Her Wild Warrior (Omega Sky Book 3), page 1
HER WILD WARRIOR
OMEGA SKY, BOOK 3
CAITLYN O’LEARY
CONTENTS
Synopsis
Prologue
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
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Caitlyn O’Leary
© Copyright 2022 Caitlyn O’Leary
All rights reserved.
All cover art and logo © Copyright 2018
By Passionately Kind Publishing Inc.
Cover by Lori Jackson Design
Edited by Rebecca Hodgkins
Content Edited by Trenda Lundin
Technical Consulting by Lance Dumais
Cover Photo by: James Critchley Photography
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and places portrayed in this book are entirely products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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If you find any eBooks being sold or shared illegally, please contact the author at Caitlyn@CaitlynOLeary.com.
To Lance Dumais, one of the world’s great guys, and an absolute wonderful friend to my husband and me.
SYNOPSIS
His Mission Followed Him Home. Now His Future is on the Line.
Navy SEAL Ryker McQueen loves his family, his job, and his country. He’s never lost his focus until shockwaves rock his world when he comes into contact with one feisty woman. One who continuously snubs his attention. At a loss on how to woo Amy and knowing that they have a chance for something more, something lasting, he refuses to allow her to push him away.
When Ryker and his team are on missions they hope for the best but prepare for the worst. But they’re still not prepared for the ultimate betrayal when fellow Americans turn rogue.
After cleaning up the mess of a mission, Ryker and his SEAL team, Omega Sky come home, expecting to return to normal. For Ryker that means focusing on his relationship with Amy. But trouble has followed them home and now Amy could be a target. Will Ryker be able to keep her out of the crosshairs?
PROLOGUE
Derek ruined everything! Ryker looked out at the waves with his surfboard planted next to his feet in the powdery sand. It wasn’t fair that Eddie got to go out with his brother, and he was stuck here on shore watching, just watching.
The waves are firing! And I’m missing it!
Ryker glared over at Derek who also had his butt planted in the sand as he watched Eddie and Larry surf.
“You’re a prick, you know that, don’t you?” Ryker asked.
“If you say one more word,” Derek turned to him, “I’ll tell Mom and Dad that you came out here without their permission and Dad’ll blister your ass.”
Ryker’s fists planted on either side of his long, skinny body. “Fuck you. The last time I was spanked was when I was four years old.”
“He’ll make an exception, trust me.”
Ryker had never heard his big brother sound so angry. How did he even find him, for God’s sake? The sun had only come up forty-five minutes ago. He couldn’t believe it when Larry drove into the parking lot and Ryker saw Darek’s fucked-up Volkswagen van.
I have the shittiest luck!
“This isn’t a big deal,” Ryker told him again. “Larry does this all the time.”
“Larry’s sixteen years old. There’s no way he should be taking his little brother out at The Wedge.”
“Larry knows what he’s doing. He explained he wouldn’t let either of us ride the big waves. He was looking out for us.”
“Goddammit, Ryker, you’re not listening to me. Somebody died out here last year. A grown man. This is exactly why Mom always asks you who you’re staying with and who’s going to be watching you.”
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…that was Derek, just moaning on about garbage that didn’t matter. Why couldn’t he be more like Larry? Larry was cool. Eddie said he even saw him have sex with a girl once, at least he was pretty sure because when he peeked in the downstairs basement, he could see her boobs and ass.
I bet Derek’s never had sex, and he’s even older than Larry.
“Are you listening to me?”
“If you’re not man enough to surf, why are we even staying here?”
Ryker’s sneer didn’t seem to bother Derek. “We’re staying because as soon as they come close to shore, I’m dragging Eddie’s ass out of the water and taking him home too. Mrs. Gilder is going to flip her shit when I tell her that Larry let him surf The Wedge.”
“You’re going to narc? You can’t fucking sell him out!” Ryker scrambled up to stand in front of his brother and yell down at him. It didn’t matter that he was only twelve years old and Derek was seventeen; if he told on Eddie, his friend would be grounded for the whole summer, and then who was he going to hang with?
“This is for your friend’s safety.”
“He’s been surfing even longer than I have. He started when he was six. He rips!”
“I know that. But it isn’t about how good he is, it’s about how strong he is, and he’s twelve, he hasn’t developed the muscle he needs to surf—”
Derek shot to his feet and kicked off his sneakers. He moved like lightning and grabbed Ryker’s board out of the sand and started running at the water. Ryker couldn’t even make out what his brother had seen that had him acting like the world was on fire.
