by Tate James
“Born ready.” I smirked, leaning into his touch briefly. “Let’s do this.”
Grabbing hold of the fire escape ladder beside me, I scaled the side of the building quickly, with Cole tight on my heels. When we reached the roof, I stayed low and rolled swiftly into the shadows near the roof access door.
Typically, I found the roof of any structure to be the weakest point in any security system, and the Omega medical wing was no exception to this rule. Sure, the security was better than just about all of the buildings I’d broken into previously, but nothing was impossible.
“Remember, cameras will stay on. We need to avoid being caught on any screens.” Cole breathed the words so quietly I couldn’t have heard them if I’d been an inch further away.
“I know, silly. Don’t stress; between us we have got this.” I gave his fingers a quick squeeze, then retrieved my lock picks from my pocket.
On our run earlier we had discovered that Cole’s newly developed supernatural-ness had given his similar speed to me and strength that far outclassed mine now. So dodging security cameras should be a walk in the park.
A few small clicks and pings later, the door handle turned freely, allowing us three seconds to get inside and the door shut again before the alarm would be triggered. Easy.
“This speed thing is definitely going to come in handy,” Cole murmured in the pitch blackness of the stairwell we found ourselves in. “Can you see?”
“Not a damn thing,” I huffed, blinking rapidly like it would magically make light appear.
“Huh, I can,” Cole commented, then paused. “I wonder if I could...” He trailed off and dropped my hand.
“Could what?” I prompted after a moment’s silence, when it became apparent he wasn’t finishing his sentence.
“Hmm, guess not.” He took my hand in his once more and began confidently leading us down the stairs. “I was just wondering if maybe I could create that blue flame while I was in this form. To give you some light.”
“That’s cute of you,” I replied, and he paused on the stairs, making me run into him.
“Did you just call a badass, dragon shifter, ex-fighter, secret agent, cute?” His smoky voice in the darkness was part offended and part amused, so I just snickered in response.
“Come on, Cutie,” I teased. “Let’s get this job done before River sends for the cavalry.”
He grunted and continued on down the stairs but muttered under his breath. “So not cute.”
When we reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs, we reached another locked door, and I picked the lock by touch and muscle memory. Piece of cake.
This time when we slipped through the door, we made sure to press ourselves into the corner directly below the security camera where we knew there would be a dead zone.
“ All right. This needs to be a really quick in and out,” I whispered. “You ready?” I glanced up at Cole, and he just raised an eyebrow at me suggestively.
“Oh right, and I thought my sex drive was going nuts.” I snorted a laugh. “Let’s go. Three... two... one!”
On one, the camera above us had just completed a swivel, and to reach the next dead zone, we had the small window of time that it would take for the camera to pan back the other way. Impossible for any human to do, even if they were an Olympic sprinter or something. But shockingly easy for myself and a sinfully sexy dragon shifter.
We repeated this process several times over until we reached the location we were aiming for: a normal looking laboratory near the center of the building with a locked refrigeration unit. Getting in there, unlocking the fridge, finding the blood samples, and then replacing them with the ones we’d brought was going to be a bit harder than it had been simply dodging the cameras.
Because it was Omega Headquarters, any sort of camera feed interference would have been noticed immediately, which was why we were going old school and not using Wesley’s mad hacker skills.
“Okay, camera is in this corner to our left, immediately as we enter the room,” Cole said quietly. “As soon as you open the door, I’ll slip in and bump it by just a fraction of an inch. It’s not perfect, but it’ll take them longer to realize something is wrong than just cutting the feed.”
“Got it, Cutie,” I whispered back, deftly flicking the lock tumblers with my delicate picks.
Like a well-oiled machine, I slid the door open, Cole darted in and stretched up to knock the camera off alignment, and I dashed over to the fridge. Another split second lock pick, and I was in.
“Uh, Cole?” I whisper-yelled over to him. “There are a lot in here. This might take a minute.”
