Alpha One (Shadow Agents #1)(21)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Her whole body was tense. Too eager. Her muscles straining. Then he was pushing his long, broad fingers under the edge of her panties. Touching her in the most intimate of caresses. His name broke from her even as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

He didn’t touch her with hesitation or uncertainty. He touched her the way a man did when he knew his lover’s body and knew how to give her the most pleasure.

His fingers slid over her flesh, found the center of her need. His touch grew more demanding. Her breath came faster, faster…

His mouth was on hers, kissing, thrusting his tongue past her lips. Her hands dug deeper into his shoulders. The pleasure was so close, driving her, making Juliana desperate for the release that would rip through her and take the pain away.

A shrill alarm cut through the room. The ringing pierced her ears even as she choked out Logan’s name. The pleasure hit, fast, brutal, but he stiffened against her.

The alarm’s shriek continued and Logan swore.

Juliana’s body shook when Logan pulled her to her feet.

“Someone’s coming,” he snapped.

Her heartbeat was still racing. She swallowed as she tried to ease the dryness in her throat. Her hands fumbled and she attempted to fix her clothes.

“You’re safe in here,” he told her even as he stepped away and opened a nearby drawer. When his hand rose again, she saw that he was holding a gun.

Someone’s coming.

Logan caught her hand and pulled her with him into the small room to the right, a room filled with about five monitors. On those monitors, she just saw trees. Empty woods. He must have been using some kind of night-vision cameras so that they could get the view, but she didn’t see anyone approaching the cabin.

“Someone triggered the alarm.” He yanked on a thick shirt, shoved into shoes.

Juliana shook her head. “They couldn’t have found us already.” It had just been hours. Hours.

Her thighs pressed together. The pleasure had left her emotions raw, and this—now? “They can’t be here,” she whispered.

But as she stared at those monitors, she saw the men creep from the shadows and close in. Men dressed in black with hoods covering their faces and big guns cradled in their hands.

The images were grainy on the screens. She leaned closer, narrowing her eyes.

And the gunfire erupted. No sound came with the shots, but she saw the men begin to fall. Two staggered back, clutching their chests. The others lifted their weapons. Fired at enemies she couldn’t see…even as they raced forward, their images flickering on the monitors.

“Give me a weapon,” Juliana said, surprised that her words were so steady.

Logan glanced at her and studied her face with narrowed eyes.

“Give it to me.”

Logan’s team was out in those woods. She got that. They were firing at the men. But if they didn’t take them all out, if someone got to the house…

Logan opened a thick safe on the left, nestled behind the screens. More guns were inside. Knives, too. What looked like a giant stockade of weapons.

He handed her a gun. “Here’s the safety. Make sure it’s off when you fire.”

The weapon didn’t feel heavy in her hands. She’d expected more.

It was cold. Hard.

The alarm was still beeping. She could hear the shots now, coming from outside. The battle was nearly at her door.

“Stay behind me,” Logan ordered.

She nodded.

His fingers curved under her chin. He tilted her head up and flashed a smile at her.

“Try not to shoot me,” he said, then he kissed her. A fast brush of his lips against hers.

His words surprised her enough that a rough laugh slipped from her. Laughing, now? Maybe she was as crazy as he was.

But then the shots came again, and the laughter was gone and only fear remained when she heard the voices shouting outside.

Logan had his own weapon up, ready, and—

Glass shattered. A window. Someone was coming in the window.

“Stand down!” Logan yelled.

Gunshots. They weren’t standing down.

Wood cracked. The front door? Being broken down?

Logan pushed her back against the wall on the left. The door to their room was open a few precious inches. He put his gun barrel through that opening. Aimed—

The blast of his gun had her ears aching. Someone groaned, then there was a heavy thud of sound.

Silence, a long beat. Long enough to make her think that the battle was over. Safety was close and—

Gunfire erupted as all hell seemed to break loose in the small cabin.

Chapter Six

The hunters had arrived too soon. No way should have they already been at the cabin.

The Shadow Agents hadn’t even had a chance to leave their trail of bread crumbs for Guerrero yet. They weren’t ready for his attack.

They shouldn’t have underestimated the man’s resources.

A bullet tore right through the door next to Logan. He barely heard the thunder of the weapons, and he wouldn’t let himself look back at Juliana. He didn’t want to see the fear in her gaze.

He had to focus to get the job done. To protect her.

Kill or be killed.

Logan wasn’t in the mood to die.

Not wasting any bullets, Logan took aim only when he had a target. When he had a target, his bullet slammed home, taking down another one of the attackers.

Logan panned for another mark.

Another one hit the floor.

They should have stood the hell down when he told them to. Logan’s breath rasped in his lungs. Adrenaline had tightened his body, pumped through his blood and amped him up for the battle.

He’d always enjoyed the battles, but this time, with Juliana’s life on the line, the tension edging through him cut sharper than a knife.

From his vantage point, he saw when the next man rushed through the cabin’s front door, but Logan didn’t squeeze the trigger this time.

Gunner was the man in his sights.

Gunner’s gaze swept around the room and he gave a low whistle. “Three down…all in the heart.”

Kill or be killed.

Logan didn’t open the door. “Clear?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re clear, Alpha One.”

He finally glanced back at Juliana, but instead of the fear he’d expected to see burning in her eyes, the woman just looked mad.

Her fingers tightly clutched her gun, and he wondered…would she have used it, if she’d had to do the job?

As far as he knew, Juliana had never hurt another soul in her life. And shooting at another human, being ready to take a life, that was a line many couldn’t cross.