I was moving quickly when my foot hit something, and then someone groaned. I kneeled down and found Rookie. He'd been tressed up like an offering and covered in mud. I kneeled down to remove the tape from his mouth, and he shook his head. "Ugh, I couldn't fucking help it."

  "Was this her or the others?"

  "Her, fucking her. I thought I'd run in here and track her electronic signature. I was so stupid. She walked right up behind me and zapped me with the tranq. I woke up like this."

  "Sorry."

  "Another fucking month. What does it matter? I just got here."

  "Sorry."

  I heard footsteps to my left and turned to find Robert, who asked, "Mate, is she here?"

  "No, she's been here though."

  He glanced down at Rookie and winced. "Some of us just aren't cut out for this."

  I expected him to move on, but he lingered. Which had me on alert. "Where are you headed next? Back west?" he asked.

  “I want to keep going north."

  He nodded slowly and pushed past me. “It did occur to me that if you're not actually looking for her I had a better chance."

  I laughed. "Aw, mate you don't really think that's going to work out, do you?"

  He launched at me, but I’d already pulled my knife from the sheath at the back of my cargo pants. He kicked out a foot for me, and I caught it. Just like with Saff the other night, and I dropped him, using the knife to ink a nice arc on his chest.

  “Ah, fuck you,” he moaned.

  “I didn't start this."

  He tried to roll back up.

  I laughed. “You are already marked. Stay down."

  “I might be marked, but I'm happy to mark you back."

  "That's not realistic, because you wouldn't be getting up from that wound."

  “Yeah, I would."

  And I realized he had no intention of playing by the rules. I was aware there were probably cameras in here, so I was following the goddamn rules. I didn't want to, but I was. He tried to lunge and kick me off my feet, like a full tackle. He got me, but I didn't go down alone.

  He rolled on top of me, and I delivered an elbow to his face, which snapped his head back. “You think you're so fucking good, King? The rabbit is mine."

  “You wish."

  "Have you tussled with her already? Is that why you're so eager? You want another taste? Maxim and I had a bet going to see if you actually just shagged her. If she shagged you, she'll shag the rest of us. None of us are as ugly as you are."

  “You're not going to fucking touch her."

  "Sure, I am."

  He held an arm to my neck, but I lifted my hips and rolled him off and delivered a blow to his temple. He groaned then. I pulled the zip ties I had stored in my front cargo pocket and trussed him up.

  On the ground, Rookie wheezed. "Jesus fucking Christ, exactly what is this place?"

  “You don't want to know, Rookie. I was very soft when I first got here."

  On the ground, Robert was groaning. "Ugh, fuck you, King."

  "No, fuck you. Next time, if you're going to aim for the King, don't miss."

  It was something I used to hear Charlie say when I was a kid. It was cheesy, but that made me think of him. I left Robert trussed on the ground next to Rookie. I didn't bother covering him with mud. Let one of the others find him.

  As I headed further north, her scent became even more prominent. It was like I was surrounded by it. Where the hell was—

  I didn't even hear anything from the fucking trees until she landed with a soft thud next to me. "Looking for me?"

  I whirled around, ready with my knife. But she was already there, delivering a nasty kick to my chest, and then she took off running.

  I had to respect her hustle because the girl was quick. More than quick. She was resourceful. Hard to catch. Throwing things in my path. But a misstep took her down, and she gave a small yelp as she rolled to her side. She quickly rolled to her back and had her tranq gun at the ready. She fired off a shot that missed me by a mere inch.

  I scowled at her. "We don't have to do this. It seems tiresome. How about you come peacefully, and then you and I can grab a pint and you can tell me just why you think I should remember you."

  She growled at me and kicked out her leg. It almost caught me. I jumped back, but then I lost my footing and almost fell over. She used that brief moment when I lost my focus and went full rabbit, scrambling away. But I was hard on her tail.

  When I reached her again and grabbed her around the waist, she screeched and kicked. "Easy love, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to put on the zip ties and walk us out of here. Do you understand?"

