by JoAnna Grace
“I don’t know what he’s saying half the time, but he sure sounds cute saying it.” Piper giggled and elbowed Keona.
By the second round, all four of them were laughing and having a good time. By round three Keona made her way with Piper to the dance floor. The men sat back and watched them dance at the edge of the crowd.
I like him, Piper called out to her sister telepathically. There was no use in yelling above the music. Evander. He’s cool.
Keona’s smile stretched wide. If Evander and Piper worked well together, maybe her sister wouldn’t be so upset over the dreams she’d been having—or not having, as the case was now. Maybe Keona needed to nurture the attraction between Piper and Sean? Perhaps that would help her move on and find some joy in her life.
And Sean? He’s totally into you, sis.
He’s okay. Cute, that’s for sure. Smart, funny.
Piper, I know you’re caught up on this dream guy. I get it. But there’s a living, breathing, hot male right in front of you. No sleep aids required. And he’s coming to dance with you.
Sean and Evander joined the girls when the beat slowed to a sensual thumping. Couples all over the club paired off and their bodies moved in sync.
“Come here, woman.” Evander hooked his arms around Keona’s waist and pulled her closer until their legs mingled and their hips pressed against each other.
“I don’t know if you can keep up, old man. You sure you can get down to these modern songs?” Keona teased him, loving the way he grinned and his eyes darkened.
“How about this?” Evander moved his torso in a slow roll. One hand stayed on her lower back, moving closer to the curve of her ass. The other gripped her hip, keeping her grinding against his leg.
Everyone else in the club disappeared. Their eyes locked and Keona fell headfirst into the desire she saw within him. Every heavy beat brought her closer, teasing her with the promise that he could move like this in bed, too. She imagined him naked and panting, his hips pushing into her the same way he rolled against her right now. Keona rubbed her hands up his chest, his neck, to the softness of his hair.
“You’re making me so hot right now,” she said in his ear, then took a nibble.
“Spend the night with me, baby. We can do this without any clothing in the way.” Evander kissed her, and her head spun out of control.
“What about Piper?” As always, she had to make sure her sister was secure before she thought about herself.
“I think she’s in good hands.” Evander turned them so she could see Piper and Sean dancing together, laughing and having fun. They weren’t intertwined, but they danced together just fine, Piper’s arms linked around his neck, his hands resting on her hips. “Sean and Cain can take her home, Nicholas will be on watch as soon as she gets home and will stay there all night. They can protect her, Keona. You don’t have to worry. Stay with me tonight.”
Keona couldn’t contain her excitement. She smiled and nodded, then pressed her lips to his. When the beat picked up, Piper and Sean slid into the booth and kept talking. Keona and Evander stayed on the dance floor. He could move, she would give him that.
The DJ played an old school rap by Nelly and Evander fell out laughing when Keona sang every word.
“How do you know that song?” He sat in the booth and pulled her onto his lap, kissing her bare shoulder.
“That’s my jam. Or it was fifteen years ago.” Keona downed her drink and connected with Piper. How’s it going?
Great. Sean is so interesting. I’m glad you asked me to come along.
Good. Hey, um, Evander wants me to come over to his place tonight. Her sister’s eyes widened for a second. Nicholas will be on watch all night. Sean and Cain can take you home. I have a feeling if you asked Sean to hang out—
No. Piper shook her head ever so slightly. I don’t want him to come in. He’d take one look at our place and run. I’m sure I’ll see him again when I start working at the clinic Monday. No rush. Piper’s eyes bounced over to Evander and back, and she winked at Keona. You go and have fun. I’ll be fine. I’m about to hit my limit on socialization for one night, anyhow.
Piper let out a yawn and leaned over to say something to Sean. He nodded and put his arm around her shoulder.
“Boss, I’m going to take the lady home.”
The four of them left the club and Keona hugged her sister. “I’ll see you in the morning. Call if you need me.” She tapped her temple and smiled. “Only if you need me.” Her wink made Piper cover a laugh.
Sean and Cain left with Piper in the car. Keona allowed herself to relax. Piper was in the hands of two Thracian warriors who wouldn’t leave her vulnerable.
