To Catch A Bandit

by Emma Dean

  Raccoons did whatever they wanted. Some good, some bad. But they usually liked to cause mischief, steal things, hoard anything shiny, and piss off as many of the larger shifters as they could.

  “Old gods hired us to help them save the world,” Ben said quietly, his deep voice practically making her nipples harden on the spot. “We’ve been hearing that something big is coming for a long time now. All the powerful creatures are anxious and restless.”

  She had heard the whispers.

  Too many powerful beings born in the same century was concerning. Apparently, a god had even gifted a human with demi-god powers which hadn’t been done in a millennium or two.

  Emily couldn’t remember the details, but she did read the reports from the fox libraries her mother received, benefits of being the Diplomat’s daughter she supposed.

  So, the world was ending. And yet, she hadn’t heard of it?

  “That’s why they want to kill you? For trying to save the world?” Emily asked. She was still skeptical. Too much didn’t add up.

  Chance huffed and dropped his arms. “Well, we thought it might be Hunter since we borrowed his mate’s portal, but Mephisto is not her demon godfather, Eisheth is.”

  “Opens up a few possibilities I hadn’t considered before,” Jace murmured, eyeing Aiden.

  Hunter. The same fox with her token.

  Emily vividly remembered him when she usually let herself forget useless people. She doubted she could ever truly forget him, even if she used her magic to try. Something about him reminded her too much of this version of herself. He was who she was without emotions.

  With emotions…she was someone else entirely.

  Someone she didn’t hate but didn’t particularly like either.

  After all, that self was the reason she’d failed her first kill without a partner.

  Emily stood completely still as she considered, one eye on Aiden as he shifted slightly under the covers. They would need to find him clothes.

  But that wasn’t important.

  What was important was figuring out why saving the world merited a raven assassination.

  Would her flock actively try to kill them, and thus ensure the end of their world? It was hard to know for sure. After all, they’d taken on that contract to kill the three foxes and a list of names that ended up being rape victims.

  It wasn’t until Hunter had snuck up on her – which was something no one else had managed to do yet – that she found out why those girls were on a list and why the foxes were in the kill orders as well during that whole Bradley Davis fiasco.

  Did her flock know what the raccoons were currently up to? It fell on the brass to vet each and every kill order and weigh the pros and cons before approving the kill request.

  Emily found it hard to believe they’d want their world to end.

  It was a lot to think about, and despite her emotions being completely off and shut down, there were too many conflicting desires to think about what the right path was.

  She personally didn’t want the world to end. It would be inconvenient.

  Saving the world was supposed to be something admirable, which made it difficult to believe the raccoons were the ones doing it.

  But she liked them.

  Well…most of them.

  Chance was a day to day situation, but his dick she definitely liked regardless of his current attitude.

  “I need to think,” Emily finally said. “One of you should go find Aiden clothes. He’s going to wake up soon.”

  Without waiting for any of them to respond she turned and walked outside, closing the balcony door behind her. Despite the glass she could still hear them inside.

  Emily placed her hands on the railing and looked up at the mountains covered with snow. The air was chilly, and winter was a brutal bitch in places like this, just as it was in her eyrie high above the world.

  The raccoons truly believed they were saving the world, based on their scents, the steady rhythm of their hearts, and the sheer earnestness in their eyes they tried not to show too much.

  Her gut was telling her they were being honest. Emily had trusted that instinct her entire life and it had never steered her wrong when her emotions were off. It was what gave her that extra edge as an assassin.

  Emily knew where her targets were before they were there, she could feel them breathing from a mile away, and she knew exactly how to manipulate each and every one of them.

  Once she’d murdered a bear shifter with nothing more than a kiss. Poison she’d trained to become immune to had ripped through his system so fast she’d barely reached the subway stairs before he’d collapsed, clutching his throat.

  To the mundane humans it had looked like nothing more than a severe anaphylactic reaction.

  The door behind her slid open and the deep, steady rhythm combined with the slight scent of denim, and lavender of all things, told her it was Jace.

  As if she would ever truly lose track of a mark.

  His heartbeat was branded into her memory, as familiar as her own – just like all her marks were until that beating organ stopped.

  “I’m glad you like that watch so much,” he said, leaning on the railing next to her. “It suits you.”

  Emily adjusted the watch on her wrist but didn’t say anything.

  Needing time to think usually didn’t invite interruption, but why she assumed any of them would listen was beyond her.

  “I just wanted to say thank you, for saving Aiden,” the alpha raccoon said. His voice was quieter than normal, as if he didn’t want anyone else hearing him say something nice. “I know we wouldn’t have made it this far without you. Don’t think I don’t value that.”

  He leaned over and kissed her cheek, ignoring the way she stiffened as his lips brushed against it.

  It would have been easy enough to stop him. Why didn’t she?

  Emily sighed. Ever since Samhain she’d thought the raccoons were perfect for her, one for each of her personalities. Which was the main reason why she’d turned off her emotions. Emily couldn’t afford to be distracted – to moon over males.

