To Catch A Bandit

by Emma Dean

  And this time she wasn’t exactly ‘fixing’ what had been broken, but Emily was able to spend time with the ones she’d been devastated to lose. This time together was easing her volatility faster than normal.

  That was, until Chance decided to finally confront her.

  “Took you two long enough,” he snapped, whirling around from the computer.

  He must have been studying this whole time.

  “Where are Ben and Jace?” she asked, trying to ignore his attitude.

  “They’re out, getting what we need for tomorrow.” Chance looked between her and Aiden, who was acting like he couldn’t hear them as he set up the food in the little kitchenette even though they were all in the same room. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Emily? Alone.”

  Part of her was furious at his tone, but the other part perked up in excitement. Finally, she was going to find out why he was so ticked off. Emily wanted to fight with him.

  “Of course,” she said. Her tone was so smarmy she nearly laughed. “Please, come into my office.”

  Emily stalked over to the door connecting her room to the raccoons’ and pushed it open wide. Someone had fixed it. She stood aside, leaning on the door jamb, one eyebrow raised at Chance.

  He just glared at her, practically stomping as he walked into her room.

  Chance whirled around and Emily almost hoped he would hit her, then this could turn into the brawl she so desperately needed.

  “I know you had sex with Ben, and I see what you’re doing to Aiden,” Chance told her, pointing his finger at her.

  Emily didn’t care how big and tall he was. His fucking finger was in her face. “I’ll break it if you don’t get that thing away from me,” she warned.

  Chance moved his hand, but he didn’t back down. “I don’t know what it is you’re planning to do, but I’m not going to let you break their hearts again when you disappear.”

  Oh, this was about to get good. Emily felt the rage she’d been shoving down come screaming to the surface. “How I broke their hearts?” she demanded. “Don’t you mean how you all broke mine?”

  Chance grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the closed door. “You were the one who literally disappeared into thin air. There is no way to contact ravens without making a kill request,” Chance hissed. “Not unless you happen to have a raven’s number.”

  It would be too easy to get out of this hold, to bring Chance to his knees again and break him into itty bitty pieces. But that’s not what Emily wanted.

  She wanted a fight.

  “Perhaps if someone had stayed past dawn…” she drawled. “Your idiocy isn’t my problem.”

  Technically nothing that had happened after that night was anyone’s fault. All of them knew what they were getting into, but none of them had anticipated the side effects of one single night.

  Emily had never had this kind of reaction to any male before, so it wasn’t like she’d known this would happen. She’d never truly cared before.

  “I don’t care if you think we’re all idiots. I’m not letting that happen again.”

  His eyes were glowing silver and Emily couldn’t help but take in how beautiful he was in that moment, covered in his rage – not for him, but for Ben and Aiden.

  Emily still wanted to kill him for being an ass, but…less so.

  “You have no control over them,” Emily reminded Chance, wrapping her fingers around his wrist. “They’re big boys who can handle themselves.” She looked down at his cock to make her point. “But more importantly, you have no control over me.”

  One twist and Chance was forced to release her. Emily followed up the move with a strike so fast his head snapped back and he stumbled. It would have been too easy to knock him unconscious or break his neck.

  But Emily didn’t want to kill him.

  “You’re psycho,” Chance told her, touching the blood that leaked from his nose.

  She gave him a feral smile. “Takes one to know one.”

  He bared his teeth at her and she realized for the first time just how sharp his canines were, an echo of his raccoon form. “If you hurt them, I’ll kill you.”

  “Mm, is that a promise?” Emily asked, taking another step forward.

  “You bet your sweet ass it is.”

  Emily felt electric. The itch was gone.

  But Chance made to leave, and suddenly the itch was back. Emily knew she was a fucking mess. She knew picking a fight with the one who didn’t like her at all wasn’t a good idea.

  She knew this, and still…

  “Hey,” she snapped, grabbing his wrist to stop him. “I’m not done talking to you.”

  He whirled around and punched her right in the mouth, only half strength. “Don’t,” he warned.

  But Emily was already moving with a massive grin on her face. One front kick to the chest and Chance was the one who slammed against the door this time.

  Dust rained down from the ceiling and Emily exhaled into that place that existed for so few. The glittering black made Chance look positively exquisite.

  Then she reappeared at his side and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  But thankfully he was no mundane.

  Not at all.

  Chance flipped her over and slammed her onto the floor with one hand. Emily laughed when he gripped her arms tight, pinning them above her head.

  “Is that all you got?” she asked. Emily lifted her head and bared her blood covered teeth at him. “Hit me harder.”

  Chance didn’t hesitate. His punches were quick and brutal, but then she kneed him right in the ribs. A quick grappling move had him pinned underneath her.

  She slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

  “That’s for being the biggest asshole I’ve ever met,” she hissed. “What did I ever do to make you hate me so much?”

  His legs wrapped around her neck in a quick MMA move that she should have seen coming, but Emily had been distracted by the hope that he would answer her.

  Then suddenly she was on her back.

