To Catch A Bandit

by Emma Dean

  He snatched her ankle and yanked. The air was knocked from her lungs, but she struck, hitting him right in the nose. Based on the sound she’d broken it.

  “You need to fix this,” Jace growled, bleeding all over her. “If they actually hurt each other neither of them are going to be able to forgive themselves.”

  His words barely reached her, and Emily thrashed against his surprisingly strong hold.

  Blood was everywhere and Jace pinned her to the ground with a snarl. If she could just breathe, she could slit his throat and be done with it all, but Emily couldn’t figure out how to focus.

  “Emily,” Jace snarled. “Get it together and let them fucking smell you for fuck’s sake.”

  She couldn’t be their mate. What would happen to her? To everything she’d worked for? Would her Collective take them into their eyrie? Would they consider her treason a valid action because they’re her mates?

  Emily stopped flickering in and out of this reality. The sounds of Aiden trying to keep Chance and Ben from hurting each other reached her ears amidst the ringing and the panic.

  “I can’t,” she managed. “I can’t.”

  She couldn’t deny the bond. Emily knew she couldn’t, not like this. Maybe if she turned off her emotions…then she could fucking think. She could deny it and mean it.

  Jace’s hand on her throat tightened. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

  Everything she’d built all her life was crumbling around her and it was all because of these stupid fucking raccoons.

  Her panic started to edge into anger, and she took a deep breath, filling her lungs.

  They were nothing but trouble, nothing but rocks in her shoes and it didn’t matter how she felt about them, they were ruining her life. Emily reached up so fast Jace blinked in surprise when her fingers wrapped around his throat.

  “Let go of me. Now.”

  Anger, no rage—rage was much better than panic. It was razor sharp and metallic and helped her cut through the bullshit.

  Jace released her, hands up, blood still leaking from his nose, but it was already healing.

  Emily managed to stand, only flickering once into the shadow realm as she started to wrangle her shit together. She released Jace and turned on Ben and Chance who were still wrestling on the ground, blood was everywhere, and the sound of possessive snarls filled the room.

  Gripping Ben’s long hair she yanked him off of Chance and pressed her foot to Chance’s throat.

  Aiden watched them with wide eyes, a bruise fully formed on his cheek – healing already thanks to his shifter magic.

  “I asked him to hit me,” she snarled at Ben. “Get it together.” Then she released him, one eye on Chance.

  Ben shook his head and his glowing silver eyes went from silver back to their gorgeous brown. When she felt confident he was under control she turned her full attention on Chance, who was glaring at her like all of this was her fault somehow.

  “Am I your mate, Chance?” she asked, feeling her stomach lurch at that word that made her want to vomit and panic all over again.

  “I don’t know,” he choked out.

  Emily slowly lifted her foot from his throat, making sure he wouldn’t attack Ben or the Morrigan knew who else. Her probably.

  “I can’t be sure,” Chance amended, rubbing his throat.

  She was going to have to let them all smell her, something she hadn’t done since…since she was five years old. She shuddered at the thought of letting someone breathe in her essence.

  There was something incredibly vulnerable about allowing another shifter to scent her and Emily had trained every bit of vulnerability she had out of her body and mind until these fucking raccoons.

  “Fine. Come here,” she snapped.

  It took every bit of control she had to ignore Aiden and Jace. Everything she had not to slip into the shadow realm and disappear for a few hours to kill something.

  Chance glanced at Ben and the other raccoon nodded as if his common sense had finally returned. Aiden watched with wide eyes as Chance got up and slowly approached Emily. Jace reset the bones in his nose like he didn’t even care.

  Without touching her, Chance leaned in to sniff the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine that made her feel more defenseless than she’d ever felt in her life, even when she’d been at rock bottom and Corbin had to drag her back up.

  A quick step back and she knew before he said anything. Chance nodded once. “Yeah, I smell the mate bond on you.” His eyes flashed silver and something in Ben seemed to settle.

  Aiden glanced at Jace and Emily knew what she had to do.

  “Just do it,” she snapped.

  “It’s weird,” Aiden admitted. “I feel like I’m invading your privacy.”

  “You’ve already fucked me, just get it over with,” she snapped, waving him forward.

  Aiden stepped forward hesitantly and Jace was suddenly there, in front of her.

  She held his vicious gaze and wondered…what it would be like to be his mate.

  Jace wrapped his hand around her throat gently and pulled her forward so he could run his nose from her shoulder to her neck. When he kissed her softly in that spot that made shifters go wild…she knew.

  When he stepped back his eyes were glowing silver too.

  Aiden blushed as he came forward next and she loved him for that hesitation – that desire to give her the peace she needed. But this wasn’t something they could ignore if the last few months were any indication.

  Even if they’d never truly scented her, she was a mate and they’d all slept together. That caused complications whether any of them knew the truth or not.

  It certainly explained why all of them hadn’t been able to move on from that night.

  “Mate,” Aiden whispered lovingly against her neck, as if he’d always known and simply needed confirmation.

  Emily nodded once as she absorbed the information and then disappeared into the shadow realm.

