Page 54 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Cece

It took a lot to convince Kai to accept that a nocturnal expedition to the crash site was worth the risk, but then again, I was persuasive, and he’d known all along that my plan made sense. In the end, he’d agreed to take a look.

My triumph was short-lived, given that the jackass refused to let me come along with him. I’d argued with him until I was blue in the face. I understood he wanted to protect me, but the idea of him going alone when I could back him up was utterly ridiculous.

The argument only wasted precious time. He didn’t budge. Eventually, I gave in. He didn’t say this, but I suspected part of his refusal was justified, given that my incipient swimming skills could become a liability to him.

The moment he’d left, navigating Serenity ’s inflatable dinghy, I’d felt sick.

My stomach churned like a washing machine.

Even after I changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, my belly squeezed and tumbled hour after hour, as I waited for his return, pacing the deck.

Obsessed with the idea of nabbing Levine and keeping my sisters safe, had I sacrificed the life of the man I loved?

I hadn’t believed in love before, hadn’t understood the power of that inexplicable connection that bound me to Kai, no matter how different we were from each other or how dire our situation was.

Love had wrapped around my soul like a warm blanket.

My heart was no longer numb. It was hot and vibrant, alive, even greedier for Kai than my pussy was, and that was saying a lot.

This wasn’t about “hey, look everybody, no-love Cece found a man!” It was about the inner process that had allowed me to ditch my fears and dismantle my walls.

I’d finally found the cure… for my sorrows.

What if I lose him when I just found him?

Drums of doom played in the depths of my mind, a prelude to disaster. The iron band squeezing my chest tightened. What if Kai got hurt while looking for Levine? What if this was a trap, and they had Kai now? What if he didn’t come back?

He’d been gone for several hours. The bad juju churning in my gut got worse with every moment that passed.

The stupid tears flooded my eyes again. For a gal who never cried, this was becoming a habit.

If something happened to Kai because I’d been a righteous bitch obsessed with finding Affie and protecting my sisters, I would —

The rumble of a small outdoor motor echoing in the night interrupted my despair.

“Please let it be him,” I whispered. “Please, please, please!”

Squinting into the darkness, I wiped the tears from my eyes, cocked my head, and relied on sound rather than sight to track his approach. Or someone else’s approach. Recalling Kai’s warnings, I slipped my gun out of my right pocket, and this time around, disengaged the safety.

Kai had drilled a range of scenarios into me before he left.

The NWO’s mercs were a bunch of cunning assholes.

I had to be prepared to deal with their nasty tricks.

Kai had been concerned about the prospect of someone trying to impersonate him while he was away.

He’d also made sure I had my gun ready. So, I was ready to put a lot of holes into someone who wasn’t Kai.

If the NWO showed up without Kai whole and hale, I had resources. I patted the remote control in my left pocket. Not only did I have the means to blow our enemies to pieces, but Kai had also given me access to Bellator, so I could secure my way out. Not that I would ever leave without him.

Somewhere near the reef, the little motor went quiet. Moving my lips, I counted twenty seconds in my head. “Eighteen Mississippi. Nineteen Mississippi—”

The motor rumbled to life. Holding my breath, I began the same countdown again. Twenty seconds later, it quit. Another twenty seconds of silence ended with the motor igniting again. A grateful exhale escaped me.

This was our pre-arranged signal. In response, I flickered the blue lights that illuminated Serenity ’s aft stairs and left them on. I spotted the dinghy as it navigated the last of the reef and emerged from the shadows.

In the night, the cove’s tranquil waters churned like white streamers behind the little boat’s outboard motor.

I couldn’t make out the face of the person manning the tiller yet, so I went down the steps and stood on the swimming platform, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

My racing pulse betrayed my anxiety. I gripped the gun so tight that the metal bit into my palm.

Whether it was my fear or my love that reached out to seek Kai’s aura, I didn’t know, but a wave of relief washed over me when Kai’s aura replied. It ignited, radiant, soothing, and familiar, a gift to my eyes, a song to my ears, and reassurance to my soul.

Every muscle in my body unclenched at the sight of his cobalt and gold glow. I lifted my head to the stars and whispered, “Thank you, mahalo , thank you.”

With Kai’s identity confirmed, his aura disappeared. I clicked on my safety and stuffed the gun in my pocket. “You took forever!” I exclaimed when he was finally close enough that I could make out his face. “Much longer than we planned! I was so worried.”

“Aloha, Sorceress.”

