Page 6 of Curvy Hostage Mate (Gold Wolves Black Ops #4)

I stared at the closed door, mind reeling as I tried to make sense of what I had just done. I’d taken Morgan. That hadn’t been part of the plan. I had just turned the entire mission on its head without a second thought. I had always been what you might call impulsive, but never to this extent.

Collapsing onto the couch, I rubbed my face as I tried to figure out what to do next. Morgan was right. Cain would come after her. It was a miracle I had managed to get her through the portal at all. Hopefully, they wouldn’t find her here, but I couldn’t guarantee that.

The longer I sat, the more it sank in exactly what I had done.

What the hell had I been thinking? I had just kidnapped the one woman guaranteed to piss off Cain, and guaranteed to get him to pay attention to what was going on.

He would know we were back, or at least have a good suspicion about it.

And if he was as obsessed with Morgan as we thought, he wasn’t going to just let her go.

We’d had a chance to get in there undetected and do some recon before pulling the trap closed. Not anymore.

In short, there was a strong chance that I had just blown the entire mission sky-high. But I couldn’t exactly leave Morgan there. Kendra wouldn’t ever have forgiven me if I’d given up the chance to protect her sister.

But was that really the reason I had done it, or was it because I was being selfish?

I could tell myself it was the former all I wanted.

I wasn’t sure if I could believe it, though.

In truth, part of it was probably because I couldn’t stand the idea of not being in control.

And seeing Morgan in chains walking past me without being able to do anything about it went directly against my nature.

As I mulled this over, a buzzing reverberated in my pocket.

I pulled out a small contraption, a tiny, pocket-sized compact that Kendra had enchanted so Trent and Nolan, both of whom had their own, and I could keep in touch in the Underside.

Effectively, it was a video phone, considering cells didn’t work down there.

I flipped it open to see Trent and Nolan peering up at me from where a tiny mirror normally rested.

“Are you two okay?” I asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Nolan said.

“What the hell happened? Where are you?” Trent demanded.

“Cain raised the alarm about an hour ago,” Nolan said.

“All hell’s broken loose. He’s scouring the entire Underside for something.

You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?

” The tone in Nolan’s voice indicated that he already knew that, yes, I did happen to know something about that.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “When we split up, I came across Morgan. I took a chance and got her through the portal.”

“You found Morgan? Seriously?” Trent asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“And you snatched her out from under Cain’s nose?” Nolan added, his voice slow, as if trying to figure out just how much of an idiot I had been.

“Yep,” I said. I paused, then added, “Technically, it was from underneath her guards’ noses, but the sentiment is the same.”

“Without consulting us, and without any sort of plan?” Nolan said.

“Pretty much.”

There came a long pause as Nolan and Trent processed the new information.

“Tell me,” Nolan finally said, “have you always had a death wish, or is that a recent development?”

“It wasn’t exactly planned,” I admitted.

“Recent development, then,” Nolan said with a frustrated sigh. “That at least explains why security has increased a hundredfold, and why all the guards and people who work for Cain are on edge all of a sudden.”

Apprehension prickled up my spine. I had known I’d jeopardized the mission. But it sounded like my actions might have had even more of a lasting impact than I had thought.

“What’s the status?” I asked.

“Not good,” Trent answered. “Cain’s not letting anyone in or out at the moment.”

“How is Morgan holding up?” Nolan asked. “She okay?”

I glanced at the closed door. “As much as she can be,” I hedged.

“Where are you?” Trent asked.

“One of the safehouses.”

“You should take her to Falcon’s Reach,” Nolan said. “She’ll be safe there, and Kendra will be ecstatic. She’ll stop giving us all evil glowers when we tell her we haven’t come up with anything to save her sister.”

I rubbed my face, trying to keep the creeping headache at bay. “I can’t,” I said. “If Cain finds out that we were involved, the first thing he’ll do is come to Falcon’s Reach. She’s safer out here in the wilderness.”

Nolan let out a puff of air. “It would have been easier if Kendra had made more of these.” His finger tapped their compact right where the camera might be. “At least then they could talk.”

And at least then, Morgan might believe me a bit more , I thought.