“Make it a quick minute,” he whispered back, and I rolled my eyes. My fingers flew through the neatly stacked tubes of blood, checking each label for the ones I recognized.
“Bingo.” I grinned, locating one labeled Drake. “Found yours!” I quickly switched it out for one of the spare tubes I’d brought with me, filled with the same blood type but from a random blood donor.
Continuing my search, I eventually found the other three I’d been looking for: Alpha, Viper, and Crow.
Despite me not having used my healing on River, we had thought it wise to replace his too. Just in case.
The mere fact that Jonathan had requested blood samples from the guys sort of confirmed my fears that there was something shady going on with him, and the last thing I needed was for their blood to suddenly register as anything other than human.
“Got them all,” I confirmed for Cole, then hesitated as I was closing the fridge back up. On a lower shelf, a plastic bag containing a wad of sapphire-blue fabric caught my eye, and I bent to pick it up.
“What is it?” Cole rumbled, and I could tell he was growing impatient. The idea had been to move the camera back into alignment before the security office noticed anything was off about it, but the longer we took, the less likely we were to get away with it.
Making a snap decision, I tucked the bag of fabric inside my leather jacket and zipped it closed to hold the contraband in place.
“Come on; I’ll show you outside.” I snapped the lock closed on the fridge and rejoined Cole near the door. “Good?”
Cole nodded, having just realigned the camera, and the two of us retreated out of the building the same way we had come in. Within minutes, we were back in the open and making our way toward River’s shadowy form waiting below a tree.
“That was quicker than I’d given you two credit for,” our stoic leader commented as we rejoined him, and all three of us casually wandered back toward the housing building. Nothing screamed suspicious like running or creeping after you’ve left the scene of the crime. Nope, we were just three people out for an evening stroll, dressed in black. Given it was still the tail end of winter, that wasn’t the craziest thing to see.
“Successful mission?” he asked quietly, and I nodded while linking my arm with his good one and cuddling in for warmth.
“What was the other thing you grabbed, Vixen?” Cole murmured, keeping his voice low and soft.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure; that’s why I grabbed it.” I chewed my lip, pressing a hand to my chest where I could feel the plastic packet inside my jacket. “But I think it’s the dress I was wearing the night I healed Vali.”
9
“Nice work!” Wesley exclaimed as I tossed him the vials of blood. “Camera locations were all still correct then?”
“Sure were; spot on.” I watched as he dumped the contents down the sink then washed out the tubes with water.
“Vixen picked up something else on the way out though,” Cole prompted, pulling out a chair for me to sit at the dining table beside River while Wesley looked at me with surprise.
“Uh, yeah.” I unzipped my jacket and pulled out the plastic packet to hand to Wesley. “I’m pretty sure that’s the dress I was wearing when I healed Vali. Which means that”—I indicated the red-brown stains on the fabric as Wesley unfolded it—“is Vali’s blood.”
A la
rge square had been cut from the section of the dress that had the thickest concentration of blood, and I stared, transfixed by it. The last time I’d seen that dress had been on the Omega jet after Jonathan and I had left Vali’s parking garage in a wash of blood. I’d cleaned up and changed in the bathroom, then tossed the dress in the trash. And yet, here it was.
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Wes reassured me, refolding the fabric and replacing it into the bag.“If this blood was from his gunshot wound, then it’s pre-dragon blood. It shouldn’t show anything more than human, same as River’s. I wasn’t totally sure about mine and Caleb’s, but we knew for sure Cole’s wouldn’t register as human DNA anymore, so safer to switch them all rather than run the risk.”
My gaze flicked to Cole. “What about Vali’s mom? Would her DNA show as anything other than human?”
“Because she was Romani?” He scratched at the dark stubble on his cheek. “Maybe? Depends whether Romani are supernaturals in the same sense of the word, as in not human, or just...”
“Humans with foresight?” I finished, and he grunted.
“They clearly found something interesting, or why else keep the dress in the locked fridge?” Cole murmured, seeming to be thinking out loud. “Vali’s going to need to lay low.”
