Arctic Fire Read online

  “Get off me, K. You have no right to keep me here.”

  “The fuck I do. You almost got yourself fucking killed. If I hadn’t found you… Fuck,” he bit off angrily as he released her and pushed away from the wall allowing her to move. How could she not see what the thought of losing her did to him? They were both breathing hard as they glared at each other, passion and anger flowed through his veins. He watched as her tongue came out to swipe her lip. He made her nervous—not in the conventional sense because she thought he would hurt her, no it was because she knew he could break down her walls and it scared her senseless.

  “If you hadn’t found me I would have been fine,” she denied hotly. “I just needed to rest.”

  A humourless chuckle escaped him as he glared at her and shook his head. “Do you hear yourself, Roz? You are so scared of letting anyone close that you can’t even accept when someone has done something for you. Even something like saving your ass. I have no idea why I let you do this to me,” he said sadly knowing full well that he did. She just wasn’t ready to hear it.

  “I never asked you to come.” Her arms were crossed over her chest as she glared daggers at him. He was never going to get through to her like this, but he saw the way she looked at him. She may not want to, but she wanted him. It was written all over her face, it was in the movement of her body.

  Prowling closer allowing her time to move away, he stopped with only inches separating them. Raising his hand slowly he stroked the side of her face with his forefinger enjoying the silky soft feel of her against him. He could feel the heat coming from her, smell the scent of her skin as he watched a pulse tick in her neck.

  Moving his finger lower he held his hand over the beating pulse in her neck. Closing his eyes, he let the fear he had felt at seeing her slumped and motionless over the snowmobile come. The strong steady beat of her heart as it pumped blood around her body reassured him that she was alive and would be fine—for now.

  Her hand came to his wrist but instead of pulling it away she held it not moving either way. Their eyes locked, hazel to blue, as emotions and a thousand unsaid words moved between them.

  “You didn’t ask me to come, but I will always come when you need me, even when you don’t think you do. It’s what you do when you care for someone.”

  “I’m not the person you think you know, K. I wish I was, but I’m not. I will cause you nothing but pain if you keep this up.”

  “You cause me pain already, Kitten” He didn’t allow further discussion he dipped his head and sealed his mouth over hers. He felt her hesitate for a second as he pushed his tongue against her closed mouth, then like a flower she opened, and he took his fill. They kissed hungrily as if this was all they would get. He felt her loosen her hands before they came up to fist in his hair.

  He turned them as one and backed her towards the bed tripping over a small table as he did and smashing a lamp that fell onto the thin carpet. Neither one seemed to care as desire finally got the best of them both. It had been so long since he’d touched her since he’d looked at her body and lost himself in her.

  He grasped her leg as he fell to the bed covering her body and pulling her leg up and over his hip, so he was cradled by her sweet heat. Careful not to put any pressure on her wound, he let his hand trail down her side and inch its way under her top as he kissed her, eliciting a sweet moan which drove him insane with need. Another moan came from her as he nipped at her neck and she grabbed his ass with her hands grinding her body into his hard cock.

  A loud commotion behind him made him pull back hard and go for his gun on the table as the door flew open, the hinges smashing. Roz had her gun in her hand as they both pointed them at the intruders.

  “For fuck’s sake, Kanan, will you put some fucking clothes on and get your hands off my sister,” Zin snarled as he, Daniel, Drew, and Mustique burst through the door.

  “What the fuck, Zin? I nearly shot you.”

  “What are you doing here?” Roz demanded as Mustique snickered at their shocked looks. Roz jumped off the bed glaring at him. The woman could shrivel dicks with that look. Thank fuck he was used to her or his poor little man would have run for cover.

  Standing with his arms folded across his chest he faced her down as the others watched on. “I called them, we needed the back-up.”

  His Kitten normally so good at hiding her feeling almost went nuclear at his words. Pacing the room, she glared at them all now and he was glad to be sharing her wrath with someone else. “I don’t fucking want them here, so you can all go home,” she hissed.

