“Both bullets are still inside her. There’s no through and through. We’ll have to get them out. I’m going to carry her into the bedroom Trap was using. I’ll need to hook up an IV to get fluids in her. The way she’s bleeding, she might need a transfusion.”

Pepper was back with the first aid kit and Nonny’s shotgun.

Draden took out the sniper, Malichai, Gino reported. I’ve located four others. They’re moving on the house now. I’m going to try to spot them for Draden. Cayenne told us to take them in the throat. If I can maneuver them out into the open for Draden to get a shot, we can take out a couple before they reach the house. Is Trap’s woman alive?

She’s alive, but I don’t know how. He scored a direct hit right to her heart and another on her thigh that should have gone through, taking out her bone and severing the artery. She’s breathing though. I need time. Can you keep them off of us?

We’ll keep them off of you, Gino assured. Keep her alive. I’ve never seen Trap like he is with her. Almost mellow. We’re not losing any of our own to Whitney or his robot soldiers.

Malichai set up the IV right there on the floor of Wyatt’s home. He’d done the same thing in far worse conditions. On battlefields with mortar fire striking close. On a spinning, bumping helicopter taking fire. Still, when his hands were always steady, he felt a slight tremor. This woman was one of theirs. They couldn’t lose her. He’d never be able to look Trap in the eye again. He’d never be able to live with himself.

He lifted Cayenne into his arms and carried her to the back of the house where he placed her on the bed Trap had used when he stayed there. He hung the bag of fluids on a hook on the wall and opened a tray of surgical instruments always kept in a sterile pack.

“Pepper, Draden and Gino are going to try to keep them off of us while I do this. I’ll need Nonny’s help. You’ll have to be our last line of defense. If they get close, let me know.”

Pepper nodded. The entire team knew she had a major problem with violence, but when it counted, she would come through. Violence made her horribly ill, and haunted her for weeks, even months after, but she would do whatever it took to protect them. Malichai knew he could count on her and he didn’t give it another thought as he rushed to wash his hands and don sterile gloves.

It had cost Trap to allow Cayenne the decision to be alone with Nonny and Pepper, but she needed to know she could make her own friends, have her own relationship with the others without him. He wanted that for her, and the only way he could give it to her was by making himself scarce. That put him on the boat with Wyatt and the three little girls. It would also give him a chance to study the toddlers. He wanted his own children and he was determined to be a good father. Wyatt was a good man. A good friend. He was also the best father Trap had ever spent time around.

Wyatt took the time showing the girls the various plants and wildlife. He spotted alligators for them and talked about the differences in canals, bayous and marshes. They were toddlers, but they listened attentively. Trap spent a lot of time watching their smiles, evaluating them and their well-being. All three girls were venomous. They had capped their teeth and all got terrible rashes. The caps had to be removed. Trap had studied the venom sacs in the hopes of removing them, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. The way they were situated, it was a difficult and dangerous operation.

Wyatt and Trap had turned their attention to finding a specific antidote and eventually a vaccine those caring for the girls could take to prevent accidental bites from harming them. That earlier research had enabled Trap to find a way to break down the venom Cayenne injected into his body much faster.

“We’re going to stop the boat here and let the girls run a bit,” Wyatt said. “They need the exercise. They’re fast and they need to run off energy. I’ve cautioned them to listen and stay together. I’ll be running behind them.”

Trap nodded. “I’ll stay with the boat.” He found being apart from Cayenne difficult. They’d shared each other’s body as well as mind. He’d always been alone. When he was in his laboratory or had turned his attention to a problem, he lost himself in it. He could concentrate wholly on it and nothing else penetrated. Not the need for food or drink or sleep. He could go for days and nights working without a break. During those times, he never thought about anything but his work.

Now he thought about Cayenne. Always. She was there in his mind. When he was away from her, he felt uneasy. He knew, logically, it was because he hadn’t been able to prevent the loss of his family, but more, it was because they shared the same mind. It was impossible to feel alone when she was with him, filling every dark place, removing all dark thoughts. He’d been alone so long, now he had her.

She thought her need for him was greater than his for her, but that wasn’t the case. He was man enough to admit that. Once he’d found her, once he knew they were compatible in every way, she’d wrapped herself around his heart, around his very guts. More, she was entrenched in his mind.

He didn’t let her go, not all the way. He kept that thread between them, like one of her thin silky feelers. Monitoring her. It was wrong on so many levels, spying on her innermost thoughts. He had never been a jealous man, or a possessive one, until Cayenne. Women came and went. He didn’t want them close. His need for Cayenne consumed him. She made him whole. She made him a better man. She did it all by giving herself to him without reservation. Anything he asked. Anything. Most importantly, she gave him complete trust in and out of the bedroom.

For a woman to hand a man that kind of gift – he couldn’t imagine anything greater. She let him do anything he wanted, and in return, he worshipped her. She didn’t know that, because he wasn’t like she was. She didn’t play games. She gave him complete and total honesty at all times. If he asked a question, there was no hedging. She gave him the answer. She didn’t hold back from him. He hadn’t learned that yet. He still protected himself, and the more vulnerable he was, the more he tried to keep that protection in place.

Trap knew there was no going back to a life without her. She had become his world, inside or out of the laboratory. He didn’t want to go back. He just didn’t like separation and vowed, from now on, he was going to stick close to her. She didn’t seem to need space from him, so he was going to take advantage of that.