Wounded Courage (Lucky Thirteen) Read Online Free PDF Page A

but the guy was like an anchor. “Let go of me!”
    “Can’t do that.” Murphy’s low timbre sent chills through my body. “We need you.”
    We. Not I. He didn’t care anything for me other than me being a stupid asset to their mission. “Please! I can’t stay here.” Desperation seeped into my voice.
    “You need to come back and talk with us.” Murphy’s stupid calm voice permeated the haze of my fear and anger. Images of Rene grabbing me, his hand cemented on my wrist flared through my eyes.
    Panic renewed, I squirmed until Murphy had no choice but to readjust. As soon as I felt my body slip from his, I tried to run, but he yanked me back by my arm, and in the same movement, turned, lifted, and pressed me against the wall, the hard concrete biting into my spine. My feet barely touched the ground, just the toes.
    “No!” I screamed, seething as I tried to kick him, but he had me immobile. He held both my wrists in his hold above my head, his legs pressed against mine. When I struggled, only my stomach moved. With the weight off my feet, my leg started throbbing.
    My heart raced, and I was dizzy. My breathing was shallow, and an ache began between my legs that had nothing to do with any injury. He held me fast. His breath was hot on my neck, a warm caress across my skin. I wanted more. I wanted… him, I realized.
    “Please,” I begged. I wasn’t sure if I was begging him to let me go, or touch me more. “Something…”
    “Easy,” he whispered against my ear. His breath tickled against me, displacing the tiny hairs around my hairline. “You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
    “I don’t want to be a prisoner. I just want to go home.” Sobs broke from my throat. I’d lost. They had me in a position I couldn’t control, in a place I couldn’t identify, and I was so tired.
    “No one is going to hurt you here.” It was hard to reconcile the soft tone of his comforting voice with the hard-edged man I’d seen earlier. This was not the same Eamon Murphy I’d grown up with. This was not the boy I knew. He was a man, one that was trained to be lethal. A terrifyingly deadly weapon who now had me in his grasp. “Trust me?”
    “I’m scared of you.” The admission physically hurt my chest, leaving me aching.
    His head rested against the space between my shoulder and my neck, but other than that, his body remained impassive. His voice caressed me like a cool feather. “I will not hurt you. I will protect you.”
    “I don’t believe you.” The words were just a whisper on my lips. “You want to lock me away.”
    “For your protection.”
    “Liar,” I growled.
    “I would never lie to you, Addison.”
    The fight was disappearing, vanishing. I wanted to fight him, I wanted to run, but my body was shutting down. I commanded my body to fight, but the strength behind it was gone. Lead weights attached themselves to my hands and legs, or that’s how it felt.
    “I don’t feel good.” I was losing control. My vision spun in circles.
    “Just relax,” he said. “I’m going to take care of you.”
    “What…” A haze of incoherence settled over my consciousness. “What did you do to me?” That was the only explanation left. The more my blood pounded, the worse I felt. I was tired and sluggish, and my world was beginning to spin.
    “Your brother thought you might run, so he laced your sandwich and the water you drank with a sedative. He told me on the notepad he was writing on.”
    Slow blink. I twisted my head to see Murphy. My eyelids were getting heavy, but he was close enough that I could still see him clearly. His face was bloody, a product of my head butt earlier. His nose was turning colors already. I’d probably broken it. “He’s a bastard. You’re a bastard. I have to go. Please.”
    “I promise. You’re safe with us.”
    “I’m not safe anywhere! I’m not working with Simon Giroux. Rene killed Alex… I watched it happen… He looked so surprised…” I told him, my words slurring