by Shana Vernon
“To new possibilities,” he said his lips curved.
I pointed to the stands behind him. “Would you like to join me to get some food? I’m famished.”
He stood up and held out his elbow for me to take. “I would like nothing more.”
I slipped my arm through his and allowed him to lead me through the booths, picking and choosing between the different foods while he chatted away about the merger. I made sure to smile and nod at all the right moments, while gently maneuvering him toward the booth I needed to end up by.
We arrived at the Thailand stand and I looked up at him. “I love Thai food. Can you get us two plates of Pad Thai?”
He nodded and stepped up to the booth, reaching for the plates while I brushed my hand across the top of my dress, carefully extracting the tiny vile of peanut oil out of the pocket by my chest.
As he handed me my plate, I nimbly tipped the droplet of oil onto his portion before digging into my food eagerly and continuing to walk.
He caught up with me while he munched on his food, and I waited.
Chadwick Buchanan was highly allergic to peanuts.
I’d laced the oil with a minuscule amount of snake venom, having gotten the idea after Sofia’s near-death encounter. I wanted the results to be fast acting, while still appearing as if it were a regular allergic reaction. I didn’t want to give the medics time to save him.
A few mouthfuls later, he stilled, his brow furrowing.
“Are you alright?” I asked, faking concern.
His eyes narrowed further as he looked down at his food. “Something is wrong. I think this might have pea—.”
The rest of his sentence was cut off as his throat made a gurgling noise and he grasped my arm, his fingers digging into my skin. I applied force to the pressure point on his hand until his grip loosened and he stumbled to the floor, the people around him gasping.
I covered my face with my hands and cried out, “Somebody call a doctor!”
Men in suits rushed forward, knocking me out of the way as I headed toward the exit, slipping out unnoticed through all the commotion.
I took in a breath of fresh-cold air and walked passed the building slowly, glancing through the windows at the crowd. When I didn’t see Chadwick rise, I increased my pace until I was gone from view.
Not wanting to startle Cade with my disguise, I knocked on his door instead of just letting myself in. I had too much post-kill adrenaline coursing through my body and needed a release. Shuffling footsteps echoed through the room before the knob turned and I came face-to-face with a very sleepy Cade.
He had on a pair of low-slung sweat pants and nothing else. The scars on his chest and arms visible in the dim lighting from the hallway. His hair was mussed from sleep and he ran his hand through it, ruffling it even more.
Mhmm.
“Hey there, hot stuff,” I said with a wink.
“Lenna?” He said, his voice dripping with confusion.
“That’s my name.”
“Come inside,” he said as he pulled me into his room, closing the door behind us. He examined me from my head to my feet and his lips turned down.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He reached up and gently removed my wig, my natural honey-blonde hair cascading down my back.
“Now, all you need to do is take out those contacts and you’ll be back to yourself. Perfection.”
“You say the sexiest things sometimes,” I said as I ran a hand over the muscles on his stomach, going further and further down.
His eyes widened when I found what I was searching for, and in one quick movement, he unclasped my dress and watched as it slithered down my body onto the floor. I stood there wearing nothing aside from a skimpy lace thong and heels. His eyes heated and he pushed me back against the wall, his mouth lowering to mine.
My hands flew to his hair and I clutched him to me as he trailed kisses along my jaw, while his hands explored my body. He slipped off my thong, pushing a finger through my folds. I let out a gasp at the contact, arching my back as he plunged in and out.
I brought his mouth back to mine and our tongues danced while he continued building me up higher and higher. His thumb swirled around my clit while he repeated his motions and I moaned. I yanked down his pants, smiling as he sprang free, before grasping and pumping, loving the sounds he made from my touch.
He withdrew his finger suddenly and twisted me around, bending me over the table next to his door. He put his hands on my hips and slammed into me from behind and I let out a cry.
“Oh, fuck Lenna!” He cried as he went harder and faster, one of his arms encircling my waist to rub my clit while he moved.
I lifted up and leaned back against his chest as he continued plunging in and out, his mouth against my throat. He pulled out and steered me toward the bed, lying on his back. I clambered on to him and sunk down, riding him while he played with my nipples, going hard and fast, my heart racing. He met my frenzied pace, bucking as my climax came closer.
“Come for me, baby,” he said, and I let go, the waves of ecstasy washing over me. He grunted as he finished and I fell to his chest, utterly spent.
Chapter 17
“Again,” Evelyn said as she stared down at me, unimpressed.
“It’s not possible,” I replied as I clambered back to my feet.
For the last three weeks, Evelyn had been trying to get me to create a full suit of armor out of pure light energy.
It was not working. The farthest I’d gotten was a set of “brass” knuckles made of light that burned a fist into her skin the only time we sparred with it activated. I’d refused to try it again. Since then, she’d begun lobbing different objects in my direction. Generally weapons, but once she’d run out of weapons, she started throwing whatever she could reach, including a folding chair. Right at my face.
“Why don’t we take a break,” she said, sitting down and gesturing to the empty space next to her.
