Thief (Blood & Bone Enforcers MC Book 2)

by Grace Brennan

  That was his girl. Swatting at a fully grown, massive lion, with zero fear in her eyes. God, she was amazing.

  “I wasn’t going to get close. Although, should he still be knocked out? It’s been a while now.” She glanced at her watch and then gasped, her eyes shooting back to him. “Noah! It’s been almost two hours since I got out of the truck. Why did you let me sleep that long? I get that we’re probably waiting for Blake, but I could have been working.”

  Before he could lift his shoulder in a shrug, he heard the sound of a vehicle turning onto the road. Whirling to face that direction, he backed up, pushing Lily behind him, never taking his eyes off the road. He should have shifted enough to destroy the two men’s phones, because what someone had discovered where they were and why?

  He was a fucking idiot. He was an ex-Marine, and now an Enforcer, for too many years to make such stupid mistakes. If there was one thing he’d learned, it was to leave nothing to chance.

  That he’d forgotten that rule while his mate was present was unforgivable.

  Lily put her hand on his hip and his growl cut off abruptly. He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing it, too focused on the road. It was taking the vehicle way too fucking long to reach them and—

  A bright red truck came around the bend and he relaxed as he recognized it. It was Blake’s, and he had Luke with him. He watched as they pulled to a stop next to the car, both getting out. Lily walked up next to him, and they watched as Blake and Luke walked over to the human man.

  “I’ll get a set of clothes out for you now that they’re here. I saw how your clothes shredded when you shifted.”

  He dipped his head, turning to watch as she walked back to the truck. Nudity was a way of life for shifters, and he, Blake, and Luke wouldn’t be bothered by it. But Lily was a human and it might make her uncomfortable, so he’d get dressed as soon as he shifted.

  She emerged about a minute later with clothes in her hand and he walked over to her, following her as she led him behind the truck. He’d explain later about shifters and being naked, but it far easier to just follow her instead of trying to convey somehow that he could shift in front of the guys.

  Once he was back with her, he closed his eyes and focused on his human form. Loud pops echoed around them, bouncing off the trees, as his bones broke and reformed. With a blinding flash of pain, he was standing in his human form.

  She held his clothes out to him, but he ignored them, using her wrist to pull her against him. Squeaking as she hit his chest, she laughed as she looked up and met his eyes.

  “Hi,” she said softly, her striking blue eyes happy.

  “Hi.”

  Not saying anything else, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. He kissed her softly and slowly, nipping on her bottom lip before he pulled back. He wanted to continue, to deepen the kiss, but he needed to get dressed and talk to the Enforcers. Besides, Blake and Luke had seen him naked plenty of times and it didn’t bother him, but he didn’t particularly want to walk around naked with a boner in front of them, either.

  Easing away, he took the clothes from her and quickly pulled them on, giving her another quick kiss before walking to the driver’s side and getting his shoes off the floorboard and his hat from the seat. Once he was finished putting them on, he took Lily’s hand and walked to meet the guys.

  “Lily, this is Luke. He’s Tarun’s husband.”

  Before Luke could say anything, Lily let go of Noah’s hand and stepped forward, hugging him. Noah shrugged as Luke raised his eyebrows at him over her shoulder, not sure why she was hugging his friend.

  “Thank you for taking Noah in when you guys were kids, and for being his friend,” he heard her whisper.

  He felt his own eyebrows raise at her words. He hadn’t known why she was hugging Luke, but he never would have suspected that was the reason.

  “He’s an easy man to be friends with,” Luke replied as she pulled away.

  Blake stood as he glanced over at Noah. “This one’s a human?”

  Lily looked over at him with surprise. “He is? Why didn’t you tell me that? I thought he was a shifter like the other one.”

  “I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry if you worried about him, though.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “You couldn’t tell me because you refused to shift back. I understood when I thought he was a shifter, but now I think it was overkill. Especially considering how puny and small he is. You could have defeated him as you are now just fine.”

