Page 89 of Keeping Laryn
They’d been lucky so far, and he prayed their luck held for just a little longer.
“Laryn? Look at me. Are you okay?”
She lifted her chin, and Casper wasn’t happy at the dazed look in her beautiful brown eyes. She had dark circles under them, and she was still trembling. She looked overwhelmed, terrified, and unsure of herself.
But then she spoke. “I’m alive, and you’re here. I’m perfect.”
This woman. She slayed him. She’d been through obvious hell, yet she was still standing tall. Regardless, Casper intended to hear about every minute of what had happened to her since she’d been taken from him, so he could do everything in his power to lessen the impact of what she’d been through.
He took two seconds to appreciate the feel of Laryn in his arms. Bent but not broken, by any means. Something in his soul shifted at that moment. He’d been determined to find her and get her back, but hadn’t been sure he’d be able to do either. And yet, here she was. It was a miracle.Shewas a miracle. His miracle. He vowed never to take her for granted ever again. He’d done that for too long as it was.
Just when Casper heard the most beautiful sound in the world, the whir of rotor blades, the stairwell door slammed open.
Moving on instinct, Casper shoved Laryn behind him and pulled out his pistol, his three friends doing the same. They moved closer to him and formed a wall between the stairwell and Laryn. They hadn’t gotten this close to rescue to fail now.
A man stood in front of them, panting. His eyes were wide and crazy-looking. His dark hair was sticking up and his clothes were wrinkled. And, if Casper wasn’t mistaken, his shirt was on inside out.
“No!” he exclaimed, ignoring the four guns pointed at him as he stalked forward.
“Stop!” Pyro exclaimed. “Right now!”
“It’s Altan,” Laryn said from behind them.
Casper wasn’t surprised. That’s who he assumed this must be. He was glad he was here—he’d be able to complete this mission after all.
The man was dead, he just didn’t know it yet.
But first, Casper needed intel. He had about two minutes before Buck and Obi-Wan arrived. He’d do his best to get what he could from this man, what his country needed, before he ended any future threat to Laryn once and for all.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Laryn stayed as close to Tate’s back as she dared. She didn’t want to be a hindrance to anything he needed to do, but she couldn’t make herself break contact with him. He was her lifeline. Literally.
She’d thought that was it—Mert would get her back to her room and rape her. That was his plan; she’d had no doubt whatsoever.
She’d done her best to stall, to do basic maintenance on the MH-60, but she’d been exhausted and it was hard to concentrate when she was dead on her feet. When Mert had decided he’d waited long enough, grabbing her, it surprised the hell out of her, and her fight-or-flight response kicked in.
It was impossible to get away from him though. He was bigger, stronger, and wasn’t weak from spending the last several days in a dungeon. The men around her were no help, as they were in the same boat she was…forced to work for Altan. It was easy to tell that no one was there willingly. They were most likely being blackmailed or threatened in order to keep working. Though, none of them had the expertise needed to outfit the choppers properly.
It was equally obvious that the workers were rotated in and out of the rooms on the floor she’d been taken to earlier that afternoon. Probably several men in each room, based on the number of workers on the floor at one time, versus the doors she saw in the hallway. All locked in, only brought out to toil in the hangar, while other workers took their places in the rooms. It was a miserable way to live, made clear in the lack of enthusiasm those around her had for their jobs.
It wasn’t until Mert had gotten her close to the stairs that reality really set in. Tate wasn’t coming, at least not yet, and her time was up. Mert was going to assault her, but Laryn wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. She’d never stop resisting, stop fighting. Mert might claim her as his wife, but she’d never consent. Never be anything but a pain in his ass.
When he hit her, it hurt. A lot. More than when he’d hit her the first time. The pain shocked her enough that she’d sat on the floor, stunned for a moment, and that’s when Mert made his move. He grabbed her again and pulled her up the stairs.
Laryn fought with all she had, but in the hallway, when he’d grabbed her hair and literally began dragging her behind him, all she could do was try to hold onto his wrist to lessen the pain.
Then one second she was being dragged toward her room, and the next, she was free, lying on the floor staring at the man she loved who’d appeared as if out of thin air.
Tate.
He was there.
He’d come for her.
Pyro had grabbed hold of her and pulled her away from Tate and Mert, but not before she saw Tate beating the crap out of the man who’d surely been going to sexually assault her. She didn’t look away, not even when Tate put his gun against Mert’s forehead and pulled the trigger. And then she was in Tate’s arms. The relief she felt had been immense.
Things were kind of fuzzy after that, but she couldn’tconcentrate on anything but the relief she felt being in Tate’s arms.
