Lawless Hero: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Savage Soldiers Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  Lawless Hero

  Savage Soldiers Book Four

  By Nicole Elliot

  CHAPTER 1

  Rose

  Someone is following me.

  As the thought hit, I stopped and glanced over my shoulder. At the far end of the market, I spotted four men carrying weapons.

  Leaving the Savage Soldier base on my own suddenly didn’t seem like such a good idea.

  Panicked, I took a deep breath and contemplated my options. I took a few steps forward and tried to blend.

  Shortly thereafter, I noticed a strange old man in traditional garb staring at me from the shade of his booth.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Some men are following me,” I said, surprised that he spoke English.

  He beckoned me with his hand. “Step inside out of the sun and have a seat.”

  His shop – if you could call it that – seemed innocent enough. Shelves full of candles filled the walls. He sat cross-legged on a mat near the entrance.

  Not all locals are bad guys, I reminded myself. “Thank you. It’s so hot out today.”

  “Scorching.”

  I stepped into his booth and sat on a wooden box across from him.

  “What’s a woman like you doing here by yourself?” he asked, studying my face.

  “I’m a journalist working on a story about the Savage Soldiers base nearby.”

  “I know it well,” he said, nodding his head. “Still, it’s not safe for a woman like you to be alone here.”

  “I know. I snuck out today to talk to locals without the military around. I thought I might get a better story.”

  “My name is Arjun-Manju,” he said. “And you?”

  “Rose Bennett.”

  He smiled, showing a mouth with a few missing teeth. “What a beautiful name.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It’s good for people to hear the truth about Afghanistan. Are you an honest reporter?” His ancient eyes stared into mine.

  I shifted in my makeshift seat. “I would say so.”

  He nodded solemnly. “Would you like some water?”

  “Sure.” I watched as he leaned over and dipped a metal cup into a bucket next to him. “Uhm…do you have a bottle?” I asked.

  He tilted his head. “This water is clean. Look.” After taking a sip, he offered me the cup.

  “I believe you, but I have a sensitive stomach,” I lied. “I need bottled water.”

  Outside, I heard an angry male yelling in Pashto.

  “They’re looking for you!” the old man said, standing up. “Come with me. I’ll hide you.”

  I stared farther into his booth as he held out his hand to me.

  “Come, come. We must go,” he urged.

  I swallowed. “I don’t know…”

  “Everything in Afghanistan is not as it seems. I can help you.”

  My panic skyrocketed. “No thanks,” I said, stepping out of the booth and ignoring the hurt expression on the man’s face. I scanned the market for any signs of the Taliban faithful.

  Where had they gone?

  “Come, come,” the man said urgently, pleading me. “Trust me.”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, but I trust no one.”

  I stepped away from his booth, trying to blend in with the locals once again. If I made it to the edge of the market, I could find a taxi driver to take me back to the Savage Soldier base, where I belonged in the first place.

  Being originally from Savage, CO, I had jumped on the opportunity to travel with the Savage Soldiers in order to advance my budding journalism career. It had seemed so perfect in the beginning. I could travel with the military as a journalist, seeing different parts of the world and writing about my experiences.

  However, things had started so slow in the beginning that I wound up moving to New York with my father, hoping that the Big Apple would give me break. But then the break I needed unexpectedly came forward when the Savage Soldiers offered me the chance to travel with a select group who were being stationed in Afghanistan. A few of the Savage Soldiers who had been relocated to New York were a part of the mission, so I had been able to travel with them. The very moment the opportunity had been presented, I had started dreaming of my name under huge headlines…

  But now that I had potentially put myself in danger, I felt nothing but stupid.

  A man’s voice yelled out and I walked faster, hoping to get away before they caught up with me. When I reached the only exit from the market, I saw two other men with long beards and guns looking at the crowds.

  Act calm. You’ve got this, I told myself while taking measured deep breaths.

  Suddenly, the rest of the people around me scattered, leaving me exposed. One of the two men with guns pointed in my direction.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck!

  I ran toward a battered taxicab a few hundred feet away. From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the men rush forward. Before I reached my means of escape, a rough hand grabbed my shoulder.

  I whirled around and kneed the man in the nuts. He cried out, bending over in pain.

  I tried to escape again, but the other man grabbed me around the waist from behind and lifted me into the air.

  “Let me go!” I screamed. “I’m American!”

  Foul smells hit my nose as the man laughed. While I struggled to free myself from his grasp, the other man walked over with a serious scowl etched on his face. I tensed, thinking he was going to hit me.

  Before I knew it, a bag had been thrown over my head. I kicked and screamed at the top of my lungs. Meanwhile, all the men were yelling, but I had no idea what they were saying. I didn’t even know if they were from the Taliban or the henchman of some local warlord.