  “I don’t hate you,” he told her, voice gruff as his silver eyes blazed. “I hate the way you make me feel.”

  Before she could think of a response, his lips were on hers, tasting of blood and violence. Chance bit down on her lip hard enough the skin broke and she tasted more blood.

  Her answering moan was almost embarrassing.

  Emily tore through his shirt with her nails, exposing his muscled chest and abs as the fabric fell to the floor. Her nails then did the same to his skin and his blood splashed against her as she reached for his pants.

  Chance moved down and bit her neck, marking the skin as he tore through her Pusheen shirt. “I hate this shirt on you,” he snarled. “It looks fucking ridiculous.”

  Emily ripped open his pants and grabbed his hard cock. “Aiden is definitely bigger.”

  He yanked her holster off with enough force she slid down a few inches.

  “That’s not what the last girl said,” Chance told her, a snarky grin on his face as he unzipped her pants. “She was taller than you too.”

  Her grip on him tightened and he hissed in a breath before wrapping his hand around her neck, pinning her to the ground with just enough pressure her nipples hardened.

  “I’m going to fuck that bad attitude right out of you,” he informed her.

  Then Chance took one of her nipples between his fingers and pinched.

  Yes, this was exactly what she’d been hoping for.

  She pulled harder than necessary until the tip slid in. Then she wrapped her legs around him and forced him inside. “I want you to fuck me like you mean it,” she told him, gripping his hair tight. “Punish me for all those things you hate about me.”

  His grip on her neck tightened and Emily pressed her hips against his in response.

  Chance wasn’t small even if he was the smallest of the four. He stretched her, making her pulse around him. But his size wasn’t what she remembered. No, it was the way he’d l
iked her dirty and used.

  But this time – he slammed into her over and over. She could feel him in her belly, pressing into that sore spot from the inside and…it cleared her mind.

  Every thought and feeling she had faded away as the sensations washed through her. There was a quiet silence in her head and Emily closed her eyes.

  This was what she’d needed.

  She’d needed to feel whatever fucked up thing it was between her and Chance work out physically. Physical touch made so much more sense than the shit he’d been throwing her way the last twenty-four hours.

  Because here, like this, Emily could feel everything he wouldn’t say. The grip on her neck wasn’t tight enough to accidentally kill her, it was perfectly placed to allow her as much oxygen as she needed.

  The bites on her lip and neck were too possessive, too desperate. He needed to taste her, more deeply than just her skin. Now their blood mixed as he bent down to thrust his tongue into her mouth.

  She gripped his hair tight, yanking him down so she could lick her blood from his teeth.

  Chance groaned into her mouth and she breathed it in.

  “Tell me why you hate me,” she demanded, breathless as the sharp pleasure rippled through her, making her sweat.

  “I hate the way you smell like nothing,” Chance snarled, sliding his hand up to expose her throat. He licked from her collarbone to her earlobe and then bit down. “I hate the way you taste – like starlight and midnight candy. It’s intoxicating.”

  He thrust into her again, but he started to slow down, grinding against her clit.

  Emily gasped, raking her nails over his shoulders. “I hate how generically beautiful you are,” she told him. “Then you open your mouth and I see its cruelty. I hate that you think you know better than me.”

  Chance didn’t thrust and pierce her soul like she wanted him to. He kept gyrating against her, and the pleasure built differently. Emily had to bite down on his shoulder to keep from coming.

  She wasn’t done with him yet.

  “About Ben and Aiden?” he rasped, slamming into her. “I do know better than you, and you’re going to break their hearts.”

  Emily leaned back and looked up into his now grey-green eyes. “But not yours?”

  “I don’t have a heart,” Chance said, grinning viciously at her, his hips never once stopping.

  She leaned forward and took his bottom lip between her teeth, pulling hard enough he inhaled sharply. Then she released him. “I don’t believe you. Take it from someone who knows what it’s like to live without a heart. You wouldn’t hate me if you didn’t have one.”

  Chance stopped completely and just stared down at her with a conflicted look in his eyes. “You’re right. You’re a better heartless bitch than I am.”

  Emily reached up and wrapped her fingers around his throat so fast he didn’t even have time to blink. “Fuck me until I scream instead of this bullshit or tell me the real reason you hate me.”

  Then she squeezed and for a moment Chance’s own mortality flashed through his eyes.

  “I hate your glowing red eyes always judging me,” he growled, and the words rippled through her. “I hate that you’re faster than me. I hate that I get jealous at how easy it is between you and Aiden. Even Ben.”

  His green eyes had a film of liquid gathering in the corners she wouldn’t call tears for his sake.

  Emily was frozen in place, her fingers still wrapped around his neck. His confession was no longer a hate letter, and she honestly hadn’t expected that.

  “I hate that I cared when you left, and I never heard from you again.” Chance brushed her hair back from her face before he leaned down and kissed her. “I hate that I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  The liquid from his eyes fell onto her cheek and Emily released his throat, not sure what to make of all this.

  “I don’t hate you, Emily.” Chance started moving again, sliding in and out, pressing against her just right. His hands took her wrists and wrapped them around his neck. “I’ve never hated you.”

