Mastered By The Mavericks Read Online Free PDF Page A

about it.
    And she wondered why men like this turned her self-restraint to mush? Maybe it had
     something to do with this shit, right here? Their shared character, honor, purpose. Their understanding of
     the price their country asked of them, before putting on their uniform anyway. The
     men who slogged through the hard stuff, who forged the difficult decisions then supported
     their brothers-in-arms when the boots were on the other feet, without conditions,
     definitions, or limits.
    She and Enya used to have each other’s back like that. Through Dad’s desertion and
     Mom’s withdrawal, through junior then senior high, through college and first jobs
     and first loves, they’d hung in there together. Loving without question—
    Until Enya pledged her submission to a Dom.
    And lost the rest of herself in the deal, too.
    Crying over that train won’t bring it back to the station . Don’t be stupid.
    Another stupid move: picturing what it would be like as the woman of one of these
     guys. To have all that devotion and passion showered on her …
    Yep. Stupid.
    Absurd. Impossible.
    “Hey.” Rhett gave Shay an affectionate shake. “We’re going to get her back, man. You
     hear me?”
    Shay dipped a hesitant nod. “Okay. Okay .”
    “Good. But we still need your help.” He tapped on Shay’s forehead. “ This gray matter, all the way in this game. Got it?”
    “Yeah, man. Got it.” Shay clawed a hand through his wavy russet hair. Stared at the
     room’s opposite wall, only this time in remembrance instead of remorse. “Since Royce
     is involved, we have to assume he’s answering to Adler, since Stock and Newport are
     out of the picture.”
    Everyone tensed—and rightly so. Cameron Stock and Kirk Newport had been Adler’s allies
     after the government caught wind of Adler’s unorthodox methods and yanked funding
     for the Big Idea lab—at least until the guys’ rescue raid for Shay, in which Newport
     was apprehended. A court martial and prison sentence had followed. Stock had eluded
     capture for a few months longer, but Dan—indulging a personal vendetta that also wasn’t
     too popular on Brynn’s “quirky boyfriend traits” list—had found him in Mexico, bringing
     him to Zoe and Shay’s wedding as what had to be the world’s most bizarre wedding gift.
    Kellan hitched a hip against the easy chair. “So that rules out Area Fifty-One as
     their destination.”
    Shay commented on that with a dark growl. Again, nobody faulted him. Newport had abused
     his military clout to get Adler a lab in a clandestine bunker inside the famous military
     base on the outskirts of Vegas, where Adler had turned the middle of the Nevada desert
     into the Island of Dr. Moreau—atrocities Shay had witnessed before helping to destroy
     the lab. The experience had foreshadowed his own fate at Adler’s hands.
    “So they took her to the old facilities in D.C.?” Rhett ventured.
    “Them.” Arteries pulsed in Shay’s arms as he fisted both hands. “Where they took them , damn it.”
    Wisely, Rhett withheld from responding.
    Zeke lumbered forward, swarthy face focused. “When we were in Myanmar last week, Franzen
     mentioned that the D.C. warehouse hasn’t been touched since the raid. It’s still a
     possibility, though my gut says no. Homer baby is wily enough to know we’d consider
     it. He also knows we’d be able to request boots from Fort McNair faster than he could
     take a shit and Charmin-shine his ass. By the time he flushed, we’d have the building
     peeled open like a can of stewed tomatoes.”
    “Way to kill my appetite, Z—but yeah.” Garrett sidled next to his friend but kept
     gazing at Shay. “There has to be another choice.”
    Everyone let out a collective breath when Shay not only nodded, but did so with assurance.
     “Yeah. There is.”
    “And?” Zeke prompted.
    “Austin.”
    “Austin?” Garrett scowled. As in…Texas?”
    Shay nodded again. “At the outskirts of town. The site of