by T. S. Joyce
Completely relieved, Candace giggled and wiped her damp cheeks again. “Sounds perfect. My shift doesn’t start until nine. I’ll see you in a few hours.” Candace held up the bookmark and gave her one last smile. “Thanks.”
Nevada’s cheeks were still bright red, and she seemed to be at a loss for words as she dropped her gaze again to the stack of bookmarks. She must be very shy.
“C-C-Cinnamon?”
“Oh, my real name is Candace. Candy is what my boss used to call me. Then he changed it to Cinnamon because red hots are his favorite. Pointless story, sorry.”
“C-Candace. My crew is gonna go through Hell. The boys…they’re beasts. I just thought you should know before you go tonight. Are you human?”
Candace gave her a wicked smile and shook her head. “I know better than to go after a pairing with a silverback as a human. I’m a shifter, born and raised, not bitten.”
“Huh,” Nevada said, looking at her with slightly narrowed eyes and her chin lifted a little higher. “Me, too.”
Candace walked backward toward the door. “Oh, I’ve known about you Foxburgs for a long time. The boys aren’t the only beasts in your crew, are they, Nevada?”
“No, they are not,” the woman said just as Candace let the door swing closed behind her.
That woman might have a shyness problem, but Candace knew about foxes. Vicious little critters when given the chance. And Candace could be a vicious little critter, too.
As a rogue, she didn’t usually feel safe around big, dominant shifters, but she was at a crossroads, and the silverback was more interesting than intimidating right now.
Usually everything scared her.
But right now?
Nothing did.
Chapter Three
Nevada was acting weird.
Torren took a long drag of his beer but didn’t take his eyes from the only female in the Sons of Beasts Crew. She kept looking at him, little sideways glances, and then she would look out the humongous front windows of Vyr’s mansion as though waiting for something to happen.
There. She did it again. And her hands were shaking. She was never nervous around him and Vyr, so what the hell was happening to her now?
“Is there some fox war we don’t know about headed our way?” he asked when she did it again.
“Fox war? Ha,” she said nervously. “Vyr burned the hair off half the den. I don’t think we have to worry about them anymore. I’m gonna take the meat to the grill. Bye!” She gave him the strangest, wide-eyed look and then bustled into the kitchen.
She gathered the plate of hot dogs and burger patties out of the fridge. And now Nox was also watching her with a frown, like he smelled a rat, too. “Nevada? You okay?”
“Ha. Hahahaha. Haha. Of course, you silly gooses!”
“Geese,” Vyr deadpanned from his spot in the recliner closest to the stone hearth with the blazing fire. He always took the warmest spot, the greedy dick. “The plural form would be geese. Why do you smell nervous, little vixen?”
“Me? I’m not nervous! I’m just hungry. And ready to eat. And starving.”
“Is this code for you need emergency sex?” Nox asked in the most serious tone Torren had ever heard. “Because if so, we need to work on a code word or something. You’re confusing me. And my dick.” Nox looked at his lap and stuck out his lower lip. “My dick is confused.”
“Do you ever think about the words that come from your mouth before you speak them?” Vyr asked Nox.
“No. Why would I do that?”
Nevada snorted from the kitchen, pursing her lips against a smile.
“Oh, it’s funny that your mate talks before he thinks?” Vyr asked. “I’m seriously asking because I truly don’t understand you two. You just…put up with him?”
“That’s what the L-word is about,” Nevada said. “To me, it isn’t putting up with him. I get him. He makes me laugh.”
“He exhausts me,” Torren muttered.
“I’m going to eat seven more hamburgers than Torren tonight,” Nox said, pointing the neck of his beer bottle at him. “And then you’ll respect me.”
“False. You’ll win zero respect because I’m about to eat a dozen burgers, real-man style, and you’ll be sick if you try and compete. And then Nevada won’t like you anymore, and me and Vyr will be like ‘finally!’ and then she’ll fall in L-word with one of us and we can kick you out of the crew. The end.”
