THE DRAGON’S WING

KIT DAVENPORT BOOK 2

TATE JAMES

Copyright © 2017 Katrina Fischer

Cover design © 2017 Covers by Combs

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. If you have obtained this book via piracy, or suspect it has been duplicated illegally, please do the right thing. Advise the author and purchase your own copy. No one likes a pirate, unless he’s Jack Sparrow.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

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

About the Author

Also by Tate James

Elements of Mischief

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my son, for at least having the grace to be cute when he interrupted mummy’s writing, and my husband for his unique brand of supportiveness.

As always, a huge thank you to my incredibly talented editors Heather and Jax, and to my critique partners Rebecca and Lucy for encouraging the crap out of me along the way.

To Goldie, the goldest goldfish in the bowl… yeah, you know you’re awesome. Thanks for keeping things interesting! xxx

For Rasputin, the cat.

May your headless offerings forever provide story inspiration.

1

My stomach flipped somersaults like a Cirque du Soleil performer as I reached with shaking fingers for the gun River offered.

I’ve got this. I can do this. Deep breaths.

“You okay, love?” he murmured in his sexy British accent, tilting my face up with a cold finger to meet his heart stopping golden gaze. For a man I was used to seeing so incredibly controlled and stern, the excitement dancing in his eyes was enough to make me forget what I was so nervous about. River was the leader of our team and took his job very seriously, which was unbelievably hot. He was also a major control freak, and I loved to push his buttons.

“Of course.” I smiled, laughing off my reaction as though my hands weren’t shaking so hard I could actually hear the ammo in my gun rattling. River just smirked and placed one of his hands over mine.

“You’ll be fine. Cole and I have your back, and your marksmanship is impeccable. Even Austin has admitted as much.” River’s comment must have been overheard because a scoff came from the boys waiting behind me. He shot them a sharp look then turned his intense attention back on me, cupping my face with his free hand.

“Trust me, Kitten, this will be fun.” He punctuated his statement by pulling me closer and pressing a lingering kiss on my mouth. His rough stubble brushed my skin and made my heart race, eager for more. The heat of his lips threw a stark contrast to his icy hand on my face, and a rogue whimper of protest slipped from my throat when he pulled away all too soon.

“Right, if you two are done over there? I’d like to actually do this today,” Austin interrupted in a bored voice, and I bit my lip to hold back a bitchy response. I was really in no hurry to start this mission, but they all seemed so excited I couldn’t back out.

“Fine,” I muttered. “Let’s get this over with. But just remember, if I fail, it’s on you as my teacher.”

Austin snorted and rolled his emerald eyes, but I could see a tiny smile pulling at the edges of his mouth as he expertly disconnected his ammunition magazine and flicked out one of the bullets. Every now and then I was struck by just how identical he and Caleb really were, and each of the rare times Austin smiled brought his sweeter twin instantly to mind. Without his signature scowl on his face, the only way to tell them apart would be to see Austin’s abundance of tattoos, and given it was snowing outside, they were all covered by clothes.

“You see that, princess?” he asked, shaking a stray lock of dark hair out of his eyes and holding the little ball up to my face.

“See what?” I frowned, unsure what new line of insult he was heading down.

“It’s red,” he informed me helpfully, as if I was colorblind and couldn’t clearly see the red ball six inches from my face. “Just making sure you know who’s responsible when you start getting pelted with these bad boys.” He smirked at me, and I got a bad feeling about how the day was going to go.

“Guys, I don’t know if paintball is really the best test for my skills. You’ve all had way more training than I have, not to mention you’ve all played this before.” I tried one last ditch effort to get out of the training exercise, but it was a lost cause. The grins on the boys’ faces said it all. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was getting out of this baggy white jumpsuit unless it was covered in paint.

It was the week before Christmas, and the boys had dragged me out of bed at this ungodly hour of the morning to go paintballing as a “reward” for having just graduated early. So far I was failing to see where the reward was for me, though. Despite having spent almost every spare minute of the past two months in training, I still knew I was going to get my ass handed to me. The best I could hope for was that my superhuman speed would help me dodge the worst of the paint pellets fired my way.

My temper was already running a bit short as it was, with my mounting frustration at our lack of progress with anything related to the bombshell Dupree had dropped before committing suicide by cyanide. The lack of real answers still devastated me.

Her wild story of magic and supernatural creatures and the subsequent encounter with Mr. Gregoric had all, in my opinion, fizzled out to nothing, which was depressing to say the least. The address Mr. Gregoric had provided should have led us to one of those surviving supernaturals Dupree had mentioned. When we’d investigated, however, we hit a dead end—or, rather, a “closed for winter” roadblock. The address was located in a tiny village in Alaska, but the owner was apparently taking a vacation on a Caribbean island and wouldn’t return until late January. Despite Wesley’s best efforts, he had been unsuccessful in tracking this mysterious lead down, and the lack of progress was driving me insane.

“Come on, Kitty Kat.” Caleb interrupted my melancholy musing, draping a well-toned arm around my shoulders and pulling me into him for a hug. “You’ve totally got this. I’ve seen you in target practice; you’re pretty good!”

“Hey! Quit fraternizing with the enemy, Cal,” Austin snapped, punching his twin in the arm. For this game, we had separated into two teams. The twins and Wesley versus Cole, River, and myself. Lucy was still stuck in a rehab facility, much to her disgust, working on regaining movement in her left hand, where she had undergone several surgeries to try and reattach the nerves and set the bones straight. The beating she had taken at the hands of Dupree’s men had very nearly killed her, so I was secretly glad she was stuck in rehab and out of danger for a while.

“It can’t be helped,” Caleb replied to his brother, tightening his arm around me. “The enemy looks so damn good in her jumpsuit.” With his free hand, he tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear, then trailed a fingertip down my face, lighting up all my nerves in its path.

Damn if these boys aren’t getting to me today.

Despite the fact it was lightly snowing outside, I needed a cold shower because all of these casual touches were lighting me on fire.

Ever since my brief, horror-filled stay at Blood Moon Laboratories, when Simon had used my worst childhood memories against me, I had been a bit standoffish from any sort of sexual contact with the guys. Not intentionally, but the first time one of them initiated something more than just a kiss, I’d had some sort of panic attack, so I had been careful to keep my distance. They had understood, too, never pushing me until I was ready--which made me see just how decent they really were. But from the way my skin lit on fire at every touch, I would say I might be ready again.

“Let’s get this over with,” I muttered, reluctantly pulling away from Caleb’s tempting embrace and yanking the zipper up on my oversized white jumpsuit. It was my first time paintballing, but I intended to put up a decent fight before undoubtedly losing to these vastly more experienced paintball fanatics. I needed to focus on the upcoming skirmish, not daydream about why I was suddenly responding to these touches like a cat in heat.

Head in the game, Kit. Quit thinking about what Caleb’s lips might taste like!

“Let’s head outside, Vixen,” Cole murmured, taking my hand in one of his huge, scarred ones and leading me out into the freezing cold with River close behind us. “All right, now listen closely. We have five minutes before the actual game begins to spread out and make it a bit more of a challenge. In addition to shooting the other team with paintballs, we also each have a flag we need to protect.” He pulled a black and white striped piece of fabric from his pocket and showed it to me. I nodded in understanding, then he continued, “stealing the other team’s flag automatically ends the game, regardless of how many shots you manage to land. Shots are only tallied if no one manages to steal a flag in the allotted time. Understood?”

“Got it,” I confirmed. “Protect our flag, steal theirs, shoot Austin as many times as possible.” Both Cole and River snickered. It was no secret the pair enjoyed the war between Austin and I far too much, even if he had thawed marginally in the time we had been forced to spend together. I was still living with them, and while I’d been working my tail off to complete my early graduation, the twins had been stuck playing teenager in order to keep me safe at school. Not that I needed them. Since Dupree’s death, no one else had made any new attempts to kidnap or kill me.

So far.

Lately it had been feeling very much like the calm before the storm, and something told me trouble was lurking around the next corner.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll have the chance, love.” River glanced back through the window to where the twins and Wesley were discussing their own game plan. “Austin is the strongest marksman, and he always guards the flag, which means it will be either Wesley or Caleb coming after ours.”

“That’s why you will be guarding ours.” Cole finished River’s explanation as though they were sharing their thoughts. “The two of them will be much more reluctant to shoot you, so you stand a much better chance of keeping our flag safe than either of us.”

They were probably right on that, so I just shrugged and took the striped fabric from Cole’s hand, shivers dancing up my arm where his skin brushed mine.

“Let’s go find our base location. Game begins in two minutes.” River led the way across the snow crusted grass, his boots crunching as he walked and his jumpsuit almost camouflaging him into the surroundings.

They quickly located our easily defensible position, which turned out to be a small raised platform with walls to hide behind and holes to shoot out of.

“All right, you know what to do?” River asked me once more, checking his watch.

“Defend the flag, shoot anything that moves.” I held my gun up with a grin, and he shook his head, a small smile pulling at his lips.

“Bugger, you look too damn sexy holding that gun, Kitten.” His eyes seemed to be turning my insides to molten lava just with the intensity of his stare.

“Find somewhere to tie the flag, Vixen,” Cole said, breaking my focus from River. “It doesn’t really matter where, but most people use that flagpole.” He pointed to the short flagpole sticking out the top of the structure.

“Any rules that it needs to be visible?” I asked, a better idea already in mind. Cole shook his head in response, so instead of tying it to the flagpole I unzipped the front of my jumpsuit once more and tucked it down the front of my v-neck sweater to nestle in my cleavage.

“What?” I shrugged in response to their raised eyebrows, zipping my suit back up again. “It was drafty.”

Cole opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a bored sounding employee’s voice over the crackly loudspeakers, counting down from ten.

“Guys, be careful today,” I said seriously, chewing my lip.

“Love, it’s just paintball.” River laughed and Cole grinned, but it did nothing to ease the twisting in my gut.

“I know I sound paranoid, but I feel like something bad is going to happen…” I trailed off, hearing how silly it sounded. I should have been happy that the last two months had been so uneventful after the madness that Dupree had rained down on us, but I just wasn’t convinced that was the end of it.

“Fair enough,” Cole told me, all traces of joking gone from his face.

“We don’t know enough about your abilities not to take feelings like that seriously, love. We will stay alert.” River nodded, then smacked a quick peck on my lips before jogging back in the direction we had last seen our opposing team.

“You be careful too, Vixen.” Cole frowned, also giving me a quick kiss but holding my face still for a moment in one of his huge hands. “You’re too important.”

He was gone, following River before I had a chance to clarify what he meant, and I was suddenly alone with my thoughts. My teeth worried at my lower lip hard enough to draw a little blood, and my palms were sweating. What the hell had me so on edge?

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, without a single taste of action, I was regretting having made such a fuss about not wanting to paintball. Being left to defend our team’s base and flag was downright boring. The paranoia hadn’t eased; in fact it seemed to be getting worse. My skin was crawling with the sensation, as though I was being watched, and I had chewed my nails down so badly it looked like I had trimmed them with a cheese grater.

After pacing the small platform for what must have been the seven thousandth time, I had to do something. Anything. Just something that wasn’t this. As I knelt to climb down from our team’s base, I spotted movement coming down the field towards me, ducking from obstacle to obstacle so stealthily that I almost didn’t see him.

His hair was too dark for it to be Wesley, and if Austin always guarded their base, then it must be Caleb. Too easy.

I chuckled quietly to myself at their foolish move, sending Caleb against me. He was by far the least likely to shoot me with a paintball, so protecting our flag should be a breeze. I took aim from my raised structure and waited for him to dart out from his hiding spot. I grinned with a surge of glee when he emerged in the exact spot I had anticipated. I squeezed my trigger several times in quick succession.

Damn. So close!

As much practice as I had been putting in with Austin at the gun range, this was my first real experience firing at a moving target. My pellets had missed him by mere inches, splattering glittery pink paint all over the hay bales he had dived behind. Wesley, of all people, had presented me with the girly ammo when we were getting ready, a cheeky smile on his face at my reaction to the sickening color. I was not a pink girl.

“Give it up, Caleb!” I yelled, laughing. Paintball wasn’t so bad after all. “I’ve already spotted you, and there is no way you’re making it across this clearing without getting painted head to toe in my sparkly Barbie paint!”

There was a long pause, and then he called back cautiously, “How about a truce… Kitty Kat?”

“What sort of truce?” I asked suspiciously, watching his hiding place like a hawk for any sign of movement, my gun at the ready. I didn’t believe for a second he’d given up that easily.

“Let’s agree not to shoot each other, and we can just hang out in your base until the others finish the game!” he suggested hesitantly.

“Hah! Yeah right, you must think I’m stupid!” I scoffed. Caleb was most definitely not above using sneaky tactics. Even as tempting as his offer was.

“Come on, Kitty Kat. I saw Cole and River are both taking on… Austin… so I bet they’ll have this thing won in no time,” he coaxed, and I wavered. Despite how good Austin was, with Cole and River teamed up together, he wouldn’t last long.

“I suppose you have a point… What about Wes? Won’t he be backing up Austin?” I wasn’t silly enough to assume just because Wesley wasn’t the most active field agent that he wasn’t just as well trained.

Caleb made a noise of frustration, and I realized how much closer he was than before. He must have been army crawling behind the low hay wall because I hadn’t seen him move at all.

“Wes had some tech emergency like five minutes into the game; he’s not even playing anymore.” He sounded annoyed and was close enough that he no longer needed to yell to be heard. “So, are we calling a truce? It’s really cold down here!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” I sighed. “I can’t believe Wesley isn’t even playing after giving me this care-bear ammo and you guys all giving me grief about the team bonding!”

Caleb hesitantly stood from his hiding place and approached my base. The way he was carrying himself suggested he didn’t trust me to keep my word on the truce or something. I took a moment as he prowled closer to admire his form. Even wrapped in the saggy white jumpsuit, he still managed to look hot as hell. His dark hair was disheveled, and the white fabric was stretched tight across his biceps as he climbed the short ladder up to my sanctuary. By the time he reached my platform, I was practically drooling with the need to run my hands through that hair and feel those arms around me.

Goddamn, what is going on today? It felt as though my libido was making up for lost time, having been practically non-existent for the past two months, because I could not seem to keep my mind out of the gutter ever since arriving at the paintball park.

“Geez, don’t look at me with such suspicion, Cal.” I smiled, placing my gun on the floor in a gesture of good faith then climbing to my feet and wrapping my arms around his neck in what was meant to be a friend-hug. My body pressed against his a little harder than I had initially intended, and my inner sex goddess reared her head, pulling us in tighter.

“Thanks for coming to break my boredom,” I whispered, meeting his surprised gaze. He was probably a bit shocked that I was all of a sudden initiating more than friendly contact again, but that mounting desire inside me just wouldn’t back down. I bit my lip, debating my next move. His deep, emerald green eyes seemed to widen even further, and with a little voice in my head cheering like we were at a sports game, I plucked up a bit of courage and dipped my head forward, pressing my lips to his. For a moment, we were both frozen.

Oh fuck, have I completely misread this situation?

I’d been positive he was interested, with all the flirting and borderline sexual contact prior to the Simon incident, but his lack of response was making me second guess whether it was all in my head. My face burning with embarrassment, I hastily pulled back.

“Sorry, I—” My mumbled apology was cut short as he grasped the back of my head, slamming his mouth back onto mine. I gasped in surprise, and he took advantage of the opening, plunging his tongue in to caress my own, the hard metal of his tongue stud clicking against my teeth. Huh, I hadn’t noticed he was wearing it earlier. Not that I’m complaining! Oh God, the things he could potentially do to me with that piercing…

I knew his tongue was pierced, of course; he had it done a month ago when Austin had decided to get his done. Being identical twins, they often needed to exchange places on undercover missions, so they mirrored each other’s appearance changes exactly. The only variations were in their tattoos, but I had seen them both using heavy duty concealer to erase the beautiful designs whenever they were on a job.

The incredible sensory contrast between the hard metal of his piercing and the soft heat of his tongue was something I’d never experienced before, and I moaned a little in pleasure, desperate for more. The sound seemed to spur him on, and he grasped the backs of my thighs, hoisting my legs around his waist as his lips continued to explore my own as though committing them to memory. My fingers threaded into his dark hair exactly the way they had been wanting to since we had met at CFA, which felt like a lifetime ago. It seemed hard to imagine now, how we hadn’t done this sooner, but fuck if I didn’t plan on making up for lost time.

Caleb pressed me against one of the flimsy walls of the paintball sanctuary, pinning me in place with his hips, his rock hard cock grinding against me through our oh-so-sexy jumpsuits. My hands slipped from his hair to grasp his tense shoulders to help keep my balance. He broke away from our kiss with an almost pained groan and cupped my face with one hand to bring our eyes level.

“Shit, you drive me crazy,” he muttered in a gruff voice, all signs of my familiar, joking friend totally gone. His serious tone and the intense way he had captured my gaze made my breath catch. My heart seemed to be galloping halfway out of my chest, but before I could respond, he had recaptured my mouth once more, sending tingling shivers through me from every touch of his lips on mine. One of his hands tangled in my long hair, and the other grasped the zipper of my jumpsuit, sliding it down to expose my low-cut, black V-neck and the striped flag tucked into my cleavage. He paused as his hand brushed the bunched up fabric and pulled back from my lips to see what it was.

“Well, well, what have we here?” he purred with an evil looking smirk, extracting the fabric from between my breasts with excruciating slowness. “You do realize this means you’ve lost?”

“Fuck paintball. Trust me, I haven’t lost.” I panted, grabbing his face for another searing hot kiss like some sort of addict. He groaned low in his throat, reciprocating with equal enthusiasm before suddenly breaking away with a heavy sigh and stepping back, dropping me to my feet.

“What’s going on?” I asked, puzzled, my heart thundering and my breath coming in short gasps. He backed up a few more steps, a disconcertingly smug look on his face. His predatory gaze ran over me, pausing briefly at my lowered zipper then on my lips as he fingered the striped fabric of our team’s flag.

“Sorry about this… Kitty Kat…” He smirked, reaching behind him for his paintball gun, which was still slung across his back. Without a moment’s hesitation, he popped off three shots at my midsection, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to double over.

By the time I caught my breath and looked up, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Son of a bitch!” I exclaimed, hardly believing what Caleb had just done to me. Even if that had all been a ruse to get our flag, was it really necessary to shoot me as well?

I glanced down at the wet paint splattered across the front of my jumpsuit and froze.

It was red.

WITHOUT A FLAG LEFT TO DEFEND, there was really no point in staying in our base. I slid down the short ladder and started back towards the starting point to find Cole and River while desperately trying not to think about the fact that I’d just thrown myself at Austin.

How the hell had I confused him for Caleb? In hindsight, all the signs were there. I had just given way too much control over to my newly reawakened libido, and it had blinded me to the obvious. As insane as it sounded, though, I could have sworn he had been just as into that as I was. Surely you can’t fake heat like that? Not to mention the physical evidence of his arousal. My head hurt thinking about it all.

Ugh, he was so infuriating!

I stomped my way through the snow-covered field, lost in my thoughts, and barely noticed when someone stepped out from behind an obstacle, directly into my path.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, pulling up short and narrowly avoiding running into the stocky figure. “Sorry, I didn’t see…” I trailed off as I recognized the rough, bearded man in front of me.

His beady eyes raked a slow path over my body, pausing for an uncomfortably long time on my lowered zipper and my exposed cleavage before he smiled a cruel, victorious smile.

“Hello, Emily,” Sergei's heavy accent crowed, and a thick cloth was clamped over my face from behind. A strong, sickly sweet chemical smell engulfed my airways as I reflexively inhaled, and my whole world faded to black.

2

WESLEY

I could see Austin stalking towards me down the obstacle field, clutching the other team’s flag, and sighed in disappointment. Damn it. Looks like I missed all the action!

I had been really looking forward to this game. It had been ages since we last paintballed, but it was really the only time I ever got to use the practical skills we had learned during our Omega training. Being a mostly behind-the-scenes agent, I never got to use those skills in a real life situation, so paintballing was a huge source of fun for me.

“Already?” I called out to Austin as he came closer. I could tell it was him and not Caleb because he was the one who had gone after the other team’s flag. It was common knowledge in our group that Austin always defended the base, so I had suggested we switch him and Caleb for this game in the hopes of taking the other team by surprise. Evidently it had worked.

He just scowled at me, his eyebrows drawn down low and his jaw clenching, but didn’t respond, which gave me a bad feeling. He would normally be on a victory high and rubbing it in everyone’s faces.

“Aus, dude. What’s going on? You look majorly pissed right now.” I prodded him in the shoulder playfully to try and refocus his attention. “Did Kit put up a better fight than you anticipated or something?”

He made a strangled noise, his eyes widening as he stared at me. “What? Why would you say that?”

“Uh, because she is a pretty badass marksman now and you look super ticked off?” Wasn’t it obvious that’s what I’d meant? Maybe I do need to get out more. I spent so much time with my computers and tech that even I could admit I was somewhat lacking in people skills. It was why I always seemed like a blushing, stuttering mess around Kit.

“Oh.” He looked startled and confused for a second, which was not a look I was used to seeing on Austin, but quickly reverted to scowling anger. “Piece of cake. Told you this would be a quick game.”

I grinned; he had been pretty confident when we started. “Yeah, you did. I bet she didn’t even know what hit her, huh? I hope you were at least nice enough not to shoot her at too close of range, though? You know how much these suckers hurt.”

Weirdly, his face flushed red as though he was embarrassed, and he just muttered something under his breath before walking with me back to our team’s base, where we were most likely to find the rest of our friends.

“So where is she anyway?” I asked him, looking back the way he had come to see if she was on her way.

“What do you mean?” he snapped, with an edge of defensiveness. What the hell was his problem today?

“Kit. Where is she? You told her the game was over, right?” I rolled my eyes at him. The way he had been acting around her, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t told her the game was over and just left her out there in the snow.

“Of course she knows the game is over. She’s probably just sulking about losing,” he sneered but avoided eye contact with me. Austin rarely, if ever, avoided eye contact.

“Aus,” I warned. “What are you not telling me?” He was probably my closest friend on the team, as we shared a private love for first person shooter games and had spent countless hours hanging out. I knew when he was hiding something, and his tense shoulders and tight lips were screaming that he was hiding a big something.

“Nothing,” he snapped. “She’s just a sore loser. Let’s go find the others. I’m sure she’ll catch up once she’s done having a cry.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he wasn’t paying attention anymore, already striding across the field to where we had left Caleb protecting our base. If only I hadn’t needed to take that damn phone call. Something had obviously happened with Kit, but I could only hope it was just Austin being his usual charming self.

No matter how often we tried to talk to him about his attitude towards our beautiful new houseguest, he continued to treat her like a piece of gum he had scraped from his boot. For a short time after we’d rescued the two of them from Blood Moon, it really seemed like he had gotten over his ridiculous hang ups, but then all of a sudden he was back to being an antagonistic jerk to her.

Worse even.

The only time I had seen him willingly in the same room as her over the last two months was when he was obligated to either coach her in target practice or attend classes. Not that I was complaining. I had been quietly crushing on Kit in a big way ever since the boys had brought her back to our house after her attempted kidnapping. That night, when Caleb had returned with her unconscious from the tranquilizer, it had been like seeing a ghost.

For months before arriving at Cascade Falls, I had been having these incredibly real dreams of a gorgeous red-haired girl, and there she was. In the flesh. On our couch. I swore my heart had actually stopped beating for a second while I’d just stared at her in shock, until Caleb snapped me out of it.

“Hey, pussycat!” Cole yelled out as we came within sight of them. I stifled a laugh at his nickname for Austin, whose callsign within Omega was Bengal. “How the fuck did you get that flag?”

“What sort of question is that? It’s the objective of this game, isn’t it?” Austin replied with the same evasive tone he had used with me. Something was definitely going on with him.

“Yes, we know that. But how did you get it? We know where Vixen had it hidden, and I doubt she gave it up willingly to you.” Cole was glowering at Austin with a dangerous look in his eyes, which made me tense up, even though it wasn’t aimed at me. Our team’s second in command was not someone you ever wanted pissed off at you.

“Where is she anyway?” River asked as he and Caleb approached, both covered in multiple splotches of colorful paint.

“Fuck, what is with all these questions? I won. End of story. Christina is probably just licking her wounded pride and will meet us back at the reception hut.” Austin threw the flag to his brother then stalked back towards the hut.

“Guys…” I started, frowning after my friend’s retreating form. “He’s hiding something.”

“Agreed,” Caleb murmured. “What did you mean about the flag, Cole?”

Cole made an angry noise in his throat, like the dragon of his callsign. “It was tucked into her bra. Alpha, remember what she said about her bad feeling?”

“I do.” River glowered. “Cole, you and Caleb head back to our base and find her. Wes, you and I are going to find out what Austin is hiding… and how he got that fucking flag out of her bra.”

3

KIT

“Hello?” My voice croaked into the darkness, husky from disuse, and the sound echoed back to me hauntingly. “Is anyone in here?” My head was pounding and fuzzy, and the concrete in front of my face was spinning. My stomach clenched hard, and I groaned, clutching at it and trying to hold back the bile rising in my throat. It was the same sick feeling I used to have as a child when we hadn’t eaten in days.

How long have I been out?

Shaking my head a little to try and clear it, I pushed myself up to sitting and looked around. If it hadn’t been for the thin strips of light from the tiny, barred window, I would have thought I'd lost my eyesight. It was that dark. Fear spiked within me, and I took several deliberate breaths to control it.

“Hello?” I called out again in a slightly stronger voice, but still no one responded.

Where the hell was I? The last thing I remembered was being at the paintball park with the guys, and then Caleb and I making out… no wait, Austin and I were making out… and then what happened?

I rubbed my pounding forehead as I racked my brain for what had happened after that, but all I was coming up with were disjointed slivers of memories. Sergei's sweaty, leering face, and then the jolt and thump of a drive in someone's trunk, and then nothing until waking up in the dark.

I hesitantly hauled myself to my feet and blindly felt my way around the room, ascertaining that I was definitely in there alone. The walls were solid, made of huge stone blocks, which held a dampness that suggested I was underground. The little window was set high enough in the wall that I couldn’t see out, but it didn’t seem to lead outside. Most likely just an air vent rather than a window.

Fucking hell, I knew something bad was going to happen. Stupid me for thinking that bad thing was making out with goddamn Austin.

That was something I needed to deal with, if I ever got home. I couldn't believe he’d gone that far just to win a stupid game. No, I didn’t believe that for a second. There was definitely something more going on, and I was almost positive that he was feeling something more for me than just the contempt he layered on so thick. He had to be. God knows I am. It wasn’t really going to be an issue though, until I could get myself free.

Leaning my forehead against the door, I pressed my eye against the hinges, trying to get some clue as to where I might be. Of course, all I could see was a blank concrete wall directly opposite my door. Shit. How the hell am I getting myself out of this mess?

I should never have ignored that foreboding feeling. Everything in me had been screaming a warning that something bad was coming, but I had chalked it up to paranoia. Ever since Dupree’d had her goons try to kidnap me, beaten my best friend half to death, then revealed that I had the power to restore magic to all the dormant supernatural creatures of this world… oh, and also that I might be a fucking immortal… I had been a bit on edge.

Groaning to myself in despair, I began pacing the small room in an attempt to work the drugs out of my system and regain the use of my stiff muscles. Once moving, a warm tingling sensation trickled through my body and the heavy fog on my brain began to thin out. More and more, I had been noticing that I no longer required the same adrenaline push to engage my healing ability; it just seemed to be acting on its own when needed.

With my head a little clearer, I ran a quick mental analysis of what sort of crap I had landed in. I could clearly remember seeing Sergei before my world had gone dark, so at least I had a starting point. He was involved in the human trafficking ring that the guys had been investigating, which certainly didn’t bode well for my immediate future, but I had a strong suspicion this was linked to my abilities. Or, more specifically, those who might want to use my abilities. Before Dupree’s death, she had made mention of others who were pursuing the same goal as her, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this kidnapping was somehow linked.

I turned back to the door and yanked hard on the handle, putting all of my superhuman strength into it. It didn’t move an inch. Damn thing must be reinforced steel or something.

I tried the same thing on the bars of the window, but it was high enough up that I struggled to get a good angle and eventually gave up in frustration.

Not stupid enough to get caught napping, I instead began running my body through some of the martial arts warm-up drills that Cole had hammered into me for months. As I moved, my mind wandered, and I found that the foreboding sense of dread I had felt before getting kidnapped had been replaced with an almost painful ache in my chest. I paused in my movements to rub the heel of my hand over my heart where the pain seemed to be coming from, but it made no difference.

Great. That would be just my luck to get kidnapped and die of a heart attack.

Before I could examine the weird feeling any further, the silence of my prison was broken by the heavy thud of boots coming down the corridor and the grinding screech of the rusty lock turning. My heart raced, but I prepared myself for a fight, standing light on my feet with my fists curled in preparation. This was exactly what Cole had been training me for.

The heavy steel door groaned open, and the light from the hallway outlined an imposing figure filling the frame. He stepped inside the tiny room, and I wasted no time launching myself at him, desperate to fight my way free. The huge man was caught off guard, probably not expecting such a fight, and I connected a powerful punch square into his gut, knocking him backwards into the wall opposite my cell.

I darted out of the cell using my superhuman speed and took off down the corridor without so much as glancing at the man or looking to see if he had backup.

Stupid, Kit!

My body jolted painfully to a stop before I had made it even half a dozen steps. I hit the floor hard as my dehydrated frame convulsed with shock after shock of electricity while my muscles locked tight.

I lay on the cold and dirty floor, totally helpless as the current pulsed through me and a heavy steel-capped boot kicked me savagely in the side. The owner of the boot spat something incomprehensible at me in another language, proudly brandishing the stun gun he had just shot me with. Fucking bastard.

Bending down, he yanked my paralyzed body off the floor and threw me over his broad shoulder, causing waves of pain to crash through my freshly electrocuted form as he sauntered down the corridor, whistling like a psychopath.

4

By the time my escort and I’d arrived at another room, the effects of the stun gun had all but worn off and I was ready for another fight. After dumping me on the cold concrete, he very wisely stepped out of my immediate reach and pointed his godforsaken Taser gun at me in warning. Fuck, I hate those things.

He spat something at me in his harsh language, and I stared at him blankly, still none the wiser on what he was trying to tell me. Not that I really gave a crap; it wasn’t like I was sticking around to chat. The second I saw an opportunity, I was getting the hell out of here.

He repeated himself in a louder voice, jerking his Taser toward the pile of fabric on the ground near where I had landed.

“Look, buddy,” I tried to reason with him, “I have no idea what you're saying, and repeating it louder won't change that.” Unless I suddenly developed a skill for picking up languages… That would be cool.

“He say, ‘Get dressed, whore, or I shoot you again,’” a small voice said in broken English from behind me, and I jumped in fright. Glancing around the room, I noticed for the first time that I wasn't alone with Captain Stun Gun.

The girl who had spoken couldn't have been more than fifteen, and she was dressed like a, well, like a whore. A painted-on, red minidress just barely covered her torso, while a lacy garter belt held up the quintessential thigh-high stockings. Topped off with six-inch, platform stripper heels, the overall effect looked like a little girl on her way to a “Pimps 'n' Hoes” dress-up party. No prizes for guessing what she'd be dressed as. I looked around at the other occupants in the room and found them all dressed to attend the same party. I had a sneaking suspicion I would end up in a similar outfit before I found my escape opportunity.

“What do you mean, ‘get dressed’?” I demanded, “I'm already wearing clothes.” I indicated the filthy v-neck and jeans that I was still wearing from when I had been abducted. I briefly wondered what had happened to my jumpsuit. Had it been left behind? Maybe the guys had found it and realized I’d been taken? I could only hope so.

“No. You must change.” She shook her head and pointed to the clothing with a shaking finger, her face pale. She had yet to make eye contact with me at all, her gaze steadfastly glued to the floor, but the tension in her frail shoulders spoke volumes about what might happen.

I glanced over at the man in charge and found him watching us intently, and when he caught my eye, he buzzed a few jolts of electricity from his Taser, a sick grin on his ugly face. Behind him in the corridor, I could see the shadows of several more men. I looked around the room once more. Not a single person would make eye contact with me, and I swallowed back the nervousness rising in my throat.

“Please,” the young girl implored, “please, just do it.” The terrified crackle in her voice made me think she had seen what happened when someone refused to cooperate. I took another look at the guard with the Taser, and at his backup in the corridor, and made the decision to bide my time. For now.

I gingerly lifted the garments from the floor and wrinkled my nose in disgust at the pleather micro-miniskirt and halterneck bustier. Under the burning gaze of the man holding the Taser, I changed into the offensive outfit as quickly as possible. The young girl who had spoken helped me adjust the cleverly placed Velcro tabs in order to make the tiny garments fit. As she leaned in close to help me do up the joke of an outfit, I eagerly seized the opportunity to try and get some answers.

“Where are we?” I whispered, barely moving my lips. “Do you know what they're going to do with us?”

The girl glared at me in warning, flicking her eyes to the hard man standing near the door, watching us like a hawk. She gave me a tiny headshake, right as the man barked something at us again, and she visibly flinched.

“What did he say?” I hissed at her, growing frustrated at the foreign language.

“Shoes,” she whispered back to me, then tugged me over to a beaten up chest, which she opened to reveal a huge pile of hooker heels. “What size you are?” Her broken English made her seem even younger, and I felt a twist of fear for what the future might hold for this timid girl.

I reached over her shoulder, grabbed the first pair I saw in my size, tried to ignore the white pair splattered in dried blood. I definitely didn't want to know how all these shoes had ended up in this chest. Or the clothes for that matter. I stifled a shudder of revulsion.

“Seriously,” I tried again, my face turned away from the man in charge. “Where are we? Tell me something, anything. What country are we even in?”

She just shrugged weakly and shook her head at me again. “I do not know, sorry.” My shoulders sagged in disappointment until she spoke again. “I know why we here, if it helps?” Her voice was so soft I could barely make it out as she helped me into the sky-high stilettos.

“Yes, God yes! Tell me what you know!” I had to dip my head and obscure my face with hair to avoid the guard's sharp gaze, but I was desperate for any information that might help me plan my escape.

She looked me straight in the eye, and I gasped when I saw how cold and lifeless her face was. “We are to be sold.”

“Shlyukha!” The man with the Taser barked out, and the girl flinched hard. “Idi syuda.”

I gave her a questioning look, but she dropped her gaze away from mine, visibly shrinking into herself as she timidly turned and approached the man in response to his command. He held out his closed fist to her, jerking his chin toward me, and dropped something into her waiting palm. He growled something to her with a threatening tone, then left the room.

The heavy thud of a bolt shooting home on the other side of the door seemed to echo around the silent room.

“What did he say?” I asked again, growing increasingly exasperated with the lack of answers. “What language is that, anyway?”

I looked around the room at the assortment of attractive people but was met with identical drugged out faces and vacant eyes.

“Russian,” the girl responded, ignoring my first question but dropping her terrified act the second the man left the room. Her shoulders lost their curled over frailty, and she met my gaze confidently.

“Russian? Surely we’re not in Russia?” I exclaimed, grasping at the thread of information. How the fuck would they have transported me to Russia without being caught, anyway?

She shrugged like she genuinely didn’t give a damn where we were. “No. Probably not.” She held her open palm toward me, a small, white pill sitting in the center. “Take this.”

“What is it? I don't understand. If he is speaking Russian, then how do you know we aren't in Russia?” I frowned hard at her cavalier attitude. How could someone be so totally unaffected at the idea that we were going to be sold like cattle?

She sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling as if praying for patience. “They are Russian Mafia; we could be anywhere.” She waved her hand at me again. “Please. Take this.”

“No fucking way am I taking a random pill from some creeper planning on selling me!” I scowled at her, folding my arms across my absurdly pushed up chest. Was she insane? “How do you know so much about this anyway?” My eyes narrowed in suspicion. It seemed awfully coincidental that she was the only one in this room that had any semblance of consciousness and spoke both English and Russian.

“This the third time, for me, that I have been sold,” she stated without any emotion. “Now please, take this.”

“No! What is it, anyway?” I resisted the urge to slap the mystery pill out of her hand, as it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that nothing good would come from taking it.

“It is to make you”—she screwed up her nose, looking for the right word—“not… fight. Like them.” She jerked her head at the spaced out zombies dotted around the room, some with dazed grins on their faces, most just staring blankly into space.

“Absolutely not!” I panicked. “There's no way I would willingly make myself docile.”

The girl shook her head at me again, her limp, greasy hair barely moving. “You don't understand. You must take it. If you don't…” Her eyes rounded with fear, so far the only emotion I had seen from her. “I seen what happen if you refuse. Last auction, a boy, he say no. Threw it back. They, ah, you know.” She made the buzzing noise of the Taser, and I nodded impatiently to show I understood her meaning. “Then when he was down, they force three pills down his throat. When he was all sleepy and weak, they used him, then start hitting, kicking him. They broke his leg, then say he no longer valuable and…” She made a finger gun and pointed to her head, indicating that they had executed the boy who had refused their drugs. “So, just…” She grabbed my hand and deposited the pill into it.

I looked down at it, horrified at what she was describing. These people clearly weren’t fucking around. If this was, as she’d said, the Russian Mafia, then I was in way over my head on this one.

What are the options that don’t wind up getting me shot? The idea of willingly making myself drugged and docile made me want to scream and hit something, but on the other hand, I stood no chance against the guards armed with Tasers. As had just been proven, the electrical jolt would still knock me down just as easily as anyone else.

“It's not so bad,” the girl encouraged me, not giving up. “It just feels… empty?”

“How come you're not like them?” I challenged her again. Every other person in the room seemed like they were totally unaware of their own names, let alone capable of holding a conversation.

“My last owner use this drug a lot. I am, you know.” She waved her hand at her head, and I figured she meant she had built a tolerance for it. Shit, that poor girl. I could hardly imagine the horrors she had already been through.

“I get you want to fight, to get free. Trust me; you stand a better chance waiting until you are sold. Here… too many eyes, too many weapons. You would not last five minutes. Take the pill; wait for a better time.” Her advice was surprisingly well considered, and I wondered why she hadn't attempted it herself.

She was probably right, and given that I hadn’t thought of a better plan, hers was looking like the smartest course of action. I looked down at the offensive little pill in my hand and sighed. My best bet was to just pretend to swallow, then ditch it when this chick wasn’t looking. Surely it wouldn’t be so hard faking that dopey, vacant look they all had?

Placing the pill carefully and deliberately on my tongue, I then closed my mouth and tucked it into my cheek before doing an exaggerated fake swallow.

Luckily for me, this girl was either drugged enough or simply didn’t care enough to double check that it was gone. Feeling rather pleased with myself, I looked around the room at the doped-out slaves about to be sold for who knew what. Sex, most likely.

Shaking some of the lingering stiffness from my muscles, I moved to pace the room a little, but my stupid goddamn stiletto heel caught in a drain grate and sent me crashing to my knees. Embarrassing, yes. But worse than that, I’d swallowed the fucking pill.

5

Within minutes, the drug began taking effect, clouding over my thoughts and slowing my movements until I felt like I was wading through water. All of my emotions had indeed been numbed to the point that I just felt empty, just like the girl had said. I hadn't even asked her name, but no longer cared.

It wasn't long before the Russian guard returned to the room, his beady eyes running over me with a predatory leer before he grunted his satisfaction at what he saw. He snapped something in his harsh voice, clapping his hands loudly then hauling the girl closest to him to her feet. He shoved her out the door, making her stumble in her high heels, and motioned for everyone to follow. The rest of the room’s occupants, including myself, followed along without argument. In the hallway more bored looking guards waited and made jokes in their foreign language, roughly groping several girls as they wandered past them in their drugged-out worlds. Somewhere in my foggy mind, my anger flared at their behavior, but the emotion smothered almost as soon as it arrived, once again leaving me wrapped in cotton wool.

The leering guard, who seemed in charge, led our little procession down the long, damp corridor and up several flights of stairs before stopping at a heavy fire door, which pounded and thudded with the bass of the loud music on the other side.

He turned and addressed our group in rapid-fire Russian, not a word of which I understood without my helpful translator, but I didn't care enough to find her and ask. All I could seem to focus on was the way my hand floated in the air, certain I could feel the vibrations of sound on my skin. I kept waving my hand back and forth in front of my face, desperate to feel more of it, and a small voice in my mind started screaming at me that I looked insane.

But that’s silly; insane people can’t feel sound. Obviously.

Finished with his speech, the guard opened the door he had stopped in front of, and the waves of music and chatter crashed over me like a tsunami. I staggered slightly in my ridiculous shoes and caught myself with a hand on the wall. My reaction was barely fast enough to save me from taking a face plant onto the concrete floor. One of the guards roughly grabbed my upper arm and shoved me forward, growling something at me and pointing sharply after the other captives. They were all staggering through what seemed to be an upscale strip club while shadowy figures watched with hungry eyes.

Like juicy lambs through a den of wolves in winter.

I blinked slowly a couple of times, trying to clear the haze, but soon forgot what I was trying to do. Smiling at the pretty flashing lights, I drifted along in the direction I was pointed.

Across the room, a grossly obese, bearded man was organizing the captives along the wall while the booming techno music faded out, and an elegant, middle-aged woman stepped out onto the small stage, dressed in a glittering evening gown and holding a microphone.

“Welcome,” the woman purred in accented English as she continued, “to the Onyx Auction.” She paused for dramatic effect, and the room clapped politely as though she had welcomed them to a charity gala or something.

Thank fuck, I can finally understand something!

I abruptly noticed that my mind was just the tiniest bit clearer, and my limbs felt a little less like they were stuck in a vat of custard. I sent out some quick mental thanks to whatever turn of fate had enhanced me, as it seemed like my body was slowly working the drug out of itself.

“Tonight we have a very special catalog on offer, which you have all been provided a copy of, along with the corresponding lot numbers. We also have a late submission which will be auctioned at the end of our usual proceedings.” The woman was a natural performer, captivating the crowd and sliding her disgusting message out into the room like silk. I took the opportunity to look around at the roomfull of what I assumed to be buyers. The lights over the tables were dimmed so low that it was hard to make out any details at all, except that most of them were men. Every now and then the light would catch on the metallic surface of a gun, and I knew the girl had been right in telling me to wait before attempting an escape. I wouldn't make it halfway across the room with this many armed sleazebags in one place.

The enigmatic woman was still making her opening speech on the stage. All attention was on her, so no one was taking notice of my return to clarity. I was almost ready to give up on inspecting the room's inhabitants when a figure directly opposite me caught my eye.

Staring hard through the gloomy light, I desperately tried to make out whether my mind was playing tricks on me or not. I could have sworn that Simon was standing in an alcove halfway behind a heavy velvet curtain and staring at me.

I blinked hard a couple of times, trying to shake a bit more of the foggy drug from my brain, but when I refocused, he was gone and I was left wondering if I was just hallucinating. The last time I had seen Simon, my childhood friend, he’d had me handcuffed naked to a cot. He had done his best to break my mind that night, and I had been furious to hear he had escaped when Dupree was captured.

I seriously hoped I was imagining things.

6

In despair, I watched helplessly as one by one my fellow captives were paraded across the stage. Their physical attributes were listed, then they were bid on and sold like cattle. After the closing bid on each slave, a collar was buckled around the slave’s neck and the leash handed to the new owner, as though it weren't obvious enough that they were no longer free people. The whole thing was making my stomach churn and my morals scream that I needed to do something, save these poor people being sold into a life of slavery.

Don’t be stupid, Kit. You’re way outgunned, and who knows what effect this drug is having on your body right now.

Despite my mind being much clearer, I had no way of knowing whether my speed or strength was back to normal, and I wasn't about to test it against what looked to be around fifty to seventy well armed individuals. Based on the fact that they were all here buying humans, I hardly thought they would blink twice at casual murder.

After what seemed like hours, I was the only “lot” left for auction. The sweaty, overweight man manhandled me up to the stage when I didn't move fast enough for his liking.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, for a special treat we have a late entry into tonight's auction. An American girl, lot fifty-four is a little older than our usual selection, but with age comes experience. She has all her own teeth, is in excellent health, and yes, she is a natural redhead.”

She paused to force out a laugh that grated against my nerves. “That means the carpet does match the drapes, gentlemen.” I stifled a snort at this ludicrous comment because, for one, no one actually said clichéd statements like that anymore, and, for two, this woman had clearly never heard of laser hair removal.

“There has already been prior interest in this lot, so the bidding begins at one million. Do we have any takers to start us off?” The woman gestured like she was some sort of deranged game show host, but I gaped at the starting cost. One million what? Dollars? I guess it's not a cheap business, kidnapping, transporting, then selling unwilling women.

“Ah, I see we have our first bid: one million to number thirty-three in the front.” The woman smiled pleasantly, waving her hand toward the bidder in her ridiculous game show way.

I followed the direction of her gesture, and a terrified shiver of ice ran down my spine.

The bidder made no effort to hide his face in the shadows like the rest of the room; instead he met my surprised gaze with confidence and smiled a cruel, victorious smile like a shark who had just found a crippled seal cub.

His face had aged significantly since I’d last seen him, but there was no mistaking his burning, nasty eyes. He held my petrified gaze as he spoke to continue his bids against other interested parties. Sharp needles of fear cut through me at his familiar voice. Mr. Gray. Of all the possible culprits behind this kidnapping, I had never even considered the possibility of him.

His gloating grin dropped abruptly, a flash of panic cutting across his face, which snapped me from my frozen horror.

“Here!” he snapped, louder this time, his attention back on the auctioneer. His brow creased heavily, and his cheeks flushed with anger.

“Final bid is with The Rom—I mean, with bidder twelve, at three and a half million. Are there any further bids?” the glittering auctioneer announced politely, point-blank ignoring Mr. Gray's paddle in the air.

“Here! I said here! Four!” Mr. Gray bellowed, standing from his seat and waving his paddle madly.

The woman auctioneer beside me made a subtle motion to a security guard. I watched as he sidled up to Mr. Gray and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, pushing him forcefully back into his seat.

“Final bid at three and a half million dollars, going once…” the woman continued as though no one had spoken, and Mr. Gray looked like he was about to blow a gasket. His face was so red it was closer to purple, and his eye twitched like he had a spasm. He cast a look at the guard, who kept a huge hand clamped on his shoulder, and must have decided to keep his mouth shut. I imagined these weren’t the sort of security guards you wanted to piss off.

