Xander (A Dark Assassins Novel Book Three)

by Valerie Ullmer

  Frost launched herself into his arms and proceeded to ravage his mouth, leaving his mind blank and his heart racing. He memorized every inch of her mouth and he pulled her onto his lap. Only when they needed to breathe, they broke apart and he pulled her close.

  “If I’m a shifter now, why haven’t I shifted?”

  “I don’t know. I have a feeling that you’re unique and will shift in your own time. But if you’re worried about it, we could talk to Liv and have her investigate.”

  She nodded. “I would like to find out, and I need to apologize to Jade and Kane. I still have no idea what came over me when I saw her.”

  “Well, you aren’t the only one who’s had that reaction to Jade. Ara had a panic attack when she thought that Jade and Reaper had a relationship. Liv had tried to walk away and ignore her jealousy, until we told her that shifters and vampires can’t mate. Aubrey pulled Seth behind her when Jade had tried to hug him. She even released her fangs and snarled at her. You were injured and your instincts told you that I was important to you; that’s why you reacted the way you did. Jade won’t fault you for that.”

  Frost nodded and melted back against Xander. He couldn’t get enough of her and he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. His mate was in his lap and had accepted him. And he would do everything in his power to keep her happy.

  Chapter Four

  Frost

  Frost smiled and waved at the people she had gotten to know over the years she had worked at the US Department of Fish and Wildlife, loving the feeling of Xander walking next to her. His presence allowed her to project an air of nonchalance. She hated being in crowded areas, and downtown Denver had grown more and more crowded over the years. Too many people made her feel claustrophobic, which was why she preferred the outdoors.

  “Do you live in the city?”

  She shook her head. “I only come for monthly staff meetings. Well, I try to show up for them, but most of the time I make excuses that I’m tracking a particular species and I can’t make it in without losing the trail. It’s been several months, to be honest. I rent a small cabin in Snowfall and traveled wherever the job took me.”

  He smiled at her and she found herself returning the smile, not feeling at all self-conscious.

  The one thing that she loved about being an immortal was the strength she could feel pulsing through her veins. Although she could’ve asked Xander what the main differences were between her old human form and her shifter one, she preferred to find out for herself.

  When they reached her boss’s office, she didn’t bother knocking on the always closed door. She placed her hand in the middle of the probably fake wooden door and pushed with a little bit of force. To her satisfaction, the door ripped off the hinges with ease. She giggled as she watched the door stall upright for a split second, before it tilted forward and landed with a crash on the man’s desk.

  Instead of taking a step into the office, she stood at the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. There was a perverse pleasure that she gained from the fear she spotted in his eyes. She smiled wider when his heart started to pound in his chest and his breathing increased to the point where she thought he might hyperventilate. Adding to his fear, she tipped her lips wider and gave him a vicious smile.

  Sweetheart, are you trying to give the man a heart attack?

  Nope, but he will have one when he sees you.

  “Frost…what…what are you…doing here?”

  “Expected me to be dead too, huh, Bob? Well, too bad for you, I guess.”

  His eyes widened and she thought he might wet himself as his eyes darted behind her to see Xander. He walked casually into the office, blocking out the light from the hallway beyond with his huge, muscular body. Bob’s eyes didn’t leave Xander. When Xander growled, a low vibration for a second, Bob swallowed visibly.

  “Oh, Bob, how rude of me. This is Xander. He’s my snow leopard-shifter mate. The one that you—yes, I know it was you, Bob—sent those mercenaries to kill.”

  Without waiting for a response, she sprinted forward, her movements unseen by Bob, until she appeared in front of him and lifted the fat fucker off the floor and pinned him to the wall behind his oversized desk.

  Realizing how fun that had been, she turned and looked over her shoulder at Xander. Instead of meeting his gaze, her eyes wandered over his body. Today he wore a tight black tee that made his white hair and blue eyes stand out. The way he wore those pair of jeans should have been illegal. She wanted to pinch herself again when the swell of happiness bubbled in her chest at the thought of Xander being hers.

