The Wanted

by Rory Miles

  Corban placed his arm over my shoulder. “We won’t let that happen.”

  I frowned, troubled by his obvious lack of concern. A partially finished gate to other dimensions warranted some worry, I would think. What happened when people went through the gate? Or more importantly, what happened when whatever was beyond decided to come here? We had no idea what would come from the other worlds.

  Bron stood, glancing at me and rubbing the back of his neck. “Did we answer your questions?”

  “Yes, but now—”

  “Good. I’ll be back later,” he interrupted me.

  Kace gave me a pointed look. One that felt a bit too much like an I told you so.

  I flipped him off, standing to follow Bron. “I’ll come with you.”

  Distant, dark eyes narrowed on me. “I didn’t ask for company.”

  “I know.” I linked my arm with his and directed him toward the door, pulling him along when he resisted.

  Erik chuckled, muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like sympathy for Bron. I cast a warning glance his way, letting him know I’d heard him. His brows rose. What? the look said, like he was some innocent bunny.

  Careful. I mouthed the word at him, and his lips twitched in response. He’d be getting a piece of my mind once I finished with Bron. Maybe after I finished scolding him, he could make it up to me. His shit-eating grin told me he anticipated the reprimand as much as I did.

  Chapter Thirty

  After he shut the door, Bron let out a frustrated breath. “I really don’t feel like talking right now.”

  “Well, that’s too bad because I do.” I clamped my arm around his when he tried to pull away. “You can’t just run away from your problems. We need to talk about this.” I started toward the remote part of the forest. Bron had had his time to pout, but now I was determined to fix whatever was broken between us because I really, really didn’t want to lose him or any of the other men.

  “We already talked.” He pulled me in the opposite direction, heading toward Forest City. My feet tripped over each other for a minute before continuing on in the new direction. He could lead the walk as long as I led the conversation.

  “No, we argued. Bron, I know this is difficult and being in this sort of relationship is new to me too. I don’t want you to be mad at me or uncomfortable with the situation. Can we please talk about it before you decide to leave?”

  His jaw clenched and he didn’t answer, staring ahead as we drew closer to the city.

  “What are you worried about?” I turned toward him, my eyes meeting his before he looked away. “I really want to know.”

  He eyed the sky for a few moments, likely begging the goddess to end his misery. His gaze pointed forward, silence filling the space between us. My first instinct was to demand an answer but I didn’t want to be crazy. I walked along, letting him find his way to a response. When we reached the edge of the city, he finally spoke.

  “How can you promise to be fair? There are five of us.”

  Bron directed us around the market, nodding politely at a woman selling knitted scarves. The next booth had funny looking wooden dolls I would have loved as a little girl. A small child reached up to grab one, her mother tutting at her when her fingers managed to grasp one of the wooden feet. The little girl pouted and didn’t see her mother’s smile. She wasn’t laughing at her, though; the reaction was pure adoration. Even as she stomped her foot in frustration, her mom smiled.

  “Another time,” the woman said.

  We passed the booth, my mind circling the simple interaction. I couldn’t promise to be fair.

  “I can’t. Treating you all equal is impossible because you’re all so different.”

  He gave me a worried look but before he could say something I continued, “None of you need the same sort of attention or affection. Sloan’s a little more withdrawn than the rest of you, but his cooking speaks for his heart. You don’t want to share. The rest don’t seem to mind. They won’t always want what happened at the waterfall. The relationship is dynamic and complicated, but we can make it work.”

  I hoped he didn’t sense the doubt in my voice. We could make it work, couldn’t we?

  We arrived at the same hotel as before, walking past the front desk and to his room. I let his arm go so he could pull out the key, slip it into the lock and open the door. Once we were inside, I turned to him, ready to explain how I’d give him whatever he wanted as long as he didn’t leave. My mouth snapped shut when I saw he’d moved closer, his eyes alight with something I didn’t expect to see given the current discussion.

