by Kyle, Celia
“You’re mine, Elissa,” he whispered, his fangs surprisingly cold against her skin. “Only mine.”
“Just as you are mine,” she returned, and then she mimicked his gesture. Threading her fingers into his hair, she pulled his head back and forced him to bare his neck. Her partially shifted teeth glinted under the dim light of the room, and the next thing she knew she was biting into his flesh, laying her claim and solidifying it.
They were close to losing all control, their human bodies slowly giving way to their animalistic forms, and it took all they had to stop that from happening.
“This is insane,” Ragan breathed out, resting his forehead against hers. “I’ve never been this close to losing control.”
“That makes for two of us,” she admitted, a smile tugging at the corner of her trembling lips.
Gently, he returned her smile, and then took his mouth to her neck once more. This time he didn’t use his fangs. Instead, he lapped at the wound he had inflicted on her skin, using his warm tongue to lick it. It was a sensual gesture, especially given the fact that his hard cock was still buried deep inside her, but there was also a certain tenderness to it.
In that moment, though, Elissa wanted more than just tenderness.
Growling like a panther, she rolled him over and then climbed on top of him with cat-like movements. Straddling him, she grabbed his cock by the root and eased it into her. His thickness once more pushed her inner walls back.
“My turn now.” Sinking her fingernails into his pectorals, she started rolling her hips. She rode him fiercely, each movement of hers designed to inflict unspeakable pleasure, and it was clear it was working. The lines on his face had deepened, pure bliss etched there, and he was matching each and every one of her movements by thrusting upward.
In that moment, they stopped being two separate entities.
They had become one, their bond something so tangible that Elissa could almost see it. It was like a golden thread connecting their very essences, binding them with a knot no mortal would ever be able to undo.
“I think that I’m about to—”
“I don’t want you to think,” Ragan cut her short, the fire in his eyes enough to silence her. “Just let it happen, Elissa.”
Dragging her teeth across her bottom lip, she did as she was told. She closed her eyes and felt pleasure bubble up inside her, all of it simmering until it turned into a full blown roil. Throwing her head back, her hair cascading down her shoulders, she opened her mouth and let a primal scream explode in the air.
“Fuck,” Ragan cried out at the same time, his erection somehow becoming even harder than before. There was a moment when time seemed to freeze, his entire body turning rigid, and then he spilled his warm seed inside her.
They came at the same time, ecstasy blanketing them both.
For a moment, neither of them said a thing. Words had become useless, and they would do little to describe the powerful bond that had just been forged. Even though they were of different species, destiny seemed to care little about it. They were mates now, and forever.
“I can’t believe this is real,” she finally breathed out, collapsing on top of his naked body.
Gently caressing her cheek with the back of his hand, he smiled.
“But it is, Elissa,” he whispered. “This is real, all of it.”
And so it was.
Chapter Ten
Ragan didn’t mind being Last One to the Meeting a few days later, once again juggling a stack of briefing folders and another box of doughnuts. At Thrett’s request, he’d even bought a couple of lemon-filled ones, which he thought were a waste of space, but there was no accounting for taste.
“Right on time,” Charlie said as Ragan entered. “And thank you for putting together the files today, even though it’s not in your job description. Once we get a new receptionist and you show them how to do it, I swear it will be the last time.”
Ragan grinned as he set the box on the table—shaking his head at the way Thrett dove—and started passing out the files to his compatriots. “Hey, if it means I get to pick the doughnuts, I don’t mind.”
As he handed the files to the others, he could feel their newly improved appreciation for him with their smiles and nods. He knew they’d always been impressed with his technical skills, but now that he had some fieldwork under his belt and had solved a complicated case so quickly, he felt more like one of them. One of the elite. He’d earned it and everyone at the table knew it.
“Let’s get right into it with the burning questions we’re all most curious about,” Charlie said. “Ragan, would you like to update everyone on the status of our former receptionist?”
It wouldn’t be news to Charlie, but Ragan appreciated his boss letting him deliver the update. “I’m happy to report that Bellicent is safely being held by Othercross Shifter Judiciary, as a phone call confirmed this morning. She’s awaiting trial before a triune, which will happen next week, by the sounds of things. They won’t want to delay such a high-profile case.”
“I know the evidence is ironclad,” Dyrk said, waving away a cruller Allon offered him, “but is there any chance she could get off on a technicality?”
“Highly unlikely,” Charlie spoke up with a shake of his head. “Any realistic defense would be dead before it even got started. If I were Bellicent, I would be thinking about plea bargains rather than an actual defense.”
“Not that she showed the best judgment in the world,” Elektra said.
“Not at all,” Ragan agreed, scratching the back of his neck and nodding to Dyrk. “Believe it or not, I’ve compiled a small mountain of evidence against her, now that I know where to look, and the prosecution has every scrap. She probably didn’t realize that once I started looking into her activity, I could more or less follow her every move she made while she was here. If she so much as watched a kitten rescue video, I know about it.”
“Uh, you’re not looking at all of our terminals for movie downloads. Are you?” Thrett murmured to Ragan, casting a furtive glance at Charlie.
