Audra: Gray Wolf Security Back Home, #1

By Glenna Sinclair

This is the first book of the Gray Wolf Security Back Home series, with over 50,000 words of romantic suspense. For the best reading experience, it is highly recommended to start from the very beginning with Donovan, Gray Wolf Security.

 

I'd never worked undercover, but I danced in the strip clubs before joining the Army and knew that world. That's where I knew I could find the evidence Joss needed to stop a group using and discarding women who were desperate to bring their families to the country.

 

The images of those poor women, beaten and abused, haunted my thoughts each time I looked at the men responsible. How could anyone be that cruel? How could anyone be that heartless?

 

Yet, Xavier Damico was different from what I expected. He wasn't just hot—and everyone knew just how hot he was!—but he had a kind streak that seemed contrary to everything I knew about him.

 

Was it possible Xavier wasn't what everyone thought he was? Had Gray Wolf gotten it wrong this time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenna Sinclair
• Release date: Jun 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9798223758488

Glenna Sinclair

Experience the heart-racing novels of Glenna Sinclair, the master of romantic suspense. Sinclair's books feature strong male protagonists, many with a military background, who face real-world challenges that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Books2read.com/GlennaSinclair Facebook.com/AuthorGlennaSinclair GlennaSinclairAuthor at Gmail dot com

Book preview

Prologue

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Audra

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My heart was in my throat. I knew I might be risking the whole thing after last night. If he did what he’d suggested... but I had to show up. If I didn’t, he would be even more suspicious, right? I had to show up until I knew for a fact my cover was blown. There was no other choice.

It was a ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t’ sort of scenario.

Ali smiled when he spotted me.

Hey, girl, how’s it going?

I shrugged with a little sideways tilt of my head. It’s too early to be conscious after last night.

It’s always too early, sweetheart.

I had to agree with that. I swung my bag onto the bar and settled on a stool, breathing a heavy sigh. Ali poured a Coke and set it on the bar in front of me. I smiled wearily at him.

You want a little kick in it?

Not today.

Ali leaned forward, his impressive muscles rippling with every movement. Too bad he’s gay. It seemed like all the good ones were always gay or taken. On the other hand, guys like Xavier were consistently available. But who would want to settle down with a man like Xavier who made sex his business? Who treated human beings like cattle? Who stole women’s dreams right out of their hands?

I shook my head as I lifted the glass to my lips.

You do something you shouldn’t have?

I looked up a little more sharply than I should have, meeting Ali’s caramel-colored eyes. Why?

Xavier wants to see you.

He gestured behind me to where Xavier’s men were standing, their expressions and body language completely indecipherable. But then again, they always were.

I guess I made so much money last night that he wants to thank me for making him a little bit richer.

Ali laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. I’m sure that’s all it is.

Sure it is. I’m too good for the place for him to fire me.

Ali straightened up and moved back to the stack of clean glasses he’d been putting away when I’d walked in. You should go straight up.

I nodded, staring at the henchmen in the mirror behind the bar. They were not the kind of guys who appreciated having to wait for anything very long. Just the same, I took my time sipping my Coke. I was only halfway through it when they came over, one of them grabbing my arm and dragging me off of my stool.

You realize if you put bruises on me, your boss won’t be happy, right? I asked, my voice sugary sweet. He doesn’t like the merchandise damaged.

They didn’t respond, but the goon holding my arm didn’t loosen his grip either. In fact I think he squeezed a bit tighter.

They pulled me around the bar to a set of stairs that led to the offices upstairs. We walked down a long corridor that led to another corridor with offices on one side and a massive one-way mirror on the other so that the manager of the club could observe the action downstairs without having to be a part of it. Xavier was standing there, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched Ali put away glasses downstairs.

Xavier Damico was a tall man with some heft to him that was attributed to daily workouts with a trainer. There wasn’t an ounce of excess fat on his body. He was dark, his hair black as midnight and long enough that thick, wavy locks often fell over his forehead. His eyes were a kaleidoscope of browns and golds, his nose long and slender, his jaw wide. He only wore expensive suits. Even now, with no one but his staff to see him, he wore tailored black slacks and a blood-red linen shirt, a silk tie loosened around his neck.