  “Bron?” I whispered his name, gaze straying to his lips before flicking back up to his eyes.

  He picked me up, my legs wrapping around his waist on instinct, and pushed me against the door. His breath fanned my face, his mouth inches from mine.

  “I won’t share this part with them.”

  My stomach fluttered with understanding, thighs clenching around him. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to give the other men the attention they deserved if Bron was there.

  “But, if you can agree to spending time with me alone every week, or whenever I need you, I think it will work.”

  My lips crashed into his, fingers burying in his hair. He hummed in approval, carried me to the bed and sat me on the edge of it. His gaze raked over me.

  “I’m going to make sure you remember your promise.”

  I gasped in delight when he pushed me to my back and ripped off my shorts. He knelt on the floor in front of me, fingers teasing the sensitive folds between my legs.

  “What do you want, Winter?” Two fingers dipped inside of me, stretching and filling me. When he pulled them back out, moving his focus to the sensitive bundle of nerves, I moaned, tilting my hips up. He pushed my hips back down, holding me firmly against the bed. My eyes closed when his fingers entered me again. His tongue swirled over my clit, making my breath hitch in my lungs. He pulled back and I immediately reached for him, trying to bring him back.

  “What do you want?” he asked again, pulling his shirt over his head. My eyes trailed down his torso, greedily drinking in his perfection.

  When he began to undo his pants I pushed off the bed to help but he stopped me, placing a hand on my shoulders and pushing me back down. He leaned down, arms caging me in and kissed me, his legs nudging mine apart.

  “You still haven’t said it.”

  My brows scrunched in momentary confusion. “You,” I said when I remembered his question.

  “When you’re with me, you’re with me. Not them. Not shared. You are mine. Wholly and completely.” The tip of his cock brushed against my opening.

  I swallowed, nodding in agreement and reaching for him. When he pressed my hands against the mattress I frowned. I wanted to touch him. Then he slowly eased his way in, drawing out the moment when his body perfectly fit mine. The sensation made me forget everything I’d been thinking. He ground against me, staying in deep and hitting the spot that made my back arch.

  His mouth found mine, swallowing the embarrassing sounds I was making, before moving down to one of my nipples. His tongue swirled over the peak before he bit it; the slight pain countered the building pleasure in my core. When he pulled out slightly, still holding my hands above my head, I made a sound of protest. He smirked at me, his black hair disheveled and only managing to make him more attractive.

  “Please,” I begged him when he didn’t move, my hips lifting to ride him from underneath.

  “Well, since you asked so nicely.” He pumped into me, once, twice, three times before my eyes closed and I lost count while he brought me to the crest of an orgasm. He didn’t relent, bringing me to climax again and again until he thrust deep, moaning when he found his own release.

  Later, after we had cleaned up and lay in bed together, we both apologized for fighting. I smiled, kissing him on the lips before resting my head against his chest. When he started snoring, I closed my eyes as well. Avoiding the nagging thought that thi
s was all too good to be true.

  Forest City Bounty Hunting continued to thrive. In fact, we’d been receiving so many jobs it was hard to keep up. Another strange job came through. Maligna, Queen of Valley Sector, had issued a bounty on a young woman named Dawn. The reward was substantial, even more so than Ezme’s. What had these young women done to anger the queens?

  “Hey. What’s going on, beautiful?” Flynn Right plopped down at the kitchen table, kicking his feet out and crossing them at the ankle. He’d been absent more than usual, but I didn’t think it right to pry into his personal business.

  “Cut the crap, Flynn.” I pinned him with a serious look. “Are you trying to die?”

  He grimaced, remembering the last encounter with the men in my life.

  “Thanks for the reminder. I’ll work on turning off my charm.”

  My eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head. “Good luck with that.”

  “Any new jobs come through?” His fingers inched toward the papers but quickly retreated when I smacked at them.