“…going twice… Sold, to bidder twelve. Congratulations, sir, an excellent buy.” The sparkling woman purred out the final nail in my coffin as though bidder twelve had just bought a lovely tea set rather than a living person. I guessed I should have been grateful, though, that whoever had just bought me clearly wasn't associated with Mr. Gray, judging by the furious set of his jaw. A wave of relief conflicted with the overwhelming panic that someone had just bought me.

As I tried not to hyperventilate and do something stupid that would ultimately result in me ending up a bloody mess on the carpet, another guard stepped up and buckled the obligatory collar around my neck. Using the leash, he then jerked me down from the stage to pass me off to my owner, like a pedigree puppy.

Having just been pulled all too quickly down the shallow stairs while wearing six-inch platform stilettos, when we came to an abrupt stop at the table of bidder twelve, I was too busy trying not to fall flat on my face to take a proper look at the man who just spent three and a half million dollars to buy me. Fuck only knew what he was going to expect in exchange for that type of money. Good thing I had no intention of sticking around to find out.

By the time I had sufficiently steadied myself, my leash had already been handed over and the guard was nowhere to be seen. I tilted my chin up defiantly, aiming my very best death glare at the man who had the audacity to purchase a woman. Disappointingly though, his face was still in shadow, so I had no idea if he was even looking at me, let alone feeling the full, wrathful impact of my glare.

There was an awkwardly long pause, but eventually the man chuckled with a deep, liquid chocolate sound and leaned forward into the light, tugging my leash to bring me closer. My eyes widened, and I gasped as I took in his face. He was young and gorgeous, maybe mid-twenties at most, with dark coloring that hinted at Eastern European lineage. His wavy hair was worn longer than I was used to, almost reaching his shoulders, and his gray eyes sparked a sense of déjà vu.

“Do I know you?” I tried to ask, but the drugs must still have been affecting me more than I realized because it just came out as a slurred jumble of noise.

He scowled at my attempt to speak, his granite gray eyes like thunderclouds. Standing abruptly, he stepped into my personal space and forced me to tilt my chin to look up at him, despite my high heels.

“Vin. Să plecăm,” he rumbled in a smooth, velvety voice that held me captive for a moment, and I barely even registered that I had no idea what he had said.

“Huh?” I gave up on real words, but noises seemed fine. The young man scowled his thunderclouds at me once more, jerking his head to an entourage I hadn't yet noticed. At his words, they had all stood from their seats and were waiting, ready to leave. He gestured politely towards the exit, indicating that I should start walking, but I couldn't seem to make my feet move as I stared hard at the leash in his hand.

Is this seriously fucking happening right now? God I hope this is all a bad dream.

I had anticipated that whoever bought me would have maybe two or three goons with him, which I could have handled pretty easily by myself once we’d left the auction. Whoever this guy was, he must be important because his entourage consisted of roughly fifteen burly looking men—that I could see so far—and who knew how many more once we left this room. Shit.

“Is there a problem?” The beautiful man holding my leash asked in flawless English, his face giving nothing away as to his mood.

I look around, weighing my options, and my gaze caught on Mr. Gray. He was still at his table with the security guard standing over him, but his eyes felt like they were burning holes through my skin as he glared. My breathing spiked as a wave of terror threatened to engulf me, determined to drag me into the undertow of my childhood trauma. Whatever this stranger had in store for me, it had to be better than being back at his mercy once more.

I pasted on a tight, brittle smile as I turned back to my captor. Shaking my head because I still didn’t trust my ability to make words, I glared once more at the leash in his broad, clenched fist.

“I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no, I cannot remove the collar. Rules of the auction house. Please…” He gestured once more in the direction of the exit, and this time I did as I was told. Just like a good little slave. Because I would rather be a willing slave for the rest of my life than let Mr. Gray get so much as one finger on my skin.

My stunning new owner fell into step alongside me, his men fanning out around the two of us in a smooth, practiced formation as we made our way into a dark underground parking lot.

Without wanting to appear too obvious, I covertly monitored the security team’s movements as they swept the garage for threats, then cleared the black armored SUV before holding the door open for us. The way they moved screamed out years of practice and training, which didn't bode well for my future escape attempt.

“Dupa tine,” my companion said with a brittle smile and indicated for me to precede him into the car. I flushed uncomfortably under his storming, silver gaze and quickly tried to duck into the vehicle, only to be pulled up short by the leash still clenched in his fist. I let out a strangled yelp and caught my balance against the door frame as my ridiculous shoes wobbled dangerously.

“Îmi cer scuze, frumoasă,” the intimidating man murmured from behind me, stepping in close and brushing his hand across the back of my neck as he unbuckled the collar for me. I raised a hand to rub my now naked neck and turned my face to look at my captor. Good God, he was even more handsome up close. Life wasn't fair. I frowned, noticing for the first time since waking up that the arching pain in my chest had eased.

“Thanks,” I muttered, my words still a little slurred but decipherable. “What did that mean?”

He tilted his head to the side, inspecting my face with an intensity that made me squirm. “Just apologizing.”

I nodded in lieu of anything smarter to say and hopped into the back seat of the SUV. When he followed me inside and saw me pasted to the furthest possible position from him, his handsome face lit up in an amused grin that he made no attempt to hide.

“Relax,” he told me, infuriatingly. As if I could relax! “Don't give me that look. I understand you're a little… scared, right now. But we have a long journey back to my home, so you may as well relax for now. Pick your battles wisely, dragă.”

My temper bristled at his words. “I am not scared,” I lied, my eyes narrowing. “And what do you mean ‘pick my battles wisely’?”

“Hush, I have business to conduct.” He pulled his phone from the pocket of his coat, which he had already taken off before getting in the car. I tried not to see the strain of his cotton shirt across heavy muscles as I considered my odds of getting help by yelling and screaming while he made a call.

“Don’t bother,” he answered my unspoken plan with a tiny smile pulling at his lips. “The people I am calling do not give a fuck if you’re here against your will.”

Was I that obvious?

He dismissed me with a wave of his hand and made his call, spending the next twenty minutes on the phone speaking in his foreign language. It sounded different from the Russian that the guards had spoken but also somewhat similar, so I guessed it to be from somewhere in the same general region.

He hung up as the car was slowing to a stop outside what appeared to be a small airport, the type that my adoptive Dad, Jonathan, used when travelling on his private jet. A heavy wad of fabric landed in my lap, drawing my attention away from the scenery and back to my new owner. I raised my eyebrows at him in question.

“Put that on. It’s freezing outside,” he ordered, indicating his own cashmere wool coat that he had tossed to me. I glanced outside again and saw snow dusting the low shrubs near the edge of the car park. So we must still be in the Northern Hemisphere. That really narrows it down.

Not stupid enough to risk hypothermia, just in case an escape opportunity presented itself, I meekly pulled the coat onto my arms and fastened the buttons. As I tugged the collar up around my neck, I caught his scent on the fabric and frowned to myself at how similar it was to Cole's. Both of them had a distinct scent of fire, but while Cole reminded me of smoky campfire embers, this guy was spicy and hot like a blazing bonfire.

“Did you just smell my coat?” His words cut across my musing, and I froze, my face flushing hot with embarrassment.

“Definitely not,” I lied again, staring out the heavily tinted window at the small plane, which had just landed.

“Mm-hmm,” he murmured, and from the corner of my eye I could see a smirk on his rugged face. His gray eyes laughed at me, and I felt my face flame brighter.

I turned my attention back to my surroundings while we sat there and waited for who knew what. We were at an airport, which meant flying somewhere. I desperately did not want to fly anywhere. While I didn’t have any idea where we were already, something told me I stood a much better chance of escape here. His men had accompanied us in two more cars, but other than them, there must also be airport personnel. If we were flying internationally, then surely there would be some form of government official as well? If I could get clear of the goons long enough to reach an airport official, surely they would help me.

“I don't know why you're smiling right now,” he commented, dragging my attention back to his imposing form. “I'm not sure I'd be so happy if it were me that had just been sold into slavery. Each to their own, I suppose.”

I wiped off the smile that I hadn't realized I was wearing and glared back at him. The last thing I needed was to make him suspicious.

At the signal from one of his goons, he opened the car door and slid out, leaving me with one of his guards while he strutted confidently towards the aircraft where two uniformed pilots waited.

I immediately spotted my opportunity.

7

A car had just pulled up outside a small building a hundred yards from where I stood, the driver hopping out and leaving his door wide open and the engine still running as he strolled into the building. I lifted a foot to take a step in that direction, but the guard left behind with me clamped a tight hand around my upper arm.

“Move it,” he snarled, giving me a push in the direction of the plane but not removing his hold on me. I hesitated, pretending to stumble in my stripper heels and watching the vehicle that presented my best chance of escape. The driver clearly didn’t intend to be long or he wouldn’t have left it running, so if I was going to act, I needed to do it fast.

I reached up, grasping the man’s hand where it clasped my arm and yanking hard. I twisted my body as he lost his balance, just as Cole had taught me, and heard the sickening crunch of his wrist breaking in my iron grip as he fell. Not wasting a second to feel bad for the guy, I shoved his weight off me and took off sprinting for the idling car.

To my absolute dismay, when I came within reach of the car my ankle rolled in the tall stilettos, and I hit the deck hard, as though I were the blond at the beginning of a horror movie. Panic surged through me like lava as I scrambled back to my feet and attempted to dive headlong into the vacant driver’s seat, only to hit a wall of muscle.

“Fuck!” I screamed, furious at myself for making such a stupid, clumsy mistake.

“Miss, are you okay?” The man whom I had just collided with steadied me with hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back a step so we weren’t practically hugging. I took quick stock of his clothing. Black pants, heavy boots, and a puffer jacket with a logo I didn’t recognize.

“Yes! No, I mean no, I’m not okay! Thank God you speak English!” My words were still coming out a little thick, and the frustration and fear of my near escape was making tears well in my eyes.

“I do…” He raised his eyebrows at me, and I saw a shadow of fear cross his face as he looked over my shoulder.

“Please, I’ve been kidnapped. Please help me! Call the police or something!” I begged, not wanting to turn and see what had caused the color to drain from his face. I didn’t need to. A huge hand clamped down on the back of my neck, the fingertips digging hard into my delicate skin.

“Now now, dragă,” my captor purred with a sharp edge of danger in his voice. “You seem to have misunderstood the situation that you’re currently in. These men work for me. They will not help you.”

I looked up at the man in front of me, pleading with my eyes that he do something to help me. Surely he wasn’t just going to stand by while this caveman threw me over his shoulder and bundled me onto a plane to fuck knows where. My stomach sank hard as the man dropped his eyes to the ground, backing away a step.

“My apologies, Românul,” he murmured with a submissive head dip. “I should have taken more care.”

“Yes. You should have. I’ll deal with you later,” the man gripping my neck snapped, using that hand to steer me back toward his plane.

“You can’t do this,” I whimpered pathetically. I had intended for it to come out strong and defiant, but my voice box was betraying me, as were the rogue tears sliding down my face.

He paused a moment, forcefully turning my head to face him and searing me with his ice cold, murderous glare. “I assure you, I can.” Holy shit, this guy makes Cole look like a teddybear by comparison. He is fucking terrifying!

I considered using my strength to overpower him and make another break for the car, but a quick glance at the waiting security dissuaded me of that notion. They were watching us like hawks, their hands resting far too comfortably on their obviously displayed handguns. One guy even had a machine gun slung over his shoulder. Who the hell were these people?

As much as my healing power had progressed lately, no longer requiring an adrenaline surge to trigger it, I still wasn’t willing to test Dupree’s claim that I might be immortal. Call me crazy, but that didn’t seem like the sort of theory that allowed any margin for error.

My captor—what had that man called him? Românul? He jerked me to an abrupt stop in front of the man who had been guarding me. Red faced and sweating, the man held his broken wrist close to his chest as he swore at me in his language.

“Now then,” Românul said in a deathly quiet voice. “I left Gheorghe to escort you onto my plane, and I found you attempting to steal one of my security’s cars. Would one of you care to explain this to me?”

“You’ve kidnapped me; what the fuck did you expect?” I spat at him, finally getting my moxie back and losing the slur from my words.

“Technically, I wasn’t the one who kidnapped you. I merely purchased you. But I concede that as a fair point.” He dipped his head, being surprisingly reasonable for all the fury in his gaze. “Gheorghe?”

“Românul, sir, this curvă broke my fucking wrist,” the man snarled, and I got the impression that Românul was a title rather than a name and that curvă was not a term of endearment.

“Maybe you need to invest in better security, Românul,” I sneered, giving the injured guard a bitchy smile. “Ones that aren’t so easily overpowered by a little girl in heels?” Not that I was any ordinary little girl in heels, but there was no sense in drawing attention to my strength. The guard, Gheorghe, clearly didn’t appreciate my suggestion, though, and cracked a sharp backhand across my face. My head snapped to the side, and my jaw dropped in shock.

Really wish I had broken his right hand instead because that hurt!

“No woman speaks to Românul with such disrespect!” he hissed at me, spit flying as his infuriated face encroached on my personal space. I had just sucked in a breath to give him a piece of my mind when I heard a muffled pop, almost like the sound of a chipmunk sneezing, before something hot and wet spattered across my face.

For a second I was stunned before the metallic taste dripping into my open mouth registered that my new owner had just shot Gheorghe in the head! Woah! What the fuck?

“Let this be a lesson.” His stone cold voice boomed across the silent airstrip as his guards all stared back at us. “Don’t ever lay your hands on my property. Am I clear?” There was a murmuring of yes, sirs from the men, and then Românul, whatever that meant, turned his scary-as-fuck glare on me.

“I will forgive this first transgression as I should have introduced myself sooner. My name is Dragomir Valeriu du Romane but I am known as Românul, or The Romanian. I am not a nice man, nor do I tolerate insubordination. That was Gheorghe’s second offense in my service, and as you can see, I do not permit a third. Now, we are getting on my plane, and I would really rather if you did so without any more fuss. It is damn expensive cleaning up bodies on foreign soil.” He held my gaze for a long moment, giving away nothing but death and destruction in his eyes. “Do you have anything to say before we go, dragă?”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I announced, before bending over and vomiting bile all over his immaculate designer shoes. Instead of the violent repercussions I was expecting, I felt his hands gently gather my tangled, greasy hair up and hold it out of the way while my stomach ejected what little contents it possessed.

“Come on,” he murmured so quietly I barely heard him. “Get on the plane, and you can take a shower. You smell atrocious.”

Desperately trying not to look at Gheorghe’s body on the tarmac, I meekly followed along, too tired to worry about what new hell I would be entering by going with him, The Romanian.

8

Once on board the aircraft, we were greeted by a grinning air hostess whose uniform was a touch too tight and makeup a touch too heavy.

“Românul, you’re back! We missed you,” she purred in what was probably intended to be a seductive way. To me, she just looked desperate. She stroked a red fingernail down the front of Dragomir’s shirt, but he brushed past her with barely a glance.

“Maria, fetch some of Elena’s spare clothes for my guest,” he commanded, taking a seat in one of the oversized, cream leather armchairs and buckling his safety belt. “Sit down. You can’t shower until after take off, and I am sure you’d rather have something clean to change into?” He was right; I desperately did want a change of clothes, even if they did belong to one of his mistresses or slaves.

I did as I was told, sliding into the seat opposite him and attempting to buckle the seatbelt with shaking hands. After my fourth failed attempt to make the two ends meet, he reached over and slapped my hands aside, clicking it together for me and jerking it tight. My mouth reflexively opened to thank him, my boarding school manners almost taking over before I caught myself. You do not thank the man who just murdered someone in front of you, Kit.

“Oh don't give me that look,” he snorted, sitting back in his own chair and levelling an intense look my way. “Gheorghe has had that coming for a really long time. Trust me when I say the world is a better place without men like him.”

I pursed my lips and didn't take the bait. As horrifying as it was that he had just shot a man in cold blood, my hands were hardly spotless themselves. I closed my eyes to block out his heavy stare and tried to calm my mind. I was exhausted, like I had just run a marathon, which must be thanks to my body burning through whatever was in that drug at the auction house.

Since learning that my healing ability might be applied to others, not just to myself, I had taken up meditation in an effort to try and get a handle on whatever it was that made me heal. So far, I hadn't had much luck. But the breathing exercises had really helped me keep my temper when Austin was driving me ballistic.

Austin. What the hell am I going to do about him? Goddamn, that makeout in the paintball park was hot. Even if I did think he was Caleb.

“You still awake there?” Dragomir's velvet voice cut through my quiet mind and shocked me back to the present. I cracked an eye open to glare at him. As if I could sleep while being held captive on a plane to a mystery location when a dead man's blood was crusting on my skin.

“We are at cruising altitude, if you wanted to take that shower. Unless you need assistance?” He quirked a suggestive eyebrow, and I didn't bother to hide a shudder of revulsion. Showering with murderous slave owners was not high on my to-do list.

I unclipped my safety belt and picked up the pile of neatly folded clothing that had been placed on the small foldout table in front of me. Just my luck, as I stood from my seat, still in the ridiculous stripper heels, the plane banked slightly, causing me to lose my balance and topple straight into Dragomir's lap.

“You could have just asked nicely, dragă; there was no need to throw yourself at me while covered in blood.” His dry remark held a little too much seriousness for my liking. I scrambled madly to regain my feet and quickly headed down the aisle before he could see my beet red face. I assumed the shower would be at the back of the plane.

Thankfully, I was right and didn't need to walk back up the aisle to find it. Once inside I locked the door and stared at the flimsy lock for a moment. It wasn't likely to keep anyone out if they were determined, but I guessed it was the best I was going to get.

I sighed and stripped out of the blood-splatted coat, then practically tore the slutty auction house outfit from my body. Stepping into the shower, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror that I had been deliberately ignoring and gasped. I looked like Carrie after she got the bucket of pig’s blood dumped on her. Except this wasn't pig’s blood. Holding my breath to prevent another round of vomiting, I quickly stepped into the water.

I stayed under the spray until I was confident I was as clean as I could be before stepping out and wrapping myself in an absurdly soft towel. Picking up the pile of clothing that belonged to Elena, whoever she was, I saw the hostess had even included a bra and panties for me. The idea of wearing someone else's underwear made me cringe though, and the bra was far too small, so I decided to commando it. Thankfully, I had been given sensible clothes that wouldn't make my lack of underwear too evident.

Once dressed, and unable to find a hairdryer or brush, I no longer had any excuse to stay in the bathroom. Taking a deep breath to calm my frayed nerves, I stepped back out into the main cabin and made my way back to my seat. As I walked, I could feel the leering eyes of Dragomir's security burning into my backside where Elena's jeans were just a touch too tight.

I gave the aircraft a quick glance to find a seat further away from my captor, but those were all taken by his men. Reluctantly, I slid back into the seat opposite him and buckled my seatbelt tightly across my lap. For lack of anything better to do, I picked up the emergency procedure pamphlet from one of the discreet side pockets on the wall. I was pleased to notice my hands had stopped shaking.

I took my time reading the pamphlet, committing every word to memory and then reading it again. Not because I was afraid of flying but because I was afraid of making eye contact with the intense man whose cold, cruel gaze I could feel firmly fixated on my face while I read.

“Interesting read?” he finally asked, breaking the tense silence, and I fought the natural instinct to look up and acknowledge him. I didn't respond, instead reading over the pamphlet for a third time. I think I could fairly safely say I was now well informed on all of the evacuation procedures in the event of an emergency.

“You know, it's almost a six hour flight back to my home from where we were, and you only managed to use up thirty minutes in the shower. How many times do you think you'd be able to read that page in that amount of time?” His dry, amused tone grated against my nerves, and the fingers of my free hand curled into a fist while I envisioned smacking the amusement clean off his handsome face. Asshole.

“You must be hungry… I can't imagine the slave traders had made it their top priority to feed you while in captivity,” he mused, inspecting my body as though I should be totally emaciated with ribs sticking out. Damn him for speaking my language, though; I was starving, and my stomach echoed that sentiment by growling loudly. He smirked at the sound, and I gritted my teeth in an effort not to punch him in the mouth. As tempting as it was, it would only cause more problems for me while in midair.

“I’ll tell you what,” he purred, a sly grin across his face. “I will provide a meal if you answer all of my questions while you eat.” My glare narrowed at him.

Surely he hadn't spent three point five million dollars for the scintillating pleasure of my conversation?

My mind was made up for me, though, when the same hostess appeared as if from thin air, carrying a tray which smelled like the most heavenly creation in the world, and my belly cramped painfully.

“Fine,” I ground out from behind clenched teeth, then needed to force myself not to snatch the food as the hostess slowly unfolded a table from my armrest and placed the tray down in front of me. Holy fucking shit, steak!

I stifled a groan as the smell of it reached my nose and tried to calmly pick up my cutlery and eat with a little dignity, while on the inside my belly wanted to tear into the food like some sort of rabid animal. “I presume I guessed correctly that you're a carnivore then?” my companion commented, his heavy stare making me think there was subtext to that statement that my poor food-deprived brain wasn't computing.

Ignoring him, I placed a huge forkful of food in my mouth. As awful as airline food generally was, this was definitely the exception to the rule, and I struggled not to cram it in any faster. Logic told me that if it had truly been a long time since I had eaten, then I needed to take this slowly or I'd be decorating the carpet soon.

“So, tell me dragă, how did you end up in the Onyx Auction?” The psychotic man across from me was wasting no time getting his questions started, although that wasn't exactly what I had expected. I wasn't entirely sure what I had expected, to be honest, but it wasn't that.

“That's what you want to know?” I asked suspiciously in between mouthfuls.

“For now,” he replied, relaxing back into his seat.

I pursed my lips, thinking about what harm there could be in answering honestly. “I was kidnapped, like I keep telling you.”

“Obviously.” He rolled his eyes. “Elaborate, please.”

I sighed, too tired to play games. “I was kidnapped from my home in Washington. Some asshole that I had run into a couple of times before came out of nowhere and chloroformed me. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in an underground cell, then drugged and sold on a stage in some dodgy looking strip club.” I glared at him. “Where you paid a small fortune to buy me rather than letting that disgusting old pedophile win the auction.” At this, his left eyebrow arched in curiosity.

“You knew him? The man bidding against me?” He seemed genuinely surprised at this, and I was relieved to see they weren't working together in some way.

“That was the first time I had seen him in a long time. Almost six years. It honestly never occurred to me that he might have had a hand in my abduction.” I dodged his eye contact, not willing to give away any more information on that subject. I knew my eyes would give away more than I was comfortable with while I desperately shoved the memories back in their little locked box.

“Interesting…” he murmured. “So you are from Washington? That's a big city, is it not?”

“No.” I shook my head, grateful for the safe subject. “State, not DC. Opposite sides of the country. And I'm not technically from there; I was just going to school there.”

“So you were kidnapped from your school? You seem a little old… no offense.” He smiled at me congenially, and I snorted at the normal conversation I was having with someone who’d just blown a man's brains out in front of me not an hour ago. I really am a magnet for crazies and trouble after all.

“Ah yeah, I am. But I had just graduated,” I said, not offering anything extra.

“I see. So what were you doing that allowed you to be surprised by a man with chloroform?” he pressed, and for some reason the words just kept rolling off my tongue.

“I was at paintball.” He frowned in confusion, “You know, where you shoot the other team with bullets made of paint?” He hummed and nodded his understanding, then gestured for me to continue. “I was there with some friends, and when I was walking back to the starting point, Sergei just popped out of nowhere.”

“And where were these friends of yours while you were being kidnapped? They just let this happen?” He scowled, and I felt a strong surge of protectiveness for my guys.

“No they did not just let it happen,” I snapped. “They were already back at the starting point. They would never, ever, have let Sergei get away with it had they been anywhere nearby.”

He sat back in his seat, silent and watching me for a minute while I used the break to stuff more of the buttery steak into my mouth. I was careful to chew slowly before swallowing in order to give my stomach time to adjust.

“Tell me about these friends of yours,” he ordered, surprising me with the segue.

“Why do you want to know about my friends?” I asked hesitantly. While I didn't care much about telling my story—given I was already up shit creek—I wasn't so free to speak about them.

“Humor me.” He grinned like a crocodile, a curious glint in his granite gray eyes.

I frowned, intending to say nothing, but couldn't seem to filter my thoughts before the words began tumbling out once more. “What do you want to know about them? I met them recently, and they saved my life a couple of times, and now I'm sort of living with them. Or at least I was until all of this happened. They're probably really worried about me right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they tracked me down and caused all sorts of trouble for you. You should probably just send me home and save yourself the bother.”

“Oh, I should, should I?” I could see him trying to hold back laughter. “What makes you so confident they will track you down? You don't even know where we are, and it has already been ten days since you went missing. The trail, as they say, has gone very cold.”

“You underestimate my friends,” I informed him. “They are some of the best undercover agents in the world, so I have no doubt they'll find me sooner or later.” What the hell?! Why did I just tell him that? Kit, shut the hell up! “And it can't have been ten days since I was taken; I would have already died from dehydration. Not to mention the fact that drugs don't work anywhere near as well on me as they do normal people, so it would have been impossible to keep me unconscious unless they were repeatedly chloroforming me.” At this point I forcefully clapped a hand over my mouth to stop the flow of word vomit before I gave away any more secrets. What is going on? This guy is so far on the wrong side of the law it is laughable, and here I am just spilling my guts to him like we are besties! Maybe the drugs from the auction were still affecting my brain somehow.

“Well, isn't that interesting,” Dragomir purred, a sexy smirk on his lush, kissable lips.

Woah, what? No! Not sexy or kissable! Dangerous and sociopathic!

“I'll help you out with some answers,” he offered. “The transport company that handles all the new acquisitions for Onyx Auction would have kept you on an IV drip of fluids and sedatives. It's pretty common practice in human trafficking. Now tell me about these secret agent friends of yours. Are you romantically involved with one of them? Is that why you are so sure they will come to rescue you?”

Why was he so interested in the guys? He’d just told me that I had been gone for ten days! Ten days! Why weren't we focusing on that part? My mouth moved to form words, but my thoughts were conflicting and all that came out was a strangled squeak as I tried to change the subject back to how he knew so much about the ins and outs of slave trading. My head began pounding, and I rubbed my temple with a heavy hand.

“Just answer the question, Kit, and your head will feel better.” His velvet voice soothed me, and I lost my train of thought, so I frowned at him and tilted my head in question.

“Your friends. I asked if you were romantically involved,” he reminded me, and I smiled, thinking of my romantic involvement with the boys.

“With all of them?” I clarified, and he looked a little startled. “No, not all of them. Not with Wesley or Austin. Except for that one makeout session with Austin at the paintball park, but that was when I thought he was Caleb and he was just using me to win the game.” My mind wandered back to that makeout, and my body tingled at the memory of Austin's lips against mine, his strong hands cupping my thighs while he ground against my core with his rock hard…

“And what about this 'Caleb'? Are you involved with him?” Dragomir interrupted my reminiscing, and I was snapped back to the present.

“Hmm? Oh, uh, I guess? We haven't really done anything, though, so maybe I am just imagining our chemistry. Not like with River and Cole. I am definitely not imagining that.” I was rambling, badly, and I couldn't seem to shut it off. I picked up the glass of water on my tray table and took a long drink to try and regain my wits, but as I gulped I glanced up and caught a triumphant look on my companion's face.

“Why do you care, Dragomir?” I asked him back then giggled, “Hah, that rhymed.”

He cringed. “Don't call me that. My name is Vali.”

“Huh?” I asked, with all the intelligence of a drunk monkey. Why was my brain so foggy again?

“Long story. But please, just call me Vali.” He sighed with an angry twist to his mouth. “But this is about you, Kit. Tell me about why you don't consider yourself a 'normal' person and why drugs don't affect you the same way. Is there something more to you?”

I blinked several times, tightening my mouth in an effort not to reply. Even through my babbling word vomit, I knew I couldn't answer his question.

“Did you drug me?” I asked instead, finally putting two and two together, and he barked out a loud laugh. That absolute bastard!

“Why yes, I did. And you're absolutely right; it's not affecting you anywhere near as quickly as it should be. By my calculations, you should have been out cold a full five minutes ago, and yet here you are, still telling me all sorts of juicy secrets. It's a fun side effect of this particular drug. It works like a bit of a truth serum until you pass out.” His grin was full of smug self-satisfaction, and yet it didn't seem to prevent my mouth’s running away from me.

“You're really attractive,” I blurted. What. The. Hell.

“So I have been told.” The arrogant asshole. Who says shit like that? “Tell me more about why these drugs aren't affecting you, Kit.”

I clamped my jaw shut hard. I have kept my abilities secret for years; it would take more than a little dose of fuck-knows-what to make me spill my guts on that one. Folding my lead-like arms across my cashmere covered chest, I sat back and glared hard at my captor. Vali. I liked it; it suited him better than Dragomir or Românul.

He met my glare with his own thoughtful look, and we stayed locked like that for several moments before my vision started to blur and my eyelids felt like they were carrying extra weight with every blink.

“Wait.” A thought occurred to me. “I never told you my name. How do you know my name?”

Just my luck, whatever I had been drugged with was finally doing its job and I was sinking fast into unconsciousness. No response came from Vali except a deep chuckle and rustling of fabric before my chair was reclined flat underneath me.

“Sweet dreams, dragă,” he snickered, as though I had any choice about going to sleep. Bastard.

9

COLE

A sharp sting of pain lanced up my arm. My knuckle had just split open where it had connected with solid bone again. It didn’t seem to matter how often that same knuckle split open, it still stung like a bitch every time. Right in that moment though, I welcomed the pain. It helped focus my thoughts so I wasn’t being distracted by the groans of pain coming from the Ukrainian tied to the chair in front of me.

“Cole, mate, I don’t think he knows anything else,” my team leader murmured quietly in my ear when I stepped back to shake out my wrist. I clenched my jaw hard, not willing to accept that he may be right, and swung another solid punch into Sergei’s fat-thickened gut, knocking the air out of him and silencing his whining for a minute.

“He has to,” I muttered, dangerously quiet. My eyes took stock of the damage I had already done to the sack of filth in the chair, and I ran a quick mental list of the damage I could yet inflict before actually killing him. I wanted him to hurt, so much.

“Please…” The pathetic man sobbed through rapidly swelling eyes. “I swear, I’ve told you everything I know. I’m sorry.” He started up with a choked noise that seemed to be crying, but it just made me want to hurt him more. Filthy fucking human trafficker, dealing in the flesh of stolen girls. He deserved a lot worse.

“Cole, man. Ease up,” Caleb interjected as I was about to land another blow. Instead, I whirled on Caleb, my killer face securely in place, and I saw him visibly flinch.

“Cole! Step outside for a minute and catch a breath,” River commanded me in a tone that brooked no arguments, so I cracked my knuckles in anger and did as I was told.

I felt a bit bad for giving Caleb my killer face. It was the same face I had tried to use when I first met Kit, with the noble idea that maybe I could scare her off me, but for some goddamn reason, I couldn’t seem to make myself follow through.

Despite my best efforts to show her the death and destruction hiding behind my eyes, that damn girl just kept dragging me back in. I’d found myself deliberately seeking out her company, watching her when she spoke or moved, even flirting. Fuck, she made me care about her, and it wasn’t an emotion I knew how to handle.

The time spent training her in combat had been the longest weeks of my entire life—being so close to her, touching her and not acting on my primal desires when I wasn’t sure she was even interested. Until that night in the gym, after the break-in at Blood Moon, I had genuinely thought I hadn’t stood a chance. Fuck, how wrong I’d been.

When she initiated, when she made the first move, I was a total goner. River had joked afterwards that I was acting like a man in love, and although I had hit him to shut him up, a small part of me wondered if maybe he was right. Then again, he was hardly one to throw stones about being under my Vixen’s spell.

Huh, that had a nice sound to it… my Vixen.

I knew that she wasn’t solely mine; Caleb has been going nuts over her for months, and we all knew River had already staked his claim. Wesley watched her constantly like a lovesick puppy, not that she had ever noticed, poor guy. Hell, even Austin was falling for her, although he would rather cut off an arm than admit it, thanks to his fucking stupid hang-ups. That Peyton bitch had really pulled a number on him.

In all honesty, I didn’t mind the idea of sharing Kit with my team. I loved them all like brothers, better than brothers, and with all the trouble she seemed to attract, it was not a bad thing to know she would always have someone around to protect her.

A stupid smile crept over my lips at the thought of what she would say if she heard that. Kit had a spine of steel, and despite her fun and flirty mask, she was sporting a shell almost as hard as my own. If she thought for even a second that we were all trying to protect her, I hated to think what stupid ass move she’d pull to prove us wrong.

I paced the dark, damp corridor a couple of times, trying to get a hold on my emotions before going back in there so that I didn’t accidentally end up killing that sweaty heap of garbage before getting my answers. Even though he deserved it. Director Pierre wouldn’t buy it as an accident though, not with my history. I couldn’t afford to be taken off active duty while my Vixen was still missing, so I needed to pull myself together.

Before I could barge back into the disused supply room where we were holding Sergei prisoner, my team filtered back out, and Austin silently handed me a rag to wipe the blood off my hands.

“We’re done.” River told me sternly, shutting the door tightly behind him and blocking it with his body.

“Like hell we are,” I snarled at him, “Move. He still hasn’t told us where she is.”

“No, mate. I am telling you, as your team leader, that we are done here. I’m satisfied that he has told us everything he knows. Wesley has just made the call to HQ to come and collect him for processing.” River didn’t often pull rank against me, and he knew I wouldn’t fight him on it in front of the team. I ground my teeth hard, the creak of it echoing into the tense silence as my fucking dickhead British best friend stared me down.

“Fine,” I growled. “One of these other leads had better turn something up soon though, or I’m coming back to bleed more answers out of that shithead.” I stabbed a finger towards the door behind River.

“With my full support,” River accepted, and from the corner of my eye I saw the other boys nod their agreement. “You forget, Cole, you’re not the only one who is worried. We all care about her. We all would do anything to get her back.”

Austin, the fuckwad, made a noise as though he disagreed, and Caleb punched him in the chest. No one was buying his crap any more, not after seeing his pity party when Kit went missing.

I nodded understanding at River’s sincerity, and I saw his sharp gaze check my hands. It always annoyed the crap out of me that he could read my tells so well. He had figured out years ago that when my thumbs released from the outside of my fists then I was no longer such a danger to those around me.

“I’m sure one of our leads will find our Kit soon,” Wesley contributed, looking a touch pale. He was not usually physically present for interrogations, but for some reason today he had insisted on coming along. I’d bet he hadn’t even noticed he just called her our Kit.

“We have all put the word out to our black market contacts, as have the rest of Omega Group. One of us will turn up her location sooner or later; it’s just the law of averages.” He tugged at his blond hair in a nervous tick. I grunted once more, leading the way back out of the abandoned warehouse we were in.

As I stalked through the building’s rubbish, I thought over Wesley’s words. He was right, of course; there was no way they could keep her hidden for long. My whole body thrummed with anticipation for what I would do to the people who had taken her when we found them. Because she may be our Kit, but she was my Vixen. And no one fucks with what’s mine.

10

KIT

I woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and staring around me in panic and confusion. Where the fuck was I now? Definitely no longer on the absurdly luxurious aircraft, as I was halfway drowned by a heavy feather comforter and surrounded by pillows in a king-size bed. I crawled out of the cozy nest and raked a hand through my wild hair. It was bone dry, whereas it had been still dripping wet when I had succumbed to drugged sleep on the plane, so more than several hours must have passed while I was out.

Padding over to the bedroom window, I tried to work out where the hell I might be. The scenery was barren and rocky, but with no snow, so we must have flown south from… wherever.

This isn't off to a good start; we could literally be anywhere in the world.

It was daylight, so there were no lights to indicate a city might be nearby, and the room I was in seemed to be directly above a sheer cliff face overlooking a sandy valley. My perusal of the possible routes down the cliff was interrupted by a polite knock on the bedroom door, which piqued my curiosity. Vali didn't exactly strike me as the type to knock politely.

I crossed the room in my bare feet and cracked the door open to peer out.

“Uh, yes?” I eyed the girl on the other side with suspicion. From what I could see of her, she was around my age, with rich, chocolate brown hair perfectly styled into an elaborate updo.

“Hi!” She beamed at me with far too much enthusiasm for my current predicament. “I brought you food! Can I come in?” She held up the tray she was holding to emphasize her statement, and I caught a whiff of something delicious.

“You can come in, but I am not stupid enough to eat drugged food again.” I scowled at her but opened the door a little wider to let her in. She laughed as though I had just made a joke and breezed past me on deadly looking stiletto heels.

After she’d placed the tray down on a small table beside some armchairs, she spun to face me, and I inspected her shrewdly. She was, in short, stunning. Her face was perfectly doll-like, with huge gray-blue eyes and high, angular cheekbones. Her slim figure was showcased in a formfitting dress that looked designer, and her delicate neck was draped with a blinding diamond necklace.

“The food isn't drugged,” she told me, rolling her eyes as though I was simply being overly dramatic. “Trust me, I was watching Cook prepare it for you. Besides, what else are you going to do, starve to death?”

Ugh, she had a point. I didn't want to run the risk of being drugged again in such a short period of time, though. Who knew how much my body could really bounce back from?

I sat cautiously in one of the chairs and peered longingly at the food she had provided.

“So, I know you had a bit of an, umm, unconventional first meeting with Vali, but he wanted me to come and see if you were doing okay…” She twisted her hands and chewed her lower lip, looking genuinely concerned for my well-being.

“I was drugged, kidnapped, transported to another country, drugged again, sold at auction, covered in blood, then drugged again. Would you be doing okay? Under those circumstances?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at her, and she had the grace to flush in embarrassment. Saying it all out loud like that made me wonder why I was doing okay. Surely I should be crying in a corner somewhere? Ever since Vali had touched me when taking off my collar, I had felt weirdly… safe? That sounded insane, but it was what it was.

“Ah yes, I did hear about Gheorghe. Believe me, that is no great loss.” The hard look in her eyes and bitterness to her voice suggested she'd had her own run-ins with the dead man. I wondered if this girl had anything to do with Gheorghe’s first indiscretion that Vali had mentioned.

“So, who are you?” It wasn’t the most polite I had ever been, but it could have been a whole lot worse.

“Oh of course, gosh, sorry, where are my manners?” She laughed nervously and patted at her immaculate hair. “I'm Elena.” She held out one of her delicate hands for me to shake, which I did with caution.

“I guess I should say thank you for letting me borrow these clothes, but you didn't seem particularly surprised to hear I am here against my will. Does that mean you won't help me escape?” I glowered at her while trying not to look at the steaming food in front of me.

“Escape?” she squeaked out. “Please don't try to escape! I know everyone seems really nice around here, but they're not. They’re really not. And they don't hold back on punishments, so please just, ah, just stay here. I'm sure if you give it a little time, Vali will come to his senses and let you go… God knows why he hasn’t already…” The last part was muttered under her breath, and I just barely heard it.

I snorted a sarcastic laugh at her. “Nice? I was just purchased in a slave auction and then a man was shot dead in front of me.”

Her gaze ducked away from mine as she found an interesting spot on the carpet before she replied to me. “Well, yes, you could say that was all a bit, umm, not-nice? But it could have been a lot worse. No one has actually harmed you, have they? I can't imagine any of the other slaves who were bought at that auction would have been treated anywhere near so nicely. Not to mention gone unmolested for so long.”

Damn, this girl had a point. Why had I been treated differently? It still didn't make it okay to hold someone captive, though.

“Well, anyway. I just came to bring you the food and say hi.” She looked disappointed that I obviously hadn't given her the greeting she was looking for.

“Why? Who are you anyway? His mistress? Another slave?” I narrowed my eyes at her again, this time taking in her expensive outfit with a more critical eye, and her face flamed red.

“No-no!” she stuttered out. “I am definitely not his mistress! What would even give you that idea?” Her panicked disagreement combined with lack of eye contact made me think she most likely considered herself a girlfriend rather than a mistress. Poor girl.

“Uh-huh,” I responded sarcastically.

“Okay, well, I will leave you to your meal. Um, the door isn't locked, but I should let you know that Vali has posted a guard outside.” She bit her lip uncomfortably as she backed towards the door in question. “So, you know, just… stay in here. Please?”

I nodded slowly to her, not agreeing to anything but acknowledging what she had told me. She looked relieved and left me alone with a parting smile. Strange girl. I could see why Dragomir, I mean Vali, was keeping her around. The girl was an absolute knockout and the perfect submissive female to be seen and not heard.

Now, how am I escaping this time?

I headed back to the window, which seemed like my best option, given the guard outside the door. Vali likely would never have expected anyone to attempt exiting through the window, so there wasn’t even a lock on it. I flicked the catch, and it swung open easily. Too easy.

A gust of cold air blew in, making me shiver, but also giving me another clue to our location, as it was clearly still winter wherever we were. I crossed the room again and rifled through the large wardrobe for something warmer to wear. It was full of men’s clothes, but given I wasn’t entering a fashion parade, that didn’t bother me too much. A black coat caught my eye, and I slipped it on, rolling the sleeves up once to keep my hands free of fabric. Shoes were going to be an issue, though. I hadn’t been given any to replace my stripper heels on the plane, and all of the men’s shoes available were miles too big for me.

I chewed my lip for a minute, considering my options. Wearing men’s shoes would only end up in me losing my footing and falling to my death, but traversing an unknown amount of desert in bare feet didn’t sound like the safest option either. One thing I knew for sure: staying put was not an option. I was no one’s slave.

After tying the shoelaces together on a pair of sport shoes, I slung them around my neck and stuffed two thick pairs of socks into them. I would climb in bare feet, then when I reached the bottom, wear the too-large shoes in the hope of saving my feet from getting torn up on any rocks or rough surfaces.

Taking another look at the cliff below me, I mentally mapped out what looked like the most likely route. Without wasting any more time, I climbed out of the window and slowly lowered my body until my toes reached their first foothold.

Here goes nothing!

11

Once I made it a few feet down from the window I had climbed out of, it became clear that the house was not just built on top of a cliff—it was actually carved into the cliff. While it made for a pretty amazing design aspect, it meant that I still needed to climb past another window before I would reach the relative safety of the unused rock below. Hopefully that room didn’t have any occupants who would spot me escaping, but to be safe, I decided to climb around the window rather than directly past it.

Carefully, I picked my way down from the room I had been in. Each move required so much more thought than when I usually climbed, firstly because I hadn’t had a good angle to map out a path in my mind before beginning and secondly because I was going down rather than up, which was surprisingly hard. Despite the amount of time I had invested in rock climbing to assist in my Fox jobs, I had never tried climbing down before. I had always rappelled.

Right as I made the mental note to practice reverse–rock climbing, if that was the correct terminology for it, the tiny ledge my toes were on crumbled beneath me. With my weight in my legs, rather than in my arms like it usually would have been, my body slammed hard into the cliff face. My fingers barely gripped back on in enough time to catch me.

Thank fuck for superstrength. I panted heavily, my heart galloping at the near miss. Taking a second to carefully choose a new foot hold, I forced myself to still and take some breaths. The last thing I needed was sweaty hands.

Come on, Kit. Move it! They will notice you missing soon!

Chewing my lip hard enough to make it bleed, I continued my descent with jelly-like legs. When my toes felt the top of the window frame for the next room down, I inched my way across until I was parallel to it, then began easing my way down again.

I held my breath as I moved ever so slowly, carefully, praying that I couldn’t be seen from the inside. From where I was, pasted to the exterior of this incredible structure, all I could see was the edge of an impressive-looking bookcase.

A premature sigh of relief gusted out of my lungs as I reached the bottom of the window frame, within feet of the raw cliff face which led to the sandy desert floor and hopefully freedom. No sooner had the air passed through my lips than the loud bang of a window slamming open made my already shaking body jolt in fright, and my fingers slipped from their precarious hold on the rock.

For a split second, all I grasped was air. My eyes scrunched tight, I held my breath and braced myself for impact. All I could do was hope that my body really would repair itself eventually. Oh fuck, this is going to hurt.

After what must have only been a fraction of a second, but felt like an hour, a tight band of steel wrapped around my wrist and almost yanked my shoulder clean out of its socket as my fall was halted abruptly. A strangled squeak puffed out of me, and I looked down at the rocky ground way below my dangling feet. Why wasn't I flattened down there like a raspberry pancake?

Looking up to see what had saved my bacon, I suddenly wished I had fallen to my maybe-death instead. Gripping my wrist tightly with one huge hand, Vali was halfway out of the window and looking furious.

Crap.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” he snarled from behind clenched teeth, the tendons of his neck standing out like steel rods and his arm muscles bulging and straining.

“Um, is now really the best time to chat?” I squeaked, my voice tight with fear. My breathing had dissolved into short, shallow gasps that were leaving me light-headed, and I dreaded to think what would happen if I passed out and became dead weight. At least awake I could help pull myself back up once I got a grip.

I started reaching for the wall again with my free hand, but my trembling fingers kept slipping from the rock, and I couldn't get a clean hold.

“What are you doing?” Vali hissed, his grip on my wrist slipping just the tiniest bit and making me squeak again.

“I am trying to get a grip to take some weight off, but my fingers aren't working,” I muttered, and he made an angry noise as I tried again.

“Stop it! You're swinging around and making this harder. Just… stay still so I can pull you up,” he commanded, and I watched as he braced his free arm against the inside of the window frame. He had changed into a thin black T-shirt since I had last seen him on the plane, and as he heaved me up by the wrist, I could see the muscles of his shoulders and arms rippling like he was in a weightlifting competition. I guess he was, of sorts.

When he had pulled me up enough to be within reach of the more solid window frame, I grabbed on with my shaking, free hand and dug my toes into the rock below, quickly shimmying my body through the opening and collapsing onto the carpet.

For a long moment, I lay there panting, trying to regain a little composure and waiting for the trembling in my limbs to subside. Holy shit, that was close.

“I ask again, what the fuck were you doing?” Vali's rumbling voice demanded from far too close to my ear. I turned my face from where I had landed face-first on the floor and found him on his back beside me, where he had probably fallen when I had tumbled through the window.

I took a couple of slow, calming breaths before responding. “I think it’s obvious I was attempting to escape. Until some ogre opened a window right beside my head and scared the piss out of me and made me lose my grip.” My lingering breathlessness took the impact out of my statement, but by the angry narrowing of his eyes, I think it still hit the intended mark.

