Savannah's Sentinel (Mountain Mastery Book 2) Read online

  Savannah’s Sentinel

  Mountain Mastery Series

  By

  Avery Gale

  © Copyright May 2017 by Avery Gale

  ISBN 978-1-944472-38-2

  All cover art and logo © Copyright 2017 by Avery Gale

  All rights reserved.

  Mountain Mastery® and Avery Gale® are registered trademarks

  Published by Avery Gale Books

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publishing company.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Epilogue

  Other Books by Avery Gale

  Chapter One

  Silently fuming, Landon Nixon leaned against the stone mantle that topped the fireplace in Nate and Taz Ledek’s office. Listening to four men he liked (usually) and respected (always) patiently interview the petite blonde sitting with her back to him was snapping each of the steel cables that usually kept his iron-clad patience securely in place.

  Savannah North was under the mistaken impression she’d scored a win when she’d maneuvered herself into a seat facing the other direction. She hadn’t realized her error until a few seconds ago—when her gaze met his in the large mirror across the room. Landon could have told her there were very few places in the club where she’d be out of his view, but he wasn’t feeling particularly charitable right now.

  He’d never have agreed to be part of this mission if he’d known it meant pairing with her. Damn, the woman was the bane of his existence. She was in equal measures brilliant and impulsive, with a large layer of brash thrown in for good measure. Special Agent Savannah North had always been stunning, from her pale blonde hair to her Caribbean blue eyes. Their unique turquoise color pulled him in every time he looked at her. She personified temptation. But he’d never seen anything leading him to believe she was submissive, and that was a deal breaker for him.

  Schooling his expression and hoping he could keep his personal feelings hidden from the men coordinating the rescue, Landon tried to push back his memories of the last time he and Savannah worked together. Jesus, Joseph, and sweet Mother Mary, she’d been so new to the Agency she hadn’t had any business working the op, but his objections had fallen on deaf ears. His supervisor had insisted her previous work experience qualified her for the more advanced mission. Since when did six months on the DC Metro Police Department count as experience for an international op?

  Letting his gaze roam around the room, Landon found it interesting that Nate and Taz, along with Kent and Kyle West, were all leaning back in their seats. Their body language clearly communicated their reluctance, despite the heartfelt pleading in Savannah’s voice. Fucking hell. He might have personal issues with the woman her peers had quickly dubbed Ice Princess, but she was telling the truth. She had one small tell when it came to lying, and he hadn’t seen it. If she’d so much as touched her hair he’d have outed her, but her hands never left her lap. At one time Landon had wondered if she would be capable of lying if she was pinned down. He’d managed—barely—to resist every subtle invitation she’d issued to find out.

  Stepping forward, Landon directed his comment to the three men watching her and did his best to ignore Taz’s intent gaze. The man’s ability to sense the thoughts and feelings of others always seemed to peak at the most inopportune moments. “If she says the young woman is her goddaughter, then she is. Savannah isn’t lying.” Landon saw Kent West’s lips twitch, but he’d suppressed his smile. Kyle, Kent’s twin, showed no change in emotion—not that Landon would have expected anything different. Kyle West’s control had become legendary among soldiers in the Special Forces. He was just as measured and regardful in his responses leading the Prairie Winds team.

  Nate Ledek was the only one who didn’t try to hide his reaction. Landon and Nate had been friends for years, but they’d become particularly close since the Ledek brothers opened Mountain Mastery. The upscale fetish club was fast becoming one of the most popular kink clubs in the country.

  Mountain Mastery had a different look and feel from the Wests’ Prairie Winds Club, but they both followed the same strict guidelines. Vigorous pre-screening of members and stiff financial penalties for rules violations were just two of the reasons both clubs catered to elite clientele. Anything outside safe, sane, and consensual was strictly forbidden in both clubs. Violations of their stringent rules of confidentiality brought down hell-fire and brimstone on the perpetrator. Careers could be ruined with just a few keystrokes from Micah Drake or Phoenix Morgan, and neither man would hesitate if a member broke the trust of their fellow kinksters.

  Nate’s knowing smile spoke volumes about their trust. His friend knew Landon wouldn’t vouch for Savannah unless he was certain. “Later, I’m going to want to hear more about why you are certain, but for now, I’m taking your word at face value.” Returning his gaze to Savannah, Nate added, “Please continue. We’ll need every detail you can give us in order to decide how we can best help.”

  Walking into Nate and Taz Ledek’s office at Mountain Mastery had taken every bit of courage Savannah could muster. She’d spent nineteen hours flying to Montana from the other side of the damned globe. She’d been forced to rent a car when her Agency contact dropped the ball leaving her stranded on the fucking curb outside the airport. Then she’d driven straight from the airport to the club. Hunger and fatigue were beginning to take a toll, and she kept taking deep breaths, hoping the infusion of oxygen into her brain would buy her another couple of hours before she fell asleep on her feet.

