A Menage Made On Madison [The Federation 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 17

  Her eyelids were too heavy to open, and hell, they were too tired to work. At the backs of her eyes, she saw little lights, lights that had appeared the first time Rafer had fucked her, and that had stayed with her all through the notte as she fought her climax.

  Eventually, he stopped his scenting, apparently content that she reeked of him, and he collected her limp limbs in his arms. She was too spent to groan, too tired to even sigh. Parker just let him rearrange her on top of him, like a human blanket, and was relieved as fuck to finally be allowed to sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Parker! Rafer. Where the lukcin are you? Parker!”

  The scream had Parker shooting upright and then leaping out of bed. “Knox? Knox. What’s the matter?” she shrieked back, blindly trying to find her way out of the tangled mess of the sheets and drag her way over to the doorway. But Knox had apparently heard her.

  He stormed into the bedroom, clapped his hands to turn on the lights, then ran over to her. She stood there, half-gawking and half-squinting at him. Not entirely sure what the hell he was going to do, she waited, and then frowned when he started running his hands over her.

  She blinked. “Knox? What the hell is going on?”

  “You’re all right. You’re okay,” he murmured, but she could tell the litany was to himself. He kept on saying it, kept on repeating it like it was a mantra.

  “Baby, of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  She watched as her big, strong man crumbled to the floor. He sank down to his knees and grabbed her to him. The fastidious part of her nature wrinkled her nose at that. She was covered in Rafer’s cum, dried or not, and he was dressed in one of his best suits.

  Parker tried to bend down but couldn’t. Her goddamn thigh muscles weren’t cooperating—now she realized why it had been so hard to get out of bed.

  Rafer’s arms suddenly appeared around her, and he helped her bend over. Apparently his muscles were feeling the strain, too, because he grunted as he helped move her. “Knox? What the uti’s going on?”

  Parker reached over and began to comb her hand through Knox’s silky black hair. “Baby, talk to me, you’re frightening me.” It was the truth, or at least it was, because Knox’s next words let her feel what fright actually was:

  “Bomb.”

  Just the one word and all three of them froze.

  “Where? At the hotel?” Parker demanded. “Is anyone hurt?”

  Knox didn’t seem to hear her, though. He whispered, “Couldn’t find you in the Presidential Suite. Just knew you’d sneaked out, and Rafer, too. Couldn’t find you anywhere. Thought you’d been…. Thought you’d been.…”

  Parker looked on, astounded, as tears curled down over Knox’s cheeks. Seeing them, spying his fear for her, her heart melted. She supposed she should be used to her heart turning to sap around these two, but Knox never stopped amazing her, never stopped surprising her with the depth of his love, and she knew, given the chance, Rafer would be exactly the same.

  “I’m fine, love. I’m fine, I promise.” She pushed herself close to him, making a seat for herself on his lap and curling her arms about his shoulders. “We’re all fine. We’re all safe. I love you, baby. You know that, don’t you?”

  His arms came up to embrace her, and she coughed as he nearly squeezed her to death, but she let him, knew that he needed this, needed to know she was alive and tucked close to him. “Reception is chaos,” he whispered. “Happened in Bar Azur. The bomb went off there.”

  “We should go downstairs and help sort things out.”

  Knox shook his head, and his silky hair brushed against her cheek like a feather tickling across the surface. “It’s too dangerous. I want you to stay up here.”

  “Knox,” she chided. “I’m not going to stay up here when things are mad downstairs, not when I can help. I’m sure the danger has passed.”

  “Won’t know yet. Not until the Garda have come and swept the area.”

  For the first time, Rafer spoke. “I’ll have my team transfer here and do the sweep. It won’t take as long for them to get here, and the actual sweep itself will be quicker with the technology we have on hand.”

  Before Knox could speak, Parker turned to him. “Could you get in touch with them, please, love? We need this under control as soon as possible.”

