by Riley Pine
Then I see it. From the cuff of his suit a dagger has appeared. He grips it tight in his palm while his other holds tight against his ribs.
Lora’s jaw tightens. “Don’t do anything stupid, Peter. There are two of us and one of you, and your idiot goons are searching an empty room trying to find me. Can they hear us through the glass? Would they even know to look this way, or are you so mistrusting that they don’t even have a clue about the mirror?”
I raise my brows. “Darling,” I say. “Did you know I was here all along?”
She smiles her broad, beautiful smile. “I had a hunch.”
“Enough of this two-to-one bullshit,” Cain says. “You can’t free him before I can kill him.”
He strides toward me, but his breathing is labored and uneven. He presses the tip of his blade above my heart.
“If she loves you like you think she does, then it will ruin her to watch you die just as much as it would have ruined you to kill her. If your last memory is watching me break the woman you love, then I still win. Isn’t that the first rule of your precious Order? The Order before everyone else? Personal ties are liabilities. And you two went and fell in love anyway.”
He pushes the tip of the blade through the first layer of skin, and I say nothing. Despite the searing pain, I don’t even flinch. No way in hell I’m giving him any sort of satisfaction.
“I’ve loved him since we were teenagers!” she cries. Cain pauses, fist still tight round the dagger’s hilt, and I hear the desperation in Lora’s voice. “But you’ve never loved anyone other than yourself. And that, Peter, is your liability.”
As she says the words her fingers play with her hair. And it’s all the time she needs, the distraction just enough to pull the jeweled hair clip free—the one that isn’t a jewel at all but a lethal blade.
Like Robin Hood’s arrow, the weapon hits its target—Cain’s hand—before he can register that she’s moved. The dagger falls as blood pools in his palm and down the back of his hand, running down both sides of his wrist.
He stumbles in shock, hits the window wall and slides to the floor with a hideous wail.
I sigh. “Have you come to rescue me?” I tease.
She runs to me, cupping my cheeks in her palms. “You’ve looked better,” she says.
I laugh, then wince as the weight of my body tugs at my bound wrists. “Think you can get me out of this and maybe perform your magic on my shoulder again?”
She looks at Cain, strides to where he’s collapsed and pulls the hairpin blade from his palm.
He writhes and swears at her through gritted teeth.
“Should I kill him first?” she asks.
“Not if you want your ticket out,” I say. “If we bring him in and you turn yourself over to the Order’s authority, you’ll likely be able to bargain your way to freedom.”
She strides toward me and in a blink unlocks my chains. My injured arm falls limp at my side, and I hiss.
She braces her foot against my thigh, takes my wrist in her hand and pops my shoulder back in like she’s done it a thousand times before.
Then she kisses my bruised temple where she knocked me out with my own gun. She kisses my bruised cheek, my busted lip—every injury I’ve incurred in the past twenty-four hours I’ve been with her. And I wouldn’t change a second of it.
“Come with me, Max. Leave the Order and live the rest of your life with me.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Z
MAX FREEZES IN MY ARMS, his muscles rigid with the implication of my statement. “Leave.” His voice is steel and strikes at the defenses around my heart, leaving invisible bruises. “Lora... I can’t leave. The Order is my life.”
What about me? I want to scream. Shake him. Slap him silly and stomp my feet like I’m two years old and throwing the world’s biggest temper tantrum.
The heat leaves my body in a rush, and a cool sludge fills my stomach like December pond water.
Max and I are practiced liars, but I know when he speaks the truth...and right now is one of those times.
Peter spits out a mouthful of blood and laughs from the ground, a husky wet sound tinged with a wheeze of pain. “Oh, this is rich, my old friends. Rich indeed. Lora, you stupid git, you thought he loved you more than the precious secret society to which he has devoted his entire life? And here I thought you were the brains of the operation.” He snickers again, spittle flecking the corners of his mouth.
“Shut up, Peter,” I say, rising and stalking toward his cowering shape. No more is he the confident lord of the underworld, the cocky prince of darkness. I could crush him like a cockroach under my heel. “Quit speaking in my presence or I swear by all that is holy I will end you right here, right now, and there won’t be enough left over to make a midnight snack for a bloody vulture.” My patience is wearing thin.
Peter presses his lips so tight that a ring of white appears around his mouth. “Watch your tongue, bitch,” he snarls.
“Make me,” I taunt him right back, flinging the words in his face. The toe of my boot longs to press down on his neck. I’ve killed in my line of work. All agents have, but never without justification.
But tonight I’m ready to commit murder. The world takes on a red hue.
“Lora.” Max places his hand on my shoulder. “Think, Lora. Don’t let him get to you.”
Oh, Max. His hands feel so good on my body...so right.
I am tempted to close my eyes. I feel the latent strength in him. It grounds me and makes me want to go boneless. For him I’d consider giving up and giving in, remaining in the Order. It would be so easy. And I’d have Max. At least some of the time.
No... I would have X, and I can’t settle for that anymore. I want the boy I fell in love with and the man I know he can be.
