“KITTEN, I’m never gonna let you pull that trigger if you keep your shoulders up around your ears,”
Bullet said at my back.
Damnit, he was right. I was super tense. I took in a deep breath and released it slowly, breath fogged in the crisp air of easing winter. We were in the woods on the ‘estate,’ as Bullet called his mansion in that odd shift in his voice when he got a little comfortable being home again. I rolled my neck, flicking the safety back in place on my gun, and lowered it to my side, trying to shake out some of the tension in my shoulders.
“What’s got you knotted up?” he asked, hands settling on my shoulders, thumbs digging through
layers of sweater and coat.
“I dunno.”
“Old black-hearted Coal?”
“Ehnnn…” Cole had been picking at Mackenzie through breakfast and was definitely wearing out his welcome with us in my mind, but I hadn’t been thinking of him.
“Scorch?”
I sighed and shook my head. “No, not gonna worry about that until he’s back.”
“Good. So what’s going on?”
“I think I’m just… missing the others?”
“Green can manage without you for an hour,” Bullet teased.
I laughed. My peaceful alpha and I had been a little inseparable since the bonding. “No, I mean Roger and Chef and Dusty. The girls. I even miss the locals at the bar.”
Bullet was quiet for a beat. “Kitten… Baby.” I turned to face him, startled by the tear in his voice. His hands framed my face, and his head bent, lips grazing over mine once before pressing in deeper. I hummed into the kiss, and Bullet purred. “You could not be a single bit better for us,” Bullet murmured. “I’m never gonna get over how perfect you are.”
I blushed and blinked in surprise as he nuzzled one cheek, then the other. “Is it so strange to miss all the members of a pack?”
“No, but it is to miss their unbonded beta girlfriends,” Bullet answered, grinning. “My mom was bonded to three of her five pack mates, but she still kept a tight leash on the other two.”
My nose wrinkled. “I just don’t get that.”
“I know you don’t, kitten. The guys, and hell, the sweet but—“ he stuttered at my glare, “—the girls, love you for it too. I love you for it and a lot of other shit.”
I squealed and jumped, and Bullet deftly caught the gun in my hand and tucked it away before holding me to his chest, purr rumbling. “I love you too, handsome. For every bit of you. Quincy and
Bullet and my big, naughty alpha.”
We stayed wrapped up in each other for several minutes, kissing and scent marking and cuddling until Bullet set me back on my feet. “We’ll get back home soon. Scorch says there’s gonna be a pack meet to talk shit over, and then on the other end he’s got Books doing his cyber shit, digging up whatever he can find on them, in case the truce isn’t an option.”
“See, that’s just it! I hate being here and you know, all helpless damsel while everyone else is doing something. Or being in the line of fire for me.”
“Making sure you are safe and that no one is gonna threaten your place with us is taking care of everyone. Remember, you are part of us now. If anything happened to you…” Bullet turned gray, even in the cold snap of the winter breeze around us. “It can’t, Baby. It’d mess us all up worse than we could stand through.”
I released a shaky sigh, and Bullet frowned. “Sorry. Not trying to scare you.”
“I know,” I said, nodding. “You’re right. But if there’s ever anything I can do, I want you to tell me.”
Bullet straightened and returned to his position at my back, spinning me to face the targets he’d set up through the trees. “You got it. For now, all I need for you to do is shake off the worries, take a deep breath, and squeeze the trigger as you let it out. Oh, and aim, yeah?”
I rolled my shoulders out, concentrating on keeping myself loose and relaxed, even as Bullet lifted my arms and tucked the handgun back into my grip. I took a deep breath, lifting it in front of me so I could stare through the guide down the barrel. I released the breath, slow and steady, and squeezed the trigger, absorbing the shock and kick of the gun in my hand. One by one, I shot for each target until my palms were numb and my fingers ached.