  When Rafer’s feet silently slipped across the floor in search of his comm unit, Knox’s mouth trembled against her cheek. “I almost lost you.”

  “You didn’t, baby. I was up here. Safe and sound. You know nothing destroys tritonite. Nothing. Not even a bomb could blast it. That’s why we spent a fortune using it during construction.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t know where you were. You could have been in the bar. You might have been….”

  She hushed him. “Knox, don’t be silly. I’m fine, you’re fine. Nothing happened to us. We’re safe, and you don’t have to worry about me. I’m all in one piece. But we need to go and sort this out. Think of the hotel, Knox. Think of what this will do for business if we don’t show a strong front.”

  It was a horrible time to even think about business, but Knox was like a bloodhound. He needed to concentrate on a task when he was in a panic. It happened rarely, for she could count on one hand in all the time they’d been together when he’d lost his cool, but when it did, it was usually to do with her safety, and she could only snap him out of it when she gave him a task to focus on.

  Her safety was the make or break of his control. Nothing else could make him lose all sense of time and propriety. And she knew that was because more than his wealth, more than his status and position in the Federation society, Parker was all he lived for.

  It was the Shuzon way.

  For the first time since Rafer had murmured those words, they resonated with her.

  The depth of Knox’s love for her continually astounded Parker.

  “How many were injured, Knox?” she whispered, trying to urge him back into control.

  His lips were silk against her throat as he nuzzled closer to her. “Fifty. Mostly staff. Ten guests. No deaths. It wasn’t a small explosion, but it was set up in the bathroom of Bar Azur.”

  “Shit, they’re close to the actual bar.”

  He nodded. “Most of the injuries are from the exploded glass from the bottles on the shelves.” He swallowed. “You swear to Griljerrd you’re okay?”

  “I swear, Knox. I wouldn’t lie to you. I didn’t even hear the bomb. Neither of us did or we’d have come downstairs to help out.”

  He sucked in a shaky breath and pulled away from her. When he did, his nose wrinkled. “You stink of Rafer.”

  “Hey, less of the stink. I spent a lot of time and effort getting her to smell like that,” Rafer called out.

  She couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped, even though she tried to muffle it with her hand. “He really did,” she affirmed, grinning when Knox shook his head in disbelief.

  He grunted, but she could see the amused twinkle in his eye when he asked, “Is your team coming, Rafer?”

  “ETA six mins.”

  Parker carefully disentangled herself from Knox’s arms. “Just enough time for me to have a shower.”

  She knew it was an emergency and that she was needed downstairs, but there was no way she was dealing with the aftermath of a bomb coated in Rafer’s sperm.

  No way, no how.

  Shuddering at the thought, she raced through the particle shower, but even that had a hell of a time cleaning her up. She had to go through it twice before she was finally semen-free—now that wasn’t a phrase she’d use often—and she dressed in a jumpsuit.

  Five mins later, she was ready to go. Knox and Rafer were waiting for her, and they had both changed into new sets of clothes. As one, they headed for the elevator and slowly descended to the first floor. When the doors opened, Parker realized Knox hadn’t been exaggerating. The reception desk was chaos.

  She didn’t wait for either of them, just threw herself
into the madness, knowing there was no point in trying to attempt to organize this. People would panic, and she just had to deal with them on a case-by-case basis.

  As she stepped closer to the desk, she heard the sound of someone crying. Spinning around, she saw a little girl standing alone on the bridge, one hand gripping the rail while the other was rubbing against her cheek. She strode over to her and bent down. “I’m Parker, who are you?”

  The little girl blinked in surprise at her direct question. “I’m not supposed to speak to strangers.”

  The blue skin and the accent told her the girl was Shuzon, but the words themselves were a huge indicator. Only toddler Shuzons could be so polite while crying. “I’m not a stranger,” she countered. “This is my hotel. And you want to find your mommies and daddies, don’t you? And your sister?”

