She quickly scanned the pages, photocopies of all the threats she’d received, plus two new ones she’d never seen before. “What the fuck? This isn’t new.”
“But the most recent ones are. Intel is giving me a hard time since I’m working with a civilian on this, but we have reason to believe—”
“You’re speculating?”
Derrick set a hand on her shoulder and she quickly shrugged it off. He ignored her response, trying to be understanding of her feelings since this looked like a betrayal. He hadn’t exactly been honest with her up front, a mistake he wouldn’t make again. Max’s involvement concerned him, but he’d place his trust in the other puma. “Sonja, Max is very good at his job.”
She glared daggers at him, then looked down at the paper. “Two new threats. Only…” Closer examination said the targets were going to be humans and children if she didn’t cooperate. “Fuck.”
“Exactly.” Max took a puff of his cigar and blew a thick cloud of smoke overhead. “We don’t usually deal with the singular terrorist, they’re too small to do any real damage; the regular police can handle those affairs. And the shifters working with the CIA usually aren’t involved either. But this one threatened to reach a global scale if you were in fact captured and auctioned off.”
Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. She shook her head, looking at the paper though she had no focus anymore.
Not until Derrick’s hand on her shoulder realigned her energy and balanced her. “Fuck.”
“So my brother hired you both to protect me?”
“No, he hired Derrick. I’m the big guns in case shit happens.”
Her eyes widened. “Let me guess.” Sonja groaned. “Shit happened with my kidnapping.”
Max nodded.
She took a final look at the paper, then dropped it. This couldn’t be anyone else’s fight. Innocents would get hurt because of what she was—who she was. She couldn’t bare dealing with that knowledge. Instead, she started to shake, clutched her shoulders tightly, and rocked back and forth. The images of those men she’d killed earlier—all that blood spilling from whatever wounds they had—truly disturbed her now. In her mind’s eye, she saw each horrified face, every wide eye, and the explosion of flesh all around before the bodies dropped and she blacked out. Shit. She’d almost killed Derrick and Max, and whoever else might have been in the area near her. Her unstable power was becoming a liability before she’d even realized it.
Derrick’s warmth enveloped her and, for a moment, she felt that balance restored. This time she didn’t fight it. How in the clarity of her fogged brain was he able to do that for her?
She didn’t want his comfort after he’d lied to her. “Go away.” She tried to shove him but he wouldn’t budge.
Derrick shook his head. “Your brother hired me to protect you. I failed.”
“And we recovered you.” Max interjected.
She glared at Max. “Don’t help him. He’s already in enough trouble. Where’s my brother? I need to call Rob and—”
“No.” Max shook his head. “This is now an official op. And Derrick and I are both involved.”
Derrick looked at Max.
Max offered a stiff smile. “It wasn’t my call. I would have left you out if I had the power, and you know it.”
Derrick glared harder; annoyance poured off him in steady waves that somehow Sonja managed to neutralize before she even realized it.
“At any rate, you’re involved, Derrick. Just like the good ole days.”
Preposterous. “What if I don’t want or need your help?”
Max crossed his arms over his chest, shifted his weight, and looked down at the floor before meeting her gaze. “Too bad, Sonja. You’re in over your head and this is now an official op with my people.”
She finally forced herself to break free of Derrick’s protective grasp. She felt a sense of dread from the lack of touch, but she had to force herself to stand her ground. “You lied to me, Derrick.” She threw her hands up in frustration. “This is bullshit!”
“Not entirely. Just a few details.”
“Major details! Why didn’t Rob tell me? Why didn’t you?”
“In my former line of work, the less you knew the better. I was just doing what was asked. I didn’t expect—”
He stopped short.
“Yeah, me either. Right.” She had called him from the stage last time they performed, she was the one that had picked him out of the audience a few times and had a feeling about him, but she had hoped it was just hormones.
“You liked it.” Derrick grinned. “Besides, I—”
“Derrick’s not the one who lied to you.” Max cut him off. “He seriously thought this would be a routine guard duty detail, and at the beginning he’d have been right. But back at the cigar club in California—”
“Wait. You were discussing me there?”
Derrick remained silent.
“Erick had concerns for the shifters…with your power and your past. And your power has shown itself to be unstable, and that’s a dangerous thing regardless of who is pulling the strings.”
She turned to face Derrick, then averted her gaze to focus on Max’s hardened expression. “But he…” Shit. Max didn’t know how much sex had changed things. Dammit! That meant her brother had been keeping things from her. The issue of sex even seemed to encompass the anger she felt about Max calling her unstable, not that it was a lie. She hadn’t used her power in full force nor had she spent enough time training to understand it better. The band and music came first, the fans were her world, and not because they bought records. “How long have I been receiving threats my brother didn’t tell me about?”
“Long enough that he asked a retired spy, who happened to be a regular in his bar, to step in and watch over you.”
That meant these two new threats happened over some period of time. She sighed loudly, slumped against the pillows. “This isn’t the first time.”
“Exactly. It’s not the last either. Not if you plan to continue making music.”
