by Lexi Ryan
“I know and I’m sorry.”
“Then make it good.”
“Remember that old legend about the immortal Special who would take powers until he could manipulate free will?”
“Yeah,” Fernandez said, his sleep heavy voice lightening now. “What’d they call him? The Keeper?”
“Do you remember what the legend said about how he gets his power?”
“No, I never paid attention to that crap. I learned it long enough for the SIA exams and promptly forgot—” He cursed. “No, wait. The Keys? Right? He uses the Keys to become all powerful—a precog and her non-Special match—something about draining them simultaneously?”
Tanner closed his eyes. “That’s the one.”
“Shit, you don’t think Josie is—”
“I don’t know, but Darian found reference to ‘The Keys’ in her mother’s journal. I need you to go to the SIA library and dig a little more. See what you can find related to this legend and call me back. I called Chrissie and she’s going to meet you there.”
“Dude, I don’t need her to—”
“Stop being an ass and let her help. You can only read one book at a time.”
“Where will you be?”
“I’m going to check on Josie.” He looked at the clock and frowned. “She won’t answer my calls.”
***
Tara wobbled in a pair of Josie’s stiletto boots and wondered how they hell the girls regularly kicked ass wearing the damn things. If Tara were in charge at Stilettos, Inc., the uniform was the first thing she’d change.
Attention all employees: The stiletto is really more of a metaphor for our hotness, not a literal necessity.
But no one was asking her, and this is the kind of outfit Josie would wear to meet some dude she wanted information from.
A block from the Torpedo Factory she jumped when someone grabbed her arm.
“Shhh!”
She turned and put her hand to her chest when she saw it was Collin. “You scared me,” she said. Then, remembering she was Josie, she said, “What are you even doing here?” That probably wasn’t enough. The girls were pretty bitchy to Collin. “Why are you in my business again?”
Collin’s lip twitched. “If you’re going to be good at this shifting thing, we’re going to need to work on your acting skills.”
Tara flinched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Tara, I know it’s you.”
She sagged. She’d wanted to keep this trip a secret and bring back the answers Collin and Rider were so frantically digging for. She’d wanted to show them she was valuable so they’d tell her what they knew.
“Let me take care of this guy.” He pointed to the Torpedo Factory, where she was supposed to meet the doctor and the Aaron impersonator.
She stiffened. “Why?”
“I need your help,” he said.
She softened and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “You do?”
“I need you to get the journal for me.” He looked over each shoulder as if to check to see if they were being watched.
“Why? Who has it? How did you lose it?”
Collin shook his head. “No, it’s my brother, Rider. I don’t think we can trust him, and we need to know what the journal says if we’re going to stop the Ascendants.”
Tara frowned. There was no one Collin trusted more than Rider. They’d been through hell together as children and were so connected they hardly had to speak to communicate. “Why couldn’t we trust Rider?”
“Do you really think he found Aaron’s body?” Collin looked over his shoulder. “Listen, the Ascendants would offer him anything to get their hands on that journal, and Rider hasn’t been himself since Chrissie broke up with him. What would he be leaving behind?”
Tara’s heart hammered. Could Rider have turned? It was no secret that neither Rider nor Collin was a fan of the SIA, but the only thing the hated more were the Ascendants.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just don’t know.”
“Please, Tara?” He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers.
Tara stopped breathing for five seconds. Collin had finally made the move she’d been waiting for. “How should I do it?”
“Shift into Chrissie,” he said.
That made sense. Chrissie had left Rider six months ago when she found out he’d been lying to her. Even when she’d found out he’d had good reason, she hadn’t gone back to him, and Rider hadn’t gotten over her. “Like I did with you when I shifted into Paige?”
His smile was tentative. “Yeah, just like that.”
She narrowed her eyes. He seemed…different. She’d slid into bed with him. Surely he didn’t want her sliding into bed with his brother.
“Okay. Where do you want me to meet you?”
***
Ethan Aston closed his eyes at the chiming of his door bell. They’d come. He’d known they would, and he hadn’t run. What good would it have done?
He crossed the room and reached for the knob with steady hands. The shaking had subsided after Mallory had left, but he’d spent years fearing this.
Ethan hesitated before pulling the door open and greeting his fate. The bells chimed again. How had he ever been naïve enough to think he could do this? How had he ever believed he could raise her from birth and go along with the original plan?
And now fate was quite literally ringing the bell like some visitor who would turn on his heel and leave if he wasn’t welcome.
He cracked the door, choosing to put only a foot into the icy cold inevitability. A braver man would have jumped in.
He’d never been very brave. Perhaps that was how he’d gotten into this position to begin with.
“Hello, there,” a melodious female voice called from the other side. “Open the door, love.”
He obeyed the order. Not because he trusted her—he didn’t. And not because he was a brave man—he wasn’t. He let her in because he was too terrified of what would happen if he disobeyed.
The woman took a step into his apartment, long skirts flowing behind her, and drew in a long breath through her nose. When she turned to him it was with inhuman speed, the way vampires—monsters—moved in popular television.
