Page 64 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Cece

One moment, the merc was on the floor and semiconscious.

In the next breath, I felt the gun I’d stowed in my back pocket slide out and the cold steel of its muzzle pressed against the side of my head.

A strapping arm coiled around my waist. Levine’s loud breaths blustered over my shoulder, tainted by the rancid stench of his vomit.

He yanked me around, ripped my hands from the wheel, and slammed me down on the deck’s hard surface.

The world went black. I must’ve lost consciousness for a moment.

When I came to, a metallic taste flavored my mouth, and blood poured over my face from a gash burning along my hairline.

The merc had tied my wrists so tightly that my fingers were already going numb.

A glance showed me a firmly knotted nylon rope.

Shit, shit, shit.

My scalp stung when he wrapped his fingers around my hair and lifted me up by a fistful. Handling me as if I were a rag doll, he propped me on my feet, facing the sliders. The cool edge of metal alerted me that the Sig was still in play. He held me tight, bracing my back to his front.

“My dearest Cersi.” The filthy bastard nuzzled my ear even as the cabin whirled around me. “At last, you are where you belong. In my arms.” He dipped his face in my hair and took a deep inhale. “You smell so sexy, so… delectable.”

My heart stopped beating. I fought to still my wobbly knees, and blinking off the blood, tried to get my bearings. If only the cabin stopped spinning.

“Since the day you kicked my ass, I’ve been craving to touch you, to taste you.” The merc stuck out his tongue and licked the blood off the side of my cheek. “Yummy.” The psycho smacked his lips. “You’re pure iron and steel.”

“You’re disgusting,” I snapped. “You know that, right?”

“I’m gonna take such pleasure from you,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re strong. I won’t need no whores. You’ll last me a long time.”

My stomach dropped. Caught in the hold of a killer, my chances weren’t stellar.

I’d fought him before. He was a beast, and this time, I didn’t have the benefit of surprising him.

Despite his injuries, he was incredibly strong.

He shoved me forward, then braced one hip against the galley’s counter to keep his balance in the roiling seas.

“How did you get free?” I demanded, loathing the breezy quality of my voice.

“I’m good.” Keeping the gun to my head, he lifted his other hand. He clutched Kai’s knife, the one I’d used to cut off his ties. Holding the Ka-Bar in his fist, he coiled his arm around my waist again. “I’m very good.”

He’d taken advantage of Kai’s absence and the need for me to steer the boat.

After I cut him free of the post, the piece of shit had somehow stolen the knife from me and bided his time.

He must’ve cut off the cuffs while I focused on keeping the catamaran on course.

One plastic cuff remained attached to his wrist. The other dangled from the same wrist, split in the middle.

Fuck the fucker . I felt like a brittle stick in his grip. Wishing I had his inhuman strength to snap my bonds, I tested the ropes. They dug into my wrists, but they didn’t give. The old fury boiled to the surface. I couldn’t give up now.

“I need to steer the boat.” With the gun against my head, I was hard-pressed to swallow. “If I don’t, we’ll sink.”

“We’ve got a little time.” He flicked his tongue, tasting my blood again.

I grimaced and yanked my face away from his. “Get away from me, you fucked-up son of a bitch!”

“We’re gonna get even closer, you and me.” With the gun, he forced my head to turn until I was looking into his wild eyes. “You won’t get away from me, Cersi, ever. I’m gonna live my dreams. We’re gonna spend a lot of time together.”

The cold that frosted my innards almost allowed my terror to take over, but I refused to yield to it. I knew how to fight. And fight I would, until I drew my last breath.

The glass door slid open.

No, no, no .

Kai paused mid-stride at the sliders. In a blur, he had his Glock aimed at the merc.

“Get out,” I warned. “Get out now!”

“Shut the fuck up.” The merc tightened his hold on me, then flashed Kai a red smirk, his teeth smeared with my blood. “Our roles have been reversed.”

“Cece?” Kai’s stare took in the gash in my hairline. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better.” I forced a smirk to my face. “Head wounds bleed a lot, but the worst part is that this motherfucker stinks of vomit, chlamydia, and gonorrhea.”

“Enough with the chatting.” The merc shook me until my brain rattled in my skull. “You won’t be talking so smart when I’m done with you.”

“Levine…” Kai rumbled. “Let her go, now.”

“Or what?” The sneering merc tapped the gun against my head. “You wanna see her brain splattered all over?”

I kept my gaze on Kai. “Kill the fucker and be done with it.”