  19

  Emily

  She was perched in a tree just outside the mouth of the cave where the rebels were hiding. In the shadow realm nothing and no one could see her – not even the monsters and creatures that hunted in Wonderland.

  Even if they had never come here, and she’d never had to take off her scent charm thanks to a river that had tried to kill them…

  They would still be her mates. Nothing in the universe could change that. They’d been her mates that Samhain night even though none of them knew it. They’d been her mates as she flew farther and farther away from them until the distance was a constant ache and only turning off her emotions had eased it.

  But not for them. The raccoons hadn’t been able to turn it off, it wasn’t one of their gifts. Instead, they’d had to stew in the pain and wonder why they felt that way.

  No wonder Chance was so furious.

  Shifters were insanely possessive of their mates. Didn’t matter if they were wolves or leopards or foxes or squirrels. All of them were urged by their biology to claim and protect and possess.

  Something had taken pity on those mated to shifters and allowed a loophole. The bond would dissolve if it was denied – if it was not wanted. It was easier for those non-shifters. A human, a witch, a demon, a vampire, or a raven wouldn’t be driven to accept that bond in the same way the normal shifters were.

  It wouldn’t be as painful for them.

  But for Jace, Ben, Chance, and Aiden? There would always be something missing, a dull ache in their chest that nothing could ease. Emily had even heard of some shifters going feral or wasting away until they died if a bond was denied or a mate died.

  Dramatic, if they asked her.

  Would she be the same if she could find a way to deny the bonds and mean it?

  Emily wasn’t sure since she’d been born…wrong.

  When was the last time someone in her flock had been mated? What had they done? Was the outsider brought in, or was the raven cast out?

  Emily didn’t think
it really mattered. If she was cast out, she would lose everything. If they offered to bring in the raccoons and they refused, she would be heartbroken.

  She glared down at Jace who was calmly sitting against the trunk of the tree she was in, eating an apple and watching the entrance to the cave like he wasn’t aware she was hidden in the shadow realm, perched on the very same tree.

  It was strange to have someone know where she was even when she was hidden in the shadows. He couldn’t see her, but he could feel her.

  It was disturbing.

  What was she going to do?

  Emily felt constrained by so many things. Logistically there was no good choice. Everything she desired conflicted, and she was going to have to give up something she desperately wanted.

  She was so tired of having to sacrifice, of having to fit into the world’s tiny little boxes. She was more than a raven, more than an assassin, and more than a mate. Why couldn’t she be all those things and more?

  If she chose what she wanted she’d lose all of it. She’d lose her status and career and family and mates.

  There was no good choice.

  “I can wait all day,” Jace said in between loud crunches of apple. “You’re going to talk to me eventually.”

  Know it all bastard.

  But she’d finally gotten her panic reined in. That hell-forged iron control was back in her grasp and her thoughts kept going in circles. Maybe talking to him would give her a different perspective.

  Emily leapt from the branch and shifted on her way down. She landed in a crouch on her feet, clothes on thanks to the tattoo on her rib. Then she inhaled and stepped fully into Wonderland.

  She didn’t bother to say anything as she leaned against the tree. Emily crossed her arms over her chest and planted a foot against the bark.

  This place had weird smells. Like sandalwood and lavender incense mixed with chloroform.

  “Alice is going to brief us in an hour. You got it together?” Jace asked, crunching into his apple without looking at her.

  Normally she would be offended by such a question, but she was new to this faction—team. Her panic and hesitation could get them all killed or worse, captured.

  “I’m fine,” she told him. “The mission is my top priority right now.”

  “Good.” He looked at her then with an appraising eye. “I can still feel you, so you didn’t turn off your emotions.”

  “Yet,” she replied.

  Thinking about this with them on was necessary regardless of her choice. That way she would know if she turned them off that all of her was on the same page.

  “You really think that’s a good idea?” Jace asked, turning back to watch the entrance to the underground rebel base.

  “It might be.” Depending on what she chose to do. “What do you want?”

  Emily wanted nothing to do with the raccoons right now. All it would do was confuse her and she was already lost and unsure. She didn’t need more complications.

  “You’re my mate. Am I not allowed to care about your well-being?” Jace asked, one eyebrow raised as he finally gave her his full attention.

  “No, you’re not,” she snapped. “If it didn’t matter before, it shouldn’t matter now.”

  “Fair enough.” Jace tossed the apple core into the forest and shrugged. “Maybe I cared before.”

  Emily tensed. “Stop it.”

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop pretending any of this mattered before.” Her rage flickered and it was difficult to grit her teeth and bury it down. “You disappeared and all that was left was your stupid watch. You had no intention of finding me again, and neither did I. Can we please stop pretending like this wouldn’t be different if the universe didn’t like playing cruel jokes?”

  Jace got to his feet slowly, brushing the leaves and dirt from his pants. “Having feelings for me is cruel?” he asked, tilting his head slightly.

  It sounded like he didn’t give a fuck but when she turned to glare at him his eyes were blazing silver.

  “Having feelings for someone who doesn’t feel the same is cruel,” she gritted out. “Creating a bond between people whose lives can’t possibly work together is cruel.”

