It was because of Eli’s supercharged bloodline and her own powerful alpha genes that they’d ended up in this mess. At least that’s what her friend Jillian believed had been the cause of her problems, landing her with a bond that was, but wasn’t. One that was only partially fixed in place, thanks to the crappiest timing in the universe. Or...maybe the luckiest, depending on how you looked at it. In Carla’s case, a partial bond was better than a full, unbreakable one.
As it was, she’d been able to manage without him. Oh, her heart had been battered and bruised for...well, for a long time after he’d abandoned her. But she’d been able to go on, functioning without him.
The only thing she hadn’t been able to do was crawl into bed with another man.
Eli, from the look of things when she’d walked into the bar and found him with a scantily clad blonde passed out in his lap, hadn’t been suffering that particular symptom. And, God, did that tick her off.
After all, it wasn’t like a guy who looked like him would have trouble getting any woman he wanted in his bed. A man too gorgeous to be real—and certainly for his own good. Chiseled, rugged, and massive. Tall and broad and ripped with muscle. Golden skin. Ice blue eyes rimmed with dark, stormy gray. Thick, inky black lashes. He’d always worn his hair short when she’d known him but it was shaggy now, curling around his neck and ears. Messy in that way that movie stars spent a fortune trying to achieve, while Eli probably just ran his hands through it and let it dry. Unfair, how beautiful he was. A dangerous, primal predator who could slay with nothing more than a sarcastic twist of that bold, sensual mouth.
He was so breathtakingly masculine, and so impossibly lethal. To the heart as well as the flesh. And she knew that lesson better than anyone.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm down, knowing he could no doubt sense her every emotion. But it was difficult when inside she was seething with rage. She hated feeling this out of control. It wasn’t something she allowed, given her occupation. Anger made you stupid, and a hunter couldn’t afford to make careless mistakes.
Neither could a woman.
The silence that had settled between them was just about to the point where she wanted to snap at him to say something already, when the tall guy she’d seen him sitting with earlier approached the table. Thankfully without the blonde Eli had dumped in his arms. “I hate to interrupt, but we need to get out of here. They’re closing soon.”
Eli nodded, then moved to his feet in a rippling display of muscle that his jeans and T-shirt did little to conceal. As she stood, as well, the rest of the group who’d been standing nearby at the bar joined them, looking between her and Eli as if they were waiting for him to make the introductions.
Sounding more than a little pissed off, Eli said, “Carla, this is Kyle Maddox, Sam Harmon, James Bennett, and Lev Slivkoff. Guys, this is Carla Reyes. I, uh, know her from home.”
Carla almost winced in sympathy for the gorgeous jerk, since he’d sounded so awkward there at the end, as if he didn’t know what to say about her. He’d obviously never mentioned her to any of his friends or coworkers or whatever a badass Lycan called the other badass Lycan mercenaries that he fought with. Something buried deep inside her gave a stupidly pained cry at that fact, but she refused to pay any attention to it. She wasn’t going to let a little hurt make her act like an idiot in front of him.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she murmured, shaking their rough, battle-hardened hands. They were all tanned and tall and dark, except for Lev, whose shoulder-length mane was as golden as hers. And while the others had dark, midnight-colored eyes that nearly drowned out their ebony pupils, his were an interesting mix of green and blue that could barely pass for human.
They were all pretty much stunningly attractive, oozing the kind of raw sex appeal that probably made most women drool when they saw them—but Lev was definitely the best looking of the bunch, reminding her of a badass Russian enforcer she’d once met during a hunt. When he grabbed her hand, she almost laughed, thinking he was going to kiss the back of it, like something out of a movie. But he didn’t. Instead, he turned it over and licked the inside of her wrist with a rough tongue, right over her pulse. Her startled gasp was drowned out by Eli’s guttural snarl, and the next thing she knew Lev had released her hand and was stumbling into the guy named James, who had a wicked scar on his throat, because Eli had just given Lev a violent shove.