  Suddenly she was holding on tight as he thrust into her, the orgasm cresting before she even realized she was that close. Emily gasped, biting down on his shoulder again.

  She didn’t scream when she came because he wasn’t fucking her anymore, not really. It was something else altogether and she wasn’t ready to admit to herself what it was, not even in her own head.

  Chance thrust harder and faster, lifting her up slightly, getting a deeper angle, and she barely managed to hold on as she came again.

  Her entire body clamped down around him, her pussy, her legs, her arms – Emily held on tight and tried to remember how to breathe as he stopped, back arching as he came.

  Chance buried one hand in her hair and pulled back gently, exposing her bare neck to him. He licked from the hollow of her throat to her chin and then bit down gently.

  Before things could get awkward or too heavy, he rolled off of her and grabbed his clothes.

  Chance walked out of her room naked without another word.

  There was still blood on her skin and Emily dipped a finger into it. She watched his ass disappear from her back on the floor and licked the blood off her finger.

  The itch was completely gone.

  For the moment.

  13

  Aiden

  Aiden eyed Emily as he waited for the rest of them to get ready.

  Her skin was still as flawless and creamy as ever, her lips full and red. Her dark sable brown hair set off her eyes and she was honestly the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen.

  But she was also the most damaged and dangerous.

  Emily was a drug – she could heal, and she could kill, but either way she was addictive and controlling.

  Chance was less of an asshole, thanks to the fact that she’d fucked his brains out after beating some sense into him.

  Which was good, because honestly his attitude had been getting on Aiden’s last nerve.

  Aiden’s stomach was still sore, but it was more of a twinge than real pain. He was here and alive because of this conundrum of an assassin before him.

  He could tell she was thinking about betraying them, about turning them in. Aiden knew she would do it without hesitation if she thought that was the only path.

  But she wasn’t going to kill them.

  Jace…well, he didn’t think she was going to kill him either. At least not anymore.

  It was a lucky break her emotions had turned on in her sleep – a subconscious thing maybe.

  Either way, he didn’t trust Emily.

  But he did love her. That was something he’d discovered a week after Samhain when he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Every night he dreamed of her.

  Even when she’d stared down at him, completely emotionless…that version of Emily was like a vengeful goddess ready to smite him out of existence for the sheer audacity of standing before her – of looking into her eyes.

  It made his dick hard just remembering it.

  And then she’d saved his life.

  Aiden still didn’t know why.

  Why him?

  “Okay, is everyone ready?” Jace asked, checking Emily’s pack.

  She slapped his hand away from her, still pissed. Aiden almost laughed. She definitely held Jace responsible for the emotion thing, and who could blame her?

  Knowing Jace he’d probably manipulated her into turning them on somehow.

  “Everyone got food and weapons and a change of clothes?” Chance asked, checking Ben’s pack.

  Those two were so weird. Aiden loved them to death, but he would never understand their relationship.

  Ben glanced back at him and Aiden nodded. He was ready.

  Wonderland.

  When he’d imagined himself traveling with Sara, he’d never thought he would travel this far and wide.

  Aiden looked at Emily again.

  The female he was traveling with was nothing like Sara either.

  Sar
a had been clever and always found new ways to hoard some treasure of their own without Gary finding out. But compared to Emily she was almost boring.

  Emily gave every trickster a run for their money.

  He knew it was part of her weird raven gifts, but she was also special. Emily felt more than anyone he’d ever met before. She viewed the world with a strange combination of skepticism and sheer joy.

  She wanted everything, and Aiden wanted to give it to her.

  “Make sure you put in the right code this time,” she sniped at Chance.

  Aiden sighed. He supposed it was too much to hope they’d worked out all their issues the day before.

  “Maybe if you weren’t talking all the time, I wouldn’t get distracted,” Chance muttered, tapping into Kenzie’s device.

  Hunter was going to murder them all for stealing his mate’s portal.

  Then Chance winked at Emily and she turned away, smiling slightly.

  Well.

  Maybe they did patch things up more than he’d assumed.

  “When we get there, we need to stick together. The four of us have trained together for years, but you’ve never worked with us before,” Jace told Emily. “What position do you want to take?”

  “All positions,” Chance muttered.

  She glared at him, but then refocused on Jace. “Since I can fly, I will take point and scout,” she said, rolling her shoulders back like she always did when she thought about flying.

  She was wearing the SpongeBob shirt he’d gotten her, and Aiden smiled. She hated that shirt too. It was hilarious to see a deadly assassin in something so ridiculous.

  “I’m a better fighter than all of you,” Emily reminded Jace. “I’m a better shot, and a better killer. You may work well together as a group, but if I tell you to do something, do it. It might just save your sorry asses.”

  Jace’s eyes sparkled but he didn’t smile. The muscles in Aiden’s shoulders were tense as he waited to see if the alpha would accept her command.

  “Fair enough,” Jace finally said. “But Ben knows the most about Wonderland. He will be second on this mission.”