Mastered By The Mavericks(64)

Rhett.

Rebel.

They'd called her the gift but they'd been the gifts. Their faces burst  across her vision, confirming it to the point of pain. Their lips,  infusing her skin with their passion. Their eyes, the dual oceans of  their adoration. Their bold jaws, set with the same resolve: to make her  scream as she succumbed everything she felt and everything she was to  them …                        
       
           



       

And she had.

And with the admission, knew she'd never feel the same way in her life  again. Not with anyone else again. Certainly not these two monsters, who  hauled her into a room that had weirdly just … appeared. Holy shit.  Rhett's theory was right. The room-that-wasn't-a-room was hidden behind a  secret panel, concealed behind the hall's real wall. So did that mean-

"Brynn!"

Zoe's scream was as excruciating as being dumped on the room's cement  floor. For several seconds, Brynn couldn't respond. As all the wind  rushed into her lungs, her brain decided to make a not-so-triumphant  comeback to her head. The full horror of this nightmare, until now just  feeling like an episode of a graphic HBO show, gripped her like the  reality that it was.

Her sob erupted into a scream. She kicked away from the guards, not  wasting time being modest about it. Too damn late to play Laura Ingalls,  when a pair of Neanderthals were clearly thinking behind-the-barn-fun  with naughty Nellie Oleson.

She had to keep her shit together. Had to make her brain stay put this  time, and use it to think clearly. It might be the only way to keep Zoe  and herself alive.

Rhett.

Rebel.

Their names ripped into her consciousness again, this time bringing  hope. They were here. Somewhere. How much had they seen and heard on the  feed? Did they know Adler had exposed her? Facial recognition software.  Didn't that stuff exist only exist on TV shows? Again, she fought past  the sense that she was just playing out a movie scene-that any second,  the director would call "cut" and everyone would break for coffee. The  two thugs would help her off the floor before talking about their  weekend plans with their wives and kids …

"Brynn. Oh my God!"

Zoe's voice was thick with tears. Brynn's own eyes stung, tears stemming  from a mix of joy and horror. She's here. I've finally found her. But  even turning toward her friend was impossible. Her arms had been pinned  against the floor. Her head was locked in place, too.

What the hell?

There was a third guard. Of course. The one who'd been keeping watch  over Zo already. The asshole had dropped behind her, then clamped her  head using his knees. He trapped her wrists beneath his hands. His face,  upside down because of the position and that much more disgusting for  it, floated over hers with a slow smirk-and breath that smelled like old  cheese and stale beer.

"Awwww. A present. You guys really do care."

"For all three of us." She couldn't tell whether Thing One or Thing Two  had spoken. Like it mattered. Didn't matter. Her stomach would've  churned with as much dread at the sound of their pants unsnapping, their  zipper sliding down. "I think she tried to get in to save the duffed-up  bitch."

"Well, thank you, darling." His friend knelt in front of her, pushing  her knees out wide. "You saved something, all right. Our very blue  balls." He tossed a look back at his friend. "She's all yours, Burt.  Just push the lace out of the way, I guess."

Burt chuckled. "Yeah, I'll figure it out." He stroked his rising  erection while staring down over her body. "This boy knows his way to  the goods."

Zoe's cry pierced the air. "Oh, my God. Brynna."

"Shut up." The brute still holding her right thigh flung a threatening  glare. "I can't fuck you but I sure as hell can smack you."

Brynn bit her lip hard to refrain from hurling an insult of her own. It  wouldn't gain her anything, and might get Zoe struck. God only knew how  many times her friend's spicy temper had earned her such abuse over the  last week. Her mind took off with the worst possibilities, since she  wasn't able to run an actual visual check. Squeezing her eyes shut only  worsened the possibilities, but at least she didn't have to look at the  third monster, who dropped to his knees between her legs with an oily  growl-

Then burst into a stunned choke, as an explosion rocked the building. "What the fuck?"

Brynn's head fell to the floor as the first guard lurched to his feet. "What the hell was that?"