Ragan snorted and ignored him. “To answer your question, Dyrk, I think we can all be secure in the knowledge that this case is open and shut. She took me off guard, I won’t deny that, but she wasn’t particularly skilled in the end.”
“No, but she was brave. You have to give her that,” Elektra pointed out. “One untrained receptionist went head to head with a full team of dragon security specialists. She obviously isn’t stupid, considering she almost got away with it.”
“What’s your point?” Allon asked.
“My point is, all this makes me think she must have had a damn good incentive to take the risks she did.”
“No duh,” Wyntir said in a very Valley Girl accent. “A five-million-dollar ‘severance’ check would make most people go to crazy lengths. But what I still don’t get is how she even knew Stark Bradford had the video in the first place. She couldn’t have just been throwing darts at a board full of celebrities and hoping one of them had a skeleton in his closet.”
“Or a sex tape in his safe,” Thrett said unhelpfully, and Wyntir narrowed her eyes at him.
Ragan nodded. “As it turns out, Bellicent was tangentially connected to Mr. Bradford.”
Dyrk laughed darkly. “What kind of connection could a goth crow shifter like her have with a human megastar?”
“This is gonna blow your mind,” Ragan said with a smile. “Okay, I hope I get this right. She’s the ex-step-daughter of Stark’s late wife’s best friend. Phew, that’s a mouthful.”
“That’s what she said,” Thrett joked, licking some oozing lemon filling off his fingers. Everyone was so used to his antics, they ignored him as they waited for Ragan to fill them in.
“It seems a few years ago, when Bellicent’s father was still married to his now-ex, she overheard Fara Bradford telling the woman about the video. When she saw our online ad for a receptionist, she recalled a news article about how Stark had hired us as his security team
.”
“And she saw a payday in the waiting,” Wyntir said, nodding with understanding.
“Apparently so,” Ragan confirmed. “Total opportunist. I doubt she even really thought she’d get the job, but her background check didn’t turn anything up, not even a parking ticket, so there was no way we could have seen it coming.”
“She’ll probably get a light sentence because of that,” Charlie added, “but any time spent within the gates of the OSJ is hard time. Justice will be served, no more and no less than that. Now then, in brighter news, I’m delighted to report that Ms. Malkin’s article ran on Rawr News yesterday, as you all might have seen, and it was better than we could have hoped for.”
“Can’t imagine how she managed that,” Ragan said with a knowing grin.
Elissa had interviewed each of the specialists individually to make sure she could tailor the most flattering article on Wildridge Security possible without seeming too obvious, and she’d done a stellar job. Even her editor had been impressed.
“Hopefully she’ll get that promotion she wanted,” Wyntir added with a kind smile in Ragan’s direction. Everyone knew he and Elissa were officially “a thing,” and they all approved wholeheartedly.
“I’ll have a word with her supervisors about that,” Charlie said with a wink. “In the meantime, let’s not rest on our laurels now that the Bradford case has been closed. First of all, Thrett, you’ll notice your new assignment is tightening internal security, and after Ragan returns from his next job, you’ll be working with him to do just that.”
“Sure,” Thrett said. “I’ll get an ad up for a new receptionist too.”
Charlie held up a hand. “Hold off on that for right now. I might know the perfect candidate. In the meantime, Allon, I think you’ll enjoy your assignment. I’m sending you on a bounty case.”
Allon grinned and sat up straight in his seat, flexing his fists. “You sure know how to make my day, boss. Who’s the target?”
“Name’s Danque Anguis, a snake shifter who skipped out of Newark. He’s got family here in Los Angeles so he’s probably in our neck of the woods by now.”
Allon grew more animated, color rising in his cheeks and his breathing quickening. “So, um, am I the only one chasing this asshole or is, um, someone else hunting him too?”
Everyone else around the table, including Charlie, snickered as Ragan consulted the file. “It looks like Skypoint Security has one of their skip tracers after him too, but this doesn’t say who. Why? What’s so funny about that?”
He knew Skypoint acted as the East Coast version of Wildridge and that they occasionally worked together, but not since he’d started six months ago. Still, he couldn’t figure out why everyone thought this news was so amusing.
Wyntir seemed more than happy to fill him in. “Allon’s got a friendly…let’s call it competition with a certain female dragon who works at Skypoint. Isn’t that right, Allon?”
“What?” he said, puffing up his already impressive chest. “This could be the tiebreaker!”
Charlie cleared his throat softly, drawing everyone’s attention immediately and getting the meeting back on track. “And Ragan, I believe you already have your assignment for the day, correct?”
“Oh, hell yes,” he grinned. “And I can’t wait to get to it.”
* * *
“Where the hell is he, Dad?” Elissa grumbled impatiently as she sat behind the wheel of her car, echoing that fateful night, which seemed a lifetime ago. Only this time they waited in a different neighborhood. She peered around, squinting up and down the row of houses and manicured yards.
Cray shrugged. “You know Buddy. He’ll show up.”
“Yeah, right. Because he’s so dependable, just like every other criminal we know.”
Her father chuckled and shook his head. “You’re so much like your mother it hurts.”
“Wait. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” she asked, tilting her head to the side to look at him.