  Sweetheart? Aren’t you supposed to be scaring the living shit out of the man you have pinned to the wall? You can explore my body later.

  Huh. Promise?

  Xander laughed aloud, causing Bob to jerk in her grasp, but she didn’t let go. She kept her eyes on Xander.

  Promise.

  “Well, then. Let’s get this show on the road.” She turned back to Bob and almost laughed when he squeaked in fear.

  She learned that her thoughts, much like they did when she was human, pinged around in her head. But now, she could concentrate on one, the others falling silent in the background. She liked this shifter thing.

  “Did you hire the mercenaries directly or were you paid to do it?”

  “Go to hell.”

  To the surprise of both Xander and Bob, she released him. Ignoring their reactions, she paced in front of the gaudy desk, her hands tucked behind her back, every so often pinning Bob with her gaze.

  “On one hand, I’m grateful that you sent me to the mountains as a tracker, because I was able to meet Xander. But on the other hand, I want to break your fucking neck for sending mercenaries to kill unsuspecting targets. Fortunately for me, the mercenaries were no match for the immortal assassins who were your targets, you stupid fucking idiot.”

  Bob, if possible, paled even more.

  “You know you’re in some serious shit, Bob, when you send flunkies with guns after trained…immortal…assassins.”

  The man didn’t disappoint. He shook as fear enveloped him.

  “Oh, you did know then, did you?” Her laugh should have turned his blood cold.

  The sound cut off abruptly when she slammed the man back against the wall a little harder than necessary.

  “You will give me every shred of information you have on those who hired you, or I will break every bone in your body, keeping you alive and awake the entire time.”

  Bob opened his mouth, his face pinched in anger. She knew that he wanted to get the last word in, he thrived on it, but the words died in his throat when Xander’s growl filled the room and Bob clamped his mouth shut.

  “Well?”

  Bob refused to speak, so after waiting a half a minute, she curled her hand into a fist and bopped him on the nose. Not enough to crush his skull in, but enough to break his nose with a nice little snap. She allowed him to cry and fuss for a few minutes, calling her a few choice words, before she snapped it back into place with a twist of her fingers.

  His nose stopped bleeding at her actions and she glared at him, deciding on a new strategy.

  “You either tell me, or I’ll give Xander a go at you. Remember—big, bad assassin, contracted by the government to kill people for a living.”

  Bob flinched when Xander took a step into the room. That was all it took for Bob to spill all of his secrets.

  Fuck, am I not threatening enough?

  No, sweetheart, you can scare the shit out of people with the best of them, but you should have broken his arm, not his nose.

  I sense you’re placating me.

  She heard laughter in her head and she growled.

  “Marcus. I was the middle man between Marcus and this mercenary group called Nightfall. I was paid a lot of money to get a tracker to lead them.”

  “What was the plan for Frost?” Xander asked, his voice low and deadly.

  Bob visibly shook as he looked at Xander. “They could use her in
any way they wanted, once they were finished with their mission. Then she was to be handed over to another man. I never got that man’s name.”

  Xander lurched forward and lifted him by the collar of his shirt until he was face-to-face with an extremely pissed-off shifter. “And how much money did you take in order to sacrifice Frost’s life?”

  “A…quarter of a million dollars.”

  Xander tossed him aside with casual ease. Frost got a tiny bit of satisfaction when Bob hit the opposite wall harder than she had expected.

  “Who would pay that much for a mission that would obviously fail?” Xander thought aloud.

  “That would be me, Marcus.” His voice floated in from the hallway. “I needed an advantage to lure you out, take you captive, and extract information from you.”

  Xander laughed, non-humorously, and it caused Marcus to clench his teeth together in frustration. The new addition looked a little like an evil henchmen in any 80s movie. His hair was military short; he wore all black with holsters strapped to his torso and a couple of knives sheathed against his thighs. Although it would have been a great look on Xander, except for the haircut, Marcus made it look ridiculous.

