Masked by Vengeance (Vega City Vigilantes Book 1)

by A. J. Macey

  Fuck this shit. Right now, there are bad guys out on the streets who need zapping, we have a bank to break into, and I do not have time to figure out four... okay, five little boys’ feelings.

  Taking a calming breath, I redirected, “Alright, so what's the plan then?” My tone was sharp despite my attempts to chill out a bit.

  “Well, what do you want, Angel? It's up to you what we do,” Acer reminded me. I ground my teeth, and the painful tingle of my arcs dancing and building under my skin grew as all five sets of eyes fell on me.

  “Oh, so now it’s up to me? Are we ignoring that you were all in here, having this conversation without me?” I hissed, a stray arc jumping from my arm to the nearby metal of a chair. “Next time you want to have a fucking chat that involves me, you better make sure I’m in the damned room. Understood?” Getting less of a fight than I’d expected threw me for a loop. Looking at their sheepish expressions, all I could think was they looked pretty fucking adorable when they were all taken off guard. The fight drained out of me, and I knew I had to at least say something about this whole relationship issue.

  “To answer the question, we just kind of do... whatever... I guess?” I exclaimed with an awkward shrug, unsure what else to say. “My main focus is on VCM, so let's just let shit happen. As long as it doesn't fuck with the job,” I tacked on. A round of agreements went up, but Carson's crossed arms and thinned lips told me he wasn't happy about it. After a few moments of me staring at him, he sighed, agreeing to just let things happen—for now.

  “Let's go light up some bad guys,” Acer cheered, seemingly unaffected by the tension between everyone. “Not you though, Feathers. Have fun on lockdown.”

  “I will because I'll be warm in bed, not freezing my ass off outside on some useless crusade to try to save the city,” he jeered. I shook my head, leaving the guys behind to their squabble. I didn't have the time to babysit them any more than I already had today. Doubts and fear swirled in my chest about agreeing to see five men, but I shoved them away.

  It’s time to electrify some douchebags.

  October 16th

  Wednesday Midday

  Evera

  My alarm sounded, the monotonous beeping grating on my already thin nerves as I opened my eyes and glared at the ceiling. I’d slept like shit, tossing and turning after returning back from a completely useless night out on the streets. I wasn’t sure if it was because there were more of us out or what, but there hadn’t been any assholes to zap, and the pent-up energy was starting to sting. If I don’t expend it today, it’s going to start to hurt. It wouldn’t leave any physical marks or burns on my skin, but when my power became too intense for me to control, I had to find an outlet, or it could be very, very dangerous. One step at a time, Evera, just get ready for the day.

  As soon as I was dressed in one of the new pairs of jeans as well as a soft sweater Kane had gotten me, I stepped out into the hall to head to Silas’ room but ended up barreling into Declan’s chest.

  “Well, good morning to you too, Sparky,” he greeted with a grin, his hands gripping my arms to steady me after our collision.

  “You were just waiting for me to come out, weren’t you?” I asked, stepping away from him, the overwhelming build-up of electricity threatening to overtake me as the scent of his cologne filled my nose. He pouted in fake offense, his hand pressing into his muscled chest. How does he make a simple black t-shirt look so good? These men will be the death of me.

  “I would never. Do you truly think so low of me, Evera?” he murmured, taking half a step forward until I felt his chest brushing against mine. “You seem quite worked up today. Rolling around with one of your men not destress you enough?”

  “Last I checked, that’s not any of your business,” I bit out. The audible crackle of my power snapping across my skin had his inky black brow lifting.

  “Well, if you wanted to, you’re more than welcome to come see if I can help with that stress.” He opened his mouth to say more, but the thought of anything sexual with him was the breaking point.

  My arcs splayed across his chest and stomach as my excess energy released. Normally, when my powers danced over my skin, it was low enough, it wouldn’t be noticeable, but this time, since the power hadn’t been expelled enough to keep it at bay, they held some zap. At first, I stood frozen, horrified I’d let my power run wild, but at his rumbling groan and dilated pupils, I realized he wasn’t in pain. Looking down, I realized there were other signs he’d actually loved what had just happened. The thought of using my electricity to turn someone on, both made my blood spark and terrified me, the latter mainly because it was Declan—someone I barely knew anything about yet was inexplicably drawn to.