I can’t live without love anymore, snatching stolen moments, never in control of my choices but instead sacrificing everything for a cause. I will not do it. That path would be the end of me. The plan was to save Max, even if that meant betraying the Order. I’ve done that. I don’t want to go down the same path my parents did. I have dedicated years of my life to the Order and regret nothing, but now I need to live...and love...on my terms.
Peter’s eyes gleam, bright with hate and triumph. He sees my defeat and savors the victory.
“You’re never going to win him away,” he croons. “He might not have ever known our father, but they are so much the same. Single-minded and stubborn. You will never have what you want.”
The doors fly open and agents pour in. They are dressed in black tactical gear and brandish military-grade assault weapons. Surprise, surprise. The Order is here to save the day. No doubt they were tracking X the whole time.
But as they lead Cain away, I don’t hear the words of congratulations from those in the room. I hear Peter’s mocking laugh boring into my skull.
“Come on,” X says, taking my hand. “We have to talk.”
“What more is there to say?” I whisper wearily, feeling a heavy weight descend on me like I’m a hundred years old. And yet I don’t want him to pull away. I want his hands everywhere, spanning my waist, squeezing my ass, caressing my hips, teasing my breasts. This man makes magic with his hands, and I want to fall under his spell.
He pulls me close and presses his lips to my ear. “I’m not planning on talking. What I want to say to you is more than words.”
Then he turns, holding my hand and leading me from Cain’s lair with arrogant certainty.
I should hate him for it, but it only makes me love him more. Passion crashes through me, sending my heart adrift in a confusing confluence.
I follow, letting him think he is in charge. But then I pull him into a dark alcove before we reach the door. I’ve been his virgin lover. His secret mistress. His sex slave. His ally. His enemy.
But tonight he will be mine or nothing at all.
&nb
sp; “What is it?” he asks, concern lacing his tone.
“You never asked—what tricks my body can do that you aren’t aware of.”
Even in the dark I see his eyes widen and his lips curl into that roguish grin I’ve loved since I was a teen.
I slide my foot up his leg until it reaches his hip. On instinct, he wraps his hand around my ankle, his eyes dark with need as they meet mine.
I simply nod, and he straightens my leg until my heel rests on his shoulder,
“Lora,” he says, his voice hoarse. But to hell with words. Right now I need to show him that we were made for each other, that in a world where so much doesn’t make sense, we do. “Your injuries.”
I shake my head. “I don’t feel any pain right now. Do you?”
He shakes his head.
I unbutton his pants and tug the zipper down. His cock throbs inside his boxer briefs, and I set it free, my hand strong around his thick length.
“Lora,” he whispers now, and I quiet him with a soft shh. He nods in understanding, neither of us wanting to reveal ourselves to the agents just outside. So he slides his hand from my ankle down to where the chemise has ridden up to reveal me bare underneath.
He sucks in a breath through clenched teeth when his fingers reach aching, swollen clit.
I whimper, so sensitive to his touch, but I need to be the one in control here, so I grab his hand and thrust it above his head, slamming it against the wall. Then, his cock still in my hand, I rub his wet tip against my center.
“Fuck me.” They are the only words I speak before he pivots to press my back against the wall instead of his, then lowers himself enough to enter me.
He growls as he grabs my ass with both hands, lifting me so my other foot comes off the ground, and then slams into me.
“Harder, damn it!” I order. “You can’t break me, Max. Do you understand? You. Can’t. Break. Me.”
I chant the words silently in my head, trying to make them true.
He plunges inside me again, my ankle on his shoulder taking him to depths I didn’t know were possible.
I bite his lip, drawing blood as my fingers tangle in his hair.
“We fit,” I say against him. “Do you understand?”
“We fit,” he grinds out, and then his thrusts come faster, his cock filling me near to bursting as I let go as I never have before, coming with a silent scream as Max explodes inside me.
He can have me like this for all the nights to come. Or he can choose the Order.
But he cannot have both.
X
My head swims as I lead Lora outside.
What the hell was that? It’s not anything we haven’t done before and yet it was unlike any other time I’ve been inside her.
I need to think—need to regain control of the situation, to separate fantasy from reality.
I scan the scene before us. Aside from several tactical vehicles waiting in the alley outside, there are two ambulances—one to take Cain away, as his wounds will need mending before he can officially be taken into custody, and one that stays behind to tend to anyone with less serious injuries—mainly me and Lora. Beta was found in the London warehouse where he was captured and held over a week ago. Luckily it seems like the old boy will pull through unscathed.
The puncture wound over my heart is superficial, and the emergency technician makes sure my shoulder is back in place properly. The wound on Lora’s thigh is worse. The tech cleans it and tells us he can close it with surgical glue.
“You both should see a doctor,” Cordelia insists. She, of course, led the extraction team, relying on the tracking device on my gun and another I swallowed in the form of a capsule, its effects set to wear off in the next hour or so as my body metabolizes it. The one on Lora was strictly for me. All that mattered was that I found her first, that I got answers before the Order dealt with her.
