Devon knew that the statement was a dig at Zave’s fickle and private personality rather than an observation about what Devon’s skills in the bedroom might match up to. Touching Zave’s temple, she twined her fingers in his hair as he yawned.
“I’ll do my best,” she said, and that was when Zave reached over to press a button on the clock that turned off the green light.
He sat up. “This is going to be one of those fucking days,” he said, but she didn’t know if he was talking to her or himself.
Shuffling past her, he tossed his legs off the side of the bed and stretched again, then drove his fingers through his hair a few times. Getting up, he began to move to the door, leaving Devon clueless about what she should do.
“Zave?” she asked as he opened the door, because she needed some kind of instructions.
For the first time that day, he looked at her. “Sleep as long as you like,” he said. “Depends how long this shit takes. If it’s quick, I’ll come back and join you.”
“If it’s not?”
“Then you’ll be well-rested and won’t need to sleep tonight.”
That was as much as he said before he went out the door in his naked glory. Devon hadn’t explored all the rooms on the stairway. She’d guess there was a bathroom and a closet. If she was going to be spending more time here, she would learn. But, if Bess was right and she was going to be kicked out, she wouldn’t get the chance.
Zave telling her to stay and sleep and that he might come back for another round, made her confident that he hadn’t changed his mind about them. He’d been right when he implied the day hadn’t started on great footing, and she hoped this Kindred call wasn’t a bad omen.
Knight Corp business could be ignored in deference to sleep, but he dropped everything for the Kindred, and from her point of view, the Kindred was the thing that could get him killed. So Devon would always be nervous when she heard that word.
But she was proud too. It was important to him, he was loyal, and his integrity was an admirable quality that she wouldn’t, as his girlfriend, take for granted.
Over an hour later, she woke up alone. She guessed that meant Zave wasn’t coming back to her. Leaving his bed, against her instinct to stay, she didn’t go snooping, but picked up his discarded shirt and buttoned it up before leaving his lab to seek him out.
Modesty had been lost when she admitted to Bess through the intercom where she’d spent the night. Kindred business was conducted “downstairs” in a place she hadn’t been yet. So she walked into the dining room expecting to find it empty or at the most to see Bess. Instead, she walked into what looked like a full-blown conference.
Bess was here, so was Thad. But they had been joined by Brodie, Zara, and another couple that she didn’t know.
Tugging down her shirt, Devon crossed one leg behind the other. “Oops,” she said.
“I didn’t know this meeting was clothes optional,” Thad grinned, and Zara threw a grape at him.
“Devon didn’t know we had company,” Bess said. “Can I get you something to eat, dearie? Maybe a milkshake?”
Her face had to be aflame. “No, I’m going to my room.”
“Didn’t she just come from there?” the man with the blonde-tipped hair asked the female next to him, which earned him a pinch on the arm that he rubbed after an, “ouch.”
To avoid a recurrence of this situation, Devon would need to find a quicker, more discreet route from Zave’s room to hers if she was going to be waking up there more often. She’d always reached it through this room. Well, except once. When he’d come back from the auction with Jennifer, Zave had taken her a different way, but she’d been too busy kissing him to take notes about the route.
Diverting focus from her state of undress, she changed the subject. “How is Jennifer today?” she asked Bess while trying to quell her urge to flee.
Devon wasn’t ashamed of what she’d done with Zave and wouldn’t let him think she was by running off. Because he was at the head of the table, he was blocked from her view. He wouldn’t make a show of welcoming or reassuring her, he was too reserved for that. Devon could only hope that he wasn’t angry or embarrassed that she’d inadvertently announced to everyone what they’d done together last night.
Picking up her cue, Bess answered, “Still eating, more relaxed. She might be the quickest recovery yet.”
“Good,” Devon said. “Excuse me.”
She had to cut across the room in a diagonal to get to the hallway door. When she was halfway there, Zara stood up. “These guys are the ones making plans, we’re just window dressing,” Zara said, tugging the unknown woman’s shirt at her shoulder to encourage her onto her feet. “Why don’t we have coffee in the kitchen?”