  Facing Landon Nixon had been the last thing she’d wanted to do, especially when she was feeling less than her best. But her brother’s frantic phone call had pushed all her personal misgivings and anxiety to the back burner. She could deal with the man who sent her heartrate into the stratosphere and her desire rocketing out of control…the one man who’d made it clear he wasn’t interested.

  Giving herself a stern mental smackdown, she returned her focus to the task at hand. This didn’t start out as an Agency sanctioned operation, but with her brother’s connections, that would most certainly change. She could count on one hand the number of people at the Agency who were aware of her connection to
the CEO of Intellicorp. Unfortunately, the anonymity she’d enjoyed was going to come to a screeching halt after this meeting.

  She was a decade and a half younger than her brother, so most of his friends and business associates didn’t even know she existed. He’d become a multi-millionaire before she’d even started school, and she’d always been grateful her parents had the foresight to enroll her using her grandmother’s maiden name. Anytime Brit Fitzgerald intervened to help her over the years, he’d been careful to refer to her as a family friend. No one ever second guessed him, probably because super wealthy people didn’t like being questioned…about anything.

  Returning her attention to the men sitting around her, she fought the urge to squirm in her seat. Kyle and Kent West were damned intimidating, and adding Nate and Taz Ledek sent her anxiety into orbit. But it was Landon Nixon’s presence that unnerved her the most. Just being in the same zip code with him was closer than she’d ever intended to be again.

  When this was all over, Savannah was going to hug the stuffing out of her niece then rip her a new one for putting her in this position. Needing his help after he brushed her aside as if she’d been little more than a piece of lint was annoying as hell. Walking into the spacious office at Mountain Mastery and seeing him dressed in a white button down shirt and form-fitting jeans was not the reason her pulse pounded fast enough to make her light-headed. And…I’m going to keep telling myself that until it’s true.

  Taking a deep breath, Savannah refocused her attention on the reason she was here. The only reason she was here. There wasn’t any question the top floor at the Agency only agreed to let her take time off because her brother wielded tremendous influence in Washington. DC was all about power and money, and Brit had both in abundance. And assuming her bosses didn’t already know she was sitting across from the men who led the Prairie Winds team would be pure folly.

  After a long, painful silence that was more about testing her than reflecting on Landon’s surprising show of support, Kyle West was the first to speak. His grasp of the reins wouldn’t surprise anyone who’d done their homework. It might not be his office, or his club, but Savannah doubted the former SEAL team leader allowed himself to take a back seat to anyone other than his brother. Their good cop, bad cop way of dealing with people was well known, and their mission success rate was phenomenal. The two men had recently expanded their team of contract operators and made Mountain Mastery their secondary base of operations.

  Savannah wasn’t sure how aware the Wests or Ledeks were about Landon Nixon’s connection to the Agency. She needed to tread carefully until she could ascertain how much they knew about the man standing behind her. Damn, she’d been thrilled to find a chair facing away from his perceptive gaze. His deep blue-green eyes were too intense for her to ignore if she’d been forced to sit facing him.

  “In our previous conversation, you referred to Ms. Fitzgerald as your goddaughter. How does the godmother of one of the wealthiest socialites in the country become a CIA operative?” Okay, that was a new take on the question. Her supervisor at the Agency had asked the same question, but in a notably different way. She always hesitated to reveal her connection to Brit, but if she wanted to get these men on-board with her plan, Savannah was going to have to lay it all on the line.

  Looking up, her gaze locked with Landon’s. His blue-green eyes watched her so intently her breath hitched. Fuck a fudgesicle in February, how did I miss that mirror? Taz snorted a poorly covered burst of laughter, and Savannah wondered for the first time if the stories she’d heard about him reading minds might have a thread of truth running through them.

  Watching Landon push himself away from the mantle he’d been leaning against, she held her breath when he shifted positions. The maddening man briefly disappeared from her view only to reappear a few feet to her right. He spoke to the others, but didn’t take his eyes off her. “I think I can help clear this up. Savannah North, aka Savannah North Fitzgerald, is the younger sister of Brit Fitzgerald. I’d wager there only a handful of people in the Agency who know her real name.”

  “Well, then it seems her family has done a very good job of shielding her from the chaos that surrounds them since Micah didn’t uncover this on his preliminary background check.” Both amusement and frustration filled Kyle’s voice. She gave him a shy smile, more out of gratitude for his charitable description of her family than for his attempt to hide his annoyance at being out of the loop. Calling the media circus that surrounded the Fitzgeralds “chaos” was a huge understatement.

