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“Alright. I’ll let Talis know where you are.” Miller nodded, glancing briefly outside as a bunch of yahoos zipped around on their jet skis, and then paused. “What do you want us to do with our guest downstairs?”
Callista. Miller and Perez were capable of seeing to what she needed, but they weren’t Alphas. And she might need an Alpha….
No. It was a good thing I was leaving. My will had fast been crumbling around her. “Just let her rest. Talis might want to debrief her later.”
Miller nodded, and then there was the explosion of gunfire and the pilot house windows shattered. We all dove onto the floor and yanked our guns out of our holsters. Or rather, Perez and I did. Miller had a bullet in his head.
The jet skis zoomed along our port side and the shooting never stopped. Perez had yanked the radio down and was calling out a Mayday. Below deck, Callista screamed, and the rest of my world faded away except that sound.
I was crawling through the shards of glass before I was even thinking about it. I had to get to her. Booted feet hit the main deck, and I poked my head out of the bridge to shoot one of the bastards in the chest.
They wore no masks, but life jackets. They were surrounding us with the jet skis. My heart hammered as I became laser focused. There were at least a half a dozen by the sounds of the motors. Two more guys on the deck.
Did they think Grant was here? It would make sense. This was the next location for the senator’s night out after the restaurant. If I’d been searching for my missing target, I’d look here too.
A few slugs buried themselves in the doorframe near my head. I peeked out and fired, knocking one of them down with a shot that obliterated his nose.
An explosion at the front of the yacht had me rolling out to hide behind the couch. The remaining gunman and I traded shots before I nailed him in the shoulder. Only then did I stand and finish the job, blasting him in the head.
“Hold the deck!” I yelled to Perez and thundered down the stairs into the boat.
Callista was dragging herself out of the master bedroom, coughing and bleeding from several tiny cuts on her arms. There was a gaping hole at the front of the yacht already taking on water. This boat was going down, and we needed to get out of here.
“Callista!” I slid to a stop beside her and hauled her to her feet. I pressed her against me as she was unsteady, and my body immediately responded to hers. “Are you okay?”
Another gunman pounded down the stairs and I shot him. Callista screamed and buried her face against my chest as the guy crumbled to the ground.
Several more heavy footsteps ran onto the deck above. Shit. I might have risked going up myself, but not with Callista. I refused to put her in the line of fire. I had to protect her. Not just because it was my job, or that it was the right thing to do, but because I couldn’t think of doing anything else.
I turned and directed her toward the gaping hole in the hull as I whispered into her ear. “We’re going to jump out and swim under the pier.” Hopefully the bastards wouldn’t think to look for us under there, and if they did, they’d have to swim under to get to us. As a former Navy SEAL, water was my element. “Hold your breath as we dive, sweetling. And don’t worry, I won’t let go.”
I didn’t give her any chance to protest. Hauling her along with me, we jumped out into the ocean.
Chapter Seven
The world was chaotic. Every part of me stung, and when we were engulfed by the salt water, all my wounds sent fire through my veins. I internally screamed as I tried to kick to the surface. Air. I hadn’t gotten a big enough breath before Levi pulled us into the ocean.
Levi dove deeper, though. I kicked, scrambling toward the light, but he kept a firm grip on my wrist.
My lungs burned, and black spots danced around the edges of my already blurry underwater vision. His powerful legs carried us fast, and the light above us darkened as we swam under the pier.
I couldn’t hold on any longer. I had to breathe.
Just as I opened my mouth to suck down my death, we broke the surface. I gasped, desperate for oxygen.
Levi’s hand covered my mouth as he shushed me. He silently swam us over to one of the massive pylons and pressed his back to the mussel encrusted wood before pulling me against him. He seemed to stay afloat effortlessly as I tried not to panic, kicking my legs.
He rested his chin on the top of my head as we listened to the gunmen on the sinking yacht and the dock. My heart raced, pounding so loudly in my ears. Did someone see us jump? Would they find us under the pier? Every time someone crossed over top of us, I held my breath and expected them to start shooting downward.
I tried focusing on the lapping of the waves, but my body latched onto something else: Levi. His heartbeat was strong and steady, and his breaths came out in slow, long exhales. He kept me against him and rubbed a small spot on my lower back with his thumb.
Levi would keep me safe. And the more I repeated that to myself, the more the stiffness eased out of my body. The water was cold, but his body was so warm. I closed my eyes and let his caresses comfort me.
And arouse me.
This was not the time for getting horny. God, I was smarter than that, but I couldn’t help what my body was feeling. My nipples hardened as we bobbed in the water and I rubbed further against him. The material of my dress was thin to nonexistent wet. There was so little between him and I, and just that thought had my hips pressing toward his.
Panic wasn’t making me breathe heavily, his closeness was. His body was all muscle like a swimmer’s. Broad across the chest and long legs with a narrow waist that I wanted to wrap my legs around. And he was hard. Big and thick and throbbing in his pants.
