She watched in silence for the next two minutes before handing the binoculars back to Connor. “One exterior guard patrolling the outskirts of the warehouse. Radio clipped to his belt, so he’s in contact with someone, most likely the second guard posted inside.”
Connor nodded and took over surveillance, the solid weight of his arm brushing her shoulder as he peered into the glasses.
Had she passed the test? She truly had no clue.
She studied his chiseled profile, swallowing the desire that fluttered up her throat. He was so incredibly sexy. Imposing as hell. Oozing power. He made her body come alive, made it ache in a way it never had before.
Sex was a common affair in the Enforcer compound. The men fucked as hard as they fought. But Hudson hadn’t been granted the same privileges. Her brother’s constant presence had ensured that no man would dare touch her. Only two had been brave enough to take her to bed.
Both had suffered brutal beatings at Dom’s hands once he’d found out.
Connor turned his head, fixing his hooded hazel eyes on her. “You want it bad – don’t you, sweetheart?”
She gulped. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A low chuckle slid in her direction. “When was the last time you got laid?”
Hudson hoped he couldn’t see the flush rising in her cheeks. “None of your business,” she said primly. “When was the last time you got laid?”
“Too long,” he rasped. “Which is why you need to stop looking at me like that. Otherwise I’ll do something I might regret.”
A thrill shot through her, turning into a flurry of shivers when his arm shifted again and his elbow grazed the side of her breast. Her nipple instantly puckered, and she instinctively angled her body, craving the friction caused by his biceps rubbing against that tight bud.
Oh boy. She wanted this man so badly, she could scarcely breathe.
“Don’t fucking tease me,” he growled.
She shocked herself by whispering, “Why not?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to open that door.”
But she did. She really, really did.
She’d never met anyone like him. Primal and virile and sex personified. His hard edges excited her, because she knew he wouldn’t be tender with her if they slept together. He wouldn’t treat her like fine china the way her previous lovers had. They’d been so afraid to leave marks, so afraid that Dominik would find out what they were doing. And they were right to be afraid.
Connor didn’t strike her as the kind of man who feared anything.
He must have glimpsed her disappointment because he chuckled again. In the blink of an eye, he reached out and cupped the breast she’d been wantonly rubbing against him.
Hudson gasped when he squeezed it. Harder than anyone else ever had, herself included. The callused pad of his thumb pressed down on her nipple, drawing a tortured moan from her lips.
“Do you want me to fuck you?”
Her breath snagged. She hadn’t realized that arousal could actually hurt. It paralyzed her throat and throbbed between her legs, sending pinpricks of excitement racing along her flesh.
“Do you?” he prompted.
After a long, heart-pounding beat, she shocked herself again by nodding.
His eyes burned as his thumb toyed with her nipple. He stroked lazy little circles around the rigid bud, and Hudson was frozen in place, held captive by his heated gaze and the almost-painful pulsing of her clit.
“Yeah? You think you can handle me, Hudson? You think you can handle it when I spread your legs and fuck you with my tongue? When I ride you so hard you can’t walk for days afterward?”
Holy. Shit.
Pressure gathered in her core, a tight, hot knot that had her squeezing her legs together. She was pretty sure she’d stopped breathing a while ago. Her lungs burned. Her throat was clamped shut.
“Answer me,” he muttered. “Do you think you can handle it?”
She managed another nod, then fought a dizzying rush of pleasure as he pinched her nipple.
When he abruptly released her breast, she nearly wept from the loss of his hand.
What was happening to her? Two days ago her sole concern had been getting as far away from West Colony as fast as possible. Now the only thing she wanted was to spread her legs and let Connor fuck her until she couldn’t remember her name.
“Do you want my cock, Hudson?” His voice was low and seductive.
She nodded again, mesmerized by the naked lust in his eyes.
He licked his lips. “Where?”
“W-what?”
“Where do you want me to put it?”
She bit back a moan. “Inside me.”
“You’ll have to be more specific, baby.”
He was taunting her now. With his eyes, and his words, and the lazy swipe of his hand over his stubble-covered jaw. She got the feeling this was another test, but damn it, she didn’t know what he wanted from her. He knew she wanted him. He fucking knew it, so why did she have to say it?
Hudson opened her mouth, only to get cut off by static from Connor’s radio.
Just like that, the heat in his gaze was extinguished like fire in the rain. “Yeah?” he barked into the radio, all business now.
Rylan’s voice rippled out. “I’m thinking our girl’s right about the guard situation. I’m only seeing one out here.”
Relief swept through her as Rylan confirmed the information she’d given them. Good. She was another step closer to earning their trust.
“Xan’s working on disabling the cameras, but he left one of his wireless gizmo gadgets in the Jeep. He needs to leave his post.”