  It didn’t take me long to deduce that fighting and struggling wasn’t getting me anywhere.

  One of the men pulled my hands behind my back and tied them. And then someone pushed me from behind.

  “I’m going,” I yelled, taking a step forward and wondering what the hell was going on.

  My pulse quickened as I was forced to walk blindly. With my vision cut off, the market sounds were clearer.

  The men who had grabbed me continued talking, but I didn’t understand them.

  This is it. My life is over. I’ll never see my family or friends again. I never even had the chance to say goodbye…

  After hearing stories about how kidnapped women were treated in Afghanistan, I told myself
I had to keep fighting until there were no other options.

  “Allah Akbar!”

  At the familiar cry of martyrdom, I heard gunfire and men screaming in English. This was my chance.

  I turned and ran to the left, hoping for a clear getaway and avoiding the fire. The hood over my head made the struggle significantly more difficult, but time was of the essence and I had mere seconds in the midst of the chaos.

  Gunfire continued ringing out as I ran face first into a wall. Dropping to the ground, I curled into a fetal position, hoping for the best.

  As the shots died down, I heard American soldiers barking orders. I struggled to my feet and screamed at the top of my lungs, “Help! I’m American!”

  “Rose? Is that you?” Warren, one of them Savage Soldiers, asked.

  “Yes!” I said, shaking. My knees buckled beneath me. I nearly fell to the ground, but was saved by his strong arms. The hood was removed from over my head, and with my newly restored vision, he looked like the most amazing man in the world. Our eyes locked and all the chaos around the market faded into the background for a split second that felt like eternity.

  He smiled, his white teeth standing out on his dirt-covered face. “You okay?”

  “I am now. How did you know I was here?”

  “I didn’t. This was supposed to be a routine check-up on activity at the market.”

  “Well, I’m glad you came.”

  “You’re lucky to be alive.” He lifted me by my shoulders, making sure I was balanced before releasing his grip. “Let’s get you back,” he said, untying my hands.

  I rubbed my wrists and looked around the market. “Is anyone…dead?”

  He nodded somberly. “Let’s get out of here before something else hits.”

  I grabbed his arm and followed as he led us back to the Humvee convoy on the edge of the market.

  CHAPTER 2

  Rose

  I sat in back of the Humvee as it roared down the dirt road toward the Savage Soldier base. Warren sat in the passenger’s seat up front.

  “You snuck out without your escort,” he said, bending his torso to look back at me. “You’re damn lucky. Those guys were about to take you to the desert and turn you into a sex slave.”

  I took a deep breath and stared out the side window, my stomach churning. It was almost enough to make me forget why I’d come to Afghanistan in the first place.

  “Are you even listening?” Warren asked, agitated.

  “I am, but—”

  “No damn buts about it. You made a bad situation worse. If Ryan and I hadn’t arrived at just the right time, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

  “Thanks, Ryan,” I said to the driver. Like Warren, Ryan was also a Savage Soldier. They both were among the soldiers relocated to New York that I had traveled with to Afghanistan.

  “No problem,” Ryan said, calm as ever.

  “Whatever,” Warren muttered. “It was foolish for you to even be here.”

  “It’s not foolishness,” I retorted, offended. I’d always been bothered by the distorted view so many people had about war. It wasn’t foolish to want to shed light on such a dark situation.

  “Whatever,” Warren said coolly, still wearing his helmet. His assault rifle was nestled in his arms as he scanned the horizon.

  God, he was so infuriating.

  “Thanks for saving me. I appreciate it,” I said blandly.

  “Just doing my job,” he replied.

  I sat back, wishing my head would stop hurting. “Were they Taliban?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

  “Damn straight they were,” Ryan answered.

  The Humvee bounced and jostled as he sped down a dirt road toward our Savage Soldier base. After only being embedded with the forward operating base for two days, I wondered if they would send me back.

  By embedding with the U.S. military through the Savage Soldiers, I had cut the costs for my Afghanistan trip down considerably. In exchange, I had agreed to let the army approve any articles I wrote before publishing them online.

  They couldn’t stop me from reporting the truth though.

  Nevertheless, the regulations and restrictions had turned out to be harsher than I ever imagined, which was why I’d snuck into Samangan on my own. Several sources had given me information about a huge smuggling operation out of Afghanistan that involved members of the U.S. Army. Personally, I suspected everyone at the Savage Soldiers base, including Warren and Ryan. The two were best buddies from what I’d been able to gather, although I knew all the military types were usually close-knit.

  “Why do you have to be so damn secretive, anyway?” Warren asked, catching me off guard.

  I blinked. “I’m a journalist. It’s part of my job.”

