by Lizzy Ford
Zoey’s eyelashes flew open, her body blooming into sudden, warm awareness that pushed back at the darkness trying to pull her under. Declan’s power swept through her, subduing the blackout as easily as it stirred her blood. She wanted to run, to tell him to fuck off and leave. The fight with the blackout left her shaking and scared, and she knew all too well his touch was all that kept it from consuming her.
“You have a problem,” he added.
“Just … one?” she retorted.
Catching her breath, she regained her composure and pushed away from the tree. She came into contact with his. He stood too close behind her, and she froze, images of their nights together flashing through her mind. Desire, anger, sorrow … all three emotions she didn’t want to feel flooded her, the reverberating ache of her heart causing her chest to hurt.
Why? The question she wasn’t able to ask him for fear of the answer had played over and over in her mind since discovering his betrayal. Why he had done it … why she couldn’t get him out of her mind … why her pain never abated …
His hand remained on her forearm, and he rested his other on her hip without moving out of her way. “Don’t fight me tonight,” he said huskily, his breath stirring the hair on the back of her neck. “Let me fix this.”
… why he kept helping her without question or putting a price tag on his assistance.
Zoey hesitated. She had little choice; the blackout was lingering, waiting for him to release her so it could sweep her away the way she yearned for her soul-mate to do right now.
She answered by resting against him.
His arms went around her, and he pulled her back against his body, holding her securely. With no small amount of bitterness, she realized how right Paul was. As strong as she’d become, she always melted when Declan touched her. She shuddered at the impact, his heat moving through her, an invasion too stimulating for her to want it to stop.
The full body contact, his solidness and the warm sex energy radiating off him turned her stiff muscles into wet noodles and tripled her pulse. She laid her head against his shoulder. His familiar magic managed to relax her while also sending channels of fire racing through her.
The tension always present between them saturated the air, growing harder to shake off or ignore the way she wanted to. Aware of every part of him, she tried to block the dark vanilla scent winding through her senses and the urge to push the hand on her belly lower, to the part of her that burned for him. It was more than his incubus draw and her fragile emotions. It was the primal sense of belonging that only occurred between soul-mates she experienced every time they were close. She was drowning in him, aroused and sliding under his influence.
Desperate to retain her self-control, she spoke. “You know I don’t care about formal recognition, don’t you?” The breathless quality in her voice made her face warm.
“I do.”
“Then why suggest it?”
“Olivia plays hard ball, but she won’t risk you being killed. There’s something they want from Team Rogue, and I can’t yet figure out what.”
“So you’re using me,” she said, hardening.
“I’m giving you the reason you’ll accept, since the truth isn’t something you want to hear.” The cool words were spoken quietly. “You know what I want, Zoey, from the Incubatti, from Olivia. From you.”
She shivered, unable to shake the images in her mind. From her first interaction with him, she’d been unable to stay away long, despite the danger and knowing what he was.
“You know it can’t happen when you keep choosing the wrong side in every way,” she responded.
“Not ready to talk about it yet, are you.”
Never. And yes. There was no compromise between the two thoughts, nothing but mass confusion that drove her out on missions so she wouldn’t break down and cry again. There shouldn’t have been anything to talk about at all. He not only fucked her over, but he was aligned with her mortal enemies.
She craved him. Sex with him was like a drug she wanted to lose herself in forever. What dreams she had were solely of the three nights she spent with her soul-mate.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she forced herself to say. She lifted her head and strained to leave his grip.
He released her. “When you are, or when you decide you need help for the blackouts, you know where to find me.”
Zoey didn’t dare look at him, not when her body was ready to betray her. She started away from him.
“Kitten,” he called after her.
She paused.
He threw something into the air over her head. She reached up and snatched it, recognizing the band she’d worn to keep his influence from driving her insane with need this night.
“Grant is a good ally. Fuck with him again, and I will show up at your door, my little Zoey,” Declan said, amused.
The erotic images in in her head, coupled with the intense pulse of his magic gave her little question as to what he meant. Her insides lit on fire at the low, husky promise of Declan dragging her off to bed.
Snapping the band back onto her arm, she sought some sort of smart ass remark to put them back at odds. Her thoughts were too scattered by the super-incubus’s potent sex energy for her to muster anything more than a sigh. The band did its job, and Declan’s magic and scent drifted away from her, leaving her chilled but free of the blackout and his influence.
She turned to face him angrily, only to find him gone already.
“Son of a bitch!” she growled. “Never, Declan. You hear me?”
The night was quiet. Dissatisfied that he got the last word in, body humming with desire, she whirled away and broke into a run, sprinting away the energy she’d absorbed from him as she returned to the van.
Chapter Nine: Concerned
No part of Declan wanted to leave his soul-mate standing in the forest. He returned to his office, edgier than normal, his blood racing and body wound so tight from restraining his desire to sweep her off and fuck her, that he hurt.