“Tell him to come back here,” Connor answered. “I’ll cover his post. He can stay with Hudson.”
Disappointment tickled her stomach at the thought of Connor leaving her, but Hudson forced herself not to show it. Besides, it was better that he hadn’t ordered her to accompany him. She had no idea who might be working inside that storage station. If it was someone who could recognize her…
No. She was better off staying hidden.
Even after darkness fell, Connor continued to bide his time. He’d been on enough runs to learn that patience was key. It was the difference between getting a bullet to the head and walking out with your ass intact, and Connor was pretty fucking fond of his ass.
The Enforcer patrolling the perimeter wouldn’t be nearing the gate for another five minutes. They had to time it right if they wanted to hold on to the element of surprise.
Rylan stood next to Connor, a semiautomatic in his hand and a black wool hat covering his bright blond hair. “I’m surprised you left her with Xan.”
There was no need to ask who Rylan was referring to. “Why?” he asked with a frown.
“Because it’s not your style. When you’re hot for a woman, you don’t usually hand her over to another man.”
Connor shrugged.
“Not denying the hot for her part, huh?”
“What’s the sense in denying it? We both want her naked.”
“Hell yeah, we do. She’s sexy.”
Which was one of the few requirements Rylan had for his women. Sexy. Willing and eager. And if she liked a little rough play, all the better. Connor knew his friend well and had a lot of experience with what got Rylan off. But he knew himself, too, and he sure as shit wasn’t letting a pretty face play him for a fool.
“She’s lying to us.” He paused. “She’s from the city.”
Rylan stiffened. “You sure about that?”
“Not yet, but I will be.”
That earned him a low chuckle. “What do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know yet. Maybe a visit to Lennox’s. Maybe something else.” His jaw hardened. “We’re not bringing her back to camp until I know more.” And he knew he wouldn’t get the truth out of her by simply asking. She wouldn’t tell him a damn thing. Which meant he needed to make her show him.
Damn this woman. He couldn’t get a g
rasp on her, and that pissed him off. She wasn’t an outlaw – that was a given. She wasn’t an Enforcer; otherwise she would’ve been marked. That left one option.
She was a citizen.
But that didn’t feel right, either. It was easy to spot West City residents – all you had to do was look for sheep. Weak, mindless people living in a bubble of false security and blissful oblivion. Sure, there were a few who recognized that their existence was nothing more than a prettily wrapped prison, but they stayed inside it because they preferred the GC to the ravaged world beyond the city walls.
And then there were the ones who’d had enough. The ones like Kade, who couldn’t stomach another day behind those walls and orchestrated their own escape.
Citizens had one thing in common, though – they couldn’t fight for shit. Couldn’t defend themselves, couldn’t protect others. It had taken Connor months to whip Kade into shape.
Hudson knew how to take care of herself like an outlaw, yet she was sheltered like a citizen. She couldn’t even say the word pussy, for fuck’s sake. She’d blushed when he’d taunted her about sex. Outlaw women didn’t blush. If they wanted to get fucked, they said so. In explicit detail.
So who the hell was she?
Connor checked his watch, pushing all thoughts of Hudson aside. He clicked his radio and addressed Xander. “Kill the cameras. Now.”
Five seconds ticked by before Xander responded. “Done.”
“Go time,” Connor murmured.
Rylan cocked his weapon and grinned. “Let’s do this shit. My man Xan needs a new razor.”
Like clockwork, the perimeter guard came ambling around the corner. A second later, Connor and Rylan burst out of the shadows.
Fear widened the young Enforcer’s eyes when he spotted them. His rifle snapped up, but not fast enough – Rylan was already knocking it out of his hand. The kid’s arm shot up as he tried switching his earpiece on, but he froze when Connor’s knife angled over his throat.
“Nice and easy,” Connor rasped in his ear. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
“Screw you,” the kid sputtered.
Connor dug the blade deeper, but not deep enough to draw blood. They needed the guy alive. If the warehouse really was protected by mines, then this kid was the only one who knew the right path to the door.
“No need to be an asshole,” Rylan drawled. “We’re all buds here.”
“Yup, we’re about to be the best of friends,” Connor agreed.
Keeping the knife in place, he yanked the guard toward the electronic panel by the gate door. He used his free hand to lift the key card from the Enforcer’s front pocket, then swiped it to open the gate. A light blinked from red to green, and then the lock released with a click.
Rather than walk through the gate, Connor lightly dragged the blade over his captive’s throat. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to lead us inside, because a friend doesn’t let another friend get ripped apart by land mines – right, buddy? And then, when we get to the door, you’re going to call out to your partner and assure him that everything is all right.” Connor paused. “And look, yeah, we’re buds and all, but you should know – one wrong move and I’ll slice your throat. And then my friend blows your head off, just for fun.”