Even through the wall, the alarm peals were ear-shattering. Brynn had  never heard better music in her life, and that included all three of her  favorite dance music stations. Lurching to her feet and whirling, she  found Zoe on a small daybed in the corner, gripping the mattress like it  was her life raft. Holy crap, her belly was big. Brynn wondered if  Adler had forced her to pad the swell out for ultimate protection, until  seeing the dent of her friend's belly button against her cotton  maternity tee.

"Zo!"                       
       
           



       

As she raced to her friend's side, another explosion sounded, closer and  louder. Though the boom turned the adrenalin in her system to rocket  fuel, it was a secondary boost to hugging Zoe once more. "Finally." She  inhaled, treasuring the spicy scent that belonged solely to her friend.  At last she yanked back, peering carefully into the eyes that nearly  matched the sapphire stud in the woman's nose. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Zoe braved a wan smile while picking up a T-shirt off the bed  and tossing it at Brynn. The all-white thing draped to the middle of her  thighs. Perfect.

"Oh, honey. Your dancing always was way better than your acting."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Fine. They've kept me alive. Let's leave it at that."

"And the baby?"

"Good." She suddenly grabbed her belly. "Ow!" Gritted out a laugh. "Really good. Especially today. Owwww."

Brynn watched her friend even more closely, while letting Zoe nearly squeeze her hand off her wrist. "That doesn't look ‘good'."

"No." It was damn near a snarl. "It's fine. I'm fine. She's just … kicking."

"Kicking. For a full minute?"

Another boom. Bellows followed it, male yet indiscernible, orders and  countermands that pounded the walls like billiard balls in a drain pipe.

"What's going on?" Zoe gasped out.

"I didn't come alone." Thank God. Her Doms had saved her from that very fatal mistake.

Her Doms.

New tears jabbed, welled, and flowed.

Somehow, in some way, those two words had become two of the best  syllables in the English language. And if the wrong side was winning in  the skirmish outside this room, she'd never have the chance to tell  them.

No. She couldn't believe that. She wouldn't.

This time, she chose to believe. To trust. To throw her heart completely into the power of love.

"Rhett Lange and Rebel Stafford came with me." She murmured it close to  Zoe's ear, so the Neanderthals wouldn't be alerted. "If anyone can get  past that door, it'll be them. But keep acting scared."

Zoe hugged her tight again. "Gracia a Dios, it won't be that huge an act."

But her friend didn't get a chance to stretch her thespian chops. Before  they could release each other, Zoe curled in, emitting a longer cry of  pain. "Ohhhh shit!"

Brynna held her as she sank back onto the mattress, clutching her  stomach, lost to an agonized grimace. Ohhhh shit was right. "Zo. I think  you're in labor."

"No!" Her friend moaned it while clutching the meager pillow. "No. Not here. Not now!"

The last of her scream was devoured-by a blast that left the walls  shaking and Brynn's ears clanging. She pressed herself over Zoe as smoke  billowed into the room, smelling horrible, stinging her throat.

"Ay!" Zoe yelled.

Burt the guard fell, downed by a single gunshot.

"Holy crap." Brynn gulped.

The second guard toppled, taken down the same way.

Through the smoke, Brynn watched Garrett and Zeke tackle the third  guard. They thwicked him into plastic cuffs before ordering him back  onto his knees. Bursting into the room behind them were Kellan, Tait,  and Shay, guns brandished, warrior glares blazing.

"Here!" The word fell from Brynn on a desperate shout. She coughed from  the effort of drawing air to get it out. "Over here! Shay!"

"Shay?" Zoe jolted up, invigorated now that her baby's "kicking" had  abated. With the sheen across her face and breaths whooshing in and out,  she wasn't fooling anyone about what was really going on. Maybe she'd  listen to her husband, once he-

"Dancer?" He swept her up into his arms, crushing her close, frantically  kissing her hair, neck, cheeks. Once his mouth found hers, it was time  to cue the swelling Hollywood soundtrack again. Despite the chaos, Brynn  swooned a little inside at the epic passion of their kiss.