“Excuse me?” he seethed. “I wouldn't have needed to open the fucking window if you hadn't been climbing down the outside of my house like some sort of psychotic monkey. What the hell were you thinking? You could have died!” A fact I was all too aware of. Even though I had a suspicion I wouldn't have actually died, it still would have been excruciatingly painful.

“How the hell did you know I was out there anyway? And react fast enough to catch me right as I lost my grip?” I challenged him back, my fear morphing into anger.

“I don't know!” he shouted, shutting me right up. We both stared at one another, our faces only inches apart. His eyes showed a mix of shock and confusion, and I had no doubt mine were a mirror image.

“I don't know how I knew,” he continued, quieter this time. “I just… did. I can't explain it.” His face closed down, back into the furious scowl as he opened his mouth to most likely yell again.

“Oh, get off your high horse.” I rolled my eyes, stopping his lecture before it began. “As if you wouldn't have done the same in my situation.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, his mouth locked in a tight line, then climbed to his feet and held out a gentlemanly hand to help me up.

“You don't even know what situation you're in, dragă,” he muttered as I pushed his hand aside and stood on shaking legs unassisted.

“I know I would rather risk climbing down the side of a building than become a sex slave to some megalomaniac murderer like you.” I folded my arms across my chest and tilted my chin up stubbornly but was totally unprepared for his reaction. Was he seriously laughing right now?

The more he laughed, the hotter my anger boiled until I couldn't stand it any more.

“What is so goddamn funny?” I yelled, my fingers curled into tight fists under my arms in an attempt to rein in the fury.

He made no attempt to answer me, simply turning his back and walking away from me towards the door, his shoulders shaking with chuckles. My control and sensibility must not have been rescued along with me because the next thing I knew, I had picked up a book from the small table near me and hurled it at his head.

The book hit with a solid thunk, and I froze. Did I seriously just throw a book at the unstable murderer? All too late, I saw the unmistakable shape of his lethal firearm tucked into the back of his distressed jeans, and I cursed my lack of common sense.

“Did you just…” He turned slowly, glaring at the book on the floor, then at me. “Did you seriously just throw a book at my head?”

My eyes darted around the room; frantically searching for a way out but finding none, I went with denial. “Ummmm, no? Maybe it fell?” Who knows, maybe he will believe me?

“What are you, fucking twelve? Who throws books?” he yelled, picking up the offending item and brushing it off. “Jesus woman, have a little respect for the written word!”

Before we could fully engage in what was turning out to be the weirdest argument I had had in a long time, loud voices from outside the room interrupted us.

“Shit,” Vali swore, hurrying back over past me and yanking the window shut again. “Just, whatever you do, don't be yourself.”

12

The door to the room we were in—which, upon closer inspection, was actually a library—burst open with a loud bang, effectively cutting off my response to Vali’s somewhat insulting request.

“Dragomir, my son!” boomed the massive bearded man who entered the room like he owned the whole damn place. Maybe he did; how would I know? Either way, he looked like a fit version of Henry the Eighth, minus the crown and robes.

“Father,” Vali clipped, stepping ever so slightly in front of me and blocking my view of this older Românul.

“I heard a rumor that you made a recent purchase at the Onyx Auction.” The older man’s voice was heavily accented and had a cruel-sounding rasp to it. I nudged Vali in the back, as subtly as I could, to try and make him move. I hated the feeling that I was hiding behind him.

“I did,” Vali responded to his father smoothly, reaching behind himself and swatting at my prodding hand.

“Well, let's see what you bought then. I heard you dropped a pretty penny on this one, so she must be something special?” His leering tone made me bristle, and I dug my nails into Vali's back where I had been prodding him. This guy sounded like a real piece of work. No one moved for a second, then the older Românul made an exasperated sound. “Come on boy, move aside. We don't have all damn day; the party starts in an hour.”

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Vali stepped to the side and allowed me to get a good look at his sleazy father.

“My, my, she is quite the looker isn't she,” he purred and actually licked his lips! Ugh, so gross!

I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind but was interrupted by a very fake sounding cough from Vali. Raising my brows at him in question, he gave me a tiny headshake, and I remembered what he'd said about not being myself. Ah, this must be what he meant.

For some insane reason, my brain was screaming at me to trust him. I guessed things could still be worse for me than they currently were, and by the way his father was eyeing me up and down, I definitely did not want to find out what he was thinking.

I adopted my Emily personality, batting my eyelashes and giving the older man a vacant smile like a simpering fool. He continued inspecting me for a bit longer before giving a satisfied grunt and turning his attention back to his son.

“I see why you chose her, boy, but if you had wanted a girl, I could have given you one from the club. There was no need to go dropping millions at the fucking auction house. Dirty, fucking Russians.” He sneered his lip in disgust for the Onyx Auction coordinators. “Anyway,” he continued, “it's done now, and turning out to be a most profitable move. I have already been contacted by a gentleman offering twice what you paid for her.”

I sucked in a gasp, turning panicked eyes to Vali. He must be talking about Mr. Gray. As painfully obvious as it was that it was neither the time nor the place to beg for my life, the impending panic attack sneaking up on me was forcing me to still at least silently beg Vali not to let him have me.

He met my pleading stare blankly but answered his father, “You told him no, I should hope? I didn't travel all that way to walk away empty-handed, father.”

“No?” The man barked a loud laugh. “Don't be ridiculous! Of course I told him yes! He will be here to collect his property first thing in the morning. I thought you might appreciate a night with her first, eh?”

A small whimpering sound escaped my throat, and Vali's huge hand closed around my wrist. It was tight but strangely reassuring.

“Is that all you came to say, father? Because if so, you can leave again. The party doesn't start for another hour, and you're not particularly welcome until then.” Vali's voice was flat, bordering on bored, and I watched as his father's eye twitched and his teeth made an audible grinding sound.

“Very well. You must be eager to make the most of your time with this curva. I will see you shortly, son.” He gave me one last lingering leer, then strolled out of the library as though he hadn't just been effectively kicked out. Once he was gone, Vali gusted out a heavy sigh, and his shoulders drooped.

“Vali, um, I don't mean to sound paranoid, but that man that is coming for me is the same one from the auction house…” I chewed my lower lip hard and clenched my hands into fists.

He narrowed his eyes at me and said nothing as he stepped backwards to an armchair and flopped himself down.

“Why?” he asked eventually, watching me with shrewd eyes.

“Why… what?” I replied, confused.

“Why does this man want you so badly that he would defy me and go to my father with an offer of seven million dollars? Who is he to you?” The suspicious look he was giving me got my hackles up. For me, it was always a fine line between fear and anger, and more often than not I chose anger.

“I have no interest in telling you all the sordid details,” I hissed defensively. “But let me be perfectly clear when I say that he will not take me from here alive.”

He raised his eyebrows at my firm statement, tapping on his stubbled chin with his long fingers.

“You mean to tell me you'd kill yourself to avoid being in this man's possession?” His question was quiet but loaded with menace, and my breath caught.

“I mean,” I stated, steeling my spine and hardening my jaw, “that I would do whatever it took to try and kill him myself. If that meant I didn't make it out of this house alive, then so be it. But I will never, ever, be at his mercy again.”

He held my steady eye contact, as if assessing my level of commitment to that statement, then nodded carefully.

“It won't be an issue,” he said quietly. “I have someone coming to the party tonight that will help you return to your friends. Just hang in there a while longer, and for the love of God, please don't throw yourself out of any more windows.”

My jaw gaped open. “Sorry, what? I could have sworn you just said you're letting me go—”

“I am not letting you go, dragă; I am organizing your escape. It is very different for my reputation. Now, you will require a change of clothes for the party. Your escape will happen at midnight, so you'll have to play the part of demure arm-candy until them. Can you handle that?” A small smile twitched at his mouth.

“Why midnight? Why not sooner?” I demanded. Now that I knew there was a plan in place, I wanted it to happen now!

“Because it is the easiest time for you to slip out unnoticed with your escort. While everyone is doing the countdown and drinking and celebrating, the guards around my home will likely be paying less attention.” This time his lips pulled into a real smile. “You did know it was New Years Eve?”

No… no, I did not. But I supposed it made sense if his estimation of ten days since my kidnapping was correct. Instead of admitting that, I just nodded.

“I guess I should say thank you. But it still doesn't change the fact that you murdered a man.” I was determined to keep reminding myself of that fact so I would stop feeling any warm fuzzies towards this man who held me captive.

He just rolled his eyes, like I was being ridiculous, and stood. “Come on, dragă. Let's get you dressed for Românul’s party.”

13

Back upstairs in the room I had woken in, there was an array of stunning evening gowns laid out across the bed with a frantic Elena pacing back and forth in her deadly stiletto heels. She was chewing at her fingernails and undoubtedly destroying her perfect manicure, and when I stepped back into the room, she let out a startled scream.

“There you are! How the hell did you get out without anyone seeing you? You have no idea how worried I was! If anyone had seen you…” Her rambling was cut short by Vali pushing into the room behind me.

“Oh good, Elena is here with dresses. Kit, go and shower or whatever it is you girls do to get ready. Just be quick about it; I can’t be late for my own party.” He totally ignored the gorgeous brunette staring at him with her mouth hanging open while he stalked to the bed and began inspecting the clothing options.

She blinked her wide eyes at him a couple of times, as if at a loss for words, then opened her mouth with a determined scowl. For some reason, witnessing their lovers’ quarrel was not high on my to-do list, so I took the opportunity to shut myself into the adjoining bathroom.

Vali had said the party started in an hour, but my hair was already washed and clean and I didn’t particularly care if I made him late, so ran myself a bath in the massive spa tub. While the water filled, I piled my hair up high to keep it dry, then loaded the water with a healthy dose of floral-scented bubble bath from the assortment of products on the window ledge. The bath was an impressive, comfortable thing, sitting eye level with the window to offer a stunning view over the desert below, and once I had made myself comfortable in the warm water, it was so relaxing that my lids began drooping. Surely a quick nap wouldn’t hurt… just to soak some tension out…

WHEN I WOKE, I was still in the bath, but the bubbles smelled like jasmine and the window offered a very different view. Was I back at the guys’ house?

Blinking my sleepy eyes a couple of times, I rubbed them with a wet hand and looked around. I was definitely in Wesley’s bathroom. How the hell had that happened?

“Kit, is it safe to come in?” Wesley’s voice called through the cracked door, startling the hell out of me.

“Is it, um, yes?” I’m so confused.

“Oh good,” he replied, coming into the bathroom with his hands tucked inside the deep pockets of his oversized hoody. “I know it’s only a dream, but it still doesn’t seem right to barge in on you naked, you know?”

“A dream?” I repeated, frowning at him as he took up his spot beside the bath where he had sat several times before to chat while I soaked. “Is that what this is? A dream?”

“Of course it is, silly. You were kidnapped, remember? And we still haven’t found you…” he trailed off, his shoulders drooping so low that I wanted to leap out of the tub and hug him. But this dream felt really real, and modesty kept me seated beneath the bubbles.

“Hey,” I coaxed. “Don’t give me that look. I’m sure you’re doing everything you can. Besides, this is a dream, so shouldn’t we be pretending none of that bad shit exists?” Why was I trying to make dream-Wesley feel better? If this was a dream, which seemed like the most logical explanation, then he was a figment of my imagination. Maybe it was my own guilty conscience manifesting as him. Dreams were weird.

Just to test the theory that this was a dream, I shut my eyes and focused hard to make something impossible happen. When I opened them again, Wesley had disappeared from his spot on the bathroom floor and rematerialized at the opposite end of the tub from me, still fully clothed.

“Hey!” he yelled, splashing around a bit and looking bewildered. “What the hell, Kit?”

A grin spread across my face as I shrugged. “What? You said it was a dream, so I thought I’d test the bounds of the imagination. You should take some layers off, though; it can’t be comfortable to bathe in clothing.” I gave him a playful wink but was dying to see where my dream would go on this one. Real-life Wesley would never strip down and take a bath with me, but dream-Wesley might…

The naughty smirk he gave me was exactly true to my imagination as he took off his glasses, setting them on the window ledge, then whipped off his soaking hoody and T-shirt all in one go.

Holy shit, who would have guessed a body like that was hiding under all that loose clothing? I chuckled, I guess I did. Kudos to my subconscious for coming up with this one…

“What are you grinning at?” Wesley asked, a grin of his own pulling at his mouth as he sat back in the water, his insanely ripped abdomen dipping out of sight beneath the bubbles.

“Nothing.” Lies! Biting my lip, I admired the tattoo on his chest and tried not to drool. “I guess you weren't lying about that tattoo after all.”

“I would never lie to you, Kit,” he responded with a small frown. “I wish we knew where you were right now. You must be so scared and thinking we don't care enough to save you.”

“Don't be absurd, Wes.” I shushed him, sitting forward in the bath to catch his face in my wet hands. “Of course I don't think that. And you underestimate my ability to save myself. I will be home before you know it.”

Our faces were only inches apart, and for the first time I noticed the stunning sky blue color of his eyes and the lush lashes most girls would kill for.

“Um, Kit?” he murmured, those gorgeous eyes widening.

“Hmm?” I asked, distracted by the feel of his slightly rough cheek beneath my hand. I slid it further up his jaw to tangle in his shaggy blond hair.

“Um, I can see, I mean to say, your ah…” He was blushing and stuttering like the first time we had met, and it took me a moment to understand what he was saying. When I had leaned forward in the bath, I had lost my bubble covering, and my naked chest was very much exposed. I wasn't a small-breasted girl by any means, so he would have had to be blind not to cop an eyeful.

“What? It's just a dream, Wes. You can look… if you want?” Holy crap, do not tell me dream-Wesley isn't interested. Can you be embarrassed in a dream?

“I don't know, Kit. It feels wrong…” He bit his lower lip exactly the way I wanted to for him. “Is it wrong to have a dirty dream while you're in the hands of kidnappers?”

Oh my God, stop it conscience! Stop manifesting my own guilt into dream-Wesley!

“Is it? It's not a situation I find myself in often,” I told him honestly. “But if it is just a dream, then what's the harm? More to the point, who's to know? Fuck knows you'd probably never let me do this in person.”

“Let you do what?” he asked, his breathing a bit heavier and his pupils dilating as he darted quick glances down at my chest, then back at my face.

“This…” I sighed. Then, before I could let my imagination ruin it with the most realistic scenario—Wesley rejecting me—I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Pausing, I reveled a moment in the new and exciting feeling of his lips against mine.

Shit, it felt so real. Dreams like this should happen every night!

Cautiously, his lips moved beneath mine, kissing me back ever so softly. For once I held back, letting him take the lead, curious to see where my dream would take this. I’d never realized I had put so much thought into Wesley's kissing technique before, but I must have because dream-Wesley took my silent cue and ran with it. His lips parted, tongue slipping out and hesitantly swiping along the seam of my lips. I happily responded, opening and allowing him entry.

The moment our tongues touched, it was like a switch was flicked in him. His hands came up from the water to caress my sides, sweeping closer to my chest with every thrust and move of his mouth against mine until finally he clasped my breasts in his hands. I let out a sigh of satisfaction against his mouth, pressing harder into his palms in encouragement.

“Shit,” he mumbled, pulling back from my mouth to look at me with sexy, sleepy eyes. “This is… insane. I'm not going to be able to look you in the eye next time I see you.”

“Hush, it's a dream. Let's just go with it.” I pulled at his lower lip with my teeth, and he groaned, grabbing me by the waist and pulling me to straddle him. Water sloshed everywhere at the abrupt movement, and I grinned, having gotten a satisfactory response from him.

My grin dropped quickly as my naked crotch met with his rigid shaft straining against wet denim. “Fuck.” Crushing myself hard against him, I swore and grabbed his hair once again to press my mouth back to his as waves of pleasure began rolling up from between my legs.

“Oh my God, Wes…” I panted, rubbing hard against his denim while his hands reclaimed my breasts, his fingers finding my nipples and rolling them deliciously.

“Who is Wes?” a velvet voice interrupted, and I froze.

“I am a little offended; here I was thinking you might be fantasizing about me,” the voice continued, and I snapped my eyes back open.

Gone were my sexy blond Brainiac and the jasmine-scented bubbles. I was back in the bath at Vali's house in the desert, and the owner in question was standing over me with a seriously heated look on his face.

My brain slowly woke up as I blinked a couple of times, pulling myself back out of the intensely real dream before I clicked on what he had just said. Or more to the point, what he had just seen. My bubbles had all but evaporated, leaving no doubt in my mind that he could clearly see two fingers of my right hand sunk deep inside my own pussy while the other gripped my breast tight.

“Well,” I said in an offended voice, deciding to roll with it. “That was awfully rude of you to interrupt before I was done.”

“Oh, please,” he replied with a smirk. “Do continue.” He sat down on the edge of the bath near my feet and made no attempt to disguise the lust on his face as he stared at the fingers still inside of me.

It'd serve him right if I did finish myself off in front of him.

For far too long, I very seriously considered it. It seemed wrong though, when the pent up orgasm banging at my door was for Wesley, not Vali.

Sighing, I shook my head and withdrew my hand, reaching out of the tub to grab a towel. The damn thing was out of reach.

“Here, allow me,” the blasted sexy Romanian offered, picking up the towel and holding it out for me to step in to.

Fuck it, not like he hasn't already seen all of me. I hardened my spine and stood straight up, stepping out of the water and into the waiting towel with his laserlike gaze raking over every inch of me.

“Did you need something?” I asked politely with only a tiny edge of snark to my tone.

“So many things…” he purred, giving me a look hot enough to start a forest fire somewhere. Then he winked at me and turned to leave the bathroom.

“Party has already started. You're late. I left your dress on the bed and will be back to collect you in five minutes.” With that, he was gone again.

A heavy breath of air that I hadn't even noticed I was holding puffed out of me, and I collapsed onto the edge of the tub.

What the fuck was that?

14

The dress that Vali had picked out, or Elena had, was a gorgeous, midnight blue satin thing with straps that left my entire back exposed and a sweeping train dropping from the full skirt. It was an incredible fit for me, which made me suspect it wasn't one of Elena's hand me downs, as she was a fair bit shorter than I was.

Unfortunately, despite hunting just about everywhere, I couldn't find any underwear left out for me, so once again I was going commando. In normal situations, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but after the dream I had just had, and the state I had been left in, I really prayed this fabric wouldn't show any damp spots.

With impeccable timing, just as I slipped my feet into the matching midnight blue Jimmy Choos, also in my exact size, Vali reentered the room without any warning. Rude.

“Don't you ever knock?” My eyes narrowed at him in a scowl. My frustration, like so many other emotions, liked to manifest as peevishness.

“To enter my own bedroom? No. I don't.” He arched his eyebrow at me, and I glanced around me once again. That explains all the men's clothes.

“Fair enough,” I muttered, stalking out of the door, which he held open in a gentlemanly gesture. “So, what are we supposed to be doing until this escape happens?”

“Quiet,” he shushed me sharply. “There are far too many unfriendly ears in my home tonight. Here, you'll need this.” He held out a scrap of lace to me, and I took it gingerly.

“What…” Is it the missing underwear? “Oh, a mask. This is a masquerade party?” He just rolled his eyes at me, as if to say: no shit, Sherlock, I just handed you a mask.

Taking the hint to shut up, I tied the mask onto my face. As we approached the staircase, Vali pulled another cloth mask from his suit pocket and tied it onto his own face.

Damn that man was sexy.

“Just try your best to be the perfect party companion, yes?” he muttered, steering me down the staircase with a firm hand on my exposed lower back. Heat seemed to be radiating up from where our skin was touching, and I had to stop myself from leaning closer. God only knew what had gotten into me lately, but lusting after a murderer didn't seem like the sanest move I had ever made.

I cleared my throat and took a few quicker steps to dislodge his hand from my back. “And what do you expect your perfect party companion to do, exactly? What time is it anyway? It's still light outside.”

As we descended the staircase to the ground floor, I took a look around at the party below. It looked like no expense had been spared, which was in line with the rest of Vali's opulent house. When I had made my escape attempt out of the window earlier, all I had seen was his bedroom and the library he’d dragged me back into. On the opposite side of the house from his room, the side away from the cliff, it was a literal sprawling mansion like you'd see on MTV's Cribs.

The party was situated through a marble-floored lounge area and out onto a patio surrounding an outdoor heated pool, and the late afternoon sun was casting a beautiful, golden glow over everything.

“It’s about… four thirty or so. Sun is about to set.” The warmth in his voice had me glancing up, and I found him gazing at the horizon. “I love this time of day. It looks like the whole world is on fire.”

Once again, the strange feeling of familiarity struck me, stronger now that he wore a mask and his eyes were being isolated.

“Come on,” he said, breaking the train of thought I was chasing. “We need to drink, dance, be social. Please try to speak as little as possible, and you'll be home to Wes before you know it.” He twitched a tiny grin at me, and I blushed red, suddenly thankful for the mask I was wearing.

Cannot believe he walked in on that. Despite my embarrassment, the reminder made my thighs clench and my nipples harden against the thin fabric of my dress.

A sharply dressed waiter holding a tray of full champagne flutes floated over to us, and Vali reached across me to grab two. It was no coincidence, I was sure, that his jacketed arm brushed across my chest where the fabric was noticeably raised. Bastard.

AFTER HOURS of smiling politely and biting my lip to keep quiet—around the time midnight was approaching—my feet felt like they were about to fall off and I was just a little bit tipsy. More than once I had used the drink in my hand as a tactic to keep from running my mouth at some of the disgusting, sexist, and downright rude things that some of these men had said to me. It hadn’t taken long to figure out that these partygoers were not the most upstanding citizens of society.

Luckily my body seemed to be metabolizing the alcohol at lightening pace, so even after seven straight hours of champagne top-offs, I still had my wits about me.

“Are you ready?” Vali murmured into my ear as the DJ called over the mic for everyone to grab a fresh drink. His lips brushed against my lobe, his warm breath fanning across my neck, and I knew my skin was breaking out in gooseflesh.

“Of course. Let’s get the hell out of this place. Such a dump.” I turned my nose up jokingly at his lovely mansion, and he snickered. He had been a surprisingly pleasant date all evening.

“Let's move then.” He winked at me with one of his gorgeously familiar eyes and grabbed my hand, leading me through the crowded dance floor of drunk people dripping in jewels.

All of a sudden he stopped, and I stumbled. My momentum in the stiletto heels pushed me forward, and he caught me against his broad chest.

“What—” I gasped, but he cut my confused question off, grabbing the back of my head with one massive hand and crushing his mouth to mine. I froze. My eyes wide and staring straight into his, which were equally wide. His other hand gave me a sharp, subtle pinch on the waist, and I got the message. Someone was watching us that required a show of the submissive little slave he had just purchased.

My eyelids dropped closed because kissing someone with my eyes open was just downright creepy, and I felt his hand smooth over the spot he had just pinched, then continue around to my back and down to grab my ass like some sort of caveman staking his claim. My natural instinct was to slap him, but I forced myself to relax as I wound my arms around his neck. I couldn’t resist giving him a subtle warning by sinking my fingernails a bit deep into the soft flesh behind his ear.

He laughed against my mouth, the bastard, then used his lips to pry mine apart, deepening our kiss to something definitely no longer fit for public. Despite my best efforts to remain detached, my body was responding. Dampness slicked my thighs, and a girly moan escaped my throat as he dominated me.

Time seemed to slip away as we embraced, but we both broke apart suddenly when the midnight countdown began. Everyone around us yelled out the numbers with the DJ, and Vali quickly glanced over my shoulder, then grabbed my hand once more and took off out of the room at a pace just short of running.

“Sorry,” he muttered once we were clear of the partygoers. “My esteemed father was watching us. I didn't want to raise his suspicions. He already thinks I am a failure as a crime lord; the last thing I need is him finding out I helped you escape when there is seven million dollars resting on your head.”

“Fair enough,” I panted, breathless and not sure if it was from practically running in high heels or from his kiss, because holy wow.

“Here,” he announced after tugging me down who knew how many different corridors and a short narrow staircase. “Your helper will be here any second to get you out. I have to go back to the party so that no one suspects I had anything to do with this. I don't need that extra kind of scrutiny on me at the moment.”

“Understood. Thank you… for um, you know. Saving me.” My gratitude was awkward because while he had definitely saved me from Mr. Gray's clutches, twice now, he was also a murdering criminal who, from what I had learned tonight, was involved in everything from drugs to prostitution to money laundering.

“I doubt this is the last time I'll be seeing you, dragă.” He looked across the underground car park behind me and tipped his head to someone. “Your friend is here. Good luck.” He dropped a very gentlemanly kiss on my hand, then took off back the way we had come.

“Kit, let's move! We're late!” A familiar voice echoed across the concrete garage to me, and I grinned.

“Jonathan?” I hurried over to where he stood with one other man who was clearly an Omega Agent. “How the hell? What?”

“I will explain on the way home, the best I can. Right now, we need to get going while everyone is moderately distracted. Dragomir only allowed me to bring one agent with me, so we are still severely outgunned.” The stern look on his face let me know that he was a lot more concerned than he was letting on.

“Got it.” I nodded. “Let's move.”

He led the way down the garage, past millions of dollars worth of luxury cars, and towards the official-looking black SUV at the end, which I assumed was our escape vehicle.

My heels clicked on the concrete, echoing ominously, and I very suddenly got an uneasy feeling in my gut.

“Jonathan,” I murmured, stopping in my tracks as my hands broke out in a sweat. “Something's wrong. Something bad is about to happen.”

My foster father turned to look at me with a deep frown creasing his brows while the agent accompanying him snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Seriously? We don't have time to pander to your daughter's feminine nervousness, sir,” the man said, turning away from us again and continuing towards the car.

He didn't even make it three steps before his body jolted and dropped to the ground like a sack of garbage. Red blood splattered the ground around him, and a thick puddle of it began pooling from under his body.

My gaze darted frantically around for the best place to get cover, but we were totally exposed in the middle of the garage. What was worse, we were surrounded. Lethal looking men stepped out from their hiding places behind cars, guns pointed directly at Jonathan and me as they approached carefully.

Shit. I knew this had been too easy.

A slow clap echoed across the silent room, accompanied by the sound of men's dress shoes clicking over the hard ground.

“Guess you were right, hey Foxy Girl? Something bad is definitely about to happen,” Mr. Gray leered, a demented grin spread across his face as he stepped into the light.

No one spoke. The only movement in the room was the pooling blood beneath the dead Omega Agent.

“I knew you'd try and pull a stunt like this,” the disgusting old man continued. “You've proven time and time again over the years how slippery you can be, and after you escaped me at the Onyx Auction, I decided to come prepared. And early.” He smirked at me, the victory written all over his face.

Quickly, Kit. What are your options here?

Jonathan would be packing; he was the head of a spy company, for goodness sake. The issue was that no less than seventeen heavily armed mercenaries surrounded us. If we were getting out of this mess, I was going to need to make the first move, and fast.

Sizing up each of the armed men, I considered my best target while Mr. Gray kept on with his glory speech.

“Yes, I see you have noticed how well prepared I came this time. You won't be escaping me again, Foxy Girl. Oh no. You're mine now until I am finished with you, and then you'll be dead.” He cackled like an escaped mental patient, and I blocked out his vile words. This wasn't the time or place to surrender to my fears. I was stronger than that now.

Target selected, I gave Jonathan a small head tilt, just enough warning to let him know I was up to something, before moving. I needed to trust that he could hold his own, as worrying for his safety would only get both of us killed.

I dove left, pushing my full speed into my leap and swinging my fist into the man's face. His nose burst in an explosion of blood and cartilage while I relieved him of his weapon. When my body hit the ground, completing my leap, the gun in my hands was already firing.

My first instinct had been to shoot Mr. Gray, but Austin's dickhead voice rattled through my brain, reminding me to take out the biggest threats first. In this case, it was the armed mercenaries. I could take down Mr. Gray once they had been dealt with, and I could take my sweet ass time with it too. That thought spurred me on, and I popped off round after round of bullets from my procured weapon.

Ducking behind an ostentatious, bright yellow Lamborghini, I darted a quick look around to check where Jonathan had ended up. To my relief, he also had a weapon in his hand and was crouched diagonally opposite me behind a lime green Ferrari. I raised my eyebrows at him in a silent question, and he nodded back sharply. He was okay.

A round of automatic gun fire hitting the car I was hiding behind had me pulling my head back in and ducking low as the glass from the shattered windows rained down on me. The assault on the car continued, and I quickly rolled underneath it, then slithered my way over to the next car. Compared to the heavyset men, I was probably the only one small enough to fit under the low sports cars, so they wouldn't even think to check them.

“Don't be fucking stupid, girl!” Mr. Gray bellowed from his hiding place. “You are way outnumbered; you'll never leave this garage alive!”

“Good,” I snapped, popping up from my new location and dispatching two more of his goons with clean shots to their heads. I had barely seen the second fall when a weight like a freight truck hit me from the side, throwing me behind another car and landing on top of me with a pained groan.

“What the fuck?” I hissed, not wanting to draw attention to my location but also trying to push the dead weight off me. I was too vulnerable trapped like that. Too defenseless.

“Get off!” Heaving with all my strength, I pushed the solidly built, six-foot-four man off me.

“Do you fucking mind?” he hissed back at me. “I just took a goddamn bullet for you, and this is the thanks I get?”

I paused, squinting my eyes at him. The spot we had ended up in between two huge black Hummers was in shadows, but there was no mistaking the pair of granite gray eyes scowling back at me.

“Vali?” My voice came out in a startled squeak. “What the hell? I thought you went back to the party. What do you mean you took a bullet for me?” I was trying to keep my voice down, but the tension was making it difficult.

“Call me crazy, but I knew you were in trouble again,” he muttered. “And I meant exactly what I just said. There was a man about to shoot you when you weren't looking.” His face held a tight, pinched expression and was quickly draining of color.

Kneeling, I glanced around to make sure we were sufficiently blocked from view. Trying to be as gentle as I could under the circumstances, I yanked his suit jacket off, also pulling my silly lace mask off to give me better visibility.

“Shit.” I breathed, seeing the huge amount of red staining my hands. Carefully, I rolled him over so I could see his back and the entry wound, and sucked in a shocked gasp.

How was he still conscious?

“Vali…” I started, then lost the words. It looked like the bullet had caught him just below his shoulder blade and most likely pierced his lung. Right on cue, his breathing gave a wet, rattling noise and the blood on his back bubbled.

A sharp burst of gunfire started up again on the other side of the garage, and I was reassured to hear Jonathan still putting up a fight. The soft scuff of a shoe on polished concrete alerted me to someone sneaking up, just in enough time to whirl around and face them, gun at the ready.

“Oh dear, what has happened here?” Mr. Gray tsked with heavy sarcasm. He was pointing a small, silver handgun at me while I held my semi-automatic trained on him.

“You stupid old fuck,” I sneered at him. “You should have known I would rather go down in a storm of blood and bullets than ever be at your mercy again.”

His grin slipped just a little as he peered at my face, for the first time getting a close look at my eyes and hopefully reading the hatred and determination there. I wanted him dead, and I no longer carried the same respect for life that had kept him alive this long. After all I had seen in the past few months, all I had done and all I had learned, my prior reluctance to end a life was in the trash. I hoped he saw all of that in my expression.

He cleared his throat as though nervous, and the barrel of his gun quivered the tiniest bit. “Well, it seems we are at an impasse. My men have your companion busy, and I have a gun pointed at you.”

“As I do you,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but you have a choice to make. You can shoot me and I can shoot you, blah blah all of that. Or you can let me leave and stand a chance of helping your friend there.” As if on cue, a wet rattling groan came from Vali's half-dead body on the ground behind me.

Shit.

I wanted Mr. Gray dead. I wanted it more than I had ever wanted anything. But I couldn't just let Vali die. He had helped me, and despite my casual disregard for life in circumstances such as this, when guns were pointed at my head, I couldn't in good conscience let Vali die just to further my own vendetta.

“Leave,” I growled at Mr. Gray through clenched teeth. “But watch your back, old man. I'm coming for you.”

“As I am for you, Foxy.” He winked, then took off towards his waiting car, keeping his pistol trained on me until he was safely inside.

The screeching tires of his car peeling out of the garage filled my ears as I dropped my gun and collapsed to my knees beside Vali's motionless form.

“Shit,” Jonathan swore, jogging over to us and seeing the mess that was the Romanian's back.

“Jonathan, get help,” I begged, fluttering my hands over the wound, unsure what to do. Jonathan carefully grabbed my hand, placing it over a folded wad of Vali's ruined suit jacket and pressing it over the gaping wound.

“Press down,” he murmured. “It will slow the blood flow, but Kit…”

“Stop it; I don't want to hear it,” I snapped. “Just get help. He can't die because of me.” I heard Jonathan heave a sigh and stand up, but I wasn't paying him any more attention as my vision clouded over with tears.

“Please don't die,” I whispered, hunching over til my lips were against Vali's ear. “I don't know why I feel like this around you, but I just know you can't die. Please, please, please, just hang on. We are getting help.”

Tears ran rivers down my face, dripping onto his skin, but he didn't move a muscle.

15

Within minutes, the wad of fabric I was holding pressed to Vali's wound had soaked right through and was slipping under my hand's pressure. With a scream of frustration, I threw it aside and tore the sodden shirt fabric away from the bullet hole. Hopefully the pressure from my hand alone would be enough to keep him alive until help arrived. It had to be better than the soaked fabric slipping and bumping the injury every few seconds.

“Don't die, don't die, don't die,” I chanted in a panicked whisper to keep myself from completely dissolving. My breath was already coming in short, sharp gasps, and the tears were flowing so fast I could barely see. The only reassurance I had that he was still alive was the wet, gasping sound of his breathing and the slight suction against my hand where air kept trying to pull through the wound.

Fuck! What use was this supposed magic if I couldn't save someone's life?

Despite Dupree's claims that I should be able to heal others just the same way I heal myself, I had yet to work out how. Or even if I could. In the time since her revelation, I had stubbornly refused to allow the boys to deliberately hurt themselves in order for me to practice. It was madness. What if she was lying? Or just plain wrong? I hadn’t been willing to risk that.

Come on you stupid, good for nothing magic. If you actually do work on other people, now would be the perfect fucking time!

I stared hard at the seeping blood beneath my hand, straining, pushing with every mental facet I possessed, trying to make the healing work. Nothing happened.

Why wasn't Jonathan back with help yet?

Collapsing beside Vali's huge body, I made sure to keep the pressure on his wound while I lay my face on the floor beside his.

“I'm so sorry,” I whispered. “Everyone around me keeps ending up hurt. I'm like Midas, but instead of turning things to gold, everything I touch turns to shit.” His lashes fluttered slightly, giving me a small spike of hope.

“Hey, I saw that. Can you hear me?” His deathly pale face didn't show any sign of consciousness, but I was positive his lashes had moved before. “Don't you ignore me you… you… dickhead.” I was upset; it was the best I could come up with. “If you die on me right now, Dragomir, I am going to find some spell, or something, and bring you back just to kill you myself!”

This time when his eyelids fluttered, I knew I wasn't imagining it.

“Hey,” I coaxed, trying to get a reaction from him. “I see you. I still can't work out why you seem so familiar, by the way. Have we met before?” I was rambling, but it was better than crying. It was all I could think of to do until help arrived. My hand was still on his back holding pressure against the wound, but optimistically, it almost felt like the bleeding had slowed. Which was a good thing, right? Or did that mean he was dying? Shit!

“Vali! Hey!” I said a little more sharply, worrying that the eyelid twitches had been him slipping further away from me. “Hey, wake up. Talk to me. You still have to tell me why the hell you keep saving my life, remember?” His eyelashes fluttered again, but this time stayed open a bit longer. His mesmerizing gray eyes peered at me from behind his heavy lids. His mouth twitched, like he was trying to say something, and I shushed him.

“Don't try and talk, you idiot. I just wanted you awake so I knew you weren't giving up. Talking with a hole in your back just seems like a dumb idea.” My nervous rambling was reaching all new levels as my tight voice stepped up an octave.

Vali glared at me, I think, then moved his mouth again. This time a tiny whisper came out, and I reflexively leaned closer to hear what he was trying to say.

“…am I hot?” was what I heard, but that can't have been right. I leaned back to look at him, frowning.

“Did you just ask if I think you're hot? Seriously? I really don't think now is the time.” I rolled my eyes at his vanity, and he gave a tiny headshake.

“Why am I so hot?” This time when he spoke, the words were a little clearer but still made no sense.

“This seems like a really weird question to be asking when you've been shot, Vali. I don't know why you're so hot. Maybe it's the bad boy thing you have going on? Or the whole two percent body fat situation that I am sure you have spent too much time in the gym to achieve. You've got pretty great hair, I guess. I don't usually go for the longer hair on guys, but you pull it off well. I think it's your eyes I like the most though.” Oh god, panic was making me word vomit even worse than when he had drugged me on the plane.

A tiny smile played across his lips, marred only by the blood that was pulling through his damaged lung with each breath. Proof that if he didn't get help soon, he would either bleed out or effectively drown in his own blood.

“I'm not that vain,” he whispered. “I mean, why is it so hot in here? I feel like I'm on fire.”

“Oh.” My face flamed in embarrassment. Stupid, Kit. I took a moment to consider the temperature and frowned. It was freezing in the garage, especially where we lay on the floor. How hadn't I noticed how cold it was sooner?

Sitting up a little, I ran my free hand over his face and found him sweating.

“Shit, you really are burning up!” I exclaimed, running my hand down to his neck and yanking his tie loose to undo his shirt.

“Told you,” he murmured. “I don't hurt as much any more. That's probably not a good thing, huh?”

No, it probably wasn't. “Keep your face on the ground; it's freezing cold so might help bring your temperature down. I can't believe you're still alive right now, by the way; you have lost just so much blood.”

“Anyone ever tell you how great your bedside manner is, dragă?” he snorted but really did sound better than he had moments before. The wet, rattling gasp to his breathing was gone.

“Sorry,” I muttered, chewing my lip. “I suck in these situations. Where the hell is Jonathan with that help? How hard is it to call a freaking ambulance? Where the hell are we anyway? I don't even know what fucking country we are in right now!”

“Kit, calm down. Can you have another look at my back? It's burning. Like, really burning.” Vali whispered the words, but there was a thread of tension in his voice that snapped me out of my rambling.

Careful to keep the pressure over the wound, I scrambled to my knees and gave his shirt a sharp tug from the collar to tear it so I could see better. Superhuman strength definitely came in handy for tasks like that. Not that being able to see his skin helped much, considering it was slick with blood.

“Vali, I don't know what I'm looking for. Where exactly is it burning? Maybe there is an injury I haven't seen? Or is it this one, and it's like a side effect of the pain or, I don't know, something?” Paramedic, I was not. I ran my fingers across his stained skin, searching for anything I might have missed in the dim lighting.

“I don't know,” he said from behind clenched teeth. “It's your hand, I think. It's like you're holding a cattle brand against my back.”

Hesitantly, I lifted the hand that I had been keeping pressure with but kept it ready to press down again if the blood started gushing.

“Is that better?” I asked and got his long, low groan for a response.

Take that as a yes?

When no fountains of blood began squirting out like in a Tarantino movie, I withdrew my bloody hand a bit further and peered at the wound. Then blinked. Leaned closer and tried to swipe some of the blood aside to get a better look. Holy shit…

“What are you doing?” Vali groaned when my fingers touched his skin again.

“Um, so I don't know if it's the shock, but I am pretty sure…” I started to say I am pretty sure I'm healing you because the place where you literally just got shot now looks like a way less serious injury. But he knew nothing of my abilities, and I was sure to sound like a lunatic.

“Pretty sure, what? What's going on?” he demanded, and I debated what to say. I did know, regardless of what I was going to tell him, that the burning pain he was feeling must have been the healing magic, and it needed to finish what it had started.

“Um, I'm pretty sure I need to keep my hand on it. Sorry…” I muttered and placed my hand back on the considerably less serious injury, lighter this time. Excitement and terror battled for domination within me as I tried not to think about what this new development might mean.

Vali let out a small cry of pain, and I bit my lip hard. How the hell am I going to explain this? Just, oh by the way, I have magical-fucking-powers, and I just saved your life?

Now that I knew what was going on, I too could feel the heat where my hand was touching his flesh, although nowhere near the burning level he must be feeling.

“How is it now?” I asked when I felt the warmth fade.

“Better. Good. Actually, really good. I feel… incredible…” His voice was stronger, back to its usual velvety richness, and he rolled his shoulders. I lifted my hand away from his back, and from what I could see through the blood, the wound was completely healed. Not even a mark remained; the only evidence that I hadn't imagined it was the blood, which was everywhere. Almost his entire back was slick red, obscuring the tattoos I could see outlines of. Both my hands were coated right up to the elbows, and I could feel my dress sticking to me where I must have been lying in a pool of it.

“Kit,” he said cautiously, rolling over to sit and face me. “What did you do?”

“Huh?” I replied, at a loss for how to explain. “I didn't do anything. I guess maybe you weren't hurt as badly as we thought?”

“Dragă, don't bullshit me. I was dying, and we both knew it. I will ask you again, what did you do?” The way he was looking at me, his eyes wide in his now healthy-looking face, spoke volumes to how freaked out he must have been.

“Kit!” Jonathan called out, saving me further questioning. “We need to go. Dragomir's men are right behind me. If they see all of this…” He trailed off as he came around the car we were crouched behind and saw Vali sitting up, unhurt.

“He's right,” Vali muttered but looked like the words pained him to say. “If you're leaving, now is the time. My men won't take kindly to this… mess…”

Not needing to be told twice, I scrambled to my feet, still wearing the gorgeous Jimmy Choos. Jonathan grabbed one of my blood-covered hands and took off at a run with me clicking behind him.

As I ran, I risked a quick glance backwards. Vali was on his feet, and the stare he gave me felt like it was searing his mark against my soul. I had no doubt this wasn’t the last I would be seeing of Dragomir Valeriu du Romane.

16

Neither Jonathan nor I spoke a word during the entire drive from out of Vali's underground garage all the way to a private airstrip in the desert. In the darkness, I could see the distant lights of a city glowing like a halo over the horizon, and when we pulled to a stop, the sign outside the small air field office told me we were in Nevada. Just outside Las Vegas if all those lights were any indication.

“Kiddo, you want to get cleaned up?” Jonathan asked quietly once we had boarded the Omega Group jet. I gave him a blank look, then looked down at the dried and flaking brown-red all over my skin.

“Go on,” he urged. “The pilot can wait until you're done.”

It sounded like a good idea; I badly needed to clean up. Silently nodding to him, I wove my way down the aisle towards the bathroom, stopping briefly to grab a dress from the narrow closet where both Jonathan and I kept a couple changes of clothes. We both used the company jet often enough that it had become useful to have spares on board.

Once in the small bathroom, I scrubbed my skin until it was raw and couldn't help noticing the similarities of having done this exact same thing only a day earlier. Had it only been a day? It was crazy how much shit could happen in such a short amount of time.

Clean, I rejoined my guardian and buckled my safety belt while he gave a nod to the captain that we were ready to leave.

“Do you want to explain what happened back there?” he finally asked when I said nothing.

I shrugged, still trying to process what had just happened. “Uh, I guess I healed him. Dupree wasn't lying after all.”

Jonathan raised his eyebrows at me with an odd look in his eyes.

“No,” he said quietly. “I guess she wasn't. What impact do you think that will have on him?”

“What do you mean? I saved his life. He's alive and probably thinks he is losing his mind because it's freaking impossible to heal someone from what should have been a fatal bullet wound.” I frowned at Jonathan's intense gaze. What has gotten into him lately?

“Yes, but if Dupree wasn't lying about you being able to heal other people, she may not have been lying about you healing the supernaturals. Do you think Dragomir might have had any supernatural DNA in him? And if so, what impact do you think there might be?” He leaned forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands.

“I…” My jaw flapped. I hadn't even considered that.

“Not to worry. I will place some agents to keep an eye on him. Just in case.” Jonathan clapped his hands on his thighs and sat back. “Get some sleep, kiddo. You look exhausted.”

His suggestion made sense—I was exhausted—but he had just dropped a bomb on me. Had I just turned Vali into some sort of creature, like me? Fuck, he's going to kill me.

Collapsing back in my seat, I stared out the window while the thoughts rolled over and over in my brain. Best case scenario, he was just one hundred percent human and nothing further would happen. That wasn't too much to hope for was it?

WE BARELY SPOKE for the rest of the flight, not that I really had Jonathan's attention in the first place. He spent almost the entire time on his laptop doing God knows what.

“How did this whole plan come about?” I asked him at one stage when my mind was driving me batshit with questions over whether I had just totally ruined a man's life or not.

“Hmm?” he replied, not even glancing up from his computer.

“The escape plan. How did the whole thing come together? Did you already know Vali? Was him buying me at the auction all part of the plan? Did you realize it was Mr. Gray that was coming after me?” I had so many questions.

He just blinked at me for a moment, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I can't say much; it was part of our agreement. Suffice to say Dragomir was alerted to your disappearance by a mutual acquaintance, and he was in the unique position of being allowed access to more unsavory locations such as the Onyx Auction. Once he had found you and brought you back to Nevada, he made contact and arranged for me to come and collect you.”

“That doesn't tell me anything. Who is the acquaintance? How did he get in contact with you? You're not exactly the easiest person to just look up in the phonebook, you know.” I narrowed my eyes at him. This whole explanation stank. Why was he lying to me? Or maybe not lying, but certainly omitting.

He just shrugged and put his glasses back on, returning to his laptop. Apparently, that was all the explanation I was going to get from him.

“Jonathan,” I snapped. “Seriously? That's it?”

“That's it, kiddo,” he sighed. “Just let it go. You're safe and unharmed, right?” I nodded slowly, but how did he know I hadn't been harmed? He sounded so sure.

“Right, then. Just sit back and take it easy. We are heading back home to New York, and I am sure Lucy will be dying for a call from you when we land.” He gave me a brittle smile that didn't reach his eyes then dismissed me by turning back to his computer again.

ON ARRIVAL back at our townhouse in Manhattan, he pulled an even stranger move by not even getting out of the car.

“Aren't you coming in?” I frowned, holding the door open after getting out myself.

“No, sorry love, I am needed back at the office. Have to sort out the paperwork for Zebra's death.” He must mean the agent that had died back at Vali's house. My faux-father gave all of his top-tier agents animal related codenames, and some of them were just atrocious. I supposed there were only so many cool-sounding animals out there.

