by Emma Dean
“You’re very good at this,” Ash said as he checked the traffic and then crossed the next street.
“I don’t usually break and enter, but I have the skills for it,” Kenzie admitted. “I try to stay on the legal side of things when I can.”
“Is that why you work for a human?”
Ash didn’t even bother to hide the disgust in his voice. It made Kenzie wonder what shitty experience he’d had with them.
“I’m not like you,” she told him, pulling her hand out of his and wiping the sweat off on her pants. “I blend in with them much better than I do with any of the paranormals. I don’t have any powers or super strength, remember?”
Ash’s dark blue eyes pierced right through her. “Kenzie, you don’t blend. You stand out among them like a diamond against coal.”
That was…oddly romantic.
He tugged her out of the street and onto the sidewalk as a car blared its horn at them. She blinked and looked up at Ash.
This one liked her. Whether he knew it or not. The way he watched her with a frown, she’d guess he wasn’t sure about her. But his body language and his actions told her everything she could possibly want to know.
Ash followed her like a flower to the sun. It was strange, but also flattering. Even if his quiet intensity still put her on edge.
“I like my job, and now I have to go back since my lunch is over. So I’ll be starving and cranky too.” Kenzie crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
They’d called her right in the middle of her commute and asked, no told her she needed to be at the firm at lunch with all her goods. Kenzie sighed. Next time they better give her more warning.
“Your wish is my command,” Finnick said. He handed her a burrito wrapped in foil as he stepped out of the black van.
Of course they owned a sketchy-looking van.
Kenzie took the burrito and thanked him. Things were still raw between them no matter how much Finnick tried to pretend otherwise.
They stared at each other. Both of them assessing and studying. Finnick was the one who’d practically run away, as though opening up to her – finding comfort in her touch was shameful. But Kenzie didn’t feel one ounce of shame for what had happened between them.
Caution yes, but not anything negative.
“Drive safe,” Ash murmured, his fingers brushing against hers. “Let us know when you access their computers and what you find. Sometime tonight?”
She nodded, looking back to the black-haired fox who was still such a mystery to her. “I’ll see what I can get into. Hunter…let me know when you get the job. You know where to find me.”
It was hard to leave them with Ash and Finnick staring after her like lost puppies. They didn’t want her to leave, but neither of them liked or knew why they felt that way. Kenzie completely understood. She didn’t want to go back to work, or go home.
Even though it was like walking on eggshells around them, it was a thousand times better than being with her family.
She turned and walked toward her pink Bug and refused to look back at them. There was still two hours left on her shift, and then she had to update Selene. Would her sister make it six months without powers?
There had to be a way to speed this up.
Kenzie got in her car and turned the ignition. Two more hours and then she could do her real job – helping her sister.
“Kenzie!”
Instantly she sat up straight, heart pounding as she tried to figure out what the hell was going on.
“Are you okay?” Selene asked.
Where the fuck was she?
Kenzie rubbed her face and wiped away the drool. She’d fallen asleep, but at her desk based on the key imprints on her cheek. Shit, she should have just gone to bed first. But getting to dig around in Brad’s computers had just been too tempting.
“What time is it?” she asked her sister.
Selene frowned as she handed Kenzie a cup of coffee. “It’s four o’clock.”
“In the morning?”
“No, in the afternoon. It’s Thursday.”
She choked on her coffee and had to put it down. Selene handed her a bottle of water. “Fuck!” She’d slept right through work.
“Don’t worry I called in for you and let them know you’re sick.”
Kenzie thought her heart might explode from the adrenaline that had shot through her at being that fucking late. Who needed coffee to wake up in the morning? Coffee was for wimps. Abject terror was far more effective.
Maybe she should quit, or take a leave of absence. Dealing with the foxes, this job, and the odd hours while still trying to hold down an early morning shift would be nearly impossible. There just weren’t enough hours in the day.
“Did you have to yell?” Kenzie muttered, sipping at the water.
“I said your name like five times, what more do you want?” Selene snapped.
She arched a brow at her sister. Someone was cranky.
“I’m worried about you,” Selene told her. “You’re barely sleeping, and you’re overworking yourself. Isn’t there anything I can do to help?”
Kenzie loved her sister dearly for offering. There weren’t words to describe how much. “You can’t be connected to this in any way, not when you’re the matriarch. Me? The Council could punish me and it would be no big deal. There isn’t anything in the paranormal world I have to lose.”
“Apparently you have mates.”
Oh shit, she had completely forgotten to tell her about that. Kenzie winced and glanced at her sister. Selene wasn’t angry though, just very annoyed. “I honestly thought I’d told you.”
“Nope, but you did remember to tell Grandma Edith. Is there something else you may have forgotten to tell me?”
Kenzie cleared her throat and jiggled her mouse so her monitors would come to life. Not telling Selene was one thing, outright lying to her face was completely different. “Yes there’s something else, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell you.”
Selene huffed and the matriarch was nothing more than her sister once more. “I promise not to freak out.”