“Let’s go for a stroll.” Evander offered his arm. To the humans they were just another couple walking down the sidewalk. No one saw the three Thracian warriors who walked ahead and behind them. “Is Piper all right?” He twirled his finger around the top of his head. “I noticed your brainwaves were off the charts right before she asked to leave.”
“Piper isn’t good with social interaction on a large scale. Seeing patients is different than going on a double date, you know. But she likes Sean and he seems to like her.” They made their way to a small public courtyard.
“I figured he would be a good match. He’s one of my more socially adapted guards. Some of them still cling to the old ways, and that’s great, but Sean embraces change. He’s a good man.”
“I think so, too.” They strolled in silence for a couple blocks, perfectly content being near one another. This had to be what it was like to have a real relationship. She’d never experienced it before. They passed by an outdoor café and saw a young couple sharing ice cream, making puppy eyes at each other. There was a couple on the sidewalk out for a jog together, wearing matching jackets, chatting as they passed by. Evander turned them onto a more residential street and she glance into a lit window to see a father bouncing a baby, trying to get it to sleep. Normality. People going about their everyday lives, not thinking about the demons in the shadows or the monsters under the bed. They didn’t worry about who would see them going to work or if their job skills would get them killed.
Keona wanted that desperately.
“What are you thinking?” Evander hugged her closer.
“Reading my brain waves again?” Keona snarked, but he smiled at her. “I was just thinking how nice it would be to have a normal life.”
“As a human?” He blanched, the idea clearly revolting to him.
His sour expression made her laugh. “No, no. I love being Olympian. I just wonder if it’s possible to live…simply, instead of simply living. Does that make sense?” She felt stupid the minute the words came out of her mouth.
“I get it. I truly get it. You’ve lived a nomad’s life, always looking over your shoulder, waiting for the world to turn upside down again. It must be exhausting.”
“It is. Dearest Zeus, it is.” Keona tilted her head back.
Evander stopped her on the street and touched her cheek. “Maybe I can help you move toward that. I’d love for you to be part of my normal life.”
Just before she would’ve kissed him, Keona doubled over and grabbed her throat. “Oh god!” She couldn’t breathe, like someone was choking her. Only it wasn’t her pain she felt. Piper screamed in her mind.
“Keona?” Evander grasped at her shoulders.
She pushed him away. “Stay here.” Keona blinked into her apartment to the sound of her sister struggling. The apartment door was wide open and broken at the hinges. Sean’s dead body lay across her couch, his neck sliced wide open and his chest full of bleeding wounds.
Kitchen knife in her hand, Keona ran into the next room and approached the brute who’d pinned her sister to the bed, one hand around her neck, the other one holding a dagger in the air. There was no asking questions, no figuring out who he was. He’d killed Sean and was about to kill Piper. Keona leapt on his back and plunged the kitchen knife into his neck just as her mother had taught her to
do.
The brute fell to the bed, his blood splattering onto her sister’s nightgown. Piper covered her mouth and screamed. They couldn’t wake the other tenants in the building. Dead bodies caused too much havoc and people began asking questions. Keona pushed the man over and pulled Piper from under his limbs.
“They’re…coming…witch…” gurgled the man. His mouth curled into a bloody snarl just before his eyes closed and his body went slack. Keona pulled Piper from the room to grab the emergency duffle they kept packed for moments like this. That’s when Piper got a look at Sean. She froze. Her mouth opened into a soundless gasp, her eyes filled with tears.
Piper reached for him, but Keona pulled her back and shook her head. “It’s too late to heal him. He’s gone. Time to go. Now.”
They turned just as Cain barreled into the apartment, gun pointed at them. He saw Sean, took one look at Piper’s blood-soaked gown, the bloody knife in Keona’s hand, and narrowed his eyes. “What have you done?”
“Bedroom,” Keona said as she blinked Piper out of the apartment.
