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A full moon lit their way as Braxton and Gray crept through the thick underbrush. Lush tropical plants and flowers flourished on the island, and he could hear the occasional slither or squawk of a creature. But he was too focused on finding Quinn to care.

Pausing at the edge of a netted enclosure, he frowned. “What the hell is this?”

Beside him, Gray tugged on a woven section, testing its strength. “Better question is what the hell is lurking inside it? Don’t forget, Mesa likes his exotic animals.”

“Remind me to call animal control on the fucker,” Saint grumbled through their comms.

Yeah, Brax recalled Gray and Saint’s run-in with a couple of deadly creepy-crawlies when they’d been at Mesa’s other island compound and blown up his drug warehouse. While Brax had been setting explosives, Gray and Saint had barely escaped a poison dart frog and the deadly Mercier twins.

Moving past a dark building, they peered around the corner. They had a decent view of the back of the house and the sweeping rear yard. Brax’s attention zeroed in on a large second floor balcony where light poured out. The doors were open and he pointed to them.

“We go in there,” he murmured, and Gray nodded. “C’mon.”

They took two steps forward then abruptly halted when Quinn appeared on the balcony. She saw them and motioned for them with a wave of her hand. They jogged over and Brax looked up.

“Mesa knows you’re here!” she hissed. “He just left with a guard.”

“Banshee, I thought you shut down security cams,” Brax growled. Hell, maybe someone had spotted the helo.

“Yeah, me, too,” Zane responded. “Let me see what’s going on.”

“Quinn, get down here before—”

Brax’s words got cut off by Quinn’s shout of surprise. She whirled around, moving out of view, and he couldn’t see what was happening up on the veranda.

“Dammit,” Brax swore, stepping back. Once again, a bad feeling swept over him. As he was deciding the fastest way to get to her, she let out a sharp scream. His body tensed and his heart froze.

“Shit, Pharaoh,” Gray ground out as they both looked up to see Quinn struggling with a large guard. The asshole slammed her against the railing and a glass panel cracked. Bent backwards, half her body hung out over the empty air as she clawed at him.

Unable to do anything, but ready to spring into action, Brax helplessly watched as she wrapped her legs around him and tried to fight him off. She managed to use her weight to knock him off balance and, at the same time, break his hold.

“I need to get up there.” He started to move away when Gray grabbed his arm. Above them, Quinn cried out as the guard heaved her up above his head and tossed her like a ragdoll. She came sailing over the edge and Brax moved fast, catching her. They fell to the ground, his body taking the brunt of the impact, and rolled.

Bodies tangled, breathing hard, she pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Ohmygod,” she whispered all at once, green eyes locked on Brax.

“You guys okay?” Gray asked.

His arms held her a moment too long. A little too tightly. He breathed in her honey-jasmine scent, relief pouring through him. “Yeah, I think so,” Brax answered, and she shifted in his arms, pushing off him. “You sure know how to make an exit, Cherry.”

Her mouth edged up, but he could tell she was shaken. She kicked off the platform shoes, ready to run, if necessary.

“We need to move,” Gray said.

The words barely left his mouth before a spray of machine gun fire peppered the ground in front of them, ripping out chunks of grass-covered dirt.

Brax jumped up, helping Quinn, and they turned and ran for cover. They headed toward the small outbuilding while Gray ran in the opposite direction. What the fuck? Brax wanted to yell at him, make him go with them, but he knew it would be useless.

Demon was going hunting.

“Where’s he going?” Quinn asked, looking over her shoulder.

“To find Mesa. Do you know where he went?”

They reached the edge of the small building Brax assumed housed maintenance tools and paused, breathing hard.

“I don’t know, but he found my gun and told that guard to take care of me before he disappeared. And, thanks. That was a nice catch.”

Seeing her go sailing over the edge of the balcony and into the air had nearly given him a heart attack. “You’re welcome. Just don’t make it a habit, okay?”

“I won’t,” she promised. “Now what?”

“I’m not leaving without Demon.”

Gunfire echoed and a bullet hit the side of the building. Brax fired off a few shots in return, but he knew they needed to find someplace to hunker down until they could rendezvous with Gray.

“We can’t stay here. C’mon.” Quinn hurried forward and Brax followed, close on her heels, providing cover. They jogged back over to the netting and she stopped, bent over, and took a closer look. “What is this?”

“I don’t know,” Brax admitted.

“The dock is that way. If we cut through here, we can get there quicker.”

“You wanna steal a boat?”

“Hell yeah,” she answered, and he smirked.

Goddamn, he’d missed her. Because life with his Quinn? Never a dull moment.

◆◆◆

Braxton grabbed a stake and pulled it out of the ground, lifting the netting so Quinn could crawl underneath. She didn’t want to think too hard about why it was there, only that cutting through would shave off time to the dock, and hopefully provide them some extra cover.

