In Deep Shift: The Protectors Unlimited Book Three

by Blackwood, Keira

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “Still in Fairview,” he said.

  I dug through my bag and pulled out my clothes, underwear first.

  While I dressed, Zane’s back remained turned.

  “And how exactly did we get here?”

  “I blinked us.”

  It sounded so matter-of-fact. Teleportation, just a simple thing, like making toast.

  “You blinked us. What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “They were shooting at you,” he said. “I intervened.”

  I’d seen what had happened. The dude sprouted wings from his back. He’d wrapped his arms around me and then—poof—we were somewhere else. The problem—none of it made any fucking sense.

  I tied my shoes and pulled my hair from the collar of my shirt, then tapped Zane on the shoulder.

  He turned to me.

  He really was tall, and ripped. But that was pretty standard for a shifter.

  He was handsome—strong features, pleasant to look at. But I’d seen lots of good-looking guys.

  What made Zane extraordinary wasn’t anything on the surface. It was the soft look behind his steel blue eyes, and it was his big-ass wings. Even after he had tucked them away, after they were no longer visible, I could still see them when I closed my eyes.

  “What exactly is blinking?” I asked. The words sounded stupid to my ears. If someone had asked me the same thing, I’d have batted my eyelashes, given them the finger, and walked away. Not Zane.

  He looked at me, completely serious, totally calm. “Instantaneous travel from one location to another.”

  “Right,” I said. “Of course.”

  “Do you not believe me?” he asked.

  He slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “Oh I believe you. I was there and now I’m here. That’s pretty convincing stuff.”

  Zane nodded.

  “Show me your wings.”

  His lips flattened into a line.

  “We both know you have them. You wrapped them around us like some kind of bat shield,” I said. “Don’t even pretend that you—”

  The air moved in a violent flourish as massive wings erupted from Zane’s back. High above us the wings spread, and out wide over the ground, before he pulled them softly inward to a resting position. A near-gray blue, his wings were much like the color of his eyes, and stunning to behold.

  I reached out a hand, then turned to meet his gaze.

  “May I?”

  He nodded.

  Excitement tangled with nerves as I brushed my fingers over the blue tissue. I didn’t know what I’d expected it to feel like, but this wasn’t it. The skin was soft like silk, yet strong, firm. Tiny scales sparkled when the sunlight hit them just right.

  I looked to Zane’s face. His eyes were closed.

  “Do you feel that?” I asked.

  He nodded slowly and looked at me. His gaze was intense, filled with heat.

  A wave of fire washed over me, desire to be touched in turn.

  “I, uh—”

  His lips crashed over mine and his arms enveloped me. His wings encased me, a protective shield, a desperate embrace.

  I savored the insistence of his lips, melded to his will, and kissed him back.

  Being naked before him was nothing compared to this. Zane’s kiss was everything, his touch my world.

  A ringing sounded.

  Zane let go.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “Don’t be.”

  The ringing continued. He took a step back, and his wings withdrew, folding back to nothingness. Just like the magic I’d felt in that kiss, only the memory remained.

  “Your phone,” he said.

  “Yeah.” I picked my purse up from the ground and dug through for my phone, pissed as hell at whoever was calling.

  The screen lit with a single name—Drexel.

  I could just not answer. I had everything right here already. I didn’t need him. I’d found my dragon.

  I shook the thought. Drexel was the Therion Tribunal. The Tribunal was my life.

  “Hello,” I answered.

  I raised a finger to Zane and offered a sorry smile, then threw my bag over my shoulder and took a few steps away.

  “Ms. Blake,” Drexel said.

  “Yeah,” I said. “This is kind of a bad time. I just—”

  “Have you made any headway in locating the trade or in finding the dragon?”

  I walked a little farther and looked back at Zane.

  He turned and walked away from me, offering me the privacy I needed.

  His jacket was torn in thick slices on the back, his shirt, too. Wings—he had dragon wings. I still couldn’t believe it was true.

  Remembering I was supposed to be talking to my boss, to the only thing standing between me and prison, I asked, “What?”

  “Have you located the device?” There was irritation in his tone. I couldn’t blame him. I was distracted.

  “Yes.”

  Drexel sighed. “Good. That’s good to hear. And the dragons? Do they have the weapon?”

  “No.” I listened to his words, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from Zane.

  “Where is it?” Drexel asked.

  “I have it.”

  “Keep it safe,” he said. “I’ll be at your hotel in an hour.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Drexel hung up.

  Zane stared out into the distance, and I found myself wondering what he was thinking about. I also found myself looking forward to rejoining him.

  “Hey,” I said as I walked over. “I have to head back. It’s a work thing.”

  “Okay.”

  “Can I ask you something first?”

  “Anything.”

  This guy was sincere to a fault, my complete opposite. He was genuine. He was a dragon. I considered asking him to show me what he looked like in dragon form, not just the wings, but the whole shebang. But there wasn’t time. That would have to wait.

  Instead, I asked, “What’s the story with the box? Why do you want it so badly?”

