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.