“
Rock climbing!” Jamie
blurted around his hand, almost dying of laughter at the look on
his face.
“
Do you have any idea how
much those damn harnesses hurt a man? I’d be content to watch you,
but I won’t be doing it.” He shook his head, handing her the last
bite of funnel cake and then throwing the plate away in a nearby
trash can.
“
Well, that wouldn’t be
much fun,” she pouted. Talon entwined their fingers together,
causing her heart to flutter.
He nodded absently, pulling her closer
to his side as they walked. She could feel his heat pouring into
her, warring off any cold that threatened to overcome her. He was
like a torch -- it was no wonder their passion was so explosive.
Jamie swung their hands between them, wondering what he was
thinking about.
“
Talon?” she asked, peering
up at him. He smiled down at her.
“
I know the perfect
place.”
Lucian stalked down the hallway of
Sinclair, grabbing a beer from the freezer and downing it in a
gulp. It was cold, but it did the job. He threw the can in the
trash and leaned against the wall, cursing himself. There was still
a full pack left; why wasn’t he going at it?
Probably because he was past the point
of caring.
About anything.
Now that Devlin was gone, everything
was...dull. Dead. He shook his head, running a hand over his face.
The light five o’clock shadow had grown to almost a full beard, his
eyes had bags, and he hadn’t slept in a whole week. Was it really
getting to him that badly?
He pushed himself to his feet,
watching the walls tilt at awkward angles. He’d only had one beer,
so he assumed it was because the lack of sleep. Lucian could hold
his beer better than any other guy around.
The main room of the gas station only
had a couple of customers, both looking at the soft drink section.
They paid him no attention as he strode past them as if he were a
drunk man feigning sober. Which, he assumed, was accurate.
Everywhere he went, he could see red. Fiery red hair, glaring and
curling down slender shoulders. Pulled back from an exotic face.
Flowing around his pillows.
God
.
It was pure hell. Devlin was gone, and
after the three day mark, it had become apparent that she wasn’t
coming back. No matter how psychotic and sexy that woman was, she
wasn’t going to come back to him -- or his group.
Why did he even need her?
he thought angrily. He had managed to keep his lust for her under
wraps for
years
--
why now, when she was gone, was he letting his cock get the best of
him?
He walked into his office, ass
slamming into his chair. It felt like it might have broken, but he
ignored the crack that shot through the room. He could replace it
-- when he wasn’t so hung up on a crazy...cruel...seductive...sexy
woman.He brought his hands to his face and tried clearing his
mind.
Thinking of her like that wasn’t going
to do anyone any good. He had no clue when the king was going to
show up, and that was what he should be most worried about. Talon
had told him about Auro, but Vladimir had volunteered to take him
out -- as a wedding present, he had flaunted with giddiness. It
appeared the vampire was looking forward to planning a wedding
soon, also.
Just more that added to the list.
Talon hadn’t told Jamie about the ring he had forced Lucian to buy
with him, or the fact that she had a fiance. Whatever, though.
Lucian wasn’t going to concern himself with his partner’s weird-ass
affairs. Jamie made the bastard happy, and more
clear-minded.
Wasn’t his problem.
His head dropped to the
desk as weariness overcame him. Or was it weakness? His hands
curled into fists. Why the fuck was he so...
helpless
right now? Devlin must have
done something to him. He swore it was because of her. What else
could it be? His neck tingled, a warning that he mistakenly thought
was because of Devlin.
He had to find her. Had to tell her...
what? What did he have to tell her? His brows dropped. Had he
really fired her because he had thought she was a liability? Or
because he feared for her safety? Lucian shoved himself back from
his desk, the chair slamming into the wall. He barely
noticed.
In less than a second, he was going to
his file cabinet and using the fingerprint scanner to open it. One
metallic slide later, it was open and he was holding a manilla
folder in his hands, opening it up. He hadn’t looked into the file
since before Devlin had left. What he read was nothing less than a
shocker, but he shoved it aside and knew that Devlin had come
through.
She was one of his strongest fighters.
She was determined, strong-willed, and controlled. Would doing what
he was thinking about doing get her to come back to his team? To...
him?
He fished his phone out of his pocket,
dialing her number. The dial tone rang on for what seemed like
forever, a second longer than the last. Finally, when he was about
to hang up and, ultimately, give up, she answered.
Lucian felt his eyes close when her
smooth voice carried over the line, asking a polite, “Who is this?”
Lucian realized that, for the first time, he had called her on his
cell.
Reached out to her.
Personally.
“
It’s Lucian,” he said,
gripping the edge of the filing cabinet. In front of him, the
manilla folder was like the Holy Grail. He heard a couple of clicks
and then complete silence. She was going to hang up, he thought.
“Don’t go. Let me talk. Alright?”
If he thought waiting for the dial
tone was bad before, it was nothing compared to the anticipation
that he felt right now as he waited for her to answer. A whole
minute went by before she replied, her tone completely changed. It
was almost like a robot had taken over her.
“
Okay.”
He took a breath, preparing
himself. Never in his
life
had he grovelled before -- even when he had been
at the hands of a merciless general, in enemy camps, riding to his
death...not ever. He wasn’t going to now, either, but it was
cutting it close.
“
I only said you were off
of the field, not fired.”
“
Same thing, right? What
else would I do if I can’t go on rotation with
everyone?”
“
Paperwork. With me. You
could...be a trainer. We need new recruits; I’ll let you handle
that.”
