by K. N. Banet
Moving to the side, he yanked my sweatpants off. His eyes went black, and the growl that came from him was that of a satisfied man.
I hadn’t worn any underwear, either.
Reaching out, I tugged on his shorts, telling him they needed to go as well. When his eyes met mine, they were full of hot passion, even if they were one solid color.
The shorts flew across the room, and he was back between my legs in record time. He worshiped my body in kisses—my neck, my breasts, my stomach. He wedged himself between my legs and blew my mind with each stroke of his tongue and the dexterous way he used his fingers.
I was panting by the time he came back up. The smart man gently grabbed my jaw and turned my head, protecting himself from my fangs as I moaned and screamed my way through that first orgasm. He buried his face in my hair and pushed in slowly.
There was no talking—not a single word, including each other’s names. We spoke through the sighs and moans we made as our worlds merged into only each other. The fire in my veins fueled me to go on for ages. His lust for me, something I hadn’t realized was strong, fueled him to match me. That second orgasm was like a bomb going off.
The strong muscles of his back were memorized by my fingers, more specifically, my nails. The curves of my body were memorized by his hands and mouth. We played with each other’s bodies for hours, long past the rising of the sun.
By the time Raphael carried me back to my room, I felt less hollow. I was still exhausted, but I felt infinitely better. And when he put me in the bed, completely wrung out of every bit of energy I had?
He joined me.
32
Chapter Thirty-Two
One week later
I jumped out of my BMW and left it parked at the sidewalk to go into the small coffee shop, finding the person I was looking for immediately. He and I didn’t meet in his territory, that was my rule. I tried to avoid Pack business and structures because they could be a violent bunch, and I never wanted to get dragged into it.
“How is he?” I asked immediately.
“Aren’t you going to sit down and order a coffee?” Wagner asked, frowning at me.
“No, I just want to know how he is. I’m feeling a little invested in him, and for a week now, you’ve been avoiding my calls or telling me you were too busy. Now I have several things to do in one day. Tell me how Wesley is doing.” I didn’t have time for him to flex and show up the way Alphas loved to do. He had strung me along for a week, refusing to give me news.
He sighed. “Sit. It’s…drawing attention for you to just stand there. You stand out. You should dye your hair.”
“You don’t think I dye it white?” I sat down slowly, knowing he was right.
“I would be able to smell the bleach, and you can’t get the color you have unnaturally. Not well, at least.” Wagner gave me a hard stare. “Now, order a drink. You know better than to make a scene, Kaliya.”
“Just tell me what I want to know, and this conversation would already be over.”
He growled softly. “You realize everyone here still knows I’m the Phoenix Alpha, right? My identity isn’t a secret like yours. The public was already scared of us, and now you want me to talk about Wesley, who exposed our entire Last Change problem to the world.”
“Wagner.” I put a lot of warning in those words. “I don’t care about your PR problems.”
“He’s…not fine, but not worse, either,” Wagner finally said, throwing his hands in the air. There was something amusing about frustrated Alphas who didn’t get their way. “He’s unable to control himself. We’re giving him time to see if he can bring himself back down.”
“The compulsion spell might still be driving him to find me,” I said softly. “Have you called Monica?”
He growled, this time a little louder than necessary.
“She’s going to charge me. I’m not in the mood to give more money to the witches.” His words were still hushed. No one would hear us in our tucked-away booth in the back of the café, and no one could get a good picture of us from where we were.
“So? Someone needs to reverse the spell on him or let him…” I gave him my best glare. “Get it done, Alpha Wagner. For him, for you, for me. Call her today.” I stood up and walked out, letting the human whispers follow me. They all probably wanted to know who just chewed out the popular and respected Alpha of the city. He was the one who wanted a public space, probably to keep me from getting too rowdy.
He just learned that didn’t work with me.
I got back into my BMW and drove back to my condo. We had the window fixed and moved back in as if nothing had happened. The lawyer I kept on retainer kept anyone from asking too many questions and had the local police suppress my address to keep it from leaking to the press in relation to the Wesley portion of the incident. He’d been caught on security cameras, so the werewolves had to talk to the human police forces. I was certain the United States government also got involved. They had an entire agency to handle these things. Once humans got involved, I generally got out. It wasn’t my business anymore. I didn’t do the human-involved stuff, being one of the species they didn’t know about.