“Where is she?”
His stomach pitched. Oh, he was such a fool.
Everything was an illusion. The power he’d thought he had, the control, his life—it was all an illusion created to keep him under their thumbs.
He’d told himself things would change. He told himself the Keeper would never have to follow through with the plan; they’d find another way to unlock his powers.
But as Mallory had gotten older, it had been harder to ignore the wicked fate she’d been created for. Ten years ago, he’d been planning his own disappearance when he’d gotten word about the other Key’s parents. The Americans had been preparing to visit a Special who could change their appearances. They were going to change the Key’s DNA.
The Keeper had gotten word and sent someone to take care of them. That put a stop to Ethan’s plans. He had been too cowardly to do anything then. He’d consoled himself with the knowledge that trying to run would give him even less of an opportunity to protect Mallory.
“Where is she?” She flipped her long hair and narrowed her unnaturally green eyes.
“I don’t know.”
In a blink, she’d closed the space between them. “Where is she?” she repeated, her nose an inch from his.
Would she let him live for several more hours yet? Minutes? “I. Don’t. Know.”
She wrapped her hands around his neck. He looked straight into her eyes as she read his mind.
“Ethan,” she muttered, gripping a little tighter, “you fool. There is no denying Him.”
“You know he doesn’t give a damn about you, don’t you?”
Her eyes flashed briefly, enough to let him know he’d guessed right about her affections for their leader.
“He doesn’t.” He choked
out the words even as her thumbs bruised the skin at his Adam’s apple. “He’s using you. A means to an end.”
Her hands released his neck and a fraction of a second later they returned, but this time he could feel the sharp point of the spike she’d slid on her thumb. “Shut up,” she whispered. “They’ll find her, you know. You’re only postponing the inevitable.”
“It’s the best I can do.” And in that, he’d failed her. His Mallory. His daughter. Once merely a tool he was charged with tending, now the only person he loved that mattered. “Kill me. Take my blood and my power and be done with me.” Again, fear, not bravery, drove him.
“Tempting. I could use your power, but if I kill you,” she said, sticking out her lower lip in a pout, “how will I get the girl?”
“She won’t look for me. She knows better.”
“You underestimate your daughter. The Keys were programmed better than that. When she finds out we have you, she’ll come.”
***
Tanner pounded on Josie’s apartment door. “Josie?”
He had answers and he didn’t like them, but he’d be damned if she was going to keep shutting him out. She didn’t know the half of the danger she was in, but she could at least have the courtesy to pick up the phone and let him know she’d gotten his message. Let him know she’d be careful.
“Yes! Tanner! Come in. Please!”
He threw his weight against the door and it opened. “Good security,” he grumbled. That would go on his list first, if she insisted on staying here. He’d rather she just stay with him. Hell, maybe they should skip town altogether.
“Josie?” He stepped into the foyer and frowned. All the lights were off. “Where are you?” He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the dark.
“I’m back here,” she called, her voice husky.
He followed her voice to the bedroom and stalled one step in the door. “Mother of all that is holy.”
His eyes had begun to adjust to the dark apartment and there was Josie—in a little black slip handcuffed to her headboard.
She pulled herself up so she was half-leaning against the headboard, her arms awkwardly positioned behind her. “Thank God you’re here!”
His cock hardened in his jeans. How could it not at a sight that beautiful? Josie cuffed to the bed, her long legs exposed in her little slip, her blond hair loose around her shoulders—this was stuff of fantasy. “Had I known you were waiting on me,” he said, strolling slowly into the room but not toward the bed, “I would have come hours ago.”
“Hurry, Tanner.”
He grinned. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me.” Was this Josie? Or was their Shifter at work again?
“Just turn on the light and come over here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Still a little bewildered, he flipped the wall switch and light flooded the room. He swallowed. She’d looked sexy in the dim light of the street lamp creeping in through the curtains, but in the full light, her beauty was intimidating. Long legs, full breasts, pale skin. Her full lips were shaped into a sultry pout, and her blue eyes were—angry.
Hell, he hadn’t been here two minutes, and she was already pissed at him.
He slowly crossed the room, studying her, not sure if he should be more intimidated by her beauty or the glares she was tossing his way. Irritation was written all over her beautiful face. “I’m not exactly sure what I did wrong here.” Hell, he wasn’t sure what he’d done right that she’d done this expecting him to join her.
“Come closer,” she said, nodding to the edge of the bed.
He took a step toward her. If this was a Shifter, this was a weird-ass way to get his attention.
“Closer,” she demanded.
“What big teeth you have, Grandma,” he said.
She didn’t laugh. “Very funny. Sit.”
Weird but effective. How was he going to say no to her now, here, dressed like that? “Josie, I’m gonna be honest here. I’m not sure if I should be turned on or nervous.”
“Get closer so I can see your eyes.”
He lowered himself to the edge of her bed and leaned forward until their lips were only inches apart.
“What color bra was I wearing the first time we kissed?”
He cocked his head. “I’m sorry, teacher, I didn’t take notes. You never told me this would be on the test.”