  Marcus, distracted by his anger at Xander not taking him seriously, left her free to search for a weapon that she could use if they needed to fight, having forgot, for a moment, about her newly acquired strength and speed. She dropped her head and cursed, but instead of ditching the weapon, she palmed it in her right hand and looked at Xander.

  Her mate was completely relaxed. His stance was wide, with his arms crossed over his massive chest. She growled when she realized that Marcus had been perusing Xander’s body for way too long, the evidence clearly outlined in the front area of his tight black pants.

  “Oh, for fuck sake. He’s my mate, you idiot. I know that you’ve been listening in on our conversation. We could scent you when we walked down the hallway.”

  What? Xander hadn’t understood the first part of her outburst.

  Marcus is attracted to you, and you could tell that if your gaze dropped down to his hard-on currently tenting the front of his pants.

  I’ll pass, thanks. Xander laughed before he pulled her in for a scorching kiss that left her throbbing and needy.

  “Well, I guess that I have to kill you both now.”

  Before Marcus could raise the gun he unclipped when Xander kissed her, Frost threw the letter opener deep into his right shoulder and a millisecond later, stood in front of him. She ripped the gun out of his hand and reached for the letter opener. She turned the letter opener counterclockwise about a half an inch and drew a cry of absolute pain from the little fucker.

  “That’s for having me shot in the shoulder. That fucking hurt, you asshole.”

  She released her hold on the weapon protruding from Marcus, and he dropped straight to the ground, bleeding from his shoulder. She turned back to Bob.

  “If you tell anyone anything we’ve said here today…” She shook her head and pierced him again with her gaze. “Well, I’ll have Xander’s friends pay you a visit. And trust me when I say this. You will feel every bit of pain they inflict on you before they decide to have mercy on you and kill you. Do you understand?”

  Her growl was ferocious, promising plenty of pain, and Bob jerked backward enough to strike his head on the open filing cabinet behind him, effectively knocking himself out.

  Xander pulled her back into his arms and kissed her until her knees felt weak. “That was the single hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  “I would like to go home now.” Her growl was less than subtle.

  “We could get naked and claim each other?”

  Another kiss—this time she initiated it—but again, they were interrupted. A loud groan echoed throughout the room.

  I don’t think this man is in charge of anything.

  You’re right. But we’ll have to call a meeting when we get home and see if the others know anything about Nightfall.

  She paused for a moment before she met his gaze. Do you really want to claim me?

  Yes, sweetheart. I’ve been waiting a lifetime for you.

  A sense of rightness settled over her. His words made her heart beat faster and a smile tilted her lips up. Another, louder groan brought her out of her thoughts and she glanced down. “What should we do with them?”

  “Fuck it.” He laced their fingers together and led her out of the office. “Time to go home.”

  As she looked back, she knew that whoever hired Bob and Marcus wouldn’t give up just because she and Xander had found a link between the mercenaries and those who hired them. Whoever hired these two inept men would have a plan for a long game, but for the life of her, she had no idea how she fit into the overall plan.

  Chapter Five

  Xander

  Xander managed to unlock the door before they burst through, their lips devouring each other, as he struggled with shutting and locking the door after they passed through. As elegant as ever, Xander tripped and managed to land on his back with Frost sprawled on top of him, his arms wrapped tightly around her to keep her safe. He glanced at her shocked face and couldn’t hold back the bark of laughter that escaped his throat.

  She blinked before she glanced down at his lips and pressed her body closer to his. “At least we’re already on a flat surface.” Her smile was dazzling.

  The fingers of his right hand brushed through her long, dark hair, while the other pressed against her lower back, bringing her even closer to his body. He was about to capture her lips in a scorching kiss that would definitely lead to more, but they were interrupted by a loud cough coming from the living room.

  Frost raised her gaze and glanced into the living room. She squeaked indelicately as she scrambled off his lap, but he wanted to keep her close and whoever was in the house could fuck off. He growled when she managed to stand; when he reached for her, she sidestepped him, still staring toward the living room. He watched her eyes widen and a flush stain her cheeks, so he tipped his head back while still laying on the floor and he spotted everyone. And he meant everyone. Fuck.