Walking through the kitchen, noting that Raphael wasn’t there, I headed to my office. He was probably in the gym. I gave him a lot more free rein now. He had earned it over the breakout.
Sitting down at my desk, I found his note and was glad to see I was right. He had gone down to the gym and would be back up in two hours. That gave me time to make the next phone call of the day.
Adhar picked up on video after two rings.
“It’s good to see you, Kaliya.”
“Did he make it there okay?” I asked softly. Phoenix to New Delhi for Nakul had been a twenty-six-and-a-half-hour flight with two connections. I flew him privately, splitting the cost with Adhar, but it was still long because of refueling stops. He was escorted by two witches from Monica’s coven, keeping him under, who would come back in a few days once Nakul was awake and knew what had happened to him. Adhar’s job—along with some of the other male nagas to back him up—was to keep Nakul from hurting anyone…forever. His sentence was changed to house arrest, and the Tribunal had quietly agreed to not publicize the naga’s absence from the prison.
“He and the witches arrived at the temporary home only a couple of hours ago. We’re going to be here only one night, then the witches will leave. Nakul is going to live with me.”
“That’s good,” I said, nodding. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Thank you for deciding to trust me again. And…” He looked like he had to swallow a bitter pill. “Good work in Phoenix. You did us proud.”
“Thanks.” I hadn’t been expecting that. Normally, Adhar yelled at me every chance he got.
“If not for you, someone would have killed him, and—”
“It would have been their right and duty,” I reminded him. “Don’t kid yourself. He’s dangerous, Adhar, but…maybe one day, he’ll be okay. He’ll never be free, but maybe okay.”
“I understand. Now, I must leave you. The witches were hoping to start when you called.”
“Good luck to you and them.” I hung up.
Taking one long deep breath, I sank back into my chair, then released a slow sigh. I knew what was next, I just needed Raphael to get back from the gym.
Once he was back, we didn’t talk much until we were back in my BMW.
“Did he really think after everything, a text saying he was back was going to be good enough?” Raphael asked, smiling a little.
“Apparently,” I muttered, shaking my head. No one ever said Cassius was the smartest man. He had sent it the night before, and I had told him to go to hell, leaving him wondering why.
The devil himself answered his door, and I immediately grabbed his shirt.
“Did you fucking hear what went down while you were gone, asshole?” I snapped at him. Cassius had no fight in him, though. He gave me a tired look.
“I heard about it a
fter I sent the text. I’m sorry. Sorcha and I didn’t have a good trip either, which is why we’re back early.”
“What happened?”
“Someone tried to kill us!” Sorcha said, smiling as she walked up and put an arm around Cassius’ waist. He didn’t look nearly as amused. “It was exciting. Some old enemies of mine lost their challenge against me to take my title, obviously angry that I married up. When they lost, they came after us unsanctioned, and we had to kill them. Poor Mary Anne had a fright when she arrived, and we were engaged in a deadly duel at Cassius’ fae home during high tea. It was nothing.” Sorcha waved a hand around, rolling her eyes. “Just a little team of fae warriors. Nothing we couldn’t handle, and we weren’t injured.”
“Well, that’s all well and good, I guess. I’m glad you both made it home safe. You also lied about why you were leaving,” I accused. They were both surprised. I was genuinely glad to see them, but I was also riding anger that had been building since the moment the breakout started in the prison.
“How do you know?” Cassius asked, swallowing.
“I have my sources, or someone on the Tribunal thought it was something I needed to know. A source is a source, right?”
“Sure,” Cassius grumbled. “Hey, Raphael. Glad to see you made it out of everything okay.”
“Oh, I had it easy,” Raph said with no small manner of masculine anger. His hand wrapped around my waist, a casual move between two new lovers. “You should be grateful Kaliya is still alive. I was pretty fucking worried about it myself a few times.”
That had me letting go of my fae friend to turn and glare at my new partner.
“You didn’t need to tell him that.”
“Someone was going to eventually, like Leith. I’m amazed he hasn’t.”
“He has, but I wasn’t stupid enough to bring it up,” Cassius said stiffly. His eyes were on the hand holding my hip. When he looked up and met my eyes, understanding passed between us.
Really? His eyes asked me.