  The girl’s bottom lip trembled. “I lost them.”

  She bent down and reached for her hand. “I know, sweetie, but I can help you find them.”

  “I’m Lizu.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lizu,” she told the little girl gravely, and was about to stand when a flash had both of them blinking. Lights flickered in her eyes when she looked up and saw the Press had arrived, their holocams in tow.

  “Maseign Baxx! Maseign Baxx,” they called out. “Do you have any idea how many are injured?”

  She blinked at the question, and then groaned with relief when Rafer appeared out of nowhere. He strode in front of her and walked down the bridge. “If you’ll please leave the reception area, we need to ensure our guests’ safety and your presence here will only make a bad situation worse.”

  “Is that a quote?” one of the reporters bellowed.

  Parker didn’t need to look at Rafer’s face to see how much that would have pissed her mate off. He seemed to grow larger, his shoulders straightening as his back stiffened. “Kindly leave these premises or I’ll have my men escort you to the outer perimeter of the hotel.”

  “Yeah? What men?” another journalist bravely called out. “The Garda don’t move for a little thing like an explosion!” The cluster of Press sniggered at a statement Parker could easily imagine was true.

  Rafer stepped forward, pushing into one of the reporter’s personal space, so much so the guy stepped back making everyone else take a step back, too. Right into his team’s waiting hands. “Those men,” he declared, pointing behind the group.

  Spying the Fleet uniforms, as one, the Press disappeared in a scrambled rush. The Garda was one thing, but pissing of the Fleet was not the best way to stay in business.

  “Good timing, Jyk,” Rafer called out as the men scuttled away without further argument.

  “We came as soon as we could, Sir. Where’s the site of the explosion?”

  “This way.” Rafer winked at Parker as he passed, and she realized two things. Firstly, he thrived on this. He was in charge, capable, cocksure. This was his world, and he ruled it. Secondly, he and his team were about to enter Bar Azur.

  It was selfish, but his team going in was one thing, Rafer going in was another.

  She suddenly understood Knox’s terror. Parker watched as they crossed the reception and headed down the corridor that would take them to the bar.

  It was hard not to go after him, not to ask him to stay back, and close to her, where she could see him and know he was safe. But she didn’t. How could she ask a man like Rafer, a man who was accustomed to battle, to hang back and cling to her metaphorical apron strings?

  She still trembled with fear, and only when Lizu tugged at her hand did she stop gawking down the corridor, watching the last man on Rafer’s team round the corner.

  “Parker, are you going to help me find my mommies?”

  The words broke her free from the stupor that had gripped her, a stupor that encompassed the fear and yes, the love she had for Rafer. She had to swallow back her nerves to reply, “Of course, sweetie, just you come with me.”

  * * * *

  Knox watched as Parker dealt with a little girl and led her over to reception. It was difficult to handle the task before him, knowing he couldn’t keep his eyes on her at all times.

  He hadn’t even felt the blast. Like Parker and Rafer, he’d been too far away from the bar to even notice something was going on. Only when his comm unit had beeped and informed him of the explosion had his world centered down into those few mins of terror. When he couldn’t find Parker in the Presidential Suite, when she was nowhere to be found...he thought the worst, and immediately drowned in the fact that he must have lost her.

  He hadn’t even waited to go to their quarters before fear had held him by the throat and was throttling him. When he’d heard her voice, he’d never known such relief. Had never known such peace.

  Parker was his life.

  He’d known that since the first moment he’d met her. Had embraced the fact she was his mate and a part of him, but only when he was inches away from losing her did it hit home.

  He shook off the melancholy, knowing Parker was right and that he had to focus on the hotel and their guests. Loud voices, shrieks of pain, the mad tussle of a crowd, they were his compatriots as the onsite clinic finally made its way out of the bomb site and into reception to deal with the minor wounds. Even in his daze of grief, he’d had the wherewithal to command his managers to send out the healers and to have the injured taken to the clinic.