“I hate-love you,” Nox growled. “And I’m gonna fight you later for saying Nevada would fall in L-word with you. She can’t. You’re hideous, and you’re a smelly ape.” Nox lifted his blond brows like he’d clearly won this round.
“Who is that?” Vyr asked, his narrowed silver eyes on the woods outside.
Torren didn’t see anything yet, but he heard the rattle of a struggling engine. It was a small car with a mountain of problems under the hood if the awful screeching noises were any indication.
“It’s Cinnamon!” Nox said, waving out the window at the maroon and rust-colored Volvo that struggled its way toward the circle drive. The thing coughed a cloud of black smog from the tailpipe and squeaked to a stop.
“Did you give her my address?” Vyr snarled. Whoo, the Red Dragon sounded pissed.
“No,” Nox said. “I’m not trying to get eaten, Beer.”
“It’s Vyr.”
“Okay, Deer, and I gave Torren her cell phone number. If anyone gave her the address, it’s probably him after all-night phone sex because—”
“I gave it to her,” Nevada blurted out.
“What?” Vyr raged.
“I said…I…gave it to her?” Nevada’s voice grew smaller with each word.
“You gave my address to a stripper? Because that’s what she is, right? Cinnamon is a stripper name.”
“Plus, you went to the strip club two weeks ago and saw her there,” Nox said helpfully. “I followed you.”
Vyr blasted a tiny fireball into the fireplace that set the logs there to blazing. “Why do you follow me everywhere?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, asswipe. I follow Torren, too. And Nevada most of all. Because I’m bored! And you’re my crew, and I think we’re supposed to do that. Follow each other around.”
“Your friendship is weird,” Torren grumbled. God dangit, now he would have to talk to this girl and tell her to leave before Vyr lost his shit and Changed into the mother-freaking out-of-control Red Dragon. They were supposed to be keeping the alpha of the Sons of Beasts calm, not stressed. Nox was literally the worst man for that job.
“Vyr, you go to strip clubs?” Nevada asked.
“She’s coming this way!” Nox said, jumping on the leather couch against the window and spilling his beer.
“Careful!” Vyr yelled. “And what? Are you judging me, Nevada? It’s a strip club. I’m a dude.”
“Did you see Cinnamon’s purple, sparkly nipple tassels?” she asked without missing a beat.
Vyr clenched his fists on his thighs and emitted a low, dangerous rumble. “They were red when I went.”
“With sparkles?” Nox asked from where he was still standing on the couch. “I thought she would be wearing her stripper boots but she’s dressed regular.”
“Yes, they had sparkles,” Vyr muttered.
“What the hell?” Torren asked. “Has everyone seen this girl but me?” When he shoved Nox out of the way, his beer spilled all over the floor. Vyr yelled. Nox laughed. And Torren nearly choked on air at the hot little number sashaying her way up the stairs to the front door. Skin-tight jeans hugging her curves, a red sweater that was hiked up just enough to show a thin strip of bare skin on her hip, black snow boots to match her mittens and winter hat. She had auburn hair that she’d gathered into a messy bun just underneath her right ear, and her makeup and lipstick were dark. She had a nose piercing, just a little sparkle on her cute little nose.
“Did you say purple…tassels?” he asked dumbly, imagining her out of that little sweater. Crap, it had been too long s
ince he’d had sex.
“I carved the hot dogs into penis shapes to make her more comfortable,” Nevada announced.
Torren was getting another headache. And a boner. Which was confusing. But suddenly he understood what Nox was talking about when he said his dick was confused. Huh. Maybe he did understand his language sometimes.
He needed to get this girl out of Vyr’s Mountains as soon as possible. Another rumble rattled up his throat.
Steady, HavoK.
She’s not for you.
No one is.
Chapter Four
This was the fanciest house Candace had ever laid eyes on. Even the door knocker was a dragon head with a huge ring through its nose. Creepy and cool all at once.
Maybe she should’ve worn the purple sweater. That one was looser and more modest, if Torren was looking for something like that. But then he wouldn’t have sent his friend to find him some steady sex if he needed a girl to bring home to Momma Kong.