“Don’t be a jackass,” Eli growled.
“He loves me, really,” the Lycan drawled, though there was something in his rich, masculine scent that told her he was more. They all were. She just didn’t know what that more was, and there was no way in hell she was asking when she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
Carla kept a careful eye on the group as they settled their bill at the bar, not quite sure what to expect from them. They were eyeing her with open looks of curiosity and friendly smiles, but she was still a bit wary. Not physically, but emotionally. The last thing she wanted was for one of them to blurt out a question about her relationship with Eli. And they looked nosey enough to do it.
“Since the men and I are heading back with you,” Eli rumbled, “we should find a motel for the night, then hit the road first thing in the morning.”
She’d just started to ask how quickly he thought they could reach Maryland, when the sound of screeching tires and loud voices came from the bar’s front parking lot.
“What was that?” she asked, though no one was paying her any attention. They were all focused on the one named Sam, who had made his way over to one of the front windows and was peeking outside. “Shit,” he muttered. “It looks like we’ve got a problem.”
Eli grabbed her arm and jerked her behind him. “Who is it?”
“I can’t tell yet,” Sam replied, while the remaining customers, along with the staff, started pouring out the back entrance. It apparently wasn’t the first time this place had seen this kind of “problem,” and given the look of the clientele, Carla doubted it would be the last. “But we’ve got three pickups with beds full of armed bad guys,” Sam was saying, “and they’re stopping by our trucks. So my guess is that they’re here for us.”
“Were you followed here?” Lev asked her.
“What? No! Of course not.”
“Then they’re definitely here for us,” the one named James murmured in a deep, gravelly voice.
“Don’t be so sure,” Eli muttered. “She has a knack for dragging trouble in her wake.”
“I do not!” she snapped, poking him hard in the back of his shoulder.
Sam scratched his head as he sauntered back over to the group, a funny expression on his handsome face as he looked at Eli. “I’ve never seen him like this,” he seemed to be saying to the other guys. “He’s always so blasted nice to women. Why’s he keep riling this little thing?”
James shrugged. “Beats me.”
“All of you, mind your own damn business,” Eli growled.
Kyle flashed a smile. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to get a good idea of the problem.”
Lev threw back his head and let out a lusty laugh. “This is gonna be priceless.”
Eli slowly looked from one man to the next, his powerful frame drawn tight with tension. “Shut up about her,” he said in a low voice, “or I’ll break your heads before those idiots out there even get a chance.”
As she moved back to his side, Carla thought he looked and sounded more than ready to thrash the next guy who teased him, but they didn’t seem to care.
“You don’t have to get so testy,” Sam drawled, his dark eyes shining with humor. “We like her.”
“I’m afraid the feeling isn’t mutual anymore,” she muttered, reaching back and pulling the gun she’d stolen off one of the Whiteclaw soldiers from the waistband of her jeans.
“Oh, God,” Lev murmured, clutching his heart when she opened the clip, checking her ammo. “I think I just fell in love.”
At her startled look, Sam laughe
d. “Lev has a thing about women who can handle a weapon.”
“Mmm. That I do.”
Kyle snorted. “He has a thing about all women.”
The blond arched his tawny brows at the grinning merc. “And you don’t?”
Kyle winked and blew him a kiss. “Don’t go sounding jealous, honey. You know I love you.”
This time, Lev was the one who snorted. “You just like the way I fill out my jeans.”
Carla looked at the four laughing idiots and wondered what on earth she’d gotten herself into. What was Eli doing with these clowns? She’d come here for warriors, damn it. Not a collection of frat boys who enjoyed ribbing each other.
Though, to be fair, these mercs didn’t look anything like any frat boy she’d ever seen. They would have made even the college ball players look puny.