She kept her eyes on the computer screens, scanning everything she’d gotten into after her shift. For fuck sake, when had she even fallen asleep? It was all a blur. “Swear on the Fates you won’t say or do anything after I tell you.”
Selene sat on her chair and pushed herself over to Kenzie’s desk, rolling across the room. “You’re scaring me. Just tell me.”
“Swear it, S. This isn’t a game. Your life is in danger.”
“Fine, I swear on the Fates.”
Kenzie swung her chair around and studied Selene. Her sister looked exhausted. There were bruises under her eyes and her skin was whiter than normal. The blue of her veins was stark against the black she wore. The lack of powers was already taking a toll and it had barely been more than a week.
“Grandma Edith put out a contract on Brad. She wants him taken down. As mercenaries, the foxes got their paws on the contract and took it. They will give me the potion in exchange for helping them. We have six months to destroy his reputation, finances, company, and anything else we can dream up.”
Selene’s mouth popped open in shock and Kenzie almost laughed. Her Snow White sister couldn’t be more innocent-looking, but she had more sense than anyone gave her credit for. She’d witnessed how they treated Kenzie, knew what they’d done to her, and then lived among the coven and their constant push and pull for access to more power.
But she was still kind and gentle despite all of this. That was what made her such a good leader. She had endless patience. Kenzie wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up as the next High Priestess.
“Grandma Edith did that? Are you sure?”
Kenzie sipped at her coffee, feeling the jumpiness settle a bit at the familiar ritual. “Yeah, cause I fucking asked her what she was thinking right after I found out. Apparently she is rather put out he cursed you.”
Selene’s mouth twitched into a smi
le. “That’s a mild way to put it.”
Her sister didn’t give away her thoughts as she contemplated. Kenzie waited a few minutes, but then she couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you think about that?”
Selene leaned back and tapped her long red nails on the desk. “Honestly? I’m more surprised you have three fox mates than I am that Edith has a mean, vindictive streak.”
“Seriously? She wasn’t shocked about the mate thing weirdly. Told me not to tell on her, so don’t say shit. I don’t want to know what she’d do if she found out I told you.”
Kenzie flinched when she heard her grandma yell her name. It was like the old crone knew when she was being talked about, like she was Lucifer or something.
“Kenzie! Your picture books came!”
Oh geez. They needed to sit down and have a talk about this. “For fuck’s sake. Gram-Gram! They’re graphic novels!” she yelled back.
Selene giggled which was annoying. Kenzie glared at her sister and got up to go fetch the package from her nosy-ass grandma who liked to open everyone’s damn mail.
“Deadpool?” a frighteningly familiar male voice asked.
Her heart leapt into her throat when Finnick entered her workroom with the box of graphic novels. How had he gotten in here? She snatched the package from him and glared. “What the hell are you doing?”
He gave her that heart-stopping, cocky grin she hated so much and then winked at her wide-eyed sister. “Gram-Gram told me to give it to you after answering the door and being so gracious as to invite me in. So you like a merc with a mouth?” Finnick came closer until they were barely an inch apart. It was difficult to breathe. “I’m a merc with a mouth.”
“I should go.” Selene stood up from her chair and Kenzie was desperate for her to stay.
“No, you should sit back down and help me figure out why there’s a fox in my secret workroom.” Kenzie couldn’t break eye contact with Finnick. His presence made the space feel so small.
“Um, no. I’m definitely leaving. I’ll be back…when you let me know it’s safe to come down.” Selene darted out of the room and closed the door behind her.
“She doesn’t like being called Gram-Gram,” Kenzie snapped. It was the only thought that would form in her stupid brain.
Finnick smiled and tilted his head. “Really? She laughed when I called her that.” Of course she would.
Something had definitely changed with him and she wasn’t sure what. “How did you find me here?”
Finnick took another step forward and his chest hit the box she was holding onto with a death grip. He took the package and set it down on her desk. “Your general address is listed. This room? It was pretty obvious there was a place like this when you were nowhere to be found in your main living space. Are you hurt?”
His question threw her so off guard she stuttered. “W-what? No, I’m not hurt. Why would you ask that?”
Then his arms wrapped around her waist like he planned to slow dance with her, but he just stared down into her eyes. Kenzie’s thoughts were so scattered she didn’t even try to stop him. Her hands came up on their own and rested on his shoulders like it was the most natural thing in the world.
His grip tightened around her and she was pressed up against him as he growled deep in his chest. “You’ve been radio silent for over twenty-four hours. It was worrisome. We assumed you were hurt. So we came here to check on you.”
“We?”
“Ash is upstairs talking with your grandmother.”
Kenzie’s lips parted as she realized she liked being held by Finnick. She liked how worried he was about her. There were times she was gone for weeks and no one even noticed but Selene. “I apologize,” she murmured. “I stayed up too late going through the firm’s computers and then I fell asleep. I literally just woke up. I’m not—not used to people caring, about where I am, I mean.”
He squeezed her once, a vicious hug, and then his grip loosened. “We prefer to check in at least once a day. Longer than twenty-four hours and it’s assumed you are dead or dying. Now promise you’ll follow our rules while you work with us.”