“Your boyfriend is not keen to let you die.” Levine planted a kiss on my cheek and leered at Kai. “He won’t. I know his kind. Nobility is a terrible trait in the business of killing. Listen to me, sailor. Unless you want me to hurt her right in front of your eyes, put your gun down.”

“Shoot him,” I pleaded. “Shoot the bastard!”

“He won’t do that.” Levine flashed a knowing grin. “He wants you alive. Don’t you?”

“If you hurt her, you die,” Kai bit out, keeping his gun up.

“How sweet.” Levine’s sugary tone lit my fuse even hotter. “You two are so cute. Shame yours is a tragic romance. Which means…” He hardened his voice, and pressing the knife to my side, shoved the gun into my cheek. “Unless you drop your gun in the water, her pain starts right now.”

“Easy now.” Moving slowly, showing Levine his gun, Kai stretched out his arm over the water.

“No, no, no,” I whimpered.

“Drop it!” the merc snarled.

Kai let go of the gun. It plunged into the ocean with a muted splash. My stomach plummeted. Neither of us had a weapon now.

“Happy now?” Kai asked, his posture relaxed but his stare alert. “Let her go and we’ll talk.”

“You’ve mistaken me for an idiot.” Levine drew the gun out of my mouth and pushed me forward toward the sliders.

“You get to die first, homie. Then I get your boat and Cersi all to myself for the duration of our trip around the world. Plenty of time for me to tame this hellion. By the time I’m done with her, she’ll be tame as a kitten. ”

A muscle flickered on Kai’s face. I tried swallowing, but a hollow croak betrayed my dry throat. I jumped when a blast went off in the distance. A burst of red flames ignited the darkness far behind us.

“What was that?” I asked, my voice shrill.

“That, dearest, was the work of your ex here.” The merc nudged his chin toward Kai. “Good job, my friend.”

“The drone dropped a few surprises on Li’s boat crew,” Kai said, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on Levine. “And by the way, I’m not your friend.”

“Well, thanks for getting those assholes off my tail, anyway.” Levine rubbed his flabby cheek against the side of my face.

I grimaced and shut my eyes, seeking a break, an advantage that would get us out of this terrible situation.

“Now that you’ve rid me of my ex-colleagues, I have all the time in the world to enjoy Cersi,” the bastard taunted Kai. “Do you want to watch?”

Kai snarled. “You will not hurt her.”

“Step away from the doors,” the mercenary ordered, jabbing the gun against my temple. “Do it!”

Kai complied, walking backwards, keeping his stare on Levine and his hands in the air. The merc shoved me forward until we stepped out of the cabin and onto the deck. He paused next to the outdoor kitchen. In a swift movement, he aimed the gun at Kai across the deck.

I didn’t dare move. Kai didn’t attack either. As long as Levine had one of us in his clutches, he had all the leverage he needed to neutralize the other.

Serenity rocked and pitched, free-floating on the seas. I tried to elbow Levine in the gut, but with my hands tied, I might as well have tickled the brute’s belly. He smothered my movement by clutching me even tighter against him.

Kai took advantage of the moment and lunged.

“Get back!” Levine pointed the gun at him and held the knife over my belly. “You wanna see the bitch’s guts dangling like bloody sausages?”

Kai froze in place.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” The merc smirked and waved his gun. “Ass to the railing or I’ll open her up. Now!”

“Slow it down, dude.” Kai backed away slowly, one step at a time, showing his empty hands. “If you hurt her—”

“It will be your fucking fault,” the merc snapped.

He only calmed down once Kai stood against the gunwales on the opposite side of the deck.

“That’s better. Good Marine,” he added in an infuriatingly condescending tone before he clucked in my ear.

“Now, now, dearest Cersi. That move was very naughty. You can fight me later while I fuck you raw.”

I glared at the beast. It was my rotten luck to be the object of his sick fixation.

Kai’s nostrils expanded with silent fury, but trapped by Levine’s gun, he stood still against the railing. The darkness of a moonless night contrasted with his ashen face. The bandage glared white on his chest, but it was also spotted with red.

I trapped a sob in my throat. He had to be in so much pain.

Waves swelled behind him, rocking the boat, although perhaps not as violently as before.

Flashes of distant lightning framed Kai’s form, outlining his body’s powerful lines.

With his feet planted apart and his hands fisted, his limbs swelled with elegant muscle.

He was ready to fight, if only he got the chance.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, a warning of death approaching.

“The wind is about to change.” Kai announced as the patter of rain tapped on the fiberglass roof above our heads. “The boat is adrift. If I don’t act, she will capsize.”