The red was fine, plus it matched her lipstick. Everything was good.
To steady herself, she blew out three quick breathes that froze in front of her face. With a shaking hand, she knocked three times with her mitten-clad knuckles. On the fourth, the door swung open, and one very pissed-off red-haired giant stood there, taking up the entire door frame.
“My house, my land, my mountains, my territory. Fuck off.”
He looked familiar. “Do…” She frowned and angled her face to take in his features better. “Do I know you?”
“No one does. Are you hard of hearing?”
“Enough,” a deep, rumbling voice sounded from behind the behemoth. But as the red-haired man stepped to the side, Candace blinked hard and arched her neck all the way back to look at the literal giant behind the first. Oh. My. God. Torren was the size of a redwood and was as broad as a building. He rested both giant hands on each side of the doorframe and resembled the sexiest letter T she’d ever laid eyes on. His shredded arms flexed with the motion. He wore a black T-shirt in the dead of winter like the cold didn’t bother him at all. Right across his muscular chest was the word HavoK with a skull logo in white. Damn. He was owning the name the public gave him. Interesting. Both his arms were covered in tattoos to his knuckles. More ink showed from under the collar of his shirt and up his neck. He had a short black scruff on his chiseled jaw, and his eyes were the color of spring grass. It was such a light color, and glowing slightly. Must’ve been his animal color, but why was he riled up? She only got gold eyes if she was really upset, and she had good control over her animal. She could keep her human eye color if she really wanted. His hair was shaved on the sides and longer on top. It was a mess, as if he’d run his hands through it back and forth, but it was a sexy mess. It looked like he’d just rolled out of bed and didn’t care about fixing it perfectly. Hotboy. Those glowing green eyes dipped down, down, down her body, pausing briefly at her little knockers and her slim hips, then with a single, slow blink, he lifted that sexy gaze back to hers. Her heart was hammering against her chest so hard he must’ve heard it. Bum-bum bum-bum bum-bum. Heat flooded her cheeks and her breath quickened. What was he doing to her?
When he parted those full lips, she felt like she just might pitch forward and melt against him. This man was pure seduction.
His eyes said, “Stay,” but his inhuman voice said, “Fuck off.”
“I…” The rest of that sentence got stuck in her throat, so Candace swallowed hard to get rid of the cotton mouth and tried again. “I was invited.”
“You ain’t a damn vampire. Invites don’t count for as much as you think they do.”
Rude man. She’d always been attracted to rude men though, so his surliness wasn’t going to work like he wanted.
“Move, you beastly man,” Nevada said, shoving him hard. The titan didn’t move a single inch, so Nevada had to duck under his arm. “You boys are being so horrid right now!”
“I’m not!” a man called from behind the two giants blocking the door. “BJ points! We could make that a thing you know. Good behavior gets points? We could make a star chart. I’m being good so I get like four thousand BJ points.”
“God dammit, Nox,” Vyr said. “Shut up!”
“You would get negative four thousand BJ points, Beer,” the man responded.
“If you call me Beer one more time—”
“Eat me!” Nox yelled.
Nevada was staring tiredly at Candace as though she disliked her life. “This. This is what I was trying to warn you about.”
Candace wrapped her arms around her chest and bounced to warm herself. The breeze was making the temperature feel ten degrees colder than it really was. “Can I come in?”
“Yes,” Nevada and Nox said at the exact same time Beer and Torren said, “No!”
Beer was a weird nickname, but okay.
Candace cleared her throat, exposed her neck, and avoided both dominant male’s angry gazes as she stepped under Torren’s massive arm. Whoo, he smelled like hotboy cologne.
“Did you just smell my armpit?” Torren asked in that deep, gravelly voice.
Chills. That’s what his voice did to her. Chills rippled up her forearms. “Maybe,” she muttered. “You smell good.”
“I showered today.”
“Congrats!” Nox said.
Candace could see him now, standing on a warn leather couch with a beer in his hand. He gave her a wicked smile and a two-fingered salute. “Good to see you again, Stripper Sally.”
