Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(91)

“Is that why he tried to kill us?” Theo regarded her seriously. “Maybe Erin’s right. Ten’s going to kick my ass, but Erin’s not going to leave this island until you’re safe. I know you’re pissed, but the minute Ten fell for you, you became one of us, and we don’t leave a man behind.”

“He wouldn’t have really hurt you.” Not her father. How far would he go for revenge? Not nearly as far as he would go for money. There was never enough for her father.

Erin pulled up the hem of her shirt. There was a bandage wrapped around her midsection, blood staining through. “I wasn’t fast enough.”

“Shit. You need to be in a hospital.” This she could handle. Finally something she could handle.

Erin let the hem drop. “Not until we find Ten. And Theo patched me up all right.”

“Not if it’s bleeding through. Go inside.” She looked to the helpful Aussie. “I need hot water, any kind of first aid kit you can find.”

“Needle and thread,” Theo said grimly. “She promised she would let you stitch her up. She wouldn’t let me.”

“Like you can sew,” Erin complained under her breath.

“You’re going to find out what I can do when you’re well enough, my love,” Theo promised. “You disobeyed direct orders in the field and you’ve been the worst patient in the history of time. Let’s hope Faith knows how to cool a backside after it’s been spanked about three hundred times. You move. You do what she tells you to, Erin. I’m done with this shit. You let Faith take care of you or I’ll ship you back to my brother so fast it will make your head spin. You won’t go in the field for years.”

Erin stopped in front of him, her eyes flaring, and then she shut down. She walked into his arms. “All right, Theo. I’ll do what she says.” She kissed him before stepping back. “And I was right to do what I did. I gave you time to get that text off to Ten. For all the good it did us.”

She’d felt his cell phone vibrating. She’d thought it was nothing more than an e-mail or some stupid social media thing. Hers did the same thing all the time. He’d ignored it because he’d been kissing her. She’d told him she thought she might love him. She’d watched his eyes flare with victory and he’d ignored Theo telling him to run.

He hadn’t run. He hadn’t fought. He hadn’t shoved her away and tried to save himself.

He’d told her he loved her and not to ever forget that.

She followed Erin into the house, her brain a wrecked mess. What the hell was she supposed to believe? She washed her hands and then took a good look at Erin’s wound.

Someone had shot her. That didn’t make any sense. She would have heard someone shooting.

Her stomach tightened and she thought about that night. Her father’s men. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering what she’d seen. There had been four of them and they’d all had guns. Guns with long barrels. No. Not barrels.

Silencers. Her father’s men had been carrying guns with silencers. There was no reason to do that unless they’d intended to shoot and make sure no one heard.

What the hell was going on?

Erin’s wound was a through and through. It was on the side of her torso, right above her hip. An inch to the right and she would have needed serious surgery to repair her large intestine. As it was, she needed about three stitches to truly close the wound. Theo had done his best with butterfly closures, but she still bled when she moved.

“You were lucky.” Faith looked through the kit Brody had brought her. They were prepared. The supplies included a suture kit. “This is going to hurt without a local.”

Erin shook her head. “Local hurts, too. I can handle it.”

“God, you’re stubborn, girl.” Theo sat on the bed beside where Erin lay. “Hold on to me.”

Luckily, she was damn good with sutures in the field. She worked quickly and before Erin could really break Theo’s hand, Faith was bandaging the wound.

“She’ll heal.” Now that the job was done, she felt more centered, calmer, and more ready to deal with the situation she found herself in. “Is this tracer device the only reason you think my father has Ten?”

“Lie down, Erin.” Theo barked the order as his sub attempted to sit up.

“Erin, you need to rest. You’ll pull those sutures if you’re not careful.” Faith didn’t want to put her through that again. “Rest for the day. You’ll be up and fighting again tomorrow.”

“But,” Erin began.

Theo was having none of it. “You promised me. You promised to do what the doctor said. I want to find Ten, too, but understand that you are now and always will be my priority in life. Think about that. I’ll scrub the entire mission to see you safe.”

“Which is precisely why we shouldn’t be partners,” Erin shot back.

“You can get back to Li when this is over, though you should know I intend to have a conversation with him about taking care of you in the field. So lie back down or get to the plane and I’ll take you home.”

Erin turned a bright red, but she laid back. “You’re a bastard, Theo. You’re as bad as the rest of them.”

Theo sighed. “Yeah, I know, baby. Come with me, Faith, and I’ll lay out what we’ve learned about your father’s organization. Ten will kick my ass, but if we’re going to get him back, I think Erin is right. You have to know.”