“
Talon is in charge of
that,” she said into the phone. He could just picture her, leaning
against a maroon colored wall with her arms over her chest, phone
between her ear and cheek. He didn’t know why, but he could see her
rocking a maroon and orange house, with brown couches and a nice
big TV. It was a cozy image, one that almost...appealed to
him.
“
He’s going to be taking
less responsibilities. Jamie and he are engaged.”
“
Let me guess,” she said
with her familiar sneer. “She doesn’t know about it.”
“
You guess correctly.
Listen, you know that folder you gave me a while back?”
There was a silence on the other end.
The tingle in the back of his neck worsened to a full blown itch,
spreading down his back. Lucian ignored it.
“
I didn’t
give
it to you -- you
took it from me.”
“
Same thing,” he said,
rolling his shoulders. God, his back.
“
Whatever. What about
it?”
“
I read over it, and I want
you to come over. And...go with me. To the meeting. With
Zyn.”
“
You sure you want that,
boss?” she drawled. He hadn’t noticed it before, but she had a
slight accent. Damn, how much hotter could she get? He crossed over
to his desk, opening a drawer.
“
I have your badge and gun
ready, if you want to meet me at the place. You know where to go,
right?”
“
Nope,” she said, acting as
if she didn’t care. Something told him that she
did
know where, though. He told her
anyways. When she answered with an “okay” and hung up, he grabbed
her gun and badge. Whatever was crawling up his back, it was
getting annoying. He was doing the right thing by inviting Devlin
to go with him. Wasn’t he?
Talon led her to the large indoor
court. He had a basketball in one hand, and a volley ball in the
other. Going by the way her eyes were trained on the volleyball, he
could only guess which one she wanted to start with
first.
Never in his life had Talon played
volleyball. Not in his younger days at school, not at the beach, or
even for fun. Football and basketball had been his calling when
he’d been younger, but he had had a feeling that Jamie was
physically active. Her fit body and the way she moved was proof
enough of that.
The building was large, spacious, and
full of everything you could imagine. He could bet that she was
tired of watching movies, so going to the Hunger Games would have
to wait till later.
“
Talon, I’m not dressed for
this. I’m going to look stupid!” she complained, shoving her bangs
behind her ear only to have them flop forward again. He shrugged,
walking to the opposite side of the court. There was two volleyball
nets set up, and he chose the one closest to the exit.
“
You could never look
stupid. Plus,” he said with a smirk, “they have showers for when
we’re done. And I know the owner, so this place is reserved just
for us. If you want, you could actually just get naked right now
and save me the pleasure of stripping you naked later on...” He
threw the ball to her, realizing that that had been a bad idea when
the ball came flying straight at his face.
He caught it easily, laughing. Her
face was red and her hands were crossed over her chest as if that
would stop his rampant thoughts. He couldn’t help but laugh even
harder when she stormed off after he waved his brows at her. She
sat down on the ground in a huff, slipping off her
heels.
Talon threw his jacket to
the side and smirked at her when she came back to the court. “Don’t
be
too
upset when
I beat you, alright?”
Jamie rolled her eyes at him, and he
served the ball --clumsily. When she got the ball, she bumped it
back and he barely managed to hit it. For a second, he thought she
was going to miss it -- and then she spiked it. Right at his chest.
And going by the look in her eye, the small slap of pain he felt
because of it had been intentional.
Talon grabbed the ball, glaring at
her.
“
I’m going easy. You’re a
little rusty,” he said defensively, serving it again. When the ball
landed in the same exact place with the same exact force, he was
done. “That’s it. We’re playing basketball. Now.”
Jamie laughed, and he swore it was the
most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Although, he thought that
about everything she did. And the next thing was always more
beautiful and perfect than the last.
He was jogging over to the basketball
court when Jamie shot in front of him, stealing the ball and
running to the hoop. When she tried shooting and failed miserably,
he couldn’t help but laugh. Ms. Perfect wasn’t so great at
everything now, was she? He caught the rebound and checked her,
making his first shot from the free-throw line.
She stamped her foot angrily, opening
her mouth. “Now, that isn’t fair --”
He didn’t hear her after the large
bang, and then a flash of light shot through the room.
Everything burst into
flames.
Chapter 19
The feeling that had spread down to
his back now covered over his chest and thighs. Soon enough, he
felt like he had stepped into a batch of poison ivy. But by the
time he was at the meeting place, right behind the large rec-center
in the middle of downtown, it had dissipated.
Thankfully.
Materializing near one of the back
alley entrances to the rec-center, he took in his surroundings and
wondered how long he would be waiting for Devlin. The distant
flapping of wings meant nothing to him, nor did the dank stench
that came with it.
Was Zyn actually going to
meet them? What was Devlin going to look like out of her suit? He
had only seen her one time without it, when she had first been
initiated. She’d been adorned in skin tight jeans and a curve
hugging shirt. She’d worn plain black shoes and her hair and been
short, almost a bob. The second he had seen her, he’d known that
he’d do anything to have her. Talon had taken care of the
recruits,
had
mentioned a redhead with potential, but Lucian hadn’t paid any
attention.
Now, as he waited for her, he felt
like every gun he owned was going off, like every nerve he had was
going to explode. The beating wings got close enough that they were
right in his ear. He turned around slowly, the tingle returning.
Was he going to piss himself or some shit?
Rubbing his hands over his thighs, he
took his time looking for Devlin. She liked to wait before making
an entrance. She clung to the shadows like a spider. It had always
been something that he’d admired her for. The way that she held her
control with such tight restraint, the confidence she held in
herself.