  Nodding in Kyle’s direction, Savannah acknowledged, “From what I’ve heard about Micah Drake, he’d have found it on the second sweep. His computer skills are almost legendary in the intelligence community.” Letting out a deep breath, she plunged ahead. “I’d wager he was looking for links to criminal organization or scorned business associates of Intellicorp. After all, who better to set up a kidnapping and then act as a negotiator than someone with an axe to grind, right? I can assure you that is not the case here. My niece and I are extremely close…more like sisters actually, since we’re so near one another in age.”

  Savannah could feel Landon’s eyes on her and fought the urge to wince under his narrow-eyed skepticism. He’d disliked her on sight, and it hadn’t improved during the mission where he’d been forced to work with her. In fact, it had gotten worse…and she had only herself to blame. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut? How had she convinced herself that his disdain was just a cover? Her vivid imagination had kicked into high gear, and she’d somehow managed to attribute her personal feelings to him. The delusion that he secretly wanted her naked and beneath him showed how young and naïve she’d been.

  Realizing the room was deathly quiet, Savannah looked up and met Taz’s knowing gaze. When his lips quirked up, she shook her head. “Please tell me the rumor about you being able to hear what people are thinking is just that…a rumor.”

  His smile was almost shy for a split second…then it turned positively sinister. “Well, it is a rumor that I can hear what everyone is thinking. But there are some people I can connect with—and you, Agent North, are one of the lucky ones I can hear perfectly.”

  Oh, yippy fucking skippy. Maybe I should head out now to buy a lottery ticket or two.

  Chapter Two

  Landon lamented the fact this was going to end his low-profile status with the Agency. Nate had already been asking questions about his frequent absences. Sighing to himself, Landon knew his friend wouldn’t have been mollified with lame-assed answers much longer anyway. Fucking hell, he’d never planned to be an operative. The whole thing started as a favor to a friend that fed his adrenaline addiction and then mushroomed out of control.

  He’d be the first to admit his association with the Agency had been mutually beneficial. In fact, it had proven to be a financial windfall in many ways. Helping Uncle Sam and the government agencies fast-tracked his business applications, etc. Landon never asked for anything he wouldn’t have gotten eventually, but he’d sure enjoyed getting his foot in the door on projects months before his competition on several occasions.

  Landon’s “sideline” also allowed him to keep himself out of the public eye. His business had grown exponentially, and he hadn’t had to attend any of the usual corporate meet and greets he hated so much. His parents were the only people outside of the Agency who knew he occasionally worked ops. Saying they hadn’t been thrilled was an understatement. As an only child, he was their sole heir. But more importantly, their hope for grandchildren fell entirely on his shoulders—a fact they mentioned with increasing frequency.

  Taz’s attention finally moved back to Savannah, and Landon breathed a sigh of relief. He suddenly had a lot more sympathy for Kodi. Taz and Nate had only been married a couple of months, but they’d been looking for the woman they considered “their one” for years. Her inability to shield her thoughts from them had led to more than one bare bottom spanking. Seeing her upended over any available flat surface was beginni
ng to be a common occurrence for club regulars.

  Savannah’s voice drew his attention when he heard the first quivering in her words. For a couple of heartbeats, he was transported back to the only other time he’d heard her exhibit uncertainty. Turning down what she’d offered so sweetly that night had been one of the hardest things Landon had ever done. But everything about the timing had been wrong. She’d been too young, and they’d been ass deep in alligators on a sting. But his biggest issue had been her lack of sexual experience. If he’d fucked her the way he wanted to, she’d have probably run screaming into nearest convent and never been heard from again.

  “My contact thought you could help me find a Dom to prepare me for the party.”

  Party? Is she fucking serious? Who the hell is her contact? Not even trying to hide his dismay, Landon rounded on her. “Party? You think these guys are snatching girls off the street and then throwing a soiree to introduce them to polite society?” If he hadn’t been watching her closely, he might have missed her miniscule flinch, but she masked the reaction quickly. Her deliberately bland expression was as close to rolling her eyes as any Dom with his leathers would allow, and he wondered for a moment how she’d skated so close to the edge without plunging over and into the deep, dark waters of trouble.

  “No. I’m simply using their term. They’ve issued an invitation to a Dom and his submissive to attend an upcoming party. Both the sexual dominant and his sex slave are fictional. They were recommended by an insider, an agent we’ve had undercover for months. The Agency has been working for two years to take down this group. It hasn’t been my case, and I only heard about it recently.”

  Kyle leaned forward and frowned. “If they’ve had someone inside that long, why haven’t agents already been trained? They should have had people ready to go before now.” Landon understood Kyle’s frustration. Protecting others was at the core of every man in the room.