Page 67 of Ruthless Commander

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Rhys never missed a second, just grabbed his glass and tuned. “This isn’t like the real world. We’re basically a world of our own. A world we need to protect, or escape from. Either way, it doesn’t matter who the targets are.” He glanced my way. “We’re all in danger.”

Mateo licked his lips, those dark eyes sparkling as he gave a slow nod, then finished his glass and looked at me. There was that formidable glint, that one that made my pulse race and that quiet voice in my head screambe careful of him!

He left his glass on the counter and came toward me. “Flee or protect,” he murmured, coming closer until I took a step backwards into the bedroom.

Which is exactly what he wanted. He closed the door behind him carefully, never once shifting those dark eyes from mine. “Flee or protect,” he said carefully. “Those are my options.”

He glanced toward the bed and I knew what he wanted.

What we both wanted.

“So, what are you suggesting?” I murmured. “We run? In case you’ve forgotten, Mateo, we’re on a damn island with a cyclone bearing down on us.”

“I haven’t forgotten.” He moved closer and I moved backward, until the back of my legs hit the bed. “I haven’t forgotten a damn thing. Especially the moment you left this apartment when Ispecificallytold you not to.”

A charge of excitement tore through me. He knew…he knew.“I…”

“I?” He edged nearer until the muscles in my back strained as I leaned away under him. “I what? I decided to put my own life at risk for a damn…” he glanced at the charger in the middle of the bed. “Charger?”

“My phone was almost dead,” I answered carefully.

“The phone which required a basic charge that many of us have here.” He stepped away, walked around to the other side of the bed, and bent down, lifting the same damn cable from the nightstand drawer. “Including me.”

Shit…

Heat rushed to my face as he glared at me. “I didn’t know,” I protested.

“You didn’t ask. If you had, I would’ve told you that what is mine, is yours,” he answered carefully, striding back around the bed toward me. “As are you, Xael.”

My breath caught and my eyes widened. He reached and grasped the back of my neck. I could taste the Scotch on his breath as I closed my eyes, taste it on his lips too as he kissed me. My heart hammered and my body melted, leaning against him.

I was lost in the moment stolen from the terrors of this place, until he broke the kiss. “I can’t.” He said, his brow furrowing as his phone gave abeep. “Not right now.”

“I get it.” I glanced at his phone as he stared at the message, then turned away, yanked open the door, and left without a word to me.

“Fuck!”he shouted beyond the bedroom door, picking up his pace.

His heavy steps boomed like thunder.

“What is it?” Rhys called, tracking the movement from the kitchen.

But Mateo was already gone, slamming open the apartment door and leaving his rage resounding in the air behind him.

28

Mateo

Goddamn bastards!I’ll kill them…just wait till I get my hands on their scrawny goddamn necks.

“They’re already leaving,” Dom said as I strode out of the apartment and along the hall.

I jerked my gaze to his and snarled,“Then fucking stop them!”

He just flinched as we raced out the doors and across the grounds, heading for the hangar.

I couldn’t hear the damn engine over the howling wind as I threw open the hangar door and lunged through…but I could see the rotors whirling as Vad, Leila, and Alexi Kilpatrick climbed onboard, closing the door behind them.