Devon saw Zara eye Bess, too, so the older woman stood up as well. Zara had sway with more than just her man. “Thanks,” Devon said. “But I should probably get dressed.”
Zara laughed. “Kindred women have to get used to being naked in front of the group. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Bess gestured her over and Devon couldn’t say no, except she did take advantage of the opportunity to glance at Zave, who crooked a brow and nodded once. Ok, so she had his consent to bond with the other Kindred women. She was curious about what was going on and Zara had always been supportive, and there was a new woman in the room that she wanted to get to know.
Now that she and Zave had made the decision to be together, these people were going to be a regular feature in her life. Devon would rather put clothes on before bonding, but the trio was waiting for her by the door to the back kitchen, giving her little choice except to go with them now.
The men wouldn’t speak again until she was gone, so side-lining inhibition, she went to join her new clique.
“So, Miss Devon, what’s Zave like in the sack?”
This was Zara’s first question when Bess brought the coffee pot over to the kitchen island they were seated around. Bess clucked at her. “Devon is shy, Zara, don’t you get your sass all over her.”
Zara laughed and stood on the crossbar of her stool to take a cookie from the tray that Bess had put out before the coffee.
“He’s dynamite, how’s Brodie?” Devon said in a hurry.
Bess’ mouth dropped open, but the other women whooped and Kadie laughed. Devon had been introduced to Swift’s woman as they were sitting down. It turned out that unknown guy at the table was Tucker Holt, also known as Swift, the Kindred computer genius.
“That tells you, Bessie,” Zara said. “Something weird happens to a woman when she joins the Kindred. I’m sure it’s the fault of the guys.”
“Yeah, let’s blame them,” Kadie said, snagging her own cookie.
Zara licked the edge of her cookie. “And Brodie has his off days, but, you know, he tries to keep up with me.”
Kadie swayed over the island on her elbows. “Don’t get her started on talking about Brodie in bed. I swear the pair of them still do it ten times a night.”
Zara scoffed. “Oh, yeah, and how long have you been with Tuck now, Kade?” she asked, nibbling her cookie. “It’s been like seven years or something.”
“Not quite,” Kadie said. “You make us sound so old and boring! We’ve not been back together a full year.”
Zara shrugged. “Near enough. It’s been nine, ten months, something like that, right?” Kadie tilted her head and lifted one shoulder in agreement. “You guys are the ones who fuck all over the manor… Do you forget there are cameras all over that building? We don’t need the constant visual.”
Devon was impressed. “You and Tucker have been together for seven years? Are you married?” Kadie shook her head. “So you’re married to Brodie?” Devon asked, pointing at Zara. “How long have you been with Brodie?”
“We met about… a year and a half ago, bit more than that. It’s April now, we met September before last.”
“Kindred men have staying power,” Bess said, going to the freezer to pull out the ice-cream. “I’m making
milkshakes for everyone.”
“I have to say thank you,” Zara said, picking a raisin out of her cookie to lay it on her tongue. “I never thought we’d get Zave into the boardroom. I spent months wrangling the lawyers, getting the contracts signed to get the merger to go ahead. Now it’s happening, and we have to get the companies to play nice. Brodie’s been going insane at the amount of time I’ve spent on this.”
Kadie explained. “Zara’s supposed to be the defacto Kindred Chief,” she said, stirring sweetener into her coffee.
“Defacto?” Devon asked.
“The job is Brodie’s, but the circle would’ve fallen apart by now if Zara wasn’t dealing with the details,” Bess said, scooping ice-cream.
“Is that why you give out the names?”
“Finch!” Zara declared, perking up. “Do you like it?”
She hadn’t had much chance to use it. “I’ve never had an alias before.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
Devon guessed the women had to transition to a new way of life when getting with their men. “How did you become Swallow?”
Zara rolled her eyes and tossed her cookie onto the counter. “That’s a long story, one I’ll tell you another time. We came here for a reason.”