“Okay, sure…” I hesitated. “I guess I will see you later then?”

“Uh-huh, yep, but maybe not until tomorrow. You know how long these things can take.” He gave me another fake smile, and I frowned as I closed the car door and watched the car disappear down the street.

What the hell was going on with him?

17

Stepping inside the townhouse that I technically lived in with Jonathan, I couldn’t help the uneasy feeling that he was acting really strange. But maybe he just had a lot on his mind?

Shaking it off, I grabbed the cordless phone from the kitchen bench. He was right that Lucy would want to know I was okay. Given I didn't know any of the boys’ phone numbers by heart and had no idea where my mobile had ended up, calling Lucy at her rehab facility seemed like a good idea. Jonathan had mentioned on the flight that he would contact the guys anyway.

Needing to Google the number, I wandered through to Jonathan's office and clicked his mouse a couple of times to bring the screen to life, then typed in his password.

Incorrect.

Typed it again. Slower this time.

Incorrect.

It was his home computer, which he stored absolutely nothing Omega Group related on, so he hadn't changed the password the entire time I had lived there.

“So weird,” I muttered and dialed directory services instead to get the rehab facility’s number. Much to my disappointment, Lucy wasn't there. The receptionist had helpfully connected me through to her room, but it just rang out. Maybe she was in a session or something.

At a loss for what to do next, I headed upstairs to my bedroom. It had been way too long since I had last slept and my eyelids felt like sandpaper, yet the second I climbed into my huge princess bed, I was wide awake again.

For a while I stared at the ceiling, trying desperately to switch off, but my mind kept churning over the recent events. Had I really turned Vali into something supernatural? How would he know? But more to the point, I could heal other people now. That had to come in handy sooner or later. Especially around the guys.

In an attempt to switch my brain off, I grabbed a book from my nightstand where I had left it at Thanksgiving. It had been a gift from Caleb and was the story of a girl who fell in love with all five members of a rock band. I’d run out of time to start it when I was last home, but now it was sounding like a pretty intriguing subject matter, given the state of my own love life.

Was it really possible to love that many people at once? Or more to the point, for them to be okay with it? If sleep was failing me, I may as well read a little and see how this fictional girl dealt with it. Maybe I could get some pointers…

THE SOUND of someone repeatedly ringing the doorbell woke me. Sleep had claimed me halfway into the second book of the series, but damn they were getting good—and seriously hot. Waking up, I was still a bit flustered from the last scene I had read.

As the doorbell continued chiming, I groaned and dragged my butt out of bed to see who it was.

“Vixen!” I heard a familiar, gravelly roar followed by the sound of Cole banging on the door with his massive fist. A flutter of excitement and nerves ran through me as I descended the last staircase into the foyer to let Cole in before he got impatient and broke the door down.

I unbolted the door, and it slammed open, almost knocking me off my feet, but he was right there to catch me, his thickly muscled arms wrapped around my body as he crushed me to his hard chest. We stayed like that for a while, his face pressed into my hair and my hands clutching and twisting his T-shirt, before he pulled back and peered into my eyes.

“Fuck, I missed you,” he murmured, his smoky voice rolling over me in waves that made my belly flip. His granite eyes were burning with an intensity that shocked me. He was usually so guarded, so closed off. I hadn’t expected to see such raw emotion from him, but it was addictive. I wanted him to look at me like that forever.

“I missed you too, big guy,” I whispered back, a hot tear spilling down my cheek. His gaze tracked its path, but before it could run too far, he leaned in and placed a kiss on it, his soft lips lingering at the corner of my mouth a moment. My breath caught in my throat, and I turned my face into his gentle caress, my movement instantly rewarded as his lips met mine. To my surprise, he made no attempt to deepen the kiss, instead keeping it sweet, then breaking away. He studied my face with a cryptic expression while rubbing his thumb across my lower lip, seeming to be lost in thought.

“Is anyone else home?” he finally asked, and I grinned wickedly, shaking my head.

“We're all alone,” I told him with a wink and slid my cold hands under the fabric of his shirt. As I grasped his bare sides, I felt his skin pebble at the iciness of my fingers. He gave me a wicked smile of his own and jerked his head towards the stairs.

“In that case, I'm sleeping in your room tonight. I'm not letting you out of my sight for another second,” he told me with a raw possessiveness that made my thighs clench tightly.

“Mm-hmm,” I hummed in agreement, grasping his massive hand in mine and leading the way up the stairs. “You're absolutely welcome in my bed, but sleep is the last thing I want to do with you tonight.” I threw what I hoped was a sexy look over my shoulder at him. I could only blame that steamy novel, but the second I had heard him pounding down my door, I’d begun burning with a need for intimacy to the point where I could barely keep my focus on the steps beneath my feet.

18

My bedroom was what little girls dreamt of, with soft purple walls and plush unicorns all over the massive king-sized bed that I had just crawled out of, and I heard Cole stifle a snort of laughter at seeing it all. Jonathan had hired a top New York interior designer to decorate it for me when I first moved in with him at age thirteen, and I simply didn't have the heart to tell him how awful it all was. He had looked so proud of his efforts to be a Dad, so I’d just gone with it.

“Um, it's… very you, Vixen,” Cole commented with a strangled laugh, and I whacked him playfully on the belly with the back of my hand. It probably hurt me more than it hurt him though, given how hard his midsection is. He caught my wrist and tugged me back closer to him, his face once again serious.

“Are you…” he began, his brow furrowed and his mouth twisting as he seemed to be searching for the right words. “Did anyone… I mean…” He puffed out a sharp breath, breaking eye contact with me as he looked down to my narrow wrist ensnared in his grip. “Did they hurt you?” he finally ground out, his eyes darting back up to mine for a split second and then away again as though he was scared to see the answer in mine. I grabbed his chin, tilting his face back up so he could hopefully see the sincerity on my face as I answered him.

“No one touched me. I promise. And I only got drugged twice, or technically, three times, but for one of those I was awake the whole time.”

He didn't appear particularly reassured and huffed at me, frowning, “If you were unconscious the other two times, how do you know for sure nothing happened?”

“I just do.” I shrugged. “But even if I didn't, there would be no use driving myself nuts with what ifs, right?”

He still looked concerned, so I changed the subject by rising up on my tiptoes and planting my lips solidly against his. When at first he didn't reciprocate, I took matters into my own hands and used his broad shoulders to hoist myself up, wrapping my legs around his thick waist and pressing my kiss harder, as though to convince him that I was fine. I was here, unharmed, and most of all, alive.

The tension noticeably slipped from his body as he curved his hands under my thighs to hold my weight. His broad hands cupped my butt as his lips parted and invited me in. I couldn't help the low, satisfied chuckle from escaping my throat as his long strides carried us over to my bed in only three steps and gently lowered me to the rumpled covers.

“Damn, you're hard to say no to, Vixen.” He glowered at me, then dove back in to claim my mouth with his. This time he was totally in control, and I gladly gave in to his lead, letting him set the pace while my eager hands slid underneath his dark gray shirt once more. Still worked up from the steamy scenes in my book, I deftly flicked the buttons of his shirt undone, one by one, then pushed the fabric off his broad shoulders. He repaid the favor and broke our kiss to yank my flannel pajama top over my head.

“You're killing me.” He groaned, seeing I wasn't wearing anything under my pajamas, and gently palmed one of my breasts while supporting his weight on the other arm. I sighed with satisfaction, then used his occupied hands to my advantage, raking my fingernails firmly down his muscled back and feeling the muscles bunch and contract before reaching the waistband of his dark blue jeans. My mouth worked its way in little kisses up his neck until he dipped low and captured my taut nipple between his teeth. I sucked in a sharp breath at the warning nip he gave me, moaning aloud as he sucked and flicked with his tongue. Yes!

My hips bucked up to meet his, and I felt his enormous, rigid length straining against the zipper of his jeans. It can’t have been comfortable, so I helped him out by flicking the tight button of his fly open and tugging down the zipper. His arousal practically leapt into my hand through the soft cotton of his boxer briefs, and I grinned.

“Vixen…” he warned, his low voice making my stomach flip and my already aching nipples tighten even further.

“Yes, Cole?” I responded in my very best innocent voice. “Is something wrong?” My questing fingers had now relieved him of his pesky underwear and had a firm grip on his stiff manhood.

“Yes. Something is very wrong here,” he replied, then groaned as my hand began to move slowly and firmly.

“And what is that?” I smiled, enjoying the sight of him on the edge of distraction. For a man so dark and brooding, it was an incredibly addictive sight.

His stony eyes snapped open and captured mine, sending a shiver through me. “You are wearing far too many clothes. That's what's wrong.”

He straightened up slightly, giving me a jaw dropping view of his impressive equipment standing proudly at attention, before lifting my ankles to his shoulders and sliding my pajama bottoms off me along with my panties, leaving me totally bare below him. The cool night air on my exposed flesh made me tremble.

Pausing a moment, he took a long look at my naked body, then swore under his breath. I watched with anticipation as he lifted one of my ankles from his shoulder and began kissing his way from my inner ankle and up my leg ever so slowly until he reached my throbbing, wet center. He continued kissing me there, with slow, deliberate strokes of his tongue until I was a panting mess.

One of my hands grasped at his head, frustrated that his hair was cropped too short for me to grab, while the other hand teased at my own breast. He glanced up and saw me fondling my nipple, and it seemed to spur him on as he slid two thick fingers deep inside me, stretching me as he licked and nibbled at my clit.

“Shit.” I hissed out. Too soon. I’m not done with him yet…

I grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him back up my body until I could seal my lips to his once more. I could taste myself on his mouth as his tongue caressed mine and his fingers continued their exploration of my core, which made me buck urgently into his palm.

“Please…” I begged, my voice a breathy moan in his ear, and he chuckled darkly.

“Please what, Vixen?” he prompted, infuriatingly. Damn man knew exactly what I was asking for.

“Please, Cole. Fuck me. I'm dying here,” I panted, then cried out in a seriously undignified manner when his fingers curled and rubbed the sweet spot inside me.

“I think I like it when you beg.” He grinned with the most self-satisfied look on his face I had ever seen from him. Thankfully, he didn't make me beg any more as he withdrew his hand and replaced it with his rigid cock, pushing just the tip in and pausing politely for my walls to expand before surging the rest of the way to the hilt in one swift motion. I screamed in pleasure at the sharp sting of pain and instant feeling of fullness before wriggling my pelvis, encouraging him to move. I needed more, and I needed it now.

Totally in tune with what I wanted, he moved slowly at first, pulling almost completely out before sinking all the way back in, then gradually increased the pace until I was whimpering and clawing bloody lines through the colorfully inked skin of his back.

He leaned back a bit, pulling away from my body and lifted one of my legs back up to rest on his shoulder before plunging back in at a much, much deeper angle and drawing another loud exclamation from me when it felt almost like he had bottomed out. He thrust hard, my whole body moving with each stroke, and I slipped a hand down between us to rub small circles on my clit that made my muscles clench tight around him, making him curse.

“Fuck me, that's hot.” He gasped, maintaining his pace but with his eyes glued to my fingers as I tweaked and teased myself into a screaming orgasm. As I rode the waves of pleasure, Cole leaned in close, flattening my leg up straight and tightening the space even more. His lips grabbed mine with fierce possession, and our mouths fought one another for dominance. He found his own release while my muscles spasmed around his cock, squeezing him hard.

His hips slowed gently then came to rest as we broke our kiss and he rested his sweaty forehead against my throat. We were both panting hard and for a moment just stayed as we were, entangled in one another.

“That… was not what I meant when I said I was sleeping in here,” he muttered into my skin, but I could feel the smile pulling at his stubbled cheek where it rested against the slope of my breast.

“Mmm hmm, sure it wasn't,” I teased, then pushed his shoulder to roll him off me. I needed to clean up. There were very few things in this world worse than sleeping in the wet spot.

AFTER A QUICK CLEANUP in my bathroom, I sauntered back into my bedroom totally nude. No sense in being shy now. Cole lay across my ridiculous princess bed, looking deliciously out of place with his all of his tattoos and muscles and nakedness splayed out amongst my lavender sheets and unicorn plushies. I heard an animalistic purr as his sharp eyes followed my movements, and when I came within reach, he whipped out a hand to yank me off balance, and I landed flat against his body.

“Again so soon?” I teased, raising my brows at him, and he shushed me, kissing me soundly on the mouth.

“You've lost weight,” he remarked with a frown, his huge hands roving over my naked flesh to illustrate his point.

“I was kept drugged and unconscious on a fluid drip for close to ten days,” I told him frankly. “Or at least that's what I'm told. It does make sense I would have lost weight.”

The big man rumbled an angry sound deep in his chest, and I caressed a hand down his jaw to soothe him, bringing his lips back to mine for a quick peck.

“I'm fine, Cole. It's nothing a few double-cheese cheeseburgers can't fix,” I reassured him, and my stomach rumbled at the thought of cheesy goodness.

“Double-cheese cheeseburgers?” he repeated with a hint of a smile. “Is that double the cheese on the cheeseburger?”

“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes at him, then snuggled into his burning hot chest, my face cheek to cheek with the green and black dragon snarling across his skin. “Let's get those tomorrow, though. I'm exhausted.” My words were punctuated with a huge yawn, and Cole's body shook with silent laughter.

“Mmm, sounds like a plan,” he mumbled, tightening his arms around me and tucking his chin over my head. “I'm glad you're home, Vixen.” The last part was whispered so quietly I almost didn't hear the thick emotion in his voice, but I did, and it made my heart flutter.

“I am too, big guy,” I whispered back.

19

I woke with a start, my heart pounding and my breath gasping loudly in the silence of my bedroom. A rough hand circled my waist, and the heady scent of pine trees washed over me and calmed me instantly.

“Shhhhh,” a smooth voice whispered in my ear. “It's just me, Kitten. I couldn't wait until the morning to see that you were okay.”

“River.” I sighed, relaxing back into him where he lay on his side behind me. Cole was to my other side, still fast asleep with his face turned towards me on the pillow and his dark eyelashes fanning across his cheeks.

“Are the others here too?” I whispered back, tilting my head slightly so I could see him without having to move from his embrace.

“Not yet,” he murmured back. “We were all split up, chasing down leads on where you might have ended up. This wanker was the first to find out you were back and didn't tell the rest of us so he could get some alone time with you.” He sounded annoyed but at the same time a little impressed at his friend’s sneakiness.

“So how did you know?” I asked, smiling to myself at Cole's act of possessiveness.

“Director Pierre called me as soon as you landed.” Of course that made sense that River, being the team leader, would be the one Jonathan called. But then how did Cole find out first? I made a mental note to ask him in the morning.

“So are you?” he prompted. “Okay, I mean.” For once, the supremely dominant team leader sounded unsure, and it made me feel sick that I had caused them so much worry.

“I am,” I whispered firmly. “We can debrief tomorrow, but for now please believe me when I say nothing truly bad happened to me.”

My open curtains allowed enough light into the room that I could see his unique golden eyes clearly. He stared intently at me with a frown creasing his forehead.

I quirked a cheeky smile at him and stole a quick kiss from his lips while he seemed lost in thought. He recovered faster than I expected and cupped my cheek in his hand, holding my face still. Gently, he pressed his mouth back to mine, his velvet lips stroking softly and slowly as though he were telling me a secret.

My body flushed with an urgent heat once more as I melted under his lips and parted my own, begging him to take it further. True to form though, River was in total control and kept teasing me with his lazy, languid kisses while holding my face immobile in his huge palm. It was driving me wild.

From the position I was in, with him spooning me and just my face tilted back, there wasn’t much I could do to try and break his control. I wiggled a little, intending to roll over, but was stopped by his hand shifting down to my hip to hold me still.

“River…” I sighed with a bit of a whine.

“Shhhhh, love,” he whispered, his warm breath sending goosebumps down my neck and causing my heart to race. “Don’t wriggle around; you’ll wake Sleeping Beauty.”

I bit back a snicker at his words and glanced over at the Sleeping Beauty in question. Cole was still in the same position, fast asleep on his side facing us, and looking like something straight out of a dirty dream, all naked and muscled, wrapped with tattoos and just barely covered by one of my purple bedsheets.

“Aw, he looks so peaceful,” I whispered with a little giggle and felt River’s hand smooth down over my naked hip and back up again while his lips nibbled the back of my neck.

“Mmm, it looks like someone has worn him out. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Kitten?”

“Who me?” My breath caught as his roving hand got ever so slightly closer to where I wanted it.

“Yes, love. You. Perhaps it has something to do with why you are completely”—his hand dipped closer still—“and utterly”—his finger dragged a long, slow line down my center—“naked right now?”

Holy fucking yes. I gasped a bit too loudly as his teasing fingers followed through on their promise, and had to clamp my mouth shut when Cole stirred a little in his sleep.

“Quietly, Kitten. What did I say about not waking Aurora over there?” I could hear the edge of laughter in his voice as he murmured in my ear with that sexy-as-fuck accent of his, but he gave me no reprieve from his restless fingers, which made me bite my lip and arch backward into him.

“Fuck, Alpha…” I breathed out as quietly as I possibly could and exacted a little revenge on him by arching my back even further and cozying my rear end up to his hard cock. My free hand reached for his hip, dragging him closer, and was pleasantly surprised to find him already stripped down to just a small pair of boxer briefs.

“Underwear?” I teased, “I thought you were a commando man?”

“We all need to make exceptions in the winter, love. But I can remedy that now for you…” he purred into my neck, withdrawing his hand long enough to divest himself of the offensive garment, then he was right back, this time with his hot length pressed tight against my rear.

“Jesus, fuck…” I hissed as he returned his hand to between my legs, playing me like a violin, and I felt his lips curve to a grin against my neck.

“Kitten, can you be quiet or do I need to leave…?” he teased, his fingers withdrawing once more and this time running slowly down my leg until he reached my knee. He then lifted it to slip his own leg underneath, leaving me wide open and exposed.

“I can be quiet.” I nodded, a little desperately, and my words must have been quiet enough because he shifted his hips, pressing his thick erection inside me from his big spoon position. I clamped my lips tight and shut my eyes to keep from crying out as he started moving slowly, so slowly, and the waves of pleasure rolled over me. From the position we were in, I was completely helpless to change the pace so could do nothing but surrender to his control as he increased and decreased speed seemingly randomly, always keeping me teetering right on the edge of orgasm. The only sounds in the room were the muffled moans and pants coming from both of us as we rocked together.

Right as I was about to break my promise to keep quiet and scream at him to quit messing with me, a cool hand slid down my belly to tease at my clit while two warm ones circled my rib cage to cup my breasts. My delirious brain took a second to do the math on that, then my eyes snapped open and found a heavy-lidded pair of granite gray ones gazing back at me from inches away.

Cole grinned a wicked grin at me as his fingers stroked and tweaked my sensitive flesh while River finally increased his pace until I really did break my silence, screaming my release at the same time as River gasped out his own, his fingers tightening on my nipples and crashing me into a wild aftershock.

“Sorry,” I finally gasped once I had regained enough of my breath to speak. “Did we wake you?” I gave Cole a naughty grin and heard River snort a laugh into my hair where his face had landed. Cole smirked at me, then leaned in for a hot kiss.

“I’m a highly trained secret agent, Vixen. No one sneaks up on me. Least of all this lead-footed dickhead.” He quirked an eyebrow, exactly the same as Vali had been able to do. “I’ve been awake since he came in the room.”

“No pun intended?” River snickered, still with his face buried in my hair. I groaned at the terrible joke while Cole snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Well, there’s a side I hadn’t seen from the two of you…” I murmured dryly.

“What’s that, Kitten?” River asked, lifting his head to look at me. “Our ménage proclivities?”

“No, dirty jokes. That was an appalling one, by the way, and something I would have expected from Caleb,” I teased. Both men gave me indignant looks, and I laughed freely, feeling more relaxed than I had in far too long.

“All right, back to sleep,” I announced with a long yawn. “I don’t think I have slept more than a couple of hours in days. Wake me up when the others get here, please!” I snuggled around a little until I was comfortable between them and closed my eyes.

“Where are the others anyway?” I heard Cole murmur to River as he cuddled into my body.

“Gave them a false lead. They’ll work it out soon, though; I couldn’t be too cruel.” River chuckled as he pressed a light kiss on my shoulder. “They’re still going to be pissed when they arrive, though.”

20

Waking up sandwiched between two hard, chiseled gods of men was like being inside every red-blooded woman’s fantasy, and I actually had to pinch myself subtly to check I wasn’t still in Vali’s mansion and dreaming another crazy-realistic dream. Holding my breath, I paused for a second and, when the delicious vision didn’t disappear, danced a little happy dance in my head.

Maybe this was my karmic reward for all the bad shit happening lately.

My face flushed remembering how brazen I had been with both men last night, and a self-satisfied grin spread across my face.

“And what are you smiling about at this time of morning?” a sleepy British voice mumbled from the pillow beside me, and I squeaked in fright at being caught in my dirty thoughts.

River grasped me by the hip and rolled me onto my side to face him, so I took a moment to appreciate the unbelievably gorgeous specimen in front of me.

“Wouldn’t you like to know… sir…” I teased in my best sultry voice, regaining a bit of my sass and earning a heated look from his golden eyes.

“I know I would,” Cole growled into my ear, snuggling up to my back and creating a naked Kit sandwich. I gasped as his morning wood twitched against my lower back, and I rolled my head back to kiss him on the cheek.

“Good morning, Aurora,” I sang sweetly, and River made a halfhearted attempt at smothering a laugh with a cough. Cole reached over and smacked him in the arm, sending him into a genuine fit of laughter. Wide-eyed, I watched the two of them for a minute, marveling at the carefree easiness that I couldn’t recall having ever seen from either of them before.

“What?’ River finally asked when his laughter subsided, and I shook my head slightly in wonder as Cole’s rough hands began wandering over my skin.

“You two, laughing”—I grinned wolfishly—“has to be one of the hottest things I have seen in a long time.”

“I don’t know about that, love. I have definitely seen something pretty hot recently…” he purred back at me, all traces of laughter gone but a smirk firmly in place as he watched Cole’s hands roaming my body.

Just my luck, right as things were possibly, probably, looking up for me— and I meant that with absolutely no pun intended because there was no question of those things looking up— the goddamn, fucking doorbell started chiming. We all froze as though it would make whoever it was go away, but then just as the doorbell stopped, someone’s phone started.

“Caleb.” River grimaced, and Cole dropped a heavy sigh into the back of my hair. “We’d better get down there before he just breaks in.”

“Noooooo,” I whined, burying my face into the crook of River’s neck and grabbing onto one of Cole’s hands while he chuckled at my theatrics. Not that I didn’t want to see the other boys; I really did. But with Cole and River, I knew where I stood. With Caleb… things were uncertain. The last time I had seen Austin was when we were making out at the paintball park, and Wesley… well, I couldn’t quite shake that dirty dream. It was all just very overwhelming.

“I’ll go and stall him while you two get dressed. You can both owe me one later,” Cole suggested with a dirty undertone, then detached my fingers from his so he could get dressed. I stayed where I was with my face pressed into the bend of River’s neck, but I couldn’t stop myself from tilting my head to steal an indulgent look while the shredded ex-fighter pulled on his clothes. He dressed slowly enough that I knew he knew I was watching, which he confirmed with a smug wink as he left the room. Bastard.

“Come on, Kitten. You’d better shower quickly before Caleb decides to come and find you himself. Poor guy has been going out of his mind with worry for you.” River paused, his eyes sad. “We all were.” He then softened his heart-wrenching words by slapping me playfully on the ass to make me move.

“Mmm, shower sounds good right now. Care to join me?” I offered, climbing out of bed and strutting saucily, or at least that’s what I was aiming for, over toward my en suite.

“Not unless you want Caleb to come in here and find you all wet and soaped up while you ride my cock on the bathroom floor.” His words were meant as a warning, but I paused for a moment, debating if that would really be such a bad thing. Maybe Caleb would be into it…

“Go, Kitten. Before I change my mind.”

I shook off my pornographic musing, then blew him a cheeky kiss before shutting myself into the bathroom alone for a long, somewhat cool shower.

THE RAISED VOICES alerted me to the fact that it was, as I’d suspected, all of the boys who had arrived. As I hurried down the stairs, I caught a snippet of their heated argument.

“—should have taken her to a hospital to get checked out!”

I paused mid-step in surprise. I couldn’t remember ever having heard Wesley raise his voice like that before.

There was a rumbled response from Cole, too low for me to hear, and I sneaked down a few more steps to try and hear a bit more before they saw me coming.

“Of course that’s what she said!” Wesley yelled. “When have you ever heard Kit admit she needs help? They could have done anything to her while they had her drugged, and you two were just okay with that? Just take her word for it that she’s fine?”

“What would you have had us do?” River barked with a little more aggression than usual. “You would have dragged her to get checked out against her will? In case you haven’t noticed, she is much stronger than us these days. We couldn’t make her do anything against her will short of sedating her, and I for one, have no intention of doing that. Do you?”

There was a tense silence for a second before Wesley replied, calmer, “No. No of course not. I would never… I just meant…” His earlier anger seemed to have run its course—he was back to quiet and fumbling—and it made me want to hug him so badly.

“We get it.” Caleb spoke in a calm voice, probably meant to smooth things over. “You’re just worried about her, Wes. We all are. But River and Cole would never have taken advantage of her. You know that.”

Hold up, Wesley accused them of taking advantage? My temper flared at the insinuation that I was some weak woman who couldn’t make her own decisions.

“I know. I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to imply… I’m just a bit…” Wesley mumbled the last, and I couldn’t quite hear it.

“Jealous?” Caleb suggested, the cheeky shit. “I get it, bro. I am too… big time. I can’t believe you two assholes didn’t call until you knew you had a head start. That was not cool.”

“I didn’t call at all,” Cole corrected, sounding amused, and I heard the thud and chuckle of someone hitting him.

“I’m not jealous,” Wesley muttered defensively.

“Yeah, you are. We’ve all seen the way you look at her,” Caleb kept teasing poor Wesley, and I decided it was probably a good time for me to break the tension before things got awkward.

I knew Wesley probably didn’t like me like that, so I didn’t want him feeling uncomfortable around me just because of Caleb’s teasing. Despite my own feelings on the matter. Not to mention my imagination…

Making sure to tread a little heavier, I continued down the last of the stairs, yawning loudly as I turned the corner into the sitting room where they were all gathered. Five sets of eyes turned on me the second I entered the room, and all of a sudden I was feeling very self-conscious. After the amount of shit I had put these guys through lately, what if they were really mad at me?

No one moved or spoke for a second, and I scratched the back of my neck uncomfortably, wishing I had put more thought into my outfit choice. After my cold shower, I had pulled on a pair of comfy black sweatpants with Ugg boots then a tight, white tank top over my favorite turquoise bra. Over it all I had just tossed a zip up hoody and not zipped it up, so I was acutely aware of my girls on show for all five men staring at me. Likely my hair was still a sleep-tousled mess and my lips were still red and swollen from all the action they had seen in the night, too.

“Good morning,” I sang, awkward as hell and avoiding eye contact with everyone.

Caleb was the first to respond, standing abruptly from his seat on the couch and stalking over to me with a fierce look on his face that made me back up just a tiny step. When he reached me, he paused. A flash of uncertainty crossed his face, then he grasped my face in his palms and slammed his lips against mine, knocking the air out of me. For a second I was frozen in shock, then simply melted under his lips. The entire room and everyone in it fell away. My arms reached up around his strong neck, and his fingers tangled in my hair. I pulled myself in closer to his body until I could practically feel his heart galloping in sync with mine. After the number of times we had flirted, even came close to kissing, I should have had some idea of what I was in for, but nothing had prepared me for the sizzling heat passing between us. Not that kissing him was any better or worse than either of the men I had just woken up with. It was just different, unique and unmistakably Caleb.

“If you two are done?” Austin’s sarcasm splashed across our passionate moment like a bucket of ice water, and I jumped backwards in shock, my hand flying up to my mouth.

“Um…” Words had completely vacated my brain as my eyes remained locked on Caleb’s and his smoldered back at me like an apex predator.

“The team was just discussing whether you might like to visit a hospital and get checked out,” River diplomatically filled the silence, allowing me to snap out of my Caleb induced daze. When I glanced over to him appreciatively, I saw a heated look in his own eyes that suggested it wasn’t only Cole he was happy to share with.

Oh dear God, save me from my dirty thoughts.

“Um, sorry, what?” I shook myself a little to regain some brain power, and River smirked at me.

“Hospital,” he repeated. “Wesley thought perhaps it would be best for you to get checked out.”

“What? No! Absolutely not!” I frowned at the terrible suggestion. “I heal from pretty much anything. There is absolutely no need to go to a hospital, and even if I did, it would just cause more harm than good.”

Wesley heaved a defeated sigh and pulled off his glasses to polish them on the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

“I guess I should have known you’d say that,” he mumbled. “How about some coffee instead? I turned your machine on when we arrived, so it should be ready.”

“Well, now you’re speaking my language! I thought I smelled something delicious.” I grinned at him and grabbed his hand on my way through to the kitchen.

“Kit, can you tell us more about what happened to you? Where you’ve been for the last two weeks?” River prompted while I filled my cup from the fresh pot of coffee, one-handed, and I glanced up to see all four of them had followed Wesley and I. My other hand still grasped Wesley’s. For some reason, I wasn’t ready to let go.

I grimaced, then took a long sip of my coffee. “Do I have to?”

“I think it’s the least you can do after we have just spent two weeks searching the globe for you, calling in every favor we could think of, and generally worrying sick thinking you were dead or worse,” Austin snapped, and I couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at my lips. I reluctantly peeled my fingers off Wesley’s hand to allow him his own cup of coffee.

“I didn’t know you cared so much, Austin. Guess you weren’t entirely faking that makeout session after all, huh?” I teased, and he made a choked noise.

“I meant they were. I was just helping so that they would quit their crying over you,” he snarled, but a faint blush stained his high cheekbones.

“Woah, hold up!” Caleb interrupted. “What makeout session?”

All eyes turned to Austin, who glared death at me, so I just laughed and waved my free hand casually.

“It was nothing. Just stupid games,” I assured them. “So do you want to do this debrief or not?”

Having thought Austin would be a little appreciative that I’d just deflected the guys’ questions, I was surprised when I looked over at him and he looked downright furious.

Confusing man. I shrugged off his glare and thought about where to start my story and which parts to leave out.

21

When I’d finished telling the abridged version of events from my end, my stomach was rumbling loudly, but I could see the guys burning with questions. River had told them all to keep quiet until I was done, but the range of frowns I was getting said there were plenty of questions to come.

“So it worked then? You actually healed someone else?” Wesley was the first to get his question in, as I would have expected considering how scientifically curious he was about my abilities.

“Yup,” I said, not really having anything more to elaborate on it.

“How?” he pressed, understandably wanting more information, but I just had none to give.

I shrugged. “I have no idea. One minute, he was dying—I mean, properly dying, blood everywhere—and then the next he came back awake and started complaining that his back was burning where I had my hand. And then it just… healed.” I chewed my lip uncomfortably. Even though I had been able to heal myself for years, the idea of applying it to someone else, that it was magic and not just a genetic quirk, seriously weirded me out.

River cleared his throat, drawing my attention in time to catch his strange look at Cole. “And this… Vali, he was okay when you last saw him?” The look he gave me was crazy intense, and Cole refused to look at me at all.

“Yeah.” I narrowed my eyes at the two of them acting so strangely. “He was fine. On his feet and said he felt incredible. Why are you two looking so shifty right now?” Cole's teeth ground together in an audible creak, and I could see his fists clenching and unclenching.

“So, tell us more about the auction,” Caleb interjected, saving them from answering me. I let it go, for now.

“Uh, what else is there to tell? Mr. Gray must have set it up with Sergei or something,” I replied, leaving my spot on the counter and hunting through the pantry for food.

Why is there no damn food in this house?

“No, it sounds more like he just capitalized on the opportunity when he found out you had been entered,” Caleb said. “Otherwise, why bother with the whole auction house farce? Why not just have you delivered directly to him?”

“I agree,” River added, having recovered from his weird moment with Cole. “From the information we retrieved while interrogating Sergei, he just took you to piss off Cole and I after we had been heating things up for him with his boss.”

“Well that's something, I guess,” I muttered, grabbing an unopened packet of crackers from a shelf and hopping back up onto the counter. I don't know why I liked sitting on kitchen counters so much, I just did. In this room though, it gave me a bit more of a height advantage so I wasn't constantly looking up at everyone. Even Wes was at least four inches taller than me.

“So what's next? We still have another four weeks before we can chase down this lead in Alaska, right?” I looked around at them all in the hope one of them might have a plan ready. I needed to feel like I was doing something. Especially now that Dupree's information about my healing powers had turned out to be correct. I couldn't just sit around for four weeks and marinate in the fear that I had turned Vali into some sort of non-human. Maybe I should call him?

“I think first up we should go and get you some real food,” Caleb said with a grin. “Is that seriously the best you could find in that massive pantry?”

Stomach rumbling, I frowned down at the dry cracker in my hand. “Yeah… Neither Jonathan nor I have been here in weeks, so there aren't any groceries.”

“Where is he anyway?” Cole spoke for the first time since I’d begun telling my story, and his voice was low and quiet.

“I have no idea. He was acting really weird and then said he needed to get back to the office to deal with Zebra's death.” I raised my eyebrows at them all. “Which reminds me, how come I don't know any of your codenames?”

All of them seemed to glance at River with amused looks, but no one answered my question. I would have to try again later.

“Come on, let’s go find you some food,” River deflected, lifting me down from the counter. “We can discuss our next move while we eat.”

“Actually, I have something I need to discuss with Christina,” Austin said with a cough, looking uncomfortable. “Can we meet you guys somewhere in like”—he checked his chunky black watch—“an hour or so?”

“An hour?” Cole remarked. “That's some talk.” He glowered at Austin, daring him to explain himself further, but the younger man just locked his jaw and glared back at him stubbornly.

“All right, come on everyone.” River started towards the door. “Let's go and find somewhere to eat, and these two can meet us there later.”

Caleb protested a bit, clearly upset that his twin had been keeping secrets from him, but eventually River herded them all out the door.

“Austin, I will text you once everyone has decided where to eat. You know what they're like, though, so it could take the full hour.” River gave a barely perceptible eye roll and followed the other three out of my house.

In the resulting silence, Austin and I stared at one another across the kitchen, neither one of us speaking. Of course, I was the first to crack. I’d never been very good at uncomfortable silence.

“Okay so… what did you want to talk about?” I prompted, topping up my coffee cup once again from the almost empty pot. Still, he said nothing, just watched me sip my coffee with his intense emerald eyes, then shook his head a little and looked at the ceiling, sighing heavily.

“It's not so much of a talk as it is a show. Go get changed, we're heading out,” he ordered. Deciding it was easier to just go along with this weird encounter rather than press him for answers, I hopped off the counter and went upstairs to change.

22

Outside my home, Austin directed me towards an illegally parked Dodge Challenger and slid gracefully into the driver’s seat.

“Nice car,” I murmured as I buckled my safety belt and looked around. Like I would have expected from a secret agent's car, it was pristine. Not a single personal effect to be seen or linked back to the owner, in case he needed to dump it anywhere in a job gone wrong. It was the same reason my own car was so pristine.

“Hey, what happened to my car back in Cascade Falls? And all my stuff? Is it still at the house there?” I knew the house was being rented under Omega for the duration of the guys’ investigation but had no idea what the situation was now.

“It's fine; Director Pierre said he would take care of it all. We ended our job there after taking Sergei in. It kind of blew our covers.” He sort of snarled the words, and I got my back up.

“Sorry my kidnapping was such a fucking inconvenience for you,” I muttered and turned to look out the window as we drove.

“That's not…” He gave an irritated sigh, but I kept my gaze on the passing scenery. “That's not what I meant, and you know it. I just meant that we don't have the house in Cascade Falls anymore, so I imagine your shit will all be sent here.” Austin backing down from an argument was not at all what I was used to from him.

“So where are you taking me, anyway? I am pretty hungry. Couldn’t this have waited until after we ate?” I sounded like a whining child, but I was really hungry. All I had eaten since the drugged plane food had been a few canapés during the New Year’s Eve party, and right on cue, my stomach let out a loud rumble.

“I'm sure you will live,” he commented in a dry tone, “Can't you just heal your need for food or something?”

“Not really how it works.” I rolled my eyes at him, but he gave me a serious look before turning back to the road.

“How does it work? Seriously. How does this healing magic actually work?” For once he actually sounded interested in hearing what I would say, and it threw me a bit.

“Um, I don't know,” I said and realized how stupid that sounded.

How could I not know?

“You must know,” he pushed. “You knew how it worked for yourself, before. It's why you and River hooked up that first time, isn't it? To heal your hand?”

“Well, yeah. But that was just from trial and error, and healing someone else seems totally different somehow.” I frowned. “Also, I don't seem to need the whole emotional trigger thing for my own healing anymore.”

He glanced sharply at me. “Really?”

“Yeah, it just… does it. I barely even have to think about it.” I picked at the fabric of the leather seat. I always fidgeted when I was uncomfortable, and Austin made me seriously uncomfortable.

“Okay, so what was going on when you healed Românul?” He questioned, not obviously trying to start an argument with me, but I wasn't naive enough to think this truce would last long.

“Um, I thought he was dying?” I suggested, and he shook his head.

“Okay, I am just going to spell it out, seeing as I'm not sure if you're being deliberately dense or if you really haven't worked this one through in your head, princess.” His familiar condescending tone was back, and I sighed inwardly. I knew reasonable Austin wasn't going to last long.

“Before your own healing evolved, you needed triggers. Danger, excitement… sex… they were your triggers. So something must have triggered your ability to heal other people, too. You were clearly leaving out some details in your story earlier, so I ask again. What was going on when you healed that Romanian dick? What were you feeling?” His question made me pause.

Had it been that obvious I was leaving details out? I didn't think that my sex dream about Wesley or my attraction to my captor were relevant details. Nothing good could possibly have come from telling the guys that a crime lord had seen me masturbating in the tub. He had a point about the triggers, though; what had I been feeling when the healing had started working?

“Okay, I can see you're thinking really hard there and I don't want you to break your poor little brain, so I'll leave that question with you for now.” His sarcasm made me want to hit him sometimes. Actually, that sounded like a pretty good idea.

Curling my hand into a fist, I smacked a punch into his arm, causing him to yelp.

“What the hell, princess?” he yelled. “You could have caused an accident!”

“Whatever. You deserve so much worse. Why are you always such an asshole?” I demanded, and he flicked an uncertain look at me.

“I'm not,” he replied unconvincingly, and I snorted.

“Oh no? Since the day we met, you have gone out of your way to be a dick to me. You try to antagonize me at every opportunity, and don't even get me started on that stunt you pulled at paintball.” I glared at the side of his gorgeous face while he kept his eyes glued to the traffic in front of us, saying nothing.

“It's like that is it?” I narrowed my eyes, even though he wasn't looking at me. “I wonder what Caleb would say if I told him we made out when you were pretending to be him…”

“Oh look, we're here,” he announced with a tiny grin. Bastard.

We pulled into a carpark inside some tall wrought iron gates and parked in a visitor space. I looked around for some indication of where we were, but could see nothing.

“Okay, I give in. Where have you taken me?” I asked, getting out of the car and following Austin's tight ass up the ramp to the front door of the building.

“Just, cool it,” he told me. “You'll see soon enough.”

Inside the foyer, he stopped us at a reception desk and greeted the uniformed woman in a friendly voice, making me stare at him in confusion. He quickly signed a logbook then ushered me down a corridor to an elevator.

“Okay, but seriously, where are we?” I asked again once we were inside the elevator. “It looks like some sort of hospital?”

He just raised his eyebrows at me and a small smirk pulled at his lips.

Damn him. That smile made me look at his mouth, which made me think of what that mouth felt like on mine…

“We're here,” he announced again, snapping me out of my daze and leading the way off the elevator and down another corridor. He knocked a couple of times on a door, then let himself in without waiting for a response.

“Kit!” The high pitched screech hit me moments before the inhabitant did, her tiny body almost knocking me off my feet as she hug-tackled me in the doorway.

“Luce?” I grabbed her and pulled her away a little to get a good look at her. “What the hell? I thought you were at that fancy rehab in Connecticut that Jonathan set up with your parents? I called there yesterday looking for you, and no one said anything about you leaving!”

“Ah yeah, that's because they don't know I have left.” She grinned at me impishly. Of course she was up to no good. But how was Austin involved in this? I looked over to ask him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he just go?” I looked around the room, a bit confused.

“Oh, he's just being shy.” Lucy laughed and tugged me over to the matching armchairs near her picturesque window.

“Austin? Shy?” I squinted at her. “Are we talking about the same douchebag here?”

My best friend just laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, weirdly, he's not actually as bad as we thought he was.”

Concerned for my friend’s sanity, I looked her over carefully. Maybe she had brain damage. She actually looked pretty good, all things considered. Her left hand was still in a heavy cast, with several metal pins sticking out of the plaster, but other than that, she looked really healthy. Her hair had grown out a bit and was now bright purple, and she had none of her facial piercings in.

“You better start from the top, girl. Right now I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. Your hair looks great, by the way.” I winked at her, and she beamed.

“Thanks! Okay, so you know how I had to get all those extra surgeries and shit on my hand?” I nodded. “Okay well, so, the rehab was like a goddamn prison; as you know, they wouldn't let anyone visit or anything, and then there was this whole scandal where they thought someone had broken in but nothing was taken. Turned out to be a whole lot of nothing, but after you got kidnapped, Austin shows up, totally determined that I needed to be moved somewhere safe in case they came for me too. He was, like, legitimately fucking stressing about someone pulling another Dupree, so he found a lookalike Lucy to take my place there and moved me here.”

“Wait a minute. Hold up. Austin?” I clarified, and she nodded. “Austin King. As in, the asshole who has been declaring civil war on me since the moment we met? That Austin?”

“Yes, that Austin.” She giggled. “I think that was all a misunderstanding. Do you know anything about Peyton?”

“Only that I remind him of her; what do you know?” I demanded. The Peyton thing had been bugging me.

She shrugged. “Nothing. Anyway, here I am, and you can visit me all the time! Yay!”

“Sorry, I am still wrapping my head around this act of selflessness. Are you sure it wasn't Caleb pretending to be Austin? It's a surprisingly convincing act when they want it to be.” I glowered a little, and she just rolled her eyes at me.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I have totally finished my surgeries, and once I get these pins taken out of my arm, it's just another few weeks of physical therapy and I should be back to normal!”

“Luce, that's so great. I am happy for you, but I still feel awful that this all happened in the first place…” I chewed the edge of my lip. “So, I think I can heal other people now… if you wanted me to try and heal your arm?”

For a moment, she didn't respond, staring down at her damaged limb. “But that might make me something else, right?” I nodded, and she sighed, looking out the window while she thought it over.

“I think maybe I will just wait and see how the PT goes…” she said tentatively. “Not that there's anything wrong with being, you know, different… It's just…”

“I get it. I just wanted to let you know.” I awkwardly looked around her room. She had every right to decline. It was doubtful I would have made a different choice in her shoes without knowing what might end up happening to me as a side effect of the healing.

“Hey, who are these people?” I asked, getting up to look at a photo sticky-taped to her mirror.

“Oh, those are some of the PTs and patients here. We took that just a couple of days ago when it was Sally's birthday. She’s hot, huh? We had a moment.” She tapped the picture, pointing to a pretty, blond girl.

“Who is that?” I asked, pointing to a darkly handsome man standing behind Lucy. Something about him seemed familiar.

“Oh, that's Finn. He's my trainer. Isn't he gorgeous, too? I’m seriously spoiled for choice here!” She winked, but a shiver of ice ran down my spine.

“Finn? Are you sure? That's Finn?” I tapped on his picture a little more urgently, having realized why he looked so familiar. Although the last time I had seen him he had a scruffy beard and was looking really malnourished.

“Uh yeah, why? Do you know him?” She frowned at me like I was a nutjob.

“Luce, that's the guy from Blood Moon!” I exclaimed in a bit of a panic.

“What guy?” she asked, clearly not getting it.

“The, argh, the guy! You know, the one that punched his fucking fist through a guard’s chest!” I was freaking out now, looking around Lucy's room for a suitcase so I could pack her up and get the hell out of here.

“Okay, woah. Kit. Chill the fuck out, girl,” she said, pushing me back into a chair. “I'm not leaving, so you can stop looking around like you're going to drag me out of here.” Damn best friends and their ability to read your mind.

“Look, he has been my trainer since I got here almost two weeks ago and has never been anything but nice to me. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have already done it, don't you think?” She sounded rational. When had she become so rational? I was used to her being the one freaking out.

“Didn't you say that after he killed those guards, he was polite? Even thanked you?” she reminded me, and I nodded slowly. “Okay, so that kind of sounds like he's a victim of theirs just as much as we were.”

“I see your point…” I agreed slowly. “I don't like it, though. It's too much of a coincidence.”

“Of course it is. But I don't think he's the bad guy in all of this. Look, he's not on shift today, so let’s just calm the fuck down and speak with him next time he's here. Okay?” She gave me a serious look, as if to say I won't be budged on this, Kit.

“Fine,” I said grudgingly. “But you have to call me as soon as you know he's here, and I will come question him.”

“Come question whom?” Austin asked, reappearing in the doorway like magic.

“I'll tell you later,” I lied with no intention of telling Austin anything. Despite Lucy's claims that he wasn't such a bad guy, he had been nothing but nasty to me from day one, and I wasn't the type to forgive and forget easily.

“Whatever, visiting hours are over, and the guys are blowing up my phone. Can we go?” he asked me in a bored voice, but his gaze was shrewd, and I suspected he wasn't going to let it go that easily.

“Oh! Here! Before you leave.” Lucy jumped up and rifled through her bedside table, pulling out a small gift-wrapped box. “Happy birthday for the other day, girl.” She handed me the present with a beaming smile, and I grabbed her in a tight hug.

“You didn't have to do that,” I muttered, and she laughed.

“Whatever. Open it later. I'll call you when I see Finn next.” She smacked a kiss on my cheek then, surprisingly, on Austin's cheek as well before ushering us out.

“Who is Finn?” Austin asked as we walked back to his car.

“Lucy's PT,” I replied evasively, and he yanked me to a stop, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

“I know that. But who is he to you? Why do you need to question him?” The scowl on his face said he wasn't letting this go without clearer answers, but I was nothing if not antagonistic.

