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clawing
    sounds that ricocheted inside her, shredded her hard-won composure and had her
    swinging away from the sight of Natches to pace through her bedroom.
    It wasn’t just her own screams she heard in her head. The feel of flames licking at her, the
    horror and stench of death poured into her senses and left her shaking.
    She had to swallow tight, clench her fists and force herself away from the memories just
    as she had to force herself not to return to that window and stare at the men who
    occasionally glanced up at her room.
    They already knew she was here. So much for the element of surprise where Natches was
    concerned. She had hoped to surprise him with her appearance, hopefully throw him off
    balance just a little bit.
    She snorted at that before pacing back to the window, drawn, despite her best efforts, to
    the sight of him.
    Natches Mackay. He was almost a legend in the Marines. He had been inducted into
    sniper training right out of boot camp. Within four years he had a kill ratio that made her
    flinch at the thought of it. Then, in a trick of fate or, as Timothy liked to say, a trick of
    Natches, a stray bullet had slammed into his shoulder, taking him out of the game.
    For years it was rumored Natches had never regained the ability to handle a sniper rifle
    again. Last year, they had learned differently. Natches was just as silent, and just as
    deadly, as he had ever been.
    She flinched as his head turned and he stared back at her. Surely he couldn’t see her
    behind the filmy curtains, but he knew she was there. He knew which room she was in,
    and he knew once she saw him out there, she wouldn’t be able to look away.
    “Put your head down! Close your fucking eyes, Chaya. Ah God. Sweet mercy! Don’t
    look, baby. Don’t look.”
    She closed her eyes. The feel of him lying on her, holding her down despite her struggles,
    her screams, still brought her awake at night.
    Very few people in the world knew that she and Natches had a history. She prayed that
    only she and Natches knew, because if Timothy had managed to find out exactly what
    happened before she came to DHS, then he would never let her go. And he would have
    the edge he needed to pull Natches into Homeland Security rather than merely using the
    Mackay cousins as contract agents whenever he could manage to trick them into it.
    She opened her eyes and stared out the window again, those dark glasses shielding his
    eyes, his too-long black hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, the savagery of his
    features more pronounced than it had been the year before.
    He always looked like a dark avenging angel to her. But now, he looked like a savage
    warrior. She knew if he pulled those glasses off the forest green eyes would be piercing,
    dark, and filled with knowledge and anger.
    So much anger. And she couldn’t blame him. Not in the least.
    “You’ve done it this time, Chaya,” she murmured into the silence of the room.
    And she had. She had allowed her boss to blackmail her into another mission that threw
    her directly in Natches’s path. Big mistake. Very big mistake.
    Rowdy strode into the upstairs office of Mackay Lumber and Building Supplies and
    glared at Dawg as his cousin pulled a beer from the fridge and threw himself in the big
    leather chair behind the desk.
    “Someone needs to let me in on the secret,” he snapped as he slammed the door closed.
    “What the hell is going on? Or has gone on?”
    Dawg slouched back in the chair and tipped the beer to his lips thoughtfully. A long drink
    later he sat the bottle on the desk and stared back at Rowdy.
    “Now see, I was hoping you would have the answers to those questions.” He wiped his
    hand over his jaw before shaking his head in obvious confusion. “He was actin’ stranger
    than hell with her last year. Every time he got around her he was pokin’ at her or
    watching her. Don’t you think she’s a little plain for him?”
    Rowdy moved to one of the comfortable leather chairs