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Upstairs? Jay instinctively turned his head to the stairs that led to the second floor. That’s where Rivera was.

Jay quickly texted.

Armed hostile upstairs. Luv u 2.

No response.

Ryden had to know the moment he opened that door, Rivera would be there. No way the guys didn’t know where everyone was inside. Jay was sure they had something planned. Still, Jay couldn’t stay here.

“Find him,” Walton shouted from close by.

Jay pulled himself forward and army-crawled along the cement bags, stilling and lowering his head when someone approached the end of the aisle.

Jones came around the corner, rifle in hand.

He paused before he started walking Jay’s way, ducking his head to check the shelves on both sides of him.

The others were somewhere else, so Jay readied himself.

As soon as Jones approached, Jay gritted his teeth, grabbed the corner of a cement bag, and dragged it. He turned it slightly and readied himself. Just because he didn’t hear the others didn’t mean they weren’t nearby, so he’d have to move fast.

Jones stepped in front of Jay’s shelving unit, and with all his strength, Jay shoved the bag. Roughly a hundred pounds of packed cement landed on Jones, knocking him to the floor. Jay cringed. The guy hit his head and was out.

Not wasting another second, Jay slid out and carefully but swiftly climbed down, jumping down when he was close enough to the floor.

He crouched and scanned the area. No sign of anyone.

Silently, he darted over to the rifle. When he reached for it, a shot rang out, making him jump, and the rifle went skidding across the floor.

Jay’s heart was in his throat, and he slowly straightened, turning to find Walton there, barrel aimed at Jay. Damn it .

“Don’t think I won’t put a bullet in you,” Walton growled.

Slowly, Jay put his hands up. “Then why haven’t you?”

Walton’s grin was evil.

Wait…

Jay felt sick to his stomach. He swallowed hard. “You’re not going to kill me, are you?” With every step Walton took toward him, Jay took one back. “You have plans for me.”

“Oh, I’m going to kill you,” Walton assured him.

“But not until I get what I need. The only good thing that came out of that idiot Martin trying to kidnap you was putting you on our radar. Martin planned to use you to get to Foster, not realizing you were the one with all the power. You have access to the entire Four Kings Security network.”

Jay shook his head. “I don’t have that kind of access. I’m a secretary.”

Walton snorted. “Come on. Do you think we didn’t do our homework on you?

On your boyfriend and his friends? The moment we discovered the kind of security clearance you had, we started putting together a plan, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

I knew your boyfriend wasn’t going to let you out of his sight, just like I knew your friends weren’t going to let us go.

So here we are. Two birds, one stone. With access to Four Kings Security, it’ll be a whole new game, with me calling the shots.

Hell, with the Kings gone, leaving poor little de Loughrey all alone, I can have his general daddy in my pocket. ”

“Not going to happen,” Jay spat out, enraged at the thought of this asshole hurting Leo.

“We’ll see about that. And just because I’m not going to kill you yet, doesn’t mean I won’t put a bullet in your leg. You don’t need your legs to access a computer.”

Jay edged closer to the shelves when an explosion rocked the warehouse, distracting Walton enough for Jay to grab one of the smaller PVC pipes off the shelf.

He swung it with all his strength toward Walton’s head.

The impact was brutal, sending Walton crashing into the shelves and stunning him long enough for Jay to take off toward the end of the row.

Gunfire erupted in the warehouse, and something that sounded like a flashbang went off upstairs.

Rounding the aisle, Jay almost slammed into Fleming.

Without hesitating, Jay ducked and swiped Fleming’s leg from under him.

He knew Fleming wasn’t about to let go of his rifle, so Jay swiped the Glock from his holster and bolted.

Upstairs, more guns went off, and Jay’s heart leaped in his throat.

Ryden.

Shouting and the thundering sound of gunfire echoed through the air.

The Kings and the others had found their moment and breached the warehouse.

Jay had to get to one of them, though he had no idea where in the warehouse they might be.

He’d just rounded the next aisle when the second-floor door slammed open.

Finch and Ryden hurried through, and Jay had never been so happy to see them. They hurried down the stairs when Rivera stumbled into the doorway, gun in his bloodied hand. He propped himself against the doorframe and aimed.

No .

Jay detested guns, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to use them.

He’d spent plenty of time training with Ace and Lucky.

Jay aimed and took a deep breath, then fired, hitting Rivera and forcing his shot to go wide as he stumbled back.

Finch spun and fired. Rivera was down. The look of pride on Ryden’s face had Jay’s heart skipping a beat.

And Finch? Well, his brother looked surprised as hell.

How about we all get out of the warehouse rigged to blow ?

Ryden and Finch reached the bottom of the stairs and rushed over to him. Despite the circumstances, Jay couldn’t help but throw his arms around Ryden, hugging him tight.

“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Ryden murmured, kissing the top of Jay’s head.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Jay replied.

Ryden ran a hand over Jay’s head. “You are okay, yes?”