Her scent clung to him, the feel of her small, shapely frame emblazoned against his hands. He’d seen the images in her mind and for once, he hadn’t planted them. She was as aware of him as he was her, her pliant body responding to him subtly, waiting for him to command it, her breathing shallow. He’d brushed one of her full, perfect breasts with his hand and knew too well from previous exploration of her body just how incredible it was.
If not for focusing his magic on her looming blackout, he wouldn’t have had the self-restraint to walk away.
Declan leaned against the back of the chair in front of his desk, mind returning to the blackout. He’d felt them approach from a distance across the bond he shared with his soul-mate and seen the damage the episodes caused first hand. Experiencing it the way he had this evening was much different. He saw and felt how strong they were, powerful enough to physically cripple the strongest woman he’d ever met, to rip her mind from her and replace it with the robotic obedience of the weapon she was bred to be.
His brief encounter with the blackout was enough to tell him that the parts of Zoey he loved and also resented a little – her spirit and independence – were one day not going to recover. The magic consuming her was fragmenting her mind and only growing stronger.
Unable to predict something he did not fully understand, he judged she didn’t have much time, based on her struggle this night. His father’s tale of how his mother had melted from the inside out horrified him and filled his mind with images that left him furious, agitated and clueless how to fix anything.
“Fresh out of debrief and a couple days of rest, ready for my interview.” The laid back comedian among the brothers, Aiden, entered his office without knocking.
It took a moment for him to recover. Declan straightened and glanced towards his brother. Motioning to the chair beside the one where he stood, Declan slid around it and sat.
“Bad time?” Aiden asked, looking him over.
“Not for family.” D
eclan tapped his fingers on the armrest, unable to shake Zoey from his thoughts. “Glad you survived.”
“I may not have without your help.”
Declan smiled. “Y’all do fine without your little brother.”
“Whatever. Toughest one among us, or you wouldn’t be here.” Aiden lifted his chin towards the desk. “Confirmed a couple of things you suspected. Well done, baby brother!”
Declan snorted.
“One, the blackouts are getting worse. More frequent, and none of the others can figure out what the hell’s going on. Can barely track her. Chrissy – their resident brain – is trying to crack the code, but I don’t think their constant movement between safehouses helps.”
Declan focused on not letting the information crush his chest the way it felt like it might.
“Second, they’re in more trouble than they really know.” Aiden’s smile vanished. “No cure for the Halflings that are short circuiting, no money for basic medical supplies, no idea that it’ll take one tiny mistake for one of our security branches to crush them. The good news is that your girl has turned a bunch of wild half breeds into an effective killing force, one that’s smart enough to have emergency back-up plans for everything. They buy or steal their intelligence from both societies. When cornered – poof! They disappear and regroup elsewhere. Very fluid. Hard to track, harder to disrupt and impossible to predict.”
“I suspected as much.” Declan absorbed the verbal report. “These tactics work for small guerilla forces with no need for many support personnel. I took care of the money issue, but I still think she’s burning the candle at both ends. They’ll never be able to stop moving.”
“I don’t think they plan on it. Their Halflings are starting to drop like flies, but they’ll die rather than turn to the bureaucratic mess we call a society for help.”
That’s what I’m afraid of. Declan was quiet, his concern growing more faceted. Accustomed to assessing enemies and danger and then deploying security forces to address issues, he was able to see his Zoey’s organization from the perspective of an Enforcer Chief – and a worried soul-mate. He was proud of her and knew too well how this chapter in the evolution of the societies was likely to end, especially with Olivia making an ally of the Cambions.
Restless after touching the woman he wasn’t able to possess the way he wished to, he rose and paced, his alternatives playing through his mind.
“And … a coincidence maybe.” Aiden appeared troubled. “They’ve got files of Olivia’s under a code name Project Sienna. I know Mom was a Halfling.”
Declan said nothing, already aware of how his mother was tied to the IAB and resenting Olivia more for it.
“Probably coincidence. Anyway, I like Zoey,” Aiden added. “Strong enough to handle you, I think.”
“She’s a pain in the ass right now.”
“It’s a good thing. Can’t let your ego get too big being the youngest Enforcer Chief ever and the strongest Incubus alive.”
Declan rolled his eyes. With eight older brothers, he had become accustomed to the constant teasing from the time he was able to speak.
“Is Vikki here?” Aiden asked.
“She is. Official liaison.”
“Word of advice, baby brother.” Aiden leaned forward. “Zoey is already losing control. Vikki was her rock. I agree with the decision to rope her in for the sake of her health, but I think Zoey needs her.”
Declan met his brother’s eyes, uneasy at the grimness of Aiden’s words. “I understand.” He crossed his arms. “Father thinks she can help our plan, create the foundation for the Incubatti splitting.”
“She’s a good ally to have, if she survives. You gotta stop those blackouts.”
Fuck. Declan clenched his teeth. “I don’t know how. I can’t find any information on what Olivia did to her or how she controls her.” His brother Tommy, the official liaison to the Sucubatti society, wasn’t allowed to know the location of the lab where Olivia and her predecessors had conducted genetic experiments to create Halflings they let loose against the Cambions.