  Twisting slightly to look at Daniel, he waited to see what everyone did. They looked at her for a beat before Zin walked back to the door and closed it as best he could and then walked over to his sister.

  “Sestra,” he said softly as he reached for her and gently pulled her to him. For some reason watching the sweet moment and knowing she didn’t fight Zin as she did him pissed him off. Yet at the same time, he was so grateful for the connection the siblings shared because he had no doubt that they had saved each other from the horrors they had endured as children.

  Walking to the sofa he turned his back on the scene as he grabbed his jeans and a clean thermal and pulled them on. He was sick of these people catching him with his pants down, metaphorically speaking.

  “So now that that is decided, can we get some food? I’m starving,” Drew said.

  “It is not sorted, I’m serious. This is my private issue to deal with and I don’t want or need your help,” Roz said vehemently.

  Kanan walked to the window and surreptitiously checked out the street below. It was empty save for an old woman carrying her shopping. He watched for a few minutes as he listened to Roz and Zin arguing. He had a headache starting and he was fucking starving too.

  “Enough,” he boomed as he spun to face them all. “We are all fucking staying or we are all going home.” He crossed to a fuming Roz until he was almost nose to nose with her. He saw indecision cross Zin’s face as he faced Roz down, then the other man stepped back slightly. It was a small movement, but the unspoken acceptance was clear. He had K’s back on this and that meant more than he could have realised.

  “This is my fight. Angel was Zenobi,” Roz started but was interrupted by Will.

  “With all due respect, Roz, you are not the only one who wants revenge for what happened to Angel.”

  “Yes, she was my friend too,” Mustique said as she idly flipped a deadly K-bar in the air catching it cleanly every time. Kanan watched Roz look between the two people challenging her and uncertainty crossed her features. It was not something he was used to seeing and he didn’t like it.

  “Kitten let us help you, you’re hurt,” he implored as he reached up to brush her hair off her face.

  He saw a war rage across her face before her shoulders sagged. “Fine, you can stay until I’ve recovered then I go in alone.”

  “Yeah, not gonna happen.” Daniel shook his head as he spoke. “In light of new intel that Will has, we either all stay and see this through or we all leave.” He moved closer to Roz, his demeanour that of a panther on the hunt, calm and calculated, yet totally in control. Again, K wondered how he had thought this mild-mannered man was soft. He was a true chameleon playing to his surroundings at all times.

  Was he the doting father, the grief-stricken widower, or the deadly calm leader that was now emerging? He had no time to dwell on that because Roz asked the question he wanted the answer too.

  “What Intel?”

  Daniel smiled as if he knew he had won. “Will,” he indicated to Will to pull up the intel on the laptop. They all moved to surround Will as he punched in a bunch of commands. Pulling up a map he quickly zoomed in.

  “What is this?” Drew asked.

  “This is the Denisovich stronghold. It was captured by a satellite last night. If you look closely you can see them unloading over thirty people. Mostly young girls and woman.” He zoomed closer and K felt his blood turn to ice. Girls that
looked anything between eight and eighteen were being pushed in through a door. An almost inaudible gasp from Roz had him wanting to turn and take her in his arms, but he knew that as soon as she saw those girls, what would happen next.

  “We got word through some underground contacts I have on the dark web that Usov is holding an exclusive invitation-only auction of his most prized assets in three days’ time. There will be the richest, most sadistic players on the planet attending.”

  “This is the ideal time to take out some of the key players in the sex-trafficking industry and allow us to rescue the girls. But as I said, we are either all in or all out. I won’t have rogue persons going off on a one-person rescue, destroying the mission, and getting these girls killed,” he said aiming his eyes at Roz who crossed her arms over her chest in self-defence and glared icicles at Daniel.

  “You are not Zenobi and I don’t work for Fortis. You have no right to tell me what to do.”