  Jace went back inside, the door clicked shut behind him, but there was a pause and Emily detected the heartbeat she’d been subconsciously listening to ever since she’d patched him up.

  “Aiden.” Emily turned and buried her smile when she saw he was naked with only a blanket around his shoulders. “How are you feeling?”

  “Alive, thanks to you,” he said with a chuckle. “I appreciate it.”

  Before she could say something else, Aiden walked up and hugged her, careful of the healing wounds on her abdomen and shoulder. The outside was now flawless, but her insides were still repairing.

  Emily remembered the way this one had held her, had kissed her, and how he was the first to take her up on her offer. Aiden had been the first to walk into her bedroom at the hotel in San Francisco.

  “I missed you,” he admitted, stepping back.

  All she could do was stare at him. Her memories rioting inside her mind, demanding attention, and telling her there were feelings she was missing out on – addictive emotions.

  The Emily who could feel, she loved to be the center of attention. She loved as many sexual partners as she could get her hands on. It was a completely different life when she could feel the heartache and tenderness.

  For the first time in months she almost gave in to that promising addiction and turned her emotions back on.

  But she couldn’t afford to let that version of herself back in control. Not right now when she was in a completely different world, when she was in danger, and violating her contracts.

  “I don’t miss you,” Emily told him, even though she knew it was the wrong thing to say.

  Aiden grinned at her. “I know. But maybe you will later when you let yourself.”

  She didn’t reply. Emily knew he was right. The second she let herself feel again she would be a blubbering idiot and they’d lose days to her need for these creatures. />
  “I think you’re amazing either way,” Aiden admitted. “You still saved my life, even though you don’t miss me. I can work with that.”

  He wrapped the blanket tighter around his shoulders and went back inside.

  Emily almost wished she had her jacket. The tank top didn’t give any protection against the freezing winds and in her haste to leave before the demon teleported them somewhere, she’d left her jacket in favor of her pack.

  She needed to think.

  Save the world, or kill Jace?

  Do as she was taught all her life, or go against the grain and try something new?

  When was the last time a raven went truly solo and left their flock?

  The door opened again, and she whipped around to snap at whoever it was now to leave her alone, but the words died on her lips when she saw it was Ben. He held out his jacket to her without a word.

  Had he really been paying enough attention to see the goosebumps on her skin? Emily knew there’d been no other outward reaction to the cold.

  “Thanks,” she said, reaching for the coat.

  But Ben didn’t let her take it. He held it out for her, and she slipped her arms inside, letting him wrap it around her instead.

  She may not feel anything in her heart, but her body shivered at his touch, begging—no, demanding more.

  “You never called,” Ben finally said.

  Emily turned around, craning her neck to look up into his face. “You never called me either,” she gritted out, annoyed he had the balls to put the blame on her. “I distinctly remember waking up alone – don’t you?”

  Ben shrugged then and crossed his arms over his chest. “You didn’t give us your number.”

  “And you didn’t give me yours. All I found was this,” she told him, wriggling the watch in front of his face. “I’m a raven, not a mind reader.”

  The tall jerk stared down at her, his golden-brown eyes practically glowing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you needed it. I figured you’d find a way if you wanted to.”

  Emily supposed with her contacts she could have, but not when she’d instantly turned off every part of her that gave a damn.

  It was her turn to shrug. “I don’t care.”

  Then Ben had one hand on her face, holding her hard enough to bruise as he wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her up. Before she could figure out what he was going to do, his lips were on hers, his tongue in her mouth, exploring and tasting with a roughness that made her insides into putty.

  Her fingers dug into his arms involuntarily and Emily found herself pressing into him, breathing hard.

  Just as quickly as it began, it ended.

  Fuck, she just wanted to run her fingers through his hair.

  His brown eyes glittered down at her as she stared up at him, licking her tingling lips.

  “Ben! There’s a fucking book in here about us! Like one of those romances!” Chance yelled, breaking the spell.

  Emily pushed him away but wrapped his jacket tighter around her. She was overwhelmed and her body was demanding she take care of a few, very specific, needs.

  “Is the book accurate?” Jace asked, leaning over Chance and studying the search results on the computer she’d made sure to ask for.

  Emily went inside, stepping around Ben, and headed to her attached room.

  “It’s by someone named Emma Dean,” Chance said. “Looks pretty accurate. It describes in detail what happened with that dragon god dude. Should we kill her?”

  “Or see if we can figure out if this will help us. Think she’s tapped in to the universe somehow?” Aiden asked.

  Emily slammed her door closed.

  If they’d bothered to ask her, she’d have suggested murder. A human knowing all her deepest darkest secrets?

  No thank you.

  She turned on the shower and made sure it was scalding hot. Emily slid off Ben’s leather jacket and laid it gently on her pillow. As she stripped, she ignored everything that jacket meant and stepped into the steamy shower, hoping the hot water would melt all her doubts and confusion away.