“I know a certain group of excellent rogues with no political concerns about breaking into secret Sucubatti labs. I bet they can even find them, if it’s worth their time.” Aiden grinned. “I imagine they’ll take bribes. They seem to burn through money quickly.”
“I gave her a blank check.”
“Then find a new motivation. You’re her soul-mate. Push a few buttons. They don’t have a lab, but we do. The human with them is a super genius. She can figure this shit out, but not when she’s moving to a new place every day.”
Declan considered his brother’s words.
“Oh, and I didn’t tell her you’re the reason I didn’t get killed,” Aiden added as he stood. “I told her it was a man in a mask.”
“Mask?” Declan raised an eyebrow, amused by his brother’s creative explanation for what happened that night.
“I have the perfect one picked out for you. I saw it online and am headed to the holiday super store today. I’ll let you know when I pick it up.” Aiden walked to the door as he spoke, laughter in his tone.
Declan watched him go. Pulling a double shift was draining him, but he had witnessed this evening how important it was. Zoey had no control over her blackouts and was starting to lose ground in her war to maintain her mind.
He’d failed her once and fallen to Olivia’s trickery. He wasn’t going to hurt his soul-mate ever again. Fortunately, the infusion of sex magic he’d given her this night should sustain her for a day or two. It didn’t have the same potency of sex, but it’d help her sleep. Maybe, he could get a good night’s sleep as well, seeing as how his tired head was too full of information for him to know which direction to go next.
Chapter Ten: Reunited
Zoey slept through the night for the first time in too many weeks to count. It didn’t matter that it was on a cot in the basement of Lydia’s sister’s house, or that she’d missed her evening check-in with Vikki. Her dreams had been of Declan making love to her over and over, vivid enough that his scent lingered in the air when she woke.
Refreshed for once, she stretched to reach the cardboard box she’d positioned as a nightstand and grabbed her phone. She had slept through the dozen messages from Vikki demanding to know where she was and the status updates from Lydia, Tiff, Chrissy, and Ginny. Sitting up, Zoey scanned through them.
Sites thirteen and fourteen up and running! Ginny reported.
Five missing, ten in need of sick bay, texted Tiff.
Bad BAD news. Call me ASAP. This one was from Vikki.
Um, how did some guy named Grant Brown find me? Chrissy had asked. He’s hot but … ???
“Oh, shit.” Zoey glanced at the other object on her nightstand. She texted Chrissy to tell her she was on the way and rose, pulling on a tank top and the comfortable cargo shorts she was accustomed to wearing.
“Your instincts have grown so dull?” a familiar, youthful voice asked with a chuckle.
She whirled, her heartbeat quickening. “Professor Alexander!”
The older – and still dashing – man was at the computer desk, his glasses in his pocket and conservative clothing unable to tame the subtle sexual draw of an incubus. He smiled at her.
Zoey ran and flung her arms around him, squeezing his slender body.
“I am well, dear. I swear it!” he said with another gruff chuckle.
“Are you?” She pulled away and scoured his face. “Those incubuses are assholes.”
“We can be,” he said, his gentle way of reminding her he, too, was an incubus.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re different and you know it.”
“Because I tolerate you?”
“Not funny.” Relieved to see him, she released him reluctantly and looked him over once again. He was better off than when she had last seen him, no longer frail, his features glowed with health. “You look good.” She frowned. “Is it because you don’t have to deal with me anymore?”
&nb
sp; “Of course not. It’s because they won’t stop feeding me.”
Her mentor and guardian of ten years had never criticized her and always stuck up for her, no matter how his contemporaries or her society tried to quash her spirit. To have him back in her life made her feel a little less unsettled, a little more ready to take on the world again.
“I missed you,” she murmured. “You’re staying.”
He bowed his head.
“Good.”
“This is your base of operations?” he asked, observing the sparsely decorated basement. There was a small bathroom, card table with four folding chairs, microwave and mini fridge, computer desk with laptop, a box of clothing, weapons and three cots.
Compared to the fancy compounds of the Incubatti and Sucubatti, it was a hovel.
“It’s a … work in progress,” she said. “Olivia burned down my warehouse. We’re kind of scattered all over the place right now.”
“I understand.”
She relaxed. His warm features were open and his smile supportive. “God I missed you!”
“Happy to know this old incubus can still pull in the beautiful women.”
Her gaze fell to the door locked from the inside. “How did you find me?”
“Let’s just say there’s someone looking out for you.”
Declan. She shook her head. It was no coincidence she said she wanted Alexander at the meeting last night and woke up to find him here. “Welcome to Team Rogue.” She threw out her arms. “Are you healthy enough to travel?”
“I certainly am,” he said with some fire. “This old incubus isn’t ready to retire yet!”
She hid a smile. Stretching down for her weapons, she deftly secured them around her body and straightened.
The Professor was watching her, the skin beneath his eyes crinkling the way it usually did. Despite all that had changed, she still felt like the wild student and he the wise professor.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m proud of you.”
