Outcast (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 2) Read Free Page B

He’s crazy. The men he works with are worse. Heartless.”
    Expression grim, he pulled her into his arms. She clung to him. What kind of man flew to Antarctica merely because he had a suspicion that a woman might be in trouble? Jasper was kind and considerate. Fearless. The first time he’d touched his lips to hers, she’d had the oddest sensation of having found home. But then she’d gotten her diagnosis and—she couldn’t bear thinking of what was to come.
    Why hadn’t Leo and his men shot her and gotten it over with?
    That’s why she’d ended things with Jasper. The disease’s inevitability.
    Even as a little girl, she’d been the practical one. When her mother had been sick and her father was desperately searching for a miracle cure, Eden had no choice but to grow up fast.
    “We’ll figure this out, okay?”
    She nodded.
    “Where are your father and Dane now?”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t seen either of them since the killing started. That was one—maybe two—days ago. I think at some point Leo drugged me. It’s all messed up in my mind.”
    “Speaking of the bastard,” Jasper pulled away. “I should check on him and Doug. Want to tag along or stay here?”
    “I’ll stay with you.” The idea of being away from him, if only briefly, left her feeling bereft. Way to stick to your convictions . How many times had she told herself that staying away from him was the kindest thing she could do? Yet, she never could have seen this coming.
    “Sure you’re feeling up to walking around?”
    “I think so. Regardless, I don’t want to be left alone.”
    “Fair enough.” He stood, then held out his hands to help her from the bed. “Take it slow.”
    She was dizzy at first, but a few deep breaths cleared her head.
    Outside, a storm raged.
    Beyond her postage stamp window, snow blew horizontally. Though her father had spared no expense in the station’s construction quality, the wind still howled. The whole pod shuddered with each gust.
    “Good to go?” he asked.
    She swallowed the knot of fear blocking her throat while tightening her grip on his hands. “I’m scared.”
    “Look at me . . .” He released her hands to cup her cheeks. “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll die before letting that crazy bastard hurt you again.”
    “That’s just it,” she said. “I don’t want you hurt. You have to understand that when I broke up with you, it was because—”
    “Don’t stop on my account.” Leo stood in the open door, flanked by three of his men who held mean-looking automatic rifles. “I’m a sucker for romance.”
    Heat drained from Eden’s cheeks, pooling in her belly. “Leo, please . . . You’re practically family. Why are you doing this?”
    Sighing, stepping deeper into the room, he said, “I love you like a daughter—really, I do. I abhor violence. But I also cannot stand injustice, and what your father’s kept from me for all these years is wrong. Criminal. The entire world deserves to know.”
    “I already told you, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
    “Liar.” He raised his hand to slap her, but Jasper lunged between them, landing a hard right to Leo’s face that resulted in blood spewing from his nose.
    Two of Leo’s henchman sprang into action, restraining Jasper by grabbing hold of his arms.
    Jasper went slack, slipping from their hold, only to bolt back up swinging.
    He got in a couple gut punches to the guy in front of him, but then the man behind him kneed him hard in the center of his lower back. The impact propelled Jasper forward. His attacker wrenched Jasper’s arms back, slamming his face against the nearest wall.
    Eden screamed, intent on getting to him. But before she’d moved more than a couple feet, one of Leo’s men grabbed her, too, jerking her arms back to clasp her wrists.
    While she fought for air, desperate to get to Jasper, Leo used the lap quilt at the foot of her bed to blot blood from his nose. Her mother had finished