Ah, now I get it, she thought a few minutes later, after they’d decided how to handle the situation and she, Eli, and Kyle had made their way out the back entrance and around the left side of the building. The customers and staff had thankfully scattered, no doubt heading into one of the other bars farther down the road, since there wasn’t much of anything else around. There’d been a small group of human thugs lying in wait for the mercenaries just outside the exit, but Lev, Sam, and James, who’d gone out first, had quickly taken care of them, before going right. Then the three mercs had engaged the armed gunmen causing havoc in the front parking lot, while Eli and Kyle stayed with her in the shadows.
These guys might act like a bunch of frat boys, but they sure as hell didn’t fight like them. Relief swept through her in a warm rush as she watched them, making her breathe a bit easier. If she was going to have to endure the seven circles of hell by being close to Eli, she at least wanted to know it was for a good reason. And protecting the ones she loved was as good a reason as there was.
Wyatt was worried about her, and had tried talking her into coming back during each of their conversations since she’d started this journey. It was a testament to how much she meant to all the guys, since they knew Eli and his men were needed—but they apparently cared about her even more. She really was like the little sister none of them had, aside from Eric, and she should have realized how they would react to her heading off on her own. There was probably going to be hell to pay when she finally made it back to the Alley—the place that the Bloodrunners called home.
But at least it would have been worth it. These mercenaries might be even more of a joking, smartass group than the Runners, but they were seriously skilled when it came to combat. Bullets sprayed from the humans’ guns as they scattered around the remaining cars in the lot and shot wildly into the night, unable to pinpoint the mercs’ locations as the guys quickly took down one assailant after another. She could sense Eli and Kyle’s need to join the fight and help their friends, but knew they were sticking close to her in order to provide protection.
Eli Drake had always been the most overprotective male she’d ever known, and that obviously hadn’t changed. She knew he didn’t want to leave her side, but when it looked like four of the thugs were going to slash the tires on the two shiny, badass black trucks she assumed belonged to the mercs, he told her to stay with Kyle, and headed off to deal with them.
“You know, we don’t have to hide over here,” she murmured, as soon as Eli had left. “I’m perfectly capable of helping in a fight.”
“I’m sure you are, honey. But I think Eli would probably castrate me if I let anything happen to you. And I’m kinda partial to all my body parts.”
That probably would have been the end of it, if another truckload of men hadn’t come barreling into the lot. Someone must have called for reinforcements, and this time the truck stopped near the side of the building where she was waiting with Kyle. No longer willing to stand this one out when the mercs were so outnumbered, she lifted her weapon as she moved toward the cover of a nearby grove of pecan trees and started firing on the armed gunmen who were shooting into the parking lot.
Carla had managed to take out five of the humans, before she felt a sharp burn cut across her left side, just beneath the edge of her bra. It felt like acid had been poured onto her skin, but she kept firing, until the last gunman in the truck fell. Then she slumped against the thick tree trunk Kyle had pulled her behind, listening to the fighting still taking place out in the parking lot. There wasn’t as much gunfire now, and she knew things were winding down. They needed to get out of there while they still could, before the cops showed up and things really got complicated.
“You’re gonna be in so much trouble,” Kyle predicted, his low voice holding the soft, melting edge of a Southern accent. “Eli told you to stay out of it.”
“I didn’t even get my claws out,” she huffed. “All I did was fire some bullets.”
“He’s still gonna be pissed.”
Ignoring him, she took another look around the side of the tree and watched as Lev finally caught one of the few remaining gunmen for questioning, his big hand fisted in the front of the guy’s bloodied shirt as he pulled the Hispanic-looking male close to his face and spoke to him. The human was apparently being stubborn, because Lev gave him a frustrated shake that probably jarred the thug’s brain loose. She could see his lips moving, and a moment later Lev tossed him aside, not even bothering to watch where the guy landed as he turned and started making his way over to where she stood with Kyle.
“What the hell is their problem?” Kyle asked, as soon as Lev was within hearing distance.