  Oh, fuck here we go Kanan thought as he braced for impact knowing he would have to side with Roz because, well, she was his and that’s the way it was. Even if he did disagree with her. He was shocked when Daniel’s face went hard, and his jaw started to tic.

  “I don’t give a fuck if you’re the Queen herself, I am telling you that you will not go after Usov and risk those girls. If you want to die that’s on you, but if I have to tie you the fuck up and ship you back to the UK to protect them, I will. Now, what will it be, Roz?” he asked as he faced her with his arms lose by his side and his stance open. Appearances could be so deceptive.

  Roz looked at him and then her brother before she spoke. “Fine, we do this as a team but only because I want the same as you.”

  “Good, now let’s get planning.”

  “Hang on, not so fast,” Roz said as they all filed over to the door. “One condition.”

  “And that is?”

  “Usov is mine,” she said coldly.

  Daniel regarded her for a minute before he nodded. “Fine.”

  “Drew go with Mustique and get us some food, we have a mission to plan. K, we’ll meet you next door in a few minutes.”

  Kanan nodded and watched them leave. The silence in the room was heavy. Roz was pissed, her shields were now firmly back in place. He watched her walk to the bathroom and quietly close the door. He almost wished she had slammed it or yelled at him. This control grated on his nerves making him feel out of sorts. He wanted to punch something. He needed to take out all his pent-up anger and frustration on something soon or he would explode.

  He and Zin were perhaps the only two who knew what the thought of those girls at the hands of an animal like Usov was doing to Roz. But knowing it and being able to ease her suffering were two different things. To help her, he had to first break down the walls that bastard had made her erect.

  He had done it before and by God, he would do it again or die trying. She was the living embodiment of hope for these girls and he just needed for her to see what he did.

  Chapter Five

  Roz leaned on the cracked stained sink and looked into the mirror at the tired woman in front of her. Exhaustion was seeping into every pore of her body but that was overtaken by the need to take down Usov and make sure he didn’t get the chance to hurt any other young girls. Fury crawled over her skin like tiny spiders, making her nerves tingle with unchecked hatred for the man.

  She thought after he killed Angel that she couldn’t hate him more than she already did, but the knowledge that he planned to auction off innocent young girls for the sick pleasures of men like him, made bile turn in her stomach.

  Lifting her top Roz examined the white bandage that covered her abdomen and secretly acknowledged that Kanan was right, without him she would be dead. The problem was her life didn’t hold any value.

  She had nothing to offer anyone anymore. She thought her reason for surviving the horror of her youth was to protect others, but she had failed at that now too. Sweet Angel had always been too lovely for this life, she had kindness and compassion, meaning she always put others first. Now because Roz’s old life had caught up with them, it had cost her friend hers.

  Part of her wished that she was the kind of woman to accept their help with ease but being this way—rejecting people—was the only way to protect herself and them.

  Blood was seeping through the stitches of the gunshot wound a little as she pulled back the bandage. Daniel had done a good job of suturing the wound and had she not been trying to escape from the feelings K evoked in her, she would not have pulled at them, as it was it would just be another scar to add to the hundreds she already had.

  He was breaking down her defences one gesture at a time, even the fact that he had called in reinforcements to help him showed her how much he cared. In some ways they were so alike, he was a loner like she was, never wanting to ask for help. Always on the outside looking in.

  Taping the bandage back up she used the toilet and was washing her hands when an almighty explosion shook the building, knocking her against the shower door. Quickly righting herself Roz pulled her gun from the back of her jeans and opened the door. Dust reigned down from the ceiling above her.

  “K.”

  He rushed to her as he wiped a trickle of blood from his eyebrow, with the back of his hand. “Are you okay?” he asked as he scanned her all over.

  “Yes, we need to get out of here,” she said as she heard gunfire on the street.

  Kanan nodded and grabbed his bag from the floor as he headed to the door. Pulling it open they met Zin, Daniel, Drew, Will, and Mustique in the hall.