Scrambling up to her feet, she grabbed the net, holding it up as Brax made his way beneath it. Once he was through, she let it fall back in place. Everything had grown strangely quiet. Almost too quiet.

“C’mon,” he said and jogged forward.

Not sure where the uneasy feeling was coming from, she ignored it and followed him. While he communicated with his team, she stayed alert, eyes sweeping every dark corner. She didn’t know if the ripple of fear resulted from not knowing if more cartel soldiers lurked nearby or if her nerves were still just unsettled from getting tossed off the balcony.

Thank God Brax caught her. Otherwise, she probably would’ve broken her damn neck.

Suddenly, a spotlight lit up the darkness and began to sweep the area. Brax grabbed her arm and tugged her behind a tree. Caught between the rough bark and his hard body, she held her breath, waiting as the light passed over their position…and kept moving.

Temporary relief washed through her and she sagged against him.

“We need to move. Over there.”

He nodded toward another outbuilding and they hurried over. Quinn noticed a small square opening at the base of the wall and dropped to her hands and knees. “In here!”

The spotlight continued to comb the area and Brax just managed to get in behind her before it swept over where they’d just been standing. She stood up, dusting her hands off, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the gloom.

“What is this place?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but I feel like I just crawled through a big doggy door.”

The uneasy feeling she had earlier intensified as she breathed in, trying to determine the smells that assailed her. Hay…wet rocks…feces.

Oh, God.

“I think—” Before she could finish the sentence, a low, rumbling growl filled the air. At the same time Brax lifted his phone’s flashlight. The beam of light caught on an animal’s eyes reflecting back at them.

A big lion stared at them, its tail swinging back and forth in agitation.

“Fuck,” Brax hissed, backing up a step.

Shit. They were in a lion enclosure. Even if they managed to crawl back out before getting mauled, Quinn knew they’d never be able to outrun the big cat and get past the netting. And if they somehow made it, Mesa’s men had a giant searchlight sweeping the grounds for them and they’d most likely get mowed down by machine guns first.

She let out a soft breath, knowing she shouldn’t move, but also knowing they had a limited amount of time left before Simba decided to attack. Her gaze shifted to the nearby wall and she saw what she needed.

“I have a plan,” she murmured. “But I’m going to need you to distract him.”

“Oh, sure, right,” Brax responded dryly. “You want me to wind up as his dinner?”

“Let’s hope he isn’t hungry.”

Brax let out a shaky breath. “I’m going to reload and that’s the only distraction you’re getting, Q.”

She didn’t want him to shoot the animal, but she didn’t want to get mauled to death, either.

While Brax slowly reached for a new clip of ammunition, Quinn took a cautious step back and sideways. The lion growled again, this time louder and more threatening, and moved into a crouched position. It looked one second away from pouncing as she reached the wall and grabbed the braided leather bullwhip off the peg.

Quinn had never held much less used a bullwhip before in her life but, at that moment, she channeled her inner Indiana Jones and cracked the tip against the rocky ground. It was tricky and she nearly snapped it back in her face.

“Get behind me,” she ordered Brax, covering him and cracking it again. “And get out.”

The lion stood up to its full height and stepped forward. Shit. Shouldn’t he be scared? Maybe she wasn’t doing it right. Using her wrist, she snapped the length of leather out and it hit the ground right in front of the animal. The lion roared, backing up, and she tightened her sweaty grip on the handle.

“Q, c’mon,” Brax whisper-hissed. He had crawled out, but had his pistol in one hand and the sliding door to the lion’s den ready to slam down with his other.

All she had to do was get out of that opening. And she really, really didn’t want the lion getting hurt. It wasn’t his fault Mesa had bought the poor thing for his own warped entertainment.

After another firm crack of the bullwhip, Quinn lowered to her knees and cautiously began to back out. Once her shoulders passed through the small door, the lion leapt across the space separating them.

“Drop it!” she cried. The moment her head was clear, Brax slammed the door down and locked it into place. The lion banged against it and she fell back onto her ass in the grass.

“Are you okay?”

She gave a shaky nod, hand still clutched around the whip’s handle. Brax pulled her up to her feet and right into an embrace. Somehow, they’d escaped unscathed. But they weren’t out of the woods yet.

“He might be able to get out another way.” Brax grabbed her hand. “We need to move.”

Gripping his hand, they hurried toward the netting. But they hadn’t even made it two steps before the bright spotlight washed over them, illuminating them in a blinding flash.

“Don’t move!” a voice yelled.

A moment later, Mesa appeared out of the darkness. He lifted a gun, aiming it at Quinn.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked. “Call it curiosity, but I’d like to know before I kill you.”