Evie came back down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. She stomped on Star to get to Blue. “Michael’s good,” she said, jumping up and down with happiness. “Badly bruised, but he’s got all his parts and they’re working, so I can’t complain.”
“What happened to him?”
“He made it into the forest outside the cabin, evaded the men hunting him, and called Solo.” She twisted to eye the warrior in question. “When
Solo shrugged his wide shoulders. “For all I knew, you were under duress. I didn’t want anyone to know how close I was.”
“Forgiven. I guess.” She focused on Blue and her grin returned. “We did it. We really won.”
His chest constricted. Oh, how he adored this woman. “You okay? Was anything done to you?” From the looks of her, she hadn’t been hurt, but he needed to hear the words directly from her.
“No. I’m fine, I promise. You?”
“Better every second.” He increased the pressure on Star’s neck, and the man gasped for breath. “If Star had been smarter, he would have realized you were the greater threat.”
Beaming at him, she cupped his cheeks. “You keep saying stuff like that and it’s going to go to my head.” After kissing him, she said, “So what’s next?”
He nuzzled her nose. “Now we get to a secure location and have our chat-up with Star.”
Since Michael could officially come back from the dead, everyone was able to congregate at his house, in the basement. The dungeon, Evie liked to call it, where multiple cells awaited, as well as torture devices stained with the blood of past victims.
She watched as Blue and Solo took turns interrogating Star. She’d never seen two men more focused, driven, or—to be honest—cruel. But they had to be. It wasn’t until the end, six hours later, when there wasn’t much left of Star, that the male who’d caused so much death and destruction finally broke.
He’d proven to be immune to compulsion and truth serum but, ultimately, not to pain. Blue and Solo were merciless, cutting off Star’s fingers and toes one at a time, then removing hunks of his skin the way he’d done to John, and then . . . She shuddered. She didn’t want to think about what they did to Star after that, but it worked.
Star spilled his secrets, along with everything else.
Evie stayed with Michael, keeping Star alive while the boys rushed to the address they were given. A place Star reached through underground tunnels in his country estate. As soon as she got a call saying John was in custody, unconscious but alive, she pulled the plug on Star’s life support.
He died soon after.
Tyson had to watch it all from a cell. Now he sobbed quietly in the corner.
Finally, it was all over. The mission. The worry. The guilt. Over.
Evie and Michael hugged and, okay, both of them cried tears of joy.
“I’m sorry,” he said into her hair. “For everything.”
“I know. Me, too.”
“I love you, sunbeam.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
After that, Evie drove home. She didn’t know if she’d see Blue that night or not.
She should have known she would.
He arrived a few hours later, still covered in soot and much more blood, his clothing torn, his feet bare but healed.
Honestly? He’d never looked better to her. He was there, he was alive, and he was with her.
He stalked into the bedroom, jerked her into his arms, and buried his face in the hollow of her neck. She immediately wrapped herself around him, thankful that, despite the horror of the circumstances, they’d come together, they’d opened themselves to a relationship, and they’d fought for it. Fought for each other.
“He’s going to live,” he said. “John’s going to live.”
“I’m so glad.”
“We took him to the medical facility where your father was held those first few days. I want you to . . . Evie, will you take over his care? They’re stabilizing him tonight, but if you could visit him in the morning . . . if you could make sure he’s receiving the best . . . I just . . .”
“Of course I will,” she said. “You don’t even have to ask. I’ll call in the best Rakan specialists. I won’t let anything happen to him, and I’ll make sure everything possible is being done for him.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you, princess.”
“I’m glad about that, too, because . . . Blue? I’m not falling in love with you anymore. I’m there. I’m so in love with you I’m sick with it. I just thought you should know.”
He froze, even stopped breathing, as if he couldn’t bear to disrupt the moment. “I wanted you to love me. Wanted it so bad, because I love you, too, Evangeline Black. I love you so much, it’s pathetic. I’m whipped. Head over heels. Obsessed. Possessed. I’m thinking about having you permanently glued to my side.”
Joy swept through her. She wasn’t sure how she’d won the heart of the world’s most notorious playboy, but she was glad that she had. “I’m strangely okay with being glued to your side,” she said. “I even know a surgeon who’d be willing to do it, if the price was right.”
He gave a hoarse laugh. “I’ll pay double if he’ll make sure our parts are lined up properly. That way I can just stay inside you for the rest of our lives.”
Dirty-minded man. She loved that, too! “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up, fed, and rested. I could use a nap myself. That way I’ll be at my best when I visit John.” She led him to the shower, stripped him, pushed the right buttons, and waited as the mist cleaned him.
Afterward, she drew him to the bed. Then, as he’d once done for her, she went to the kitchen and dug up some food. Wearing only a robe, she straddled his lap, facing him while they ate. He received the peep show of a lifetime.
“By the way, if I wasn’t clear with the whole surgical, stay-inside-you thing, we’re getting married,” he said, “and our prenup is going to stipulate that you have to do something like this every day.”
Married? Yes, please! She wanted this man legally bound to her. “Do you seriously think I’m going to let you have a prenup? I want everything you own, including your soul.”
“Princess, it’s already yours. To prove it, I want to do a human and an Arcadian ceremony. One with vows. One with blood. And before you start to panic on me, you won’t be a slave like Dallas is to the king. I will take your blood, too, and it will bond us. You will age slower, like my race, so I won’t have to live a single moment without you.”
Slowly she grinned. “You, Corbin Blue, are a sappy, sappy man.”
“But you love me anyway.”
“I love you always.”
He squeezed the tops of her thighs. “Since I’ll be Mr. Evangeline Black, you have to wipe out my bill.”
“I will . . . just as soon as you pay it.”
“Can I get a discount?”
She thought for a moment. “Well . . . I think you once mentioned paying in orgasms.”
“This is true.”
“Then no discount. You’ll pay every cent.”
He laughed. “Good.”
“Anything else we need to cover before you knock out a few dollars?”
“A few dollars? Ha! A good orgasm is worth thousands. But, yes, one more thing to cover. You once told me you were done with agenting when the case was over. Is that still the plan?”
“I . . . don’t think so. I liked getting back in the game, I admit it. But I also like being a doctor. So I’m not sure what I’ll do.”
“Maybe you can do both. I mean, you managed both with me. Every time I did something stupid, you were right there to patch me up.”