  "Over my dead body."

  "Sweetheart, this isn't life and death. No one has to die tonight."

  “It's always life and death."

  I frowned down at her. She bucked and rolled. It was hard to hold onto her.

  I finally had to flip her over and put the full force of my weight on her. “Christ, Saffron, hold fucking still."

  "Never."

  I growled down at her, finally grabbing her arms and pinning them above her head. “I said hold fucking still." I secured the zip ties and then began patting her down.

  Her eyes went wide. “If you try anything like Robert did, I swear to God…"

  I froze. "Robert? He tried something?"

  Her voice went raspy. "Why the fuck do you think he was looking for me so intently? I took his friend Maxim down. He thought it'd be great to see if groping me was an option. It's not."

  "That's not what I'm doing, Saff." But the more she wiggled beneath me, the harder it was to make that seem like the truth. What the fuck was going on? "Saff, I'm not going to hurt you."

  "Sure, you're not."

  “I'm fucking not. I'm just going to walk us out of here."

  “Good luck. Maxim is down, but you still have Saint to contend with."

  "Well, Saint won't be the winner."

  “If you say so."

  I frowned down at her. “Let's get out of here."

  She bucked her hips then, bringing them straight into my crotch. And my brain, fucked up domain that it was, offered up a very detailed picture of Saff naked beneath me. Same position, writhing, calling my name, her hands in my hair, fisting them as she begged me, Yes, God, please. More.

  I shook the imagery and lifted her to her feet. “You're not going to bind my feet?"

  I shook my head. "That's not necessary. It makes it hard to carry you through the forest."

  I started to frog march her out of there. We'd only just reached the edge of the clearing where I’d left Robert when I heard, “You have to tell me how you found her so quick."

  I found Saint leaning against one of the trees. “I figured, when I found Maxim and he was down that someone was taking this shit for brains down too. I wasn't sure if it was you or her. From the looks of it, maybe it was you. But then, maybe it was her."

  "Are you going to fight me for her?"

  He shrugged. "Nah. To the victor go the spoils. You won her fair and square."

  Saff frowned. "This is such bullshit." She started to cough. "Can I have some water please?"

  I nodded. “Yeah, are you okay?"

  “Don't do that. I'm not your friend. I'm your prisoner."

  Saint laughed. “I see the honeymooners are still in love."

  I reached for a water bottle, and Saff leaned against the tree, eyeing Saint warily.

  He held up his hands. "He caught you fair and square, so he gets the kill. But I do wonder, how did you know where to find her?"

  I chuckled to myself. "Her scent. She wears this distinctive perfume. I don't even think she's aware of it. You know, if this was a real situation, she shouldn't wear stuff like that."

  She stared at me. "My perfume? That's how you found me?"

  “Yeah, it’s unique. No one has ever told you that before? Someone probably should so you don't die out in the field, since that's what everyone keeps trying to beat into us. How much we're going to die in the field and shit."

  She shook her head. “That's seriously how you found me?"

  “Yeah. How else do you think?"

  She shook her head. I lifted the water bottle to her mouth, and she took a few sips, nodding appreciatively. "Thanks."

  I met her gaze again. Those sharp depths were searching mine for something. I couldn't identify what it was, but I knew I could feel her searching. "What is it?"

  “I'm almost sorry."

  “For what?"

  She sighed and then brought her head hard against mine. I stumbled back. She brought her arms up with a quick jerk then down over the edge of her hip, and then she was free. She lunged at me and grabbed my tranq. Before I could roll her over, she fired two shots, hitting Saint center mass. He cursed as he went down. And then she pointed the tranq at my chest. “I'm sorry. You weren't a dick, and I appreciate that." And then she shot me point blank with the tranq.

  Lachlan

  I tossed in bed again. My brain going to the one place I did not want to go.

  Saffron Abott.

