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fear. "Zack? Is it ?"
"I don't know, Eljin, but you'd better grab anything you want to take with you
because I don't know if we're coming back here. Gunny has some sort of escape plan in
mind for us but we need to be ready for anything."
Eljin glanced back over his shoulder to see if he'd forgotten anything. His gaze
landed on the body lotion on the nightstand. He pulled away from Zack and ran over to
grab it. He slid the bottle into the pocket of his hoody before running back over to join
Zack.
"Okay, I'm ready."
Zack shook his head, but a smile played across his lips as he reached for Eljin's
hand again. "Good thinking, hummingbird. We might need that."
"I can hope," Eljin murmured as he followed Zack out of the room and into the
main gathering room. They met Gunny just as he came into the room from the small
kitchenette. The older man's gaze went to their joined hands and he raised a brow.
"We'll explain later," Zack said, giving Eljin's hand a quick squeeze.
Gunny snickered and shook his head before heading toward the hallway. "You
two need to get ready. There are clothes on the table for you to change into. I need to go
sanitize the house."
"Sanitize the house?" Eljin asked as he followed Zack.
"Gunny is going to clear out all sign of us being here, make the bed, straighten
the guestroom, stuff like that," Zack explained. "It won't keep the bad guys from coming
after us but it might delay them for awhile if there's no sign of us being here."
Eljin nodded. That much, at least, made sense to him. Zack and Gunny acted as if
their current situation was an everyday occurrence. Eljin, on the other hand, felt so out
of his depths that he needed to be led around by the hand . . . literally.
"Zack, what if ?" The rest of Eljin's words were lost in his cry as Zack suddenly
grabbed him and shoved him behind his back. Eljin looked beyond Zack to see two
huge shadows advancing on them. He cringed, waiting to be attacked, only to frown in
surprise when Zack's laughter filled the room.
"Doc, Rocky, what in the hell are you doing here?" Zack asked as he shook hands
with each of the two large men.
"Gunny called us, said you'd gotten your ass in a sling and we needed to come
rescue you," one man said.
"Again," said the other, laughter clear in his voice.
"You might say that." Zack laughed. He glanced back to Eljin, holding out his
hand.
Eljin stepped forward and grasped Zack's hand. His other fluttered against his
neck as his shattered nerves failed him. Too much had happened in too little amount of
time. How much more could he take before he cracked?
When Zack drew him into his strong arms, Eljin went gratefully, clinging to him
as if he were an anchor in the storm. And, Eljin supposed, that's exactly how he felt
Zack was his one solid rock in all of this craziness. He clung to the man, afraid if he
didn't, he'd sink to the floor like a large puddle of mindless goo.
"This is my hummingbird, Eljin," Zack said, much to Eljin's surprise. He didn't
expect Zack to claim him so publicly.
"Hummingbird?" Mused the man with the dark brown hair.
Zack's knuckles grazed the side of Eljin's cheek. "You don't think he looks like a
hummingbird?"
"If you say so, dude," said the other man.
"Eljin, this is Pete Lewis. He's our unit medic. You can call him Doc," Zack said as
he pointed toward the man who'd just spoken. He then nodded in the other man's
direction. "And this rather impressive mass of muscles is Rocky Rodriguez."
Eljin offered a tremulous smile to both men, not sure what exactly to say to them.
"Gunny said you two had someone after you?" Rocky asked. "Want to fill us in?"
"There's some sort of secret military unit after Eljin and me. They want to capture
Eljin and kill me. The perimeter security alarm just sounded, which tells us they're
about fifteen minutes out. And I'd bet my right arm they're heavily armed and I know
they're very persistent. They followed us over three hundred miles, all the way from my
place."
"Dude, who'd you piss off this time?" Doc asked.
Zack shook his head. "I don't rightly know. From what Eljin's told me they took
me when I was in the hospital and did experiments on me. After I was released, they
kept me hopped up on drugs to make me forget the whole thing, made me think I was
delusional."
Doc chuckled. "You mean you're not?"
"Yeah, I've always kind of thought you were off your rocker." Rocky laughed.
Eljin stepped forward on a surge of annoyance. "You can't talk to Zack like that."
"Whoa, dude," Doc said, holding his hands up in a non-threatening gesture. "We
didn't mean anything by it. We were just fooling around with Zack."
"Yeah, man," Rocky said. "We were just funning."
Feeling like he'd just made a fool of himself, Eljin turned and buried his face in
Zack's wide chest. He could feel the rumble of Zack's laughter under his cheek.
Thank you, hummingbird. Zack whispered through their bond. No one's ever stood
up for me the way you just did.
Eljin melted, not just from the loving tone in Zack's voice but also from the soft
kisses he could feel being planted on the top of his head. My leannan. He whispered
back as he snuggled deeper into Zack's embrace.
"Zack, dude, seriously, we were just funning," Doc said. "We really didn't mean
anything by it. You know that, right?"
"I know that, Doc. Eljin's just a little protective of me."
The way Zack said the words his tone of voice caused Eljin to glance up at
him.
Zack grinned. "I belong to him."
Eljin's heart skipped a beat at the proud way Zack announced the nature of their
relationship.
"You . . . belong to him?" Doc asked.
Zack nodded enthusiastically. "Eljin claimed me fair and square."
Doc and Rocky both stared at them, their mouths hanging open. Eljin felt a
moment's worry, but then the other men began to laugh.
"Dude, you've moved over to the dark side," Doc said. "Gunny must be thrilled."
"How is it that everyone knew Gunny was gay except me?" Zack asked.
"Never came up, I guess." Doc shrugged. "It was never a big deal, you know? It
wasn't like Gunny was sleeping with every Tom, Dick, and Harry that came along." Doc
frowned. "In fact, I can't ever remember him hooking up with anyone."
"And you two?" Zack asked.
Doc's face flushed. "I knew Gunny was gay because I am too. I was having some
issues with an ex-lover and he talked to me about his Roland."
"If there's more like him," Rocky said as he gestured to Eljin, "I'd certainly
consider it."
Eljin couldn't help but burst out laughing. He held up his hand when all three
men looked at him in astonishment. "I'm the runt of the family. You should see my four
brothers. I'm considered the ugly duckling."
"Not possible, hummingbird."
"Just wait until you meet them," Eljin said. "They're stunning: tall, blond, and
absolutely breathtaking."
"I think I prefer short, blond, and breathtaking," Zack said.
The surprising tenderness in Zack's expression brought Eljin a rush of joy. Zack
had done a complete turnaround from when they met at the bar.
He gave Zack a teasing smile and shook his head. "Are you sure you're not
delusional?"
Chapter Six
Zack laughed at the stunned expression on Eljin's face. It felt good, everything [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]