Free Savage Alpha (Alpha 8) by Carole Mortimer Page B

circumstances, Lily may have preferred,” he added with a rueful glance in her direction. “I just happen to think dialogue will suffice on this occasion.”
    Lily didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the incredulous expressions on her brothers’ faces. Or shout go, Jonas , as her brothers all preceded him out of her bedroom and the door closed quietly behind them.
    She felt grateful to Jonas for removing them as she sat shakily on the side of her bed and drew in several deep, controlling breaths. Her body felt as if she had been on a roller-coaster ride and taken her emotions on the highs and lows along with it. That disgusting graffiti. The intimacies she had shared with Jonas. The attacks on Charlie and Evan. Charlie’s death. The interview with the police. Last but not least, learning that Knight Security owned the building she lived in.
    She knew her brothers well enough to know the latter probably meant there was a lot more security in this building than she—or Jonas?—were aware of. Although possibly not; Jonas was quiet and lethal, but he was also highly intelligent, and he knew how to protect “his principal.” Jonas had known about that added security.
    Damn him.
    Damn them all.
    To be fair to Jonas, he was only doing his job. But her brothers’ had stepped over a line by putting that extra security around her without even telling her. As for buying the building she lived in…
    Intrusive, yes. Stepping over a line, yes.
    But those things might also have kept her safe from her stalker up till now.

    “How on earth did you manage to get rid of them?” Lily eyed Jonas curiously, her head turned on the backrest to look at him as she sat beside him in the SUV. By the time she came out of her bedroom with her packed bag, her brothers had all gone and only Jonas remained.
    He gave a humorless grin. “I pointed out that Gabriel engaged me to protect you and they should all just back off and let me do my job.”
    Her eyes widened. “And that worked?”
    “It did once I told them the alternative,” Jonas murmured with satisfaction. The Knight brothers were arrogant bastards, but luckily, Jonas was equally so.
    “Which is?”
    “That not only would I take you somewhere safe, but I wouldn’t contact them again until I’m good and ready. They all know I’m capable of doing exactly that,” he assured her grimly.
    Lily had known that Jonas had to be good at what he did for Gabriel to have asked for the other man’s help. But if he had managed to rout her brothers with one sentence, then he must be even scarier than she’d realized.
    “You and Gabriel met in the military.” She’d guessed that from their earlier conversation regarding “protocol” and “securing the principal.”
    “Yes.”
    “The same military, or fighting for different countries?”
    “Different countries.”
    Lily couldn’t imagine Jonas minus all that glossy shoulder length blue-black, and sporting an American military-style buzz cut. God, he must have looked even more intimidating than he did now, and the enemy wouldn’t have stood a chance with his six and a half feet of burnished muscle pounding down on them, face smeared with camouflage paint, a gun in his hand.
    She knew better than to expect Jonas to tell her anything more about his friendship with Gabriel. “Which hotel are we going to?”
    “I changed my mind about the hotel.”
    “Changed it, or had it changed for you?” Lily taunted.
    His mouth twisted derisively. “Changed it. Although the idea occurred to me as I was speaking with your brothers.”
    Her respect for this man grew by the minute. As did her liking for him. As for the way he made her feel physically…
    “So where are we going?” she prompted in an effort not to dwell on her physical responses to Jonas.
    “My home.”
    Oh dear Lord…
    Lily ran her tongue nervously across her lips before answering him. “Your home?”
    He didn’t look at her, but his eyes narrowed on the darkened road