He kept looking out at the ocean. There were nine surfers out there, almost all wearing black wetsuits, all coming off the last wave. Larry was easy to spot because his board was bright blue, but that’s when he saw it—a surfboard, light blue, floating upward with its nose pointed at the sky. It was Eddie’s.
Oh God, he’s tombstoning!
Shit, if his surfboard was standing on end like that, Eddie’s leash still had to be tied to it and he was probably halfway to the ocean floor!
Another wave was beginning to break. Ryker flinched as it plowed over Eddie’s surfboard. Now he couldn’t even see the spike of the board standing up in the surf.
Ryker tasted bile as he fought down the need to vomit. Eddie could die! He kept watching the others.
Where is Larry?
Then he spotted Derek. He could see that he was dragging Ryker’s surfboard behind him with the leash around his ankle as he swam out to sea.
Ryker wasn’t sure, but it looked like only six or seven of the guys were still on their boards out there. Their empty boards were nowhere close to where Ryker had last seen Eddie’s surfboard, but Derek was swimming to the right spot.
Come on Derek, you can get him. Come on Derek.
“Oh shit.” Ryker looked around at the empty beach and realized he needed to pull his head out of his ass. Instead of standing around watching, Ryker tried to think of something useful to do. Nobody else was on the beach, but near the bathrooms was a telephone booth. He sprinted toward it. Even though he was a track star, it felt like he was running through molasses. Finally, he got to the booth and punched in 9-1-1.
“What’s your emergency?”
“I’m at Newport Beach, literally on the beach, at The Wedge. My brother’s gone in the water to rescue my friend.”
“Calm down. Can you see your friend?”
Ryker turned back to the ocean. Now there were fewer guys on their boards; they had to be searching for Eddie.
“No, he hasn’t surfaced.”
“I’ve sent Fire and Rescue and notified the local lifeguard.”
“He’s twelve, Lady, he’s been under at least two minutes.”
Is that my voice? It sounds squeaky.
“I need you to calm down and tell me what’s going on.”
“I need to get back—”
“You need to stay on the line and be ready to guide the EMTs when they arrive in the parking lot.” She sounded soothing, and Ryker was able to breathe again. “I have the address of the telephone booth you’re using. They’ll be there any minute. What’s your name?”
“I’ve gotta—”
“What’s your name?” She asked again, in that same friendly soothing voice.
“Ryker. Ryker McQueen.”
“You’re doing good, Ryker. Can you hear the sirens? I need you to listen for the sirens. That’s your jo
b.”
Ryker was gripping the handset so hard he thought it might crack.
“I don’t hear them.”
“They’re almost there.”
Ryker stepped sideways on his toes, trying to get any kind of view of what was going on. He couldn’t see Derek or Larry. He did a headcount, there were only four guys on their boards.
Come on, Eddie. You know what to do, just float to the top. Don’t swim, just float.
That only worked if wave after wave wasn’t pounding on top of you, keeping you under. This time he did throw up a little in his mouth. He spit it out.
Then he thought he saw something. It was Derek’s white-blond head popping up, just for a second. It looked like he had another dark head beside him.
Please say he has Eddie. Please.
Ryker looked farther back behind them and saw it coming.
Another wave.
No, wait.
Waves.
Shit. Fuck. Piss.
They were big ones. Ryker’s skin turned to ice.
One after another, they crashed over them. They were gone again. Ryker counted out loud, trying to figure out how many seconds they were under.
He heard some static. Something was clucking at him.
“Ryker?” the clucking was saying his name. He looked over his shoulder at the handset swinging from the telephone cord. It was the lady. Then he heard the faint sound of a siren, but it was too far away. He looked up anyway, and almost cried with relief. A red Lifeguard truck was barreling into the parking area, careening to a stop beside Derek’s van.
Ryker rushed over to the two men as they hustled out of the truck. One of them was pulling things out of the side door, so Ryker ignored him and concentrated on the one who looked like he cared.
“Here!” Ryker screamed as another EMT truck pulled up. He ignored it, focusing on the lifeguard.
When he got the man’s attention, he turned back to the beach and started racing to where Derek had bolted into the ocean.
That’s when he saw them. It wasn’t Derek, it was someone else he didn’t recognize, paddling to shore with Eddie on his board. Then behind him was Larry, and he had Derek on his board. Neither of them was moving.
They’re not moving!
Ryker lost all feeling from his legs as he dropped to his knees. He was terrified as the stranger pulled Eddie out of the water first. He watched one of the lifeguards shake Eddie and then put his ear to his mouth before starting to breathe into his mouth.