  Why her? No matter what I did, I couldn't help but think about her. The more I thought about her, apparently, the less she thought about me. Which was just bullshit. She always had an encouraging word for one of the lads. At target practice yesterday, she'd offered Saint a full smile, and it felt like I'd been hit right in the center of my chest. That utterly gorgeous smile had never once been trained on me. It was more than irritating; it was debilitating because I couldn't do anything about it. The more I thought about her, the less she looked at me. Not that I needed it. Fucking hell, I did not fucking need it.

  With her being assigned as my trainer, a part of me had thought that would mean more personal one-on-one time. But with me, she was hesitant. She didn't talk much. More a string of instructions than anything else.

  The question was, why?

  You want to know something? Ask.

  And that was what I wanted to do. But asking with Gabe Webb looming over us all the time was going to be a problem.

  My brain kept trying to conjure up as many ways as possible to ask a simple question. What's your problem? Why do you hate me? Christ, I needed to get those feelings under control. The buzz, the hum every time she was near me had to stop.

  Easier said than done.

  No, I could control this. She and I were just going to have a conversation. It would be easy. Why the fuck do you hate me? What have I done to you? Did I shag one of your mates?

  I groaned at the thought of that because that could have been anyone. I knew for sure I hadn't shagged her. I would never have forgotten that face.

  What the hell? There had to be a reason. I just needed to know what it was. I could apologize for it and move on. Because if I wanted to get out of here, I was going to need her to do it. And it wasn't going to help if she wouldn't talk to me or train me, or worse, just blatantly ignore me. It had been two days of no words from her. If we kept up like that, I was never leaving.

  What the hell are you going to do about our little problem?

  I glanced down at my rock-hard dick. Fuck. That complication wasn't going away. Every time I thought about her, and oh God, that perfume she wore… I should have complained. She shouldn't be allowed to wear it.

  Except she's a trainer who has your life in her hands. She can do whatever she wants. Including annihilate you.

  I growled down at my currently unwanted companion.

  Get your shit together. We can't have her. So what we're going to do is pretend we don't want her.

  Sure, that should be completely easy to pull off.

  6

  Saffron

  No, I wasn't gloating about the last trainee test. Okay, I was gloating a little. I'd given Gabe my reports. Maxim had been dropped. That was one thing I could say about my brother. He wasted no time on bullshit misogynists, especially not one who touched his sister. I wasn't aware whether or not most trainees knew that Gabe was my brother, but the whole point was, it didn't matter. I could have been anyone. That could have been Tabs. Granted, I had left Maxim intact. I wasn't so sure Tabs would have.

  If I was being honest though, I had been surprised by Lock. I hadn't expected him to find me so quickly. I'd dropped Rookie easily enough, but Lock shouldn't have been able to locate me, which meant I was slipping. Jesus.

  The look on his face had been worth it though. Today's training mission was different. We would eventually have to work as a team, but first he had to find me. And I meant to make it difficult. So I'd chosen one of my favorite disguises, although it was difficult to hide the hair. My braids were long and thick, but with enough bulky clothing and a hat, I would be hard to distinguish.

  As we lined up in the training room, the trainees looked ready to go, dressed in black, tight-fitted shirts. It was bad that I quickly noticed how Lock's shirt fit differently over his shoulders. When he'd had me down yesterday, I couldn't help noticing how well his cargoes fit as they hung low on his hips. I'd known if I lifted his shirt, I'd have found the V leading down to a very promising heaven.

  Thinking about him is not going to get the mission accomplished.

  Gabe pointed to me. "Saff, why don't you remind the trainees of how the mission is going to go?"

  I gave him a brief nod and stepped forward. "This mission will test out your ability to locate your target and then work with an asset. We'll know we've been located when you use the code word, and then we have to make it to our target location. There will be agents in the field. Some that you don't know and won't recognize, whose main job will be to make sure that we don't get to the goal. But we have to exhibit teamwork. Your trainers don't know the final target. So when you retain your clue, you'll have to do the majority of the legwork in figuring out where you're meant to be, communicating the information to us, and then working with us to get where you're supposed to be. You are not expected to complete the mission. I will repeat that just so it sinks in. You are not expected to complete the mission. But the trainees who can get the farthest will be the ones that we take note of.”

