard true? Did Adam really…? No, he was just trying to do what was right. He didn’t have any romantic feelings for her. And she couldn’t let herself get distracted like this. The next thing she knew she’d be fantasizing about getting pregnant with his child… With the fertility treatments Shane had put her on, it was a good bet that it’d be easy.

  She thought of the way his lips had felt on her body, and her fires flickered higher while her wolf brushed up against her chest, trying to push her into his arms. Her cheeks flared with heat as images of their entwined bodies rose in her mind.

  “So. What’s the best way that you and I can go forward with this?” Adam peered intently at her.

  “Uh…” She shook herself again. Focus! “The Pack’s hierarchy is very strict. Betas are always snapping at each other’s throats, and all the lower ones fight in their level to be more important than each other as well. My father is the only thing holding them together. If we could arrest him, remove him as the Alpha, then his power would be gone. Nobody would respect him anymore, and the Betas would all fight each other to be Alpha.”

  Adam nodded. “We have thought it might end up like that. But we’ve also been cautious, worried that someone even worse might take over.”

  Karey shook her head. “Without someone designated as Alpha, the Betas would not accept anybody over them. They’d only keep fighting, and the Pack would splinter. My father hasn’t allowed anybody to be designated as an Alpha in the trials, not since the last one tried to overthrow him. Which means if he goes down, the entire Pack goes down. The groups that continue would be easy to find and arrest.”

  Adam was silent for so long that Karey was afraid he didn’t believe her. That he thought this was just a trick. Then he sighed.

  “There’s only one problem with that.”

  “What?”

  He squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes. “Do you really believe that your father is the kind of person to be taken alive?”

  Karey’s shoulders hunched. Because the answer was obvious. No. No, he was not the kind of person to be taken alive. If they tried this, it would either end up with them dead or him dead. There was no taking him prisoner. There was only killing him. And her chest squeezed at the thought.

  But, in the pit of her stomach, she always knew it was going to end up like this. Maybe if she hadn’t brought the anti-serum back all those months ago, her father would already be dead, and this would already be over. Even with everything he had done to her, she shrank back from the thought of killing him or even just letting him die.

  “I don’t want him to die,” Karey whispered. “I don’t want…”

  Adam nodded. “Maybe there is another way. If we can render him unconscious, then we can bring him in alive. And once he’s on the blockers, he’d have a pretty difficult time getting out again.”

  Karey pulled away from him. Could she really do this? Go forward knowing that whatever she chose, she’d hurt someone she loved? Because even though he didn’t deserve her love, she did love her father. All it would take was one thing going wrong and he’d be killed. But what if he was right? What if she really was too stupid to understand what was necessary here? What if it really was her just being caught up in a web of lies meant to confuse her, and she was doing the wrong thing?

  It can’t be right to help them kill my own father!

  But was it right to kidnap people? To threaten children? To experiment on unwilling subjects? To think of himself as so much better than everybody else? To want to wipe out all humans by forcing them into being shifters? And at the same time, denying his own daughter her wolf for so long because he decided she was unworthy of something she had been born with? It was his fault her mother took her own life. His fault that so much wrong had happened…

  “Sometimes,” she whispered, “sometimes the good of the one must be sacrificed for the good of the many. I can’t sit back while he does so many awful things. If we do this, I have to be willing to accept that there might be no other options.”

  “It’s okay if you need time to think about this more.”

  Karey shook her head. “No. There has been enough already. Enough bloodshed. Enough suffering. And I’ve been part of it. The serum was perfected because of me. I kept so much of the research from being destroyed. I saved his life when I knew what he was doing. I have lived for so long swallowing everything he spoon-fed me. All the pain is my fault, too. And I can’t go back and undo that. I can’t change any of it.”

  “It’s not your fault—”

  “Yes. It is.”

  “Karey, you were alone, you were stuck in an abusive life and—”

  Karey held up her hand. “Maybe I was. But I’m not now. I have you.”

  Part of her thought maybe she should have told him about the other part of her father’s plan already—that she was supposed to be getting pregnant with his child. But she didn’t want to say that. It would make things more awkward than they already were.

  Besides, there was a good chance this was going to all go
horribly wrong. They could end up in jail or dead or something even worse. And if that happened, there was something else she wanted before they left Fort Stinky Butt again.

  “I have to do what I can to stop the violence and the torture and the bloodshed. So, this is what has to happen. My father has to be taken down, no matter what the cost might be.”

  Adam pressed her hand to his lips. “And that is the bravest thing anybody can do. I’ll be by your side, no matter what.”

  Karey nodded. “Thank you.”

  He smiled at her, a smile that had her heart beating faster. She wanted to wrap her arms around him, kiss him deeply. But was too shy. Fortunately, it seemed he wasn’t. Because he caught her, pulled her in close and gave her the most passionate kiss she had ever experienced. It was even better than that kiss he’d given her the first time she was here, when they had shared their moment together.

  Karey dug her fingers into his hair, tugging him closer. She sighed into his mouth, loving the taste of his kiss.

  Adam chuckled as his hands roamed her body. “Stephen is going to be so disappointed.”

  Karey didn’t ask what he meant. She didn’t care. She just wanted him and so pressed herself closer to his body. Even if everything was uncertain, even if she didn’t know if she’d be alive by the end of the week, at least she could have this. At least she could have him.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  His whole body was on fire for her. Adam’s hands roved all over Karey’s body, feeling her as though it was the first time. His fires roared as her tongue slipped into his mouth. She was a little clumsy and awkward, but her enthusiasm more than made up for it. There wasn’t the same shyness as there had been during their first encounter. The same sort of unspoken hesitancy. It made everything inside him tighten.

  He wanted her so badly it was difficult to think clearly. But he did remember the guilt he’d felt before. The feeling that he had taken advantage of her. And he didn’t want that sort of feeling again. The next time they had any sort of sexual encounter, he wanted to know for sure. Not just for himself but for her too.