  “I got to go,” I mumbled, turning away and hurrying down the hall, ignoring the feeling of his eyes on my back. I was so lost in my whirl of thoughts, I didn’t knock on Silas’ door, walking straight in.

  To him, naked and pulling on a pair of black briefs.

  “Oh, shit. Sorry!” I exclaimed, turning away with my hand covering the side of my vision. Silas’s chuckle reached my ears, making the heat I felt blooming on my cheeks surge.

  “You can look now, Sweetheart, the goods are covered,” he teased, his voice much closer than I’d anticipated.

  Peeking through my fingers, I checked to make sure he wasn’t pranking me. When I saw him standing within a foot of me, naked save for the black underwear, the burning of my blush worked down my neck and up to the tips of my ears. My eyes inadvertently dipped lower than they should have to get a glimpse of what might lay beneath.

  “You are more than welcome to look, Evera, see how I size up to Acer, Kane, or Carson.”

  “Really? Wanting to measure whose dick is biggest? What are you? Twelve?” I snapped, my hand falling to my hip as I glared at him. His grin only grew in the face of my sass, taking the last step to fully reach me. He towered at least a foot taller as he looked down at me.

  “I don’t care how it lines up to the others, but I know you want to peek,” he murmured, leaning down to whisper in my ear. His lips barely brushed my cheek, the stubble rough against the softness of his lips. “So, why don’t you?”

  I stood frozen for a moment, abnormally nervous about being so close to someone I was attracted to, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I didn’t know Silas like I did the others, or because he knew everything I thought and everything I wanted, and that scared me. Much to my surprise, he kept any reply to my thoughts to himself, allowing me full rein of what happened next. With that in mind, I let my fingers trail across his lean, swimmer-esque muscles and trim hips until I reached the top of his shorts.

  My body tingled, the dance of my power running under my skin as my anxiousness started to shift to nervous excitement. Turning my head, my cheek rubbed Silas’ stubbled jaw before my lips brushed against his, pressing together. He kissed me back but didn’t take it further, continuing to let me be in charge. If I was honest with myself, it was a nice change of pace from Kane and Carson.

  I tentatively brushed my tongue against his bottom lip, moving more confidently with each pass until he finally opened and tangled his tongue with mine. Slipping my fingers under the elastic of his underwear, a trail of coarse hair greeted me. Silas shuddered as I brushed the tip of his hard cock, still keeping his hands to himself as I explored his body.

  “Silas!” a voice shouted, startling me, and a hard thud against his metal door had me jumping. To keep me from stumbling, Silas caught me, holding me in his arms as he called out. “You got Evera in there somewhere? Kane wants to get a move on with planning.” Only then did I realize it was Granger hollering on the other side of the door.

  “Yeah, she’s brushing her teeth now. We’ll be there in a bit!” Silas shouted back before chuckling at my wide eyes. “What? Worried about being caught, Sweetheart?” With his teasing, my eyes narrowed, and my lips curled into a frown, which only made him laugh more. Shaking my head, I went into his bathroom and got ready.

&
nbsp; Ten minutes later, Silas and I walked into the meeting room, finding The Syndicate’s Phenom team already in the room. I didn’t see Declan’s inky black head of hair, meaning he was on lockdown in his room or off being obnoxious somewhere else.

  “Alright, so we have Declan’s agreement to help us get on the roof of VMC,” Kane recapped, his hand rubbing his jaw as it always did when he was thinking or stressed. “What’s the rest of the plan?” When silence was the only response, all I could do was hope this wasn’t a terrible idea.

  I really didn’t want to go to jail for breaking and entering.

