by Elise Jae
“Please, you couldn’t kill without a death rage. You’re not going to kill me now.”
He moves again, and I shoot.
The scream echoes off the councilman's plate glass windows, but Roiban isn’t going anywhere fast.
The leg shot was sloppier than it ought to have been. A little higher and further back than I intended, but it hasn’t caused too much damage. He’ll live, but more importantly, Ganfrey is no longer in his sights.
Roiban buckles forward on a screamed curse, catching himself on the counter.
“You little bitch! You shot me.”
“And you’ve had three people killed and want to murder at least two more. Mangling a muscle isn’t going to weigh on my conscience.”
“Kimba…” D’s tone is sharp, warning, but I ignore it.
“Fine.” Roiban pushes back upright, all his weight on his uninjured leg. “I didn’t plan on killing you, but if that’s how you want it to go.”
“Don’t make me shoot you again.”
He lunges, and a sharp lance of fear slices through me as I squeeze the trigger.
A deafening silence followed the shot.
Half a dozen heartbeats later, D asks, “Is he dead?”
“Yes.” There’s no chance I missed at this range. Still, I kick the gun away.
Ganfrey slowly peaks over the counter. “What the hell?”
“That should be the end of it.” D says groaning as he moves.
I shoot him a sharp glance, and he stops trying to shift the body on top of him.
“Will you help get him off me?”
Ganfrey hurries around the counter and we both pull the would-be assassin off D. Ganfrey helps him off the ground while I move to Roiban. Flipping him over just to be extra sure.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
“My neighbors probably called the cops when he shot out the window.”
“Good. We’ve got some explaining to do.”
“I have my lens in. He might have been able to scrub himself from his own software, but everything that happened… if I saw it. They’ll see it. I just sent it in.”
“But will they believe it?” Ganfrey moves to sit at one of his dining chairs. “Because I’m not sure I do.”
“It’ll be interesting to see what turns up when they investigate the other deaths.”
D is glaring down at the man’s body. “He deserved worse than he got. I wish we could have fed him to the monsters.”
“That would have been fitting… but messy.
SIXTEEN
KIMBA
The police arrive as I hang up with Cindy, but I let Ganfrey talk to them first.
“You didn’t need to call anyone in.”
“Would you rather someone else worked on you?” He shifts, and a twinge of pain hits me. “Didn’t think so.”
“Thank you,” He takes my hand. “For being more than I ever expected.”
“Thank me by sitting still when Cindy gets here.”
He pretends to be irritated, but I can feel the smile he doesn’t let touch his lips. I brush mine across where it should be.
A throat clears behind me, and I turn to see a bashful looking officer glancing between us. “If you don’t mind, you’re needed for questioning.”
D stands, but mutters beneath his breath, “I do mind.”
Squeezing his hand, I follow him out, into chaos.
There are too many people on the scene. It’s all lights and noise, and I’m amazed that there aren’t news vans as well as all the rest.
I hear someone say the words “high profile”, and I guess that’s true. Whoever Roiban really was, he was possibly just as important as D and Ganfrey.
It takes me a moment to realize that the looks we’re getting aren’t the usual sort reserved for celebrity or possible perps.
They’re watching me.
And only some are wary.
But they all look quickly away when I turn my head.
Ganfrey is arguing with the officer when we join them. I don’t catch much of the conversation, but Ganfrey is trying to give orders, and the other guy won’t agree.
Based on the pinch of his brows, and the shifting glances toward the road, I’m not sure he wants to be the one in charge.
When he sees us, he straightens, switching to clunky English. “You are the one who shot him, yes?”
“My lens recorded the whole thing. You don’t need to bother with questions.”
The officer looked at me, and then shifted his attention back to D, returning to his familiar tongue, but with no more confidence when he spoke. “Um, sir. We’ll need to ask your bondmate back to headquarters to go over events.”
“No, you won’t.” The woman who moved toward them through the officers and cleanup crew wore a dark suit and a bored smile. “Thanks to the information sent to us by the head of the Shadow Zone Brotherhood, we know everything that happened. Ms. Wade, it seems, has a habit of being underestimated.”
The officer looked unsure of himself and said something unintelligible before he slipped away.
“Be sure I won’t make the same mistake.” Her gaze slid from D and immediately warmed as she held her hand out to me. “I’m Rose. And it is lovely to meet you.”
She’s familiar, but it takes a moment to place her. “Kylan’s bondmate.”
“That’s right. I’m also a part of the advocacy group for women who come here and find that they didn’t receive what they were promised. I handle some of the legal affairs, liaise with the authorities, and, occasionally, I get to play guardian angel.”
“I’m not complaining, but how did you get here so fast?”
“I was already in town. Your visit revitalized our plans to move back to the city. I was here for a case and stayed to view a few properties.” She shrugs. “When your information popped up, they flagged us because Kimba has been on our watch list since Edan died.” Her smile is apologetic.
From somewhere near the street, another commotion sounds, and I turn as soon as I hear a small, but authoritative voice demands the crowd clear.