I had considered showing her this device in the hope that she might recognize it as Kendra’s handiwork, but had decided against it.

Right now, based on how things were going, it felt like trying to force her to believe me would only make things worse.

“How are things down there?” I grunted, trying not to think about the glares Morgan had kept shooting me.

“It’s a shitstorm,” Nolan said bluntly. “Cain’s livid and raised all hell when he found out Morgan’s missing. He’s basically razing the dark market, sending his cronies out at all hours searching every nook and cranny for her.”

“He’s blocked the portal and scouring every inch of the place,” Trent explained. “It won’t be too long until they find us. I doubt our disguises will last long.”

“Well, you know, if we’d planned this out ahead of time, we might not be in this mess,” Nolan pointed out in a singsong voice.

I let out a low growl of annoyance, and Nolan threw his hands up. “Hey, look, I’m not the one who decided to kidnap the woman Cain decided to make his mate. That one’s on you.”

I grit my teeth. “I couldn’t just stand by and let—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Trent cut me off with an almost dismissive flap of his hand.

“We get it. You had to do it. I’m not interested in splitting hairs on whether that was a good decision or not.

All I’m interested in right now is figuring out how to keep this from getting out of hand, or worse than it already is. This place is the worst.”

“Which is what Chris, Will, and I have been telling the rest of you since we got back,” Nolan said. “We need to take this place down. Brick by brick, if we have to.”

“There’s probably a simpler way,” Trent said. “But I’m more than happy to do that if it comes to it.”

“Okay, so you guys have a plan just yet?” I asked.

“Besides the vague ‘take this place down’ one we just gave? Nothing yet,” Nolan muttered.

“But Cain hasn’t figured out who we are yet, so that’s something.

I want us to stay down here and do some more recon.

We can start undermining the operation while we’re here, and we can keep you updated on any search information that comes our way.

Right now, he thinks Morgan’s still in the Underside.

Slaves can’t portal out unless they’re with a shifter, so he’s assuming she’s bunkered down somewhere. ”

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. “That’s something. It’ll give us some time. Okay, keep me posted on everything. Let me know if there is anything I can do from here.”

“Will do.” Nolan gave a mock salute while Trent turned off the feed.

Taking a deep breath, I slipped the compact back into my pocket and rubbed my face as I tried to figure out just how bad of a mess I had made, and if there was anything I could do to mitigate the worst of it. But I’d opened the floodgates. There was no turning back at this point.

The door to the bedroom opened. I shot up straight, head swiveling toward the sound of the creaking hinges.

Morgan stood on the other side of the frame.

She stared at me, curiosity and suspicion melding on her face as she scrutinized me.

Her scent, a mesmerizing mix of rosemary and burning incense, filled the air between us.

My wolf stirred at the smell, an overwhelming urge to take her in my arms and kiss her washing over me as primal urges threatened to take control.

We stayed like that for a long moment, both watching the other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“A couple of men from my team,” I said. “They’re still in the Underside.”

We both stared at one another for a long moment, Kendra clearly trying to get a read on the situation.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Her jaw tightened as her arms wrapped around her stomach. “I’m fine,” she mumbled. “I just want to leave.”

She shot me a look, part distrusting, part hopeful. But the expression soured when I shook my head.

“I’m sorry, but it’s too dangerous,” I argued. “I don’t want you in danger. Until I figure out just how badly Cain reacts to you going missing.”

“Being kidnapped,” she said under her breath. I didn’t think I was meant to hear it.

“—I think it’s best for you to stay here to make sure you’re safe,” I finished as if she hadn’t said anything.

“And you know best, do you?” she asked, one eyebrow raised, not bothering to hide her suspicion or annoyance.

I frowned, my brow knitting together as I stared at her. “About this, yes. I’ve worked over a hundred ops at this point. I think I know how to handle these things.”

Her lips pursed, almost imperceptibly. I could see the spark in her eyes, similar to one I had seen on Kendra whenever she got annoyed.

I expected a similar response to her sister: a biting remark, stubbornness, a bit of fire, and I braced myself for a fight.

“Fine,” she murmured. She turned and walked back to the room, closing the door behind her.

I stared, taken aback. That wasn’t the reaction I had expected. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.