I narrowed my eyes at the vacant space, remembering how moments ago it housed the chair that had missed my ear by a hairsbreadth. I yanked it off the ground and plopped it down beside her before sinking into the rough fabric.
“Tell me what you know about him,” I asked for what felt like the hundredth time. She’d refused to answer any questions until she felt I was better prepared, and I was waiting for her usual refusal when she sighed and nodded.
“I don’t know much, but I’ll tell you what I have learned over the years,” she started, running a hand over her clothing, smoothing out the creases. “Killian and his brother Damion were both students at a Guild prep school in the south. When they graduated, the Guild offered them both spots and only Killian accepted. Damion wasn’t interested in the assassin lifestyle. He wanted a family.
“Killian was a season ahead of Alexei and was one of the best initiates until Alexei showed up. Alexei was a force to be reckoned with and I believe Killian felt threatened by him. They started up a rivalry and constantly fought for the highest position. As you know, Alexei won that position, and Killian clearly never got over it.”
I didn’t say a word, worried she would stop if I interrupted, but I had so many questions. I couldn’t see Papa fighting anyone for something as silly as first place.
“He worked harder and harder until he was finally offered the position of Master and accepted. That seemed to dissolve the rivalry between them, at least as far as anyone could tell. If Alexei didn’t like answering to Killian, he never said so.” She paused, taking in a long breath before continuing, “Watching them spar was spectacular. Alexei with his invisibility and shifting, and Killian with his teleporting.”
“Do you know how far his reach is?” I asked, finally deciding to interrupt.
“Teleporting?” Evelyn asked.
I nodded.
“He can only go somewhere in his eyesight, so don’t worry about him finding you if you decide to run.
Run? Why do people keep assuming I’m going to tuck-tail?
<
br /> It was beginning to grate on my nerves. I would never away from a fight. I tried to ignore my annoyance, but Evelyn caught on and ended our session not long after.
The BBBB had been taking turns watching different members of the elite unit to see if we could stop them in the act or to get any more information, but we’d come up blank just like Quinn’s phone. He’d been watching it religiously, waiting to be activated again, but the device remained silent.
Nobody said anything, but we all worried what that could mean for Quinn. If they discovered what we’d done, he would be in a lot of danger.
I sighed and glanced at my watch as I trailed behind Steven White, who’d been one of the members I’d knocked out in the beginning of the fight. It was my night to tail him and he was as dull as a doorknob.
After meandering behind him as he went across town doing his errands, I followed him back to his apartment, keeping to the shadows. I climbed up a tree, my movements making no noise as I went higher and higher, before I hoisted myself up to rest on a particularly thick branch just outside his window. Twirling the sunflower in my hands, I waited for him to fall asleep.
Once the rising and falling of his chest had relaxed into a consistent rhythm, I eased open the window and slipped inside, extracting my dagger from its sheath. Creeping up to his prone form, I slashed across his throat before jumping back, blood spurting out in rapid bursts. His eyes opened, his hands flying to his throat as he gurgled, unable to speak. His arms fell back to the bed as the awareness left his eyes.
I placed the sunflower on his bedside table and exited back out the window, silently slithering down the branches and disappearing into the night.
“He’s not here tonight,” Nikita’s singsong voice called.
I turned toward her with a smile and leaned against the bar. “Hey!”
“You’re looking for Maximus, right? He hasn’t been in all day.”
I scrunched my brows. “Any clue where he went?”
She shook her head. “No, sorry,” she said before being called to take someone’s order.
I left the casino and whistled for Joe, grinning as he appeared through the clouds and landed on my shoulder. “Hey, buddy,” I said as I rubbed his head. “Can you show me where Max is?” An image of a house flashed in my mind and I quickly washed the cooling waves over my body and stripped off my clothes as I became invisible. I stuffed them into my bag and shifted, carrying it while following Joe as he flew back to Max.
Joe led me to a two-story stone house, with a garden that looked as if it hadn’t been tended to in many years. I quickly shifted and dressed before walking up the path to the front door, suddenly unsure about my arrival. I’d never come to Max’s house before. I had no idea what he’d say about me snooping around to find his address.
I pushed away the thoughts, raising my fist and knocked on the door. I was met with silence.
Maybe he didn’t hear me?
I knocked again. Nothing.
“Joe, show me where he is.” He let out a chwirk and flew around the house to the back, stopping by a small window. There were minuscule handholds underneath the glass, so I pulled myself up before dropping to the floor from shock at what I’d seen.
Max was indeed in the room, but he appeared disheveled, and there were bottles of alcohol surrounding his body as he leaned over a desk, one of the bottles gripped between his fingers. He was an absolute mess.
I circled back to the front door and turned the knob. It was locked, so I pulled out a hairpin from my bag and set to work, fiddling with the lock until the satisfying click broke the silence. Pushing open the door, I ran through the house to the room in the back and entered his office.