Sorcha was the only one who laughed. “Okay, everyone. Let’s take this conversation out of the doorway and yell at each other in the drawing room. Let’s go!”
I followed her, deciding I was momentarily done with both men.
“Is there any reason for this visit?” Cassius asked as he followed me into the drawing room, and Sorcha wandered back out to get drinks. Raphael was the last in, looking between me and Cassius.
“Do you want to tell him or should I?” he asked, smiling a little. He even winked over Cassius’ shoulder.
I quickly launched into an explanation of the prison breakout and what it all boiled down to.
“It was Mygi or someone who works with them. Raphael recognized the man from Nakul’s memory as someone from the lab where he was being kept,” I finished, falling into an uncomfortable couch, only there for looks.
“Ah.” Cassius found a seat as well. Raphael was the only person still standing, and he helped Sorcha hand out drinks when she brought them. When that was done, Sorcha sat next to her husband, and Raphael sat next to me, casually throwing an arm over the back of the couch, about six inches too close to be only friends.
That made both fae narrow their eyes. This was the second sign Raphael and I were a lot friendlier with each other than before they had left. I knew my ex-lover’s wheels were spinning. He was probably asking himself if we had mated yet, if I had injected Raphael with my venom and claimed him as my own for the rest of my immortal life. He was definitely unsure of the protocol about asking.
Later, I mouthed when Cassius pinpointed my eyes with his own.
Now really wasn’t the time to talk about how Raphael and I were casually sleeping together, nothing more. Now wasn’t the time to talk to Cassius about all my fears and insecurities about the new change in my relationship with Raphael. I saw it in his face. He knew what I was feeling.
“So, what’s next?” Sorcha asked, oblivious to the hidden conversation between her husband and me. “Because I can help, you know.”
“Well…” I pulled out my wallet and removed two pieces of paper. I wasn’t going to be foolish enough to deny the offer. “We have a picture of him and a business card Raphael found in Eliphas’ office. I guess now, we find him and take down Mygi.”
Mygi couldn’t cover this up. They couldn’t turn this lead into a dead end. I wasn’t going to let them.
“We’re going to have to act fast,” Cassius said professionally. He picked up the business card, nodding slowly. “Let’s get to work.”
Dear Reader,
If you’re sitting wondering when you’ll get answers to some of these mysteries in this series, they come in the next book and on. These are deep conspiracies and trying to answer them in one or two books doesn’t do the story, the characters, or the villains any justice. So bear with me. Thank you for reading this far and I hope you want to continue going down the rabbit hole with Kaliya and Raphael as they try to hunt for the secrets of both their lives.
Reviews are always welcome, whether you loved or hated the book. Please consider taking a few moments to leave one and know I appreciate every second of your time and I’m thankful.
And if I still have you…
You can come join me in being a little bit crazy in The Banet Pride, my facebook reader’s group. I have deleted scenes and chapters from different points of view posted for free!
Also by K.N. Banet
The Tribunal Archives
Urban Fantasy
Jacky Leon
Oath Sworn
Family and Honor
Broken Loyalty
Echoed Defiance
Kaliya Sahni
Bounty
Snared
About the Author
KristenBanetAuthor.com
K.N. Banet loves to read books that make people cry. She likes to write books that make people cry (and she wants to hear about it). She’s a firm believer that nothing and no one in this world is perfect, and she enjoys exploring those imperfections—trying to make the characters seem real on the page and not just in her head. Worlds of action, adventure, trying times, and true love are the things that get her writing.
She might be crazy, though. Her characters think so, but this can’t be confirmed. You might want to try asking her husband, two dogs, and cat.
You can join her in being a little bit crazy in The Banet Pride, her facebook reader’s group.
Also by Kristen Banet
Reverse Harem
Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance
Age of the Andinna
The Gladiator’s Downfall
The Mercenary’s Bounty
The Warrior’s Assault
The Rebel’s Vision
The Enemy’s Triumph
Witch of the Wild West
Bounty Hunters and Black Magic
Werewolves and Wranglers
Complete Series
The Redemption Saga
A Life of Shadows
A Heart of Shame
A Nature of Conflict
An Echo of Darkness
A Night of Redemption
Wild Junction
The Kingson Pride Series
Wild Pride
Wild Fire
Wild Souls
Wild Love
The Wolves of Wild Junction Duet
Prey to the Heart
Heart of the Pack