“None of your business,” I replied, like the shithead I was, and watched as he ground his teeth together hard.

“Princess,” he said from behind clenched teeth, “I am trying really hard not to be an asshole because you've had a rough time lately, but you don't make it easy.”

“Oh now you care?” I challenged, for some reason really wanting to provoke him into an argument. Maybe because it was the only time I saw a bit of fire in him? Or maybe because I had determined that he did care and just wouldn't admit it.

For a long moment he just stared, his burning green gaze on mine, then he sighed.

“I've never not cared, Christina.” He dropped the tight hold he had on my arm and unlocked his car, holding the passenger door open for me. “That's part of the problem.”

Selfishly, I wanted to push him further but could tell by the tightness in his shoulders and the blank, closed off look to his face that I would get nothing more from him. For now.

23

VALI

Glass shattered and spilled everywhere as my father hurled a whiskey decanter against the wall in a fit of anger. Fuck, he was acting like a child.

“I hope you intend to clean that up,” I remarked dryly, cocking an eyebrow at his petulant behavior.

He turned back to me, his face a boiling red mask of fury. “How could you? You stupid fucking child! Seven million dollars! Seven million! Not to mention the fact that you have pissed off a seriously influential man.”

He had been raging on like this for a while now, ever since he’d seen the bloody mess of bodies in my garage and found out Kit had escaped. Thank God. I hoped she was okay; she had looked really scared when she ran from my property with Pierre.

“Do not fucking ignore me!” my father hissed and raised his hand as though to hit me, which I caught in a tight grasp.

“Never raise your hand to me again, old man,” I snapped at him, roughly shoving him backwards by the wrist I had just grabbed. He stumbled at the force of it and looked at me with a little less confidence.

“I think you forget which son you are dealing with here. I will not tolerate your tantrum any longer. You tried pulling a fast one by selling my new acquisition from under me, and it backfired. Now she's in the wind, and there is nothing you will do about it, am I clear?” I curled my lip at him in disgust. There had been a time when my father was the most feared man in the criminal underground. The original Românul. But I knew the truth; that he had let the power drive him temporarily insane. After he’d murdered his own wife and halfway killed his other son, my brother, he had lost his mind, and I was left to pick up the pieces. At only fourteen, I had stepped into the power vacuum he had created when he’d abandoned his empire and bent it to my own will. Now I was in charge, and he had better not forget it.

“You better hope this doesn't come back to bite you on the ass, boy,” my father warned, regaining a bit of his composure.

“Well, if it does, it will be my problem to deal with. Now get the fuck out of my home; you know you aren't welcome here except for appearances.” His jacket hit him in the face when I threw it at him with disrespect.

“You're going to have to get over this pathetic grudge sooner or later, Dragomir,” he sneered, and I knew it was to deliberately antagonize me. Damn, it was working too.

“This pathetic grudge? You murdered my mother.” I ground my teeth together hard, rage boiling up in me like it did every time he picked at this wound. “Not to mention what you did to Andrei. I will never let it go, you vile old prick.”

“Oh, don't be so dramatic. That woman wasn't your real mother, and Andrei deserved what he got.” My father's scoffing tone made me see red. How dare he?

“Get. Out,” I hissed, low and dangerous, but the stupid old fool didn't take my warning.

“You know, you've been acting pretty strangely lately, Dragomir. Maybe it's time to pass the reins back to your old man, hey?” He smirked at me, totally oblivious to the tension coiling in me as I just barely held back from ripping his head off.

“I said, get out!” This time my message came out of me in a bellowing roar, startling even me and draining the color from my father's face.

“I'm leaving,” he said, backing toward the door. “Ungrateful, fucking child.”

Fists clenched, I turned to the window, not caring to watch him leave. My anger was still burning hot and seemed to be building more, despite the object of my fury having departed. The desert below me was calm and serene in the morning sunlight, but even that wasn't doing anything to help cool my emotions.

Throwing my glass against the wall to join the already smashed decanter, I stalked back up to my room and ripped off my clothing. Why am I so damn hot? My skin was burning like I was on fire and sweat was rolling down my face, but my mind kept escalating the fury I was feeling towards my father. It was all I could focus on.

Almost thirteen years had passed since it had happened, but the anger I was experiencing made it like it was yesterday. In my memory, the scene was still fresh. I had come home early from school after getting suspended for fighting with another kid. When I walked in, my mother’s screams were echoing through the house. Technically, my father was correct when he constantly reminded me she wasn't biologically my mother; she was Andrei's. But he was only two years younger than me, and given I had never met the woman who had birthed me, she was all I had. And she loved me.

My feet almost slipped from under me as I raced down the stairs to the basement, where I knew I would find them. Father had been “grooming” Andrei for years to be my second in command when we grew up. He was to be my enforcer, and supposedly, in order to give pain, he needed to understand pain. It made me sick, but Father assured me it was the only way.

That day, when I rounded the corner to the torture room in the basement, I wasn't prepared for what I saw. He had never gone this far before. Andrei, my poor little brother, was unconscious and covered head to toe in blood while my Father stood over him clutching a bloody hunting knife. Our mother was on her knees, tears streaming from her bruised face, and I knew she must have tried to intervene and been hit for it.

As I stood there, frozen in shock, my father raised his blade again and swung it down hard towards Andrei's chest. My horrified scream pulled his attention at the last second, making him hesitate. In that moment, my mother dove over her young son's lifeless body, and the momentum of Father's swing drove the long blade straight through her.

She was killed instantly, and in his rage, Father pushed her off and stabbed at Andrei again, pinning him to the floor as the tip of the blade stuck in a crack. I finally found my voice, screaming for the guards we always had around the house, and they dragged father away, leaving me alone with his mess.

Andrei hadn't died that day, but the knife had pierced his chest only an inch from his heart, going all the way through and out the other side. When he’d finally recovered enough from the injuries, he took off. We had barely spoken to one another since then, but our paths still crossed now and then.

Reliving that memory, in such detail, was driving my fury to all new heights, and I dimly noticed the shirt I was holding burst into flames. Why is it so hot in here?

I staggered across my bedroom to the window, throwing it open to get some cool air through my room. My vision was hazing, like I was looking at everything through a sheen of gas, and I could feel the sweat running rivers down my naked skin. Glancing behind me, I could see small fires burning on the carpet where I had just taken steps.

What the fuck is happening to me?

Pain rippled through my body, making me cry out. My muscles bunched and contracted as though I was being electrocuted or torn apart; the pain was indescribable. Staggering over to my mirror, I sucked in a shocked gasp when I saw my reflection. My skin was an angry red color and rippling with what seemed to be scales, appearing and disappearing in patches all over me. The tattoo of a red and gold dragon, clawing its way over my shoulder, seemed to be grinning at me ferociously, but that had to have been my imagination. The tattoo matched one that Andrei had gotten to cover the horrific scars inflicted by our father.

Abruptly, like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head, my anger subsided, leaving me with the horrible, sickening feeling of fear. Something was wrong. Someone was in trouble.

Dragă.

Once again somehow, I knew for certain she was in danger, and I needed to help her.

My body exploded in a searing burst of excruciating pain, and I doubled over, convinced I was dying. My last thought before I blacked out was that I needed to reach Kit.

24

KIT

The diner that the boys had chosen was not too far from Jonathan's townhouse, so I directed Austin to park in one of our reserved spaces and we walked to it from there.

As I slid into the booth that they were sitting in, Caleb nodded at my wrist.

“What's that?” he asked, observant little bastard that he was. He captured my wrist between his long fingers and tugged it closer to him for inspection.

“It was a present from Lucy.” I grinned happily. I loved my present from Lucy. It was a rose gold bracelet of a fox biting her own tail. Two deep red bloodstones were inset as the fox’s eyes, and I knew she had chosen them specifically because that was my birthstone.

“Why was Lucy giving you a present?” Caleb asked, his fingers stroking the soft skin beneath the bracelet and making my stomach flutter. “Wait, when did you see Lucy? Isn't she in Connecticut?”

“No, she's here. Austin had her moved to a new facility and left a decoy in her place in case someone went after her again.” I shrugged uncomfortably, still not totally sure how to handle this new, thoughtful Austin King.

There was a loaded pause as the boys all turned to the twin in question, who shifted in his seat awkwardly.

“Did he, now?” River murmured, giving Austin a hard look. “I think we will be speaking later about these secrets you've been keeping.”

He jerked his head in acknowledgement. “Understood, Alpha.”

Huh, that’s weird that Austin is using my new nickname for River…

“Hold up, is that your code name?” I gasped, putting two and two together, and River's jaw clenched.

“Back to this beautiful bracelet from Lucy, love. Why was she giving you a gift?” He deflected like a champ, and the attention turned back to me.

“Apparently it was princess's birthday recently,” Austin answered for me, and I grimaced. Even without the whole kidnapping saga, I hadn't intended to tell them.

“When?” Cole demanded, frowning at me, and I suspected I was in trouble.

“Uh, New Year’s Eve. But it's probably not even my real birthday. Lucy and I just picked it as my fake birthday when we were kids because there were always fireworks on New Year’s, and we thought how cool it would be if you had fireworks on your birthday. It's stupid really…” I trailed off, embarrassed. The warmth in my cheeks told me I was blushing, so I picked up a menu to hide behind, clearing my throat.

“Kitty Kat,” Caleb grinned, yanking the menu out of my hands so I no longer had a screen between me and the five men all staring intently at me. “Why didn't you tell us? Even before the kidnapping? We would have thrown you a party!”

“Don't be silly,” I murmured. “Birthdays don't mean that much to me. Can we let it go now, please? Have you all already ordered?”

No one responded to me for a minute, and I could feel their heavy gazes drilling into the top of my head as I snatched the menu back from Caleb and studied it intensely.

“All good, love. We ordered for you when Austin said you were almost back,” River, the absolute angel, told me seconds before the waitress began bringing our food out to us.

A low groan slipped from my throat and my mouth began to water as the heavenly smell of melted cheese reached my nose. “Oh fuck, I think I love you.” Reaching for the massive burger which had been placed in front of me, I snorted a quick laugh at the shocked expressions on the guys’ faces.

“She means the burger,” River muttered. “She's pulled that line before.”

He winked at me as I grinned broadly before taking a huge bite of my food. I was pretty sure I was talking about the burger…

AFTER WE HAD all filled ourselves to the point of bursting, we began slowly walking back to the townhouse. The boys were joking and messing around as we walked, and I tucked my cold hands deep inside my coat pockets. It was a frosty day, and my breath was coming out in foggy steam as I laughed at the guys’ lighthearted banter.

“So, can I call dibs on your bed tonight, Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and tugging me in close to his body while we walked.

“What? You guys are staying, are you?” I laughed but wasn't terribly surprised. He jerked me to an abrupt stop, turning me to face him with a serious look on his face.

“If I have anything to say about it, we're staying with you always, Kitty Kat. These last two weeks have been… agony.” His forehead creased with a heavy frown, and his mouth pulled down in a heartbreakingly pained expression.

“Hey.” I slid my hand up to cup his cheek. “I'm sorry; I didn't mean to drag the mood down. Of course you can call dibs on my bed tonight. I missed you like you wouldn't ever believe…” His hand slipped around my waist, pulling me closer as he dipped his head down, lips just barely brushing against mine.

Pushing up on my toes a little, I threaded my hand around his neck and pressed my lips tighter to his, kissing him back tenderly, trying to show him just how I really did feel for him.

Which was hard, given I really didn't know what that was myself, but I just knew that I really, really cared for him. Also, kissing him was beyond incredible.

“Uh guys?” Wesley's tentative voice caused us to break our embrace and return to the real world. “It's getting pretty cold out here…”

My face heated with embarrassment as I realized we were standing only a few dozen feet from the townhouse and the other guys were waiting patiently for me to unlock the door.

“Sorry.” I grinned sheepishly and tossed the door keys to River so he could unlock the house. As we made to follow the guys inside, Wesley stopped me with a hand on my arm.

“Hey, um, I was wanting to ask,” he started, flicking a look over his shoulder to check that the others were inside, “if, ahhhh…” He hedged, rubbing at a crack in the sidewalk with the toe of his shoe. The hood of his sweatshirt was pulled up over his hair, and he had tucked his hands under his arms in an almost defensive pose.

“What's up? Why do you look so sketchy right now, Wes?” I poked him in the arm playfully, and he cleared his throat, dodging my eye contact.

“Okay, this is going to sound really weird, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, then I am going to sound like a total lunatic, but I have to ask you because it's driving me crazy.” The words rushed out of him in one long exhale, and a faint blush started creeping up his cheeks.

“You know you can ask me anything,” I assured him. “After everything we’ve been through lately, if you don't think I'm clinically insane, then we're good.”

He took a deep breath. “While you were gone, did you, um, have any dreams about me?”

I froze.

“Oh wow, that came out totally wrong. That's not what I meant. Holy crap, never mind; forget I said anything.” Wesley turned away from me and rushed up the steps to my townhouse while I still stood frozen on the sidewalk.

Get fucked. That dream can’t have been real! That must not be what he was talking about! But if not that dirty dream in the bath tub, then what? Oh, Jesus.

“Hey, are you coming inside?” Cole asked, jogging back down the steps to where I stood wide-eyed and freaking out. At a loss for words, I blinked at him owlishly.

“Are you okay, Vixen? You look like you've just seen a ghost.” He frowned, tilting my face up with a finger under my chin. “What did Wes just say to get you this stunned?”

“Umm.” I chewed my lip. How was this even possible? How could Wesley and I have shared a dream like that?

I racked my brain for an explanation. It had definitely been a dream; that much was clear from the facts that I had been in a completely different state and had made impossible things happen, like relocating him from the floor to the tub. A dull throbbing started behind my eyes.

This magic bullshit is going to be the death of me.

As if to punctuate my thoughts, there was a sharp screeching of car brakes and a loud explosion before my body erupted in pain, and I was thrown into a nearby lamppost.

WHEN I CAME TO, there was a loud, high-pitched ringing in my ears, and I could dimly hear someone saying my name.

“What the fuck…” I tried to say, but my jaw didn't seem to obey my commands.

“Shh, love, don't speak. Let your healing do its thing.” River’s warm British accent rolled over me, and my body began the itchy, painful process of knitting itself back together. There were so many places on my body that were crawling with the familiar sensation that I couldn't even pinpoint where I had been hurt. After what seemed like an unusually long time, given how fast my magic was acting these days, I finally felt okay enough to speak.

“I'm almost done,” I croaked to River, opening my eyes and blinking a couple of times to clear the fog over my vision. “What the hell happened?”

His face was grim as he looked down at me. “Someone drove right up beside you and exploded a car bomb. Austin saw it all happen when he was coming to see what was taking you guys so long.”

“What?” I gasped, trying to sit up but collapsing again when a wave of dizziness rolled over me. Taking a couple of breaths, I tried again. “Where's Cole? Is he okay? He was standing right there with me!” Frantically, I looked around for him. The spot where we had stood was a mess. Bits of debris were scattered everywhere, and the burnt-out shell of the van which had detonated the bomb was blazing with fire.

“Just take it easy,” River murmured, helping me stand as I began scrambling to my feet. I could see Wesley and Austin crouched a dozen or so yards farther down the street and could only assume they were tending to Cole.

“Careful,” Caleb warned, taking my other arm to steady me as I staggered towards the other guys.

Dodging burning pieces of debris, I threw myself forward to where Wesley and Austin were kneeling on the pavement beside Cole's very still form.

“No no no no no,” I gasped as I crawled the remainder of the way on my knees and ended up beside his head. He was still alive and awake, but judging by the jagged piece of metal stabbing into the side of his neck, I didn't imagine he would be for long.

“Cole, what the fuck?” I whispered, and his granite eyes met mine, silently trying to say something. “I don't know what you're trying to tell me right now, but I want to apologize in advance if you turn into something freaky like me, okay?” His mouth twitched just the tiniest bit, and I took that as his acceptance.

With shaking hands, I looked him over, deciding that the metal in his neck was really the only life-threatening injury. The rest of his cuts and breaks looked non-serious enough and would hopefully heal along with his neck injury.

“Princess,” Austin muttered, close to my ear. “Do you know what the hell you're doing? You just told us you have no idea how you healed that Romanian prick.”

“What other choice do we have right now, Austin?” I snapped back with a quivering voice, wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans and chewing the inside of my cheek. “We can't just let him die when I could save him. Besides, you probably had a point earlier about triggers.” Thankfully, he didn't question me any further. We didn't have the time to waste.

“I, uh, I think we need to pull the metal out…” I said, hesitantly, and Wesley met my gaze across Cole's body, giving me a tight nod.

“Shit,” Caleb swore. “We have company.”

Glancing up, I realized that of course an exploding car bomb on a residential street in Manhattan would attract attention. Caleb and River both scrambled to their feet and began herding the spectators away from us, leaving Austin and Wesley to assist me.

“Ready?” Wesley asked, and I hesitated a moment, my hands trembling like crazy. I looked back down at Cole to check that he was ready, but his lids had dropped closed. We were running out of time.

“When this piece comes out, you will have to do your thing fast. Understand?” Austin asked me in a level voice, but I could hear the thread of tension. Nodding tightly, I positioned my hands near the entry point, knowing it would start gushing blood the second the obstruction was gone.

Okay, you can do this, Kit. You've done it before, so it's just the same thing. Stay calm.

Nodding again to Wesley, I met his eyes so he knew I was ready. He pulled hard on the metal. It slid free with a sickening noise, and I immediately clamped my hands over the gaping wound.

Earlier in the day, when Austin had been drilling me about what might have triggered the healing, I had stubbornly refused to examine my actions any closer, but thoughts had been rolling around in my head ever since. I thought I knew what it was that had triggered it, and it wasn't desperation.

“Come on,” I murmured, taking slow breaths to calm myself down and thinking happy thoughts about Cole. Back in Nevada when Vali had been dying, it hadn't been until I had all but given up that the magic began working. I had been lying there thinking about how he had saved my life so many times already and how grateful I was, and I was convinced now that it was those positive emotions that had triggered the healing.

“Kit…” Wesley's voice interrupted my thoughts, dragging me back to the present.

“Quiet,” I shushed. “I think I have this.” My palms were tingling in a magic-ish sort of way. Not that it was an easily identifiable sensation, but it was somewhat similar to the feeling of my own body healing. Except when I had healed Vali, it had been hot, burning hot according to him. This felt cold. Really cold.

Blood was running freely between my fingers now, so there was no time to waste worrying about why it felt so different. Closing my eyes tight to the chaos around me, I cast my mind back to all the times Cole had made me feel safe, protected, cared for. The cold in my hands escalated to the point where my joints were hurting, like I had been playing in the snow with no gloves on.

For a few tense moments, nothing seemed to happen. The boys remained silent, and I could dimly hear the spectators being herded away from us by River and Caleb. Then all of a sudden, Cole screamed.

The sound of his scream ripped through the quiet around us, and his eyes snapped open to meet my startled gaze. Gasping, I very nearly dropped my hands from his throat when I saw the raw pain shining back at me from the gray depths of his eyes. The cold in my hands reminded me to keep going, though. He wasn't fully healed yet. Even when I could see the flesh was knitted back together and his skin unblemished, the cold still didn't let up for a little while longer, and I wondered if it was finding other injuries to heal as well.

When my hands finally warmed again, Cole was panting hard and blinking at me with a terrifying look on his face, and the breath caught in my throat. Abruptly, he sat up and reached for my face, but I was already blacking out.

Someone swore close to my ear as my body turned to jelly, and strong hands caught me rather than the hard concrete I had anticipated.

25

The world came back to me slowly as I regained consciousness. My head was pounding, and the room was spinning. Hard. Stomach lurching, I staggered up from the couch where I had been lying and just barely made it across the hall and into the half bath before losing all of the food I had just eaten at the diner.

“Kit, are you okay?” Wesley asked tentatively, cracking open the door just enough to make himself heard.

“I'm fine,” I croaked, sounding anything but. “I just need a moment, I think.” Remaining crouched on the floor near the toilet, I rested my head on my arms.

Why do I feel so awful?

“Is it okay to come in?” Wesley asked, the gentleman that he was.

“Yeah, of course.” I quickly flushed away the resurrection of my burger because no one needed to see that.

Wesley pushed the door open and squished himself inside the tiny room, sitting on the floor beside me and placing a damp cloth across my forehead. Raising my head up just enough to look at him, I gave a grateful smile.

“You're too sweet, you know that?” I teased, my voice still weak and scratchy.

His mouth turned down slightly. “Not really what every guy wants to be known as,” he muttered, mostly under his breath, and dropped eye contact with me.

“What, sweet?” I frowned. “Why not? There aren't enough sweet guys in this world.”

He snorted. “I think given the choice, most guys would rather be, I dunno, handsome or dangerous or sexy. Not sweet.” His cheeks were staining with color again, and I fought back a grin. He really is so sweet.

“Who says you can't be those things too?” I whispered, and his head snapped up in surprise. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, shouting from somewhere in my house reached our ears.

“What's going on out there?” I asked him, tipping my head to where the sound was coming from.

“Oh, ah, we have some unexpected company.” Wesley tugged at his floppy blond hair in his signature nervous gesture. Unable to help myself, I snagged his hand in mine and linked our fingers together.

“Let's go see what's going on then,” I suggested, and he pulled me up to my feet. “Thank you for checking on me. I don't know what came over me; this didn't happen when I healed Vali…”

Wesley shrugged and dodged my gaze again but let me keep hold of his hand as we headed back out to the kitchen, which was where the shouting seemed to be coming from.

A familiar voice was yelling, “—don't have to explain anything to you, little brother! Just let me see her, or I swear to God I will—”

“Will what?” Cole's dangerous growl cut the words off, and I feared for the safety of whomever he was speaking to. Wait, did the other guy just say “brother”?

I frowned at Wesley, who just shrugged again and led me through the swinging door to the kitchen where five angry, brooding men stood in various states of defensive posturing.

“Vali?” I exclaimed, and all eyes swung to me. “What the fuck?”

“Eloquent,” Caleb snickered from where he was perched on the kitchen counter, “but sums up the question we were all just asking. What. The. Fuck?” He turned a sharp glare on the Romanian intruder, and Austin made a noise of support.

“Does someone want to catch me up here?” I asked, politely. It was a new thing I was trying out, not losing my temper so quickly.

No one spoke for a minute, and I used the pause to release Wesley's hand and step closer to Cole. I grabbed his chin in my hand and tilted it back towards me, away from Vali, whom he was glaring death and destruction at.

“Hey!” I snapped and captured his full attention. “Are you okay?” This question I asked in a softer tone, inspecting his unblemished skin where previously he’d had a gaping, bloody wound. With a shaking hand, I ran it across the skin, checking that it wasn't just my imagination.

“I'm good, Vixen,” he murmured in a quiet voice not meant for anyone but me. “You saved my life.” Taking my hand from his neck, he pressed a soft kiss into the center of my palm.

“Dragă.” Vali interrupted our private moment, and my attention was brought back to the larger room and all the questions within it. “Are you okay? This fucking dickhead wouldn't let me see you.” When I had entered the kitchen, he had been standing across the other side of the room from Cole but now was only a few steps away. Tension radiated from Cole's body as he swung his death stare back to the other man.

“I'm fine, I think. What are you doing here? I'm so fucking confused right now. Can someone please explain?” I frowned at the two of them standing on either side of me, both a similar height and build with almost identical gray eyes.

“Wait, did I just hear you call Cole your bother?” I blinked rapidly between them. Holy shitballs batman, how did I not notice the resemblance sooner?

“Yes, Cole is my little brother. Not that he would like anyone to know it.” Vali gritted the words out with another glare at Cole, and I could hear Cole grinding his teeth together, hard.

“I feel like my head just exploded,” I muttered, and Caleb hopped down from the counter, grabbing my hand and extracting me from between the furious brothers. Brothers! Fuck… me…

“Here,” Caleb said, pressing a glass into my hand. “This will help.”

“Thanks.” I took a long gulp of the water, only to choke and gag on it. “What the hell, Cal? This isn't water!”

He gave me a cheeky grin. “No shit; it's vodka. You couldn't smell that?”

“Clearly not!” I coughed, and he laughed as he reached to take it from me. “No, fuck you. I'm still going to drink it; you just should have warned me first.”

Winking at him to soften my words, I took another sip, slower this time, and let the burning alcohol warm my stomach before I turned back to the bigger issues at hand.

“If you're done teen-drinking, princess,” Austin drawled, “Fuckface here was just about to explain why he's here and how he found you. As far as I am aware, the Director doesn't have you guys listed in the open directory.”

“I'm not explaining shit to you lot,” Vali snarled, and I could see the beginnings of another fight about to break out.

“All right, enough!” River's voice bellowed across the room, saving me the bother of doing it myself. “All of you, just rein it in!”

No one responded. Even I shut my mouth, which wasn't hard considering I had no idea what to say next.

“Now first of all, Kitten, are you okay? You gave us all quite a scare when you fainted.” He looked at me with concern shining through his golden eyes, and a warmth flickered in my belly, totally separate from the vodka’s warmth.

“I'm fine. I don't know what that was all about, but I suppose we can't be all too surprised. Kind of in uncharted territory, right?” I smiled at him, shrugging off my own uneasiness about the fainting and subsequent vomiting. They didn't need all my extra paranoia.

“That is true,” River agreed. “This car bomb… we think it was a deliberate attack on you.”

Austin snorted, but shut up quickly when River flicked a warning glare at him.

“As much as I hate to ever agree with Austin, because he's a major dick, that does sort of seem obvious,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “But what makes you sound so certain of that?”

“Someone was watching it all play out,” Caleb interjected, taking over the explanation from River. “While you were healing Cole, someone was taking pictures from a window across the street. Also, it was a small bomb, designed to literally just explode the van carrying it and anyone standing within about a five-yard radius, which is why they got so close to you before it detonated.”

My eyebrows had shot up on hearing this new information, and I looked between River and Caleb, who had clearly been the ones to notice this fact.

“Do we know who?” I asked hopefully, and they shook their heads.

“Caleb took off to find them after you were carried inside but found no one.” River scowled at this frustrating information.

“Okay, let's marinate on that for a few minutes.” I took another sip of the burning alcohol. I wasn't usually one for straight spirits, but if there was ever a good time to start, this was it. Jesus fucking Christ someone just tried to kill me with a fucking car bomb!

River nodded sharply. “Okay, so then next we need to discuss our unexpected visitor.”

Vali grunted an angry noise. “I am standing right here.”

“Unfortunately,” Cole muttered, and I raised my brows at him in surprise. He wasn't usually one for petulance. There was definitely some serious family drama going on there.

“So you are, mate,” River remarked to Vali. “Would you care to explain why you are standing right there? Call us paranoid, but the idea that a known criminal is paying a house call to our Kit doesn't instill much confidence.”

Vali's jaw clenched, and a muscle in his cheek twitched. “Dragă, I would like to speak with you privately. Please.”

“Don't fucking call her that,” Cole said in a tone that promised pain if it was ignored, and his brother just raised an eyebrow at him, as though in challenge.

“Okay, back down boys. This is all getting to be a bit much for me right now.” I flapped my hands to get their attention once more and break their macho staredown. “Vali, I'm sure whatever you need to say can be said in front of everyone; we don't really have any secrets between us these days. Or rather, I don't. They haven't told me jack shit about themselves evidently, but that's an issue for another day.” I gave Cole a pointed look, and he had the grace to look a tiny bit remorseful for keeping his brother a secret from me.

“No.” Vali lifted his chin with a stubborn look on his face. “What I have to tell you is for you only.”

My head was still hurting too much for these silly ego games, and I heaved a sigh, rubbing my temples to try and ease the ache.

“If you think for a second we will allow you alone with her, you're sorely mistaken, friend.” My head snapped up at the unexpected voice. Why the hell was Austin trying to protect me?

“I am not your friend,” Vali snarled at Austin, and I hopped off the counter to get between them.

“That's enough. The sheer level of testosterone in this room right now is suffocating me.” Caleb snickered a laugh, and I saw Wesley crack a grin of his own. “Vali, you want to talk? Talk. You've come here totally unannounced and clearly not on good terms with the guys, so you will have to understand that they're a bit leery of your intentions. Especially considering how we met.” I gave him a sharp look, and he met my stare unapologetically.

“You mean when I saved you from the Onyx Auction?” He arched an eyebrow over one of his bottomless gray eyes, and I mentally kicked myself again that I hadn't seen the family resemblance.

“Guys, this is fun and all,” Wesley spoke up for the first time since entering the kitchen with me, “but I get the feeling this Mexican standoff could go on for ages, and I really feel like it's time we just don't have.”

“Wes is right,” River said, his tightly folded arms across his chest the only indication of how tense he was. “Someone tried to have you blown up, then watched and took pictures while you healed both yourself and Cole from wounds that should have killed you. It's not safe for you to stay here anymore.”

“You have a point.” I nodded, and everyone gave me varying versions of their surprised faces.

“What?” I snapped, a little too aggressively. “I can be reasonable when I need to be.”

“Sure you can, princess.” Austin muttered under his breath but was standing close enough that I still heard him.

“So where do we go next?” I raised my eyebrows at River, our leader.

“We know of somewhere.” The reply came from Cole, and River gave him a barely there head nod. “But Dragomir isn't invited.”

“Well then, we have a problem because I go wherever dragă goes.” Vali folded his impressive arms across his chest. He was wearing casual clothes, jeans and a tight, wool-knit long sleeve top, and holy hot damn he made them look good.

Before another argument could start, the sound of sirens infiltrated the room and snapped us all back to the urgency of the situation at hand.

Caleb checked his watch. “Seventeen minutes for them to respond? Someone must have interfered with the emergency calls. There were too many bystanders there for someone not to have called sooner.”

“Cole, Dragomir, you can fight later. Right now we need to move before we get tied down in weeks of official investigation for that mess outside.” River's tone brokered no arguments. “Let's move out.”

Everyone jumped to follow his direction. Vali hovered near my shoulder while I led the way to our back entrance so we could avoid being spotted by the police, who were practically on top of us if the sirens were any indication.

“I wish everyone would stop calling me Dragomir,” he muttered, and I snorted a laugh.

26

Once we’d made it clear of the emergency services swarming the bomb site, I was able to relax a little. Of course Jonathan could have made the questions go away, but the fact that someone had set the whole thing up made me incredibly nervous. How would we even know if they were real policemen or not? They could be in Mr. Gray's employment or something else entirely.

We needed to get to this contact in Alaska and get more information. It was like we were fighting a war but with no idea what was at stake, which only put us at a disadvantage.

“Guys, I think we need to get a better handle on what we're up against,” I said, breaking the tense silence in the car. On leaving the townhouse, we had split up between two cars, and I had ended up in the back of River's Aston Martin. Squashed uncomfortably between the two biggest men that could have possibly fit in the cramped backseat, I was perched forward slightly to avoid being crushed to death by muscular shoulders. When we had reached the cars, I had worried I might be torn in two between Cole and Vali so had offered to sit in the middle. A suggestion I was now regretting as I shifted to get comfortable.

“I agree,” Wesley commented from his position of luxury in the passenger seat. “It might be worth heading up to that village in Alaska anyway. Maybe one of this guy's neighbors can tell us something about where he is or how to get in contact with him.”

“That's a good idea, Wes,” River agreed, tapping the steering wheel thoughtfully as he drove.

Vali snorted a chuckle, and I turned to look at him. “What?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the small smirk on his face.

“Nothing,” he grinned, like a big old liar.

“It's clearly something,” Cole snapped from my other side, and I sighed. “Why don't you share with everyone what's so funny?”

Vali met my eyes and raised his eyebrow as if to ask if I really wanted to know, then when I just shrugged, he gave me a wink. “I was just thinking about that dream you had back at my place, dragă,” he smirked, and my eyes widened. Shit.

“You know the one,” he continued, totally ignoring my shut-the-fuck-up look. “The one about… Wes… while you were in the bathtub…”

Oh dear God, no. I felt my face flame bright red, and I carefully kept cheek turned so I didn't have to see Wesley's expression.

“Really?” River commented from the driver’s seat, and I reflexively looked up, meeting his amused gaze in the rearview mirror. “Isn't that interesting.”

Unable to help myself, my gaze darted to Wesley's in the mirror and found him staring back at me intently, his expression unreadable. To break a little tension, I cleared my throat and tried to sit back in my seat a little.

“So, um, where are we heading?” I asked in a blatant attempt to change the subject, and all four men in the car seemed to be fighting back grins at my expense.

“There's an Omega safe house not far outside the city,” River informed me, thankfully allowing my subject change. “We will head there until plans can be made to get us all up to Alaska. Wes, call the twins and let them know.”

Caleb and Austin had taken Austin's Challenger and were following behind us as River navigated his way out of the city and into the countryside.

“So how long do you intend to hang around?” Cole muttered to his brother over the top of me, and I lay a warning hand on his knee. He held Vali's gaze but picked my hand up in his own and threaded our fingers together tightly, possessively.

“As long as I damn well feel like it,” Vali replied in a tone that held no doubt he was trying to piss Cole off. Shifting his body, Vali slid an arm over my shoulders to rest on the side of my neck. He began slowly stroking his finger down my skin, and I suddenly felt like the last steak in a pack of hungry dogs.

“Uh, how far did you say the safe house was again?” My voice betrayed the tension I was feeling, trapped between these two gorgeous men who were currently fighting for dominance. Wesley turned in his seat to look back at me, then shook his head at Cole as if scolding his childish behavior.

“Here,” Wesley said, stretching out his hand for me to take. Not questioning why he wanted my hand, I reached forward and clasped his. The next thing I knew, I had vacated my awkward seat between the Romanian brothers and was sprawled inelegantly across Wesley's chest.

He gave me a cheeky smile. “Has to be more comfortable than caught in the cross fire back there.”

The two imposing men in the backseat were glaring death into the back of Wesley's head, and I laughed, rearranging myself into more of a comfortable position. Or trying to anyway.

Eventually Wesley must have grown frustrated with my wriggling because he picked me up and re-set me on his lap, bracing my back slightly against the door with his arms around me.

“Better?” he murmured, his lips only inches from my ear, and I nodded silently.

“All right, can we all just keep it civil for the remainder of the drive?” River asked, using his in-charge voice.

“Yes, sir,” Cole and Wesley both replied, almost as a reflex, and River shot me a look.

“Yes, sir.” I grinned and saw a tiny smile pull at his lush lips. Vali made a noise, which had me looking back over at him, but I couldn't make out the expression on his face.

For a long time, no one spoke—I suspected because no one could think of anything to say that wouldn't spark another argument and River had given an order to keep things civil. Before long, I grew tired of the tense silence, so laid my head on Wesley's shoulder and closed my eyes. His fingers stroked soft lines down my arm, tingling my skin through the thin sweater I wore, and I relaxed into his embrace. I was beyond glad that things didn’t seem to be awkward between us. But if that dream really was a shared thing, then did that mean I hadn't imagined that sexy body under his oversized hoody?

Oh fuck, now I can't stop thinking about it.

My hand crept up from where it had been resting in my lap and slid across Wesley's chest, pausing near the zipper of his hoody.

“Sweetheart,” Wes whispered, “what are you doing?”

“Just curious,” I whispered back, not moving my head from his shoulder, but cracking my lids back open so I could see. My fingers teased the zipper down just a couple of inches, then snaked back up to the neckline of his shirt.

“Curious about what?” he murmured, not stopping me.

Rather than answering him, I slid a finger under his neckline and tugged the fabric down just enough that I could see the very top lines of his tattoo, confirming my theory. Satisfied, I released the fabric but kept my hand tucked inside the neck of his hoody.

“Just curious whether I had imagined that body or not.” Raising my head up a little, I whispered the words near his ear so the rest of the car wouldn't hear. A small groan slipped out of him, and he shifted a little under me in his seat.

Coughing awkwardly, he shifted his arms to circle my waist and pulled me in closer so I could feel his rapidly increasing feelings for me, and I bit my lip in satisfaction.

“Well, that would mean I hadn't imagined yours…” he whispered back to me, his thumb brushing the underside of my breast and making me sigh, remembering the feeling of his hands on me during our not-dream.

“Do you two fucking mind?” Cole asked from the backseat, but not actually sounding that annoyed. “We still have a decent drive ahead, and I'd probably prefer not to do it with a raging hard on.”

“I would second that,” River groaned, adjusting himself one-handed before turning his attention back to the road. Wesley was clearly trying not to smile while his face flushed with heat, and I snuggled back into him to show I wasn't embarrassed. From the backseat I could feel Vali's heavy stare boring into me, but I had no idea how to deal with him yet. He was an issue for future-Kit to deal with.

27

CALEB

Austin smacked my hand away from the controls as I tried to change the radio station for about the seventeenth time since we had left Manhattan.

“Sorry,” I muttered, not feeling sorry in the least. Nerves made me fidgety, he knew that, and I was anxious as fuck.

“No, you’re not,” my twin snorted, glancing at me quickly as he navigated the road. “You’re clearly stressing the fuck out. You don’t need to subject me to song changes ever three seconds to prove it to me. I get it. Just, talk if you need to talk.”

Heaving a sigh, I began drumming my fingers on the armrest as I stared out of the window. “This whole thing is fucked. She only just got back from whatever hell she went through getting kidnapped, and now someone tries to blow her up? It doesn’t seem fair.”

“Fair?” Austin sounded like he was about to laugh. “What’s ‘fair’ when it comes to a magical war that we are totally in the dark on? We know nothing. Not what’s at stake or who the opponents are. All we are running off is that bad people want to use Christina.”

“Yeah. What’s your point?” I put my feet up on the dash and didn’t miss the small noise of frustration from my brother’s throat. He hated when I put my boots all over his car.

“My point, dickhead, is that until we get a little more info, we should all stop being so fucking shocked at every new turn of events.” He reached over and slapped my feet down off his dash.

“I see your point,” I agreed, thinking it over. We really did need to get more info. After the address Mr. Gregoric had supplied didn’t pan out, or at least not yet, we should have tried harder to track him down. He had just up and disappeared that night. Kit’s chat with him in our garden seemed like the last time anyone had seen or heard from him, which was just insanely frustrating.

“Do you think she’s okay?” I asked, mostly rhetorically. My brother knew exactly as much as I already did. Sweet fuck all.

He glanced at me again, quickly. “Yeah, bro. I think it takes a lot more than a badly made car bomb to take her down.”

“She looked really rough… like she was wrecked.” I chewed on the edge of my thumbnail while I ran over everything that had just happened in my head, like a movie stuck on repeat.

“I’m not really surprised,” Austin responded, startling me with the lack of condescension in his tone while speaking of Kit. “She did just heal herself from what should have been fatal injuries and then Cole as well. I imagine it’s got to be draining?”

My eyebrows shot up, and I gave him a sharp look. When did his attitude suddenly change?

“What?” He frowned, noticing my look and my eyes narrowed at him.

“What was this Kit said about you two making out at paintball?” In all the chaos, it had totally slipped my mind until now. But I needed answers on this. My twin never kept secrets from me. Especially about girls. Especially since Peyton.

“Why? You jealous, bro?” Austin’s walls were back up, I could tell by the sarcastic tilt to his voice, and I heaved another sigh. It was doubtful I’d get anything out of him when he was like this.

“No, Aus. Not jealous, or I mean yeah, I am, but that’s not the point. You didn’t tell me. Why?” Might as well give it a try, even if it did just turn into an argument. We had a decent drive ahead and nothing better to do.

For a tense moment, he said nothing in response, then deflected. “I’m surprised you admit you’re jealous, Cal. After all, she is already sleeping with both River and Cole, and you don’t seem too jealous of them.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I coughed a laugh. “I’m so insanely jealous of them I literally want to punch them both in the dick. I’d do it, too, if I didn’t know Cole would get me back way worse.”

“Okay, so I don’t get it. Why are you still interested when she’s clearly not that into you all?” He genuinely seemed interested in my answer.

“Why do you say that?” I frowned.

“What, that she’s not into you?” he clarified, flicking a confused look at me, and I nodded. “Ah, isn’t that kind of obvious? She’s sleeping with two of our best friends, then kissed you in front of them… If she cared about any of you, I doubt that’s the best way to show it.”

For once, my twin didn’t seem to be picking a fight with me. He was actually confused and asking the question because he wanted to hear the answer, so I paused before responding, to get the words right.

“Aus, just because it’s not normal doesn’t mean it’s not possible to care for several people at once. She already knows that Cole and River are okay with each other being involved; I mean fuck, they make it pretty clear. I kissed her in front of everyone so she would understand that I was into it as well.” He didn’t respond, but I could see the tension in his jaw mounting and knew he wasn’t getting my point. “Okay, so consider how a parent can have more than one kid. They love them all equally, right?”

“I hardly think this is the same thing,” Austin scoffed.

“Why not?” I challenged. “Why can’t it be? Why can’t Kit hold the capacity to love, or at least care for, more than one guy at the same time?” This conversation was actually giving a lot of clarity to my own jumbled thoughts while I spoke them aloud. If I was totally honest, Austin was simply voicing my own fears. But in defending Kit, I was finding my own peace with the situation.

“So, you’re what,” Aus snorted, “in love with her now? How the fuck is that going to work?”

“Maybe? I don’t know. This whole situation doesn’t exactly lend itself to ‘dating’ or anything. If anything, it brings to light how fickle life is. So shouldn’t we do whatever makes us happy with the time we have?” Jesus, I sounded like some sort of fucking hippie with my flowers and rainbows bullshit, but I couldn’t help it. That’s truly how I felt about it.

For a long time, neither of us said anything, but eventually Austin cracked and gave me a pitying look.

“I’d find it easier to believe this whole ‘group love’ crap is a byproduct of her magic,” he muttered, half under his breath, but I heard him and shrugged.

“Maybe it is. I don’t really care. I just know that for whatever reason, I’m so insanely into her that I would walk through fire. Sharing her time with two of my best friends really isn’t such a tough ask, and the way things have been going, it’s kind of nice to know she has them looking after her too.” Yep, I was a certifiable hippie. Time to start tie-dying my t-shirts and smoking pot.

“And if she doesn’t feel the same? If she’s just using you three for sex, and you all end up getting your hearts broken, or worse, breaking up this team?” he challenged with a very valid concern, and he was not going to like my answer.

“Sometimes, bro, you just gotta trust your gut.” I grinned broadly at him as he gave a pained groan and pretended to smack his head on the steering wheel.

“Now, if you’re done with your questions, are you going to fess up about this paintball makeout, or can I channel flip again?” Smug as shit, I cocked an eyebrow at him when he glanced over.

“Have at it,” he grunted, smacking the power button on his radio and filling the small space with loud music once more.

28

The twins had beaten us to the safe house and were already waiting when we arrived, leaning against Austin's car like the cover of a magazine or something. As we exited River's car, with me stumbling and almost falling while clambering off Wesley's lap, Caleb gave us a surprised look.

“Kitty Kat, you could have come with us you know. It looks like that was an awfully cramped ride…” He looked curiously at the other men piling out of the car.

“You have no idea,” Cole muttered, stalking past us and into the house.

The safe house was a lovely countryside home, set in perfectly manicured gardens and looking like the sort of place you expect to see a nice old lady baking pies. Not at all what I would have expected from a spy safe house, but I guessed that was kind of the point.

“Hey, Austin.” I grabbed his arm as he moved to walk past me, and he paused, raising his eyebrows. “Do you have the number for Lucy’s rehab? I want to call and let her know what’s going on. Actually, maybe we should get her out of there…”

“I’ve already called and spoken to her,” he told me with a slight frown. “She said she’s not going anywhere, that the whole point of moving her there was that no one knew where she was, so it’s the safest place. Also, she said not to stress about Finn and that she’s handling it.”

Lucy’s message did the complete opposite of instilling confidence in me because now I was stressing about her getting herself in trouble if she tried to question Finn herself. As I had already seen, he was no stranger to casual murder.

“So I am going to ask you again, princess,” Austin continued with narrowed eyes. “Who the fuck is Finn, and why does Luce need to handle it?”

“Kitty Kat!” Caleb called out, and I saw that everyone else had already gone inside. “The Director is on the phone wanting to speak to you.”

Austin held my gaze for a moment longer, silently demanding answers, but I took the distraction Caleb had provided and ducked inside to take the call.

“KIT, what the hell happened outside the townhouse?” Jonathan's irate voice echoed down the phone, and I cringed. We should have called him sooner.

“Car bomb,” I told him succinctly. There was a long pause on his end and then a heavy sigh.

“Never mind; I will get the details from Alpha later. There is a huge mess of paperwork that I will need to action in order to get this cleaned up. Are you okay though? Was anyone hurt?” Instead of sounding worried, like I might have expected, he sounded sort of… curious? Has he been body-snatched or something?

“Um, no, everyone is fine; we were all out of range when it went off.” Why I’d just lied to him, I had no idea. Other than his failing to sound super-concerned, which could have just been my imagination, I had no reason not to trust him.

While I was speaking, River had come to stand in front of me, and when he heard my lie, he raised an eyebrow in question, to which I just gave a small shrug.

“I see,” Jonathan murmured. “That’s very lucky. I understand you’re at the Omega safe house with Alpha team right now. What are your plans from here?”

“Ummm,” I looked to River for guidance, but of course he hadn’t heard the question and just gave me a confused frown. “I think we will stay here for a bit and try to work out who was responsible for that car bomb.”

“Okay, sounds like a good idea, kiddo. I have to deal with all this paperwork tomorrow, so I will come up there as soon as I can get finished.” There was something seriously strange about his tone as he spoke, but he gave me no further opportunity to question it. “Can you pass the phone to River please, hon? I want to get his report directly.”

“Uh, sure.” I handed the phone to River with a small shake of my head, and he nodded, taking it from me.

Not bothering to hang around and listen to their conversation, I headed through to where the guys were all gathered in the living room. When I got there, I sighed heavily, rubbing my tired eyes.

“I understand there is a whole thing going on here between you two,” I waved my hand between Cole and Vali. “But can it wait? I’m so exhausted it’s not even funny. I need sleep, and then we need to get ourselves to Alaska somehow. Can everyone please stay alive for like… eight hours?” Running my hand through my wild, tangled hair, I grimaced. There were little twigs and bits of stuff all through it, and I probably looked a sight.

“You do kind of look pale,” Caleb noted, stepping forward to lay a hand against my forehead. “Do you still feel sick? Wes just told us you vomited when you woke up from that faint.”

