They went under as a sudden shout exploded from inside the houseboat.

Holding on to Brogan she was surprised when he ducked straight under the houseboat then resurfaced beneath it in the cavity created between the two floaters the boat was built on.

Brogan wasn’t alone.

As they resurfaced Dawg was suddenly pushing a diving tank over her arms as Brogan held her up, his hands gripping her waist.

Natches and Rowdy were behind him, Chaya behind them.

“Remember how to use this?” Dawg asked quickly as a regulator was attached and Natches ducked under the water.

She nodded quickly.

A second later fins were being pushed on her feet as Brogan quickly fitted the weight belt around her waist.

“Go with Chaya. Once they can’t find you they’ll start the motor and we’ll all be in trouble if you’re not out of here,” Dawg growled.

“Brogan . . .”

“Don’t get him killed, Eve,” Dawg snapped. “Go with Chaya now.” He pushed the regulator between her lips.

“Love you, Eve. Always,” Brogan whispered at her ear before Dawg pushed her beneath the surface and Chaya grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the way.

It was like a war zone under the water, she thought in amazement as Chaya continued to drag her out of the way.

Brogan, Dawg, Rowdy, Natches, and Chaya weren’t the only ones beneath the cool surface.

Deep enough beneath the boat for safety and to ensure they weren’t seen, two underwater propelled, sled-like vehicles waiting with two frogmen outfitted with military rebreathers such as the ones Brogan and the Mackays were wearing.

Of course, Eve hadn’t been that lucky. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything going on. All she could do was hold on to Chaya as the other woman directed her while unclipping an underwater propulsion device from her waist belt and activating it.

Immediately they were drawn through the water as Eve saw the first lines of water being split from bullets firing into the depths. And all she could do was worry and pray.

Two minutes flat, Brogan thought in disgust as he surveyed the interior of the Nauti Buoy. Kai was dead, and unfortunately Poppa Bear had been wounded. The bullet he’d taken in the leg would put him out of commission for a while.

The three men that had been on the upper deck had been taken out in twenty seconds flat with only a few wild shots getting off.

Two were only badly wounded; one was dead.

Staring down at Kai’s body he felt the irritation rising inside him.

“Fuckers say they don’t know anything,” Dawg announced as he came from the makeshift interrogation room the upper bedroom had been turned into. “Timothy’s having a boat dispatched, it should be here in about five minutes to haul their asses to the nearest Homeland Security holding cell.”

“Bye-bye, bad guys,” Brogan muttered.

“Or something,” Dawg snapped, turning back to him, his hands propping on his hips as he stared at the bloody mess that had been made of Kai. “Hell, the girls are going to make us clean up this mess, you know?”

Brogan shrugged. “Have fun.”

Dawg laughed. An amused, evil laugh that had Brogan staring back at him askance. “What?”

“Oh, you’ll get to have fun with us, ole boy, you just watch. Chaya will have taken Eve straight to Kelly, Christa, Janey, and Rogue, and she’ll be given the full lowdown on how things work. And trust me, those girls stick together like glue against us.”

“But Eve’s future husband isn’t an asshole.” Brogan grinned confidently. “So have fun without me.”

Dawg chuckled at the declaration. “You know, Brogan, it’s going to be fun watching you learn the ropes. Lots and lots of fun.”

The look on his face wasn’t one of amusement, though. Brogan couldn’t help the trepidation that slowly rose inside him at the pure anticipation that filled Dawg’s, Rowdy’s, and Natches’s gaze.

And he really hoped they were wrong.

EPILOGUE

She hoped.

She prayed.

She paced the marina office even though she could hear everything coming through the radio Chaya manned and knew they were okay. She hadn’t really believed it until Brogan had walked through the door.

He caught her as she threw herself at him.

“I don’t clean blood out of houseboats,” he suddenly hissed at her ear. “You hear me, Eve? It’s not happening.”

“Just take me home.” She buried her head in his shoulder and held on tight, praying he didn’t catch the smirk at her lips. “Just take me home.”

He didn’t exactly take her home. They stepped into one of the Lake Patrol’s boats and once she was strapped in, felt the speed of the craft as its nose lifted and flew over the water.

Before long, it was turning up a long tributary, working its way through a series of twists and turns, sandbars and fallen trees that turned out to be automated blocks easily opened when using the right electronic device.

It didn’t take long to reach the cabin retreat Brogan had taken her to before. And much, much less time for him to carry her to the bedroom.

She’d showered and changed clothes at the marina, while he’d showered and changed on the Nauti Buoy with the others.

He paid little attention to the pretty skirt and blouse she wore, though he did give her an appreciative look when he glimpsed the lacy white bra and panties. Two seconds before he all but tore them off her.

His own clothes were disposed of just as quickly and when he tossed the last sock aside he hooked her around the waist and dragged her immediately to the extrawide bed, pulling her beneath him.

His lips came down on her as his hands caressed down her arms, her hips, one sliding between her thighs and finding her already wet and wild for him.

“I can’t wait,” he growled, moving over her.

The wives had warned her to expect this. She’d been in danger, and his male instincts would go crazy until he had her again, marked her in some alpha male way, and assured himself she was alive and all his.

Then he would be normal again, she was promised.

Spreading her thighs with his knees, his fingers gripping the base of his cock, he pressed the engorged head against the slick folds of her pussy and began pressing inside.

Immediately, curling heat and that pleasure-pain ecstasy began to overtake her.

Lifting her knees to clasp his hips as her own arched into the penetration, Eve felt the sudden remnants of despair and grief, love and pain, joy and pleasure.

His emotions.

His fears and his pleasure.

They moved into her, over her, mixing with her own as her pussy slowly stretched around his cock, working open to accept the width of him.

Each thrust pushed him deeper, stretched her internal muscles, and caressed oversensitive nerve endings and delicate tissue. Each time his cock plunged inside her, pushing in till the hilt of his erection met the clenched entrance before he was moving again.

Pulling back, thrusting inside her with increasingly quick thrusts, burying inside her again and again as the pleasure rose, slamming through her senses again and again.

Coming over her, his lips covering hers as he fucked her desperately, his hips twisting, thrusting, stroking her internally with such heated pleasure Eve felt herself rapidly teetering on the edge of bliss.

“I love you,” he groaned against her lips.

Her lashes lifted, her eyes immediately meeting his.

She was being dragged into a chaotic whirlwind of pure sensation.

Pushed from the edge, ecstasy surging through her as she began to unravel beneath him, her release exploding through her with rapid pulses as he thrust deep inside her, stilled, and the throbbing heat of his release began spurting inside her and mixing with hers.

They cried out, meeting, merging, and with a sense of shock, Eve felt his soul open to hers and felt them entwining in such rapture she lost herself to him.

But, he lost himself to her as well.

Holding tight inside her, his body trembling, rapture lashing him as he felt his lover, his other half, heart and soul, Brogan knew he’d never be lost again.

There would always be a port in a storm. There would always be a partner to share the joy, as well as the grief with.

There would always be Eve and Brogan.

“I love you. . . .”

They whispered the words as one.