She slammed her heel into the bed. “What color, Tanner?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I didn’t see your bra that day, and despite what you may think is appropriate, I don’t spy on pretty girls.”
She stared at him for another long beat before collapsing against the headboard. “I’m glad you’re you.”
He raised a brow. “Who else would I be?” She studied the ceiling, and when his patience ran dry, he said, “Would you fill me in here? What’s up with the Little Red Riding Hood reenactment? The questions? The staring?” He paused a beat. “The handcuffs?”
She growled and yanked at her cuffed wrists. “Ouch! I don’t remember there being handcuffs in Little Red Riding Hood.”
His lip twitched. “You haven’t seen the adult version? Little Red Riding—”
“Stop there,” she said. “I don’t think I want to know.”
He chuckled, glad as hell just to be close to her again. Even (or was that particularly?) given the circumstances. “Wait. How did you—” She couldn’t have very well cuffed herself. Not like that.
Her eyes widened. “You think I did this? What kind of floozy do you think I am?”
“Doesn’t seem to me like you’re in a position to verbally abuse me, but I can go if you’d prefer.”
“No! Please! I need you.”
He had a feeling she didn’t mean that in the way he’d like, but he was glad she didn’t call his bluff. “You know I can’t say no to a beautiful woman who’s half nude and cuffed to a bed.” He waited a beat. “Why are you cuffed to the bed again?”
“There was a Shifter here.”
Tanner closed his eyes. “Ah, so that’s what the game of Twenty Questions was for.” He nodded, proud she was being cautious. “Think it was the Shifter I warned you about?”
“You didn’t warn me about any Shifter!”
He pulled a hand over his face. “Listen to your messages tonight?”
“Oh,” she said, at least having the courtesy to look chagrined. “No, I didn’t.” Then, “The bitch took my favorite dress.”
“And you let her cuff you to the bed because…?”
“Why do you assume I let her?”
Tanner smirked. “Because that is not the pose or position of an unwilling woman.” He studied her, suddenly feeling much better about their situation. “Who did you think was cuffing you to the bed?”
Red tinge crept up her face. “I’d rather not say.”
His smile grew. “Josie…”
She rolled her eyes and threw her head back with a frustrated growl. “You, okay? I thought you were putting the handcuffs on me.” She stared at the ceiling. “In a romantic way.”
“You thought I was putting handcuffs on you…and you let me?”
She lowered her gaze and glared at him. “Are you going to mock me or help me?”
He dropped his gaze. Her breasts were full under the slip, her nipples hard little beads under the silky fabric. He turned toward her and gave a slow and steady perusal of her thighs, just a little soft where the edge of the slip brushed them. Her legs were the long, just-soft-enough kind that a man wanted to feel wrapped around his waist. She shifted them slightly as he studied her.
“Tanner, I’m embarrassed, okay, what else do you—”
“Why do you assume I’m mocking you? Maybe I’m jealous of the damn Shifter.”
“Jealous?”
“Jealous she thought of it first. Hell, I have handcuffs.”
Josie laughed, and he pulled his gaze from her legs to see her smile. “I should have known it wasn’t you. You don’t have the balls to tie me up.”
/> “Careful, Josie. That sounded like a dare to me.”
Her tongue darted across her bottom lip and her eyes flashed. “Maybe it is.”
Groaning, he leaned forward. He ran his index finger over the lip she’d been assaulting with her teeth. She met his eyes and drew his finger into her mouth, wrapping her tongue around it and—dear God. The pleasure shot right through his gut and swelled in his cock.
“Josie, you know that noble guy? That guy who would take this opportunity to remind you this is exactly what you didn’t want with him?” He pulled his finger from her mouth and ran it down her neck and over her collarbone.
She tilted her head to allow him better access as he traced across the hollow of her neck and over a bare shoulder. “What about him?”
He slid his finger under a strap and slipped it down her arm. “He’s not here tonight.”
“Good,” she said, her eyes burning into his. “Neither is that girl who cares what the future brings.”
“Shit,” he muttered, because he did care what the future brought. He wanted so damn much to protect her, but he wasn’t sure she would let him. All he could control was this moment.
He slipped his hand under her jaw and lowered his mouth to hers.
She tasted sweet, like ripe, exotic fruit that only made him thirsty for more. She arched under him, and all he wanted to do was feel her move while he buried himself inside her.
“I’ve seen us together,” she murmured. “For the last six months, every time I touched you, it seemed, I saw sex, passion—” She caught his lower lip between her teeth. When she released it, she said, “But I never saw this.”
She’d spent six months envisioning them together. The shot was like liquid pleasure through his veins, settling hot, heavy, and hard in his dick and leaving him with a pulsing ache. Had she gotten wet, thinking about what she’d seen? Had she gotten off on it? Is that what she’d thought of the night he’d listened to her get off in this very bed? “Tell me what you saw.” He traced fingertips over the silky slip, circling where her nipple pebbled underneath. “Tell me what turned you on.”
“All of it,” she moaned. “Tanner, our bodies are good together.”