“I’m fine,” I brushed off his concern. “Nothing a shower and sleep can’t fix.”

“You’d better do that then, Vixen,” Cole suggested from his spot on the couch. “I’m sure Dragomir’s bullshit can wait until morning.”

Vali glared hard at his brother then nodded to me, his eyes softening. “Of course, dragă, I’m not going anywhere.” Cole grunted an angry noise, and I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever; you two have a fun night, and try not to kill each other. We can talk tomorrow.” Leaving them to it, I followed Caleb as he tugged me down the corridor to a bedroom.

“Bathroom’s just through there.” He motioned to the door leading off the bedroom. “I’ll see if I can find you something to sleep in. Most safe houses have spare clothes somewhere.”

“Thanks, Cal.” I pressed a quick kiss on his cheek then took myself into the bathroom to shower off the soot and dirt from my near death experience today, again. This was getting way too damn frequent. What were the odds that in two days I would need to use my newfound magic twice to save the lives of guys I cared for?

Woah, calm down, sunshine. You do not “care for” Vali. That’s the Stockholm Syndrome talking.

If only I could make myself believe that. No matter how hard I tried, my brain just kept seeming to focus on his redeeming qualities and skipping over his casual attitude towards murder and drug running. Every time I tried to remind myself that he was a bad person, all I could see was him catching me as I lost my grip on his window or getting shot trying to save me from Mr. Gray’s men.

“Kitty Kat?” Caleb’s voice cut through my troubling thoughts as he cracked open the bathroom door. “I found some clothes; where did you want me to leave them?”

Having just stepped out of the shower, I laughed when I saw him politely staying on the other side of the door.

“Seriously, Caleb?” I snickered. “Now you’re worried about seeing me naked? What happened to offering to help me wash my hair?” There was a short pause on his side while I wrapped myself in a towel and grabbed another to start drying my hair

“Was that you asking for assistance? Because I am in the business of assisting damsels in distress you know…” The door creaked open a little wider, and I grinned.

“Sadly, you missed the boat. My hair is already washed. I could use some help drying and brushing it though,” I suggested. “I really am feeling a bit off, and my arms hurt just looking at this tangled mess.”

“Your wish is my command, Kitty Kat,” Caleb replied, slipping into the steamy bathroom and closing the door behind him. For a moment, he hesitated where he stood near the door, his gaze heavy on me as he raked his eyes over every inch of wet skin exposed by the too-small towel wrapped around my body.

“What?” I teased. “You act like you've never seen me in a towel before.” A sly smile crept across his face, and I knew I was playing with fire. Despite the circumstances, having just been bombed and five other guys only just down the hall, nothing could make me stop playing with this particular fire. It had been too long coming already.

Tossing my second towel to him, I turned back to the vanity, bending down to grab the hairdryer and a brush out from one of the drawers. Thank goodness someone has kept this house stocked with useful items. If my hair had gone much longer without seeing a brush, it would have needed to be cut off or fashioned into dreadlocks.

As I bent, Caleb sucked in a sharp breath, stepping closer behind me and trailing a finger up the back of my thigh.

“Kitty Kat…” he murmured. “Are you intentionally teasing me?”

With a cheeky grin, I straightened back up and winked at him in the mirror. “Maybe.”

He let out a frustrated groan and held out his hand. “Give me the damn brush.”

For a few minutes, he worked in silence, gently and methodically working the tangles out of my long hair while I kept my hands braced against the sink. Every now and then, as he encountered a particularly nasty snag, my balance was tugged backwards and my towel-covered rear would bump into him. After this had happened several times, he stopped and placed the brush down on the sink, bracing his hands on the counter to either side of mine.

“What's up?” I asked a little breathlessly because I was not totally unaffected by the hardening region my rear had just bumped.

“Fucking Christ, I don't think I can do this,” he muttered, his head hanging to press his forehead on my shoulder.

“Do what?” I teased, being deliberately obtuse. “Brush my hair?”

“Keep my hands off you.” He grasped my waist, spinning me to face him and grabbing my lips in a crushing kiss. My heart raced in excitement, and I lifted my hands, one snaking into the back of his hair and the other grasping his neck to pull him closer to me. The movement caused my towel to shift and untuck, and it slid off my body and pooled at our feet.

“Fuck,” Caleb moaned, his hands sliding down my naked body slowly, as though memorizing every inch of skin, until he reached my ass. Lips still caressing mine, his palms smoothed over the round of my butt, making me sigh against his mouth, silently begging for more. His hands slid lower, grabbing tight to the tops of my legs and lifting me just a couple of inches to perch on the edge of the vanity.

My knees spread, and he stepped closer into the gap I’d just created, pressing hard to my already throbbing center. Pulling back from my lips a fraction, he dipped his head to watch as his hands moved up my body once more, this time finding my breasts and gently palming them.

Oh my God, he's trying to kill me.

My breath caught in a gasp as he lightly, infuriatingly, teased at my nipples, and I tilted my head back, giving his mouth access to my neck. Seeming to read my mind, his lips closed over the skin of my throat, teeth brushing me lightly as he dragged his mouth lower, then lower, then grabbed one of my tight, hard nipples in his gentle teeth.

“Caleb,” I moaned, not entirely sure what I was trying to say, but thankfully he didn't let up what he was doing. Fuck me, it felt amazing.

“Mmmm?” he asked, his mouth still on my sensitive flesh, and the vibration sent shivers of pleasure radiating through me. Lips on one breast and fingers on the other, he slipped his free hand lower to part my already wet folds and ever so lightly stroke my throbbing clit.

Desperately, I grabbed at the hem of his shirt, yanking it up and dislodging his body from mine only long enough to pull it off before he went right back to what he had been doing, thank fuck. With him occupied, driving me to near insanity, I made quick work of his belt and fly, roughly pushing the offensive fabric out of the way so that I could even out the clothing score between us. His belt buckle clinked as it hit the tiles, and he kicked his pants out of the way, leaving him just as gloriously naked as I was, and I pushed him back a step.

“What?” he panted, his lips deliciously red and swollen as he stared at me with hungry eyes.

“Just give me a minute,” I grinned, leaning back on my hands and taking in the sight of him. He hadn't been lying all those months ago when he told me he had more tattoos than just the one I had seen on his side. They were all stunning and highlighted his incredible, muscular body perfectly.

“Enjoying the view, Kitty Kat?” he purred, like the shithead he was. My gaze had just dropped low enough that I was now perusing his impressive dick, standing straight up as though begging for my attention.

“Maybe,” I smirked. “But I think I need a closer look…” Sliding off the counter, I dropped to my knees in front of him and grasped his rigid shaft in my hand. A shocked noise gasped from him, and he stared down at me with wide eyes.

“Kitty Kat, you don't—” His words cut off as I licked up the length of his cock, then slid the head inside my mouth. “Oh fuck.”

My tongue rolled over his silky skin, and the sound of his moan made me almost smile. Keeping a grip on his shaft, I sucked lightly, scraping my teeth just the tiniest bit down his length as I took more of him into my mouth. Pulling back, then taking more on the next down thrust. The sound of his whispered curses spurred me on, and he tangled his hands in my freshly brushed hair, holding my head and indicating a pace that he liked.

My other hand was clasping one of his tight ass cheeks, and I used that control to pull him in deeper, making him groan loudly and pull back. His cock slipped from my mouth with a wet pop as he tugged me back to my feet and reclaimed my lips in a crushing kiss, our tongues both fighting for dominance while his hard length pressed against my stomach and my folds throbbed with heat. Already, I could feel the wet slickness of my own arousal on my thighs, and it only made me want more.

“Damn, girl,” he muttered when he finally released my mouth. “I swear you will be the death of me.” Not disagreeing, because I could have said the same about him, I grinned wickedly and ran my nails down his back, not lightly but not hard enough to draw blood.

“Fuck,” he muttered, his head tilting back, and I used the opportunity to seal my mouth onto the bend of his neck, which was as far as I could reach in bare feet.

“Caleb,” I whispered as his hands roamed my body in return. “Quit teasing. I need you.”

“Need me to do what, Kitty Kat?” He smirked, bringing his face back down to kiss me again.

“I need you,” I panted, between toe-curling kisses, “in me. Now.”

His mouth curved into a smile against mine, and his hard dick twitched between us.

“Well, when you ask so nicely…” He grasped my waist once more in his huge hands and spun me back to face the mirror. “Seems unfair for you not to enjoy the view as well.”

Palming my breasts once more, he rolled my nipples between his fingers while his hot, heavy, cock rested against my ass. The mirror was still fogged up from my shower, but I could still clearly make out our forms, and the added visual made me quiver with anticipation.

“Please,” I begged, planting my hands on the counter and pushing backwards in encouragement. Not needing any further urging, Caleb grasped his dick in his hand and lined up from behind, then pushed in firmly and dragged a low moan from me. He made it halfway inside, then pulled out briefly before surging in the rest of the way with a sexy groan. The instant feeling of fullness was incredible, and I was already so wet that there was no need to take things slow until I adjusted to his considerable girth. Instead I pushed back onto him, urging him to move. Obliging, he thrust in and out firmly, confidently, while his hands gripped my hips tight. Panting hard, I dropped my head low, my wet hair falling forward like a curtain and brushing against the sink.

After only seconds, Caleb released one of my hips and gathered up my hair in his hand, pulling gently to bring my face back up to the mirror.

“I want you,” he gasped, “to keep watching.” His sexy green eyes bored into mine in the mirror where the fog had begun to fade, and my pussy clenched hard around his cock. He kept his firm hold on my hair and maintained his intense eye contact with me as he pumped in and out of my tight sheath at just the right speed, and before long, I was crashing into an intense orgasm. As I came, keeping my eyes on the mirror, I caught Caleb roll his eyes back and flicker his lids shut for just a moment before snapping his gaze back on mine.

Desperately trying to keep my eyes open as directed, my body convulsed with waves of pleasure, and Caleb's hard thrusting picked up in pace. Without letting go of my hair, he gripped my hip harder, pulling me backward as he thrust forward, and I arched my back a little more to increase his depth. His grip on my hair tightened, and I knew he must be close to coming. I shifted my weight slightly onto one hand and used the other to rub at my clit, sending me crashing into a second earth-shattering orgasm while he thrust deep, unloading into me with a primal cry.

For a few moments, neither of us moved. We stayed where we were, bent over the bathroom sink, Caleb deep inside me while he rested his face on my back and we both caught our breath.

“Kitty…” He finally gasped and caught my gaze once more in the mirror. “I think you need another shower…” A laugh snorted out of me, and he slid out, leaving me feeling empty and badly looking forward to round two.

“I could go another shower,” I said breathlessly, turning to face him. “But only if you'll scrub my back…”

Smirking, he swept me up in his arms, startling a surprised squeak out of me as he carried me back over to the shower.

“I think I can probably manage that.” He grinned, then pressed an indulgent kiss on my mouth as he turned the shower back on.

29

That night, I slept curled in Caleb's strong grip and woke up feeling incredible. Completely in contrast to the weak, sick feeling of the night before, when I woke up in the cool light of the morning, my face pressed into Caleb's sculpted chest, it was as though I'd just spent a week in a meditation retreat or something.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” His sexy, sleep thickened voice rolled over me, and I raised my head to look at him.

“Hi.” I grinned. Oh fuck, this is awkward.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand then closing his arms around me in a hug.

“Um… is this weird?” I asked, chewing my lip nervously.

“Is what weird?” He frowned, blinking sleepily with his dark, almost black eyelashes framing clear emerald eyes that I just couldn't seem to get enough of looking at.

“This… us… you know…” I trailed off awkwardly, and a small grin played at his sexy mouth.

“No?” he blinked at me, all innocent, like he didn't know what I was getting at.

Asshole.

I growled in my throat, narrowing my eyes at him. “You know exactly what I mean, Caleb King. Is this weird?”

Grinning broadly now, he leaned forward and kissed me lightly. “You mean the fact that we had seriously hot sex last night, three times, when you're also sleeping with Cole and River?”

Blushing, I nodded and bit my lip again, but he pressed another kiss to my lips, slower this time and totally unhurried. My stomach fluttered in response, and my hand seemed to have a life of its own as it slid up to the back of his neck to pull him closer. My lips parted and he deepened the kiss, caressing my tongue with his, and I smothered the girly whimper that wanted to come out.

“Does it need to be weird?” he finally asked, pulling back from my lips with flushed cheeks. “It doesn't bother me to share you with my team. I know how you feel for them doesn't impact how you feel for me… so long as you don't let them take you away from me…”

“I couldn't even if I tried,” I muttered, sinking back into the pillow and smoothing my hand over the rough stubble of his cheek. “I don't know what's going on with me lately, but even if someone held a gun to my head and told me to choose, I couldn't do it. Maybe there's something magic related here?” It was a possibility I had been pondering on for a while, ever since learning my abilities really were magic, and not the product of a genetic experiment like I had always assumed. It just seemed so unlikely, so serendipitous that these gorgeous, dominant alpha males would all be so into me and all be okay to share.

Caleb shrugged. “If it is, I'm not complaining. Neither are the guys, as far as I know.”

“I suppose so long as you're all okay with it…” I murmured and gasped as he pulled me on top of him, his morning wood hot and hard beneath me.

“We are more than okay with it, Kitty Kat. Our team had a ridiculously close bond even before you, so this doesn't surprise me. What did surprise me though…” he trailed off as he smoothed his hands up my body to locate my breasts.

“Mmm?” I murmured, distracted as hell at the feeling of his hands on my skin. “What surprised you, Cal?”

“…was hearing that you made out with my brother.” His words killed the mood as easily as any bucket of ice water might, and I sat up sharply.

“He really didn't tell you?” I frowned down at Caleb from my position straddling him.

He shook his head and arched an eyebrow in question.

“Huh, maybe you should ask him about that then. But in my defense, I thought he was you.”

A wicked grin slid across Caleb's face. “Really? So, my dickhead twin robbed me of our first makeout session then?”

“I think we more than made up for it last night.” I smirked at him, running my hands up his amazingly sculpted chest.

“Hmm, are you sure? Maybe we should make out a little more, just in case…” His very tempting suggestion was interrupted by someone knocking on the bedroom door.

“Must be Wes,” I whispered. Wesley was the only one who would knock so politely.

The quick wink and naughty smile on Caleb's face were the only warnings I got before he called out, “Come in!”

With absolutely no time to grab a sheet or anything, the door opened wide, and Wesley gasped. Sitting as I was, totally naked and straddling Caleb's waist, there wasn't any mistaking what we had been up to.

For a very long moment, Wesley stood in the doorway staring at us, his eyes wide behind his square-framed glasses until Caleb snorted out a laugh.

“Something you needed, Wes?” he asked, casually raising his arms over his head and making it look like it was me who had pounced on him.

“Uh, yeah,” Wesley said, darting a quick look at Caleb then returning his stare to me. For the first time, he wasn't dodging his gaze away in embarrassment. Instead, his face had clouded with lust, and the flush to his cheeks seemed far more in the realm of sexual frustration rather than awkwardness. “Cole and his brother are getting into it again. I thought maybe Kit might need to intervene and work out what the hell is going on with them.”

Rolling my eyes, I groaned in annoyance. In our fuzzy morning-after haze, I had almost forgotten the drama waiting for me between Cole and Vali.

“Okay, let me find some clothes, and I'll be out in a minute.” I clambered off Caleb, trying my very best to remain dignified in all my naked glory as I perched on the edge of the bed and looked around for some clothes. Surprisingly, having Wesley still watching me didn't make me feel in the least bit awkward. Quite the opposite.

“Cal, didn't you say you found me clothes last night?” I frowned, seeing none lying around the room. My own dirty, soot covered clothes were probably still in a heap on the bathroom floor.

“Yup, they probably got dropped somewhere in the bathroom, last night.” He winked at me, and I had an intense flashback of the night before with him bending me over the sink and pounding into me from behind.

Feeling my face heating up, I cleared my throat awkwardly and wrapped a sheet around my body before standing up and heading into the bathroom. Despite how happy I was to be sitting in bed naked, it was a whole other thing, in the light of day, to just wander around in my birthday suit.

WHEN I CAME BACK OUT into the bedroom, fully dressed in the yoga pants and stretchy black top Caleb had found for me, the room was empty. I'd needed to recycle my bra from the day before but had decided to ditch the panties, so I made a mental note to pick up some more at the first opportunity I got.

As I headed back down the corridor to the living room, I could hear the raised voices of Cole and Vali, and I took a deep breath. This is going to be interesting.

“Good morning!” I halfway yelled as I entered the room, just to try and stop the arguing for a moment. It worked too, with everyone turning to look at me as though I had just grown three heads. Evidently I was the last one up because all six guys were already sitting around the living room cradling mugs of coffee.

“What?” I asked when they continued staring.

“Vixen, you look…” Cole started, then trailed off with a confused frown.

“Really great,” Vali finished for him, and I raised my eyebrows at them both.

“I think what they are trying to say,” River interpreted, “is that last night you looked a bit rough, like you were coming down with the flu or something, and today you look incredible. You're practically glowing.”

I shrugged. “I feel pretty great. Must have just slept well.” Austin snorted a laugh, and Caleb smacked him in the arm.

“Here.” Wesley handed me a mug of coffee, and his fingers lingered against mine as I took it from him.

“Thanks, Wes,” I murmured, and he gave me a tiny wink.

I think I like this confident Wesley. He's seriously sexy right now.

Pushing aside my dirty thoughts and my confusion over why I was suddenly such a nymphomaniac, I turned back to Cole and Vali.

“Okay, let’s get this settled. We need to get to Alaska today and then work out who the hell tried to blow us up, as well as what the hell is going on with this magic situation. So, who is speaking first?” I sat in the vacant spot on the couch, between the twins, and looked at Cole and Vali expectantly.

When neither of them spoke, River made an angry noise in this throat, drawing everyone's attention.

“Kitten asked a question of you two. Answer her, or I will.” His tone demanded compliance, and it made my stomach flutter.

Vali folded his arms stubbornly, leaning against a wall, and Cole's gaze darted between River and me.

“Fine,” he ground out, his fists clenching by his sides. “River would probably get the details wrong anyway.” It wasn't altogether shocking to find River knew this story, whatever it was, seeing as they had been friends since they were twelve.

Keeping my mouth shut, I waited to hear what he had to say, but my attention flickered to Vali whose neck muscles were bunched tight, the only indication of how tense he was. If not for that small sign, he would look like he didn't have a care in the world.

“Dragomir,” Cole began, and I saw Vali's eye twitch at the name he so clearly hated, “and I share a father.” He paused there as though that was the whole story, and I frowned.

“No shit, Cole. Please elaborate on why you look like you want to rip his head off with your bare hands.” I rolled my eyes at him and took a sip of my coffee. Delicious coffee.

Cole sighed, dropping his head into his hands, but Vali watched him like a hawk. “We share a father, but not a mother. Dragomir's mother disappeared not long after he was born, and our father remarried almost immediately to my mother. Our family was, you probably saw, in charge of a pretty influential crime syndicate. Father was raising Dragomir, his first born, to take over the family business while I was to be his enforcer.” There was a bitter, disgusted twist to Cole's words that made my heart clench. Standing, I went to sit on the arm of his chair, grabbing one of his huge, scarred hands in mine. He glanced up at me, then threaded our fingers together, holding tight while he spoke.

“It was our father’s opinion that in order to effectively give pain, one must first understand pain. Anyway, one day he got pretty carried away with the whole thing. I had made some smart remark to him about how he was already losing the respect of his men to Vali, a goddamn fourteen-year-old, and he flew off the handle at me.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Vali shift slightly at Cole's use of his nickname, but I doubted Cole even noticed he had done it.

“Next thing I knew, he had pulled out this knife and started cutting me. He'd never done that before, but he had this crazy look in his eye.” Suddenly all his scars, covered by beautiful tattoos, made sense. They were from his father. “My mother happened to be home that day, and she tried to stop him but ended up getting caught in between. He stabbed her, then tried to finish me off.”

His mouth was tight, and his hand was clenching so hard around mine that it felt like he was going to break something. Not that I was letting go for anything.

“Your father is a fucking sadist, Cole,” I murmured, placing my other hand on the back of his neck and rubbing small circles with my thumb, intended to comfort him. “I met him briefly and wanted to rip his head off myself, and that was before I knew this.” Cole grunted, but his jaw was still clenched tight and his gaze was on our hands, joined together in his lap.

“So, what does this have to do with Vali?” I asked tentatively. “You clearly hold a lot of hate for him, but it sounds like your father was the asshole in this?”

“I let it happen.” Vali's velvet voice startled me as he answered for his brother. “I stood by and did nothing while my little brother was beaten and tortured for years and then again did nothing while our mother was murdered in front of my eyes.” The bitterness to his tone suggested he hated himself just as much as Cole did for not doing anything to stop it.

“Vali, you were only a kid…” My voice soft, I had no idea what to say to help these brothers who were holding so much animosity for one another.

“I was old enough to take over the family when our father had a mental breakdown after he saw he'd killed our mother.” His chin was tilted up slightly, and I could see it wouldn't be an easy sell to talk him out of his guilt.

“My mother,” Cole growled, and I ran a soothing hand over his neck.

“Okay, well that explains this tension between you two, and I doubt it's something we can work through in the time we have,” I said carefully, trying not to escalate the already thick danger in the air. “Vali, why don't you tell us why you're here? Do your people know you're here?”

He shook his head, his arms still folded across his chest as he leaned against the wall. “I am not willing to discuss my reasons with anyone but you.”

“Well then, you won't be discussing them at all,” Cole snapped, tugging me down off my perch and into his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, and I could sense him glaring at his brother over my head. “If you think for a second we will leave you alone with her, you're wrong.”

“I guess I will be hanging around until I can convince you otherwise then,” Vali replied with a stubborn set to his jaw. “Because I am not leaving until I can speak with Kit alone.”

Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. “Cole, I think it's best I just let Vali say what he came here for. Sooner or later his merry band of criminals will notice him missing and cause more drama for us, which is just so incredibly not what we need right now.”

As absurd as it sounded, I genuinely thought Cole would be reasonable and agree, so I was surprised when his grip on me tightened and a threatening, almost animalistic growl rumbled through his chest.

“No,” he snarled, leaving no room for argument. River caught my shocked gaze and gave me a tiny frown. Even he seemed concerned by Cole's reaction.

“I think it's time we headed off,” River said, frowning between Cole and Vali then holding out his hand to me. “Kit, come to the kitchen with me, and we can get you more coffee before we need to leave.” Leaning forward, I took his hand, but still Cole didn't release his hold on me.

“Cole, mate. Let the kitten go so she can re-caffeinate. You know how she gets if she doesn't have enough coffee.” River's voice was low and calm, like he was speaking to a wild animal, but the words seemed to sink in. Cole immediately relaxed his grip on me and pressed a quick kiss on my shoulder before allowing me to stand and follow River to the kitchen.

Before leaving the room, I looked back and found him frowning like he was confused.

ONCE INSIDE THE KITCHEN, River turned and cupped my face gently in his palm.

“Are you okay?” He asked in a soft voice, the one he only ever used when we were alone.

“I'm fine, but what the hell was that? The way Cole just reacted was…” I trailed off, at a loss for words. It was weird. Downright weird.

“I have no idea,” he muttered, “but I think until he and Dragomir sort their issues out, it would be best for you to give them both a bit of a wide berth. Or at least try not to be caught alone with either of them. The shit that they both went through as kids, it tends to leave some pretty heavy mental scars. But you know that better than me.” His golden eyes seemed to fill with sadness. I wanted to reassure him, but my words were cut short by the kitchen door opening behind me.

“Guys, we’d better head out if we want to be gone before the Director arrives,” Wesley advised as he approached us. “Will you tell us later why you don't want him to know where we are going?”

“Later,” I agreed, jerking a quick nod. “So what's the plan?”

30

As it turned out, the plan was to charter a private plane using River's personal accounts so that it wouldn't be flagged with Omega. My reasons for not wanting to tell Jonathan where we were going were simple. He was acting really strange, and my gut told me something was up. Thankfully, the guys took me at my word and didn't press any further on it.

Things between Vali and Cole had simmered to an uncomfortable stalemate, but at least they weren't trying to kill one another… yet. After Cole's odd reaction at the safe house, he had remained very quiet and had barely said five words the whole way to the air field.

As we boarded the luxurious Cessna, he snagged my hand, pulling me gently back from the other guys.

“Vixen, about earlier…” he said quietly, not meeting my eyes. “I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to act like such a caveman; Vali just seriously gets under my skin.”

“Hey.” I placed my hand on his cheek, bringing his deep gray eyes up to mine. “Don't worry about it. It was just a bit of an extreme reaction, and it had us worried. I can't help but wonder if it's got something to do with that healing…”

Cole shrugged. “Maybe? Or it could just be my fucking asshole brother getting to me. I'm not always… I mean, it took a really long time to work through everything. With my father, my mother's death… him. Sometimes it just sends me to a dark place.”

“Cole, you don't need to explain. To me of all people. Trust me when I say I understand.” My gaze held his for a moment longer, then I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and took his hand to continue the rest of the way inside the plane.

We settled in for the six hour flight to Anchorage, from where we would then need to take a sea plane to reach the little fishing village that our possible lead was located within. It was a small aircraft, set out with only eight wide recliner chairs and a bathroom, as well as all the normal facilities. Deciding to steer clear of any more conflicts, I sat towards the back of the plane in an armchair opposite Wesley, and he pulled out a deck of cards.

At my curious head tilt, he smiled. “You want to play Go Fish?”

I snorted a loud laugh at his game of choice but nodded and held out my hand for the cards he was counting.

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered as I browsed through the hand I had been dealt. Wesley pulled out a tray table to set the remaining deck on, then sat back, getting comfortable in his seat. “Do you have any twos?”

“Go fish!” He grinned, meeting my amused gaze as I took a card from the deck. “Why ridiculous? I always play cards on long flights. Any tens?”

I scowled, then handed over the ten I'd just picked up. “It's ridiculous because people keep kidnapping me, trying to kill all of us, magic is real, and we are on our way for burgers and beer with a supposed real life shapeshifter. And we are playing Go Fish.”

“Do you have any fives?” he asked, and I shook my head with a smile, pointing to the deck. “What makes you think it's a shapeshifter we are going to meet? Mr. Gregoric only said this guy was a Supe didn't he?”

“Supe?” I queried, and he shrugged one shoulder.

“Supernatural has too many syllables, and I feel like it’s probably a word we are going to be using a lot, so I shortened it.” He shuffled his cards around again.

“Fair enough. You’re right; I don't know why I just assumed that. I think maybe because I am around ninety percent sure that Mr. Gregoric, or N or whatever we should be calling him, was the fox that had been lurking around CFA.” I inspected my cards once more. “Queen?”

Wesley sighed and handed me his queen to make a pair. “Yeah, I see how you came to that conclusion. So you figure he's probably sending you to meet other shifters?”

Chewing the edge of my fingernail, I nodded. “That could be totally wrong though; it is just an assumption.”

“It's a good one. I guess we will find out soon.” Wesley glanced up as the little seatbelt light flicked off. “Hey, bro.”

“What are you guys playing?” Caleb asked, having gotten up from his seat to come join us.

“Go fish.” I grinned. “Want to play?”

“Sweet, deal me in!” He looked around for somewhere to sit, then realized the empty seat across the aisle would be too far away. “Kitty Kat, hop up.” Doing as directed, he slid into my seat then pulled me back down onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me to take the cards Wesley was offering him.

“Don't cheat,” I warned him. “I'll know.”

Caleb's eyes widened in mock outrage, and I tucked my cards closer to my chest to prevent him from seeing them.

“So what are we hoping to learn from this guy in Alaska anyway? If we can even get in touch with him,” Caleb asked, having obviously overheard our conversation.

“We will find him,” Wesley informed us confidently, “even if we do have to hang out in his little town for another couple of weeks until he comes home.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that, though. I still want to track down Mr. Gray and put him out of commission before he can try another attempt on my life. I have a feeling that car bomb was him.” I frowned, thinking that through. “But that doesn't make sense, does it? He wants me alive… What fun would it be to have me killed with a car bomb, of all things? It's not his style…”

“No it seems more like whoever orchestrated that attack was testing your ability to heal. Otherwise why delay emergency services and hang around to take pictures?” Wesley pondered aloud.

“You're right,” Caleb agreed. “Are we thinking this was probably one of these other interested parties that Dupree was crowing about?”

“Sounds more plausible, don't you think, Kit?” Wesley tapped my leg with his toe, bringing my attention back to him. While they’d spoken, I had been staring out the window, listening to their thoughts and running the information through my head, trying to make sense of it.

“It does,” I murmured. “I'm going to get some water. Do you guys want anything?” They both shook their heads, and I hopped up from Caleb's lap, heading back towards the front of the plane to where the galley was located.

As I passed where the other guys were sitting, the aircraft hit a sudden patch of turbulence. Losing my balance at the unexpected bump, I was thrown head first into Vali's lap. Again.

“Well, this is becoming something of a habit now. I told you there was no need to throw yourself at me, draga. You just need to ask…” Vali's velvety voice was threaded with amusement as I tried to rescue my face from his lap.

Seriously, of all the people to fall on top of in this plane!

The aircraft bumped and dropped again, forcing me to catch my balance on his broad shoulders while his huge hands clasped my waist. The little seatbelt light dinged on, and our pilot's voice came over the speakers.

“We are experiencing some unexpected turbulence. Please remain seated until advised otherwise.”

“Better stay put then, draga.” Vali chuckled, turning me to sit sideways on his lap while I blushed furiously. From across the aisle, a low growl started up in Cole's chest once more.

“Stop. Calling her that,” Cole demanded in a low, booming voice that drew everyone's attention. “She is not your draga.”

Hesitantly, I looked between the two of them. “I feel like I'm missing something here. What does it even mean?”

Vali smirked, and I could see him gearing up to antagonize his brother. “It simply means darling or sweetheart. Andrei is just upset that you don't seem to mind it. You don't mind it, do you… draga?” This last bit was delivered with a challenging glare at Cole, who was clenching the arms of his seat so hard I thought they might snap off at any second.

“Andrei?” I frowned. “Is that your real name, Cole?”

“My name is Cole. Andrei is dead.” His voice was like ice, and the lines of his shoulders were bunched with tension.

For a moment no one spoke, until Vali, the fucking shithead, decided to escalate the situation by brushing my hair back over my shoulder and pressing a light kiss to my neck. The sound that came from Cole could have been described as nothing short of a roar, and a thin layer of ice seemed to envelop the seat he was in. His breath was coming in short, sharp gasps, his eyes unfocused as the temperature inside the small aircraft plummeted to Arctic levels.

“Shit,” Vali swore before any of the rest of us could recover our senses. “Did someone say something about you healing Andrei recently?”

“Uh, yeah, yesterday. Why? What the hell is happening?” I responded, eyes wide with panic as my breath fogged in front of my face.

“This is sort of what I have been trying to talk to you about. Ugh, we don't have time to explain. You need to calm him the fuck down, or we are all most likely going to die,” Vali told me in a tense voice, pushing me up off his lap and into the aisle.

“What?” I exclaimed.

“Cole, mate!” River barked, leaning forward but stopping just shy of touching him. Probably a wise move, given how frigid the air was around him.

“I doubt he can hear you,” Vali suggested. “If anyone can get through to him, it'll be Kit.”

“And if I can't?” I demanded, trying really hard not to freak the fuck out. Cole's exposed forearms were almost glistening, as though they were coated in scales or something.

“Well then this plane is not likely to reach the ground all in one piece. So I really, really hope you can.” The thread of panic in Vali's usually so calm voice had me stressing out even more.

“You can do it, Kitty Kat,” Caleb encouraged. He and the other guys were all crowded around now, and as the turbulence hit once more, everyone was thrown a little off balance. Except Cole, who sat stock still, his gaze distant and the frost spreading slowly from under his hands.

“Okay, um.” I hesitated. What the hell was I supposed to do? He wasn't responding to anyone!

“Touch him or something, princess,” Austin suggested in a tight voice. “At least try something. I would really prefer not to die in a plane crash, and I seriously doubt your ability to heal all of us before we actually died for real.”

Taking a deep breath, I did as Austin suggested, crouching down to kneel on the floor between Cole's spread legs and tentatively placing a hand over his. The cold bit into my skin instantly, but I didn't pull away. I had endured much worse pain in my life, and his eyes had flickered ever so slightly when I’d touched him.

Up close, I was able to see clearer that it was scales coating his forearms and hands. They were all shades of blues and greens and appeared and disappeared sporadically, sometimes just leaving cold human skin and others totally engulfing his arms. Under my hand I could feel the transitions sliding in and out, and the sensation creeped me out in a big way.

“Cole, hey,” I said in a soothing voice. “Can you hear me? It's Kit…” I grasped onto his hand a little more firmly, and was rewarded with a slow blink.

“Hi there, big guy.” Smiling, I tried to meet his eyes, but they were still unfocused. His jaw was clenched so hard it looked like he was about to break his teeth, so I sat up higher on my knees and slid one hand along his jaw.

“What's going on, Cole?” I murmured, hopefully loud enough for him to hear. “You're kind of scaring us here.” At this, he blinked a couple more times and focused on my face. He blinked again, and this time when he opened his lids I had to suck back a startled gasp.

The beautiful granite gray color of his iris had bled out, eradicating any trace of white and filling the space with gray. His pupils had stretched and narrowed to slits, giving an effect not unlike a reptile's eyes.

“Hon, you're really freaking me out now. Can you tell me what's going on?” I pleaded, shuffling in closer on my knees and running my hands over his skin. The contact seemed to be helping him because the more I touched his skin, er, scales the more he seemed to regain his wits.

“Vixen?” he murmured, frowning at me in confusion with his unnatural, reptile eyes. “Why am I so cold?”

A startled laugh snorted out of me at his question; I had always been a nervous laugher. “Um, that's kind of what I was wondering too…” My breath was fogging in front of me, and I could feel myself beginning to shake.

“Keep contact with him,” River said quietly from somewhere close by. “It's helping.”

Nodding my agreement, I shuffled closer to Cole, then gave up and climbed into his seat, straddling his waist and facing him from inches away. His whole body was like one giant ice cube, and the cold radiating into me where my butt was resting in his lap was making me shiver hard.

“Talk to me, big guy,” I urged, my teeth chattering as I held his cheek in one hand to maintain his eye contact. “What's going on? How can I help?”

“You're so warm,” he murmured, with a confused frown. “Why am I so cold? One minute I was feeling this… insane, out of control rage and then the next it felt like I had been dipped in Antarctic waters.” As he spoke, his words came out clearer and stronger, but his body began trembling uncontrollably. “You feel really warm though…” He picked his hands up from the arm rests where they had been resting, half frozen and covered in scales. When he lifted them, there was a loud cracking noise, and shards of ice dropped to the floor.

“What the hell?” he exclaimed, looking at his arms with wide eyes.

“No idea.” I shrugged unhelpfully. “But warming you up seems to be helping…” Already the scales seemed to be fading and not coming back anywhere near as quickly as before.

He nodded hesitantly, and I could read the panic on his face as he tightened his arms around me. Rightly so, too. Fuck, even I'm freaking out right now, and it's not happening to me!

Cuddling into his freezing body, I laid my face on his neck. Given how achingly cold his skin was, my own must feel like fire in comparison, but the long sigh he gusted out told me it was a good thing.

After only a few moments, my cheek was numb with cold, so I shifted my face to lay the other side against his skin, and he hissed at the initial contact. His body was still trembling with shivers but gradually slowed as I snuggled into him like a koala bear.

I had no idea how long we had sat like that when his shaking finally ceased all together and his temperature felt almost normal again. Pulling back, I grabbed his face in my hands to bring his eyes to mine.

“Thank fuck for that,” I whispered, seeing his eyes totally back to normal again. Releasing his face, I picked up one of his arms to check for scales.

“Anything?” he asked, inspecting his other arm carefully.

“All clear, I think,” I released his arm and sat back on his knees. “So um… what the fuck was that?”

“I wish I knew,” he muttered, his face pale and his eyes a bit wider than usual.

“I know,” Vali chimed in, and both Cole and I looked over the aisle at him. The rest of the team was still gathered around us, and the carpet was soaking with melted ice.

“Now is hardly the time for keeping secrets, Dragomir,” River snapped, his usual controlled demeanor fraying around the edges as he glowered at the Romanian.

Vali flicked his gaze across all of the guys, pausing on Cole then resting on me last. He held my gaze steadily as he responded.

“Apparently, as a little bonus to you saving my life when I got shot, you’ve also somehow turned me into a dragon. And by the looks of things, Andrei too.” His words seemed to hang in the air as everyone simply stared at him.

“Sorry, I could have sworn you just said dragon.” Caleb was the first to recover, squinting at Vali as though he was considering a hearing aid.

“I did.” Vali was still holding my gaze as he raised an eyebrow. “After you left Nevada, I entered into a somewhat heated debate with that vile old bastard who calls himself my father. The next thing I knew, my bedroom was halfway destroyed when I shifted into a dragon the size of a fucking semi-trailer.” My jaw dropped slightly open at this revelation, but I was at a total loss for words. What the hell does one say to that?

“Fuck,” I whispered, for lack of anything better.

“And yet, despite you all looking a little surprised, none of you look anywhere near as shocked as I was.” Vali raised his eyebrows at me in a bit of an accusatory fashion, which was entirely warranted. “So now that my little brother is no longer in danger of ripping this aircraft to bits like it was made of paper, do you think maybe you can catch me up to speed with what the hell you’ve done to us?”

Sliding off Cole’s lap, I half staggered, half fell into the empty seat opposite Vali. My knees were weak, and it had nothing to do with the biting cold that had so recently seeped into my bones. I puffed out a long breath, nervously twisting my hair over my shoulder while I thought about where the hell to begin. A sick, guilty feeling was churning in my gut as I thought about the consequences of my actions. Yes, I had saved both Cole’s and Vali’s lives. But at what cost?

“Caleb, I could probably go for some more vodka right now.” I was only about thirty percent joking. My world was getting crazier by the second.

Vali deserved some answers though, so I had better suck it up for now.

Sitting forward, I sighed. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning…”

31

Seagulls screamed far too close to my ears as we stepped off our seaplane and onto the docks at Harrow, Alaska. The pilot of the small aircraft had barely spoken two words to us during the entire flight from Anchorage, and as we made our way up the dock, he took off again as if he were being chased by wolves.

“Well, he was friendly,” Caleb joked quietly as he took my hand to help me across a broken board. “Anyone would think we all smelled bad or something.”

“I don’t think it was us,” Wesley commented. “He seemed more worried about this town. River had to pay him three times his usual fee to bring us here.”

My mouth gaped open at this news. What could possibly cause that sort of reaction?

Making a quick mental note to pay River back when that was all over, if we were alive, I sped up a little to catch his hand.

“You okay, love?” River asked, his sexy accent on that endearment making my heart flutter like I was a schoolgirl with a crush.

“Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you for funding this little expedition. I would have suggested we use the Omega jet, but I just had a bit of a gut feeling that we needed to keep our movements to ourselves for a bit, at least until we know who is trying to kill us.” I scanned our surroundings as we approached the shops facing the wharf. It seemed eerily quiet, like the whole town had been abandoned or all the residents were hiding.

“It’s my pleasure, Kitten,” he replied, dropping his voice low so as not to be overheard by the other guys walking loosely spaced around us. “But if you really feel so inclined, you’re welcome to show me your appreciation later…” One corner of his mouth twitched up, and the heated look in his eyes left no doubt as to what he meant.

“I may just do that… sir.” I grinned back at him and was rewarded by a quiet moan in his throat.

“All right, are we splitting up?” Austin asked in a loud voice, pulling everyone’s attention. “It’s fucking freezing and I’d rather we not fuck around any more than what’s necessary.”

During the remainder of our flight from New York, after we’d filled Vali in on everything we knew this far and after we’d all recovered from the fact that my new found healing magic had turned both Cole and Vali into dragon shifters, we had discussed a brief plan of attack. We knew that our contact, whoever he was, wouldn’t be back for another few weeks. The goal now was to either get some sort of contact details for him so we could at least call him, or possibly to find someone else in this town who might also have the answers we were seeking.

Entirely based on hope and assumption, I was determined that if this guy really was a shifter, and my gut told me that he was, then there could possibly be others like him living here too. Animals tended to live and travel in packs after all, so hopefully shifters would do the same.

“Agreed,” I said, raising my voice a little to be heard over the icy wind, which had just picked up. “Wes and I are going to go talk to the neighbors; between the five of you, can you sort us out somewhere to stay and also speak with some locals?”

“How come just you and Wes?” Caleb questioned, frowning.

“Because we are clearly the least threatening of the group.” I raised an eyebrow at the five of them. All standing firmly over six feet tall with broad shoulders and dangerous good looks, they were the picture of intimidation. Not that Wesley was any less handsome, in his own way, but he just lacked the air of aggression and danger that the other five vibrated with.

“Great, thanks, princess. Leave us to deal with these drama queens,” Austin muttered, but I know I hadn't just imagined the small smile crossing his lips.

Neither Vali nor Cole had spoken much since the flight, and I didn't blame them. Cole had just halfway shifted into a fucking reptile, and Vali had just been dumped with information on magical plagues and power plots and hidden wars. It was a lot to take in, even for those of us who had been living it for months, so I could only imagine how scrambled his brain must be.

“Yep.” I stepped over to the silent, imposing brothers who, for the first time, were actually standing close to one another. “Are you two going to be okay?”

Vali quirked a small, flirtatious grin at me. “Are you worried we are going to kill each other or have a mental breakdown?”

“Uh,” I hesitated. “Both?”

“We'll be fine, Vixen,” Cole assured me, his face still a little pale and his eyes hard. “Go with Wesley; he will take care of you while we sort out somewhere to stay. River and the twins can speak with the townspeople. Vali and I probably shouldn't interact with the public just yet.”

Vali raised a surprised eyebrow at his brother, then gave me a tight nod. I had a bad feeling about how this was all going to play out but couldn't see any better solutions, so I quickly gave them both a kiss on the cheek, then grabbed Wesley's hand and tugged him away from the group.

“You know they're probably going to kill each other, right?” Wesley chuckled as we walked hand in hand down the street towards the address Mr. Gregoric had given me. Fuck, so much had happened since that night it felt like it was a year ago, but it hadn’t even been three months.

“Probably, but I figure they need to work it out themselves.” I smiled at him. “They're big kids, right? And worst-case scenario, I can probably heal them again. Surely I can't do much more damage than what's already done?”

“Sweetheart…” Wesley said softly, pulling me to stop so he could look at me. “You're not feeling guilty about what's happening to them, are you?”

Staring down at my shoes, I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. We had done a quick clothing restock at the shops in Anchorage before boarding the seaplane, thank God; otherwise I would have been freezing my tits off.

“Well, it is my fault. I turned them into fucking dragons, Wes.” My toe kicked at a particularly interesting crack in the ground. Nearby, a motorbike engine kicked over, and I faked a bit of curiosity looking for it.

“Hey.” Wesley tapped my chin to raise my face back up to his. “You saved their lives. I am positive, beyond shadow of doubt, that they'd prefer to be alive and a little scaly over human and dead.” His description made me smile, and his own lips pulled up in a grin, his clear blue eyes laughing behind his glasses.

“It's going to take a little more to convince me, but I do see your point,” I admitted, and his hand slid up to cup my cheek, his fingertips resting on the soft skin behind my ear.

“I'm glad,” he smirked. “I like it when you see my point.” My eyebrows shot up, and I snickered a quick laugh, to which he blushed furiously. “That's not what I meant. Oh God, that sounded dirty, didn't it?” My grin spread wider, and his thumb caressed my lower lip. “You have a grubby mind, sweetheart…”

“If only you knew the half of it,” I whispered, my tongue flicking out to touch his thumb in a teasing lick. He gave a pained groan then dipped his face in close to mine, pausing when he was just a fraction of an inch away. Warm breath fanned across my lips, and my heart was galloping so fast it was like a runaway thoroughbred.

“Hey! Who the hell are you?” an angry voice yelled at us, and we broke apart like guilty teenagers. A red-faced man in faded overalls was stalking towards us from across the road while he wiped his grease-covered hands on a rag.

“Oh, hi!” I called back, pasting a friendly smile on my face.

“I asked you who the hell you are.” The man glowered, stopping in front of us. The embroidery on his jumpsuit indicated his name was Frank, and based on the grease stains, he had likely just come out of the mechanic’s garage opposite us.

“We are just visiting,” Wesley answered with a friendly smile of his own. “We are heading to see someone at”—he fished a slip of paper out of his pocket with the address on it—“sixteen Coalstream Lane?”

Frank eyed us both with suspicion. “What the hell do you want with Vic? He's not here. Won’t be back for two weeks or more.”

“Vic? That's who lives at this address?” I blurted, smooth as ever. As if that didn't make me seem suspicious.

“What are you two doing with Vic's address if you don't know him?” Frank's eyes narrowed at us in anger. “We don't take too kindly to strangers around these parts.”

“Someone gave it to us and said Vic might be able to help me with some answers,” I replied, chewing my lip nervously. This guy obviously knew Vic, which wasn't so shocking given how small this town looked, so maybe he could put us in touch with him?

Frank snorted a humorless laugh. “Answers, eh? That's one thing Vic can give you for sure. Who was this 'someone' who sent you here, anyway?”

Wesley's hand tightened around mine for a second, and we exchanged a glance. He seemed to be warning me not to say too much, but the whole point of this trip to Alaska was to find information, wasn't it?

“We knew him as Mr. Gregoric, but he said to say that 'N' sent us…” As I said this, Frank’s bushy eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared into his floppy hair.

“N?” He clarified, “Just the letter?”

Wesley nodded. “Yeah, just the letter. You know him?”

A strange look passed over the man's face but was gone faster than I could catch what it was. He nodded sharply and tucked his greasy rag into his pocket.

“You need to come with me.” His tone accepted no arguments; his gaze was rock hard and uncompromising.

“Umm,” I glanced at Wesley in question, but he just shrugged. This was what we’d come here for, after all. “Sure…”

Frank jerked his head in the direction we had been going, indicating we were to follow him.

“I’ll text the guys and let them know what we’re doing,” Wesley whispered to me, and I nodded in agreement. Better safe than sorry.

“So, you know who this ‘N’ is?” I attempted to engage Frank in conversation as we walked but may as well have spoken Japanese for all the reaction I got out of him.

