Four Hard SWATs (2 page)

“I’m fine–”

“Do
not
cross me,
Tawni
,” Niko snapped. “I’ll deal with you after you’re patched up.” His movements as he cuffed the injured assailant were jerky, hard. The guy actually yelped more than once as Niko secured him.

Tawni
bit back tears of frustration. Would he kick her out of SWAT? “If I were a man, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. You’ve never held the others back.”

“If you were a man, I’d kick your ass right now!” The anger in Niko’s voice was all too apparent. If his voice hadn’t given away his anger, the smoldering look in his eyes as he got all up in her face certainly did. “The reason I don’t hold the others back is because I know what they are capable of and that they know when not to push their luck. If they try to do something I think is too risky, I rein them in. You, on the other hand, are green as goose shit. You may have had a couple years on the force, did exceedingly well in Police Academy, but you have exactly zero combat experience. Until I know damned well what you can and
can not
do, you will do exactly what I tell you or you’re gone.” He was nose to nose with her now, his voice that of a drill sergeant. A none-too-happy drill sergeant at that. “Are we clear?”

“As crystal,
Top
,” she answered.

“Did you get a look at the second guy?”

“No. He hit me before I knew there was someone else near. After that, he stood between me and the moon. All I know is he’s a big son of a bitch. Tall. Broad shouldered. Not hardly as big as Wyatt, but damned big just the same.”

“Can you walk?” Sebastian helped her to her feet. Unsteady as she was, she still wasn’t about to admit how dizzy she felt.

“I’m fine.”

“Like hell,” he said and scooped her up in his arms.
Tawni
protested Sebastian’s handling of her, but when Niko growled, she shut up, not willing to push her luck any more with him tonight.

This was so like her. Not only had she not proven herself to the four men, but now she was being carried home like a child. Could this night possibly get any worse?

Nicholas was ready to strangle
Tawni
. Well, either that or take her to his bed and never let her out. The girl had more courage than good sense. While an admirable trait, in this line of work it could get her killed. Combine her skill and fearlessness with her sexy, compact body, and Nicholas hadn’t had a chance. He’d fallen head over heels for her the first day they’d trained together. The others hadn’t actually said anything outright, but he suspected he wasn’t the only one with that particular affliction.

Sebastian had taken
Tawni
to the ER while the rest of them cleaned up the mess at the little house in the woods. The rest of the team was as anxious as Nicholas was to get to the hospital and make sure
Tawni
was all right.

“How bad was she hit?” Grayson looked at him anxiously, shoving the last prisoner into the back of the waiting cruiser.

“Don’t know,” Niko replied honestly. “Sebastian didn’t seem to think it was too bad. He was more worried about her head. Seems another assailant hit her before scurrying off into the fucking woods. Bastian is afraid she may have a concussion.”

“Stupid woman.” Gray swore under his breath. “Why the hell did she run off like that? She could have been killed!”

“Shut up, Gray,” Wyatt admonished. “I remember how you were when you first joined us back in Iraq. You had a chip on your shoulder the size of Texas, anxious to prove yourself. She’s just like you, only–” Wyatt grinned before adding, “curvier.”

Gray swung a fist at Wyatt, missing when the older man ducked. “She’s hard-headed. It’s going to get her hurt. Or worse.”

“She’s smart. Good in a fight. She kept her cool.”

“Yeah.” Niko crossed his arms over his chest. “Right up until the mystery man took aim at us. Then she went and lost her goddamned mind.”

“Tell me you wouldn’t have gone after the bastard if you’d been in her shoes, Niko,” Wyatt demanded. “She did what any one of us would have done.”

“Only difference is,” Gray added as he slammed the cruiser door, “we can take care of ourselves. She went and got herself cold-cocked.”

Wyatt scowled at both of them. Niko didn’t really blame the man. He felt just as protective of
Tawni
as Wyatt did. “She’s one of the academy’s top graduates. Her skills as a fighter are well documented. So what if she’s a little wet behind the ears? She’ll learn.”