Jay nodded. He might not be so okay when this was all over and he had to process everything, but that was a tomorrow problem.

“I’m glad you’re safe now, Jaybird,” Finch said, smiling at him. He looked like he wanted to say more, but it wasn’t the time. Jay was relieved his brother was okay, too.

“Stay behind me.” Ryden moved Jay behind him, and Jay didn’t argue.

“They’ve set explosives,” Jay told them. “I have no idea how much time we have.”

Ryden tapped his earpiece. “Fellas, this place is rigged to blow. Rivera is down.”

“Roger that,” King replied. “Get Jay out of here. South exit. We’ll meet you outside.”

It sounded like the team had split up and breached various entrances because the gunfire was spread out.

Everyone had most likely taken cover. Jay’s heart skipped as they moved forward, Ryden and Finch with weapons raised as they scanned for threats.

Jay had seen the various military maneuvers the Kings used to take down threats, and one of them was to surround the hostiles and move in, forming a tight circle and giving the hostiles no choice but to surrender.

A burst of gunfire erupted close by, and bullets zipped past them, pinging off the forklift where they’d taken cover.

Ryden and Finch returned fire, moving tactically through the maze of building supplies.

They kept Jay between them, tucking him out of sight when they had to take cover.

Ahead of them, Jay spotted Ace, who gave the signal.

“Close your eyes and cover your ears,” Ryden ordered.

Jay quickly did as he was told, waiting for the flashbang Ace had lobbed to go off before opening his eyes and moving his hands away from his ears.

The explosion of light and sound disoriented Fleming, Dennis, and Jones, allowing the Kings and Wild Cards to surge forward, shouting for them to raise their arms above their heads and get down on their knees.

The ex- Marines were outnumbered, and they knew it.

Walton was still in the warehouse somewhere.

With Fleming, Dennis, and Jones in restraints and in their custody, the team covered their retreat, each member watching their six as they backtracked toward the exit.

The tension was thick, and Jay couldn’t help but frantically look around him.

Where was Walton? As they neared the door, an explosion on the other end shook the building.

Dust and debris rained down, and Ryden grabbed Jay’s wrist.

“Go!” King motioned for everyone to run just as another explosion went off. With all the chemicals in this place, it was on the verge of becoming an inferno. They all sped out of the building, not stopping as they headed as far from the warehouse as possible.

Jay glanced back. The warehouse was alight with smoke and fire.

A shadow moved from somewhere in the smoke, and Jay thought his eyes might be playing tricks on him.

Before he could see what it was, Ryden had his arms around him and turned just as a shot rang out.

Jay cried out as he hit the ground, Ryden on top of him. What the hell just happened?

Gunfire followed, then another explosion. The sound of sirens filled the air, and Jay looked up, his eyes meeting Ryden’s.

“Ry?” His voice was hoarse.

“I’ve got you, darlin’. I’ve got you.”

Was it finally over? Tears welled in Jay’s eyes. “I was so scared I’d never see you again.”

“They don’t know how stubborn you are.” Ryden pressed a kiss to Jay’s forehead and brushed his hair away from his brow. “Or how fierce.”

Wait. Something was wrong.

“Ry?”

Ryden winced and fell over onto his side. Oh no. No, no, no. Jay scrambled up.

“Ry!” Jay frantically checked him over, aware of King kneeling beside him, helping him search.

When Jay slid a hand under Ryden’s vest at his shoulder, a couple of inches above his heart, he sucked in a sharp breath at the feel of something wet.

Pulling his hand out, it was covered in blood.

“King.” Jay’s voice was a whisper. “Oh God.”

Ryden lolled his head to the side and glanced down. “I guess that bullet did hit me. I’m fine.” Jay gaped at him, and Ryden chuckled. “Okay, maybe not entirely fine.”

Jay gripped Ryden’s vest, his heart in his throat, and terror threatening to consume him. “If you bleed out on me, so help me, I will murder you.”

“Not sure how that works, but okay. I love you, too.”

King slid his hand under Ryden, and Ryden cried out, then cursed. “It went through, Marine. Come on, we need to get you to the paramedics. They should be arriving any moment. Finch, give me a hand.”

Jay kissed Ryden. “Don’t you dare die on me.”

“Marines don’t die,” Finch said, helping King lift Ryden to his feet, each one putting an arm around him. “They just go to hell and regroup.”

“Oorah,” Ryden replied, his grin wide.

Jay shook his head. Those two. He wasn’t about to admit it, but it was nice that Ryden had a fellow Marine around. It was a shame Finch wouldn’t be staying. Speaking of Finch, his brother was awfully quiet, which was very unlike him. Focusing on Ryden, Jay stayed close.

“You said you read all the books of mine you kept.”

“Yep,” Ryden murmured.

“Then you know, the heroes always get their happy ever after.”

Ryden’s soft smile lit Jay up from the inside out.

“Then let’s make sure we get one.”