“Shouldn’t be hard for a lizard,” River commented, and a growl rumbled from Cole’s chest. “Kidding, mate! There’s not much to be done for it now. It’s late and Kitten starts school in the morning, so we should all get some sleep.”
“School.” I cringed. “Make me sound more like a little kid, why don’t you?”
“Vixen, you’re way too sexy to be a little kid.” Cole gave me a heated look and a wink that sent shivers coursing through me.
“Am I sleeping where my suitcase got put?” I asked River, indicating the bedroom I’d woken up in earlier in the day, when Wesley had been wrapped around me half-naked...
“Yes, that can be your room if you’d like. It’s a five-bedroom apartment, so until Austin gets back from San Fran, there is no real issue with rooming.” River cocked his head. “Unless you want to stay with one of us?”
“Tempting,” I murmured, licking my lower lip, running my eyes down the sharply dressed Englishman, and remembering his earlier promise of consequences. “But I think if I did, I wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. With any of you.” I glanced over at Cole and Wesley, and Wes blushed.
Standing from my seat, I did an awkward little wave and head bob, then said, “Well, good night, then.”
The three of them watched me with what seemed to be a mix of amusement and confusion while I quickly retreated back to my bedroom and closed the door between us. Once alone, I leaned my back against the door and closed my eyes against the embarrassment of that moment.
What the hell was that, Kit? “Well, good night, then?”
Navigating the etiquette of dating multiple men was going to be the death of me. Or maybe we all needed to have an open discussion about it like adults? Hah, surely not.
If that had been just Cole and River, I had no doubt I would have kissed them both good night. Hell, I probably would have done more than that because my ability to say no around them was getting worse by the day. But throwing Wes into the mix had me off guard. Until just days ago, I hadn’t realized he was interested in me at all. I’d even thought maybe he was into Lucy for a while there, which was understandable seeing as she is awesome. Lucy also had a fluid sexuality, or so she liked to tell me.
Considering this afternoon was really the first time we had, ah, progressed things, I hadn’t really had a chance to speak with him and work out where he stood on the whole sharing aspect. Until we had that conversation or he made his feelings clear like River, Cole, and Caleb had, it didn’t feel right to go kissing the other guys in front of him. Or him in front of them.
Maybe that was a conversation we should have had before bed, but I was being an ostrich. So much bad shit had happened lately, I just wanted to bury my head in the sand for a bit.
My jaw dropped open in a long yawn, and I realized just how damn tired I was. I stripped quickly out of my stealth outfit, then crawled into bed wearing just my tank top and panties.
Who knew what day one of spy school would bring? Maybe I might even make a friend! Yeah, right.
Caleb’s soft voice in my ear woke me gently from sleep while he curled around me and I snuggled back into his embrace.
“How did your mission go?” he murmured. “Did you have fun?”
My lips curved in a sleepy smile, but I didn’t bother opening my eyes. “So much fun. The Fox misses her missions.”
“I just bet she does,” he chuckled, nuzzling the bend of my neck and gently biting the skin. “It’s a shame you made that deal with the director to join Omega. I could have been the Robin to your Batman.”
A laugh bubbled through me, and I turned over in his arms, snuggling into his chest and breathing in his vanilla-cinnamon smell. He was like a giant cookie or something; I constantly just wanted to run my tongue all over him.
“Why do you always smell so delicious, Cal?” I mumbled through a yawn, shuffling till I was comfortable and sighing with contentment as his strong arms closed around me.
“It’s just my built-in Kit-attractant.” His chest vibrated with a silent laugh.
“Where were you earlier? I was worried,” I asked sleepily, and his muscles tensed under me.
“I wanted to pick something up for you in town,” he replied, but there was something off about his tone. But that might have just been the sleep fuzzing my brain.
“For me? Can I have it now?” I yawned, pushing up a bit to blink at him in the dark room.
