by Raven Steele
My eyes widened. “Did you really just say that?”
She nodded her head slowly.
“Fine.” Lynx sighed, and her gaze flashed to the grandfather clock. “I can’t believe it’s almost nine. I’ve got a bunch of cleaning to do before I go to bed.” She glanced towards the hallway. “Is the washing machine open?”
I nodded, and Samira moved towards the front door. “I have things to do. Don’t forget about Wednesday. Be ready on time.”
I made a face at her. “The breaker of men won’t wait on me?”
“Shut up,” she said before she disappeared out the front door.
“You’re not going to let her live that down, are you?” Lynx asked, smiling slightly.
“Hell no! She gave me gold to work with.” I couldn’t stop grinning, but as I stared after Samira, I wondered what she’d meant that night we’d all gotten drunk, claiming she was the bearer of the Kiss of Eternal Night. It sounded totally badass. I’d have to get her drunk again soon and ask her about it.
“I’m going to head into Sinsual tonight,” I said.
I needed to see if Eddie was going to chop my head off for leaving him with the bodies. Or maybe he needed help burying them still. I attempted to swallow the sudden fullness in my throat. I hated thinking about what had happened. “Do you want some help around here first?”
“No. I think I’m just going to stay in and practice magic. Thanks, though.”
“You’re getting really good. In no time at all, it will be you leading us into battle.”
She snorted. “Right.”
I gave her a sympathetic pat on the back and said goodbye. Lynx was powerful, there was no doubt about it, but Samira was right when she spoke about the darkness we shared. I didn’t know how Samira had gained hers, but I knew about mine, and it had nearly destroyed me.
Lynx couldn’t share that same fate. Whatever secrets she claimed to be hiding, I hoped they weren’t as serious as the ones I carried. If so, between us three roommates, we were sitting on a ticking time bomb. And it would only be a matter of time before it exploded.
Chapter 18
I pushed my feet against the ground, launching myself into the air. The swing, meant for children, groaned under my weight. It was Wednesday, almost nine at night. The full moon illuminated the empty park. Samira stood not far away, a statue trapped in silvery haze. Luke should be here soon.
Luke. My heart warmed at the thought of him. He’d slept over the past few nights. I loved falling asleep in his strong arms, and it was nice when the nightmares came. When they came for us both. We were there for each other, through the good and the bad. Luke dealt with a lot of guilt over some of the things he’d done for Dominic the last several years. He’d always justified it knowing one day he’d see his brother again, but now? He felt it was all for nothing.
But at least we had each other. And I had my friends, the pack, and even a sweet occasional job with a great boss. When I’d gone back the other night and asked about how it went with the police and the bodies, Eddie brushed me off and refused to talk about it. I thought it strange but didn’t push the issue. The word in the pack was that Leroy and Heather had run off together, which no one was surprised about. Apparently, a lot of them knew they’d been dating.
For once, something was going right in my life and I was determined to keep it that way.
I scanned the park again as I pumped myself into the air, looking for anything out of place. In the distance, I heard the faint sound of waves lapping at the lakeshore from a slight breeze. Other than that, the night was still, strange for this time of night.
Lake Park was bigger than I expected, with three different play areas for children surrounding a large lake. A wooden shack had been built next to it filled with kayaks and canoes. I might like to come here in the day sometime. With Luke.
“Let’s go,” Samira said, breaking the silence.
I jumped from the swing when it was at its highest and landed on the ground. Together, we walked back to the meeting spot.
“Where’s your ex?” I asked her. “I thought he was supposed to be here.”
“Don’t call him that.”
“Sure thing, Sammie.”
A familiar scent filled my nostrils, and I smiled. Luke came into sight, his dark hair glistening in the moonlight. Dark shadows clung beneath his high cheekbones, and his blue eyes practically glowed.
I glanced down, quickly checking myself. I’d worn my good bra, one I’d actually bought, and made a quick adjustment to the boobage. I also wore Luke’s shirt, the one that he’d left at my house the night before. I’d cut off the sleeves and tied off the bottom just above my belly button. Several top buttons were undone.
