Night Moves: A Shadow Force Novel (17 page)

“Better than you know.” Kell splayed his palm along her lower back to pull her in close. “You want to feel, right? Something—anything—besides hate and fear.”

“Yes.”

“Do you really?” he asked, tilting his hips toward her, his erection jutting against her, a hot, wet heat between her legs that made her press back against him, lighting a fire in his eyes.

“Yes. Why are you doing this?”

“I’m doing it to get what I need,” he growled, before his mouth covered hers and she didn’t have to ask any more questions. Just needed his skin on hers, his big, strong hands gliding over her body, stripping her down. Letting her come apart.

“Wait … what about Reid?”

“He’ll know to stay out,” Kell said against her mouth. “You want to do this even though you’re scared of me?”

“Because I’m scared of you.”

Then it was all heat and moans as he moved down between her legs, tasted her through her underwear until she arched against his mouth.

She’d had sex before, a few one-night stands, even in countries with men who seemed wild—but compared to Kell, they had all been tame.

Kell was not—his body poised over her like an animal in full predator mode, stalking every inch of her, until she ached to be held down and taken.

“Kell … yes …”

“Yes what?”

“Yes to everything.”

But then, just as suddenly, he pulled away. Stopped to listen to a sound she couldn’t hear at all.

“Get dressed—get your things,” he told her, didn’t explain further, and she didn’t need him to. As Kell went down the stairs and she headed to the room where her clothes were, she saw Reid standing at the door, rifle in hand.

Her heart pounded and she raced to her bathroom, tearing off the robe and putting on the black pants Kell had left for her, tying them up as best she could
and grabbing her own clothes and stuffing them into her bag.

She shoved her feet into her sneakers and went down the stairs quietly, not wanting to disturb the men. She sank onto the bottom step and waited for Kell or Reid’s next direction. Watched as Kell collected the mens’ things as Reid stood guard.

“Come on, Teddie.” Kell finally motioned to her from the doorway leading out to the garage.

She got into the second seat of the truck’s cab—it seemed way sturdier than the Jeep and she figured the safest spot would be in back. Ducking. Although she doubted it was bulletproof.

“Are you any good at shooting?” Kell asked, and yes, she’d learned when she’d been traveling in dangerous places. She’d honed her skills this past year, only leaving her gun behind so she could cross the border more easily, then buying one in Mexico.

“Didn’t I prove that to you already?”

He arched a brow. “You proved you’re willing to shoot. What I want to know is, how good’s your aim?”

“I wouldn’t have missed.”

“Good.” He handed her his gun, butt-first. “Keep your eyes peeled. Don’t shoot me or Reid, no matter how tempting.”

She laughed in spite of herself, nearly horrified at what a foreign sound it was. “Where are you going to be?”

“Reid will be here, with you. I’m going to scout outside so we’re not driving into an ambush.”

That should’ve made her feel safer. Instead, she was terrified. “Don’t get hurt.”

“That’s the idea,” he told her as Reid got into the driver’s seat. In seconds, Kell shut the door and disappeared as both she and Reid waited in tense silence, staring at the garage door in front of them.

“We’ll be fine, Teddie,” Reid said after a long moment, his voice calm and oddly reassuring.

She’d thought he was as angry at her as he seemed to be with Kell, but from the tone of his voice, she suddenly knew that wasn’t the case at all.

T
here was no one outside the house. Kell checked the entire perimeter twice, moving silently through the thick bushes that kept the place private from passersby.

Reid said the security cameras hadn’t captured anything. But if he and Reid were coming at this house from the outside, the cameras would never have captured them either. It was why he only put stock in his instincts.

Maybe his instincts and Reid’s were all fucked up from the threat Crystal posed. But no matter what, staying in the house was no longer an option.

“Come on out, Reid,” he called. “I’ll check around the front gate, but it looks all clear.”

The garage door opened almost silently. What happened next wasn’t even close.