Evander nearly had a panic attack waiting for Keona. He was trapped, not knowing if Keona would come back to this spot or if he needed to leave. Passersby gave him a wide berth as he stomped in circles on the sidewalk. Luckily, at this time of night, the residential neighborhood didn’t have a lot of foot traffic and the cars were minimal. He ran his hands through his hair. What if someone saw her blink out? Evander scanned the neighborhood. He’d called Cain and sent him back to the girl’s place. Tomar and Nicholas stayed with him.
“Did she say where she was going?” Tomar asked, his deep bass voice calm while Evander was frantic.
“Don’t you think I would be there if she did?” Evander snapped his retort loudly, making Tomar take a step back. Evander took a deep breath and bent over, placing his hands on his knees. He needed to calm down, but the thought of Keona and Piper in danger made him ill.
Just as he was about to send Tomar on a wild goose chase, Keona and her sister appeared next to him—covered in blood.
Tomar grabbed Evander and put his body between his master and the threat. Pinpointing the knife in Keona’s hand, Tomar reached for Keona and swiftly found his arm twisted behind his head, the knife pointing at his throat.
“No!” Evander yelled. But who was he warning?
Tomar flipped Keona over his shoulder but she rolled out from under him and bounced back to her feet. The two fought for a moment more before Evander and Piper yelled in unison, “Stop!”
Keona’s foot collided with the side of Tomar’s face, the heel cut into his cheek, and sent the Thracian to the ground. While he was down, Keona rushed to Piper and took her hand, ready to disappear. Evander was quicker; he touched her arm and took control of her brain function. The girls went still.
Tomar, on the other hand was back on his feet and ready to tear Keona apart. Blood dripped from the gash on his face and he swiped at it angrily with his sleeve.
Evander held up his hand, and his voice and his aura merged, pushing the Thracian away. “You will not move, soldier.” He was a Castille, of the purest bloodlines, his aura alone had more power than Tomar did.
Evander turned once again to the ladies. “Keona, baby, calm down.” He took her face in his hands and waited for her wild eyes to focus on him and her chest to quit pumping with every ragged breath. “Breathe. Slowly.” Tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked rapidly. “There you are.” Only when she nodded, did he let her go.
“Tell me what happened,” Evander demanded, touching her cheek. He didn’t use his powers, he didn’t need to.
Piper spoke in frantic phrases, her entire body shook. “I had just changed out of my dress and he busted through the door. I didn’t know who he was. Sean was right behind him, and he tried, oh god, he was so fast. And then Sean was gone. Then he jumped on the bed and started strangling me. He had a knife. Keona came in and…and…she stabbed him. He said they were coming. They know where we are.”
They who? The Rogues? Evander’s instincts went on full alert. If Rogues had tracked either of the girls, they were all in danger of attack.
Nicholas dove for Piper just as the young woman lost her legs and crumpled.
The white-haired Thracian scooped her up and cradled her. “We should leave, sire. They are drawing attention.” Nicholas nodded toward the houses. Lights illuminated windows and a few people peeked through their curtains.
A black Mercedes swerved around the corner and screeched to a stop right in front of them, Cain in the driver’s seat. Evander didn’t hesitate to pull Keona into the back as Nicholas placed Piper next to her sister.
Keona held Piper close, whispering in her ear. Evander couldn’t hear her words, but Piper cried and nodded, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The ladies might have been identical twins, but the difference was obvious to Evander. Keona’s features were sharper than her sister’s. Her face was more angular, her muscles more toned, her eyes that of a predator. Piper had soft features, a thinner frame, and gentle eyes. Both women were exotic and beautiful, but Keona stood out to him. She didn’t hesitate to take on a Thracian warrior, she killed the man who attacked her sister, and even in the midst of the chaos, she was wearing a damned pair of sexy shorts and high heels. This beautiful, exciting woman was also an incredible warrior. He’d never met anyone like her.
Nicholas, on the other hand, kept his eyes glued to Piper for the entire ride out of the city to the estate. When the car stopped, he was the first one out and he held his hand to Piper. Everyone was on alert as they exited the car and entered the estate. Cain was on his coms, relaying the warnings and information to the rest of the security team.