“Hey, buddy,” Wesley tried. “We came here for answers, so anything you might be able to tell us would be great.”

Frank cast a look over his shoulder at us that suggested we were morons but said nothing and continued leading the way down the street.

“Is this guy giving you a bad feeling at all, sweetheart?” Wesley asked me quietly, and I considered this.

“I think this whole town is giving me a bad feeling, to be honest. Ever since we got on that seaplane, I’ve been feeling anxious.” I rubbed at my arms, trying to squash the gooseflesh that had taken up residence the moment we’d boarded the small aircraft. “Let’s just… stay alert.”

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Frank stopped us outside a friendly-looking cottage. The gardens were meticulously manicured and lush, despite the dusting of snow over everything, and the front porch held a well-worn rocking chair.

Frank rapped on the door a couple of times before calling out, “Granny Winter?”

Granny Winter? I mouthed to Wesley, and he gave me a confused headshake. At least it sounded like a considerably less threatening situation we were walking into if it was an old lady Frank had brought us to.

“Frank? Shouldn't you be at work?” an old lady’s voice called back, and the sound of her footsteps reached us as she approached the door. Opening it, she blinked at us a couple of times, and I pasted on my very best friendly smile. The last thing we needed was for these people to think we were some sort of threat.

“You…” she breathed, staring at me with wide eyes. She had to be in her seventies, with snow white hair and a heavily lined face. Her milky blue eyes were glued to my face, and her lip curled up in… anger? Why would she be angry?

“You… how dare you show your face back here?” Her voice shook as she hissed the words at me, loaded with venom.

“Um… sorry?” I looked over my shoulder. Maybe there was someone standing behind me? Nope, no one there. “I think maybe you've mistaken me for someone else?”

The old woman laughed bitterly. “I would never forget that face. Oh, but you're going to regret coming back to Harrow, you demon. Frank, get her into the cage. I'm calling a meeting.”

“Woah, what the hell?” I backed up a step, my hands raised defensively. “Lady, I don't know you. I've never even been to this town before!”

Frank stepped towards me, his hand outstretched to grab my arm, but Wesley swatted it away from me.

“Don't touch her,” he warned in a threatening voice, which was exceedingly hot at a totally inappropriate time to be getting turned on.

Frank barely even acknowledged Wesley before raising his fist to hit him, which, incredibly, Wesley managed to dodge. Enraged now, Frank swung again, and I jumped back out of the way to give Wes some space to move. It was a short-lived fight though, as Frank clipped Wesley’s shoulder, making him stumble, then smacked him hard across the face, sending him flying across the porch, where he landed in an unconscious heap.

“What the fuck?” I screamed, attempting to run to Wesley, but Frank’s thick, greasy hand clamped around my arm, yanking me back.

“Do not mess with me.” I snarled, rounding on Frank, the first and only warning I would give him, but his grip was way firmer than any normal human’s would be. Experimentally, I pulled hard to break his grasp, but he held firm.

Well, that answers my theory about there being other supernaturals in this town.

Sizing him up, I was confident I could take him on, but two more rough-looking men appeared behind Granny Winter.

Shit. Chances were, they were also supernatural, and therefore I was screwed.

“Come on,” Frank snapped. “Don't make us hurt your boyfriend any more than necessary.”

Grudgingly, I allowed him to escort me into the house while keeping one eye on Wesley's unconscious form. One of the other men picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of rice, then stomping on Wesley’s phone when it dropped from his pocket.

Inside Granny Winter's friendly-looking home, I was roughly patted down for my phone, then directed to some stairs off the kitchen and down into a dark, spacious basement where several cages were set up. The bars were thick and cemented into the floor to prevent even someone of supernatural strength from ripping them out. Frank shoved me roughly into one of the cages; then his buddy tossed Wesley in with me. As the cage door clanged shut, Granny Winter's sneering face popped up in front of me. She was a tiny woman, no more than five-foot-three, but she clearly held a lot of power in this town.

“I can't believe my luck,” she crowed, licking her wrinkled lips in delight. “After all these years, I can finally get my revenge for the things you've done, you whore.”

“Listen, old lady,” I tried again, “you've clearly got me mixed up with someone else. I have never met you before in my life, and I've certainly never done anything to deserve this sort of reaction. We were sent here by N to speak with Vic. That's all.”

She laughed a hollow, humorless sound. “The fact that you think I will believe that is pathetic. Don't you worry, though, I am not as cruel as you. I'll give you a fighting chance.” One of the men received a text message, then showed it to Granny. “Well, you enjoy your last moments here while I speak with the pack and arrange your execution. You won't be getting away this time, Bridget.”

“Wait!” I screamed as she turned away and began climbing the stairs. She was surprisingly quick for such an old lady. “I'm not Bridget! You've got the wrong person!”

No reply came, except for the slamming of the door at the top of the stairs.

“Shit!” I swore, looking around at my surroundings. “Shit!” It was the sort of situation that deserved a double swearing. Because we were fucked. How the hell was I going to convince this crazy old bat that I wasn't Bridget? By all accounts, I was the mirror image of my mother, and if she truly was immortal, then it was entirely plausible that we would look the same age. Fucking hell. Whatever Bridget had done to this woman, it wasn't good. And now, it seemed, I would be the one paying for it.

A low groan came from Wesley, and I crouched beside him, running my hand over his hair gently.

“Hey, Wes, it's okay. Just me,” I whispered as he slowly regained consciousness and pushed up on his hands.

“Kit, what the hell just happened?” he demanded, rightfully confused as fuck. Poor guy had a split on his cheek and a huge red welt where he'd been hit. It was going to come up in a seriously impressive bruise the next day. If we were still alive.

“Turns out they think I'm Bridget, and they seriously hate her. The old bitch said something about going to arrange my execution…” I tried not to sound worried, but fucking hell, that woman just used the word 'execution' like it was a totally normal afternoon activity!

“What?” he exclaimed, sitting up the rest of the way sharply then wincing as his head undoubtedly pounded from the hit he'd just taken. “Sweetheart, that doesn't sound good… Why didn't you use your abilities and run while we were still outside?”

“And leave you?” I smiled faintly at him. “Don't be ridiculous, Wes. I couldn't do that. We just need to hope the guys will find us and get us out of here because these cages look like they're designed to counter superstrength.”

Wesley groaned and rubbed his face. “Yeah, I figured they might be supernatural when Mechanic-Frank just knocked me out with a backhand. Hopefully the guys don't get taken off guard.”

As if on cue, the door to the stairs banged open once more, and several sets of heavy footsteps clattered down. Five very angry-looking men were directed into the next cage, and the door slammed behind them before the rough locals retreated back up the stairs.

“Nice of you all to join us,” Wesley joked, and I snorted a laugh then covered it with a cough.

“Nice face, Wes,” Austin glowered. “You walk into a wall or something?”

“Or something,” Wesley muttered back, frowning unhappily, and I took his hand, squeezing lightly to show that I didn't blame him for this situation.

“Where did they find you all?” I asked as they took up spots against the walls or bars of their cage.

“The twins and I went down to the post office to ask around about that address. We found out that a guy named Victor lives there, but before we could ask anything else, the girl we were talking to got a text. Next thing we knew, we were surrounded by guys with your sort of strength,” River reported, coming to stand at the bars separating our two cages. “Any idea what's going on?”

“Hmm yeah,” I grimaced. “The old bitch that seems to be in charge thinks I'm Bridget.”

“Okay…” He frowned. “And that's clearly not a good thing?”

“Definitely not. She said something about arranging my execution so…” I shrugged, then caught sight of Vali's face.

“Jesus, what happened to you two?” I exclaimed, noticing bruises on Cole as well. Vali looked worse, though, with a black eye already so swollen it was almost closing the lid completely.

“Nothing,” Vali muttered, and Cole met my panicked gaze.

“Just had to work some shit out,” Cole contributed, and I clicked on that their injuries had nothing to do with these crazy townspeople detaining them.

“I see.” I squinted at the two of them in warning. “Well, it had better be out of your systems. We have too much other shit on our plates to be dealing with infighting as well.”

“Speaking of that other shit,” River redirected my attention, “run me through everything that's happened so far. What exactly did this woman say to you?”

Word for word, I repeated what had been said. Luckily my short-term memory retained the conversation in its entirety because I had totally missed the clue she had dropped.

“'A fighting chance', that's what she said?” River clarified and looked over at Cole when I nodded my confirmation.

“Sounds like she's going to make you fight someone,” he murmured, drumming his fingers on his knee while he thought out loud. “Which means she's giving you an opportunity to survive.”

“What if she makes you guys fight someone?” I questioned, chewing my lip so hard it was bleeding a little. “There are definitely supernaturals in this town, and no offense to you all, but you probably won’t stand a chance.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kitty Kat.” Caleb snorted, and I smiled at him.

“You know what I mean, Cal.” I sighed, rolling my eyes, and he grinned back at me.

“Yeah, yeah, I know us mere humans wouldn't have much luck in an arena with supernaturals,” he agreed, “but Cole and Vali are no longer human, are they?”

“That's a good point,” Wesley said. “Have you guys noticed any increased strength or speed or whatnot?”

The two of them both grimaced, but Vali responded. “Yes.”

We all waited for elaboration, but when none came, we moved on. Clearly it was something to do with them “working things out.”

“Okay. So we're in agreement that it sounds like my 'execution' is actually to fight someone, and most probably a shifter or something, yes?” I clarified, and the guys all nodded. “So, the question is, if I win—”

“When,” Cole growled.

I gave him a small smile. “When I win, how the fuck do we convince them I'm not Bridget?”

For a moment, no one replied.

“We can cross that bridge when we come to it, love,” River assured me, and I dropped my head to rest on my knees.

From above us, the muffled sounds of feet and voices trickled down, which made sense. Granny Winter had said something about calling a meeting, so they were probably all here to discuss our fate. Whatever it ended up being, I just prayed the guys would make it out safely.

Before long, the door to the stairs slammed open once more, and the slow, lighter footsteps of the old woman came down, followed by several heavier pairs.

“Well, Bridget, I should have known you'd bring your own little harem to town with you. Not that they'll be in any position to save you, considering my boys tell me most of them are still human.” She leered at me with a victorious grin pulling at her wrinkled face. “What have you done with the others? Or did you get sick of them too?”

“Listen, you crazy fucking bitch,” I snapped, standing up to grasp the bars, “I am not Bridget. What part of that do you not understand?”

“Oh please,” she cackled. “I've fallen for your bullshit too many times, Bride. I will not fall for it again now. No, I told you twenty-three fucking years ago that if I ever saw your face again, I would get my revenge.”

“Wait, what?” I was even more confused. “Bridget was incarcerated at Blood Moon twenty-three years ago.” Or was that just after she had escaped?

The old woman gave me a withering glare, and it was clear she wasn't going to answer me. “The arena is being set up as we speak. You'll get your fair opportunity to win your freedom, but I wouldn't bother trying if I were you. You've been gone from Victor for far too long to still have his strength, and I don't see either Nicholai or Lachlan with you. Unless you've managed to bond with any of these children, you're on your own.” She smiled smugly. “And we both know if you could bond more than three men, you'd have done it a long time ago.”

“What the actual fuck are you talking about? Who the hell are Nicholai and Lachlan? What do you mean bonding? I don't know how many times I can tell you, I'm not Bridget!”

My brain felt like it was imploding. This woman held so much information about my mother and about her, or my, powers. Why couldn't I make her believe I wasn't my mother?

“Ma'am,” River started, “this isn't Bridget—”

“Do not speak to me, child,” she hissed, turning her furious glare on River. “I may look old, but I am no fool. This is Bridget, and she will pay for what she did to my boy.” She waved a gnarled hand at the men who had followed her down the stairs.

“Take them all out to the arena, but make sure you bind the big ones.” She pointed to Cole and Vali. “Tommy said they were changed, but he wasn't sure what species. Better safe than sorry.”

The door to the cage the boys were in was thrown open, and a small scuffle broke out between my guys and the locals.

“Stop!” I screamed, and they all immediately froze. Even Austin. “Just go with them; I don't need you guys suffering because of me. Again. Just… do what they want, and maybe they'll let you go.” I arched an eyebrow at Granny Winter in question, and she just shrugged, the bitch.

The boys did as I said, though—even Cole and Vali who had their wrists bound with heavy shackles while giving me pleading looks. Of course, I knew it was killing them to go against their natures, to let themselves be contained in such a way, but I would rather them be pissed at me than get hurt again.

“Aw, how sweet,” Granny crowed. “You always did keep your men on a short leash, Bride. I just hope Nicholai and Lachlan finally saw you for the evil whore you are and left before they got hurt.”

“Whatever,” I sighed. “You're totally delusional. Let's just get this over with.”

THE ARENA TURNED out to be just a wide open clearing deep into the woods behind Granny Winter's house. Snow had begun falling while we'd been locked in her cages, and the ground was dusted with white, showing up countless sets of footprints ahead of us. As we approached the “arena,” the owners of those footprints were waiting, scattered around the perimeter, watching.

“So, what are you all?” I asked, aiming to learn something that might aid in our eventual escape. “Shifters, right?” Granny Winter totally ignored my question, but the guy holding tight to my arm rolled his eyes like I was being a moron.

I glanced around at all the people gathered, and the first thing I noticed was the lack of anyone past the age of maybe thirty-five. Other than Granny Winter, there were only a handful of people showing any signs of aging, and out of close to a hundred gathered spectators, it was a noticeable discrepancy.

A beautiful girl, around my age or a little older, stalked towards us from across the arena. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face in a severe ponytail, and the scowl on her face made her high cheekbones stand out sharply. She was dressed head to toe in leather. Tight leather pants were tucked into absurdly impractical high-heeled boots, and a cropped biker jacket was open over what looked to be some sort of corset.

“Don't I know you?” I frowned as she came closer, and a smug grin pulled at her lips.

“You should,” she sneered. “You probably still carry scars from me on your side.”

My mind flashed back to our escape from Blood Moon and the fight I'd had with the bitch that shot me then clawed me up. The wounds had taken an unusually long time to heal, but they had, and no marks remained.

“Nope, no scars here.” I smirked, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

“Well, no matter. Today I get to rip your head clean off your shoulders. Won't that be fun?” Her eyes lit up, and she looked genuinely excited by the idea. Psychotic bitch. She glanced past me to the guys. “And when I'm done killing you, maybe I'll have some fun with the friends you brought with you…”

She prowled over to them, looking them over like they were meat at the butchers, but I saw her face blanch and her step falter when she came within reach of Cole and Vali. Curiously, I wondered if she could sense they were bigger beasts than whatever she was. Passing by the two of them, she paused in front of River.

“This one,” she announced. “Granny, when I win, I want this one.”

“Fuck off,” River sneered, and I mentally cheered him.

“Why that one?” Granny asked the beautiful psychopath, and the girl leaned in close to River, dragging her nose up the side of his neck.

“He's one of us.” The crazy girl growled. I mean, literally growled. River met my eyes over the top of her head, and I gave him a tiny head shake. He clearly wanted to do something, but I needed them to stay out of it. They needed to stay safe.

“We can discuss it after Bridget is dead, Chesca,” Granny Winter snapped, and the brunette girl pouted like a petulant child.

“Get the prisoners over there so they don't miss any of the action,” Granny commanded her men. “Then throw Bride in the middle. She's to fight Chesca to the death.”

The dark haired girl grinned like a fucking lunatic and smacked a wet kiss on River’s neck. “I'll be seeing you soon, lover.”

River visibly shuddered in revulsion, and I smothered a smile as I pictured handing this chick her ass. I had beaten this chick before, in the halls of Blood Moon, so I could do it again. Glancing at the other guys, I could see the tension had dropped ever-so-slightly from them as well, as they must have come to the same conclusion.

“I don't know why you're so happy, Chesca,” I smirked. “This could quite easily be the death of you, too.”

Her confident grin faltered slightly, then pasted back into place. “Don't make me laugh; Granny Winter knows all about how your strength works, and without your bonded guardians, you're nothing more than a weak, pathetic little girl.” She tossed her ponytail and sauntered toward the arena, sliding out of her jacket and tossing it aside as she strutted like it was fashion week.

“Bride,” Granny Winter sneered when it was just the two of us and my guards left. “I wish I could say it was a pleasure knowing you, but it most certainly was not. I hope Chesca makes this painful for you and you rot in hell for all eternity.”

Without waiting for me to respond, she stalked into the arena as well, leaving my guards to drag me along behind her.

“Family!” Granny shouted, garnering the attention of everyone gathered. “A lot of you will remember Bridget from her stay with us some twenty-three years ago!” There was an angry rumbling in response, and I wondered what the fuck my mother had done to piss these people off so damn badly. “Well, now she gets what she deserves! As decided by your council of elders, she will fight our chosen warrior to the death.” A cheer went up from the surrounding spectators, and my palms started sweating. Even if I could survive this fight, how was I going to convince this angry mob that I was not my mother?

Granny Winter smirked at me once more as she backed out of the clearing then yelled out, “Begin!”

32

RIVER

It felt like my heart had momentarily stopped as that psychotic bitch, Chesca, launched herself at Kit. She moved so damn fast, and Kit wasn't even looking. My girl was still staring after the old lunatic who had been speaking, so she probably wouldn't even see the attack until it was too late. Just as my mouth dropped open to yell a warning, Kit just moved. We'd seen her use her superspeed a handful of times in the past few months, mostly in training, but it was nothing compared to the way she moved now. One second she was standing there, her back totally exposed to the crazy girl's incoming fist, and the next she was just a blur as she darted out of the way and reappeared some half-dozen yards from her opponent.

“Holy shit,” Caleb whispered from beside me, and I was inclined to agree with him.

“Come on, Vixen,” Cole muttered from behind me, his shackles clinking as he most-probably clenched and unclenched his fists. “Why isn't she attacking her back?”

Cole was right; Kit was standing well clear of the other girl, her hands raised as she spoke in a voice too quiet for any of us to hear. Chesca prowled closer to Kit, her hands morphing into lethal looking claws, and the fading afternoon light glinted off the tips, almost like they were made of metal. Kit lowered her hands cautiously, and the older girl darted across the short distance at a speed only fractionally slower than Kit's, her clawed hands extended. Kit ducked and twisted out of the way right at the last second, but one of Chesca's claws must have clipped her because she clasped a hand to her arm and I saw red well up from under it.

“Shit,” I swore. “Careless. Why is she being careless?” The careful control I kept over my raging emotions was cracking, and I could feel it testing the barriers.

“She thinks she can still talk reason into that crazy bitch,” Wesley suggested. “I think she probably doesn't want to have to kill someone based on a misunderstanding.”

“She'd better fight back soon, or we will intervene for her.” Cole's voice was quiet but loaded with menace.

“Damn right,” Vali grunted, agreeing with his brother.

Kit cried out, mostly in anger by the sounds of things, but it cracked my control just that little bit more, and I felt rage sweeping through my body as the frantic beast in my mind tried to take over. Closing my eyes, I took a couple of long, deliberate breaths to regain my balance and reinforce my mental cage. After the many years I had spent practicing control, I would not let it break now while Kit's life was in danger.

“Yes, that's it baby girl; hit that bitch.” Austin's words were muttered so softly under his breath that I doubt he even realized he's said them out loud. It made me bring my awareness back to the fight at hand, though.

Kit had obviously landed a few blows on her opponent, as the darker girl’s nose was streaming blood and she was favoring one leg just the slightest bit.

“Why isn't she healing?” I asked Wesley quietly, but he looked just as puzzled as I was. Thankfully though, our guards seemed to have relaxed a bit since the fight had begun, and it was one of them who answered me.

“It’s her claws,” he grunted. “When she was kept captive in that testing lab, they did all sorts of weird shit to her. One of them was that they coated her claws in a silver-iron alloy.”

“How does that stop Kit from healing, though?” I frowned, hoping this guy was willing to share his information while he was so focused on the fight in front of us.

The guy turned to look at me with a frown of his own. “Fuck, you really are human, aren't you? Figured those two would have known this, though. They're sure as fuck not human.” He jerked his head towards Cole and Vali, who glowered back at him.

A furious scream came from Chesca, dragging our attention back to the fight in the clearing for a moment. It looked like Kit had just snapped one of her wrists, as it was hanging useless by her side, as she cursed at my girl. A surge of pride rushed through me at seeing Kit get the upper hand, and I curved a grin hearing the boys around me mutter their own support.

“All, or at least most, shifters are allergic to silver. The majority of all other magic users are allergic to iron. By coating her claws in an alloy of the two, they made Chesca into a deadly weapon against her own kind. Only downside is that it has all but eliminated her own ability to heal herself like any normal shifter can,” the guy continued with his explanation. “So this should be an interesting fight. Come on, Chesca!” He screamed the last bit out in support of his pack member.

“That's it,” Cole whispered under his breath. “Stay clear of those claws, Vixen. Use her anger against her.”

Kit was dodging and weaving, for the most part just staying out of reach of the furious brunette whose swings were becoming angrier and therefore sloppier.

“You!” Granny Winter's gnarled old face popped up in front of me, her wrinkled finger jabbing into my chest. “Explain this.” She stabbed her pointer finger at Kit stalking carefully around Chesca, whose face was flushed bright red as she panted with what seemed like a mixture of anger and exhaustion.

“Explain what?” I replied, giving her a disdainful look. Sadistic old bitch.

“You told them to fight. It's hardly our fault that our girl is better than yours,” Cole added, stepping a fraction closer to my shoulder to glare down at the little woman.

“I hope you're not too close with this Chesca,” Austin smirked with a nasty look in his eye. “You did say this was to the death, didn't you?”

The old woman's face paled slightly, and her confidence faltered just a fraction before she visibly pulled herself back together.

“Explain why she still has shifter speed and strength. None of her guardians are here, and she hasn't even seen her strongest one for almost two decades. She should be weak! Why isn't she weak?” Spit was flying from her wrinkled lips as she raged, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see Kit land a heavy blow on Chesca's shoulder. The crack of something breaking echoed across the clearing, and several of the spectators sucked in a gasp.

“Look, crazypants,” Caleb snapped, his lip twitching with barely contained fury. “How many times do you need to be told that she is not Bridget. She's her daughter, Christina. None of us have ever even met Bridget, so she could already be dead for all we know.”

“He's right,” I agreed. “How much more is it going to take before you believe that you've got the wrong girl? Does she need to kill your psycho pet out there?”

From within the arena, there was an explosion of sound and movement as Chesca shifted into a huge, scruffy-looking gray wolf.

“Well, now we will see who kills whom,” Granny smirked, watching the wolf with pride. My attention was already gone from her though, my focus glued to the huge wolf prowling closer to my Kitten as she backed up.

My inner beast howled, desperate to defend her from this new threat. The muscles in my shoulders were bunched so tightly it felt like I was about to explode, but I knew we needed to stay put. If any of us intervened, it would create chaos. There were well over one hundred spectators around the perimeter of the arena, and if they were all shifters, then we would be lucky to make it out with our lives.

A low, menacing growl rumbled from behind me—either Cole or Vali—and I sensed they were just as tightly wound as I was.

The wolf pounced at Kit, and she held her ground, taking the huge animal's weight as it hit her and rolling when they smacked into the snow covered ground. For a moment, I couldn't see who had the upper hand. They rolled over and over, a ball of fur and snow and flaming copper hair as they fought for domination, until finally they came to a stop with my Kitten on top.

“Yes,” I breathed. “Finish it.”

Kit was on the wolf's back, her arms around its neck and her hands gripping its gaping jaws in an angle which could easily allow her to rip the animal’s head clean off.

“Stop!” A bellowing voice echoed across the clearing, and everyone seemed to freeze. “Christina, let her go. You're not killing her.”

“What the fuck…” Caleb muttered as Mr. Gregoric stepped out of the crowd of onlookers and into the arena.

Kit didn't move, not to finish Chesca off but also not to release her. Good girl.

“N,” she panted, raising her voice to be heard at the distance he was from her. “What makes you think I'll do anything you say? This slut would have killed me.”

“Don't be so dramatic.” He sounded like he had just rolled his eyes at her, which was probably not the wisest move given how furious she was.

“Fucking excuse me?” She hissed, and I fought back a grin. I loved when she got all fired up; it was ridiculously sexy. “Did you just call me dramatic? I was just told to fight to the fucking death”—she paused for dramatic effect; the irony was not lost on me—“with a goddamn, motherfucking werewolf. Who, I might add, is batshit crazy. But I must be the one being dramatic?”

It was so incredibly not the time, but fuck if my cock wasn't hardening a little at hearing her flay this guy with her words.

“Christina.” The former teacher sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. “Let her go, and step back. Where the hell is Annaliese anyway; how is she letting this happen?” He looked around the circle until he spotted Granny Winter and zeroed in on her.

“Don't you dare interfere in this, Nicholai.” The old woman scowled, straightening her spine and stalking forward into the arena as well. “She deserves to die, and you know it. She's brought nothing but pain to this town since the day she showed up, and I told you, I told you, that if I ever saw her again, I'd make her pay.” There was an emotional wobble in her voice which spoke of immeasurable pain and heartache caused by Kit's mother.

Mr. Gregoric stared at the old woman for a moment then, of all things, began laughing. “You let her think you were Bridget?” he asked Kit, a stupid grin across his face that I wanted to plow my fist straight into.

“I didn't let her think jack shit,” Kit snapped. “This stupid old crone wouldn't listen to me when I said I wasn't Bridget.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” the man groaned. “Kit, let Franny go, please. She won't try to kill you again, will you Franny?”

The wolf under Kit whimpered but did nothing to attack when Kit slowly released her killing hold on the wolf's head.

“Franny?” Caleb snickered from beside me, and one of our “guards” snorted a laugh as well.

“Her real name's Francesca, but she thinks ‘Chesca’ is more badass.” A few of the other men around us laughed quietly as well.

“Nicholai, I swear to God if you do not let Chesca finish her off—” the old woman started but was silenced by a snarl from Nicholai's throat.

Noticing everyone's attention was now on the arguing pair, I took a step into the arena and away from the man supposedly guarding me. When he made no move to stop me, I took a couple more steps. When still no one stopped me, I quickly crossed the space to where Kit stood, warily watching her former opponent as the huge animal slinked behind Nicholai, her tail hanging low between her legs.

“Hey,” I murmured as I came up behind Kit. “I'm here, love.”

She didn't take her eyes off the defeated wolf, but reached her hand out to me, and I took it in mine. Her body was running with small, barely noticeable trembles, and now that I was close, I could see her chest heaving as she panted. There were several tears in her clothes where Chesca had landed blows with her metallic claws, and Kit's body must be running overtime trying to heal them all.

Stepping in close, I wrapped an arm around her middle and pressed my body to her back. The beast in me was still raging, demanding I defend her, that I kill anyone who might be a threat, but her nearness helped me keep him contained.

“River,” she whispered, leaning back into me and relaxing her tightly wound body just a tiny bit. “You're here.”

“Always, love,” I swore, “always here.”

The tension seemed to be draining out of her quickly, and I suspected if I wasn't there holding her, she might have collapsed.

“—stupid, stupid woman!” Nicholai's voice drew my attention back to the argument going on between himself and Granny Winter. “I sent her here to see Victor! He would have known in a heartbeat who she is! Where the fuck is he, anyway?”

“He's on vacation,” the old bitch snapped back. “He deserves a vacation once in a while, you know!”

“Oh my fucking lord, woman.” Kit's former teacher sounded like he wanted to strangle the old bat. I didn't blame him.

“If you two don't mind,” Caleb drawled, having approached with the rest of our team. “We have had just about enough of your hospitality, and our girl looks like she's half-dead on her feet. Can we wrap this up?”

Kit was indeed looking half-dead, or at least extremely exhausted as she sagged slightly in my arms and began shivering.

“Here,” Vali murmured, holding out the leather jacket that Chesca had so dramatically tossed aside at the start of the fight. Between the two of us, we gently threaded Kit’s arms into the jacket and zipped it up. Closing her back into my arms, I held on tight.

33

KIT

Tiny pricks of pain crawled over my skin as my body fought to heal itself from the cuts Chesca's claws had inflicted. As with the last time I had caught the sharp end of those metal tipped weapons, my body was healing way more slowly than usual and seemed to require a ton more energy, leaving me feeling weak and tired.

Thank God the guys are okay.

I could sense them all around me as River and Vali helped me into a jacket to ward off the icy wind, then River wrapped me tight in his arms. He made me feel so safe, so loved, I never wanted to leave.

Sadly, and I suppose unsurprisingly given the circumstances, the reprieve was short-lived as shouting started up and someone came sprinting into the clearing and collapsed at Granny Winter's feet.

“Quick!” The young man panted. “Please come quick! They're taking the pups!”

Panicked cries and shouts went up from the spectators, and suddenly the clearing was in chaos with people yelling and running back towards town, a good majority of them shifting into impossibly huge wolves as they ran.

“What's going on?” I asked, pulling myself together enough to stand a little straighter without River's assistance.

“Yes, James, please take a breath and tell me what you're talking about.” Granny Winter scowled, taking charge of the situation once more.

“Some men, they came in via the mountain road with trucks and weapons, and they started going from house to house, grabbing people and throwing them into the trucks. They're taking the pups, Granny. The little ones!” The man had tears streaming from his eyes as he relayed this news, and the townsfolk still gathered around flew into a panic.

“What does he mean?” I demanded as Nicholai’s body burst into his fox form, confirming that suspicion, and took off towards the town. Granny Winter was left standing before us, her face chalky.

“The children,” she whispered, sounding terrified.

My gut churned with the awful certainty this was connected to me, and I couldn't just walk away, leaving these innocent shifters to their fate. Despite them all happily trying to have me murdered, I needed to help. Gently pushing River's hands aside, I took a couple of steps before regaining my balance and then used my speed to move, just like I had done during my fight against Chesca.

The trees blurred around me as I pushed myself faster, following the sound of shouting. When I reached the main street of the town, I skidded to a stop, staggering and almost falling at the sight that awaited.

Several large trucks were stopped in the middle of the road while heavily armed men systematically shot townspeople with tranquilizing darts then threw their unconscious forms into the backs of the trucks.

In the middle of it all, staring back at me with a gloating grin firmly on his face, was Simon.

“Nice of you to join us, Kit,” he called out, his beady eyes running over me and making bile rise in my throat. The guys were still probably a few minutes behind me, so I was on my own facing down this man who had once been close enough to be a brother to me. Since he had left me locked within my traumatic memories back at Blood Moon, I had dreamed of getting my hands around his scrawny neck.

A cruel smile crept across my lips as I stared him down, stalking a little closer, and I saw his eyes shift nervously. One thing clearly hadn't changed: he was all false bravado.

“Simon.” I grinned wickedly. “How good of you to save me the trouble hunting you down.”

“Uh-uh-uh,” he tsked, snatching a small person from the arms of a passing mercenary. “Come any closer and I'll snap this little freak's neck.”

The little girl he was holding was still conscious, and the poor thing was utterly terrified. She looked back at me with huge eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks as she clutched a bunny to her chest and Simon’s disgusting hands held her firmly by the neck.

“Si, what the hell are you doing here?” I asked in a vaguely less threatening tone of voice. Maybe if I could play to his mental instability, I could get him to let the little girl go. As he had made abundantly clear the last time we had met, part of him just wanted to be loved.

“Why don't you let the child go and we can go somewhere to talk, just the two of us?” I coaxed, taking one cautious step closer. Around us, someone had made some sort of signal, and the mercenaries were closing up their trucks, getting ready to leave.

“I should thank you, Kit”— Simon sneered, ignoring my suggestion—“for leading us right to this community full of little freaks like you. I will be rewarded well for this haul.”

“Rewarded by whom, Simon? Who is it you're working for now? Dupree is dead.” I took another cautious step forward.

“I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Kit,” he sneered. “Just be thankful I'm not allowed to bring you in with all these freaks.” He gave a tight nod to someone out of my line of sight, and pain ripped through me.

Sucking in a gasp, I watched helplessly as Simon clambered into the cab of his truck, dragging the little girl with him. My hand clutched at the burning pain in my chest, and blood began welling up beneath it. Knees buckling, I crashed hard to the ground. Waves of agony rolled over me as I kept my eyes glued to the retreating trucks while I willed my body to heal faster.

From the trees behind me, a huge burst of sound exploded, and for a moment, the sky above me turned dark as the enormous wings of a dragon obliterated the light before he skidded and stumbled to a stop on the road in front of me. Wings outstretched, as though for balance, he did an awkward looking hop before righting himself and swinging his huge, scaled head around to face me.

“Hey big guy,” I croaked from my position on the ground, waiting for my body to heal. For some reason, I knew this green and black dragon was Cole and not Vali. He huffed, and ice-cold breath washed over me, little crystals of snow crusting against my skin.

“Cole, that’s fucking freezing. I just got shot; can you not?” I tried to joke, but it fell a bit flat given how weak my voice sounded. Overhead, another huge pair of wings flapped past us and continued in the direction of the trucks. “Go help Vali; I’ll be fine in a minute.” Or, at least, I seriously hoped I would be. My entire body was radiating with waves upon waves of agony, and I’d totally lost the use of my limbs. The scrapes inflicted by Chesca’s metal claws were still struggling to close, and spots were dancing across my vision.

Cole's massive dragon head dipped toward me, puffing another icy gust of air from his nostrils before he backed up a few steps and took back to the sky. His take off was a little wobbly, but I supposed it was to be expected, him having just grown wings for the first time and all.

I watched mesmerized as his powerful form flapped higher, then took off in the same direction as the trucks and Vali had gone, towards the mountain road. While we had arrived via seaplane, there was also overland access, but it was treacherous during winter due to the amount of ice on the road. Fuzzy blackness began creeping in across my vision, and I was helpless but to surrender as I passed out from the searing pain in my chest.

34

AUSTIN

Running at top speed out of the forest, I immediately spotted Kit where she stood in the middle of the road, speaking to someone. It almost looked like… No, surely not; her luck can't be that bad! Fuck, it was. It was Simon, that slimy motherfucker that had tortured Kit's mind back at Blood Moon.

Rage surged through me as I pictured my hands wrapped around his scrawny neck, my fist plowing into his face over and over and over… In my distraction, I almost didn't see the asshole mercenary trying to haul an unconscious wolf over to his truck, but he tripped on something and loudly swore.

“Hey!” I snapped, grabbing his attention. “Drop the fucking wolf!”

The man sneered at me and aimed his gun, but I knew they were only packing tranq darts. Anyone with a decent level of target training knew the speed and trajectory of tranq darts was bullshit compared to bullets, and judging by where this dude was pointing his gun, it wouldn't even hit me.

Idiot.

Closing the gap between us in two fast steps, I swiftly lashed out, decking him and sending him crashing to the pavement. Pausing for a second, I checked that he was in fact unconscious before making sure the wolf was okay. He seemed to be still breathing and his pulse was strong, so I dragged him behind a hedge in the hopes no other mercenaries would find him an easy target to load into their truck.

“Where's Kit?” my twin demanded, panting as he skidded to a halt beside me. He always had been slower than me. Well, in most things.

Turning back to where I had seen her with Simon, my heart stopped as I heard the distinctive pop of a real gun, then watched the beautiful red-haired girl crash to her knees, dropping face first into the concrete.

“No,” I breathed, horrified. Caleb was engaged with another armed man, and I didn’t think he had seen what had just happened or he would be losing his mind right now. Hell, I was losing my mind. The balls of my feet pushed hard into the ground as I started to sprint towards her broken form. At the same time a huge-ass, motherfucking dragon landed on the road in front of her. If I hadn't already known about Cole and Vali's newfound supernatural abilities, I would have thought I was losing my mind. Who knew fucking dragon shifters were a real ass thing?

Another mercenary was dragging a fighting half-formed wolf shifter not far from me, and I hesitated. As badly as I wanted, needed to get to my princess, these people needed our help. With a furious, frustrated growl, I detoured and engaged the bad guy.

Faced with a new threat, he dropped his hold on the fighting shifter, who drunkenly helped me immobilize the man. Based on the unsteady balance of the shifter, he seemed to have been just clipped with a traq dart and was using his shifting ability to try and work the drug through faster. Good for him.

“You going to be okay?” I asked, and he gave me a tight nod, no longer capable of speech as his mouth morphed into a snout.

Satisfied with his response, I left him to it and once again ran towards Christina. She must’ve not been too bad off because as I approached, Cole-the-dragon gave me a snort of arctic wind as he took off into the sky, flying towards the mountain road where the already-loaded trucks were heading. After his little display on the plane when he’d started shifting and Christina had to calm him down and after Vali had explained his own shift, it’d become clear that they were different sorts of dragons. While Vali was fire, Cole was ice.

“Hey, princess, we doing okay?” My voice was shaking as I skidded to a halt beside her and took in the pool of blood she was lying in. She sure as fuck did not look okay.

Her body was belly down on the concrete, her face turned to the side where dragon-Cole had just been crouched, so I ducked around to that side of her and swept her hair off her cheek. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and a sheen of sweat covered her forehead. Panic flooded through me, seeing her eyes closed, and I gently patted her cheek to try and wake her up.

“Princess, hey!” I coaxed. “Come back to me, baby. You're supposed to be immortal, remember? Surely a pissy little human-made bullet can't take you down?” Fuck, I hope it can't.

She had already been so exhausted after that ridiculous fight and from trying to heal those metal-laced claw marks, and really, we had no idea of the limitations of her abilities.

“Come on, princess. Please don't do this to me, please wake up. You can do it, baby girl. You can heal this, remember? You saved Cole and Vali from worse than this; you can do it for yourself too.” My whispered words were trembling, and I knew I was close to losing it.

This fucking girl. She had been nothing but goddamn trouble and heartache since the day she’d stepped into our lives, but fuck if I hadn't loved every second of it.

My shaking fingers stroked through her hair, the silky red strands mixing and blending with all the blood beneath us, and my heart pounded so hard I thought it might jump straight out of my body. There was no sense in trying any normal first aid here; if she was going to survive it, it had to be through her magic.

“Stay with me, baby; stay with me,” I pleaded, checking her pulse and finding it fluttering, faint, but still there. “Come on, princess…” As I muttered these words, her pulse beat a little stronger under my fingers and her lids flickered just a little bit.

“That's right, come back to me. You're okay; you can do this. You're too strong to give in to a measly bullet wound.”

Lying down so I was on her level, I slid my hand into her hair to clasp the back of her head gently. My cheek was pressed to the ground in front of hers so I could see when her eyelids finally fluttered open again.

“Hey, princess,” I whispered, seeing a tiny crack of her ice blue iris between her dark lashes. “Can I do anything to help? You usually heal so much quicker than this…”

Her soft lips parted slightly, and a small sound whimpered out, but no words. Her lids lifted a little further, and the raw agony shining back at me from her eyes made my gut clench and twist in pain.

“You're okay, baby girl; you're doing good. Just give it a few minutes. You're already doing better.” My encouragement wasn't just hollow platitudes; her pulse really was stronger when I checked it again, and her face wasn't quite so pale anymore.

“Keep touching me,” she whispered, so faint I barely heard the words, but even when I did, I didn't really understand.

“Like this?” I frowned, using the hand in her hair to rub little circles on her head. She made a tiny nod and sighed, closing her eyes once more and causing my anxiety to spike.

“Hey, don't close your eyes! Princess, wake up!” I panicked a little, thinking she was passing back into unconsciousness, but she cracked her lids open again, this time looking a bit stronger and steadier.

“I'm not asleep, you asshat,” she muttered. “Just trying to focus.”

“Oh,” I grunted. “Fair enough, then.”

“Touching you seems to help,” she whispered, giving me a tiny, amused smile. “I noticed it earlier, after the fight. When River held me, my healing worked faster, flowed a bit easier.”

“Oh, um. Must be a magic thing.” No fucking shit, Aus. Talk about Captain Obvious. “So do you need me to, ah, move closer?” I sounded like a fucking teenager with his first girlfriend.

Jesus fucking Christ, this girl kills me.

“It would help.” Even half-dead as she was, she managed to sound sarcastic. Such an admirable talent.

Holding my breath, I have no idea why, I shuffled closer so our bodies were touching along the length of us, and I slid my other arm under her neck to cushion her head.

“Is that better?” I asked a little breathlessly, and she nodded, her nose brushing against mine lightly.

“Much,” she smirked, definitely looking better. “Give me just a minute or two, and we should be good here.”

“Hmmm,” I murmured, for some reason her little smile making me feel playful. “So touching people helps you heal faster, does it?” She nodded again, her gaze now steady and holding mine in an unblinking stare. “Sort of like how you used to need sex or danger?” Another nod from her, and this time a suspicious narrowing of her eyes. “So, in the interest of speeding things up so we can go rip Simon's head off…”

Before I could talk myself out of it, I closed the short gap between our mouths and pressed my lips to hers. Quivers of excitement and panic rolled through my gut, but when she didn't push me away or slap me, I took it as her approval and pressed in harder. Of course, she may not have been able to slap me yet, but she definitely wasn't pulling away as her lips parted and she sucked a small gasp. I took the opening and slid my tongue forward to meet hers. With painstaking patience, I gently caressed her mouth with mine, tracing the shape and contours of her lips and committing them to memory. Who knew when she might be close enough to death again to give me another opportunity to kiss her?

“Kit! Austin! What's happened; are you two okay?” My fucking dickwad twin brother's voice cut across our frozen moment, and I broke away from Christina's luscious lips with a growl of frustration.

“We're fine, bro,” I muttered, sitting up but being careful to keep my hands in contact with my princess's skin. After all, she did say it was helping her heal…

“Just got shot again,” she said, slowly pushing herself up off the pavement with a pained groan.

“What?” Caleb exclaimed, crouching in front of us. “What the hell? How did I miss this? Are you okay? Is it healing? Why was Austin just kissing you? Ugh, never mind; we can deal with that later. Are you okay, Kitty Kat?”

“I'm fine,” she assured him, giving a small smile. “Almost better.” She unzipped the leather jacket and pulled the neck of her blood-soaked sweater down to reveal a shallow, visibly healing wound between her breasts.

Fuck, Aus, stop looking at her breasts, dammit. She just almost died; now is not the time!

“See?” She grinned, picking the bullet out of her flesh as it closed and knitted itself back together. “Nothing to worry about here.” She tugged her clothing back into place and held her hand out to Caleb.

“If you're sure…” he murmured, a heavy frown on his face as he pulled her up to her feet.

“I am.” She looked down at me, where I was still sitting on the ground beside the massive pool of her blood. “Thanks to Austin.”

Awkwardly, I ducked her intense gaze and coughed. “Right, well. We better get going and save these shifters. I saw Simon was here with them, so we can't let him get away.”

“What?” Caleb screamed. “How did I miss that?” He reached out and pulled me to my feet as well, and I just shrugged, pulling my mask of unaffected asshole back on.

“You were busy fighting these kidnapping fucktards. Whatever. Princess was fine without you riding in on your white horse to save her.” I dodged eye contact with both of them, deliberately pushing a sneer into my tone to help build my crumbled walls back up. “Let's move it. Those scaled assholes probably need our help.”

Without waiting for either of them to respond, I took off at a jog in the direction that the dragons had gone but couldn't stop the sharp stab of jealousy when I saw the gentle kiss Kit laid on my twin's lips before they followed.

35

KIT

The twins and I had barely made it more than halfway down the street when I could already feel the exhaustion crashing over me. There was no way we were going to make it on foot, especially not knowing how far the trucks had gotten before Vali and Cole caught them.

“Guys,” I puffed. “We need transport.”

“Caleb! Austin, Kit! We need help!” Wesley's yell drew our attention to a side street where a truck had been overturned. He and River were trying to lift unconscious shifters free of the trailer, but the engine was smoking and the smell of gasoline was strong in the air. The twins both looked at me with uncertainty, but I gave them a firm nod.

“Help them; that truck could explode at any second. I'll catch up to the overgrown lizards.” They both looked like they would argue with me, so I quickly darted over to the motorbike sitting outside Frank's Auto Repair. Somewhere in my memory the image was stored of him having tested the engine just moments before accosting Wesley and I in the street, so I took a gamble that the keys were still in it.

Yes! Win for Kit! Relief flooded me as I swung my leg over and kicked it to start. The engine roared to life, and I wasted no time, skidding out onto the road and gunning the accelerator. Apparently riding a motorbike was not as easy as Cole made it look, and I wobbled dangerously as I took the corners of the road with speed, but my fast reflexes allowed me to recover my balance before I ate shit.

It only took a couple of minutes to reach the trucks where the dragons had caught them. From the looks of things, they kind of had it handled as well. Working as a team, Vali was standing in front of a crashed truck, his wings outstretched as he appeared to guard the unconscious inhabitants while also blocking the road. If any of the mercenaries came close, he would shoot balls of fire in their direction, sending them ducking for cover or, in some cases, lighting them up into a human torch.

Meanwhile, Cole was in the air, ducking and weaving, dodging bullets, and occasionally darting close to the ground to snap up an enemy combatant in his jaws. The sounds of their bodies breaking between his massive, razor sharp teeth was enough to make anyone a bit queasy, but I didn't let it affect me as I crashed my bike to a sliding stop and rolled a couple of times to regain my feet.

Pushing myself to utilize my speed, I wove between the assholes trying to shoot my dragons, swinging hard fists as I got close and hearing the satisfying crunches and cracks of breaking bones as I went. The world around me seemed to slow down as I moved, and I used it to my advantage, staying clear of live weapons while sliding in close enough to disable these motherfuckers with my bare hands.

“Where is he?” I panted as I slid to a stop in front of Vali's huge dragon form. He ducked his scaly head down to my level, giving me a sharp look with one granite gray eye.

“Ugh, yes, I know, dragons can’t speak, and you have no idea who I'm talking about,” I yelled, venting my frustration and anger.

Where the fuck was he? Where was Simon?

Another mercenary popped out from his spot behind a truck to try and shoot at Vali, and he nailed him with a direct hit of fire. The man’s screams as he was engulfed in flame made my blood curdle. It looked like Vali's magical dragon fire was the sort of stuff that didn't require any fuel. It had just instantly bonded to the man's flesh, and within moments, he was a burnt out husk of a body smoking on the ground.

“Holy shit,” I muttered, impressed as hell but also super freaked out. That was one insane skill he had.

A warm breeze ruffled my blood-crusted hair, and a weird chirping noise came from Vali’s reptile throat. He was chuckling. Fucking psycho. Not that I should be surprised, given his rather brutal nature as a human.