“I figured that,” Devon said, looking at Kadie who’d become solemn.
Bess licked ice-cream from her fingertips. “Be gentle, Zar,” she said.
“This is about the meet,” Devon said. “You know when it’s going to be?”
“Tuck put it all together,” Kadie said. “It’s happening this weekend.”
She’d thought she would have more time to prepare herself. “This weekend?” The ease of bonding with her could-be girlfriends and her anticipation for milkshake disappeared in light of this news. “What happens next?”
Zara was pragmatic. “Next we pack supplies, get the hell off this island, stock the jet, and go to Mexico.”
“The jet? I didn’t know there was one.”
“It’s Zave’s, it’s new,” Kadie said, glittering with excitement.
Zara took Devon’s hand. “Apparently, they always had jets until a couple of years ago when there was some sort of incident and the old one was left floating somewhere in the North China Sea. I don’t know the details. But they’ve been waiting for this one to be built for them… now it’s ready.”
Impressed, Devon didn’t know how to respond to this news. “It’s a private plane?”
“Don’t worry, both Zave and Thad can fly it. We’ll be in, we’ll be out.”
Zave had said the helicopter was tiring to fly, which was why he and Thad took turns at the helm. They wouldn’t need to stop to refuel so many times if they were in a jet and it would be a much more comfortable ride.
“We’re all going?” she asked.
“You can stay here. You don’t need to be there,” Zara said.
Devon wasn’t going to sit this one out. “I want to be. Shouldn’t I be talking to Zave about it?”
“Everything Kindred goes through Zara,” Kadie said. “We take all developments to her, she processes them through Brodie, they share their opinions, consult the group, and then we come to a decision.”
“Is that what you were doing this morning?” Devon asked Kadie, who nodded. “Ok. And that’s why you’re the one talking to me about this?”
“It gets complicated,” Zara said, squinting as she went back to her coffee.
Bess slid a milkshake in front of her, and her focus switched to the cherry on the whipped cream. Plucking it from its dairy cloud, Zara bit down to the pit and sucked the fruit from the seed.
Devon didn’t mind her taking her time to enjoy it, she’d savoured Bess’ milkshakes too. But she was frustrated at the delay because she wanted to learn more about what was going to happen. When Zara was finished with the berry, she tossed the stalk onto the cookie plate and twisted to face her.
“It gets complicated?” Devon asked, reminding Zara of the last thing she’d said.
“Zave is a complicated guy, you don’t need me to tell you that.
Devon didn’t like this. Bess came around to finish handing out the milkshakes and then took a seat next to Kadie on the opposite side of the island from where Devon sat with Zara. “He told you to talk to me,” Devon said.
Zara shook her head. “No, Zave doesn’t tell me anything. He talks to Brodie. Since you came on the scene, he’s been easier to be around, we all have to thank you for what you’ve done for him. But I’ll be honest, I don’t know you.”
There was a wariness coming from Zara. “And that makes you nervous?” Devon asked.
“I know what it’s like to have a score to settle,” Zara said. “How the need for revenge can blind a person… And the first time I met your brother he won me in a poker game, then shot at me… I don’t know your morals.”
Zara knew Rig. Devon had no idea women were bartered in the games he played or that he would fire a gun at anyone. Except, she tried not to think too hard about what her brother got up to. “I love my brother, but we’re not the same.”
“Brodie says that if Zave trusts you then we trust you too. I understand that. But, Kade and I have experience with being shut out, and I don’t intend to coddle you. If you want to be there, you can be there. But you have to let us do our thing, and you can’t get in the way.”
“Zara,” Bess murmured, scolding her niece-in-law with a sigh. “Devon is good people. You’ve been spending too much time with my cynical nephew.”
The serious expression melted from Zara’s face to be replaced by joy. “I love Devon,” Zara said, leaping up to give her a hug. “Don’t think I’m being a bitch. I try to do that as little as possible. But I think it’s easier when everybody knows where they stand.”