“Assuming she doesn’t get herself killed first,” Grayson added, probably just to piss off Wyatt.

“That’s enough,” Niko interceded. “All this can wait until we’re sure she’s OK. Then you guys can have your turn with her. Once everything is said, we’ll start training again. She’s going to be a good addition to the team. No one is disputing that.”

“I repeat—Gray hung on tenaciously to his argument—”assuming she doesn’t get herself killed first.”

“Which is why I’m in command,” Niko said. “I’m not letting anything happen to her.”

No one questioned Niko’s ability to protect his team. He’d bring
Tawni
to heel one way or another or she’d be gone. And he’d never lost a team member to anything other than a transfer from the higher ups.
Tawni
would be no different.

Tawni
.

Why in the world Nicholas had agreed to take her under his wing was beyond him. Probably because he couldn’t stand the thought of another team getting her. She just...
fit
with them. In more ways than one. Since she’d joined them, all of them had been in a heightened state of sexual arousal. The tension was sometimes so thick he could cut it with a knife. Normally, he’d have insisted she be transferred. Figure out some way to separate them before things got out of hand. But with
Tawni
, he just couldn’t. Like it or not, comfortable or not, she was one of them.

“How about we discuss this later?” Wyatt groused. “The quicker we get this wrapped up, the quicker we can get to the hospital to check on our partner.”

Niko couldn’t argue with that.

An hour later, the three of them marched into the Emergency Room, demanding to see
Tawni
. Which didn’t work very well considering the nurse manning the entrance took the “one visitor in trauma” rule very seriously. Even Niko couldn’t intimidate her into letting them in. Fortunately, Sebastian chose that moment to exit, a slight smile on his face.

“She’s doing fine. They did a CT scan of her head just to be sure, but if she has a concussion, looks to be mild. She’s sporting a bandage on her upper left arm, but seems otherwise unharmed. Should be ready to go in a few more minutes.”

“Are they sure she’s OK to go home? I mean, that looked like a pretty hard hit to her head.” Niko preferred caution, but this decision wasn’t up to him. “One of us will have to stay with her. You know, to wake her up and shit.”

“Actually, that’s not necessary. Checking on her in the morning will be enough. Her scan came up normal—no bleed in her head or anything–so the best thing for her is to rest tonight.”

Niko raised an eyebrow. “That your final say on the matter?”

Sebastian grinned. “Well, that
and
I’ve already told her I’d stay with her.” Typical Bastian. Leaving out the most important part.

“I don’t need anyone staying with me.” A nurse rolled
Tawni
out of the ER in a wheelchair. Niko’s gut clenched to see the dark circles under
Tawni’s
eyes and the large knot still evident on her forehead. “I’m perfectly fine. Doc says it’s not necessary.”

“Nevertheless–” Niko began, but
Tawni
cut him off.

“I said no.” The stubborn set to her jaw was all Niko needed to know her mind was made up. Which was fine. They’d simply take shifts sitting outside her house.

“Let us know if you need anything, Ms.
Bolten
.” The nurse gave her a warm smile as she helped
Tawni
out of the wheelchair.

“Thanks.”
Tawni
smiled, but it was a weak effort at best.

“I’ll take you home.” Niko made it a statement, using his best don’t-fuck-with-me voice.

Unfortunately,
Tawni
only looked at him, her expression cool. Niko knew then he was in for a fight. “Thanks, but I’ve got my own ride. He should be here in a minute.”

Every member of the team went completely still, their entire attention focused on
Tawni
. Niko had to stick out an arm to physically stop Grayson from snagging her arm, no doubt to simply scoop her up and cart her off.

“You certainly have the right to do that,
Tawni
, but as your team, we have things to discuss. Best get them out of the way tonight.” Mainly because, looking at her so hurt and vulnerable, none of them was apt to be too hard on her tonight.

She rolled her eyes. Actually rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not going to willingly invite all of you to my house so you can berate me all night. I’m going home. I’m resting. Monday, when I get to work, I’ll listen to all you want to give me, but on my own time, I don’t have to and I don’t intend to.”

