“Fah, you are a pooper of the party.” Struggling until he freed himself from Viper’s grip, the gargoyle gave a flap of his wings and headed back toward the rafters. “You can all consider yourself crossed off the list for a friends and family discount,” he warned as a parting shot.
Waiting until the smell of granite faded, the three friends returned to their seats, each reaching for their glasses of brandy.
Nothing like a small dose of Levet to drive a man to drink.
“Why did you let Shay break him out of the slaver’s prison?” Styx demanded, regarding Viper with a chiding expression.
Viper gave a sudden laugh. “You’ve met my mate. No one tells her what she can and can’t do.”
“True,” Styx agreed with a chuckle.
Dante lifted his glass. “To mates who don’t take shit.”
Styx joined in the toast. “And to brothers who stand by one another even when facing Armageddon.”
Viper tapped his glass to theirs. “To friends.”
“For eternity,” the three finished in unison.
From the hellhole of a Taliban prison to sweet freedom,
five brave military heroes have made it home—
and they’re ready to take on the civilian missions
no one else can. Individually they’re intimidating.
Together they’re invincible.
They’re the men of ARES Security.
Rafe Vargas is only in Newton, Iowa,
to clear out his late grandfather’s small house.
As the covert ops specialist for ARES Security,
he’s eager to get back to his new life in Texas.
But when he crosses paths with Annie White,
a haunted beauty with skeletons in her closet,
he can’t just walk away—not when she’s
clearly in danger . . .
There’s a mysterious serial killer on the loose
with a link to Annie’s dark past.
And the closer he gets, the deeper Rafe’s instinct
to protect kicks in. But even with his
considerable skill, Annie’s courage,
and his ARES buddies behind him,
the slaying won’t stop.
Now it’s only a matter of time before Annie’s next—
unless they can unravel a history
of deadly lies that won’t be buried.
Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek of
Alexandra Ivy’s
KILL WITHOUT MERCY,
the first book in her new Ares Security
romantic-suspense series,
coming in January 2016!
Prologue
Few people truly understood the meaning of “hell on earth.”
The five soldiers who had been held in the Taliban prison in southern Afghanistan, however, possessed an agonizingly intimate knowledge of the phrase.
There was nothing like five weeks of brutal torture to teach a man that there are worse things than death.
It should have broken them. Even the most hardened soldiers could shatter beneath the acute psychological and physical punishment. Instead the torment only honed their ruthless determination to escape their captors.
In the dark nights they pooled their individual resources. Rafe Vargas, a covert ops specialist. Max Grayson, trained in forensics. Hauk Laurensen, a sniper who was an expert with weapons. Teagan Moore, a computer wizard. And Lucas St. Clair, the smooth-talking hostage negotiator.
Together they forged a bond that went beyond friendship. They were a family bound by the grim determination to survive.
Chapter One
Friday nights in Houston meant crowded bars, loud music, and ice-cold beer. It was a tradition that Rafe and his friends had quickly adapted to suit their own tastes when they moved to Texas five months ago.
After all, none of them were into the dance scene. They were too old for half-naked coeds and casual hookups. And none of them wanted to have to scream over pounding music to have a decent conversation.
Instead, they’d found The Saloon, a small, cozy bar with lots of polished wood, a jazz band that played softly in the background, and a handful of locals who knew better than to bother the other customers. Oh, and the finest tequila in the city.
They even had their own table that was reserved for them every Friday night.
Tucked in a back corner, it was shrouded in shadows and well away from the long bar that ran the length of one wall. A perfect spot to observe without being observed.
And best of all, situated so no one could sneak up from behind.
It might have been almost two years since they’d returned from the war, but none of them had forgotten. Lowering your guard, even for a second, could mean death.
Lesson. Fucking. Learned.
Tonight, however, it was only Rafe and Hauk at the table, both of them sipping tequila and eating peanuts from a small bucket.
Lucas was still in Washington D.C., working his contacts to help drum up business for their new security operation, ARES. Max had remained at their new offices, putting the final touches on his precious forensics lab, and Teagan was on his way to the bar after installing a computer system that would give Homeland Security a hemorrhage if they knew what he was doing.
Leaning back in his chair, Rafe intended to spend the night relaxing after a long week of hassling with the red tape and bullshit regulations that went into opening a new business, when he made the mistake of checking his messages.