“Ah, Your Highness,” I say. “Since when have I ever done what should be done?”
She rolls her eyes and hooks her arm through mine.
“Let’s walk for a moment, shall we?” the queen says, then turns to Z, who is being tended to in the ambulance. “I trust you’ll stay in one place until we return.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” she says flatly.
We stroll beyond Cain’s compound. Lora wasn’t lying when she claimed it was beneath a popular street café. We emerge onto the main street. In her civilian clothes, Cordelia blends in more than I do in my state, but no one seems to pay us much attention.
“She wasn’t working for Cain,” I start, but the queen cuts me off.
“Agent Z betrayed the Order. No matter what her intentions were, that cannot be overlooked.”
I stop at a well-lit corner, my gaze fixed on hers. “She saved my life, Your Highness. And in doing so, she did protect the organization. Cain would have stopped at nothing until he ended me, and I have a feeling you’ve known that for quite some time.”
She sighs. “That you and Cain were brothers? Of course we knew. We weren’t certain about Price being Cain, though. We needed Agent Z for that confirmation.”
My jaw tightens. “So you were using her from the beginning.”
Cordelia lets out a mirthless laugh. “That’s what we do, Max. We use whoever has the information to get the information. Then, depending on whether or not our sources are expendable or valuable...” She trails off.
“Lora is not expendable,” I say through gritted teeth.
She looks regretful. “No. Not expendable. But also no longer valuable. Her loyalties lie with her heart, X. Or should I say Max? Because that is who you are to her. The question is, who is she to you?”
* * *
I find Lora waiting in front of the closed café, sitting at one of the empty outdoor tables in hospital scrubs.
“How is it that no matter what you’re wearing, you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen?” I ask.
She laughs. “So?” she says half-heartedly. “Am I to be executed or set free?” She forces a smile.
“There are a few minor hoops you’ll have to jump through—information you’ll need to turn over—but Cordelia will expunge your record once you do. It will be as if Agent Z never existed.”
“And you?” she asks. “It’s still the Order before everyone else?”
I hold out my hand. She hesitates for a second, but then she takes it.
I lead her not to a limousine but to a parked Rolls-Royce, much like the one I used to drive for the royal family of Edenvale.
“I’m not fucking you blindfolded in a car tonight, Max,” she says as I open the passenger-side door for her.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I say with a grin. “Okay, that’s not entirely true. I dream of doing all sorts of things to you in any number of vehicles, hotel rooms, penthouses, et cetera. And of you doing some very naughty things to me, as well. But alas, we’ll save those fantasies for another time. Tonight is—different. Will you let me show you?”
I don’t need to convince her, not after what just happened inside that building. Everything is different. We can’t go back. What remains to be seen, however, is where we go from here.
She sighs. “Okay. But do me a favor. Never call me Agent Z again.”
We drive for an hour in complete and utter silence, the weight of what she’s asked of me filling the air between us.
Finally, we turn down a narrow gravel road that ends at a small country house well outside the Paris city limits.
All we can see is what the headlights of the car illuminate—the whitewashed brick and wraparound porch, the swing hanging from the olive tree in mild disrepair, but it’s fixable.
“I don’t understand,” she says.
I clear my throat. It’s been so long since I’ve uttered the words.
“This is...my home. At least, it was many years ago. It�
�s not much, but it’s where my mother raised me until she sent me to Frasier.”
Lora blinks and swipes a finger under her eye. “This is—your childhood home? Does your mother still live here?”
I shake my head. “She left this place many years ago, sold it.” I clear my throat, swallow over the lump that has surprisingly risen there. “I was informed a few months ago that she’d passed away. It was a small ceremony—her burial. I went. After not contacting her for over twenty years, I laid her to rest. She was, as far as I knew, the last of my living kin, which meant no one I loved was left who I could endanger because of who I was and what I did.”
“Oh, Max.” She cups my cheek in her hand.
I lean into her palm, pressing my lips to it and kissing her softly.
“But if you leave now...” I say.
“I’m out,” she says without hesitation. “This was it for me—ensure your safety from Cain and then take my life back.”
I nod. “I know. It just means that I was wrong.”
Her brows furrow. “About what?”
“About there being no one out there left whom I love.”
Her breath hitches.
“I love you, too, Max. Do you get that? But I love Max, not Agent X.”
I nod. “I get it. But all the things X has done in the name of the greater good—some were terrible things, Lora. So even if I am still Max to you, you need to know that he comes with all of X’s strengths but also all of his faults.”
I don’t tell her of what Cordelia and I spoke of on our walk, or of what was left to me in my mother’s will—the only thing she owned, which I now know must have been a gift from my father. I need to know that regardless of my future this woman I have loved for what feels like my entire life loves X and Max equally, because we are one and the same.
“May I take you inside?”
Lora’s eyes widen. “But how? I mean, who lives here?”
“No one right now,” I tell her. “So I thought we’d stay here for the night.”
She nods, so I lead her out of the car and straight into my past.