“They work for Julio Varga. Seems ol’ Julio thinks Eli slept with his woman when we were staying down at their compound last month.”
All this because Eli screwed the wrong woman? she thought, her lip curling in a disgusted sneer. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Kyle clucked his tongue at her in admonishment. “He didn’t touch her, honey.” Jerking his head toward a smirking Lev, he added, “It was this jackass who couldn’t keep it in his pants.”
Lev’s grin got wider. “Not fair, man. She caught me when I wasn’t wearing any.”
“You could have tried a little self-control,” Kyle muttered.
“I did,” Lev protested. “But then she got on her knees and—”
“Enough!” Carla waved the hand still holding her empty gun, cutting him off. “I don’t want to hear this.”
Waggling his brows, the golden Adonis sent her a crooked smile. “You sure, pretty wolf? It’s good stuff.”
“Then maybe over a beer sometime,” she relented, finding his boyish charm kind of endearing. He was like a big freaking teddy bear, once you got past the serious sex appeal. “But not in the middle of a fight.”
Before either male could say another word, the gunfire abruptly ended, and Eli was suddenly standing right in front of her. His face and arms were spattered with blood, his shirt and hair damp with sweat, while all those acres of hard muscle flexed beneath his skin as he breathed in a harsh rhythm. And the expression on his face was as darkly furious as his tone. “What the fuck, Carla? Did you or did you not hear me tell you to stay out of it?”
“Oh, I heard you,” she murmured, trying to ignore the fire in her side. “I just don’t take orders from you.”
His nostrils flared, and he fisted his massive hands at his sides. “If you had, then you wouldn’t be bleeding.”
“Shit! She got shot?” Kyle moved to get a better look at her, and his eyes went wide when he saw her blood-soaked left side. “Damn it, woman. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I’m fine. It’s just a graze.” She lifted her brows when she looked at Eli. “And I didn’t know you found the sight of a little blood so upsetting.”
One of the mercs choked off a laugh, though she couldn’t tell which one. She was too busy keeping a careful eye on Eli, since he looked like he wanted to throttle her.
“Come on,” he finally muttered, gripping her right arm and dragging her with him as he headed toward those massive black trucks that sat on the far side of the
lot.
“Wait, I need my car!” she yelled, looking toward the little VW she’d picked up for almost nothing the week before. It looked a little sad, but damn it, that car had character. She couldn’t just leave it there all by its lonesome to turn into a rust bucket.
Eli flicked a dismissive look over the car. “That piece of shit stays here.”
“Oh, no, it doesn’t!”
“It’s not even yours,” he argued, obviously noticing the Georgia plates.
“Is too!” she shot back, wishing he wouldn’t walk quite so fast, since her head was starting to get a bit woozy. “I bought it off a guy in Atlanta last week for a hundred bucks.”
He stopped and gave her a look that set her teeth on edge, as if he thought she’d gone out of her mind. “You bought a stolen car off some random guy?”
She clenched her teeth, having already figured that part out for herself. No way the human would have sold it to her for that amount if the transaction had been legit. He’d probably just been looking for some quick money to pay for his next fix. And it’s not like they’d dealt with any of the legal paperwork. She’d just needed to ditch the car she’d stolen off the Whiteclaw and find something a little more fuel efficient, since it’d become apparent that tracking down her so-called “other half” was going to take more time than she’d hoped.
So, yeah, the car was most likely hot. But she’d still paid money for it!
“What if I take the keys inside and leave a note to let them know she’s up for grabs?” James offered, speaking up for the first time since they’d come outside.
“Fine,” she muttered, figuring it was better than nothing. “But please get my bag out of the trunk first.”
James nodded as he took the keys she’d dug out of her pocket, the pain in her side burning like holy hell as she moved. But she refused to groan, not wanting to give Eli the satisfaction. Instead, she glared at him as he pulled a set of keys from his own pocket.
“Are you even sober enough to drive?” she asked with a scowl.
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