  Robert glanced around. "Where's Maxim?"

  I slid a gaze to Gabe. My brother wasted no time. "Maxim isn't fit for the program anymore."

  Robert frowned. "He was great yesterday. I was told he was taken in for medical and then wasn’t told anything else."

  "Sorry, that's how it happens sometimes."

  Robert glowered at me. "What did you do to him?"

  "Nothing."

  He looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but Gabe stepped forward. That was one thing I had to say about my brother; he brooked no argument. You had to listen to him.

  With our assignments complete, Lock strode over. “Do you feel like giving me a clue?"

  I shook my head. "No. We're working together today, but it is my job to assess that you are fit and that you won't leave your team in a lurch. So I need you to not leave me in a lurch today."

  “It would help if I knew what the disguise was though. I guess, I'll just have to figure it out. You're not going to tranq me today, are you?"

  "That depends. Do you deserve it?"

  He scowled at me. “It was a lucky shot."

  “If you say so. So far, I've had a lot of luck with you, haven't I?"

  Tabs came strolling over with an extra wiggle of her hips, and I could confirm that Gabe was, in fact, watching. "Ready to go?"

  “Yup."

  "Are you going with acting playful?"

  I grinned at her. “Yeah, it works every time."

  “You would think along the way, somebody somewhere would notify the team that you were the best at hiding, but maybe not. Maybe everyone's pride gets in the way."

  I laughed as we headed out to the changing rooms.

  As we both changed into our disguises, I wondered if Lock would have a tip to find me. He'd be given my coordinates, a list of potential favorite haunts, and then set out in the wild.

  For this session, we'd all be doing separate missions. The trainees would be dropped together and have to find their locations and work on their own. Once Tabs and I were dressed, we marched up to the vans and were safely sequestered away before the trainees were brought out and led to their own vans.

  It took us about twenty minutes to get into the city. Once we did, the van stopped to let me out. Tabs grinned. “Good luck."

  “You too. You have Rookie, right?"

  “Yeah. He seems smart. One hell of a hacker from what I hear. Hopefully he won’t disappoint."

  I was led into the Bubble Bar and Cafe. During the day, it was primarily a cafe. You could get a glass of wine after lunch time. It was an upscale place that working creative professionals liked to frequent. A Rogues member owned it, so whenever we needed it, one of us could fill in for a shift while undercover. My role, as I liked to play it, was called Ron.

  Ron was short. Squat. Bit of a gut. Liked to believe he was a lady's man, but Ron wasn't particularly tall. And while I was five-eight and that worked for me, Ron at five-eight would have a bit of a Napoleon complex to him. And that's what we were going with.

  Once I was situated behind the bar, all I had to do was wait. I knew that Lock would be given my coordinates, and it was his job to find me in the bar. The real question was, would he watch for me to come in or be looking for somone who was already there? Thus far, I had done maybe three or four of these training missions. Only one recruit actually found me, but sadly, he didn't make it to the end. Lock was made of sterner stuff.

  For the next hour, I served drinks, kept to myself, and followed protocol. The chime of the door dinged, and the hairs at the back of my neck stood at attention. Lock was here. I couldn't explain it. Hell, I wasn't even sure I wanted to examine it, but I was well aware that he was in the room. His gaze scanned the bar, and I could tell he'd easily dismissed me. He was looking for a woman. A woman with long braids.

  Thanks to the costuming, my braids were pulled back. I had on a fedora, because the way I figured it, Ron would love playing a character, and I’d concealed my braids behind my back. I'd had to put on more layers and a flesh suit to bulk up my figure, and the braids had helped achieve that. I just hoped the silicone of the mask would hold at my neck.