Cray reached over to pat her fondly on the shoulder. “Good thing. Definitely. Your mother was one hell of a woman, and I think she would be mighty proud to see the direction you’ve taken with your life. She would be proud to see how her baby girl has grown up into an amazing, talented young woman with her head on straight. I mean it, sweets. And this should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. I’m proud of you, too. Always. With every fiber of my being. I honestly don’t know how you turned out so well with me as your father, which means it has to be all from your mother.”
Elissa was stunned. She hadn’t expected this sudden outpouring of love and appreciation from him. Not right now, and…not really ever. She knew he loved her, but her father was a man of few words, who kept his deepest emotions and feelings tight to his chest. He didn’t reveal things about himself very easily, so she knew what he was saying had to be true.
“Wow, Dad.”
He shrugged and smiled. “Just puttin’ it out there, sweets.”
“Thanks,” she said, giving him a sidelong smile.
He patted her hand fondly and it felt better than a bear hug. “My pleasure. And don’t worry about Buddy. I promise, this is the last time you’ll have to deal with him again.”
“God, I hope you’re right. I’m so done with this bullshit. No offense.”
Cray snorted and waved his hand dismissively. “None taken. I know what I am. I know what I’ve done. And I’m sorry for a lot of it. But that’s not my life now. I’ve changed, just like you have, like we all have. And I promise you, Elissa, things are only going to get better from here on out. I can feel it in my bones.”
Elissa’s instinct to be sassy or sardonic flashed up but she pushed it away, choosing to give her father an encouraging smile instead.
“Me too, Dad. Me too.”
And it was true. Despite their long years of trials and tribulations, she knew with every beat of her heart that this time she could trust him. This time, her father was leading her to the truth. They were both walking in the light now, together.
“So, how’s the new job going?” she asked.
“Fantastic! It’s like I was born to specialize in loss prevention although really my experience on the other side of it makes me so valuable. Of course, Mr. Volant phrased it differently when he put in a good word for me with my boss. He called it ‘insider knowledge.’”
“That’s a nice way of saying you know every shoplifting trick in the book,” Elissa teased gently.
“With my instincts, I can spot a thief on grainy security footage from a mile away, and I’m surprised by how much I enjoy it. It’s almost like I’m making amends for my bad deeds. Of course, it’ll take a long time to make up for everything I’ve done, but this is a good start. I’m exactly where I’m meant to be, and for the first time in longer than I can remember, I think your mother would be proud of me.”
Elissa had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. Throwing herself across the center console separating them, she hugged her father tightly.
“I’m proud of you, too, Dad. For the first time in just as long, I truly believe you’ve changed for good. I know you’re not going to steal from that department store, and not just because Charlie would hunt your ass down and torch you like a shish kabob.”
They laughed as they clung to each other, enjoying their new bond. With a gasp, Cray broke free and held her away from him.
“I totally forgot to ask how the meeting with your editor went! Did you get a promotion or what?”
Elissa smiled and sank back into her seat. “No, it’s a little soon for that, Dad. But he was really impressed with my article on Wildridge and promised to start throwing more interesting stories my way. That’s enough to keep me going. For now.”
“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. And Ragan? How are things going with him? Just spare me the nitty-gritty details. Okay? I am still your father.”
Elissa burst out laughing, a rosy tinge coloring her cheeks. Sh
e looked out the window, wistfully thinking about the man she adored. Things had been going so well for them over the past few days, and every moment they spent together only drew them closer. They fit together perfectly, like two pieces of the same puzzle. Elissa was about to fill her dad in on all of this, but she didn’t get a chance to say another word before the backseat door flung open and someone jumped inside.
Just like the night they’d met, Buddy was dressed in all black with his stupid black ski mask. “Drive!” he shouted, just as urgently as before.
Only this time, instead of responding out of panic, Elissa slowly turned in her seat and gave the cat burglar a placid smile. “Yeah, I think I’ll pass this time, Buddy.”
She added a fake yawn for emphasis. Buddy’s gaze bounced between her and Cray, but before he could protest, the other back door opened and a body slid in next to Buddy. When he saw who it was, his eyes grew wide.
Ragan smiled at the thief. “Gotcha.”
When Buddy reached for his door handle, Elissa promptly locked it from the front seat. He frantically scrabbled at the lock button but couldn’t make it work. Elissa decided to let him in on the secret.
“Child proof locks, I’m afraid.”
Buddy glared at her and then turned his attention on her father. “What the hell, Cray? What is all this?”
Cray turned to face his former partner in crime. “Come on, Buddy. You know exactly what this is.”
“A sting? Are you fucking kidding me? After I gave back all the loot from that actor’s house? I thought I could trust you, man!”
Ragan clucked his tongue. “Big mistake, Mr. Kass.”
Even though she’d negotiated for immunity for Buddy, that was only because he’d handed over everything he’d stolen from Stark Bradford’s house. When he’d called Cray asking for another ride, they both knew exactly what they had to do to make things right. Judging by how light his duffel bag looked, it was a small score, which meant he probably wouldn’t get much time, but something was better than nothing. Besides, setting him up like this was a surefire guarantee he’d never call Cray for a ride ever again.