His Runaway Mountain Bride by Madison Faye

Jackie was going to be okay. After we got her inside and when Axe patched up the graze to her arm, we got the full story. Some of Anthony’s guys had been in the parking lot waiting—maybe to clip one of us when we walked outside. But when they’d seen Jackie and Lucy, they’d jumped out to grab them.

Of course, they weren’t expecting Jackie to pull out a .38 and start blasting.

Jackie said she’d got one of them in the gut, but she’d lost the gun when they’d clipped her in the arm, and after that, they’d grabbed Lucy and driven off. So, yeah, Jackie was going to be okay.

…But I was done.

They’d taken her—the woman I loved, who I’d already lost once. And I was about to drag every single one of them, piece-by-piece, to hell to get her back.

Shepherd and Oliver were quiet in the truck as we drove out towards the old airfield at Hunt’s Bend. Everyone else, including Austin, Dallas, and Dane, who’d all rushed down the mountain to come help, were on bikes or in other trucks in front and in back of us. Except for Axe and Stone, who’d gone on ahead of us. The plan was for the two of them to head in first on foot and take out any sentries.

“This is probably a trap, you know,” Shepherd muttered. He turned to glance at me sitting in the backseat of the track cab.

“Good,” I growled back, my hands clenching to fists.

He eyed me. “You really love her, don’t you?”

“You have to fucking ask?” I spat back.

He grinned. “Just checking, man.”

“Don’t ever check again.”

He chuckled, nodding. “Alright, brother. Look, you don’t have to actually come along on this.”

“The fuck I don’t,” I growled.

“No, you know what I mean, Rowan. You’re a fucking Federal agent, man. If you do this—”

“I know what if I do this.”

“I’m just saying it’s not like we’re getting a fucking warrant.”

I frowned. “No shit.”

“Rowan—”

“I know what I’m doing, Shepherd,” I growled thickly.

And I did. I knew that nothing else mattered but getting Lucy back and destroying the shitheads who’d taken her. Fuck “the rules.” Fuck the Bureau, and my career. None of it mattered. Not compared to getting Lucy back.

We pulled off the main road, and Oliver nodded at some blood splatter on the gravel maintainenance road.

“Looks like your mates found a sentry.”

In front of us, Ryker killed the lights on his Jeep, and the rest of us did the same, driving slow and quiet down the maintenance road towards the old airfield. Up ahead through the trees, we could see the lights from the old hanger. My phone buzzed, and I grunted as I yanked it out of my pocket and glanced at it.

Shit. It was Dante.

“Hey, boss.”

There was a second of silence before he exhaled slowly. Never a good sign.

“What did I fucking say, Rowan.”

I frowned. “About?”

“Don’t fuck around here, Rowan,” he growled. I knew Dante well enough to know this wasn’t just him being pissed at me. This was a bigger.

“I say lay low and leave Marcello’s guys alone! And what the fuck do you do?” He bellowed through the phone. “You fucking shoot four of them!”

“Dante, it’s not like I had a fucking choice,” I growled, frowning and trying to piece together how Dante had even heard that I’d clipped the four assholes.

“Did you know one of those guys had turned informant? Informant, Rowan! The son of a bitch didn’t die right away, in case you care. Managed to call in before we lost him.”

Shit. That’s how he’d known.

“Well then he probably shouldn’t have drawn down on a Federal fucking agent, Dante!” I spat back.

“Goddamn, Rowan,” Dante hissed. “I don’t have a choice here anymore.”

I frowned as Ryker gestured out of his window, and we all pulled quietly into the shadows of the trees on both sides of the gravel road.

“No choice for what, Dante.”

“You’re suspended, Agent Turner,” he grunted. “Indefinitely, pending internal review.”

My jaw clenched. “What?”

“Oh, come the fuck on, Rowan!” Dante roared. “This lone wolf bullshit of yours is not how the Bureau plays, and you fucking know it. So I need you to come in and turn in our shit.”

“When,” I muttered.

“An hour ago,” Dante growled. “What the fuck do you think I mean, Rowan? Right now!”

I shook my head, aware of Shep and Oliver glancing at me curiously. “Can’t do that right now. Look, Anthony’s guys are assembled in force, and they’re looking to kill—”

“Then it’s someone else’s shit, Rowan,” he growled. “And like I told you, they’re not to be touched. Not with this intel deal about to go through.”

“So, I should just let them fucking murder people?” I snarled. “That it, Dante?”

He sighed. “Report in. Now, Turner, or there’s gonna be troub—”

That’s when I hung up. That’s also the exact moment when I knew for sure I was done with the FBI—done with the bureaucracy, done with the red tape, and done with the bullshit. With a muttered swear, I opened the back of the phone and yanked out the sim card. I reached back and pulled my badge out of the holder on my belt and held it up. I glanced at it, and I knew there was no going back.

I turned, opened the window, and tossed the fucking thing out. Oliver and Shepherd glanced at each other and then turned back to me. Shep nodded.

“No going back now, is there?”

“Nope.”

I opened the backdoor to the truck and jumped down, the both of them following. We headed around to the back as the other guys started to head over too. With a rustling sound, Axe stepped out of the shadows, followed closely by a demonic looking Stone. Axe nodded at Ryker.

“They had four sentries. We’re good now. They’ve got Lucy tied up inside.”

Oliver swung the tailgate down, and before anyone said a thing, I was picking up one of the rocket launchers and slinging it over my shoulder. It was like tunnel vision, and all I knew was, these fuckers had my Lucy, and I was going to burn the fucking world down to get her back.

“So, we’re going to fan out, and we need a way to draw them out. On my mark—fuck, Rowan!”

Ryker hissed and swore as I just walked away, slinging the rocket launcher off my back and jamming one of the rounds into the barrel. I walked grim-faced towards the edge of the trees and brought it up to my shoulder again as the rest of them quickly followed.

“Dude,” Shep tapped my on the arm. “Maybe dial it back and we can—”

I squatted, aimed, and as Shepherd swore and jumped away, I fired. The rocket hissed like a comet through the night, and a quarter second later, it hit. Three black SUVs around the entrance to the hanger suddenly erupted in liquid fire, twisting up in the air and crashing back down in an explosive crash as the doors to the hanger slammed open. Marcello’s guys began to stream out, and I tossed the launcher away and grabbed my gun as I glanced at Shepherd and Axe standing next to me with a grim smile.

“That’s how we’ll draw them out.”

Axe grinned. “Let’s fucking do this.”

He, Shep, Oliver, Ryker, Stone, Jackie, Vlad, Braun, Austin, Dallas, Dane and I turned, tensed, roared, and bolted towards the fire.

And then it was on.