He didn’t look at us as we approached. We stood there silently for a good couple of minutes before he spoke.

Who do you work for?

He knew. How the hell...?

I bit my bottom lip and tried to look beaten. It wasn’t a look I’d ever made before or needed in my real life, so I wasn’t sure I was pulling it off properly. Xavier came over and grabbed my chin, forcing my head up so that our eyes met.

Don’t play games with me, Audra! I know you’re a fucking cop!

A cop? Maybe he didn’t know all he thought he did.

I’m not!

He didn’t say anything more. He just held up a jeweler’s box that I recognized immediately. My heart sank to my feet, a sense of defeat washing over me before I could hide it. He caught it and his eyes narrowed.

Goddamn, Audra!

His expression tightened. Any advantage I might have had disappeared in that second. I’d just confirmed it all for him and he knew it as well as I did. There was nothing more to be said.

He squeezed my jaw hard enough that I thought for sure he was going to break something. Then he pushed me away.

Put her in my car. I’m going to get rid of her.

What? No! Xavier!

He turned away, a little slump in his shoulders as he turned back to the one-way mirror. The two goons dragged me back along the corridor to the stairs and out the back door of the club to a side alley. I struggled against them but I knew it was useless. But it was human instinct and I knew it was expected, so I fought them up to the moment they slammed the door of the luxury car on me.

I knew Gray Wolf had two men watching me. I twisted in my seat, trying to spot one of them, hoping they had seen those goons shove me into the car and were set to follow. But the alley was empty.

Are you looking for your pals? Dumpy and Grouchy?

I jerked around, panic beginning to build in my chest.

Xavier glanced into the rearview mirror, his eyes meeting mine. His eyes were hard, dark little pebbles that offered no hope, no sympathy, nothing I could hold on to.

My guys took care of them. They won’t be coming to your rescue.

He put the car in gear and we pulled out in an angry scream of tires on pavement. I twisted in the seat again, searching the street as we rushed away from the club. I didn’t see the dark SUV that had been parked down on the corner every day I’d been at the club. I didn’t see the familiar reflection of my backup in a mirror in any of the cars parked on the street. I didn’t see the support I’d taken for granted all this time.

I’m telling you, Xavier said, his tone filled with finality, you’re on your own now.

If that was true, I was screwed.

Joss, you’d better figure something out real quick!

Chapter 1

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Joss

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One month earlier...

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You are not wearing that to school!

McKelty stopped short, her pretty eyes made almost ugly by the glare she pointed in my direction. Why not?

That skirt is too short. And that top is practically transparent!

I have a bra on.

That’s not enough, McKelty. Go upstairs and change.

I like this outfit.

I hid a groan behind my coffee mug, trying desperately to keep my expression neutral. I knew from experience that she only fought harder if she could see any sort of emotion on my face. The last thing I needed today was a fight with McKelty.

Please go upstairs and change.

What’s going on? Carrington asked as he breezed into the room, looking incredibly handsome in a pair of khaki slacks and a white dress shirt. His silk tie matched his green eyes. He’d cut his hair a few days ago and I didn’t like it much, but I had to admit that it made him look a little more professional.

Mom wants me to change, but I don’t want to.

Her use of the title ‘mom’ was clearly a bit of manipulation. While McKelty had been calling me mom off and on since I married her father nearly seven years ago, she used it sparingly. Usually I was just ‘hey’ or, more recently, ‘my stepmother’ as in ‘my stepmother won’t let me go to that party or ‘my stepmother gave me an actual curfew.’ I was currently the bane of her existence and it was driving us both mad.

Then go change.

McKelty turned her glare on him for a moment, but all he had to do was wave his fingers and she turned angrily, huffing as she stormed out of the room.

So what was wrong with the outfit? he asked me as soon as she was out of earshot.

Excuse me?

He shrugged as he reached for the coffee pot to fill his travel mug. Most teenagers dress like that these days, don’t they?

She’s fourteen. She’s hardly a teenager.

She’s close enough.

And, if you’ll recall the handbook we were handed last week at parent orientation, her skirt needs to be past her fingertips to fit the school dress code. And that shirt? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t even come close to the guidelines they spelled out. That thing’s practically nonexistent.

He shrugged. I think schools these days go overboard with that stuff. I mean, who are her parents? Us or the school administrators?