“Cinnamon,” Torren growled from behind her.
“Actually, she goes by Candace in her real life,” Nevada explained. She didn’t seem shy at all anymore, and it was so strange to compare her to the girl she’d talked to in the library. They were two totally different people.
“Oh, I get it. Candy,” Nox said. “Cinnamon candy. Plus forty points for the BJ jar.”
“You don’t get points for everything you do, you moron,” Beer said.
“You just admitted we’re playing, though,” Nox said, his blond brows cocked.
“No. No, no, no, I was saying if we were, there would be rules—”
“Minus fifty points for Beer being boring.” Nox rolled his head back and made a snoring sound.
“I hate you,” Beer muttered.
“I L-word you,” Nevada told Nox.
Nox grinned. “I’m hungry for—”
“Noooo,” both Torren and Beer groused.
Nox gave a Grinch smile and finished his joke with, “Nevada.”
Candace giggled. She couldn’t help it. These boys were a mess, but they were interesting and kind of funny. When she looked up at Torren, he was watching her lips.
“Nice laugh,” he said, “for a stripper.”
“Whatever that means,” Candace popped off. “Rude.”
Torren frowned, his dark eyebrows drawing down deeply, like she’d confused him. Perhaps he wasn’t used to someone calling him out on his bad manners.
“You don’t smell that sad,” he said, crossing his arms over his massive chest.
“Because I’m not.”
“I thought you would be all sickly and pathetic.”
“Again. Rude. I dance at night. I do what I have to do to make money. You’re hiring a girl to have sex with you, so you can’t judge. You aren’t a saint either, Torren.”
When she said his name, he flinched as though he’d been slapped, and his eyes went round.
“Buuuuuurn,” Nox murmured. “Called out by some five-foot-two wildcat, meow.” He clawed up his fingers and hissed, and in the kitchen, Nevada laughed.
Torren jammed a meaty middle finger at Nox, his eyes never leaving Candace. “I didn’t hire you, nor am I interested.”
“Lie,” Nox said, jumping in the air and landing on his butt on the couch cushion.
Torren huffed an animalistic breath and glanced at Nox with the meanest frown before he gave his attention to Candace again. “I wouldn’t hire you for sex if you were the last—”
“Also
lie,” Nox said. “You’re lying right now. I can hear it.”
“And furthermore, you couldn’t handle a man like me in the bedroom—”
“Also probably a lie because she’s a stripper.”
“Shut up, Nox!” Torren bellowed. In a flurry of blurred movement, Torren made it all the way across the room and blasted Nox in the jaw. The speed and accuracy and power behind that hit made Candace jump. Nox wasn’t defenseless, though. It was as if the grizzly shifter had been ready, because he was already up, blasting Torren in the face right back. There was a crack of a broken nose and then both monster men went to the floor, all locked up.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Candace yelled at Beer, who stood by the fireplace with his hands on his hips, looking at them in disgust.
“They do this all the time,” Nevada explained, ignoring the fight as she chopped up a tomato. “We’re having hamburgers and hotdogs today,” she said, lifting her voice over the splintering sound of the end table they’d just smashed through. “That probably sounds weird because it’s cold and snowy outside and not hamburger weather, but the boys are really good at grilling, and we don’t have a lot of money between us.”
Torren took a hit to the ribs and grunted in pain. And then something horrifying happened. The red-haired man inhaled and parted his lips, then blew a tiny sphere of fire, no bigger than a golf ball, at Torren, who was going to town on Nox’s face. When it hit him in the back of the neck, the man yelled in pain and pulled off Nox, his hand gripping the burn like that would make it better.
And it hit her.
Beer.
Vyr.
This was the Red Dragon.
Holy. Shit.
Candace backed slowly to the door. She was in the lair of the mother-freaking out-of-control dragon shifter who was wanted for shifter prison. Who had burned all of Covington just six months ago. Who had burned half the damn fox den here. How had she been so dumb? Of course, this was Vyr. She’d been so focused and nervous about Torren, she hadn’t paid enough attention to the real danger.