Kenzie wanted him to hold her as tightly as he had before, but she didn’t know how to ask for that without things getting weird. “Yeah, okay. I’ll check in.”
“Promise me,” he demanded.
She cleared her throat and stepped away from him. “I promise.”
“Good, now…what other comic books do you have?”
The sudden change in intensity surprised her enough to make her laugh. Kenzie picked up the box of Deadpool comics and led him out to her living room where one whole wall was covered from floor to ceiling in shelves. Not all of them were graphic novels, but there were a lot.
“This is all of them?” Finnick asked.
She started putting the new ones where they belonged and Kenzie glanced at him whenever she thought he wasn’t looking. Why had he been so bothered? They’d barely been working together for a day. And honestly they didn’t need her.
They were the ones who were giving her the opportunity, not the other way around. She needed the potion. They needed nothing from her.
“I can’t scent you with that stupid fucking charm, but you look troubled. Cough it up.”
Kenzie chewed on her lip. It was like being an awkward teenager all over again. Geez, how did people deal with this? “Something has changed,” she said slowly. “With you. What is it?” Slipping the last book onto the shelf she turned and eyed Finnick.
It was so weird to see him standing in her living room, in her family’s mansion. He was so fucking beautiful and dangerous. The danger was what made him even more beautiful, she thought. It gave him an edge she liked – it made her feel safe in a weird, fucked up way.
Finnick glanced at the stairs that led up to her family’s main floor and then he studied her again. Was he going to tell her, or was he going to let her suffer?
“You surprised me. The other day, in our gym. It wasn’t something I was ready for, no matter how much I liked it.”
Holy shit. He was going to tell her. Kenzie felt her heart pound and she decided she should make a concession as well. She took out the charm that masked her scent and set it on the shelf. Instantly Finnick’s nostrils flared and his eyes widened.
“When we didn’t hear from you, we reached out,” he told her, slowly closing the distance between them. “When you didn’t respond I thought something had happened to you.”
Kenzie crossed the room towards him, meeting him halfway to reward him for being honest with her. Finnick paused, but then he reached out and grabbed her hand, tugging her forward. His arms wrapped around her again and this time she wrapped hers around his neck, on purpose. Something about it just felt right.
“I thought you had been taken, or hurt. Kenzie…I’ve never felt fear like that before. Never.”
“I’m okay,” she reassured him. “Nothing happened. I’m sorry it scared you.”
“I want to take you out on a date.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Why do you make it sound so painful?”
Finnick flexed his arms and lifted her up so smoothly her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. It was so intimate and familiar she felt the blush color her cheeks. The laugh died on her lips and she wanted him to kiss her.
Kenzie was normally the girl who took what she wanted, but she felt like Finnick needed to be the one – to know he was the one making this choice of his own volition.
“I’ve never taken anyone out on a date before,” he admitted.
She pulled back and searched his face. He was serious if a bit rueful. Wow. “Are you a virgin?”
Finnick laughed so hard he nearly dropped her. “Babe, I am the farthest thing from a virgin that could possibly exist. I’m a dirty whore.”
For some reason that made her want to squirm. What did he know how to do with all that practice? Being a shifter he’d be clean too…she bit her lip to keep from wiggling against him.
&nbs
p; He pulled her lip from between her teeth. “You like that,” he said in surprise.
Without her charm he could read her every emotion and physical reaction. This time it didn’t bother her. Kenzie wanted him to know, so he would stop playing these little fucking games.
“So, if you want to take me out on a date, does that mean you want the mate bond?” she asked. Dating wasn’t the same as being a mate, she knew that. And Kenzie still didn’t know what to think or feel about this mate thing. But she wanted to know what he was thinking.
Finnick groaned and threw her on the couch. It shocked her enough she squealed and then laughed when she saw him shaking his head. “I don’t fucking know, but I want you in my life right now. Can we figure the hard shit out later?”
“Works for me.” Kenzie watched him prowl towards her.
He may be a fox, but he was still a predator. When he pinned her to the couch and then gently climbed on top of her she couldn’t help the stupid little gasp that came out of her mouth.
“I want you to ask me for it,” he murmured, breathing her in. “Ask me to kiss you. I know you want me to, but I need to hear you say the words.”
Oh shit. She was in so much trouble.
“Finnick,” she whispered and he groaned again when she said his name. “Would you please kiss me like a dirty whore?”
He grinned at that, eyeing her with appreciation. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”
Then he held her face gently. When his lips finally met hers it felt like he was devouring her.
Kenzie hadn’t been kissed in a long time. And the way Finnick kissed her, it was liquid fire. His lips were softer than she thought they’d be and his tongue slipped into her mouth so gently she almost didn’t notice until it stroked her own, suggestive.
When she kissed him back that gentleness gave way to a ferocity she felt mirrored in her own reaction. Her nails dug into his shoulders. The weight of him on top of her made his erection painfully obvious and she wrapped a leg around him so she could feel him better.