  Outside, I noticed a tall metal fence surrounding the small military base, one of the few still in operation a decade after the war in Afghanistan had started.

  “The CO will want to see you,” Warren said.

  “I can handle him.”

  “We’ll see.” He snorted. “You’ve got balls, though, Ms. Bennett.”

  “Huge!” Ryan added, laughing along with him.

  The laughter died down as we approached the entrance of the camp, the entry control point, or ECP, as they called it. I’d been getting myself up to speed on military lingo and jargon for two weeks prior to arriving, but I still had a long way to go.

  As we stopped at the outer gate, a fully armed soldier whose name I didn’t remember walked up and glanced into the back. “What happened?” he asked.

  “The Taliban were about to forcibly take her from the city. We had a firefight and saved her.”

  I frowned but said nothing to correct his version of the events.

  “Damn,” the soldier said and then stepped back, waving us on.

  When we reached one of the long metal buildings with a rounded roof, Ryan stopped. “This is you,” he said.

  I opened the door and climbed out.

  “Hey,” Warren shouted out.

  I shielded the sun from my eyes with my hand and looked back at him. “Yeah?”

  “Don’t let him give you too much shit, okay? I’m glad you’re safe.”

  Despite my best efforts to mask my emotions, I smiled. “Thanks. I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “You better,” he said. “And get that head checked out.”

  “I will.”

  After Ryan drove away, sending up a cloud of smoke, I walked to the entrance of the building that reminded me of a huge metal shipping container.

  Captain Jacoby, the Commanding Officer of the Savage Soldiers, would not be happy with me sneaking out. But if I was investigating claims against the military, I wasn’t able to work too openly with them.

  I opened the door and walked inside. While cooler than outside, without air conditioning, it wasn’t very comfortable. Negan Rusell, his aide-de-camp, sat at a tiny desk.

  “Hey,” he said. “You made it back. Are you okay?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but I think so. I came here first. Jacoby wants to speak with me?”

  He nodded, his frail facial features so out of place in Afghanistan. “Yes, but you should go see the medic first.”

  “No, I want to get this over with,” I said, walking past his desk.

  “Hold on.”

  Negan stood up, but I kept going, opening a door that divided the two halves of the metal container. Captain Jacoby looked up from his desk, frowning the moment he saw me.

  “You wanted to talk?” I asked.

  “Do you know how much trouble you caused today?” he said.

  “I’m simply trying to do my job.”

  “And so am I. Sit down.” He pointed to the armless chair in front of his desk.

  “I need to go see the medic,” I said, changing my mind.

  “If you were fine enough to come straight here, then you can sit down and talk for a minute.”

  I sighed and sat down, crossing my arms over my chest.

/>   “What the hell were you thinking?” he asked, shaking his head.

  “I needed to see Samangan without the soldiers around. You guys frighten people.”

  “We save their asses—that’s what we do.”

  As he scowled at me, I lifted a hand to my head and gingerly inspected the bandage.

  “Go see the damn medic,” he spat. “But just know that if you sneak out again, you’ll be shipped back to the States. Do you understand?”

  “Yeah,” I said, standing up and turning toward the door.

  “One more thing.”

  I halted.

  “How did you sneak out? We’re secure here, so someone must have helped you.”

  I swallowed, not daring to turn around. “Nobody helped me.”

  “Bullshit,” he said. “Believe me, I’ll sort this out.”

  When he said nothing else, I headed out the door. My headache had gotten worse and I hoped the medic would give me something to numb the pain.

  CHAPTER 3

  Warren

  When I finished my reports about the interactions with the Taliban in Samangan earlier that morning, I left the CO’s office and headed to check on Rose in the metal building that served as our medical center. We hadn’t been getting along well, but I had to admire her fighting spirit.

  I also couldn’t ignore the fact that I hadn’t seen a sexy American woman in over a year, at least not in person. With no females stationed at our Afghanistan base, I spent long stretches of time forgetting what it was like to be around a woman, let alone one I’d be interested in.

  As I approached her Containerized Housing Unit, or the CHU for short, I cleared my mind of all negative thoughts. Normally I would have nothing to do with a woman like her—a liberal media elitist. But in this case, I figured spending time with her wouldn’t be all bad.

  The door to her CHU opened and she walked out. The setting sun lit up her face, making her skin glow. She nodded when she noticed me.

  I smiled and walked faster. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Melvin making a beeline for her too.

  Fuck.

  “Hey,” I said. “Your bandage is off. How are you feeling?” I stopped in front of her, hoping it would deter Melvin.

  “Better, thanks. The CO yelled at me. How pissed is he?”

  “I’ve been avoiding him all day,” I said with a sheepish grin.