Perfect.
He followed a worn path towards us, hands stuffed into his pockets. His gaze dropped to my shirt, and I tried not to smile. “He’s here.”
“Who, Cliff?” Samira followed my line of sight. “Oh. Luke.”
I pulled out my knife to inspect it, pretending butterflies weren’t colliding in my stomach. I didn’t glow over men, damnit! “Of course. He’s already wrapped around my pinky finger.”
Luke looked at me as if he’d heard. I winked at him.
He approached and gave Samira an acknowledging nod. She blinked.
“Your pinky, huh?” He placed his hands on my hips and jerked me to him. My stomach did the butterfly thing again.
I grinned. “Nice and tight.”
He lowered his voice. “That’s what you were screaming last night.”
“We all heard what she was screaming last night.” Samira still peered ahead, her expression flat.
I choked down my surprise, then laughed. “Sorry, Sammie. Sometimes playing hide the snake in the bush can get kind of loud.”
Her gaze flickered my direction. “I’ve cut off exactly a hundred and sixty-nine snake heads in my lifetime. I’m happy to cut off one more.”
“You said sixty-nine!”
“I said a hundred and sixty-nine.”
I glanced at Luke to share a laugh with him, but he was too busy staring at my boobs. Mission accomplished.
“I like your shirt,” he breathed. The muscles in his body were strung so tight, I was afraid to breathe in too deeply for fear he’d ravage me right here. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Thanks. It’s new.” I gave him an innocent, not so innocent, smile.
Using the bottom of my shirt to clean the knife, I pulled it down so I was showing off a little side boob. Luke’s lips parted and he exhaled a breath. I looked up at him beneath my eyelashes, still cleaning my knife.
“Show me more,” he ordered, oblivious to Samira.
“They’re here,” Samira snapped, her jaw flexing. She stared into the dark.
Luke and I followed her gaze into the darkest part of the forest. At first, I didn’t see anything, but then two figures emerged. Angel and Mateo. Their strides were long and full of purpose.
Luke maneuvered so he was standing behind me. He rested his chin on the top of my head and held my hips possessively. I cringed inwardly. This was the first time seeing Angel since making things more permanent with Luke. I hoped this wouldn’t be awkward.
Angel stared at me as we walked, only flicking his gaze in Luke’s direction once. When he looked back at me, I caught a sliver of pain in them before they hardened. My heart tightened, and I sucked in a breath.
Angel had made it clear he wasn’t going to pursue me, and I’d never had any intention of starting something with him. He was a vampire, after all. So why did it feel like I had betrayed him?
I pushed aside my emotions as Luke’s thumb rubbed my side gently and focused my attention on Samira to gauge her reaction toward Mateo. Her body stiffened as he drew closer. I reached into my back pocket and grabbed my silver flask. I handed it to her. Without saying a word, she popped the top and guzzled every drop.
“What’s with her?” Luke whispered, as if he’d forgotten Samira could hear him.
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“Commitment issues.”
Samira handed me back the flask all without looking at me, her eyes glued on Mateo.
“Where is Bodian Dynamics?” Angel asked. He stopped not far from me. His gaze flickered over me, pausing on my shirt, his nose twitching, before he met my eyes. I gave him a small smile.
“Late,” Samira said. “But they’ll be here.”
Like he’d been there all night, a shadowy figure stepped out of the trees. Luke let me go and stepped to my left. Angel flanked my right and Samira moved alongside Mateo.
Cliff walked toward us, spots of gray speckled what was left of his dark hair. I didn’t remember him having so much gray. He also had new lines creasing his forehead and around his mouth, which was pressed tightly together. He wore a suit, which was also different. Last time I’d seen him, he was dressed in wrinkly slacks and a collared shirt. Maybe he’d moved up the ranks since I’d last seen him.
I scanned the area to make sure he was alone. So far, so good.