  13

  October 16th

  Wednesday Evening

  Silas

  “Oh, Evera!” Declan’s accented voice called through the door to the room we were working in. After spending almost the entire day working, I had expected him to show up at some point for his meal with Evera. “Ready for dinner?” His head popped in the room, his eyes scanning the group until he spotted her. “Looks like quite the party in here, but I’m getting hungry, and I figured you would be too.”

  “Harrison, go with them,” Kane commanded, eyeing Declan with distaste while Carson and Acer sported matching scowls.

  Declan’s internal smirk at their reactions grated on my nerves, but he kept his taunting response contained. Probably trying to look good for Evera. Evera got up from her seat, her face blank, but I could feel her mixed emotions—half wanting to spend more time with him while the other half wanted to punch him in the face. Personally, I was hoping for the latter, but I wouldn’t stop her from choosing the first option—at this point, Declan seemed harmless. Neither Acer nor I could find anything, saying he was a threat.

  “I’ll work on the final spec and shit for Friday,” Granger stated, looking to Acer. “Want to come assist? I can tell you what all we’ll need.”

  Those two left quickly, essentially calling the group planning to an end as they walked out, but Kane still didn’t speak even after they were gone. Creeping into his thoughts, I realized there were a lot of different trains whirling around, all shifting too fast to grab ahold of one for long, other than concern for Evera and worry about Declan.

  “I haven’t found anything in his mind or in my and Acer’s research to show he’s got much to hide or that he’s a threat. He’s not planning on attacking or escaping, hell, the only thing he’s really focused on is Evera, so whatever he has on the outside probably doesn’t require a whole lot of work or attention. He was wearing a very expensive watch and designer clothes, but I’m not sure if that’s from stealing, or if he’s actually wealthy,” I explained quickly, finally getting a chance to give Kane and Carson a rundown on our new house guest. Kane sighed, and his jaw clenched as he looked at me, and before he even opened his mouth, I already knew what he would ask.

  “I know how much pain and drain it causes to dig deeper into someone’s mind, but do you think Declan needs an intense look?”

  “Right now? No, but if there’s a hint of something being up, I won’t hesitate to dig around,” I assured. I knew he wanted me to say yes, just to have peace of mind, but a crippling migraine and needing to sleep for twenty-four hours was a high price for someone I hadn’t seen any signs of a threat.

  “We could just say fuck what he wants and keep Evera away from him,” Carson muttered under his breath.

  “Yeah, I wish we could too, Car,” Kane agreed with a grave tone.

  “I might still be pissed about the whole sharing her with you two, but at least I know she’ll be okay with you. He’s a total fucking stranger,” Carson added before Kane nodded in agreement.

  Letting out a deep breath, I glanced between them with a raised brow until they both looked at me.

  “Do you have something you would like to say?” Kane huffed in irritation.

  “Evera is already stressed with such an intense life change. She went from being alone and working part-time to constantly being around people who bring up feelings she’s not used to. Forcing her to pick or making her choices for her would only push her away,” I reminded them in a stern voice. “Is that what you want? Let’s not forget this is something that was already done in the past, and we have yet to tell her the truth about it.”

  At my reminder to them, a sharp pang of guilt hit me. At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal to keep our secret from her. She was gorgeous, yes, but she hadn’t been anything but that pretty face to me. After she opened her mouth, well, that was another story. Now, she was someone I was interested in, the first person I’d really wanted in a while—mind reading can really be a damper in the romance/relationship department. Now, there was more at stake than just her ire at Kane and Carson. Now, there was the chance I might’ve fucked things up between us as well.

  “Of course not,” Kane ground out, unhappy I was pushing against him on something, but this wasn’t Syndicate business, this was about Evera, Kane, and Carson’s hearts, so listening to their irritable thoughts was a small price to pay.

  “Good, now keep that in mind when you say things like that in case she’s listening. We good for the night? I’m going to go check on Acer and Granger.” When I got the go ahead from Kane, I stepped into the hall, their final thoughts making me chuckle.

  He’s right, damn it.