  I knew I shouldn’t have asked. I should have just instructed him to blink me back to my hotel room and then I could deliver the thing to Drexel without incident. I knew that’s what I should do, but I didn’t. I had to know. Doing what I was supposed to do had never been a strong point for me anyway.

  “It’s a weapon,” Zane said.

  I’d heard that before.

  But Zane continued, “It was created to exterminate the entirety of the species.”

  That was new.

  “Any species?” I asked. That fit with what Drexel had said, that the thing was a danger to us all.

  “No. Just one—dragons.”

  “It’s supposed to kill all dragons?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  Drexel had said it would be a danger to us all, but that didn’t make sense with what Zane said. The weapon would be shitty, definitely, but only a danger to dragons—not all of shifter kind. I looked down, thinking. I didn’t think Zane would lie to me, and if he did, he’d know I would detect it right away. They both seemed to be telling me the truth. Maybe he or Drexel had bad information.

  “So why do you want it? I mean, you are a dragon, right?” I met Zane’s gaze.

  His expression was sure, and it was firm, just as his answers were.

  “Yes, I am,” he said. “I seek to keep the technology out of the wrong hands.”

  “And whose hands would those be?” I narrowed my brows. It was hard to see the whole picture here. I was still missing some of the pieces.

  “The Therion Tribunal’s.”

  Interesting.

  “Why? What do you have against the Tribunal? They’re all laws this, rules that. Protect shifter kind. And I mean, it was your great-grandparents or whoever that caused the spat, right? Are you still holding a grudge?”

  His jaw tightened. I’d offended him. I hadn’t meant to.

  “It
wasn’t a spat.” He squared his shoulders and narrowed his eyes.

  “Okay,” I conceded. “Conflict.”

  “Try systematic annihilation.”

  I laughed. “I didn’t take you for the exaggerating type.”

  “It’s not a joke.”

  “How would you even know? I mean, the Tribunal protects people, all of us. Who better to trust with a weapon? None of us were there when this shit went down anyway. It’s history.”

  “I was.”

  “You were what?”

  “I was there.” That hard look softened as he spoke.

  “You were there? No way, that’s ridiculous.”

  “I was young when the wolves, the bears, and the tigers joined together. When they tore children from the arms of their mothers and butchered my kind without reason.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I was a child when they murdered the representative of dragon kind to keep him from the table, when they—”

  My hands were shaking, my fists balled.

  “I don’t believe it.”

  It couldn’t be true. I wouldn’t believe him. The Tribunal wasn’t bad. They protected people. We protected people.

  “Believe it or not, it’s the truth,” Zane looked like a stranger. There was no warmth between us. His eyes were cold steel, and his stance was firm. “That representative they murdered—he was my father.”

  The sweetness of the kiss we’d shared turned bitter in my memory. All of it. I’d thought he was sincere, sweet even. I was wrong—he was a liar.

  I turned and started walking. Where the fuck I was, I still didn’t know. But I’d find the road. I’d return to my hotel room, and I’d get the fuck away from Zane.

  He grabbed my wrist.

  I turned, anger boiling inside. “You let me go, right now.”

  “I can’t,” he said.

  “I swear I will punch you right in your pretty fucking face.”

  “Ooooooh, she said you’re pretty.” It was that high-pitched voice he did. He wasn’t just a liar, he was fucking crazy.

  “Shut up,” Zane said in his normal voice.

  “I can’t even,” I shook my head and pulled, but Zane’s grip tightened.

  I had no choice. I had to punch his crazy-ass.

  “Last warning,” I said.

  “I can’t let you walk away with this.”

  He reached inside my bag and pulled out the box.

  “Give it—”

  I tried to grab his arm, to wrestle it back.

  “Dammit.” I’d let myself feel something for the most fucked-up weirdo I’d ever met. I’d let him screw me over because he distracted me with soft lips and puppy-dog eyes. It was stupid. I’d been stupid. He wasn’t going to give it back. I couldn’t fucking make him.

  The wind picked up with a sound like a whisper that swirled around us.

  I pried at his fingers, unwilling to accept defeat.

  But before I could get him, he disappeared into thin air. That asshole teleported away with my golden ticket out of Shitville. He fucking blinked.

  Chapter Seven

  Zane

  The hotel room grew dark. Light from the window waned and I found my eyes straining as they adjusted. I turned on the lamp, sat on the edge of the bed, and picked up the cube.

  It was heavier than it looked, and cold to the touch. Someone, long ago, had engraved markings into the surface. Swirls and slashes that must have meant something to the engraver, but it was only an intricate pattern to me.

  While I held it in my hands, the cube stopped its beckoning hum. When I set it down, even for a second, the oscillating sound returned.

  I slid the pad of my thumb over the grooves. Nothing happened. Somehow the device was supposed to lead me to the other piece, two halves required to complete the whole. But there was no indication how that was supposed to happen, how I was supposed to find it.

  “I don’t get it.” Nona hopped over the floral bedspread toward me. “Why are you so into that box? It’s probably not like my little golden vessel. There’s no amazing best friend for you inside. Plus, you already have me.”