“Something feels wrong,” Luke whispered at me. Our eyes met briefly and I nodded, agreeing with him.
“Thank you for coming,” Samira said to Cliff.
He surveyed our small group, taking us all in as if he were taking notes. I didn’t like it. Luke didn’t either. He made a slight shift of his body towards me. Both Angel and Mateo were still, their backs straight in a dignified manner.
Cliff’s gaze returned to Samira. “What’s this about?”
“Last time we met, you said Bodian Dynamics didn’t get involved with pack business. Yet, men from the company were seen with the Linchen Pack a couple of days ago.”
This caught him off guard. “How do you know about that?”
“You don’t deny it?” Mateo asked.
Cliff’s head snapped his direction. “Why should I? Bodian Dynamics can do as it pleases.”
“What business would they have with shifters?” Samira asked.
“Shifters can be quite useful, given the right motivation. Money works wonders.”
Samira tilted her head. “You didn’t answer the question.”
“They’ve been helping us with a pet project of ours.”
“Does this have anything to do with the strange humans we fought when we saw you last?”
Mateo glanced at Samira, his brow furrowed, but she stared straight ahead waiting for an answer.
“It does. Our expectations soared, thanks to,” his gaze shifted to Mateo, “you, I believe. Weren’t you the one who created Scorpion’s Breath?”
“It was meant for humans,” Mateo said, his voice dripping with malice.
Cliff’s voice lowered. “It was meant for so much more.”
“What do you plan to do with the supernaturals you took?” Samira asked quickly. Probably trying to quell the growing anger she felt from Mateo.
Cliff shook his head. “That is private information.”
“You don’t know either,” Angel said, ever insightful.
Cliff’s expression darkened. “All that matters is that I make sure they are ready.”
“Who’s behind this?” Samira asked.
“Get ready for what?” Luke asked a second after Samira.
Cliff laughed, a sound that chilled my blood. “Everything’s going to change soon. You’ll see. People talk about an apocalypse, living in bunkers to protect themselves from zombies. After what’s coming, they’ll wish it was zombies. Only the pure will survive it.”
A heavy silence made it difficult to breathe. I knew it was going to be bad, but, good lord, he made it sound like aliens were coming to take over the earth. Maybe they were. Supernatural aliens.
I stepped forward, wanting to ask my own burning question. “What’s your position in the company? Last time I saw you, you were a glorified warehouse manager.”
His eyes flashed to mine, and he smiled. “Ah, the special she-wolf speaks.”
This time I was the one caught off guard. Both Luke and Angel moved closer.
“Thanks to you and this vampire here,” Cliff continued, motioning to Samira, “I got a promotion.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
He smiled slyly. “I saw your eyes that night and recognized you for what you were.”
Mateo looked back at me, confused.
“You see,” Cliff said, “my boss and my coworkers all thought I was a fool for studying supernaturals. I was obsessed with them. Hell, that’s why I took the job at Bodian Dynamics originally. I knew the work they did was questionable, and they often worked with things that exist in the shadows. A warehouse manager was the best I could do. But when I got your blood …”
“My blood?” My heart beat erratically.
Luke flashed his teeth. “What do you want with Briar’s blood?”
Cliff glanced at Samira, not answering him. “Yours too.”
Faster than I could blink, Mateo had Cliff by the front of his shirt and Angel was in front of me. Luke pulled me closer to him, and I was sandwiched in between the two men.
I pushed them both back. “Really?”
Mateo lifted Cliff high into the air, his fangs out, sharp and deadly. “Why?”
“Let me go,” Cliff demanded, his voice surprisingly calm.
This worried me. It worried Angel and Luke too. They swiveled their heads searching for danger, and I growled.
“Answer me!” Mateo said, his voice cold and full of rage.
Cliff’s calm expression didn’t change. “I will ask one more time. Set me down, if you want to live.”
“And I asked you,” Mateo repeated. “Why did you take their blood?”