  He reluctantly got to his feet before he reached for Frost’s hand and interlaced their fingers together, giving her a little squeeze of reassurance.

  Liv, of course, not caring about the awkwardness in the room, darted forward and enveloped Frost in a hug. Xander smiled when he saw that Frost hadn’t hesitated to wrap her arms around the smaller woman in return.

  “How did your first shift go?” Liv asked.

  “I haven’t…shifted. It’s been three days since I woke up and nothing. I remember the transition, well-developed bits and pieces, but I woke up feeling strong and healthy, but no shift.”

  “Then…well, where have you guys been?”

  “Oh, yeah. We just arrived back from Denver. We went to confront my boss, who about peed his pants when Xander walked into his office.” She laughed and the others smiled.

  “I should probably start from the beginning. My boss, Bob, had hired me out to the mercenaries as a tracker to find the immortals, although I didn’t know at the time he meant everyone here. We thought he would give us the name of the person who hired him. At first, he wasn’t cooperative, even though I thought my threat to break all of his bones one by one was pretty scary. He didn’t unfortunately. Am I not that scary?” Frost asked.

  “No,” Kane stated.

  “Not at all,” Seth piped up.

  “About as much as Liv.” Kai received a glare from his wife and he wiped the smile off his face.

  “Anyway…we found out that a group called Nightfall hired the mercenaries. Marcus, a human mercenary, acted as the go-between, and contracted the mercenaries to kill, well, you guys. At least I got to stab Marcus.” Frost beamed at that.

  “Why did you stab him?” It was Ax this time.

  “He was eye-fucking Xander. Rude, right?”

  The chorus of laughter brought Frost’s gaze from Liv’s and she took in the rest of the as
sassins in the room. When she spotted Gunnar she nodded, and Kane she smiled, but when she spotted Seth, her smile grew wider.

  “Hey, kid. I told you I’d be okay.”

  Seth stepped forward, hand-in-hand with his beautiful dark auburn-haired wife, and side-hugged Frost. She hugged him back.

  “This is my mate and wife, Aubrey.”

  Of course, Frost hugged her. “It’s nice to meet you. You have a very sweet man.”

  Aubrey smiled and returned the hug and Frost relaxed. Xander took her hand in his and introduced her to Hunter, Thomas, Isaac, and then Ghost. Frost’s eyes widened as she glanced at Ghost’s hair, very similar to his. As she was introduced, she either hugged them or shook their hand, but she turned around and ran into Axel. She paused; her gaze slowly traveled higher until she reached Ax’s smiling face.

  “Hey, honey. I’m Axel.”

  Xander rolled his eyes. The man didn’t know when to quit.

  “Sure you are. Not a chance, honey, not a chance.” Frost patted his chest and stepped around him, moving to Xander’s side.

  At that moment, Jade came out of the kitchen, a little hesitant. Frost pulled away from Xander and walked toward her, carefully, as if she were afraid Jade would strike out at her. Xander stood still, knowing Frost wanted to apologize, but he could only hope that Jade was as forgiving as he thought she would be.

  Without a word, Frost pulled Jade in for a long hug. Xander relaxed when Jade returned the hug. They stood there for long minutes before Frost pulled back.

  “I’m sorry, so sorry, for how I acted when I first saw you.”

  “It happens…a lot.”

  Frost flinched at that, but continued. “Just because I was in pain was no excuse for taking it out on you. I am sorry. I would like to try to be friends with you.”

  Jade smiled at her. “I would like that. Are you hungry?” Without waiting for a response, Jade pulled Frost into the kitchen. “So, who was undressing Xander with their gaze?”

  All the shifters flooded into the kitchen. Xander made a plate after making sure Frost had a plate for herself and sat down next to his mate as she explained about Marcus and what they encountered in Denver.