  There was blessed silence for a moment and then she felt him take a deep breath. Almost like he was nervous.

  “Why couldn’t our lives work together?” Jace held up his hands again as if he knew his question would piss her off – and annoyingly it did. “I’m just asking so I can understand your position, not so I can argue with you.”

  She glared at him anyways. “Are you an assassin?”

  He grinned at that. “I can be. It’s not our usual kind of job, but raccoons are adaptable creatures.”

  They were, but they didn’t have the same gifts ravens did. They didn’t have the twenty years of training she had at only twenty-three years old.

  “What gifts do your kind possess?” she asked.

  The wind ruffled her hair and she adjusted the shirt she had on, surprised by how cold it was. Another ridiculous cartoon on the front, Ren and Stimpy she was pretty sure.

  “Raccoons, you mean?” Jace asked. He chuckled. “Our gifts are…varied, to say the least.”

  “Like what?” she demanded. Witches joined their Collective all the time. If the raccoons could serve a purpose…

  “We have infinite patience and energy,” Jace told her, waving his hand between him and her. “I could literally have waited forever for you to come down and it wouldn't have bothered me.”

  Ravens learned that before they could even talk. “What else?”

  “Not to lump us all together, but we tend to have terrible long-distance vision like our animal counterparts, which you already know.” Jace shrugged and his eyes grew distant as if he was reliving something she couldn’t see. “Higher tolerance to pain than most shifters, but we’re not immune to it.”

  Her heart clenched and she nearly asked, but Emily bit her lip to keep quiet. She had to know all aspects of this…partnership.

  “Raccoons are very smart usually, and excellent problem solvers,” he told her, giving her a wink. “We can camouflage our scent, we’re incredibly fast—faster than almost any other shifter. The foxes got the strength and we got the speed.”

  She’d seen that firsthand when they were trying to escape the demon.

  “We’re, ironically, very clean.” Jace nudged her with his shoulder and she had to bite her lip again to keep from smiling.

  “Who would have guessed,” she murmured.

  “Our best gifts are the ones that allow us to pass by unnoticed even though we’re still visible, and my personal favorite: the ability to poke a person without touching them.”

  She turned and stared at Jace incredulously. “Are you fucking with me?”

  A sharp jab in her rib made her flinch, but only because he hadn’t moved and wasn’t touching her.

  “What the fuck?”

  Jace chuckled. “It’s weird, but it’s also a lot of fun. You should see the look on people’s faces.”

  Emily couldn’t hold it in anymore. She laughed out loud and rubbed her side. “That is so stupid.”

  “Worth it.” Jace shrugged and gave her a grin. “Don’t make me poke you again.”

  She almost said she’d like to see him try, but Emily knew where that would lead.

  “Raccoons are usually thieves thanks to our sticky, dexterous fingers.” He wiggled them slightly but stared off into the forest as if he could see something lurking in there. “But we like working with anything shiny, so jewelers, miners, something with computers, even a few geologists and astronauts here and there. Our greatest gift though, is that we’re overlooked.”

  Jace eyed her and slipped his hands into his pockets as if he remembered the way she’d watched them at the ball. “Normally anyway. We can get away with almost anything.”

  Emily believed him too, but she didn’t know if it was enough to convince her flock to take in four raccoons. Shifters who normally l
ived on the ground. She shuddered. Most non-avian shifters didn’t do well in the eyries among the clouds.

  The ones on the mountaintops at least allowed them to walk up and down the millions of stairs if they so desired, but an eyrie flying in the sky? That required an escort. Hers was built for shifters with wings.

  There weren’t many banisters and railings.

  “Jace…” Emily didn’t know what to tell him, she didn’t know what to say. “Even if my eyrie allowed you all to live there, you would hate it. And any other option doesn’t exist.”

  His sharp eyes studied her, and she could practically see the wheels turning in his head. “Because you want to be an assassin?”

  It made her feel vulnerable to admit it, but it seemed like it was the day for such things. Emily nodded and then shrugged. “I’ve spent twenty years of my life becoming who I am. I’ve never wanted anything else. This job…I’m not unhappy, Jace.”

  He wasn’t wearing his glasses today, hadn’t been the last two days. Emily hadn’t figured out what made him decide he needed them, but Aiden was the same way. Sometimes he wore them, sometimes he didn’t.

  Weirdly, she liked the way the glasses looked on both of them, but she also liked looking directly into their eyes like right at that moment, she could nearly see what Jace was thinking.

  “But are you fulfilled? They’re not holding you back?”

  Emily looked away.

  That was a different sort of question she didn’t know how to answer.

  “Let’s say I wanted to leave my Collective—my flock, my family, and everything I’ve known and decided to strike out on my own.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked into that deep dark forest instead. “I would have to petition the Enclave which would include paying off my Collective for training me. Allowing me back into the eyrie may not be granted. We have survived so long because of our dedication to our own kind. If I left…”

  The silence between them stretched and grew taut. It was ready to shatter and cut them both.

  Until Jace took her hand in his. “If you wanted to leave, we would help you pay them back. Whether you wanted to be with us or not.”