An Alpha series novel.
SAVAGE ALPHA.
By Carole Mortimer.
DEDICATIONS.
Peter As Always.
Chapter 1.
"Why me?"
"What do you mean?"
Jonas wasn"t fooled for a moment by the bland expression on the face of the man seated on the opposite side of the desk. Or by the other man"s relaxed posture, come to that. To underestimate Gabriel Knight was never a good idea. Ex-British Special Forces, Gabriel, like Jonas, knew a dozen different ways to kill a man, without even raising a sweat. "Why aren"t you or one of your brothers dealing with whatever this situation is with your sister? h.e.l.l, you run your own security company, so why come to Grayson Security at all?"
"I didn"t come to Grayson Security, I came to you," Gabriel corrected tightly. "This happens to be the best place to find you, probably because no one has any idea where you actually live. I think that"s also the most I"ve ever heard you say at one time. And what the f.u.c.k did you do with your hair?"
Jonas resisted the impulse to raise a hand to his recently trimmed hair, knowing Gabriel was only trying to get a reaction from him. Jonas didn"t do reactions. What he did do was outward calm, while he mentally summed up a situation.
"The name "Apache" was starting to get old." Jonas"s straight blue-black hair, burnished skin, and six and a half feet in height came from his Native American father rather than his tiny firebrand of a blonde-haired blue-eyed mother.
"And you thought having a couple of inches cut off your hair was going to change that?" Gabriel eyed him pityingly.
"I thought having my hair styled might, yes."
"With a name like Jonas Grayfeather, you"ve wasted both your time and your money, pal."
His eyes narrowed. "Could we get back to my original question?"
"Why you?"
"Yes."
"Because you"re a friend and you owe me."
Yes, he did. Ten years ago, Gabriel had saved Jonas"s life during a joint mission by the US and British Special Forces. The two men hadn"t exactly become bosom buddies afterwards, but they did respect each other and have what pa.s.sed for a friendship. For both men, Jonas suspected. "So this is payback time?"
"Yes."
"Doing what?"
"Protecting my sister."
"Why?"
"I"ll get to that in a moment. First I want your agreement you"ll do it."
"Is this on or off the books?"
"Off. But I"ll pay all your expenses, of course."
"I can"t imagine there will be too many of those involved in babysitting your little sister."
Gabriel cracked a smile. "I wouldn"t let Lily hear you call her that."
Jonas couldn"t begin to imagine what the sister of Gabriel, Asher, and twins Caleb and Ethan Knight would even look like. All the Knight brothers were well over six feet tall, dark haired, with different shades of green eyes. Gabriel"s were so dark in color, they could often appear black. Picturing a woman with that same height and coloring made Jonas think of an Amazon warrior.
An image that caused his c.o.c.k to give a twitch of interest. Being so tall himself, he tended to be attracted to taller women. Not a good idea when it came to the sister of the Knight brothers. "Why does your sister need a baby-bodyguard?"
The other man"s mouth thinned. "A stalker."
And Gabriel accused him of an economy of words. "How? When? What? Where? Why? The devil is in the details, Gabriel."
The other man rose to stand in front of the window looking out over London, hands in his trouser pockets, every inch the CEO of Knight Security, with his dark, styled hair, bespoke dark suit, pale gray silk shirt and tie, and handmade Italian shoes.
Jonas wasn"t fooled for a moment by any of those trappings of sophistication. Beneath all that, Gabriel was still a trained killer.
Jonas was only temporarily in charge at the offices of Grayson Security. He much preferred being out in the field than stuck behind a desk. Seth Armstrong would be returning from his honeymoon tomorrow and back in control here, thank G.o.d. Jonas had intended taking some leave then anyway, so he would be free to do this job for Gabriel. If he decided to take it. He wanted more details before he made a decision.
He didn"t push Gabriel for an answer but sat and waited patiently until the other man was ready to start speaking.
The wait paid off when Gabriel exhaled deeply a couple of minutes later. "First you need to understand my relationship with Lily. Our parents died in a plane crash twelve years ago, when she was thirteen. Being eleven years older, I became her official guardian, but all the brothers had a hand in bringing her up. It"s been something of a...tempestuous relationship, to put it mildly."
Jonas would have paid good money to have been a fly on that wall. Gabriel was arrogance personified. What he said, happened. The other three Knight brothers weren"t known for their easygoing temperaments either. Which Jonas doubted would have gone down too well with a hormonal teenage girl.
"I"m guessing that"s the reason none of you want to take on the role of bodyguard," Jonas said wryly.
"Our relationship with Lily is...complicated. We love her, she loves us back, but at the same time, she resents what she sees as interference from any of us."
"You said she"s an actress?"
"Yes."
"A good one?" Jonas had never heard of her, but that didn"t mean anything. The superficial world of acting held little interest for him. Which was only one of the reasons Jonas was more than a little reluctant to take on this a.s.signment.
Another one of those reasons was standing in front of the window. Three others were no doubt back at the offices of Knight Security. If anything happened to Lily Knight while she was under Jonas"s protection, he didn"t fool himself for a moment into believing he would survive the experience.
"Very," Gabriel acknowledged grudgingly. "She"s just had her first really big theater break, a starring role. But some guy started sending her letters after the play opened a month ago."
Jonas shrugged. "Don"t enthusiastic fans come along with the territory when you put yourself out there in the public eye?"
The other man turned, only a faint ring of dark green about the black of his glittering iris. "The letters started out pleasantly enough but rapidly became something else."