  Declan

  “So, how are you, my lovely Sparky?” I asked, walking through the halls with her next to me and her assigned babysitter behind us. “Feeling better than this morning, I hope. Did Silas help you destress a bit more?” My lip curled as she glared at me, my body loving her fierce attitude and electric spark.

  “I’m better, thanks for your sincere concern,” she deadpanned. “Any other questions that don’t have to do with my potential sex life? Otherwise, this dinner is going to be short and painful for both of us.”

  “Hmm, let me think,” I hummed, running through the area with food, piling several things onto my tray because I was fucking starving. When we finally took a seat at one of the rectangle tables, Harrison choosing to sit a couple spots down, but still within hearing distance, I asked my question. “How old are you?” Her brow arched slightly, pausing before answering to see if that was actually my question.

  “Twenty-four, you?” Younger than I thought by a couple years, I noted.

  “Thirty.” I took a bite of my sandwich, content to enjoy this forced date I’d negotiated.

  “Thirty-year-old going out and breaking into businesses,” she mumbled, unimpressed. “What do you do for a living?”

  “A little of this, a little of that,” I answered with a cocky smile because there was no way I was getting into my actual job choice.

  “Oh, very specific.”

  “I know, I try hard just for you, Sparky.” I winked at her, the two tiny patches of pink that bloomed on her cheeks, giving away her stoic expression was just a mask. “Where are you from?”

  “Here in Vega City.” This was the first time she’d said something to me that wasn’t ground out in irritation or deadpanned, her words sincere as if she didn’t seem to mind this conversation.

  “Me too, although my parents were from the Middle East. What’s your favorite color?”

  “What is this? Kindergarten?” she exclaimed, but for the first time, her lips twitched into a smile. “Ugh, fine. I like blue.”

  “I never would have guessed,” I teased, leaning forward on my elbows, having finished my sandwich and moved onto my fries. “I have to say, I’m loving icy blue right about now.”

  “That was so cheesy,” she laughed, but I saw her blush deepen, and her eyes light up. Riling her up like this was more fun than firing up her anger. And got better results.

  “Yes, but you like it. What else do you like, Evera? Can’t very well try to get you to like me if I don’t know what you like.” She hummed, thinking as she ate a bite of her pizza before responding.

  “I don’t know, really. I like to sing and read.”

  “Will you sing for me?”

  “Ha, good try. Hell, n
o,” she said, finishing her dinner quickly. “Maybe tomorrow we can play ‘question everything about Declan’s life,’ instead of just focusing on me, hmm?” Walking away to throw away her trash, instead of leaving the room, she turned and came back to the table.

  “I have one question if you’re actually planning on sticking around and making me share all these meals together,” she started. “Are you actually going to take the hundred grand?”

  “What’s it matter?” I deflected, shrugging with indifference. That wasn’t what I had expected her to ask when she came back over. Her lips tilted down into her signature scowl. For whatever reason, she genuinely seemed upset I planned on taking it. Didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that. “Ugh, no. I don’t,” I blurted, unable to stop myself, seeing her upset. I didn’t want Evera to leave tonight, angry. “I just wanted to stick it to The Syndicate. Best way to do that is through their money.”

  “Why do you hate The Syndicate so much?” she murmured, her anger seeming to dissipate as she stared down at me. I cocked a brow at her.

  “You’re a smart woman, Evera. I’m sure you’ve heard all the shit about them. They’re not nice people, and if I can alleviate some of their resources,”—I shrugged—“I don’t see the harm in that.” Smirking, she leaned forward, her breath tickling my cheek as she pressed her lips to my ear.

  “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Wings,” she whispered, and without further banter, she strode away.

  Well, fuck, that was way more than I wanted to give away.

  Nothing I can do about it now, but I have to say, I could definitely get used to this daily date.

  October 17th

  Thursday Night

  Evera

  “Anyone else thinks it's suspicious that Kane is having us out here without him or Carson, or is it just me?” I asked quietly as we prowled the streets. It had been plaguing me for the last three and a half hours that head bossy himself had said it would just be Acer, Silas, and I out tonight because apparently, he and his nephew had things to do. Whatever the hell that meant.