“It’s overkill, I know,” Rylan quipped. “But one can never be too careful these days.”
Connor could feel the Enforcer trembling. Good. Fear made men a lot more amenable than anger did.
Chuckling, he nudged the guard toward the gate. “After you.”
Hudson held her breath as she peered into the binoculars. The men had walked through the gate with the young Enforcer in the lead. She hoped the guard didn’t do anything stupid, like blow himself up just to take out a couple of outlaws who wanted his supplies.
At the uneasy thought, she had to remind herself that the Enforcers were selfish bastards, each and every one of them. They might have sworn to sacrifice themselves for the colony if needed, but Hudson had seen more than a few of them leave men behind to save their own hides.
Xander looked over, catching the concern on her face. “Don’t worry about Con and Ry, doll.”
She turned toward him, a tad flustered by his handsome good looks. He was tall and muscular, with a full beard and brown eyes that twinkled playfully at her. She had no clue why these men were so happy-go-lucky all the time. They seemed completely unfazed by the dangers around them.
“They’re walking into an Enforcer station – how can I not worry?” she retorted.
He shrugged. “They can handle themselves.”
Maybe, but she didn’t release her breath until she saw the three men reach the door of the warehouse in one piece. Connor kept his knife to the guard’s throat, murmuring something in his ear that Hudson knew was a threat, because the Enforcer’s shoulders set in a rigid line. A moment later he swiped a key card in the panel next to the door, and the men disappeared inside.
“Pike, what’s doing on your end?” Xander barked into the radio.
Pike was quick to respond. “Absolutely nothing. No Enforcers in sight.”
“Good.” Xander clicked the radio again. “Kade?”
“All clear,” came Kade’s voice.
Several minutes passed before there was any more activity. Relief flooded Hudson’s belly when the metal door swung open and Connor’s broad frame filled the doorway. He gave a nod in the direction of the clearing, and this time it was his voice crackling over the radio.
“Move in. Follow the path Rylan laid out. Xan, bring the Jeep right up to the gate. We’ve got a shit ton of supplies to haul.”
Xander was already heading to the vehicle. “Come on,” he tossed over his shoulder.
Panic ignited inside her. “You want me to go with you?”
“Of course. It’s time for you to pull your weight, doll.” He gave her biceps a teasing pinch as she came up beside him. “I hope you can handle some heavy lifting.”
Crap. She wasn’t worried about the land mines since Rylan had apparently marked a path to the door, but what if there were more Enforcers inside the warehouse? What if one of them recognized her?
“I can wait in the car,” she offered feebly.
Xander slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Nah. We’re gonna need all the hands we can get. Con will give us twenty minutes – thirty, tops – to clean out the place.”
Hudson’s breathing grew shallow as she got into the passenger side. The entire drive down to the warehouse, she prayed that she didn’t know anyone inside the place. That the guards Connor might have captured were blindfolded. That Xander would change his mind and decide she should wait outside.
But he didn’t. He parked the Jeep and signaled for her to follow him.
Hudson drew a breath and paused at the edge of the gate, staring at the scuffed white trail zigzagging toward the entrance: chalk, crushed between Rylan’s fingers and smeared onto the pavement with his boots, indicating the safe route inside.
Her heart thudded as she and Xander stepped into the fluorescent-lit entryway of the warehouse, which looked like all the other storage facilities she’d visited in the past. Usually with Dominik, or sometimes their father, when he’d felt like leaving his office to make the rounds through the colony.
Aisles and aisles of metal racks took up the cavernous space, shelves neatly stocked with an array of supplies. Several corridors branched off from the main room. Doors labeled HAZARDOUS MATERIALS and MEDICAL spanned the halls, and Xander briskly ushered her toward the latter, thrusting two duffel bags into her hands.
“Grab as much as you can,” he ordered. “Antibiotics and painkillers are the priority, but take it all if there’s time.”
She was left in a twelve-by-twelve-foot room full of metal cabinets and freestanding refrigerators containing so many vials and pill bottles that she knew the allotted twenty minutes of scavenging would barely make a dent in the inventory. She hurriedly got to work filling the canvas bags, al
l the while praying she’d be able to stay out of sight during the raid.
When she’d stowed as many supplies in the bags as she was able to carry, she reluctantly left the room and made her way back to the entrance, where Xander was manning the door.
“Take those out to Kade,” he told her. “He’s loading the Jeep.”
Hudson eagerly hurried outside, hoping that her part in all this might be over, but when she reached the Jeep, Kade simply handed her two more empty duffels, grinned, and sent her back inside.