The gathered people moved around Cindy like a school of fish around a shark. But they might have been moving for Core, thinking he was the more dangerous of the two.
Cindy starts giving orders before she gets to us. Those officers who aren’t immediately conscripted, start to shrink away. I don’t blame them.
Beside me, Ganfrey clears his throat and shifts awkwardly. “You may use my guest bath to tend the wound.”
With a sharp nod, Cindy points D back toward the house. “Go.”
He does, but not without a final glance toward me. Faint dread slips through the bond.
I go to follow, but Rose stops me with a gentle touch on my forearm.
“You’re free to go, but I would love to get the chance to talk to you. There have been a few women who, like you, have lost their original bondmate and none of us have been fully equipped to help them through it. If you’re willing… I’d love to hear your thoughts.” She pulls a metal card from her pocket. “Call me when all this has settled down. There’s a lot more women can do for the sian than simply mother the future generations.”
With a smile, she leaves, barking a few orders to confirm they will let us go when it’s time. And I hesitate, just long enough to slip the card into my pocket.
Ganfrey is waiting inside, hands in his pockets, a scowl on his face.
“Where is he?”
Jerking his head down a hall, Ganfrey stands up, straightening his shoulders. “About what Roiban said…”
Holding up a hand, I stop him from saying something that might embarrass himself. “Let’s not worry about it right now.”
“Of course.” Swallowing, he looks away from me, and I have a feeling I didn’t catch him before embarrassment kicked in. Well. I hope the changes of the last few days won’t keep you from Margot’s indefinitely.”
“I don’t expect it will.”
With a single, sharp nod, he heads back
out to the officers, and I follow the corridor to the only room with a light on.
Drift is hunched in a chair, his mouth a flat line as he glares at the floor. But he’s not mad. It’s defeat.
“Almost done.” Cindy says with a chipper smile. “It might not be a simple task to get them to sit down for it, but getting them patched up is definitely easier.”
Shooting me a glare over Cindy’s head, he lets her work on him. Lets her go through the motions, but the embarrassment filters through the bond.
Along with the irritation of feeling like a trapped, wounded animal.
He doesn’t want me to feel that irritation. The pain there was inevitable, his frustrations, not so much.
As soon as Cindy is at a stopping point, I touch her on the shoulder and nod toward the door.
She doesn't say a word as she heads out to join the others.
I helped him back into his coat. “You aren’t a very good patient.”
“I’m supposed to be the one taking care of everyone else.”
“You get at least one day off every ten years. That was barely ten minutes. Deal with it.”
He laughs, which was all I was looking for.
“Let’s go home.”
No one tries to stop us as we leave. And D is quiet for the trip home.
I’m the one who’s cursing when we get there and I find four cars in our garage.
I only make sure he doesn’t need help getting out of the car before I march up the stairs and into the war room.
Six hard glares meet me.
“Where is he?” Arc asks the question I know they’re all thinking.
The two men behind him—one I’ve never met look like they’d back him in any fight. But I’m not going to be cowed in my own home.
“He’s fine. Now get out.” I point toward the door D slipped through unnoticed a mere moment before.
That knocks the irritation from their faces. Replaces it with confusion.
D’s amusement filters to me, and I have to ignore it to keep from smiling myself.
“Go home. And don’t come back until you’re called.”
Trench is the first to recover. He smiles. Dips his head in what might be a bow, and says “As you command, number two.”
I don’t like that. It makes me feel a little like a bond villain, but as he moves toward the door, the others do too.
D steps out of the shadows as they go. None of them ask him to overrule me. In fact, Trench is the only one who says anything to him at all.
“I like her, boss. Make sure you keep her.”
“I have no intention of letting her go.” D might be answering Trench’s question, but he’s talking to me.
It takes less than a minute, and then we’re alone again, granted a moment of peace.
And I finally have a chance to say what’s been bouncing around in my head the entire drive.
“Listen.” I tip his chin up so he’s looking at me, instead of the wound he’s fussing with. “There’s always going to be a threat. Always going to be something you need to protect us from. But you know what. I can help protect you too. And they can help. This is called a Brotherhood, right? That means, you can rely on them.”
He brushes his thumb across my cheek bone. “It’s so hard to know when to step back.”
“I can help with that.” Dipping my head, pressing my cheek into his hand. “Besides, we’re a team now too. A team within that team.”
SEVENTEEN
KIMBA
The brotherhood had been divided when I’d announced the changes to their normal order.
But I’d been expecting that. A handful of men who’d known each other for decades and were used to doing things one way….
The bonded men in the group were the only ones who were immediately onboard.
Three months later, the unbonded men had seen the error of their hesitation, and everything was in place.
Cindy, Andrea, and Laurel were a part of the brotherhood’s meetings with just as much say as their bondmates, and Drift no longer had to enforce his rulings when the unbonded men tried to talk over any of us.
By now, none of the brotherhood found my presence odd, or even seemed to notice when I took over for D.