Cliff slowly turned his head and peered into the darkness. “Come.”
One by one, men and women in the distance appeared. They stepped out of the darkness soundlessly, as if they’d been invisible this whole time. They had the same feeling to them as the supernaturals that had been in the warehouse the other night. I swiveled around. More and more of them came forward. We were surrounded by Hydes.
Well, shit.
Chapter 19
In the blink of an eye, Samira pulled Cliff from Mateo’s grasp, ripping his shirt wide open.
“Last time you saw Briar and me, we took on your weak humans, snapping them like twigs, even with their enhanced genetics. You want to try out the five of us and ruin Bodian’s investment?”
This time, fear flickered over Cliff’s face.
“Even if we don’t kill them all,” Mateo hissed, "one thing is for certain. You will be the first to die.”
Cliff’s confidence wavered. Samira released him with a jerk, making him stumble several steps backwards. Twisting his face into a sneer, he halted his retreat. “Just stay out of our way. You can’t stop what’s coming.”
With one final look at each of us, he hurried back towards the woods where he came from, taking his Hydes with him without any kind of verbal command.
We didn’t stick around either. We returned to Lynx’s house where Samira lit a fire in the hearth. I wondered if seeing all those Hydes had given her a chill. I was certainly spooked.
Samira disappeared into the kitchen, and Mateo replaced her by the fireplace. He brooded heavily, something vamps were good at. He seemed especially agitated. Maybe it had something to do with Samira. So far they had avoided talking to each other.
Lynx carried in a tray of food from the kitchen. “Samira just told me what happened. By how pale you all are, it must’ve been bad. At least you know what you’re dealing with now, right?”
I left my place by the door and reached for a cookie. “You made cookies.”
“I did, but that doesn’t mean it’s my role in this group. I was just bored.” She set them down on the coffee table and returned to the kitchen. She came back a moment later with a bottle of wine and sat on the sofa near the fire, downing a long swig of the red liquid. Samira walked in just then, bringing glass cups of warmed blood. She handed them to Angel and Mateo and drank one for herself. Wow, should I b
e doing something too? I wasn’t used to inviting groups of people over.
Instead, I shoved a cookie into my mouth, trying to remember the last time I ate. I grabbed one more and slouched onto the couch, next to Lynx. Luke shook his head, smiling, and jerked me off the couch. He took my place, then pulled me into his lap. I felt a little weird about it with Angel in the room, but he didn’t look over at us.
Luke pulled me closer to him, holding me protectively and whispering in my ear. “You’re staying put until I decide I’m going to let you go.”
“So what I don’t understand,” Lynx said as she lowered the bottle, “is why they didn’t try to kill you? I mean, I’m glad they didn’t, but it seems strange he’d share information with you because … he’s a nice person? There has to be another reason.”
Samira sat on the other side of the couch, near me, and held out her blood-tinged empty glass. Lynx reached around Luke and me to pour wine into it. They were used to our public affection by now.
I rubbed at my eyes, more tired than usual. “I think our Cliffie is too cocky. He thought he could try out his new Hyde creatures on us, but he didn’t realize we’d just kill him first.”
Angel stared out the window as he spoke next. “No, it was something else. He wanted us to know that he has your blood.”
“Whose blood?” Lynx asked.
“Samira’s and Briar’s,” Angel answered.
“Maybe it’s nothing,” I said. “Maybe he just wanted to scare us to get us to back down.”
Mateo turned from the fireplace. “If Bodian Dynamics is involved, it’s not nothing. Why are they interested in your blood, Briar?”
No one said anything, but all eyes moved to me. I sat up straight, staring at Angel, and Luke’s fingers tightened on my stomach.
Angel finally turned to me, expressionless. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and he looked … defeated. “You can trust Mateo.”
“Fine. I’m a Komira, but for the record, I’m just learning what that means.”
Mateo’s eyebrows lifted. “A Komira?”
In a second, he was by my side, his nose in the crook of my neck.