  “Not with you around. I wasn’t taking any chances.”

  “Can you two do this later?” Blake asked, his words exasperated.

  Lily flushed. “Sorry. Hey, do you want me to see if I can get into whatever devices were in the car?”

  Blake glanced over at the car, a thoughtful frown on his face. “Can you do it without anyone else knowing you were in them?”

  “I think so.”

  “Go ahead and give it a shot, but if you think it might be dangerous or alert anyone else to what we’re doing, then stop. We can try to break into them later.”

  She nodded. “I’ll turn off any hotspots or internet access if I can get in. Then no one will be able to see any activity.”

  Turning without waiting on a reply, she walked over to the car and got inside, almost immediately picking up a phone. Noah watched as she sank her teeth into her lower lip like she did when she worked. Fuck, that was sexy as hell.

  “She’s a handy one to have around,” Blake said.

  Not taking his eyes off his mate, Noah made a hum of agreement. “She’s more than handy.”

  Luke snorted. “Some things are TMI, Noah.”

  Blake rolled his eyes at Luke before looking back at him. “Have you two made it official yet?”

  Exhaling, he shook his head. “Not yet.”

  Luke glanced at him with an eyebrow raised. “Why not?”

  Reaching up, he tugged at his hat, looking back at Lily. “She’s taken all this so well. She accepted it easily, accepted me, even with the history we share. But when is something going to be too much for her? And we haven’t been back in each other’s lives for long. I don’t want to push it.”

  “I can understand that fear,” Luke said, his voice serious. “I didn’t tell Tarun at first, either, and she’s a shifter. But we’re hardwired to get attached fast to our mates—and that goes for shifters and humans. I don’t think you have anything to worry about with her. If nothing she’s learned so far has put her off, I think it’s probably a good bet that won’t, either.”

  Blake nodded. “I agree with him. And Damara said you two were, uh, intimate after she found out. I don’t think Lily would go that far with you if what you are truly bothered her. And I haven’t known her long, but I don’t see her going that far with anyone she doesn’t already have feelings for. Don’t let her walk away without making sure she knows what she means to you.”

  He exhaled as he shrugged. “I’m not sure I’m physically capable of letting her walk away without fighting for her. I was just hoping she wouldn’t bring up leaving yet and I’d have more time to ease her into it. Have you had any updates on Damara yet?”

  “She’s still being held in the bedroom. No one has even attempted to talk to her yet,” Luke replied, his mouth set in a grim line.

  Noah frowned as uneasiness moved through him. “You don’t think they figured her out, do you?”

  Blake shook his head. “No, we don’t think so. She heard some people move down the hallway and when they paused by the door, someone said the new girl was in the room. They’re just taking their time getting to her.”

  The man on the ground groaned, his hand raising to touch his jaw. They all crowded around him and Luke whistled low. “I was starting to think he wasn’t going to wake up. How hard did you hit him, Noah?”

  “The other one had shifted and was coming at me. I needed to hit him hard enough for him to stay down while I fought the panther. I guess I misjudged.”

&
nbsp; “I’d say,” Blake replied with a snort, pointing to the huge bruise forming on the man’s face. “He was a little guy. You might have gone overboard.”

  He shrugged. “I have no regrets. I had to make sure Lily was okay. Speaking of, I’d like to get her out of here before he fully comes to.”

  Blake pointed to the woods. “The panther is over there? All right, get your mate and get out of here. We’ll see you later.”

  Nodding, Noah turned and walked to the car. “Hey, beautiful. Let’s get out of here, okay?”

  Lily looked up with a smile. “Sure. Am I bringing these with me? I got into all of them and disabled the internet. No one will be able to trace them now.”

  He glanced down, eyebrows raising as he took in two phones and a laptop. “That didn’t take you long. You can be pretty scary, you know that?”

  She laughed as she stood up. “You might be able to turn into a real beast, but I’m a beast with technology.”