The cartridge was empty, but I clicked on the safety all the same and followed Bullet in to check the targets. I frowned, nose wrinkling as we got closer. I might’ve been privately hoping to miraculously hit center every time. Bullet hummed and counted the holes on the paper targets. When he turned to me, his eyes were bright and his smile was broad.
“This is good, kitten!”
“They’re all wobbly.”
Bullet belly laughed. “Well, yeah. You’re a beginner. But look, you got the paper on each shot.
We know where all your shots went. It’s a good start. Let’s go back, and I’ll work on your stance with you.”
I reached for his hand as we turned around and instead he passed me a new cartridge. I snorted and shook my head, focusing on my gun. Bullet snuck a kiss to the top of my head, and I smiled at the ground.
“MMF NUFTSHUG FIISIS FUKKIN,” Tornado mumbled around the spoon in his mouth, eyes blinking rapidly and forehead furrowed as he diced onions.
“Sorry, what was that?” I asked, grinning and sitting on top of the long kitchen table, peeling garlic cloves for our chicken dinner.
There were two dining rooms that I’d found in the house so far, but even the smaller of the two felt too formal for our little family dinners. For the most part, we ate where we cooked, sometimes even standing up if no one felt like setting the table.
Tornado cocked an eyebrow and glared at me until I reached and took the spoon from between his teeth. “That wasn’t working,” he said, as a tear rolled down his cheek from the onion fumes.
I shrugged. “It looked cute though.”
Tornado studied me with suspicion for a moment before turning and sliding his onions into the stockpot to sizzle. He set the cutting board and knife aside on the counter before stepping back to me, pulling the clove of garlic out of my fingers and tossing it aside on the table. He plucked the paring knife out of my hand and tossed it in the air. My eyes grew wide as it flipped mid-air and was then
caught again in his grip.
“Was that cute?” he purred.
“No, that was fuckin’ sexy,” I said, grinning at him and combing dark strands of hair off his face.
“You want me to go stand against the wall, and we can practice your circus act?”
Tornado huffed, eyes slipping shut and head shaking in a soft twitch, probably wondering if I was joking or crazy. His hands slipped between my knees and pushed them apart so he could step in closer, hands sliding across the table to pin me in. The more time Tornado and I spent together, especially here in the quiet of the mansion, the more playful he became. Since Mackenzie had been absorbed with work on his laptop it was nice to get to have the one-on-one time with Tornado, both in and out of the bedroom.
“I like all your pieces put together just as they are, love. No knife tricks for fun, please,” he murmured.
“Deal.” I hummed happily, leaning into him and setting my lips against his, catching his eye and waiting for him to press into the kiss. He did, but only briefly before pulling back.
“How is the bond?” he asked.
I blinked. “With Ryan?” Which, of course, I hadn’t gotten any others yet. “It’s…wonderful,” I said. Just thinking of the bond was like sending up a short flare, feeling Ryan calling back, his presence like a kiss on my soul before he drifted back to his rose hobby in the greenhouse.
“What about… like at lunch when he snapped at Coal over the perfume comment?”
Mackenzie had been teasing me at lunch, fingers playing along the hem of my skirt until apparently, the others had gotten a whiff of my interest. Ryan hadn’t taken it well when Cole made the joke. It might not have been such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that realizing Cole’d been privy to my moment with Mackenzie made my stomach turn faintly.
“You mean like what’s it like when he’s angry? Umm… I dunno. I know where the feeling is coming from. I feel it, but it doesn’t, like, control my own reaction.”
Tornado frowned and started to lean away, and I realized what his question was really about. I hooked my legs behind his hips and pulled him back to me with a slow encouragement.
“You’re worried about me bonding you?” I asked softly.
“Green is… calm and patient,” Tornado started.
“Ryan portrays calm and patience,” I corrected. “He’s got a lot going on. And listen, I’m not going to make light of this and say I know I can handle it when you’re the only one who really knows what I’ll experience with you in the bond. I will say, however, that the connection is a two-way street.”
“If one of my episodes hits you without you realizing, you may not be able to help me, love,”
Tornado murmured.