Max barely moved more than to lift his head in my direction. He must have heard me breaking in which was more concerning. He hadn’t had a clue it was me, so why wasn’t he worried about robbers or potential assassins? This wasn’t like him at all. I cautiously approached his side and rested my hand on his back.
“Max?” I said, softly.
He grunted in reply, so I sunk to the carpeted floor next to him and pried his shoulders off the wood.
“Talk to me. What happened?”
He raised his head, and his cerulean eyes were muted as he stared into mine. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m sorry for coming to your home without asking you first, and for breaking in, but something is wrong with you and you didn’t open the door. I was worried.”
“I’m not upset you’re in my house, Solnyshka. I simply wish you weren’t seeing me in my current state. I will admit that this is a difficult day for me.”
I nudged his arm. “Please talk to me. Don’t shut me out.”
That seemed to do the trick because he straightened and examined me in my assassin gear. “Are you alright? What are you doing out at this hour? Did something happen?”
I chuckled at his rapid-fire questioning and gently drew him to the plush sofa against the wall. “I’m totally fine. Just took care of a contract tonight and wanted to see you before going back. But let’s focus on you for now.”
He leaned against the sofa and tilted his head back. “It isn’t a nice story, Solnyshka.”
I shrugged. “None of my stories are nice either, so that won’t bother me one bit.”
He sighed. “I don’t think your father and I ever told you the truth about how we really met.”
I sat ramrod straight at that, not having expected him to speak about Papa.
He continued, “A few years before we crossed paths, I was sitting in a bar of all places when I saw her for the first time.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Amelia,” he breathed. “The love of my life. My bonded soul.”
I inhaled and choked on the breath. “What happened to her?” I whispered, barely able to force out the words. I’d never heard that term before. I made a mental note to ask Nikita about it later.
“It didn’t happen right away. It isn’t an instant connection like you would think. Your soul must meet and recognize its match. Souls can feel compatibility and once it does, the other soul will sing to you. A unique tune created just for you, one that nobody else can hear. It was the most beautiful song I’d ever heard.”
His face fell into his hands as he let out a sob.
I rubbed his back and he leaned into my touch. “So, she was your soul mate?”
He sniffed and calmed himself. “A bonded soul is a choice. It isn’t a one-shot deal. There isn’t one person specifically designed for you. Some people hear the soul song and ignore it, not wishing to bond with their match.
“Amelia was incredible. She was fierce and loyal, and one of the kindest people I’d ever met. I knew she was the one for me when I was only nineteen years old. By twenty, we were married and living together in this house.”
I stiffened, understanding why my presence in their home would be uncomfortable for him.
“You remind me of her so much. You are both so stubborn and tenacious. You both have so much life. I believe that is what drew me to you so much.” He met my gaze again. “I am truly sorry for taking advantage of your naivety when you were so young. I should never have done that.”
I shook my head. “Don’t say that, Max. We had something special, and you taught me to love. It will never be a regret from my point of view, but now we are back to how we were always meant to be. Family.”
He slipped a hand around my waist and squeezed me. “I’m grateful and honored you feel that way, Solnyshka.”
I pressed a kiss to his temple. “So, what happened to Amelia?”
“Those first few years were the happiest of my life, until this day, twenty years ago. Guild assassins broke in while I was out at work and assassinated her while she napped. I came home and saw...—.” his voice broke as he choked down a sob before continuing, “I still have no idea why they singled her out. She’d never hurt a fly. She wouldn’t even drink from the source, so we only drank donated blood from bags. I spent the
next few months tracking down her killers and returning the favor, until I stumbled upon Alexei. He’d seen me stalking one of the members and stopped me.
“I hadn’t smelled his scent in the house, so I knew he hadn’t been involved, but I tried to kill him anyway. I was too far gone in grief. He must have realized it because he prevented me from making the biggest mistake of my life and brought me to a safe house and caged me for a week.”
I gasped. “He caged you?” I asked incredulously.
He nodded and even let out a small chuckle. “Oddly enough, it was precisely what I needed. I was consumed with bloodlust and not thinking rationally. He helped me recuperate and we decided to work together from that moment on.”
“So, every year on this day, you —.” I picked up a bottle. “Commemorate her by drinking yourself into oblivion?”
He snatched the bottle back. “I give myself one day out of every year to mourn. One day.”
“Max. This isn’t mourning. Not that I have any right to judge, but this is not going to make you feel better.”
“It isn’t meant to make me feel better. It’s supposed to make me feel nothing,” he said as he lifted it to his lips.
I yanked the alcohol out of his grip and smashed it on the floor, the contents seeping into the rug. “This ends today, Maximus. You will not disgrace Amelia by turning into a wreck like this just to forget.” I grabbed at his arms, pulling him to his feet. “You are going to wash up, grab some flowers, and put a smile on your face while we go visit her grave.”
“A smile?” He said softly.
“Yes. You shouldn’t only smile during happy moments, Max. You must also smile during difficult times to help yourself through it, and smile during sad moments to make them feel less sad. Then, you smile to the world because each person deserves to be smiled to every once in a while.”
Chapter 18