  “Actually, I have one you might be interested in. The pay is ridiculous.”

  “Oh?” His eyes lit up.

  He read the paper I handed him with all the details about the mark. If my job didn’t include running the business end of things, I’d go after her myself. As it was, I couldn’t afford to leave Forest City to go find Dawn. Her last known location was somewhere in Mountain Sector, and we all know how well my last trip to the mountains went.

  “Hm. Interesting.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, though I knew the money alone was enough to warrant that reaction.

  His brown hair had grown out; he brushed aside the strand that’d fallen in front of his eyes and frowned down at the paper, then tossed it on the table, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Maligna killed her husband.”

  “I thought that was just a rumor.”

  He shrugged. “He had a bad habit of cheating on her. Plus, did you hear about Regent Baleigh’s wedding?” He continued when I shook my head no. “She lost it. Destroyed the Keep with her magic.”

  My eyebrows rose this time. “Destroyed?”

  “Totally and completely. The gossip is that Baleigh was hooking up with Maligna just before he met his wife. He met some young girl, barely old enough to get married. I guess after the ceremony she let him know how she felt about his nuptials. That woman is packing some serious magic.” He sounded impressed.

  “More like anger,” I said in exasperation. “It would take a lot of skill and power to do something like that.”

  “A betrayed woman is more terrifying than any man.”

  His words gave me pause. Was he speaking from experience?

  “Or she’s using deep magic.”

  Flynn’s gaze snapped to mine. “What makes you think she’d be using deep magic?”

  I pushed back from the table, going to get a glass of water. “Destroying a palace made entirely of large mountain stones. Do you know anyone who can do that with regular magic?”

  “No.” He shook his head, anger lining his face. “That magic is vile. Why did the goddess even create such a thing?”

  “It wasn’t always bad.” My defense of the magic surprised even myself. “You know that. The power was supposed to help people, not hurt them. With the way the magic learned and developed, it was only a matter of time before someone used it for something bad. I don’t think the goddess knew it would morph into an insatiable, uncontrollable being.”

  “Is it a being?” he countered.

  “When Daman held me prisoner for so long, I heard him fighting with someone or something in his head. The more the other DMC members used it, the more they lost touch with reality. Entire conversations would be had with some unseen being.” I looked at Flynn, remembering the way my brother had mumbled and yelled at whatever voice filled his head. My face grew serious. “It’s the magic.”

  A ripple of concern passed over Flynn. “They won’t leave us alone, will they?”

  Since we’d come back to Forest City, I hadn’t heard fear in his voice. Now, his words trembled with worry.

  “No.” They had hunted me for four years and I’d managed to dodge them, but just barely. My lack of a magical signature helped in that regard. One thing I knew for certain: sooner or later we’d be facing the DMC again.

  I’d been stuck in the cottage with Kace, Shawn, and Noah for six days. Since the man had been found in the cave, the men increased their patrol efforts. Two men guarded the cave while the other one protected the portal. They wouldn’t be back for two more days. Then, the men at home would head out to guard the cave for a week while the others recovered.

  After the great unveiling, I’d learned just how seriously they took the whole Guardians of the Dimension job. The way their shoulders bunched before the men at home switched shifts with the men on guard. The drawn lips when they returned from their shift, more exhausted than usual. Sloan’s cooking masterpieces declined, like whatever worried him stole his ability to create.

  Which is how I became the new favorite cook. Sloan had taught me a few tricks since I had moved in, but my food was nowhere near as good as his when he was on his game.

  Onions sizzled, hissing at me in frustration when I dropped them into the hot pan before cutting up the fresh meat Kace had brought home.

  Kace had even started being nicer; bringing me quality food to work with was just one of the ways he showed his kindness. Once the meat was sliced into small cubes, I moved on to the garlic, washing the knife and cutting board before continuing my prep work. My knife stilled when I heard Kace growl in frustration. I turned to see him glaring down at the bread dough he’d been working with like it had somehow offended him. He used to give me the same look.