“Maybe, maybe not,” I agreed. “Mackenzie will though, right? And we don’t know yet that I won’t help.
“I’m supposed to be the alpha. You shouldn’t be responsible for—“
“Don’t say that,” I said, fisting my hands in his t-shirt and squeezing my thighs around his hips.
We were nose to nose, both of us holding still, trying not to spook the other. Tornado’s dark eyes were gleaming, and all I wanted was to twine myself around him and not let go. I wished I had the bond with him now, just so I could share my confidence with him. “I am not the omega who needs an alpha to tuck her away and hide her from every uncomfortable thing in the world. I want to be just as important to your care as you are to mine, okay?”
Tension melted slowly from Tornado’s shoulders, gaze softening. He leaned in, jaw against mine, the light scruff of his beard scraping against my cheek.
“Okay,” he said in my ear.
I straightened, delight bright and bubbling in my chest. “Yeah?”
“I’ll talk myself out of it again, just warning you.” He leaned back with a sheepish smile and eyes crinkling with humor. “I’ll let you talk me back in.”
“I can do that,” I said.
“I’m worried I’m being too selfish to—“ I’d never liked it in the movies when the man kissed the woman to get her to stop talking, but I committed the crime guiltlessly, swallowing Tornado’s worries with my lips and then coming back for more until he growled. His hands lifted from the table, wrapping around my ass and tugging me against him, and I withheld a triumphant giggle, holding tight to his shirt as I conquered his mouth.
Tornado’s hands tugged my skirt out from under me until his jean covered erection was against the seam of my underwear, thighs exposed. He was winning the lead of the kiss as I wiggled against his front, ready for him to spread me over the table.
“Let me guess; omega. It’s what’s for dinner.”
Motherfucker.
Tornado snarled, pulling away from my lips abruptly, fingers digging into my hips as he growled at the intruder over my shoulder.
“What? You’re in the kitchen,” Cole answered.
I pressed my face to Tornado’s tense and vibrating throat, kissing over his pulse softly and running my hands over his chest until he eased.
“Out,” he barked.
Cole snarled lowly in answer, and I shot him a look over my shoulder. “What did you expect?
Give us a minute.”
Cole huffed and rolled his eyes, turning for the door again. “You better hope he takes more than a minute.”
Tornado didn’t rise to the bait, and honestly the suggestion was laughable. The door swung shut, and I sagged into my alpha.
“Maybe we need to ask him to just go back to the Plaza,” I said.
Tornado shook himself, lifting my hands from his chest up to his lips. He left soft kisses on my palm and then untwined my legs from around his hips. “We’ll talk to Bullet about it,” he agreed. “For now, let’s get this garlic in the pot so I start thinking about something other than how warm your pussy is and how good you smell.”
I laughed and he tucked his grin away, snatching garlic from the table and going back to our dinner prep.
“FANNY PRICE WAS A DOORMAT,” I said flatly, shrugging. Ryan snorted at my back, only vaguely following the argument.
But Mackenzie, my lovely, nerdy, delicious alpha, gasped—gasped—in offense. “She was constant!” he protested, looking up in sudden shock from his laptop screen.
Well, that at least grabbed his attention. He’d been deep in his work for days now, and while I was glad he seemed to be having some success on a recent trail, I was missing his attention. Greedy omega.
“She was constantly abused, and neglected, and passed over,” I listed.
“She knew her pack was hopeless without her, and she waited for them to realize it!”
Ryan slipped out from behind me, kissing my temple. “Gonna go talk to some plants,” he said, hands slipping over my shoulders and down my arms. He’d become touch greedy since we bonded, and I was five-thousand percent into it.
“Kiss first,” I murmured, tipping my head back.
He grinned briefly, gaze knowing, but he delivered the kiss with a brief sweep of his tongue over the scar on the swell of my lip. I whimpered and sighed as dazzling sparks shivered through me in response.
“Be good,” he whispered in my ear before rising and leaving me to torment Mackenzie.