  Nona looked up at me, eyes narrowing.

  “You’re not looking for a replacement, right? If a talking companion pops out of that thing, you know I won’t stand for it. I’ll peck his little feathers out. He’ll have to find his own human.”

  “I’m not human.”

  “Close enough,” Nona said. “You have all that pink hairlessness going on like they do. Shifters are more interesting anyway. We could even go flying together some time.”

  I ignored the suggestion and kept my focus on the device. There had to be something, some trick in using it to find the other half, without risking activating its purpose.

  “Don’t you ever do that?” Nona asked. “Just go soaring through the sky to blow off steam? Feel the wind in your feathers...err...scaly skin flaps?”

  “Skin flaps?” I shook my head and let out a sigh.

  “Sure, that’s what they are, right? Your wings are like giant furless, featherless hands, right? Like you’re waving very dramatically when you go by?”

  “No.”

  “Like hey there, I’m a sky lizard. I’m waving hello.” Nona flapped its little wings.

  “No. It’s nothing like that.”

  “Sure,” it said. “If you say so.”

  I was getting nowhere. Between Nona’s constant distraction and the difficulty of the problem—

  There was a knock at the door.

  I’d already accepted fresh towels and sheets, what more could the hotel want from me? The do-not-disturb sign had been prominently displayed, as per the hotel rules, on the handle. I’d just have to say no thank you to whatever they wanted and maybe, maybe I could find some peace.

  I opened the door halfway.

  With a shove, a blond ball of fury shoved past me, throwing the door the rest of the way open.

  “What the fuck, Zane?”

  Left momentarily stunned in her wake, I shook the surprise and shut the door. Then turned to look at Mia.

  Her hair was out of place, her cheeks pink, and her green eyes wide and wild. She was still as striking as ever, even in this state of unfiltered emotion. Perhaps more so—an untamed beauty.

  “You just left me by the river.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Why did you think that was okay? Because guess what, it fucking wasn’t.”

  “Do you not work for the Therion Tribunal?” I asked.

  “What?”

  “You’ve been following me because you work for my enemies, do you not?” I asked.

  She sat down on the edge of the bed in an exasperated plop. I looked past her for the device, and for Nona. They weren’t there.

  That was a problem. A big problem.

  “Nona?” I called.

  The catbird wouldn’t have taken the box away, would it? I scanned the room, looked under the bed, behind the curtains.

  “What are you doing?” Mia asked.

  “Looking for something.”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking, kissing you back. You’re crazy and you’re right, we’re supposed to be enemies. I need that box. Give it back.”

  “No.”

  I checked the bathroom, behind the toilet, in the shower.

  I turned around and found Mia standing in the doorway, blocking my path.

  She held tight to both sides of the doorframe and stared hard at me. She wanted to force a confrontation. Though her employers might be my foes, I couldn’t believe that she was, too. She just didn’t understand.

  I stopped in front of her. I could have forced her to move, picked her up and set her to the side. But likely that would only exacerbate her frustration.

  I looked into her bright green eyes, hoping she would see my sincerity. “I cannot allow the device to be handed to the Tribunal.”

  “It was theirs to begin with,” she said. “It’s stolen property that needs to be returned.�
�

  “It’s a weapon,” I said. “A dragon-killing weapon that they would use to exterminate the few of us who still live.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  I leaned in a little closer, breathing in her sweet cinnamon scent. There was no way to stop my body from reacting to her closeness, so I didn’t even try. My cock hardened and my heartbeat quickened.

  “Because deep down you know it’s true.”

  She searched my face, and the stiffness of frustration and anger melted away from her expression. She’d have known if I had lied to her. Even if she couldn’t tell, I wouldn’t lie.

  As if reading my thoughts, she said, “What if you’re not lying, but you’re still wrong? What if you’re just crazy? And even if you are, I’m sorry about your dad, or what you believe happened to your dad. I’m sorry about how I responded. I’ve given my whole life to the Therion Tribunal. Throwing away everything I’ve ever known—it’s a lot to ask.”

  “I’m not asking you for anything,” I said.

  “You don’t have to,” Mia replied. “You don’t have to ask me to believe you or to spell out my choices, but those choices are still there. And I have to choose.”

  She dropped her arms and let me pass.

  I looked under the chair by the table and under the lamp shade.

  “See this, this thing you’re doing, this is what makes me think you’re nuts,” she said.

  “I’m not.”

  “Then what are you doing?”

  “Looking for Nona,” I said.

  “I can’t keep doing this.” Mia raked her fingers through her hair.

  “Nona?”

  “Who the fuck is Nona? Is that your imaginary friend that you do that weird little voice for? Because that is not helping your case.” Mia turned for the door.

  I knew if I let her walk away now, this would be over. We’d never share another kiss, another conversation. She was walking away from me, for good.

  It would be easier, but it wasn’t what I wanted.

  “Wait,” I said.

  Mia stopped by the door and looked at me with sadness in her eyes. We both saw it, the possibility between us. And she’d reached her limit—she was willing to accept the loss.