I’d just finished going over some of the information Laurel had discovered while helping me sift through old data, when a message pinged for me—the information I’d been waiting on all morning.
“Good news?” Cindy asked from where she sat, Core hovering over her.
“Very,” I pull up the roster. “Confirmation just came through. Rose and I are the human component of the council, Ganfrey has retained his seat, and a man who was friends with my late bondmate has agreed to take the fourth position. The fifth and final seat at the table hasn’t been determined yet. They want someone with more experience with the creatures themselves.”
“Then they’re only candidate is Trench,” Arc snorted, shaking his head. “And no one in their right mind would want him.”
There was a familiar beat of silence, where everyone in the room acknowledged it wasn’t a joke, and Trench unclenched his hands, smiling at me, instead of attempting to murder his brother.
“How is it possible, that you’ve managed to turn so much on its head in so little a time?”
“Just lucky, I guess.”
“Careful, Drift. Or your mate is going to take over the world.”
Everyone laughs, but the mirth is interrupted by a sharp gasp.
“Oh. Oh!” Cindy had grabbed Core’s hand, and he looked just as stunned as she did.
The other men in the room had jumped at the alarm in her voice, but Laurel hadn’t moved, she turned to me with a wide smile. “It’s happening.”
“What’s happening?” Arc was on the far side of the room and looked as though he might want to jump out the window.”
“My water broke!”
The sian men looked confused—even Core.
“It means the baby is coming.” I would have laughed if we didn’t need to get Cindy out the door.
That spurred the others into action, and when Core helped Cindy stand and start her wobble to the door, there was nothing in their way, and everything they needed was ready to be handed to them on their way to their car.
Only Arc held back, his face a blank mask.
Had he been someone else, I might have been worried. But some men have a hard time with the idea of childbirth, and whatever his reasons were, he could keep them to himself.
We stood behind the others as Core and Cindy pulled out of the garage, headed for the hospital.
“Soon enough,” D whispered in my ear. “That’s going to be you.”
“Did you notice Ric paying attention? He wants to be ready when it’s his turn.”
“They’re all paying attention.”
He was right—and only Arc seemed disgusted by the idea of what was in front of him.
“You’re not.”
“I’ve done a lot of reading. I know what’s going to happen.” Wrapping his arms around me, he rested his chin on my head. “And I can’t wait.”
“Let’s give her another few months at least, yeah?”
With a chuckle, he kisses my hair and agrees.
EPILOGUE
DRIFT
Three hours later a new member of the Shadow Zone family emerged into the world. We’d been the first to visit, clearing out before anyone else got there and the sheer number of us stressed the new mama out.
Kimba slips into the driver’s seat, and I feel the trickle of excitement spilling through the bond.
When she doesn’t head straight home, I give her a questioning look, but don’t voice the curiosity I know she feels from me.
I’m not sure why I’m surprised as she pulls into Margot’s parking lot, or when she leads me inside, bypassing the main crowds, and pushes open the door to room one-oh-seven.
It feels like years since we’ve been here.
Moving around the room, flicking on the so
ft halo light over the bed, skimming her hand over the sheets, she turns to me with a hungry smile.
“What are we doing here?”
“We’re back where we started.” She crosses the short distance to me. “The room where I first realized I wanted you.”
“The room where I fell in love with you.”
Chuckling, she drapes her arms around my neck and pulls me down to kiss me. “I love you too, you know.”
“I do.”
“Good.” Slipping away, she slides her jacket off, tossing it to the chair in the corner, her shirt follows after.
“No strip tease today?”
Shaking her head, she shimmies out of her pants to stand, all but naked in front of me.
“I don’t know how I can want you more than I did before. But you are so sexy with my baby in you.”
“Then we’ll have to see about making this a recurring condition.”
The soft, roundness of her belly, is cradled by the deep blue lace of her teddy. She’s taken to wearing the fully covering undergarments since she started to show This one leaves her legs and arms bare, but the lace drops from her neck all the way down to cover her delicious pussy. It’s that color I love on her, and the bra sewn beneath the lace holds her breasts the way I want to.
I play with the lacy cap-like sleeves at her shoulders before running my hand down, over the open cut outs on the back, to grasp her perfect ass. It might teasingly cover everything in the front, but it gives me full access to her soft skin.
This is how it always started: the dark room, me fully dressed, her in almost nothing at all.
But back then, I wouldn’t have done more than kiss and touch her.
This time…. It’s all to play for.
Hands under my shirt, she pinches my stomach and I know she felt me imagining my options.
I hold up my hands, “Can you blame me?”
Shaking her head, she takes her time, removing my clothes, running her hands over me. Exploring me like she’s never seen me before.
I toe off my boots as she unseals my pants, and I have to hold myself perfectly still as she drags them down me, going to her knees along with them.
But she doesn’t take me into her mouth, she just licks me. One, long, slow stroke of her tongue as she rises back up again, sliding the full length of herself along me, lace rough against my softest skin.