I shook my head, once again biting back a retort in an attempt to avoid conflict. It was something that had become my new norm in the last few months. In the last year, really.

What are you doing today?

He popped the lid on his mug and headed to the table where he’d draped his jacket and left his briefcase. To the office. I work for a living, remember?

Yes, darling, I remember that.

He glanced at me, his eyes smoky with anger. Let’s try to be a little trusting for just one day.

I turned away, setting my coffee mug carefully in the sink. He left without so much as a goodbye, slamming the front door on his way out.

Where did Daddy go? He was supposed to look at my drawing.

Aidan, my miniature twin, stood in the doorway with a drawing she’d made in her first-grade class yesterday dangling from her fingers. She let it fall, this drawing she’d been so proud of just yesterday afternoon. She spun on her heel and marched out of the room.

There. All three were pissed at me now. No one could say I hadn’t accomplished something today!

I picked up the drawing and pinned it to the fridge with a magnet before grabbing my own valise and heading out. I found McKelty waiting in the car, the radio blaring out some heavy metal music I would never, ever understand the lyrics to. I settled Aidan in her booster seat before climbing behind the wheel, turning the music down as I backed the car out of the driveway. McKelty reached over and turned the music back up, so I snapped the radio off.

My car—my rules.

She slammed her body back against the car seat and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring out the window the entire drive to the private school where both girls were enrolled.

The nanny will pick you up after school.

We know.

Words! That was an improvement!

I’ll be home as early as I can.

McKelty took her sister’s hand and marched away, not bothering to look back at me. Not even a wave. But Aidan, she waved her little hand until it looked as though it might fall off. How did they go from such sweet little angels to little nightmares in such a short period of time?

But I couldn’t put all the blame on McKelty. It couldn’t be easy living in a home with so much tension. There was a lot of tension and it was only growing more intense. I wished there was something I could do about it, but how do you fix something that might be beyond repair?

It hurt me to even think that, but it was a definite possibility.

Carrington and I... we weren’t Carrington and I anymore. And I think the break happened long before he cheated on me, long before he was blackmailed into kidnapping my friend and boss, Ash Grayson. I think it happened when we put all we had into getting pregnant again and it failed. Neither of us was very good at quitting at anything. Giving up on the dream of having a third child, of giving Carrington the son he’d so wanted, was what killed us.

I thought when we came back from Wyoming, when it was finally all out on the table, we might be able to repair this thing between us. But the tensions of everyday life kept getting in the way. I knew part of it was my fault. I couldn’t trust him. No matter how hard I tried, how many times I bit my tongue, it still found a way to come out. It was pushing him away and I didn’t know how to stop it.

I threw myself into work. I escaped as often as I could. I knew it wasn’t right, that it wouldn’t fix anything, but I couldn’t help it.

Carrington loved me. I loved Carrington. I forgave him for what he did—working with the Mahoney cartel and kidnapping Ash—but it wasn’t enough. He was still overwhelmed with guilt for what he’d put our family through, what he’d put my friend through. I was hoping his testimony in the trial when it finally happened would help, but that hope was dimming. There was just too much darkness between us.

And the cheating... how do you get past that? As much as I told myself it didn’t matter, it did. How could I trust that he wouldn’t do it again if his only motivation was disappointment? People are disappointed all the time. How would I know what I might do, what one of the kids might do, to send him into the arms of another woman again? How could I avoid letting it happen again?

I couldn’t. It was as simple as that. I’d taken a leap of faith with Carrington once before, and I wasn’t sure I could do it again. But could I face losing my family if I didn’t? Because that was where we were going.

I lost my family once before and it nearly killed me. I couldn’t do it again.

I headed out of town, bypassing the side street that would take me to the Gray Wolf offices I’d been running for nearly two years now. The route I took now was so familiar I could probably navigate it with my eyes closed. This was where I’d lived when I’d first moved to Santa Monica, where I’d found a new purpose after my son and husband were killed in a car accident, where I’d found Carrington and fallen so deeply in love with him and McKelty that it had pulled me out of my darkness and back into the real world. It was the place Ash called home, where he’d raised his kids and loved his wife. It was the beginning of everything.

I still had a remote for the front