Ryker turned away and watched as Larry and another surfer were pulling, dragging, carrying his brother to the shore, and the second lifeguard dumped all his shit on the sand and did the same thing.
Fucking shaking Derek, then putting his ear to his mouth, then starting to blow air into his big brother’s mouth. Wasn’t he supposed to be pressing on his chest too?
When did I fall onto my hands and start crawling toward Derek?
All the surfers backed away, giving him room to be next to his brother. He couldn’t even see clearly. Everything was all watery.
The man just kept blowing and pressing, blowing and pressing.
He stopped.
Why’d he stop?!
Ryker watched as he turned Derek over onto his side and moved his arm and leg.
“Is he going to be all right?”
The lifeguard turned to Ryker. “Do you know him?” he asked as he leaned over and grabbed a silver square and shook it out. It was one of those space-age blankets. He covered Derek, who was shivering.
“He’s my big brother,” Ryker told the man hoarsely.
“Talk to him. Keep him talking, okay? Tell him everything’s going to be fine. Can you do that?”
Ryker looked into the man’s concerned brown eyes, and he said, “Yes.”
The man grabbed the bag he’d dropped and jumped up. He rushed over to where Eddie was. He talked to the other fireman and pulled something out of his bag, then waited.
“Ryker?”
Ryker looked down at Derek. His lips were blue. Of course they were; the Pacific Ocean was cold and Derek had gone in without a wetsuit.
Ryker could barely hear him, he put his ear near Derek’s mouth. “Yeah?”
“Eddie?”
Ryker looked over but couldn’t see much. Everyone was standing around the lifeguard who had done CPR on Derek. He was using something on Eddie that almost looked like paddles that he’d seen on some of those hospital shows. But that couldn’t be right.
“I don’t know, Derek,” Ryker whispered.
Derek pushed himself up, dislodging the blanket. He got onto his hands and knees.
“Dude, I don’t think you’re supposed to move.”
“Gotta see about—”
Two EMTs ran past Derek and Ryker, one of them holding a stretcher under his arm like a surfboard. They crashed to the ground on their knees beside the first two men. The four of them loaded Eddie onto the stretcher. Two EMTs walked really fast to the parking lot with the stretcher between them while the third guy held a canister of oxygen with an oxygen mask over Eddie’s face. Derek and Ryker watched as they loaded up Eddie.
“How are you doing?” A large Polynesian EMT asked Derek as he squatted down beside him.
Derek tried to kneel up from where he was on his hands and knees, but when he did, he started to cough.
“Hey, why don’t you lie back down? From what I’ve heard, you had a rough morning.”
Derek didn’t listen. He finally knelt up and said, “I’m fine,” between coughs.
“What’s your name?”
“Huh?”
“What’s your name?”
“Derek McQueen.”
Ryker was relieved that his brother’s coughing had stopped.
“I’m going to need to take you to the hospital.” The EMT looked concerned.
“Why? I told you I was fine.”
“Just to get you checked out.”
“But—”
“Don’t be an asshole. Go with him,” Ryker said.
Ryker looked at his father. Ryan McQueen never claimed to have all the answers, but on the important shit like this, he absolutely did. Why not now?
“You’ve got to say what’s in your heart.”
“But that’s the thing.” Ryker gulped and snuck a glance over at Derek and Jerrod. Derek gave him a chin tilt. Ryker closed his eyes and tried again. “That’s the thing, Dad, I don’t know what’s in my heart. I don’t like having feelings, especially not something that hurts this bad, so I try not to feel them, you know?”
Ryan McQueen nodded. “I get it, son, but feelings are a part of life. They’re what make you human.”
“Well, they suck.” Ryker sucked in air. He’d do anything in his power not to cry in front of his dad or his two older brothers.
“I know, son. Sometimes they do. But can you tell me something that you are feeling?”
“I feel like it was my fault.”
“How do you figure that?” Derek asked.
“I was over at the Gilders. Larry and Eddie both knew that Dad would never let me surf The Wedge, so Larry was feeling sorry for me.”
“So the dumbfuck decided to take you and Eddie out there before the lifeguards were even on duty?” Jerrod stood up from where he was sitting on the pool table in the downstairs rec room, his big hands clenched in fists like he was looking for someone to pound on. Jerrod had just graduated and would be enlisting in the Marines. He was more hardcore than even Derek. Even more hardcore than their Dad, and he’d retired as a longshoreman.
“Jerrod, it was my fault. I was the one who had them come pick me up to spend the night during Carmen’s softball game. I knew all of you would be gone cause she was in the playoffs so I could get my surfing gear. I pushed them into this.”