"So I"m guessing the stalker is a man?"
"Most definitely," Gabriel confirmed harshly. "The white roses left in her dressing room at the theater point to him being a complete nut job."
"Maybe security at the theater needs a little tightening? White roses doesn"t sound so bad-"
"The petals were dripping with fresh blood."
His brows rose. "Human?"
Gabriel nodded abruptly. "The printed message on the card read, "My heart is bleeding, yours will too.""
Whoa.
No, that went well beyond being an avid fan and definitely into the realm of "nut job" and "stalker."
Which meant Jonas was going to meet Lily Knight sooner rather than later.
Chapter 2.
"Close the door and let"s talk."
Lily screamed at the sound the deep voice of the huge man she could see sitting in the chair in the shadows of her dressing room.
Her next reaction was typical fight-or-flight as she turned on her heels with the intention of running back down the hallway, where she knew several other members of the cast stood chatting together after the evening performance of Desperation.
She didn"t get very far, maybe two steps, before her arm was gripped by strong fingers and she was swung round to face her a.s.sailant.
Okay, so flight was no longer an option, which only left her with fight.
"Let me go!" She totally forgot everything her four older brothers had taught her as she pummeled her fists against the incredibly wide chest that filled her vision.
When that had no effect, she curled her fingers into claws and raised them toward the man"s face. Her brother"s advice, if her adversary was male and bigger than her, was to go for the body"s soft spots: eyes or b.a.l.l.s. The man was holding her far too close for her to knee or kick him in the b.a.l.l.s, so it would have to be the eyes.
Hands came up to grasp her wrists before her nails could make contact. "I"m a friend of Gabriel"s."
"You seriously expect me to believe that?" Lily was breathing hard in her efforts to free herself.
It wasn"t a secret that one of her brothers was named Gabriel, and if this man was her stalker, then he no doubt knew that too.
"I don"t give a f.u.c.k whether your believe me or not, but I doubt Gabriel has that many people brave enough to claim him as their friend," the man holding her captive acknowledged dryly.
Lily"s struggle for release faltered slightly. Her eldest brother was cold and guarded, and it was true he didn"t have a plethora of friends. But that didn"t mean this man was one of the few he did have either. She had certainly never seen him before. Incredibly tall, with jet-black shoulder length hair, bronzed skin, and piercing blue eyes, he wasn"t the sort of man she would have forgotten. That anyone would forget, having once met him.
She resumed her struggle but succeeded only in bruising her wrists as the man refused to release her. "If you"re a friend of Gabriel"s, then what are you doing skulking about in my dressing room?" She threw her head back in challenge.
And found herself looking into the most arrestingly handsome face she had ever seen.
No, not handsome. More a harsh and chiseled beauty. Almost savage.
This man looked as if his face had been hewn from burnished rock: high cheekbones, straight slash of a nose, sculpted lips, and a hard square jaw. Those deep-blue eyes seemed completely at odds with that bronzed skin and the blue-black of his overlong hair.
"I don"t skulk, Miss Knight." He bit the words out tightly.
Maybe he was a friend of Gabriel"s after all? Her eldest brother"s economy with words bordered on the morose rather than merely taciturn. Lily had an idea this man could give Gabriel a run for his money in that department.
She shook her head. "You entered my dressing room uninvited. You were sitting in the darkness, despite the fact it"s late evening in February. You didn"t bother to introduce yourself before you started issuing orders," she accused with another challenging tilt of her chin. "I would call that skulking." Lord, this man was tall, at least a foot or so taller than her own five feet five inches. She was getting a crick in her neck from looking up at him.
"Jonas Grayfeather."
She blinked. "Sorry?"
"My name is Jonas Grayfeather. And I"ve heard all the Apache jokes, so let"s skip that part of the conversation, hmm?" Blue eyes glittered down at her in warning.
"You really are an Apache?" She had already guessed he was American from his accent.
"Half. Father."
Lily"s gaze swept over his face in a.s.sessment. "I"m guessing Mummy was blue eyed."
His jaw tightened. "You guess correctly."
She looked at him uncertainly. "My brother Gabriel will vouch for you if I call him?"
"When you call him," Jonas corrected. What the h.e.l.l was Gabriel thinking, not even ringing his sister to tell her to expect him? Part of that "complicated" relationship Gabriel had with his sister? Maybe, but Jonas could have done with a heads-up. He"d almost had his eyes gouged out by this woman"s fingernails. A perfectly understandable reaction considering she had a stalker. "Which I suggest you do right now, to save any more misunderstandings." He released her and pushed her away from him at the same time before taking his cell phone from the breast pocket of his black leather duster and holding it out to her. "Now," he snapped as Lily made no move to take it.
Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you? And don"t say Jonas Grayfeather again, because that tells me absolutely nothing about you."
"It"s my name."
"A name that means nothing to me. Nor does the fact that an Apache Indian-half Apache Indian," she corrected as Jonas arched one dark eyebrow, "is running around London sneaking into my dressing room."
"I don"t run, and I don"t sneak either. I was waiting in your dressing room because I had a.s.sumed Gabriel would have told you about me," he added.
Her mouth twisted. "If you know my brother at all, then you"ll know Gabriel isn"t big on explaining himself to anyone, least of all me."
Jonas didn"t give a flying f.u.c.k what Gabriel was "big on." Considering this woman had a stalker, this situation could have turned very nasty in a matter of seconds.