Ruled by Elle Kennedy

Author:Elle Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-09-21T13:20:23+00:00

16

Even with ten miles between Rylan and the Enforcer outpost they’d just destroyed, he could still smell the blood and smoke and gunpowder in the air. Especially the blood. It filled his nostrils and stuck to his throat, but he was in no rush to strip off his bloodstained sweater or throw a coat over it to mask the sharp, coppery scent.

There was no such thing as victory without blood.

And they’d spilled a lot of that tonight.

A feral smile twisted his lips as he glanced over his shoulder to peer at the back windshield. There was a second truck behind them, driven by a man named Trace and carrying the four other Foxworth fighters who’d assisted Rylan and Xander on the mission. But Rylan focused his gaze beyond the second vehicle, far in the distance. The thick black plume was hard to make out against the dark backdrop of the night sky, but spiraled wisps of smoke could be seen under the full moon. The acrid odor of soot and ash trailed the trucks as they sped down the cracked pavement away from the scene of their crime.

They’d launched four separate attacks tonight—two earlier in the evening, two in the later hours of the night. Beckett and Nash’s teams were already on their way back to Foxworth, their successful missions having left every Enforcer dead and both outposts in flames.

Rylan and Xan had seen the same success and were now speeding toward the rendezvous point where they were supposed to meet Reese’s team.

Which still hadn’t checked in.

Rylan couldn’t fight the worry gnawing on his gut, which only got worse the longer the radio clipped to his belt stayed silent. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He clicked the radio on and, using the code names they’d assigned, murmured, “Alpha One, come in.”

No answer.

Xander looked over from the driver’s seat. “It’s only been ten minutes. She’ll check in soon.”

Rylan wasn’t appeased. Ten minutes was a lifetime, damn it. Worst-case scenarios kept flashing through his mind, images of Reese lying in a pool of her own blood, her long red hair fanned around her head, a bullet hole in the center of her proud forehead.

His hands were weaker than a newborn’s as he pulled out a cigarette and lit up.

“You’re falling in love with her.”

Xander’s flat remark startled Rylan into dropping his cigarette on the torn passenger seat. “Shit,” he swore, hastily fumbling for the smoke before it burned a hole in the leather. Then he shot Xan an aggravated look. “No, I’m not.”

“If you say so.”

His friend didn’t believe him. Well, Xan was wrong. He wasn’t falling in love. Falling deeper in lust, fine, he’d own up to that. But not love. There was no such thing.

He took a drag, then exhaled in a rush. “It’s just sex, man.”

Xander’s gaze stayed on the road. “The first time you fuck someone, sure, it’s just sex. Maybe even the second and third times. But like it or not, there always comes a point when the sex turns into something else.

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