  It was strange to feel so disconnected from the scene. To know that madness was going on around you, but you were lost to its whirl.

  Had Parker been in the Presidential Suite, he’d have coped with all of this. But as it was, his brain was fried, and all he could do was stick to the reception desk, barking out orders and keeping his eyes glued on her when he spotted her among the crowd.

  * * * *

  “What kind of device was it?” Rafer asked Niju, his explosives technician.

  “An ilutinium IED. Pretty antiquated, to be honest. Some of the newer models could have caused a lot more destruction,” his tech informed him. “As it is, the damage is minimal. They were just lucky no one was using the bathroom when it went off.”

  “Yeah, but by planting it so close to the bar, they created a dirty bomb. All that glass, so much shrapnel to cause a lot of harm…. How many went off?”

  Niju shrugged as he studied his comm unit. “There was only the one device. The building’s been swept by one of our satellites. It’s safe. And, Sir, the whole idea of a bomb is to create as much damage, as much confusion as possible, otherwise the people behind this wouldn’t have planted the device at all. This?” He waved a hand. “It’s minimal. We’ve all seen far worse.”

  “Yeah, I know, but this is my backyard, Niju,” Rafer grumbled. “This is where my family lives, for Griljerrd’s sake. How would you like it if the place your woman lived was blown up?”

  “I’d be pissed off, Sir.”

  Rafer eyed him. “Exactly. How large was the device?”

  “From the readouts, it was only small. And considering its age, I’d say this wasn’t pulled by any of the known terror groups. To be honest, Sir, whether this is your new home or not, I’m surprised something like this hasn’t happened before. Madison Hotel has a reputation for being a melting pot of all the nations. It’s a perfect target for terror groups.”

  Rafer hissed. “I know. I’ve often thought of it but I don’t think my mate or twinling have.” He huffed. “I think I’ve found my place on board this particular ship.”

  “Sir?”

  He shook his head. “Nothing, Niju. I want you to get me as much information about the device as possible. And see if there are any traces of the builder left behind.”

  One speck of sweat would be enough to identify a nationality at least, which wouldn’t exactly narrow the search down, but it would give them a clue as to who the enemy was.

  In this case, Rafer wasn’t sure who had been targeted, full stop. Was the traitorous uti still after him? The one who had tried to have him killed no less than thre
e times in the past two annals, was he still on his tail? Or, were the bombers after creating a little havoc in Madison’s government? After all, the top ministers had all been here this notte.

  Security was lax at the hotel. There were guards posted at the reception, but that was it for the most part. Niju was right that Knox and Parker had been lucky something like this hadn’t happened before. Just because this was a pleasure resort didn’t mean to say guests didn’t sometimes bring troubles with them.

  Inadvertently, Rafer had found his niche. He could see why Knox and Parker wouldn’t believe this was a place terrorists would attack. Not when there were so many nationalities, and the attacker’s message could go unheard thanks to the melee of people. But trouble could be found in the most beautiful of places. He’d seen that over the length of his long career.

  Even though there was much to do, Rafer felt more relaxed than he had in annals. Parker was finally his, and now he had discovered a role that would make him content at the hotel: security.

  He looked around the blast site, winced at the scorch marks and the endless mounds of shattered glass. It was a miracle the ceiling hadn’t come down or the ground caved in. In fact, they’d been lukcin fortunate that there had been relatively little damage. Both to life and to the hotel. The latter of which mattered because if the infrastructure had been in any way damaged by the blast, it would cause an olan of a lot more injuries in the long run.

  In truth, when he thought about it, it came as no surprise at all. His brother was a good man. He wouldn’t use substandard building materials to ensure higher profits. This place was crafted from tritonite, the strongest, most costly metal in the Federation. Knox’s morals had saved a lot of lives this notte.

  It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last, that his twinling humbled him.

  Chapter Twelve

  “The DNA is from a native Madison?”