I twisted onto my belly on the couch, peering over the arm at Mackenzie in his armchair. His laptop was open, but his eyes were on me.
“I just think she could’ve given herself the benefit of the doubt and considered looking for a pack that knew how good they had it with her,” I said, picking up the discussion where we’d left off. “I mean, I’m biased, but she didn’t get half as lucky as I did.”
Mackenzie’s smile grew. “I’ve been thinking about where I want my bite.”
My jaw dropped, and my sex clenched at the very suggestion. Mackenzie hadn’t mentioned bonding at all since I’d come downstairs with Ryan’s bite still healing. I’d caught him staring at the mark, watching Ryan as he kissed me or thumbed the spot, making me shiver.
“Oh yeah?” I asked, voice too high.
“There’s extra sensation on the spot?” I nodded, and Mackenzie’s smile turned predatory. I wonder if even Tornado knew how wicked his friend could get. Not that I didn’t encourage every second of it. “Does it get you off?”
I swallowed. Ryan had tested this theory the night before, hovering over me and focusing completely on the mark with tongue and teeth and lips and even a soft scratch of his fingernail. “Yes.”
Mackenzie purred and nodded. “Good to know.”
“Have you been thinking about this a lot recently?” I asked, totally unashamed of the hopeful tilt to the words. My legs were kicking in the air behind me, and I was wondering exactly how hard I’d have to try to start another game. Except with Cole still lurking around the house, the only safe places were up in the nest or behind a locked door. Which was a shame, because it would’ve been a riot to play hide and seek with Mackenzie or all my alphas. Maybe when Jonah and Seth got back, I’d suggest it.
“Constantly,” Mackenzie said, and then glanced at his computer. “Well, almost.”
I pushed myself out of the couch and slid over to his seat, pleased when he lifted the laptop and offered to let me sit with him. I curled up on his lap and pulled the computer to my own.
“What’ve you found so far?”
“Bad bookkeeping mostly,” he said, his hand sliding up to my neck, pushing my hair aside so he could touch more skin. “Suspicious bookkeeping, maybe. Also, a lot of open threats tossed around on
social media. And…”
I glanced at him, caught the wary fold between his brows and scratched through the coppery stubble on his jaw. “And?”
“And a lot of rumors about betas going missing around him. Women,” Mackenzie said, checking on me over the rim of his glasses.
My chest clenched and went cold as if I’d just stepped out into a freezing wind. I’d been texting with Lola regularly since we’d gotten to the house and I knew she was still with her cousin, but she could’ve been one of those women. And I would’ve been too busy getting knotted to realize until it was too late.
“So far, I can’t get anything to line up into the kind of proof we need, but it’s something I’m keeping an eye on. Collecting,” Mackenzie said, a weary edge in his voice.
I tipped his chin up, finding his pulse warm and reassuring under my fingers. “It sounds like you’ve already found a lot of new information. Don’t get discouraged. If the Hangmen are the reason these women are missing, then you’re absolutely their best chance of being helped. Can you talk to the police about it?”
“I was hoping to find something concrete, but yeah, if I get stumped I’d rather pass it to them.
Chef has guys from the force comin’ into the diner on their late shifts, so we have a few trustworthy people we can tap.”
“My knights on shining steeds,” I said, and grinned at Mackenzie’s light blush. I curled up tighter onto his lap until we were face to face, leaning in for the kiss I craved.
“Our damsel in distressed denim,” Mackenzie answered, and I laughed before he caught my lips with his.
For as serious as he could be when it came to studying new subjects or working on research, Mackenzie was all play when it came to being alone with me. As he pressed languid kisses to my mouth, he shifted beneath me. The laptop shut with a ‘click’ and then landed gently on the carpet. I pushed for more but Mackenzie paused me, hand cupped around the back of my neck and eyes hooded behind his glasses.
“On the count of three I want you to run as fast as you can to the nest, kay?”
I sucked in a breath, body tensing.
Oh, fuck yes.
