Authors: Crystal Jordan
Unleashed (12 page)
Adrenaline flooded his veins as he realized they wouldn't get out of here without a fight. He sensed the two groups weren't working together, but that made the situation even more dangerous. Every group for itself, all fighting each other over the prey. “The short one is called Niso. I didn't catch the names of the other two, but they were hoping to be close,
personal
friends. I declined, and they took the rejection badly.”
personal
friends. I declined, and they took the rejection badly.”
“I see.” Her gaze darted around as if looking for an exit strategy, and the fox-shifter snarled in frustration. “I had my vidcam earlier, so no room for the grappler gun. I don't have it with me. Up isn't an option.”
Whatever that meant. “We may not escape the need for dead bodies.”
She blew out a frustrated breath, watching the two gangs close in on them. “Do you have a weapon on you?”
“No, you?”
“Yeah.”
“Use it.”
Reaching behind her, she slipped a nasty-looking blade out of some hidden pocket on the underside of her bag. “What about you?”
“I don't need it.” Not with the training and experience he'd had. His talons slid out of his fingertips as he watched a cruel smile twist up the corners of Niso's lips. Bruises stood in dark contrast against his skin, a reminder of their first meeting.
Kienan should have ended the bastard when he had the chance.
Gea and Kienan backed up into a building, each facing one of the gangs, making their position as defensible as possible. He had no idea how good his mate was in a fight, and he didn't care for being in a situation where he had to find out, but such was life. No one gave a shit what he wanted.
A hiss came out of Niso's throat as he looked at the competition. “We claim them. Our pretties.”
A growl was the reply to that. “Girlie there's been ours for days now. Just needed to catch up with her. You can't have her.”
Kienan felt Gea vibrate against his back, and he reached over to hold her in place. With any luck the two gangs would start fighting with each other, giving them a chance to bolt. Or a better chance at fighting their way out if the gangs were more occupied with besting each other than claiming Gea and Kienan.
A deep roar sounded through the street, silencing the arguing thugs. A leopard leaped toward them, stretching into a full sprint. Quill. He was on them in seconds, fangs bared, claws slashing.
All hell broke loose; the gangs didn't know which direction to turn.
Kienan grabbed one of Niso's henchmen and shoved him into one of the other gang members. The two went down howling, shifting into their animal forms, clawing and tearing at each other. Quill sliced his claws through another gangster's calf and he squealed, swinging a fist to slam into the leopard's skull. Niso's other thug drew a gun, aiming it at Quill's head, and Gea screamed, her knife winging through the air with deadly accuracy. Her blade embedded in the man's throat and he gurgled, slumping to the ground, his gun trapped underneath him.
Niso took down Gea's dragon-shifter just in time for her to put a boot in his chest, knocking him backward. Kienan jammed the tips of his fingers into Niso's temple and the man crumpled. Dead. There was no way Kienan would risk the bastard coming after his mates or him again. It ended now.
A gorilla-shifter came at him, screaming, huge fangs bared. Adrenaline exploded through Kienan's system, and he welcomed the rush, channeled it. Ducking a massive fist, he brought his knee up to connect with the gorilla's stomach. Air whooshed out of the gangster's lungs, and Kienan wrapped an arm around the gorilla's neck from behind. He used his other arm to lock it into place. Bucking and twisting, the gorilla clawed at Kienan's arms, trying to dislodge them. The stench of his own blood singed Kienan's nose, but he gritted his teeth and held fast. The gorilla slammed them backward into a building, and the breath was forced from Kienan's lungs. He gagged, dark spots swimming in front of his vision. Agony ricocheted up and down his body each time he was battered against the wall. He blinked, tried to hang on, tried to keep from blacking out. Just a little longer. The gorilla began to sag from the lack of oxygen, dropping to his knees so Kienan's feet hit the floor, giving him the leverage he needed. With a swift wrench, he heard the neck bones crack and the fight was over. The gorilla hit the ground with a heavy thud.
When Kienan looked around, he saw only his mates standing. Thank Deus. One gang member shifted into a bird and took flight, but Quill launched himself upward with feline precision and the bird was dragged from the sky in a hail of feathers and squawking. One sickening
crunch
and the bird was no more.
crunch
and the bird was no more.
“Okay, these two gangs clearly killed each other. If anyone asks, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Self-defense, etcetera. But I'd rather not stand around long enough for anyone to ask.” Gea grabbed her knife from where it protruded from the thug's neck, then wiped it off on his shirt. The blade disappeared into her hidden pocket, and her chin lifted in the defiant gesture Kienan was coming to associate with her. “Time to go. Now.”
Quill dipped his head, turning to pad down the street in the direction he'd come. Gea hopped over a couple of bodies and hurried after him, and Kienan followed behind, watching his mates' backs.
A painfully skinny man stood at the intersection at the end of the road, clutching an armload of clothes. “I kept your stuff, Mr. North.”
The leopard twisted into the shape of a tall man and Quill stood there naked, his skin missing the black slashing nanotats that Kienan had grown used to. Had he had them reconfigured to look like regular skin? “Where are your tats?”
Quill grunted, shoving himself into his clothing as quickly as possible. “I have a program on my palmtop that can turn them on and off if I need to be more respectable for certain partners. I had a meeting in the Lakeshore District this morning.”
