On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(110)

Eve took a long breath. She had to get them out of here. Very slowly, she brought her foot up and back, praying she could reach the other side of the gator. It seemed to have fallen asleep, unlike the rest of its brethren. They were all twitching and moving, but no, she had to back up to the lazy boy.

“Why on earth would I be on your side, you piece of shit?” Alex’s free hand reached back, giving her something to balance on. He kept his attention moving between the two men.

“Because of your lifestyle,” Evans replied. “McKay, you opened a whole world for me. In some ways, I truly do feel gratitude to you. I admit, I started to check out the lifestyle as a way to hurt you, but when I began training Eve, I realized that this was the life I was born to lead, one where women knew their place.”

Alex growled his response. “Her place is at my side.”

Evans shook his head. “Her place is at your feet, begging for your mercy. Women are weak. They need a man’s guidance and without it, they fail. They’re born whores, McKay. Everyone knows it. They aren’t smart enough to know how to properly live. They’re vain and ignorant. They require a Dom.”

“Which just goes to show me you have no idea what it means to be a Dom. My submissive is also the goddess I worship. Her trust and love are gifts to me. One that I can never properly repay. Stay back, Warren.” He shifted his firing arm toward Warren.

She wasn’t going to let Evans’s words get to her. He was a madman. Nothing he said meant a damn thing. Eve found the mud behind her and managed to step across the alligator’s big body. “About a foot and a half, babe.”

Alex jumped back as though his body could measure distance perfectly. He landed in the mud, but he never took his eyes off the targets.

Evans sneered their way. “What a disappointment you are, McKay. She is lovely, but she is nothing but a vessel. If you were half the man I thought you were, you would have killed her. She gave it up. All I had to do was slap her around a couple of times and her thighs spread wide.”

Humiliation flooded her.

“As she should have,” Alex said, his voice choking a little. “She knew what her Master would want. Death before dishonor is for idiots. My wife had one job to do when you took her. She had one order to obey. Stay alive and come home to me. That’s the difference between us, Evans. I don’t need to be the only man who’s had her body. I’m the only one who has her heart, and that’s what matters. You know nothing about being a Dom or being a man. And you know f*ck all about loving a woman.”

His eyes narrowed. “I know that you need me, and either Petty or I are going to eventually take a shot at you. It’s inevitable. Oh, look, I believe Carlos has finally bled out. What’s going to happen when you take a couple of bullets to the gut? So why don’t we make a deal?”

Fear gripped her at the thought of Alex bleeding among the hungry reptiles.

“I’m not making a deal with you,” Alex said.

Evans took a step closer. “I think you will. I’ll take Eve off your hands. She gets to live. You get to live, too. We begin our game all over again. The other option is that you both die here and now. Let me see if my partner can persuade you.”

A shot rang through the air, and she felt Alex’s body jolt as though struck by lightning. His arm came up, shifting around and firing.

Warren Petty gave a loud gasp and then Eve watched as he fell over into the pit, a hole in his head. He slipped under the surface.

God, Warren. He was a horrible human being, but she’d seen his children born.

Alex stumbled back into her, his weight slamming into her. She stayed on her feet, but only just.

“Alex?” Her heart stuck in her throat. She wrapped her arms around his waist and felt warm liquid begin to coat her skin. Alex’s blood. Oh, god. No. No. No.

Alex fired, but his aim was off. Because he has a bullet in his gut. Eve bit back a scream as Evans pulled the trigger and Alex’s body jerked, sending them both to the mud. She cradled him, trying to protect him, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Stay alive, baby. Sean will come for you. Ian will come for you,” he said. He seemed to have lost control of his arm. The second bullet had lodged into his shoulder. The SIG fell down, slipping into the mud. “Love you so much. Love you, baby. Forgive me.”

“Don’t you go.” Her heart threatened to stop. He was right there. He was in her arms. He couldn’t be dying. He couldn’t be bleeding out in the mud and the dirt.

She couldn’t live without him and that meant one thing. Eve had spent so much of her life allowing events and the actions of others to mold her world. She’d clung to her own submission because it was her nature. But she finally understood. She might be Alex McKay’s submissive, but she was his woman, too, and he was not allowed to die. He was not allowed to leave her alone on this earth. A well of strength possessed her. She was the passive one, the observer. It had been her life for so long, but she was surrounded by women who never gave in.

She had Alex’s strength, but she had her sisters’ strength, too.

Grace, who quietly fought for her place.

Serena, who never accepted less than a happy ending.

Avery, who refused to allow tragedy to mold her life.

And Kristen. Somehow Kristen had become her sister, too. Kristen had stepped in front of a bullet to save Alex. She was fierce in her will to do good.