Cole darted down once more, breathing out a sheet of blue flame that engulfed three more black-armored mercenaries who were belly crawling toward us from behind another vehicle. The flame seemed to do a very similar job to Vali's, but left the victims with burnt out skeletons dusted with ice crystals.

“Jesus, fuck, you two are scary as shit right now,” I whispered to no one in particular as Cole skidded to a stop in front of us and jerked his head to the road past Vali.

“What?” I asked him. “What are you trying to say?” He huffed frost at me then jerked his head at the road again, this time baring his massive fangs and growling.

“Fuck me, I feel like I'm talking to Lassie,” I muttered. “What's up there? Is it Simon?” Cole huffed another breath, but this time his baring of fangs seemed to be more of a wicked dragon grin. Excellent.

Another two mercenaries popped out from their hiding places and began firing on us. Cole launched back into the air once more while I dove behind Vali's outstretched wings, taking off at a run up the narrow, ice-packed road. Not a single piece of me doubted the dragons had my back and that they could handle themselves without me.

Several times, I slipped and nearly fell on the ice when I tried to use my super-speed, so was forced to slow to an infuriating regular human pace. Half running, half sliding down a steep descent, I rounded a corner and spotted my prey. Some half a mile ahead of me, Simon was limping his way along the road, and a rush of satisfaction washed over me. There would be no escaping this time. With a towering, snow-covered mountain to one side and a deep gully to the other, his only option was to keep following the road.

“Simon!” I bellowed, and the sound ricocheted around the valley. Simon stopped in his limping run, his shoulders slumping like he knew he was beaten. He turned slowly to face me, and I continued toward him, slower now that I had him in my sights. The last thing I needed was to slip and fall down the crevasse beside the road.

“So, you've caught me!” he yelled back, pointing out the painfully obvious and no doubt preparing to try and weasel his way out of the painful death I was plotting for him.

“No shit, fuckface,” I snapped, then had to brace myself as there was a rumbling roar and the ground shook slightly beneath my feet. Simon lost his balance altogether and hit the deck hard, swearing and rubbing his ass as he tried to stand again.

“What now, Kit?” he called back to me, brushing snow from his jacket and glaring daggers my way. Before I was able to respond, detailing all the excruciatingly painful ways in which he might die, the ground shook again. This time when it stopped shaking, there was an ominous rumbling from higher up the mountainside.

Without any further warning, a massive wave of snow and ice came crashing down onto the mountain road, directly where Simon had been standing. For what felt like an hour, but can't have been more than a minute or two, tons upon tons of snow flowed down from the mountain above and into the gully below while I watched wide-eyed in shock.

When it finally slowed to a stop, all that was left of the road where Simon had stood was a massive wall of white. From the way the road had curved around the edge of the valley we were in, I could tell that a section of almost three hundred yards had been wiped out by the mini-avalanche, taking my nemesis with it.

Well, fuck.

36

When the dragons found me again, I was still frozen to the same spot, just staring at the heap of snow and ice where I had last seen Simon.

“Hey, guys,” I said in a bit of a daze as they touched down on the road behind me. “Everything okay with the shifters?”

Vali’s warm breath ruffled my hair, and I dragged my attention away from the obliterated road and turned back to them. If I had thought the two of them had an intense stare as humans, it was nothing on their dragon stare.

“Wait, do you guys even have proper eyelids? Do you blink?” My balance was feeling a bit shaky, and I needed to brace my hand against Cole’s face to stay upright. “What caused all of this?” I waved my hand at the avalanche, but in the sudden absence of action, exhaustion was hitting me like a sledgehammer. My eyes rolled back as my legs turned to jelly, and I crumpled.

THE SOUND of arguing woke me, and I looked around with barely open eyelids. From all appearances, I was in bed again. Patting around with my hand seemed to confirm this theory so I rubbed my tired eyes, then opened them a bit more.

From where I lay, I could see the shadows of the guys in the next room as they argued loudly with the door wide open. The discussion had obviously been going for a while before I woke up, so it took me a minute to work out what was going on.

“He’s right!” I yelled out, dropping in my own input without bothering to get out of bed. My body seemed to weigh a ton, and my joints were aching like I had the flu or something.

“Thank you, princess. For once you’re using your brain!” Austin yelled back at me.

“We weren’t disagreeing with you, Aus,” Caleb’s voice responded, a bit calmer than his twin was sounding. “We simply wanted to understand what you were saying. You weren’t making a whole heck of a lot of sense, bro.”

“He’s trying to say that I can heal myself faster and easier if I’m touching someone,” I offered because they were right that Austin seemed to be having a hard time explaining it. “And faster still if the contact is a bit more sexual.”

My eyes must have been playing tricks on me still because I could have sworn Cole and Caleb just did a rapid-fire rock-paper-scissors, then Caleb swore profusely.

“We will need your help in town anyway, Caleb,” Wesley said with a strange tightness to his voice. “Let me just check on Kit, and we can go—” There was a small scuffle out of my line of sight, then Wesley darted through the open bedroom door and shut it behind him.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he whispered, meeting my eyes with a small frown. “You look…”

“Stunning?” I joked. “I know. I feel it too.”

Wesley cracked a small smile and knelt down beside the bed so his head was level with mine.

“We need to head out and help the town clean up, check on anyone left injured, things like that,” he told me, looking a bit disappointed about it. “But we should be back in a couple of hours. Did you want me to get you anything while we’re out?”

His thoughtfulness made me blink a couple of times in confusion, and he smiled with a bit more warmth. “All right, restock the coffee and buy Kit a cheeseburger. Got it.” Leaning forward, he gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek, then left the room before I could respond.

Once the door was open again, Caleb pushed in and halfway dove at me, wrapping me in a massive hug through the blankets and burying his face in my hair. Over his dark head, I saw Vali and Austin leaning against the doorframe.

“Kitty Kat…” Caleb mumbled into my neck as he moved my hair aside with his face and began kissing the soft skin below my ear. “You’ve got to stop with this fainting business. It’s scary as fuck.”

“I’ll try.” A laugh snorted out of me. “I promise it’s not intentional. Maybe this Vic guy can shed some light on my abilities and stop it from happening.”

“That would probably be useful,” Vali commented from the doorway with a dry tone of voice. “Come on, Caleb. I’d rather get this cleanup done quickly so we can get back here.”

Caleb lifted his face to look me in the eye, pushing up on his forearms as he frowned down at me.

“Try not to get in any trouble while we’re gone, okay? Otherwise, there will be trouble…” He narrowed his eyes at me in warning, and I laughed.

“Understood. Go; help these poor people. We can debrief when you’re all back.” Leaning forward to close the gap, I placed a light kiss on his lips, then prodded him in the side.

“Ugh, fine.” He sighed. “We will be back as soon as possible.” Smacking another quick kiss on my lips, he pushed off the bed and left the room. For a moment, Vali and Austin stayed where they were, then Vali gave me a nod and followed after Caleb.

“Asshole,” I greeted Austin with a small grin. “Thanks for the assistance earlier.”

“No problem,” he murmured, his gaze on me intense and unblinking. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks. So do you.” He really did. There was dried blood all crusted down one side of his face and into his hair, and the bags under his eyes looked dark and bruised. Neither of us spoke for a long, tense moment as our eyes remained locked on one another. Austin was the first to break our stare off, dropping his gaze to the floor and rubbing the back of his neck. Glancing back up, he opened his mouth as if to say something, then must have changed his mind as he just nodded thoughtfully and left.

As the front door slammed closed, Cole’s impressive frame appeared in the entrance to the bedroom. His face was carefully blank, his cold stone-like mask firmly in place, and it made me sit up a little in the bed.

“Hey, big guy,” I said softly, as if I were speaking to a wild horse ready to bolt. “What’s with the face?”

“What face?” he asked, meeting my eyes with his unwavering stare, giving nothing away.

“That one.” I pointed to his face. “You’re giving me your closed-off, emotionless face. Why? What’s going on in that head that you don’t want me to see?”

“Vixen…” He heaved a sigh, his shoulders dropping a bit from their tensed-up state, and he rubbed a weary hand over his forehead. “How are you not totally repulsed by me right now? I turned into a huge-ass fucking reptile.”

A small smile threatened to surface on my lips, but I doubted Cole would appreciate my humor in a time like this. He was clearly feeling insecure about his new, um, species?

“Cole, hon, it's my fault you're not so human anymore. If anything, you should be furious with me. Are you?” I was genuinely a bit scared to hear his answer on this, as it had been playing on my mind a lot since his half-shift on the plane.

Cole huffed another sigh, not unlike the noise he made as a dragon, and approached the bed that I was sitting in. “Call it even?”

Relief washed over me, and I grinned back at him. “Fuck yes. Now, are you getting in here or…?” My question didn't require finishing as he whipped his shirt over his head and dropped trousers at lightning speed. Laughter bubbled out of me as he threw back my blankets and dove into the gap beside me.

“What?” he muttered. “It's cold without clothes. I might need you to keep me warm…” His huge hands slid around my waist, slipping between my shirt and pants and making gooseflesh break out all over my body. Despite his skin being cold to the touch, warmth seemed to radiate into me wherever his skin touched mine. My back arched a little, craving more.

“Vixen, you're still dressed,” Cole whispered into my ear, his smoky voice sending tingles straight to my pussy. Hot fucking damn.

“Well, that's awfully rude of me.” I chuckled. “Better rectify.”

Cole generously helped me out of my bloody, torn clothing, then I grimaced as I looked down at myself. Dried blood, dirt, and grease were crusted all over me, and it turned my stomach a little.

“Cole, babe, as much as I am dying to get those boxers off you, I need to clean up first.” A shudder ran through me when I spotted a greeny-brown smear down the side of my thigh.

Oh so gross, what the fuck is that?

Cole's mouth twitched up in a smirk. “Maybe I should help you. You do look awfully weak right now…”

“Sure,” I laughed, “but seriously, just to get clean. We can do the fun stuff once all this gross is gone.”

Throwing back the blankets, he scooped me up in his arms, bridal style, carried me down the hall to the small main bathroom, then deposited me onto the edge of the vanity while he started the shower running.

“Whose house are we in, anyway?” I asked as I looked around with curiosity. It was an interesting design choice, all done up with a nautical theme. The tiles around the shower cubicle had little anchors on them, and towels and curtains were in blue and white.

“Uh, Victor's,” Cole responded while checking the water temperature. “And his water heating sucks dick, by the way.”

“Why are we at Victor's? Isn't he on a beach in the middle of nowhere?” The muscles of Cole’s naked back were flexing and moving as he leaned into the shower to run his hand under the water once more before he nodded his approval and turned back to me.

“He is. But Granny Winter was feeling rather guilty about the way things went down, so she said we could stay here until he gets back.” He reached around behind me and unhooked my bra with a deft snap of his fingers, then dragged his gaze down my front slowly. His eyes seemed to burn a path all over me as he took a moment to browse, then lifted me down from the sink and tugged my panties down my legs.

“Cole…” I warned in a breathy whisper as he landed a chaste kiss near the juncture of my thighs on his way past, but he just smirked at me. Picking me up entirely by the waist, he twisted and deposited my naked body under the hot water.

“I can still walk, you know,” I teased, then sighed as the steaming water sluiced all over me.

“I know,” he responded, leaning his shoulder against the opening of the shower cubicle but making no move to join me. “But you need to conserve your strength.” He threw me a seriously sexy wink then handed me a bar of soap.

“You're not joining me?” I asked, surprised, and he shook his head.

“Nope, I decided it's far too tempting to take you here in the shower. Best I wait out here and just… keep an eye on you…” These last words were almost purred, and a wicked idea came to me.

“Hmm.” I shrugged. “Suit yourself…” Taking the offered soap, I proceeded to lather it between my hands, then slowly, slowly, rubbed the suds all over my body. As I paid particular attention to my breasts—I had been shot in the chest after all—I was rewarded by a pained groan from Cole's throat and the firmly erect tent in his boxer-briefs.

“Vixen,” he warned as my soaping slid further south, just to make sure all of me was clean, “you're the devil in disguise, aren't you?”

Smiling like the devil he accused me to be, I shrugged one soapy, wet shoulder and ducked back under the water to rinse off.

“All right, you're clean enough,” he snapped, holding up a towel. “Out. Now.”

Chuckling at his impatience, but fully in agreement, I turned off the water and stepped into the waiting towel. He gave me a rough, fast toweling off, then threw the fabric aside and swept me back up in his arms to carry me back into the bedroom totally nude.

“Took you long enough,” River's honey-like British voice scolded as we entered the bedroom. He was sitting in the armchair in the corner of the bedroom, once again in his suit pants and crisp shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up and his tie was loose around his neck. His face always sported at least a couple of day’s growth, but he was looking just a little rougher than usual. So did Cole, and fuck it was a good look on them. A shiver of arousal ran through me, and I knew I was already wet. Not from the shower, either.

“Alpha.” I grinned as Cole gently deposited me onto the center of the bed. “I didn't know you were joining us too. Didn't Cole and Caleb just rock-paper-scissors?”

Cole snorted a laugh from where he reclined against the pillows beside me, and River smirked. “Firstly, you weren't meant to see that, and secondly, I'm in charge. I do what I want…” His gaze leveled at me like a laser beam. “And right now… do you know what I want, Kitten?”

Biting my lip, I gave a small headshake, “No, absolutely no idea; you had better tell me.” Cole snickered from beside me, one huge hand dropping to cradle his own rigid cock straining against the thin fabric of his underwear.

“Yes, Alpha, why don't you tell us?” he teased and leaned over, capturing one of my taut nipples in his lips and sucking lightly before releasing and smirking at River. The breath caught in my throat as the scalding heat of his lips suddenly contrasted with the cool air on my wet flesh. River cast his molten gold stare to Cole, raking his eyes over his best friend then switching his attention back to me.

“I think right now, I'm in the mood to watch.” His voice was pitched low, and I could practically feel the words caressing my skin, making me break out in gooseflesh once more.

“Mmm, and what would you like to watch… sir…?” I murmured, my tongue flicking out to wet my lips. Without a doubt, this was a first for me. Being watched, so openly, as another man did whatever to me. Even when River and I’d had sex with Cole in the bed, it hadn't been like this. This was exposed, vulnerable, raw, and it was majorly turning me on.

River shifted in his chair, getting comfortable, and I noticed his belt was already open, his fly already undone. “For now, Kitten, I'm going to need to see those legs open a bit wider.”

My knees spread almost of their own accord, and I gasped when the cool air met my already soaked flesh. Cole's hand moved from his own erect length to caress my inner thigh, dragging his fingers slowly up my skin, then stopping just short of where I wanted them and resting there.

“Like this?” I asked River, breathlessly. Fucking hell, they're going to torture me.

“Perfect,” he purred back. “Cole, why don't you check and see how turned on our girl is getting.”

“Gladly, sir,” Cole smirked, his fingers finally reaching that inch higher and rubbing a couple of quick, firm circles over my clit, then diving deep into my aching pussy. A gasping moan dragged from my throat, and I arched into his hand, desperate for more. Cole's lips recaptured my nipple again as his fingers pumped slowly into me, his tongue flicking over my tight peak before he grabbed it in his teeth and gently bit down.

“Oh my god,” I groaned, my eyes rolling back a bit. “Cole…”

“Cole?” River prompted, and Cole released my nipple from his mouth, then, devastatingly, removed his fingers as well.

“I'd say pretty damn turned on, sir,” he reported back, and River gave a noise of approval.

“Excellent. Kitten, why don't you help Cole out of those shorts. They look like they're about to tear in half,” River commanded, and when I looked over to him, he already had his own rock-hard cock out of his pants and clenched in his fist. His liquid gold stare seared into me as I shifted to do as I was told.

Cole lay back against the pillows, a lazy smile across his usually serious face as I swung my leg over to straddle his knees, my back to River, and I grasped at the waistband of his underwear. Carefully and slowly, hoping to get a little revenge on him, I peeled the fabric down. His cock jumped, suddenly free, and I couldn't help myself as I leaned forward and laid a lingering kiss against the silken head.

Ignoring his moan of encouragement, I continued peeling his underwear down his legs as I retreated the length of his body. Excruciatingly aware as I was that River was behind me, I arched my back as I moved, raising my butt up in the air in what I hoped would be an enticing way.

“Perfect, love,” River's sexy accent purred, a whole lot closer than the chair he had been sitting in. “Now stay like that, on your knees. I want to see you take Cole's dick in your mouth.”

“Whatever you say, sir,” I grinned, looking up to Cole where he lay back on the pillows. His huge, muscled arms tucked behind his head as he looked down at me with his bottomless gray eyes. Leaning forward, to get closer to his crotch, I shifted my weight onto one elbow and left my butt up in the air, as commanded. The open, exposed feeling was driving me wild. Especially knowing River had left his seat.

When is he going to touch me, dammit?

My other hand wrapped around the base of Cole's cock, lifting it away from his belly and bringing it to my lips. Taking my time, I gently traced the satin-soft head with my tongue, flicking and licking while Cole growled deep in his chest.

“Hey,” I teased. “None of that dragon, growly shit from you, Mister.”

River chuckled, somewhere close behind me. “You heard her, Drake.”

“Wait.” I popped my head up to look at Cole. “That's your call sign? Drake? As in Dragon?” A grin was spreading across my face as I appreciated the coincidence.

“Kitten,” River said in a stern voice. “I gave you an order. Why is it not being followed?”

“Sorry, sir,” I smirked, then dipped my head back down, this time capturing Cole's dick in my mouth and sucking lightly at the tip before taking it deeper while he groaned. My hand still grasped his base, so I worked it in time with my mouth as I bobbed up and down, sucking, twisting, licking, then ever so lightly scraping with my teeth.

A warm hand smoothed up my naked butt cheek, and I gasped, inadvertently taking Cole deeper into my throat. He moaned, his fingers threading into my hair, and I trembled in my own overwhelming arousal.

River's other hand was now cupping my other butt cheek, and I could feel his warm body standing behind me as he leaned close.

“That's it, Kitten. Take him deeper.” His lips brushed my ear as he spoke, and I could see him from the corner of my eye as I followed the command. Relaxing my muscles, I pushed down deeper, my jaw wide as Cole's enormous dick slid into my throat. River watched intently, his golden eyes hot with desire as I pulled back, then dipped deep once more, dragging another moan from Cole. His fingers tightened in my hair.

River's face disappeared from my line of sight as I kept going on Cole's cock, my fingers cupping his balls and rolling them as I sucked on his length. The warm caress of breath over my slick flesh was the only warning I had before River's mouth sealed onto my wet pussy.

“Fuck,” I hissed, pulling away from Cole in order to catch my breath while River's tongue invaded my tight, hot crevasse. “Oh my god, River…”

Cole smirked at me from his position against the pillows, clearly knowing full well what his friend was doing to me. My stomach fluttered and rolled as River's hot mouth drove me hard to the edge.

“Kitten,” he murmured, replacing his tongue with two thick, skilled fingers and making me moan. “Did I tell you to stop?”

“Uhh, no, but I am seriously close to losing it here,” I warned. I really was. I could feel a crazy intense orgasm building at rapid pace, and if he kept going…

“Do as you're told, Kitten. I'd hate to have to punish you for disobeying an order…” His voice sounded like he would really love to punish me, and I bit my lip. Another time. Sealing my lips back around Cole's cock, I sucked him in deep once more and was rewarded with his breathy groan and his hands returning to my head. This time he used his grip in my hair to guide my pace, his tip bumping into the back of my throat as he thrust his hips a little with each stroke.

River's fingers left my pussy, leaving me once again exposed to the air and twitching for more. Without consciously meaning to, my hips wiggled a bit, and I heard him chuckle.

“So impatient,” he murmured, smoothing his hand over my butt once more before pressing his dick to my opening and pushing ever so painfully slowly inside. The exquisite stretching and filling of my eager pussy made me groan around Cole's cock and push back with my hips, urging River in deeper.

This is… incredible.

With Cole's massive cock thrusting in and out of my mouth and River's pumping into me from behind, I was helpless to stop it as my orgasm came crashing over me in wave after wave of blistering pleasure. The muscles between my legs clenched hard, dragging curses from River, and Cole used his grip on my hair to lift my face away from him completely.

“River,” he panted, his rigid length lying against his ripped stomach, glistening with my saliva.

“Got it,” River replied to the unspoken request from Cole, his voice a bit tighter than his usual level of calm as he thrust into me a couple more times then withdrew completely.

Whimpering a protest, I whipped my head around to give him a frown of confusion, but he just threw me a saucy wink and smirk.

Cole sat up and reached forward. Grabbing me by the waist, he hauled me closer so that I was situated over his hips. With one hand, he grabbed my face and locked his lips to mine in a searing kiss while the other lined up his cock to my entrance and thrust in with one movement.

My mouth occupied, I was helpless to speak anything more than little noises of encouragement. Threading my own hands around his thick neck for balance, I began moving. As I rode him, this huge, tattooed man, I felt River still situated behind me. His hands reached around, grasping my breasts while his hard cock pressed against my lower back.

“Alpha,” I gasped, breaking my kiss with Cole when River's fingertips tweaked hard on my nipples, sending shock waves of pleasure through me, and my pussy tightened around Cole's cock.

River’s mouth pressed hot, wet kisses down the length of my throat, and I could feel the vibrations as he laughed soundlessly.

“Cole,” River murmured with an edge of authority, and I had no doubt they were so attuned to one another that they needed no further instruction between them. Proving my theory, Cole grunted and smoothly lifted me off him. In one quick motion, I was back on my knees in the center of the bed, but this time facing River with Cole behind me.

“Well hello there, gorgeous.” River grinned, cupping my chin in his strong hand. From behind me, Cole's thick cock nudged at my opening, then he grasped my hips and pulled me backward, onto him.

“Yes…” The word slipped from my lips like a prayer as my lashes fluttered shut, and I surrendered to the heady feeling of Cole inside me. Another intense orgasm was knocking at my door, and my breath was coming in short, sharp gasps as he rocked into me.

River's hand cupping my cheek brought my gaze back up to him, and his thumb teased my lips open. With a sexy wink, he pressed the head of his dick to my lips, and I eagerly flicked my tongue out, tracing the slit down the center that was leaking salty fluid, then pulling him further into my mouth.

“Good girl,” he murmured, meeting my gaze as he pushed in deeper, meeting the resistance of my throat then breaching it as I relaxed and took him in full.

Cole's thrusting was picking up in speed, and I could tell he was close to coming. Fuck, so was I. Again. His hand left my hip and reappeared on my clit, rubbing and circling it from underneath, his hand alongside his own slapping balls. Groaning hard around River's dick, pleasure began radiating through me, and I wondered if my legs were going to give out before this was over.

Glancing up at River, I saw his focus was on Cole, and he gave him a small nod. His motion picked up a bit of speed, indicating his own release was close.

Cole's fingers left my throbbing clit, giving me a merciful break. His now wet fingers stroked across the flesh of my ass, one finger trailing deliberately down my crack, and I tensed up when he reached my backdoor, circling and teasing at the hypersensitive nerves there.

“Relax, Kitten,” River murmured. “That is an order.”

Shuddering with intense pleasure and anticipation, I did as I was told, sucking hard on River’s cock and forcing myself to relax as Cole's finger pushed harder, breaching my tight ring of muscle and stretching it open. Gasping at the unfamiliar intrusion, I gave over to River's guidance as he thrust faster into my throat. Cole's hard cock pumped into my clenching pussy almost in sync with River, and his finger in my ass began moving with them.

Just as I was about to crash into what was likely to be the most earth-shattering orgasm on record, his finger withdrew, and I gave a whimper of protest. Both men chuckled, but I got what I wanted when he returned, this time pushing two fingers into my ass and sending me flying headfirst into my waiting orgasm.

As my body convulsed between them both, they too reached their peak and River's hot, salty come jetted into my throat. Cole thrust again, hard, his hand gripped my hip, holding me in place as he finished with a cry.

As they both reluctantly withdrew from my body, my knees really did turn to jelly, and I collapsed face first into the mattress.

“Vixen?” Cole's amused voice came from near my ear. “Did we break you?”

A languid smile crept across my lips, and I cracked my eyelids open to meet his granite eyes. “Not a chance in hell.”

River chuckled from my other side where he had also stretched out on the mattress. “Good. Because that was just a warm up, wasn't it Drake?”

“You know it, Alpha,” Cole replied to his friend but smirked at me. “Vixen definitely does look like she has regained a lot of energy.”

Now that he mentioned it, he was right. The whole purpose of this little exercise had totally slipped my mind, but once I thought more about it, I realized I was feeling incredible. So much more than a regular post-sex glow. Although this was certainly no regular sex.

“Well now, you have me intrigued…” I turned my face to look at River. “I believe you mentioned something about a punishment?”

His lids drooped into a heated look, and Cole smothered a small laugh behind me. Whatever River was going to say, though, was interrupted by the loud slamming of the front door and heavy footsteps on the hardwood floor.

Without knocking, the bedroom door swung open, and Caleb stood there with his arms folded over his chest as he appeared to take in our three naked, sweaty forms collapsed on the bed in front of him.

“I hate you all.” He scowled, a sexy pout on his face, and River ran a hand over my naked backside, as if to tease Caleb.

“You could always join us…” River suggested with a sly grin, and I perked up at this new turn of events.

“Uh, you have no idea how badly I want to take you up on that,” Caleb muttered. “But the guys are right behind me with Nicholai and Granny Winter. They want to talk to Kitty Kat about her mother.”

“Oh, awesome!” I pushed myself up from the rumpled bed and climbed over Cole to get out. “I'd better shower again before they get here.” Not bothering to try and cover myself because who needed modesty after a threesome, I went to duck into the hallway, but Caleb caught me by the waist, kissing me soundly. His tongue thrust hard into my mouth, dominating mine as I kissed him back, a rush of desire flooding my body. My thighs clenched, again, and my already swollen pussy began throbbing, begging for Caleb, and I fought the urge to climb onto him right there in the doorway.

“Go shower,” he said, his voice gruff as he broke our kiss. “We will continue this later.”

Biting my lip, I scurried down the hall to the bathroom with the feeling of his eyes following me until I’d closed the door.

37

While I showered, Wesley politely knocked at the door then cracked it open an inch.

“Kit, I found some spare clothes for you; I'll just leave them here.” His hand reached through the crack in the door and deposited the stack of neatly folded clothes on the bathroom floor. His shyness was such a stark contrast to the insanely erotic encounter I had just shared with two of his team members that it made me smile.

“Thanks, Wes!” I called back to him, and his hand gave me a thumbs up before he pulled the door closed once more. Considering his growing confidence around me these days, I was a little surprised he was back to being modest, but I guessed with everyone already in the living room…

After toweling dry, I dressed in the clothes Wesley had provided and hurried out to the living room. Caleb said Nicholai and Granny were coming to tell me about my mother, and I could hardly contain my excitement.

“Kit, nice shower?” My former teacher asked with a raised eyebrow, and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. Surely he couldn't know what we had just been up to?

“Lovely, thank you,” I murmured, taking the mug of coffee that Wesley was holding out to me, then sitting beside Caleb on the couch. Vali and Austin were both leaning on walls, glowering at our two guests like sentinels.

“Coffee? Kit, it's nearly three in the morning.” Nicholai frowned, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

“And? Who are you, my father?” I joked, but the words seemed to sit in the air, and Granny Winter cleared her throat awkwardly.

“Wait, fucking what?” I exclaimed, reading into the awkward silence, and Nicholai shook his head.

“No, I'm not. Or at least, I'm fairly certain I'm not. Anyway, we came here because Annaliese wanted to say something.” He prodded the old woman in the arm.

Granny Winter grimaced like she'd swallowed something awful. “I came to… apologize. For trying to have you killed. But in my defense, I thought you were that whore of a mother of yours.”

“That's an appalling apology,” I told her, straight-faced. “Is that even an apology?”

The old woman sniffed indignantly and stood up from her chair. “Well, it's the best you'll get. Good night.” With her back ramrod straight, she stalked out of the house, still surprising me with how fast she moved for such an old bird.

“Was she for fucking real?” I asked Nicholai, stunned at the stubborn old bitch. Why even bother coming here?

“Unfortunately. Annaliese is… difficult,” he sighed. “Okay, so I know you passed out after the avalanche on the mountain road, and I'm not sure how much your friends have filled you in yet…?”

“Pretend I know nothing,” I suggested, not mentioning that our mouths had been busy elsewhere for the past little while.

Nicholai nodded thoughtfully. “I'll try. So, all of the drugged shifters were saved from those trucks, thanks to your dragons here.” He nodded to Cole and Vali. “And only a few were killed in the fight with those mercenaries. We did manage to take a couple of them hostage, but only one talked before committing suicide by cyanide.”

“Fucking cyanide again,” River muttered from his seat across the room.

“Yes, we weren't expecting that. Anyway, he had a message that he'd been tasked to deliver,” Nicholai continued, giving me an intense stare. “He said to tell Foxy girl that Mr. Gray sends his love.”

The room was so silent for a minute that you could hear a pin drop. Ice cold shivers of dread ran down my spine.

“I take it you know what that means, then?” Nicholai asked me, raising an eyebrow.

I jerked a tight nod, not trusting my voice just yet. This confirmed my fears that this town had been targeted because of me. Those shifters had died because of me.

“So Mr. Gray is working with Simon now,” Wesley said quietly, seeming to be just thinking out loud. “Does that mean he's the one in charge now? Or are they both working for someone else?”

“He's obviously tied up in this war now,” Austin commented. “And I wonder how long he has been.”

“I still don't think he was responsible for the car bomb,” I mumbled, putting down my coffee mug and rubbing my arms where the hair seemed to be standing on end. “It's not his style. And why did Simon say he wasn't allowed to take me with all the shifters?”

“More fucking questions that no one seems to have answers to.” Austin scowled, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at Nicholai.

“I know you want me to answer those questions for you, but I can't.” Nicholai sighed, rubbing his temples. “Even the ones I know the answers to, I can't answer.”

“Can't or won't?” Vali snapped, his glare shooting death at the other man.

“Can't. Vic can. Or at least I hope he can. I know it's not an ideal situation for anyone, but if you can all just sit tight here in Harrow until he's back, then I am sure you will get the information you're seeking.” Nicholai's gaze was pleading with me, but I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.

“All of them? He knows who is running this shit? This war?” I challenged, and Nicholai shrugged.

“Maybe? I don't know. But for sure he can answer the questions you have about yourself. About your Guardians. About Bridget.” His mouth clamped shut, like he had already said too much, and he grimaced as if in pain. “I have to go. But good luck, Kit. I'm rooting for you, even though it might not always seem like it.”

As he tried to leave the room, Vali stepped in front of him, blocking the exit and giving me a glance to see what I wanted him to do.

“It's fine, Vali. Let him go. We can press him for more answers tomorrow, can't we, N?” I raised my eyebrows to Nicholai, and he just gave me a tight-lipped smile before sliding past the dragon shifter and out of the house.

“So… what now?” I asked the room full of guys.

“Now,” River said, his authoritarian voice back in play and sending sexy shivers through me, “we wait for Vic. If he has at least some of the answers we're looking for, then it's worth hanging around here for a couple more weeks.”

Considering his words, I nodded slowly. He was right. We were in a town full of supernatural creatures with the promise of meeting someone who could tell me what I was. If nothing else, we could tie old Granny Winter down and torture her until she spilled everything she knew.

“And what about all of you? I don't expect you all to continue in this mad magic war with me. Vali, surely people are missing you by now?” I hesitated as I said this. Just the idea of him leaving me made my heart feel like it was being torn in half.

“They are.” He nodded slowly. “But… something tells me I physically can't be away from you for too long. I will head back to Nevada and tie things up but will come back.” Despite my confusion at my feelings toward him, a rush of relief flooded through me at his promise to return, and a little tension dropped from my shoulders.

“Actually, if you all will be here in Harrow for a couple of weeks, hopefully without any more attempts on Christina's life, then I should go sort some things out back home.” Austin spoke quietly, his gaze fixed hard on my face, and my stomach dropped. Despite being prepared for Vali to possibly leave, it hadn't occurred to me that any of the team might want to go.

“Bro…” Caleb frowned. “What is so important back home?”

Austin kept his gaze on me as he answered his twin. “Master Yoshi had a stroke…”

“What?” Caleb yelled, jumping up from his seat. “Why didn't you tell me? Is he okay?”

“I just got the call on the way back here. He's in the hospital but…” Austin shrugged, finally breaking his stare away from me and turning to his brother.

“I should come with you,” Caleb muttered, then glanced to me.

“No,” Austin answered firmly before I could agree with Caleb. Whoever this Master Yoshi was, he was clearly someone the twins cared about a great deal. “He specifically asked me to come alone. Don't worry though.” His gaze flicked back to me. “I'll be back too. God knows Princess will end up getting herself killed without me here to save her.”

My eyes might have been playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn he winked at me.

Our cozy family chat was interrupted abruptly as the front door slammed open, and a huge figure filled the frame, his face shrouded by a heavy hood pulled low.

“Who the fuck are you all, and what the fuck are you doing in my home?” The man growled with menace.

Looks like Vic is home sooner than expected. Answers, at last!

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello! I’m Tate, or TJ, or Goldie 2. I write books about people who do things, meet other people, things happen and stuff gets said. I am a wine and coffee addict who swears too much and thinks of sarcasm as the highest form of wit.

For more rambling, contact me directly, join my readers group or like my page!

Facebook Readers Group:

www.facebook.com/groups/TateJames.TheFoxHole

Ps. Thank you so much for buying/reading The Dragon’s Wing. If you made it this far, it’d mean the world if you left a review on amazon!

www.tatejamesauthor.com

tatejamesauthor@gmail.com

ALSO BY TATE JAMES

Kit Davenport Series

#1 The Vixen’s Lead

#2 The Dragon’s Wing

#3 The Tiger’s Ambush

#4 The Viper’s Nest

#5 The Crow’s Murder

#6 The Alpha’s Pack (2018)

Co-Authored by Tate James and C.M. Stunich

Hijinks Harem

#1 Elements of Mischief

#2 Elements of Ruin

#3 Elements of Desire

The Wild Hunt Motorcycle Club

#1 Dark Glitter

Foxfire Burning

#1 The Nine

Turn page for further info on Dark Glitter and a sneak peek of Elements of Mischief…

DARK GLITTER

BY TATE JAMES & C.M. STUNICH

Ciarah O’Rourke was born into torture.

A human spirit reincarnated in the body of an ancient fae goddess, she’s spent the last five years in iron shackles, her mind poisoned with magic for secrets she doesn’t know.

Waking up in a dirty alley with no memory of her escape, Ciarah finds herself in the hands of The Wild Hunt Motorcycle Club--a ruthless and violent group of bikers with faerie blood in their veins.

Arlo.  Reece.  Killian.

Three men drenched in death, sin, and old magic.

From their clubhouse in the middle of the Louisiana bayou, they’ll offer Ciarah the keys to unlock her memories and control the veil between worlds.  But even her knights can’t erase the twisted scars that remind her they aren’t the only ones who hunt.

When The Wild Hunt rides, the souls of the dead join their parade.

All that’s missing now is their queen.

ELEMENTS OF MISCHIEF

BY TATE JAMES AND C.M. STUNICH

Four hunky, supernatural plumbers.

One reluctant, slightly drunk human.

A match made in heaven … or in the bathroom, rather.

My name is Arizona Smoke, and I'm the proud owner of a house haunted by my dead Gram, best friend to a cocktail dress loving werewolf, and apparent soul mate to four plumbers who also happen to be elemental dragons. Besides rippling pectorals, tattoos, and … uh, nice, long pipes, the guys also have control of the elements.

Supernatural law (whoever heard of such a thing anyway?) dictates that since I stumbled upon the guys in their alternate forms, I have to marry them. All four of them. Oh, and apparently one lousy (okay, awesome) night of sex means that I'm an elemental, too—and no amount of magical penicillin can cure this disease.

All I wanted was hot running water and toilets that flushed, but now I'm dealing with monsters lurking in the sewers, supernatural politics, and four penniless (but totally hot) plumbers living in my crumbling old Victorian.

I'm Ari Smoke, wine aficionado, ex-barista, and a girl who is completely out of her element.

Having four hot husbands is nice … but the death threats, not so much.

ELEMENTS OF MISCHIEF

TATE JAMES AND C.M. STUNICH

The sound of shattering glass echoed through the huge, empty kitchen as my wine slipped from my fingers and I choked over what I'd just heard. Clutching my phone to my ear, I took a breath before responding.

“It's going to cost me how much?” I needed to clarify because surely I'd just heard him wrong.

“Seventeen thousand, ma'am. And to be honest, that's a stretch. If we ran into any more unexpected problems along the way, that price would go up.” The man on the other end was so matter-of-fact about it. So uncaring that he was delivering such gut-wrenching news to me. “Look, I'm not going to fuck around on this. It's a seriously old house, and no one has touched that plumbing practically since the day it was installed. I just don't think I have the manpower to spare on a job like this right now.”

“But what am I supposed to do?” I hated the fact that my voice had just come out in a whimpering squeak, like a pathetic little girl. I was a tough bitch normally, but not having a toilet in the house was rough. For the last few days, I'd been walking three blocks to an antique store just to pee. “I can't live here without any plumbing, and I already gave up my apartment …”

Of course this guy didn't care about my problems. He didn't care that my grandmother had just died and left me her crumbling Victorian mansion, or that I had just spent nearly every cent to my name on her funeral. Truth was, I would have had to give up my apartment regardless, because I no longer had any way to pay my rent since I was fired from my job at the local coffee shop. They simply hadn't understood why I needed so much time off to care for my grandmother in her final weeks. It was kind of lucky, in that case, that Gram had left me this house or I really would have been out on the street.

“I'd usually tell you to sell it, but no one will buy it without working plumbing so you don't really have a choice here, ma'am.” The man was still speaking, oblivious to my descent into desperation, and I sucked in a shaking breath, swiping the dampness off my cheeks with the back of my hand.

“Can you recommend anyone else?” I asked politely, but my voice shook like a leaf in a blizzard. There wasn't anything quite so stressful as having toilets that didn't flush. “I'm not from around here so I don't know where else to find good plumbers.”

A long sigh came down the phone.

“Yeah, look, I'll put in a good word for you with my son and his friends. They're just starting out with their own business, so they've probably got the time free to take on a job like this. He might cut you a deal or a payment plan or something, but no guarantees. At least you'll know he learned from the best.”

“Oh, god that would be … fucking incredible!” Relief flooded over me. This plumbing needed fixing, but I was flat broke. The next door neighbor's tree roots had messed up all of the plumbing in Gram's mansion, meaning none of the taps, toilets or anything was working. It had been years since Gram had done any maintenance whatsoever, so who knew how bad the damage was?

“Don't thank me yet,” the man grunted, “these boys are known around these parts for having a bit of a wild streak. Personally, I wouldn't hire them—even with my son involved—but you're not exactly in a position to be picky so …”

“Uh, right.” Asshole, no need to rub it in. “So do you have a contact number for them?”

“No need. I'll let them know about the job and they can get in touch with you.” He sounded a bit reluctant, like he was already regretting his suggestion. Hopefully not because of how big this job was? Or maybe he was worried about those famed wild streaks?

But please. Plumbers? How crazy could they be? I imagined them all in their late forties with big bellies and butt cracks covered in wiry hair. No, thank you. How much action could they really be getting?

“Thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate it,” I gushed politely. Never hurt to have manners. More flies with honey and all that … Or wait, flies were actually more attracted to shit, huh? Which is what I was going to be ankle-deep in if I didn't get this plumbing fixed.

“Don't thank me yet,” he muttered, then disconnected our call.

Strange man. Fuck I need more wine.

I eyed the mess of glass and liquid on the tiled floor, then shrugged to myself and grabbed the bottle. No one else was here to judge me. Swigging straight from the bottle, I headed back into the living room to watch Pretty Little Liars, my guilty obsession.

Hey, it was better than the Maury Show, right?

But only by a little.

THE OBNOXIOUS CHIMING of my grandmother's doorbell woke me, and I made a mental note to disconnect it. Or at least change the tune. My head was pounding and my eyelids felt like they were lined with sandpaper. Cracking one open, I spotted the empty bottle of wine on the carpet in front of my face; I must have passed out in front of the TV.

Groaning, I hauled myself off the couch when the doorbell played its cheery tune once more.

Who the fuck is at my door?

“Fuck me, I'm coming!” I yelled, not caring who I was snapping at. My hangover didn't discriminate. “What?” I slammed the front door open and was momentarily blinded by bright sunlight streaming in from behind my visitor.

“You must be Arizona,” a husky voice commented, and I blinked to clear the spots from my vision.

“Ari,” I corrected, “who the fuck are you?”

With my eyes adjusting to the light, I inspected my visitor, then blinked a couple more times in case my eyes were playing tricks on me.

The man on my doorstep stood well over six feet, with broad, lumberjack shoulders and rough stubble shading his jaw. His denim blue eyes, framed with lush black lashes, were laughing at me as they dragged a slow path all over my body. My skin seemed to ripple and react with the path of his gaze and I knew my nipples were standing out like headlights through the thin cotton of my tank top.

“Charlie told me you were in need of a plumber. I'm Shane, but everyone just calls me Skeeter …” He held out his hand for me to shake, and threw me a sexy wink.

I should have known, then and there, that I was in for a world of trouble.

“A PLUMBER, RIGHT,” I said slowly, trying to blink through the haze of my hangover. Were his eyes really that blue or did I just have too much grape juice running through my veins to see clearly? I bit my lower lip and shifted slightly, wishing I was wearing more than just an oversized tank and boyshorts … or maybe less? I wasn't sure. Too much wine. “Please, come inside.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

“I'd love to come inside, thank you, darlin',” he purred, his voice warm and liquid, sliding over my body and making me shiver—but not from the cool, October breeze blowing in from outside. No, this shiver was all heat.

Of course he has a Southern accent, I thought as I stepped aside to let him pass. As if it wasn't bad enough that my entire downstairs bathroom was flooded, now the space between my thighs was, too. Keep it together, Ari, I warned myself as Shane—or Skeeter or whatever tall, dark, and handsome wanted to call himself—set down his toolbox and crossed his arms over his massive chest.

“Something the matter, sugar?” he asked, looking me over like maybe, just maybe, he liked what he saw. “You're sweatin' like a whore in church.”

“A whore in what?” I asked, but maybe I was still nursing a morning after drunk because I didn't push it. “Do you want me to show where the problem areas are?”

Shane's mouth split into a wide grin, this wolfish leer that made me want to pull my shirt down over my panties. Or up. Maybe I wanted to pull it up? Why didn't I put any friggin' pants on before I let this guy in?!

“Is the, uh, rest of your team on the way?” I asked casually, wondering if I should, like, offer him some sweet tea or something. Isn't that what Southern people always drink? I felt like I was being particularly unhospitable. But what the bloody hell did I know? My mum was from Australia, my dad was from the UK, and I was born in … Hoboken. But that was beside the point. I'd just realized I'd let some random dude into my house without first checking his ID, putting pants on, or calling to check any of his references.

I could very well be looking at the next Ted effing Bundy.

Please don't kill me, I thought as I cleared my throat and raised a questioning brow.

“So … Charlie told me that you started this business with some friends?”

“Oh, they're around,” Shane said, running a hand up and down the inked perfection of his bicep. It took more effort than I had in me to look away. “Why don't you show me where I should get started, sugar, and we'll get your pipes all cleaned out.”

I had no idea how to respond to that.

A FEW HOURS LATER, I decided my frigid Northeastern hospitality was a little too cold for comfort and managed to whip up a pitcher of lemonade (while drinking a glass or two or five of Merlot) for Shane. Making my way down the creepy old hallway, I tried to steel myself for yet another quote that I couldn't afford. Sure, Shane was a bit of a weirdo (a hot weirdo), but the truth was, baristas don't exactly make enough to keep savings accounts. I was down a job, had a bank account in the two figure range that needed to last me until I found a new one, and a house with toilets that didn't flush.

What else could go wrong?

I'd just turned the corner toward the downstairs bathroom when I stopped dead in my tracks.

No way.

No fucking way.

The bathroom wall had been opened up by the last plumbing crew I'd had in here to give me a quote, but the pipes were completely dismantled, and coming out of them … was a thing. Yeah, I know, not very descriptive, but whatever it was defied words. I was barista, not a goddamn author.

A trail of water curled out of the pipe, clear and blue and animated, with a head like a dog and horns like a goat. It looked like a fucking dragon. As I stood there gaping, Shane coaxed it even further into the bathroom and stood back with a stupid, cocky male grin on his face.

“What's the damage in there, Reg?” he asked the water-thing as it curled its hooked claws into the wall and hung there like a goddamn lizard.

“I have no clue,” it snapped at him, turning its head almost completely around on its watery neck. “I can't see a damn thing in there with George's fat ass in my way.”

“Hey,” another voice growled back, emanating from the darkness of the pipe, “do you want to do this yourself, Reg? There's a two hundred year old oak making its home in the plumbing of this house; it has just as much right to be here as anyone else.”

“If you weren't such a tree hugger, we'd be done with this job already,” the water-thing said back, its voice rife with sarcasm.

“You want to say that to my face, Reginald Bartholomew Copthorne?” the other voice continued, head sliding from the pipe to glare at the water dragon. This particular thing looked similar to the first, only it was made of bark. Like, tree bark. Like a second dragon coming out of a pipe in my wall.

Apparently, I had an issue with shocking news and breaking glasses because as soon as I saw … well, whatever it was that I was looking at in that bathroom … I dropped both the pitcher of lemonade and the glass full of ice cubes to the floor.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, putting my hands to my lips.

They must've heard the glass break because suddenly all three sets of eyes in that bathroom were looking my way.

“Oh, hell, now look what you've done!” the wooden dragon said, staring at me with its mud colored gaze. It slithered from the pipe next, tail twitching, tiny green shoots unfurling from its skin. “She's seen us already. I told you this job was going to be more complicated than we thought.”

“Hey there, honey doll,” Shane said slowly, coming out of the bathroom with his hands raised in surrender. “It's all gonna be okay …”

I stood there for a moment, my eyes bulging out of my skull and wished with every breath I took that I'd finished off that bottle of wine.

Then my eyes rolled back in my head, and I passed out.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgments

Dedication

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

About the Author

Also by Tate James

Dark Glitter

Elements of Mischief

Elements of Mischief