Zara was scarier than Devon had initially thought, but she could understand the need to be clear. “Can you tell me the plan?” Devon asked after Zara sat back down and stuck her straw through the cream into the milkshake.
“It’s simple,” Zara said, taking a long slurp of milkshake. “What do you know about a device called Game Time?”
Devon had no idea what she was talking about, though the other women in the room clearly did. “Nothing. Should I?”
“No,” Zara said. “I just don’t know how chatty Zave is when he’s naked.”
Zave wasn’t chatty full stop. “What kind of a device is it?”
Zara crossed her legs. “There’s a long, complicated backstory,” she said. “Suffice to say, we can use it to take down the men that hurt you. We know when the meet is taking place, and it’s too enclosed for Rave to get a clear shot. We don’t know exactly how many men will be there either. Could be five, fifteen, or fifty. So a direct assault is too dangerous. Game Time can distribute any gas without being detected.”
Something so shocking had to belong to the military. “Where did you get it?”
“Again, that’s another complicated story,” Kadie said. “The Kindred have a lot of those. Not so long ago, a bunch of terrorists wanted to use it to spread disease.”
“But we’re not going to do that,” Zara said. “We discussed the possibility of dosing these guys and sending them back to their nests. But if we do that, we risk harming the women they’ve kidnapped, and we can’t do that to them. So, we’re going to go with a good old-fashioned poison gas and take them out on the spot.”
She tried not to be shocked, but failed. “You’re going to poison them? With what?” The what was less important than the idea of killing a group of men. She’d known Zave was skilled but hadn’t realised how committed this group was.
“Thad will help us with that. He’ll tell us what will work best and quickest, what will be the safest to transport, and the easiest to get our hands on. We have viruses back at my manor, but we can’t use them. We have to work fast, we don’t have much time, and we don’t know when we’ll get this chance again.”
Devon understood, but she’d never considered that she might be party t
o mass murder. But if there was ever a group of men who deserved to be taken out, it was this one. “So this device, you’ll load it up and…? What? Hide it somewhere in the meeting room?”
Zara was nodding. “Before they get there, yes. We’ll set up one, maybe two of the devices. The guys will be the ones to go in and do it, they’re planning the op. Zave can make any engineering adjustments, and Tuck will program the thing. Thad will load it up with whatever gas we’re using, and Brodie will probably be the one to plant it.”
“What happens if he’s caught?” Devon asked. “If these guys find him snooping around…”
Zara smiled. “That’s why we send Brodie,” she said, exuding nothing but pride. “If anyone gets in his way, he’ll deal with them.”
Zave had said that he wasn’t the killer in the family; now it was clear to Devon who was. “Everyone has their role.”
“That’s right,” Bess said. “I’ll stay here and look after Jennifer.”
Devon’s focus moved to Kadie. “I’ll come on the trip, but I won’t be in the field,” Kadie said. “I like to keep an eye on Tuck, but I don’t distract him when he’s out there doing his thing. I’m more of an extra pair of hands than anything else.”
“An extra pair of hands I couldn’t live without,” Zara said. “Especially with all this merger crap going on. Kadie’s my right-hand girl now, she picks up all the slack and is the only one who can keep the guys in line with the same finesse that I do.”
The two women shared a look, and Devon could tell that they were close. “Life is so much easier with another woman around the manor,” Kadie said. “I’ll bet that’s one of the reasons that Bess loves having you here.” Kadie put her arms around Bess and rested her head on her shoulder. “Now we’ll have an extra voice on our video chats. Two women here. Two women there. Our guys don’t stand a chance.”
“Next, we just need to get Thad set up,” Zara said. “Who’d have thought Zave would hook up before he did?”
Kadie laughed, and although Bess was amused, she didn’t share the hilarity. “You leave my boy alone. He’s been through enough. And the boy has plenty of girlfriends at his hospital. He’ll settle down when he’s ready.”
Falcon (Kindred #5) Page 26