His face looked pale as it reflected the blue light, but his smile appeased the turmoil within me.

The band around my chest gave some. I felt as though I could breathe again.

Deftly maneuvering the tiller, he brought the dinghy abreast. I secured its mooring rope to Serenity while he did the same at the back.

A glance into the rubber hull showed me only black. It sucked that after taking the risk, he hadn’t found Levine, but in that moment, I didn’t care. Kai was back. He was safe. Everything was going to be all right.

Kai straddled the inflatable gunwales and stepped onto the deck. I launched into his arms and squeezed him tightly. His hair and his neoprene suit dripped with water, and my smile dimmed when I spotted the wince on his face.

I reached out and cradled the side of his face. “Are you hurt?”

“I’ll be fine.” He planted a quick kiss on my mouth.

“You don’t look fine.” I assessed the dark smudges beneath his eyes. “You’re exhausted.”

He gave me a rueful grin. “Not gonna argue with truth.”

“I’m sorry that you did all that work for nothing—”

“For nothing?” He reached down into the dinghy and tossed the tarp aside to show me the burly figure curled up on the hull, zip-cuffed, and tied up like a hog.

My mouth fell open. “You mean…?”

“You were right, Cece. The asshole survived. I found him half-dead, clinging to some debris.”

For a moment there, I just gawked at the unconscious merc, processing his capture, having a hard time believing my eyes. Then it struck me. Our plan had worked!

“You got him!” I launched at Kai and hugged him again. “You’re freaking amazing!”

His chuckles rang in my ear, and his arms came around my waist, but I noticed he flinched a little.

I drew back, and cupping his face with my hands, studied his features. “Did he give you trouble?”

“He almost flipped the dinghy.” Kai nudged his chin toward the oblivious merc sloshing at the bottom of the boat. “We exchanged some hard blows.”

My temper flared. “That motherfucker—”

“I had to knock him senseless,” Kai continued. “Then I had to inject him with a heavy dose of sedatives to make sure he didn’t attack again. The meds should keep him down for a long while, and the hassle was worth it to find what you so fiercely wanted.”

“The only person I fiercely want is you.” I lifted on my toes and brushed my lips over his. “Your life is not worth his.”

“Well, we got him.” Releasing his hold on me, he bent down, dragged the heavy merc out of the dinghy, and dropped him on the platform. “He’s ours now.”

“So,” I said, eager to know the details. “No traps?”

“No traps I could detect… so far.” He leaned on the railing to catch his breath. “Looks like Li made a run at killing Levine, and the fucker beat the odds.”

My gaze shifted to the merc. He lay in the puddle of seawater dribbling from his clothing. His hands were zip-tied behind his back, and so were his ankles. His face showed a couple of bruises, a cut lip, and a swollen eyelid, plus the broken nose I’d given him.

Kai bent over, released the set of cuffs that tied the merc’s feet to his hands, and then grabbed the man by the edges of his orange life jacket. With a huff, he dragged the man up the stairs. I followed, unsnagging Levine’s heavy boots when they got caught on a step.

“Is he going to survive?” I asked.

“If he doesn’t piss me off again.” Kai paused, shifted from a double to a single grip, then continued to haul the merc up the last couple of steps. “From what I could tell, he looks like he went through a shredder.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Or a blowhole, perhaps?”

“Or a blowhole, a jujitsu black belt, and a missile attack,” Kai agreed with a smirk.

“He’s got nasty cuts and scrapes everywhere, and a gunshot wound in the back of the thigh.

Either you or I landed a round on Levine.

He’s gotta be hurting. None of that shit stopped him from coming at me soon after I fished him out of the ocean and gave him some hydration. ”

“Son of a bitch,” I bit out. “You saved his life.”

“Turns out dickhead doesn’t practice gratitude.” Kai dropped his load on the deck and steadied himself on the gunwales to catch his breath. “As soon as he saw an opening, he mutinied.” Kai scrubbed a hand over his face, then shook his head, sending droplets everywhere.

Guilt weighed me down. Judging by Kai’s stiff movements as he knelt next to the merc, he’d had a painful night.

“This fucker is going to get a piece of my mind when he wakes up.” I knelt opposite Kai. “I can’t believe he survived a missile. Lucky for us, but a fucking missile?”

“This one’s hard to kill, remember?” Kai unstrapped the front of the man’s life jacket, slid out his combat knife, and sliced the life jacket along the sides and shoulders.