Without a word, she walked out of the hospital. Niko started to follow her, but
Tawni
ducked into a little sports car with tinted windows. Which meant he didn’t get a look at the bastard she took off with.

Swearing under his breath, Niko waved the boys off when they would have called the license plate in to dispatch to track the bastard down. Tomorrow would come soon enough.

“Let it go. For now.”

*****

Sebastian knew this was a bad idea. All the pent-up aggression and sexual tension in a BDSM bar never made for good company. It wasn’t like any of them really wanted to be here in the first place.

This was all Gray’s fault. He’d suggested they should blow off some steam, considering how high-strung they all were. That was all well and good, but Wyatt had no desire to be here in the first place. He wanted to follow
Tawni
, see who she was with, and beat the bastard to a bloody pulp.

“Christ,” Sebastian swore as he took a drink of his beer. “Anyone want to tell me why the fuck we’re here?
Cause
I’m not feeling it.”

No one answered.

The bar was in a city two hours away, one they frequented when they needed to unwind, to calm themselves and dispel the pent-up aggression. Unfortunately, Sebastian just wasn’t up for it tonight. From the looks of things, no one was. The four of them made an impressive sight for the many subs mingling around. Of the many who had approached, none of the others looked interested enough to give them more than a brief inspection before dismissing her completely. As it was, they sat around a table, each nursing a beer, staring at each other.

“According to Grayson, the resident genius,” Wyatt drawled, “we’re here to get rid of some of the sexual tension we’ve all been feeling after the raid.” He turned to Gray. “How’s that working for you there, Gray?”

“Shut the fuck up, Earp, afore I throw you a
beatin
’.”

“So, we going to discuss what this is really about?” Sebastian wasn’t letting it go. The team’s mental health and stability depended on them admitting exactly what was going on with
Tawni
. Because he sure as hell had feelings for the woman. He had the feeling more than one of them did. From the sorry state of everyone at the table, all of them did.

“No.” Niko’s denial was spoken, face in his beer, with the most miserable expression Sebastian had ever seen on his long-time friend.

Grayson nodded. “Well, that’s a good thing, because it’s none of your goddamned business, Bastian.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Hit a nerve?”

Grayson didn’t answer, only gave him a steely look. Then his attention seemed to shift from Sebastian to a point just over Sebastian’s shoulder. Sensing something important, they all looked to the stage. In the middle, a spotlight beating down on her, was a slender woman tied to a St. Andrew’s cross.

The first thing Sebastian noticed was how perfectly
formed her arms
were. Well, one of them, anyway. One side of her was encased in shadow where the spotlight wasn’t exactly centered. Funny that caught his attention, because he’d never been fond of overly muscular women. But this one’s arms were taut with sculpted, fine muscles, just enough to give her feminine appearance a little bit of bite.

After that, his gaze wandered down the sleek line of her back to her rounded buttocks and strong, slender thighs. This was a woman made for erotic spankings. She seemed familiar, but Sebastian couldn’t place her. Unbidden, the thought of
Tawni
lashed to the cross in such a manner, being readied for his lash, flashed through his mind and just that fast, he was hard as a fucking rock.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered before he could stifle his response.

“I second that,” Gray answered distractedly, his attention just as rapt on the woman center stage as Sebastian’s was.

They all seemed transfixed by the dark-skinned beauty bound before them. Her head was bowed as if she’d been conquered, her hands limp, offering no resistance against the straps that bound her.

A man spoke to her, standing behind the cross, his fingers gripping her chin as he spoke. Still, she didn’t move or make a sound.

Sebastian tore his gaze away from the scene. There was no way he could watch this in his current state. Standing, he offered, “anyone want a drink?”

“No,” Gray answered, “but I need some fresh air.”

With that, all of them stood, leaving the stage area. Sebastian and Niko went to the bar, while Gray and Wyatt went farther into the club, no doubt looking for a buxom sub to pleasure for the evening.