  7

  Emily

  She woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard. It was freezing in the room, cold enough she could see her breath in the moonlight. But still, she ripped the blankets off and grabbed Ben’s jacket.

  The walls were too close, and Emily felt like she was physically suffocating. She ripped open her adjoining door and went straight for the balcony, skin itching to shift so she could feel the wind beneath her wings.

  Her clothes disappeared when her body folded in on herself. Feathers covered her skin and she flew to the railing, perching there and wriggling to get the feathers into the right place.

  She could still shift, even in this awful place.

  Before she could launch herself into the sky for a quick perimeter check, Jace came outside. He closed the door behind him and eyed her in her raven form. Emily realized then that he’d never seen it before.

  “You’re larger than I anticipated,” Jace admitted.

  Emily snapped her beak at him. Large enough to tear his stupid throat out if she felt like it. Raven shifters were the size of a large eagle…her wingspan was nearly eight feet wide. Her talons were sharp enough to rip a man’s head off if she felt inspired enough.

  “Bad dream?” Jace asked.

  “Par for the course,” Emily muttered, back in her human form in the blink of an eye. She held Ben’s jacket tight around her body, ignoring the cold she felt seeping into her bare feet.

  “Because of all the people you’ve killed?” he asked, leaning on the concrete railing next to her. This time his shoulder pressed against hers, but she didn’t move away.

  Emily glared at him. “Contrary to popular belief, raven assassins don’t regret their choices. So, no.”

  For some reason that made him smile and Emily narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She was about to go back inside, but something in his expression changed and he pushed his glasses up on his nose, rested his forearms on the railing, and then looked up at the moon with a pensive expression.

  “I have bad dreams sometimes too. Tell me yours and I might tell you mine.”

  She was curious enough to take him up on the offer. What the hell was Jace afraid of?

  Leaning into him slightly, for his warmth only, she studied the mountain glittering under the moon with all its glorious shadows. “More often than I care to think about I have the same dream,” she told him, shuddering slightly in the cold. “I dream about my wedding.”

  Jace laughed. “After everything you’ve probably seen, what’s so scary about that?”

  It wasn’t marriage exactly. Emily couldn’t feel it at the moment, and she wasn’t scared, but her entire body recoiled at the idea of that wedding.

  “What do you know about raven culture, Jace?”

  “Next to nothing, just like every other paranormal on the planet except for the foxes.”

  “Well, we don’t mate.” It was such a strange thing and it had always set the ravens apart from the rest of the shifter world. They didn’t really belong. “Though if a wolf’s mate is a raven, the bond forms just as it would with a human.”

  Jace turned toward her and all of a sudden, she was pressed against his chest and he had one arm around her, one still resting on the railing. “Okay, so you don’t have a natural mate, unless mated to another shifter.”

  “There’s the blood bond of course,” she said. “But it’s outdated and useless to us. Ravens have embraced an emotionless existence. Our ability to turn our emotions on and off makes us excellent at our job. We can take memories and retrieve them. Everything we are lends us to this phantom existence.”

  A brisk wind whipped around the building and snow began to fall, but Emily didn’t want to go back inside the confining room where she couldn’t breathe.

  Somehow Jace picked up on that. He lifted her up and sat her on the concrete, putting her feet between his legs, and wrapping his arms around her waist.
Emily had to admit it was warmer, but it put her in a compromising position.

  “What are you trying to do?” she asked.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to convince you not to kill me,” Jace told her, holding her tighter. “Finish telling me what all this has to do with your dream.”

  Emily sighed and decided this position was harmless enough at the moment.

  There was nothing that said she couldn’t fuck him before killing him anyway.

  “This emotionless lifestyle allows us to choose partners that suit us based on lifestyle and ambition, not to mention the next generation of perfect assassins,” Emily told him, looking up at his brown eyes that were somehow completely different than Ben’s. “My parents are perfect for each other, but they don’t love each other. Yet, they are proud that they’ve produced me. For them, it’s all worth it.”

  “So, your nightmare is your current existence?” he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly in question.

  She didn’t like the way he phrased that question. “Not necessarily.” Why did he keep trying to get her to question her entire life? What was the point of that? What exactly did it gain him?

  “You’re squinting at me again,” Jace told her. “Deciding how to kill me?”

  He teased, but she could hear it in his voice. He almost wouldn’t mind.

  Emily decided to ignore his taunt.

  “The dream is always the same,” she said instead. “I’m looking at myself in the mirror and I see the wedding dress I didn’t pick out, the veil covering my face, and the empty room behind me. My mother isn’t there even though she chose the dress, and my father won’t walk me down the aisle. It’s nothing like it is for humans.”

  Sighing, she played with the string coming out of his shirt. Even talking about it made her skin crawl, but it also felt…good?

  It felt like the pressure against her skin that was causing her to slowly suffocate was easing with each word.