Page 2 of Declan (Gold Team #5)

“Hi, are you Avery Nelson?” I asked a tall, red-haired woman.

“I am, and you are?”

“Autumn Brown.” The lie rolled off my tongue as I extended my hand. “I work for The Coalition of Women. We’re one of the largest grassroots women’s organizations in the U.S.”

Avery continued to stare at me expectantly. Intelligent eyes took me in and I started to wonder if Ashaki Maloof had been wrong picking a Navy lieutenant as my contact. I preferred men, they were much easier to fool—a little cleavage and a smile.

Men were simple.

Avery Nelson was going to take some coaxing.

“Recently, we’ve expanded our network and started working with international organizations. That’s why I’m here. I was hoping to catch Madeleine Strotherby, has she already been by?”

Catch . That was one way to put it.

“Ms. Brown—”

“Call me Autumn. ”

Avery nodded and continued. “I hope you can understand I’m not at liberty to discuss what goes on at the clinic.”

It was too late, the Navy lieutenant had given me exactly what I’d needed. Madeleine had been by. Avery recognized the name.

“I totally understand.” I pulled my backpack off my shoulder and pulled out a check with a lot of zeroes and handed it to Avery. “This is for the clinic. As I said, The Coalition of Women is expanding, we’d like to make a donation to all the great work being done here. Education is vital.”

Avery’s gaze dropped to the check then came back to mine. “Perhaps you’d like to speak to the clinic director—”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have time. If you’d please pass that along, I’d appreciate it. And if Ms. Strotherby comes by again, if you could give her my contact information, I’d be grateful.”

“This is a lot of money,” Avery noted.

It was a lot of money, but then I had a lot to spare.

I hadn’t spent the last nine years of my life crawling in the filth of human trafficking for nothing. Every man I’d targeted had paid, both with his life and his bank account.

“We hope it will help continue all the good work you’re doing here.”

A group of Afghani women started to file into the small meeting room. Avery’s break was over—perfect timing.

“Childbirth.” I jerked my head in the direction of the pregnant women. “You’re doing wonderful work here, Avery.”

“Thanks.” The lieutenant blushed, making the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and forehead stand out.

She believed in her work, just like I did.

Only, the woman before me saved lives, while I took them. Ying and yang. And wasn’t that the way the world worked ?

Good and evil.

“Thank you for your time. Have a good day.”

I made my way out of the small clinic, dodging pregnant women and volunteers. The moment I hit the street—I felt him. I didn’t need to scan the area to know he was there and he was watching.

Declan Crenshaw.

The most dangerous man I’d ever met.

Merciless, deadly, efficient.

Declan was a Marine-trained special forces operator, former CIA, turned mercenary.

In other words, he was a well-trained killing machine.

But that wasn’t what made him dangerous.

It was his jagged heart, the brokenness, the pain so deep in his soul you felt it just by looking at him.

He was me in male form. Sexy, lethal, badass male form.

He was also bad for me. Very bad. Yet, for months I’d allowed him to infiltrate my life.

Stolen hours. The only time when my memories faded and I lived in a world where nothing else existed.

Not my past, not human traffickers, not women in cages, not loss and pain.

Just Dec and I—two lost, broken souls—emotionally bankrupt with no chance of reconciliation.

We were who we were.

But even knowing I’d never be fixed and my mission would never be complete, those hours screwed with my head. His hands worked magic. They didn’t heal but they were a balm to my soul, a salve I couldn’t afford.

“You’ve got two seconds to convince me not to drag your ass to your hotel room and paddle your ass after this shit you pulled,” Declan snarled. His mouth close to my ear, his warm breath fanned over my neck. The deep timbre sent chills down my spine.

“You’ve got two seconds to step the fuck back before you find yourself dickless.”

That would be seriously tragic. If Declan was magic with his hands, he was a wizard with his dick. The man wrought miracles with it.

Yes, that was Declan, an almighty wizard—like Merlin, only Dec cast bawdy spells that you couldn’t fight. Lustful and indecent hexes you never wanted to break free from.

“I’m serious, Autumn.”

“As am I, Declan.”

“We had a deal,” he growled, but kept my pace as I crossed the street to duck into an alleyway.

“Deals change.”

“Autumn,” he snapped and yanked me to a halt. “We had a deal. You were supposed to wait for me.”

He was correct. We did have a deal, one I’d agreed to after three mind-numbing orgasms. I shouldn’t be held accountable for agreeing to something I really didn’t want to do while I was still in a Declan-induced sex fog.

“Declan—”

“You fucked up.”

My back snapped straight at his tone.

“Just because I didn’t follow your directives doesn’t mean I fucked anything up. You forget I don’t need you. I don’t need your team. I don’t need your intel. I have my own sources and network. I’ve been at this just as long as you.”

That wasn’t entirely true, he had a few years on me and a shit-ton of training. But what I lacked in formal instruction I learned out of necessity. I had the personal experience he’d never have. I knew what it was like to be locked in a cage, to be sold, to be used.

I’d had my simple, na?ve life stripped from me. One day I was an average college student completely oblivious to how ugly the world really was, and the next day I was blindfolded and chained in a cage waiting for my new owner to complete the purchase of his new toy.

“Christ, you’re—”

“I’m what, oh mighty Declan? Smart, self-reliant, I don’t take orders and follow you like your men do? Guess what? I never will. You wanted to take this to your team. You wanted to be straight with them. You wanted me to talk to Emerson and Thad. I didn’t want to do any of those things.”

“Tone down the attitude.” Declan’s reddish-brown eyes narrowed on me and I fought not to shrink back.

He was scary as hell when he was pissed.

“And while you’re at it, remember who the fuck you’re talking to.

I know you can handle yourself. I have a file three inches thick that proves you’re resourceful.

But what you aren’t is smart. You’re stubborn as fuck. ”

“Screw off.”

Before I could step away, Declan had me pinned to the wall, his big, bulky frame a wall of muscle that I had no chance of getting around.

“Stubborn and stupid. You know better. If you wanna take down the rest of Omni, you better start playing it smart. This isn’t a one-woman show anymore. You have firepower at your back, use it. Madeleine Strotherby’s not stupid, Autumn, she’s built an army. She will not blink to protect her empire.”

“You don’t think I know that. She’s here, in the area.”

“And she’ll have protection. What’d you think, you were gonna walk right up to her and—” Declan abruptly stopped and touched his wrist. “Copy that. We’re on the move.” Then back to me. “We have company.”

Thank God. I’d take a battalion of insurgents over arguing with Declan.