“No one…” She glared at Derrick, then made sure Max saw the fierceness of her stare, too. He didn’t flinch. “Will take away my joy or purpose.” Power leaked into the air until she felt Derrick’s hand on her thigh. It settled her nerves, but stirred other things.
His startled expression conveyed an instant understanding. “Rob said you’d act like this. He gave me all the background information, as long as we’re confessing.”
“Smart move.” She smirked.
“Last week. And everything else has been honest. I do love your band’s music.”
“I can attest to that. Guy’s a regular death metal fan.” Max took a puff on his cigar and let the smoke leave his mouth very slowly. “This wasn’t any one person’s doing. There have been factions my people have been dealing with for the last few years; all of them were trying to hone in on you. It’s just lucky your brother found Derrick rather than one of us having to track you down and convince you with some wild story. Just remember, we’re all a cog in some big plan.” Max puffed on his cigar again, filling the air with the rich sweetness of maduro leaf and coffee.
She huffed. Derrick’s musk and the heady scent of their lovemaking—sex reared its head. The feel of his arms around her gave her stability, steadying her worrisome mind. Exhaling, she turned around to face Derrick. She couldn’t hide the irritation that became her expression, so she didn’t try. “What now?”
“Well, we could use Sonja here to lead them out into the open. My sources tell me it’s not a large organization. Yet.” He punctuated the air with his cigar.
Derrick gritted his teeth. “Max!”
She shifted behind him and slithered a leg along his. Deeper contact against him distracted her.
Derrick stiffened. “We have to have other options. Since when have you been one to send untrained—”
Fuck that shit. No one was going to control her fate but her. She huffed louder, crossed her arms, and cut him
off. “I’ll do it.”
Derrick stared at her with a hidden knowledge she suspected had more to do with the puma inside, rather than his human feelings, and she swallowed hard. The puma had found a mate, it thought.
“What?”
“Look…” She sighed. “I’ve been a pawn my whole life. I know what to do and how to handle myself. If they want me, guess I’ll have to show them who has the bigger balls.”
Derrick opened his mouth to speak but stopped. A cloud of smoke hovered above his head.
“Look, you two talk it over. I have your clothes on my floor, her underwear…” He turned toward Sonja. “Very cute by the way.” He took another puff on the cigar. “And dead Spetznaz soldiers to clean up. One of whom happened to be a big player in black market weapons. His goal was a standard play. Arm the soldiers, send in the troops, and when they’ve made inroads, send in the heavy hitter…” He nodded at Sonja. “…to clean up and finish things off.”
Her stomach lurched at the thought of being used as a destructive tool when all she’d ever done was use her voice to help others. “Fuck.”
Max’s eyes went wide. “We don’t have much of a choice.”
Still stiff against her, looking irresistible, Derrick sat up. “You’re serious, Max?”
Max nodded.
Derrick fell back against the pillows.
“That sums it up, doesn’t it, man?” Max turned, set his cigar in an empty tray. “This is our only play.”
Derrick sighed and shifted his weight against Sonja. “I don’t like it.”
Regardless of whatever was happening between the two of them, he needed to know that she wouldn’t back down from a threat. Nor would she run from a fight, even if the odds weren’t in her favor. She’d made a life of being her own woman and no one would take that from her. “I know.” Sonja brushed back sun-kissed strands of red hair. “But I’m familiar with this situation. I can handle it, Derrick.”
She noted how Derrick avoided meeting her direct gaze, then remembered she was naked beneath the sheets. His erection, while not visible to Max, pressed against a thigh.
Derrick’s voice held an unspoken threat. “Can you keep her safe?”
Max slid his hands in his pockets. “I can do the best I can. That’s all anyone can ask for. While her magic may be uncontrollable, we’re puma shifters. You haven’t forgotten any of your old training, I trust.” He made it a statement.
Sonja noted the pain in Derrick’s expression at the mention of his training. She’d have to ask, if and when it mattered. Later. Not now.
“I haven’t. But like last time, what if something goes wrong? They seemed to know to expect us, and where to find us.”
Sonja shifted beneath him, twining a leg around his. An arm wrapped around his waist and held him. She gave him a light squeeze with her thighs. “We don’t have to use surprise. They’re going to expect something like this, right? If they’re smart enough to know how to play the political field, then they’ll be prepared for any assault you bring in.”
Max nodded.
Derrick glared at her, irritation plastered all over his handsome face.
An eyebrow rose. “What?”
“Your voice has that magical lilt to it again, sweetheart. It’s…distracting.”
“Get a room, you two. A different one. Not mine. Or at least wait ’til I’m out of the fucking building.” He looked away and forced a thick cloud of smoke into the air.
The grin that slid over Derrick’s face enticed her. “He’s right. We should boot his old ass out.”
Max turned around and glared at the two of them. “Seriously.” He muttered something beneath his breath. “I know we’ve seen things, man, but dammit.”
Derrick pulled the covers over Sonja and slid an arm around her waist.