  Blake jogged over, clearly having heard them. “The human’s coming to, and I didn’t want him to hear me. Go ahead and take them with you. My concern was the devices leading to you two or B&B, but if they can’t be tracked, have at them. See what you can get off of them.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Lily replied seriously.

  “I know you will. Be safe going home.”

  Blake turned and jogged back to Luke and the human, and Noah put his hand on her lower back, guiding her to his truck. Opening her door, he kissed her before helping her up. By the time he climbed in his side, she had her own laptop open and she was typing away at the keys.

  “No rest for the wicked, huh?”

  She glanced at him as she chuckled. “I have a lot of work to do. And I want to see how many names I can get from the website. They might take the whole thing down as soon as the gala’s over tonight.”

  He nodded at her as he pulled back onto the highway, reaching over to squeeze her thigh before leaving her in peace. He didn’t mind driving the rest of the way in silence. She was right—there was a good chance they’d shut the website down that night, and her work was too important.

  And whether they spoke or not wasn’t what mattered. The only thing that did was that they were together.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lily smiled at Noah as he sat a plate in front of her, most of her attention still on her laptop. The gala—although, really, it was an auction, so she shouldn’t sugarcoat it by using their name for it—was set to begin soon, and there was a good chance the website would get shut down. She was still finding buyer names, so she hadn’t wanted to stop for any reason, but Noah insisted she at least multitask and eat dinner.

  He’d been really good about letting her work without interrupting her. They arrived back at B&B almost two hours ago, the place deserted except for Tarun. The bar was closed until more Enforcers came back to help run it, and Tarun was in Blake’s office, working on the books.

  She learned that most of them had parts to play at the bar. Blake was the bartender, Liam was the cook, and Noah and Luke were the bouncers. Noah said Dmitri and Damara traveled a lot when they weren’t on missions, so they were away more often than not, but they still helped with the business when they were there.

  When they walked in, Noah helped her get settled at a table and then carried their suitcases upstairs. Once he was back, he got a look of mischief on his face as he told her Liam never let anyone cook in his kitchen, but he wasn’t there to stop him, so he was off to cook dinner.

  Honestly, she felt a little nervous for Liam. It wasn’t a side she’d seen much of, but she knew from Brandon that Noah was a bit of a prankster. Liam would probably come home to find salt in his sugar container.

  Noah put his own plate next to hers on the table and called for Tarun to let her know dinner was ready as he picked up Lily’s glass. Distracted for a moment as she watched him walk back to refill her Coke, she ran her eyes up and down his big frame, lingering on the play of muscles under his shirt, and then on his ass. A shiver of heat danced down her spine as she watched the firm globes move, and she forced her gaze away, her eyes falling on her plate.

  Her eyebrows rose as she took in dinner. It was chicken alfredo, the chicken blackened perfectly, cooked with tomatoes and broccoli. He walked back just as she took a bite, unable to wait, and she looked at him with surprise.

  “This is amazing. I didn’t know you could cook.”

  “Thanks. I don’t know how to cook very many things, but I practiced with that one a lot when I first started learning. I don’t get to do it much anymore, though. Not since I joined the Enforcers. Like I said, Liam won’t let anyone cook in his kitchen, and besides, he’s a better cook than I am.”

  She swallowed her bite, nearly moaning in bliss. “Right this moment, I don’t think anyone could be better than you are.”

  He smiled as he watched her fork another bite into her mouth. “You like it that much, huh?”

  Nodding enthusiastically, she looked at her laptop again, frowning when she typed a command and got an error button. Dread welled up inside her, and she quickly entered the website’s address into the search engine, cursing as she saw the screen.

  “What’s wrong?” Noah asked, glancing over.

  “The website’s been removed. I’d hoped that they wouldn’t take it down until after the auction was over, just in case anyone else wanted to buy a ticket. I don’t think I found all the names.”

  “Lily, baby, you found twenty-five names. You did amazing. And maybe there will be other info on the laptop you got from the car that can fill in any gaps.”