  “Sammie has fresh sandwich rolls.”

  He scowled at me. “Fresh bought is different than fresh made.”

  I smirked. “Hardly. Sammie’s bread is really good.”

  “So is mine. At least, it is when I can get the dough consistency right.”

  Kace, of all people, loved to bake. A secret he had kept well hidden until we ended up stuck in a house together without Sloan’s sweets. Shawn didn’t have the same skill his brother had in the kitchen, and Noah wasn’t much better. Kace and I took charge of the kitchen when neither of us wanted to eat the oatmeal Shawn had tried to serve us for breakfast the first day. Shawn, being easily offended by such refusal because he’d always been compared to his twin, took the bowls from us and threw the food in the trash.

  Turning the onions and lowering the heat, I wiped my hands on my apron—another present from Kace. I walked over to the counter he’d been kneading dough on, bumping his hip with mine to scoot him out of the way. Bread wasn’t really my forte (okay, let’s be honest, cooking in general wasn’t really my forte), but I had kneaded dough before. Once, to be exact.

  My knuckles pressed into the dough, and I pursed my lips when it barely budged.

  “Goddess, did you put too much flour in?”

  “I don’t remember,” Kace growled, more frustrated with himself than me.

  “We can’t use this.” I peeled off the pieces of dough that stuck to my hands.

  Kace threw a towel on the counter. “I’ll go to Sammie’s,” he said before storming toward the door.

  “Hey, Kace?”

  He paused, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Thanks.”

  The slight widening of his eyes was the only acknowledgment I received. I smiled, going back to my onions to make sure they weren’t burning. The door shut with a soft click, letting me know whatever frustration Kace had felt wasn’t directed toward me.

  Ten minutes later, he returned with some of Sammie’s rolls, placing them on the counter while I turned off the heat on the stove.

  “Is Noah going to be back in time for lunch?”

  Kace leaned against the cabinet next to me, crossing his arms and glaring at the dough still
sitting on the counter.

  “I don’t think so, he’s still working on Mrs. Draper’s kitchen.”

  The tiniest of smiles pulled at my lips when I pictured Mrs. Draper fanning herself as Noah bent over to fix whatever was wrong with her kitchen. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced there was something wrong. I think she liked having Noah around.

  “It’s ready.”

  Kace took the plate I handed him, grabbing a roll from the bakery bag and using the spatula to spoon the savory meat in the little crevice Sammie had cut into the bread. After fixing my sandwich, I sat down next to Kace at the end of the table. He hummed in approval when he took the first bite, smiling as he chewed. I grinned, maybe a little too happy that he liked it.

  I took a bite, my own hum of approval muffled by the mouthful. The food was good. I’d thrown together ingredients that I thought would work well together. Onion, garlic, the tender meat cubes, and a hearty helping of seasonings. Sloan would be proud.

  “Wow,” Kace said a few minutes later, taking a sip of water before glancing at my now-empty plate. “That was really good.”

  I chuckled. “I know.”

  “Sloan better watch out.”

  My lips twitched. “I don’t want his job. Especially if I have to cook for seven men. Keeping three of you fed is hard enough.”

  He wrinkled his nose at me. “Yeah, you’re right. You probably couldn’t take the heat.”

  “Please. I can handle it. I just don’t want to.” Looking down, I checked for another bite. I frowned when I saw the still-empty plate.

  “Hm. If you say so.”

  My mouth hung open as I cut my gaze toward him. Was he teasing me? Kace? The man who lived to hate me just a few weeks ago?

  His shoulders shook with laughter. “You should see your face.”

  He ducked when I threw my napkin at his head. “We aren’t friends; stop acting like you want to be.”

  “Aww, princess, you’re breaking my heart.”

  “Shut up.”

  “What would Bron say?” His eyebrows rose, feigning concern.