She reluctantly went to him, thankful for the release of chaotic energy swirling around her head. She remembered briefly the moment she’d killed those men, heard the screams, and almost fell into the abyss of darkness until Derrick pulled her back from the precipice.
His every movement had been a comforting factor, made her wonder about their actual relationship when this was all over. Could they deal with one? Would he remain on pins and needles when she was on tour?
She shut the train of thought down. No way was she relationship material.
“Look, I have some contacts that would pay to see me go under. I can play decoy and use Sonja to lure them out into the open. I have a few scores that need settling anyway. You two talk it over and get back to me. Out of my bed.” Max turned and headed toward the door. “I’ll be back in an hour with something for breakfast, provided my stomach can function.”
He opened the door, frowned at them, and walked through it, slamming it behind him.
Chapter Five
Derrick grinned and looked back at Sonja, making sure to project only the arousal he had for the woman sitting before him with her mouth parted and that sweet, pink tongue darting over her lower lip. Her eyes held strong determination to make this right at whatever cost. He could respect that. What bothered him was that he had no idea what he’d do if this went bad and she ended up dead. In such a short time span, they’d grown close, closer than most couples, thanks in part to her being able to see in his head and not run.
Of course, he’d shielded her from the really painful memories.
He didn’t know if they could fit together in life or how it’d work if they tried.
“You’re thinking.” The sheet fell slightly, exposing pale flesh and the tender tops of her ample breasts.
He licked his lips and his body hardened again at the sight of her. Despite her distracting look, he wasn’t going to lie to her. Whatever their relationship was, honesty demanded he be straight with her. Except for when it came to his background as a former spy. “Yeah, I am.”
“What about?”
He studied her face. She didn’t want to do this now, did she? The intense gaze in her eyes appeared to teeter between lust and curiosity.
“Come on. Tell me.”
He tilted his head to the side and studied her. Her hair had fallen over one side of her face, adding to her already sultry look. Pressing her naked warm skin against his body made him even more voracious.
The air around him smelled like her, sweet and spicy, reminding him of oriental tobaccos with their rich spiciness and smell of opium-den sex.
Her arousal rolled over him.
“Talk to me.” She rolled her body against his, pillowing her full breasts into his chest.
He wanted to take them in his mouth, suckle them to lovely points, and then fill her again. Her body tempted him. But the magic she used prodded against the walls of his mind. It felt like someone pounded loudly at the door he’d set up to keep others out.
“You’re using magic. You should know better than to think I need convincing to sleep with you again.” He slid out of her a moment ago. His erection pressed against her soft thighs.
“Oh.” She trailed a fingernail along his bare chest. “Sometimes it can’t be helped. It isn’t intentional.”
Excitement thrummed through his body and blood rushed straight to his cock, not like it didn’t already ache from being near her in the first place.
“It’s not?”
“No. I can’t always control it. With you, it’s more stable and all I think of are two things.”
He reached for her, set a hand on her now bare hip. “Yes?”
She blinked. Her voice dropped several notches and came out as a raspy sound. “Death and fucking you.”
Derrick shuddered. Fingertips gripped her skin. Her voice didn’t hold any inflection of magic, just pure lust. “Death, I’d prefer to avoid. But you fucking me, I’d love that.”
She didn’t respond verbally. Instead, she rolled herself onto him and pressed her chest against his. “Should we move to another bed or space?”
An eyebrow arched. “Fuck that. Max owes me. He can burn these sheets if we don’t firs
t.” His grin widened.
Sonja’s pink tongue darted over her bottom lip. Her eyes widened, her body pressed closer to his.
His cock nudged the wet warmth between her closed legs.
Her mouth fell on his, her fingernails dug and scratched him, piercing the skin.
Derrick growled into the kiss, wrapped his arms around her, and slid his hands over her ass. A hand came down against her soft curve.
She yelped and bit his lower lip. “No spanking your queen.”
He chuckled. “My queen, eh?”
“For the time, yes.” Sonja bit his neck.
He arched against her in response. The puma inside him swished its tail back and forth in anticipation. In his mind, he heard the feral cry that suggested mating.
Sonja shifted against him and centered on his cock. “In me.”
Derrick drove himself without thought into her. Like a fist, she gripped him, stroked him with each thrust, and coaxed him on with rapacious moans.
She rode him, scraping pointed nipples against his chest. Her hair spilled down her back.
Derrick tangled his fingers through her silken curls and tugged her head to expose the curve of her neck.
He lifted himself up, stopped mid thrust, and bit her collarbone.
She cried and flung herself back against him, joining them so closely that one couldn’t tell where she started and he ended.
Derrick continued pumping into her, enjoying the feel of her sweat-soaked skin against his. His pulse sped; his orgasm drew near.
He wouldn’t climax without giving her one, so he slowed his pace.
He arched his hips, rolling into her, and was rewarded with her purring. With a free hand, Derrick gripped her ass and gave it a good, hard squeeze before dragging fingers over her hips and pressing against her clit with his thumb.
She bucked against him.
Derrick sat up and took a luscious breast in his mouth. Sucking hard, he arced into her, felt the sparks between them.
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