  “That’s true,” she replied, casting a considering glance at the other laptop sitting on the bar.

  “I know you want to get started, but at least finish eating first. Please? I even made dessert.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “You bake, too?”

  “Well, no. I didn’t technically make it, but I did find Liam’s homemade ice cream in the freezer, and I was planning on putting it in a bowl for you. That counts, right?”

  Chuckling, she shook her head as she closed her laptop and pushed it aside. “Sure.”

  Tarun walked in, smiling at them as she took a seat. “This looks great, Lily.”

  Noah frowned at her. “What makes you think Lily cooked it?”

  “Um, well—because I know you. You never cook.”

  “Because Liam won’t let me use the kitchen.”

  Tarun eyed him and then took a bite. Her next look at him held blatant disbelief. “No way did you make that.”

  Lily laughed. “He really did. I’ve been in here working.”

  Noah cocked an eyebrow. “See? I think I’d like an apology.”

  “I’m sorry, Noah. It’s very good,” Tarun replied, her tone long-suffering.

  Suppressing a smile, she took another bite. They’d been eating in silence for a bit before Noah spoke again.

  “By the way, if you guys use the kitchen, stay away from the sugar and salt.”

  Lily choked on her laughter. “I was just thinking you were probably in there switching things around.”

  Tarun’s eyes went wide. “What did you do, Noah?”

  Shrugging, he took a sip of his drink. “Just played a little prank on Liam, is all.”

  Tarun smiled as she shook her head. “He’s never going to let you back in the kitchen again.”

  “It’ll be worth it to see the look on his face.”

  Someone banged on the front door and Noah stiffened as Lily jumped. They all went quiet as they looked out, but no one was there. A half a minute passed and then they saw a fist bang on the door.

  “Come on, I know y’all are in there. I saw you. Why are you closed, anyway?”

  Noah cursed as he relaxed. “It’s just Skylar. I didn’t know he was back in town yet.”

  Tarun nodded. “I meant to tell you he came by earlier, not long after Blake and Luke left.”

  Exhaling heavily, Noah pushed his chair back. “I better go let him in. L
ily, I apologize in advance. Skylar’s sense of humor is a little dirty, and his jokes are all dick related.”

  Her eyebrows rose, her curiosity piqued further as Tarun muttered, “A little dirty? That’s like saying water’s a little wet.”

  Noah unlocked the door, letting the other man in. He was tall, with dark hair and bright blue eyes Lily could see the color of even from the distance between them. They walked to the table and Skylar looked at her curiously.

  “Skylar, this is Lily. Lily, Skylar.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Skylar said, reaching out to shake her hand. Looking at Noah, he lowered his voice. “Is she your—”

  “She is.”

  Lily narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, her trusty antenna going up. Noah answered that way too quickly, not even letting Skylar finish his question, and she was dying to know what he’d been asking.

  “Damn. She’s enough to make my—”

  “Don’t even think about finishing that,” Noah warned him with a glare.

  That time, it didn’t take a genius to figure out he’d been about to say something dirty. Not after what they told her a few minutes before. Tarun snickered quietly, and Skylar turned to her with a smile.

  “Good to see you again, Tarun—” with a loud gasp, he backed up quickly, almost bumping into another table. “Is that chicken? Tell me you’re not eating chicken!”

  Lily’s eyebrows twitched as she glanced at Noah and Tarun. Skylar looked horrified, but she wasn’t sure why. Even if the guy was a vegetarian, his reaction seemed a little extreme.

  Noah exhaled as he repositioned his ballcap. “Skylar—”

  “I thought you guys were friends. But friends don’t eat other friends. Not like that, anyway.”

  What the hell? She glanced at Noah and Tarun but neither seemed as lost as she felt. Tarun caught her glance and leaned in.

  “Skylar’s a chicken shifter.”

  She felt her eyes pop open wide, sure Tarun was joking. But no one laughed, and Skylar began pacing, his movements agitated.