  “We need to split up. Take this,” Daniel said thrusting a burner phone at her. “I’ll call with the location of the safe house. If I don’t call within twenty-four hours, head for the airfield we came into and get hold of Zack.”

  Roz nodded and cast a look at her brother, to reassure herself he was okay. More gunfire could be heard downstairs now.

  “Take the back stairs with Kanan. Drew and I will go with Will out the fire escape. Zin, Mustique take the roof and get to the edge of the city.” With a last look at her friends, Roz felt Kanan nudge her.

  “Let’s go, Kitten.”

  Focusing on his back she followed quickly as they moved along the corridor to the exit sign. As they passed the stairs two men rushed them. Turning, she fired, hitting the man straight between the eyes. K took out the other man with a shot to the heart. Gunfire continued from their right and the fire exit. She had no time to process that as a man jumped in front of K. He went to shoot but Kanan knocked his weapon from him.

  Movement behind her made her turn and come face to face a with a gun. Without a thought she kicked the gun from his hand knowing she couldn’t risk it being fired and taking out K. The man recovered quickly, shooting out a leg and nailing her in the stomach, the pain made her feel sick as she felt her bullet wound start to bleed. Fucking asshole was gonna pay for that.

  Slipping a knife from her arm sheath she watched as he did the same, her honed instincts allowing her to block out the noise behind her. The man opposite her had the tattoo that all of Usov’s men had. A scorpion tattoo on his wrist. Each of his men had them but the higher up they went the more detailed they were. This one was basic, denoting his minion status. His movements were quick as he jabbed at her with the knife, she dodged easily and swiped out with her arm in an arc slicing him across the face.

  He swore at her in Russian, bringing a smile to her face. She was enjoying this, she always did prefer her combat up close and personal. He lunged again as she took his front leg from him, and he went down on his side. He thrust the knife upwards going for her leg blindly. Kicking it from his hand she nailed him in the head with her boot hard as he grabbed her ankle.

  “Stop playing around, Roz,” she heard K say from behind her and she turned to see him watching her with a frown. A man jumped from behind him and in that split second, she saw the knife arc towards his head. A scream lit the air and he moved a fraction allowing the knife to hi
t him in the shoulder rather than the skull.

  With a split-second decision, she reached for the gun at her side and fired on the man behind Kanan. Anger and fear ripped through her as she turned to the man at her feet and in one clean movement slit his throat. Standing, she took the hand that Kanan held out to her, his warm, strong reassuring grip steadying the fast beat of her heart.

  “We need to get out of here.” K motioned her in front of him as they found the stairs that led to the back exit. Roz had little doubt that Usov would have men stationed there. She didn’t know if his plan was to kill her or take her to him.

  “He’ll have men on the back,” she cautioned, touching K’s arm.

  He cast a glance at her, nodding. “There’s a car two streets east. If we can get to it, we have a shot. Can you run?” He pointed to her abdomen which was soaked with blood.

  “Yes,” she said dismissing the pain.

  He looked at her intently as if trying to see if she was lying and then with a barely perceptible nod turned and grabbed two flash bangs from his bag. “Get ready to run as soon as I open the door.” Seconds later he thrust open the door and hurled the smoke grenades out into the alleyway. “Go,” he whispered and pushed her ahead of him as he fired at Usov’s men.

  Running as fast as she could, with pain burning in her middle, she could feel K behind her. Rounding the corner, she could see the street and car. Stopping she felt K against her back as she held up her hand for him to wait. Two of Usov’s men were by the car with three more near the front. If she fired on any of them she would draw their attention and they would be outnumbered. Normally that wouldn’t bother her, but she was not at her best right now and she wouldn’t risk K like that.

  They needed to get to the car without being seen and then kill those two efficiently and quietly.

  “We need to get to the car without those two idiots seeing us then kill the fuckers,” K whispered in her ear.