When the bomb and the flash-bang grenades went off simultaneously, Kell was far enough away to get hit with only part of the blast. The full brunt would’ve surely killed him, as the partial was still close enough for him to get thrown to the ground hard and to—
hopefully temporarily—take away the majority of his hearing.

And then Reid was kneeling over him, his lips moving and Kell tried to tell him he was fine but must’ve been yelling because Reid slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up.

The aftermath of an explosion was always eerily quiet, but his lack of hearing made it far worse.

“Don’t move, don’t talk,” Reid was saying, and Kell nodded, but fuck that hurt. He saw spots and knew he’d pass out soon, tried to get up so Reid wouldn’t have to carry him to the truck. But he got halfway up and Reid mouthed,
“Stubborn bastard,”
and then everything went black.

T
eddie heard the explosion, felt the heavy truck actually rock when it was halfway through the garage door, and she pressed a hand to her mouth so she didn’t scream.

Instead, she moved to the front seat after Reid abandoned it to look for Kell and tried to see through the front window.

The night was too dark, the smoke too chokingly dense, and she fought the urge to leave the truck and run to see if the men were all right.

They had to be.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she saw two figures emerge through the haze, one carrying the other. She scrambled to the back of the truck and opened the doors. Reid set Kell down and crawled in after him.

“Is he …?” she asked.

“He’ll be fine. Can you drive us out of here?”

“Yes,” she agreed without hesitation, moved behind the wheel and got the truck moving, her heart beating a tattoo in her chest.

Reid couldn’t have been lying to her—Kell was okay. He’d been breathing, and that was always a good sign.

The road outside the house was quiet and she sped along the dirt and rock as fast as she could manage in the large vehicle, which was surprisingly smooth. For about four miles, there were no problems. And then she caught sight of something in the rearview mirror.

It was a car coming up behind them with its headlights switched off, and it was moving fast.

“We’re being followed.” She willed herself to stay calm, listened to Reid telling her to bank a hard left and floor it. As she followed his directions, she heard him readying a weapon, the truck bouncing more than she’d like it to because of Kell. But Reid reassured her she was doing great, that he would take over as soon as he could.

“Teddie, lose them,” Reid instructed.

She would because she knew for certain she needed these men, needed to prove to them she could be an asset. She shoved her fear down and let a more productive and empowering anger take over. It pushed her to maneuver the heavy truck easily down the back roads.

She’d had the good fortune and privilege to meet all kinds of people over the years, spent some time learning to drive race cars, and now she let those underutilized skills come back to her.

“Hang on,” she called as she swerved hard and watched the car behind her shake on its wheels. She slammed the brakes and doubled back, letting the other truck careen past and into the ravine on the side of the road. She wasted no time savoring her victory, instead punched down the gas until they were flying down the road again and then cut across to the main road, trying to avoid being spotted.

When she was done she didn’t hear a single complaint, just an appreciative whistle and Kell saying loudly, “Where the hell did she learn to do that?”

“I don’t care where you learned, I’m just glad you did,” Reid said, a note of surprise and approval in his voice. Instead of taking over, he directed her down back roads, and even though no one was following them now, she used a series of circle maneuvers, just in case. Held her breath until she realized they were no longer being followed.

Then she exhaled, nearly every part of her body shaking, and continued driving to keep them in the clear.

“Teddie, we’re going to the border,” Reid said.

“But Reid, I—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Reid told her, and she heard him talking on his phone to someone about needing a special dispensation to cross back into Texas.

When he got off the phone, he told her, “Pull over when you can and you and I need to switch.”

“Will do.” But she wanted to make sure the danger was truly behind them for now. And she needed to make sure that the scared girl she’d left behind wouldn’t return anytime soon.

Now was the time for strength, for keeping her shit together. She would do it if it meant staying safe.

She drove for another half an hour at top speed, and so far, so good. When she caught sight of a hidden spot along the road, she pulled over and killed the lights, then quickly switched spots with Reid.