The housekeeper spit out a line of Greek and ran for towels and the first aid kit. Keona was bleeding from where Tomar split her lip. Piper had bruises forming around her neck.
Cain pulled him aside while the maid handed wet cloths to the girls. “Sean is down. Keona killed the intruder. Both bodies are being extracted.”
“Sonofabitch. Sean. Damn it.” Evander hit his fist against the wall then pierced Cain with a cold stare. “Why was he alone? Where were you?” His men were never supposed to walk into a dangerous situation alone. He’s sent both Cain and Sean with Piper for a damned reason. The woman should’ve been overprotected with the two of them there.
Cain swallowed hard and averted his eyes. “Sean went to check on the lady before he knew anything was awry. He was concerned, sir. He didn’t want to leave her alone. I didn’t go upstairs with him because I didn’t want the lady to feel uncomfortable. I know Keona has never allowed you in their apartment. Sean insisted he go up to check on her. He was rather taken with the lady.” Of course Sean would worry over Piper.
Now he was dead. Evander rubbed his chest, and tried to control his pain at the loss of such a great Thracian, a great man. He took a deep breath and let it out of his mouth. All this death, all this rebellion, was birthed from the selfishness of a handful of Olympians who believed themselves to be gods. Didn’t they see what they were doing? How could a man strangle and attempt to kill an innocent, unarmed woman like Piper? For what? Why her? Why any of the young women who had come up missing over the last decade? All of it frustrated him to no end.
Then he considered another possibility. What if this attack was more about him than about Piper or Keona? What if someone had seen him and Keona out together and was after a Castille? If the Rogues didn’t know Keona was a twin, they could’ve easily mistaken Piper and—gods, was this his fault? Was their pain because of his family name?
The thought had him swallowing back bile. If he was responsible for bringing them this curse, he would never forgive himself.
He had to keep it together. Keona and Piper were scared and needed him to make them feel safe.
Keona kept a hand on her sister no matter what went on around them. Evander couldn’t blame her. The women were spooked. They had handled themselves well given the circumstances,
but it still took an hour for both of them to get cleaned up and calmed down. By the time he forced a warm drink down their throats the women were yawning and curled up on his couch.
Nicholas and Cain pulled him into the dining room. Cain motioned his head toward their guests. “You catch that aura, Nick?”
Nicholas nodded. “I did. She opened just enough for me to get the picture.”
Evander crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “What did I miss? I haven’t felt a thing from her all night. Her aura’s locked up tighter than a prison.”
Cain pursed his lips and took a deep breath. “Sir, I think Piper might be a Grace.”
Evander grasped the back of a dining room chair. How many times was he going to have the wind knocked out of his lungs in one month? Troy’s death, the gods sparing the life of Ryse’s Divine Grace, the gods calling the Deities to the Heavens, then finding a bloody teleporter, falling for her and now discovering her twin is Divine Grace? There hadn’t been this much upheaval in his life in three hundred years.
A Divine Grace, an anointed wife to a Deity. What were the odds? How the hell did he miss that? A teleporter and a Grace, two of the most coveted women in the world, ending up on his doorstep. A lot of puzzle pieces fell into place. Keona’s protective streak, the instant attraction between Piper and Sean, the way Nicholas stared at her continually. Thracians were bred to recognize a Deity, especially a Divine Grace. It was coded into their blood to gravitate to a Grace, to protect her, serve her, and until she was claimed, to mate with her. The gods had ordained these women to be sought after by Thracians and it was laced through their blood.
Evander was a brain man, not a blood man. He saw brainwaves and patterns, not bloodlines and DNA. And Piper and Keona were brilliant at concealing their auras. He could’ve gone for years and never known what was right under his nose. Hell, did Keona know what her sister was? What secrets had his woman kept from him?
“Holy shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and took a moment to think things through. “Okay. Ryse said his Haven isn’t safe right now. If the Master Thracian’s Haven isn’t safe, none of them are. Piper might be a Grace, but I’ll be hanged by my balls before I turn over that girl to Ashton Avondale. We have to keep them here.”