“No, Kitty Kat, now is for sleeping; you can have it in the morning.” He flashed a smile at me that I could only make out thanks to how close we were. “Back to sleep, please.”
He tugged me back down to lie on him once more, and I cuddled in until I was comfortable once more.
“Hey, Cal?” I murmured, on the edge of sleep once more. “Are you okay? After I healed you?”
“You’re worried you changed me?” he asked after a moment’s pause, his voice quiet and serious. “Don’t worry, Kitty Kat. I’m fine.”
“Good.” I planted a kiss on his bare chest and let my mind drift back to sleep. Dimly, somewhere in the back of my brain, I realized his answer of “I’m fine” didn’t answer my question about whether he’d been changed.
Getting dressed for my first day of spy school was a challenge all of its own. What the hell did one wear for espionage class? It was still cold out, so after standing in front of my mess of a suitcase for at least ten minutes while wrapped in the blanket from the bed, I decided on dark blue jeans and a black ribbed sweater with a low V-neck. The jeans would give me an opportunity to finally wear the new boots I’d been dying to try out.
They weren’t anything too flashy, but they were a gorgeous, soft black leather with a chunky heel and lacing up the front to mid-calf height. I’d first seen them in a store in Seattle when Cole had taken me out for a dinner date that turned into a cage fight, and he had gone back and bought them for me.
Much to my disappointment, they’d been left at the New York townhouse after Jonathan’s Thanksgiving party, and I hadn’t had a chance to retrieve them or wear them since.
Those boots alone made me aware of the fact that Jonathan, or one of his men, had packed up my things from the townhouse for me. Made me glad I really didn’t keep anything private in my bedroom there.
“Hey hot stuff!” Caleb called out as I joined the guys in the kitchen for what smelled like pancakes. Wesley was cooking once again while Cole set the table.
“Hey, guys,” I murmured, considerably less upbeat than Caleb was in the morning. He’d woken up a good hour or so earlier while I’d chosen to stay in bed and hug the blankets as long as possible. Mornings were not my friend.
“Here.” Caleb came around the kitchen island and handed me a mug of coffee. A giant mug of c
offee in a cup that had the words “Oh for fox sake” printed on it, except instead of the word fox, there was a cute baby fox picture.
“I love it.” I grinned. “Is this what you went to get from town?”
He smiled back at me. “Yeah, well I knew how crazy-small the cups all are in these apartments, and I wanted your first day of Omega training to be something special.”
“Caleb.” I gaped. “That is so sweet of you.” I placed my huge mug of coffee down on the counter and stretched up on my toes to plant a kiss on his lips. “Thank you.”
“It’s nothing, Kitty Kat. Keeping you well caffeinated is a public service to your classmates.” He threw me a cheeky wink, then returned to the kitchen to help Wesley plate up the last of the pancakes and bring them out to the table.
“How did you sleep, Vixen?” Cole asked, holding out a chair for me to take.
“Surprisingly well, given all the crap that’s gone on lately,” I replied, taking the seat and trying not to drool over the glorious-smelling food. Wesley’s cooking skills were seriously impressing the pants off me. “Wes, I am in awe of your chef skills right now. You are all aware that I burn boiling water?”
“No worries, sweetheart.” Wes chuckled. “I enjoy cooking. Maybe I’ll show you sometime.”
No answer was needed as I moaned around a mouthful of pancake and maple syrup, and the guys all cracked grins. Dirty bastards.
“Eat up, love,” River ordered. “You’re due to class in less than thirty minutes. You too, Drake.” He nodded at Cole, who smiled wickedly.
“I get to be your keeper today,” he told me a little gleefully, and I squinted at him in suspicion.
“Why do we look so happy about this, Cutie? What am I missing here?”
Cole held my gaze steady, but I heard Caleb stifle a snort at my new nickname for the tattooed bad boy of their team.
“Cole didn’t get along very well with the Omega trainers,” River filled me in. “I have no doubt he plans on being a pest for them today.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Cole practically purred in a distinctly dragon-like tone.