Reid turned the lights back on and gunned it. “We’re ten minutes from the border,” he said. “Just hang on—it’s going to be rough.”

She was sitting mainly on the floor and letting Kell take up the majority of the backseat. Her limbs were like jelly, thanks to the adreneline and the tight hold she’d kept over her body during the driving.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“Yeah. He had a double whammy with the flash-bang grenades,” Reid explained. “They blur your sight and take your hearing temporarily. They toss you down hard, worse if you try to fight it. These took him by surprise. He was lucky as hell—his sight came back fast.” Reid paused for a second and then asked, “You all right?”

“Yes. Where are we taking him?”

“We’re going to get him checked out. Lose the truck and get to another safe house. One that lives up to its name,” Reid muttered that last part angrily.

She touched Kell’s cheek gently, relieved to feel the warmth, reassured by the steady rise and fall of his chest. “Is he unconscious?”

As if to answer her, Kell squeezed her hand.
No
.

Good.

“How’d you cross coming in?” Reid asked.

“Easily.” She’d been worried the whole time, but
they’d let her pass without incident, viewing her as a single woman headed for a vacation adventure.

Getting out would be a different story—something she’d planned on figuring out later. The marshals had taken her passport and IDs last year when she’d gone into hiding, issuing her a new one under a false name, which is what she’d used. “Reid, I don’t have a passport,” she reiterated. “I have no ID or tourist card—I left them at the motel by accident when I went to the restaurant to meet Samuel.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just stay where you are and don’t open your mouth,” Reid said as they pulled up alongside a border guard carrying a big gun.

He looked in and saw her and Kell holding hands, told Reid, “I’m collecting on this favor.”

“Can’t blame you for that,” Reid drawled.

“Try to stay the hell out of Mexico for a while.” He tapped the side of the truck, called, “All clear.”

Her heart pounded as they drove across the border, leaving Mexico in their rearview mirror.

But somehow, she realized, she was involved in far worse trouble than when she’d started.

R
eid had cut off Teddie’s concerns about getting through the border. Taking a wanted woman with him out of Mexico had been of less concern than getting them all out of the danger that seemed to be closing in on them from all sides.

He’d called Dylan, got Cam instead, but he was just as good for what Reid needed. And he didn’t curse Reid out, just made some calls and got Reid the contact. Now Reid followed the directions Cam had given him until he saw a new truck waiting for them, one with Texas plates. He pulled next to it and helped Teddie out. Then he carried Kell—who was fighting sleep by this point—putting him in the new truck.

He took off the old plates off and replaced them with another set that were stored in the back of the new truck. Tossed the old Mexico plates down a
nearby ravine off the side of the road, and then motored the vehicle the three hours toward their new safe house.

Teddie was stoic—she didn’t complain, merely roused Kell every now and again once he’d finally given in to sleep, to make sure he could come to consciousness.

He did, and that made Reid breathe easier.

“You’ve done this before—saved him,” Teddie said finally from the dark of the backseat.

Reid glanced at her in the rearview mirror, catching sight of the concern on her face. “We’ve done this rescuing-each-other shit back and forth for a while. Hell, he’s saved a lot of people. It’s his calling—he’s a natural.”

“You know him well.”

“I used to. These days …” Reid broke eye contact in the mirror as his words trailed off.

“I figured. You can only fight with someone like that if you love them.”

Reid nodded, kept his eyes on the road.

“I hate to think I’ve come between you,” she continued.

“You were the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it wouldn’t have taken much,” Reid admitted. “You can’t hurt him. He’s been through too much shit already.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

Reid wondered if Kell was listening to every goddamned word, then decided he didn’t care. “He’s gotten close to you, against all odds. I’ve never seen him act like this.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“He needed to let himself heal, and I’m not talking about physically, from these most recent wounds. He needs to forgive himself.”

“Do you forgive him?”

“I’m close.” Reid smiled in spite of everything, his face sore and bruised from the earlier fight. “We’re family. It happens.”

“What about your biological family?”