Interesting. Kienan's superiors would have preferred he had a program like that as well. They hadn't approved of the tats he'd collected over the years, but he'd reconfigured them often enough that he hadn't had the same distinguishing marks from one job to the next. It had placated them. Of course, they hadn't seemed to mind the distinguishing marks he'd gotten working for them. Multiple knife wounds, a few bullet holes, an acid burn from a spitting cobra-shifter. Figures.
Now that he was out of that line of work, maybe he should have the nanotat on his back configured to its original form: two wolves baying at the moon. One red for his mother, the other gray for his father.
Quill glanced at the skinny man. “Thanks for making sure my things weren't stolen, Janus.”
“No problem.” He flashed a gap-toothed smile, his face congenial, but his gaze was assessing as he looked over Gea and Kienan. There was a keen intelligence there that Kienan wasn't willing to overlook.
“We can finish our discussion at a later date, Janus. I'm sure you're very busy.” The dismissal was clear, but Quill covered any rudeness with a charming grin. “I apologize for keeping you so long.”
“Later.” Janus nodded and split down a winding side street that curved sharply out of sight.
“Let's get out of here. As Gea said, law enforcement might get curious.” Kienan sighed, checking his mates over for injuries. Nothing major, that he could sense anyway. Gea fished around in her pack for a moment and then handed him a large nanopatch to put over the gorilla claw gouges on his arms. He nodded his thanks and slapped the patch in place. It could have been a lot worse. He didn't care for how close they'd come to disaster, but death was only a misstep away around here.
It probably wasn't a good sign that he enjoyed how it kept him on his toes, but he still couldn't say that he craved his old lifestyle. His mates had kept him more than occupied during his short retirement.
Quill made a face as he finished sealing his clothes. “Law enforcement doesn't spend much time here unless they're collecting kickbacks, but you never know when they might feel the sudden need to be dutiful.”
6
Q
uill shoved his hand through his hair. Why had he thrown himself into someone else's fight? It wasn't like him at all. He kept to himself and his own business. Meddling in the affairs of others came back to bite you in the Vermilion, but he'd fought and killed to protect these two people. He hadn't even thought about it, hadn't stopped to consider the consequences. He'd simply reacted; something inside him refused to be impartial. His lovers were being attacked, outnumbered at least three to one, and he
could not
stand back and do nothing. It was nothing like him, and that worried him. He sighed and looked at them. “Come back to my place.”
uill shoved his hand through his hair. Why had he thrown himself into someone else's fight? It wasn't like him at all. He kept to himself and his own business. Meddling in the affairs of others came back to bite you in the Vermilion, but he'd fought and killed to protect these two people. He hadn't even thought about it, hadn't stopped to consider the consequences. He'd simply reacted; something inside him refused to be impartial. His lovers were being attacked, outnumbered at least three to one, and he
could not
stand back and do nothing. It was nothing like him, and that worried him. He sighed and looked at them. “Come back to my place.”
“Tail is closer,” Gea countered, glancing at Kienan.
Had they spent a lot of time there without Quill? He hated to admit that he hated that thought. He couldn't be jealousâhe'd had both of them before. Why would he care if they shagged each other's minds out anytime they wanted? He wouldn't. He didn't.
“So? I'd rather not be inside the Vermilion right now. This is better.” He arched his eyebrow, turning to lead the way back to his building.
Why he was so insistent about this, he didn't know. He normally didn't care for people in his private space. The occasional business dinner and a few sex partners, but even then, he preferred not to use his flat for that. Other than this week with Kienan, Quill couldn't remember the last time he'd had anyone there besides Gea, and she never stayed for anything other than fucking. So, why now? Why these two? He wasn't sure, and he didn't like that either.
The three of them together discouraged anyone from messing with themâa person alone made a much easier targetâand they made it out of the Vermilion in short order. Quill went through the rear entrance of his building, then swiped his ident card to engage his private lift to the penthouse. They reeked of adrenaline and sweat, their clothes torn from the fight, and each of them sported a few cuts and bruises, which didn't need to be advertised to his associates.
“How's your arm, Kienan?” Gea asked as the lift doors slid open. She stepped out into the foyer, glancing back at the wolf.
“It's good. The nanopatch is helping.” He followed her out into the main space. “Built-in painkillers?”
“Yeah.” Gea drifted over to a large window in his main space. Unlike the view from his bedroom, this window faced away from the Vermilion and overlooked the vast stretch of the city and Lake Michigan in the distance. The cluster of glittering mercurite and polyglass skyrises demarcated the Downtown District.
Her head bowed, and her reflection showed a pensive expression. Quill didn't know what to make of it. He'd expected her to try to bolt before now. It was the first time he hadn't had to argue, cajole, or seduce her into staying for more than five minutes. She wasn't trying to get laid now, so . . . what was different?
He glanced at Kienan, his eyebrows arching in question, but the other man just shrugged. Quill turned away from the wolf and walked into his kitchen. “Fighting always makes me hungry, and I'm not eating alone with the two of you standing here. So, what would you like to eat?”
“Protein.” Kienan sat on the kleather couch and winced a littleâprobably bruised from the battle. “Lots of it.”
Gea's stomach rumbled loudly enough that Quill could hear it. She sighed and nodded an agreement. “I'm not picky, but something substantial sounds good.”
Engaging the vidpad on his food storage unit, he browsed through the options his catering company had stocked. “I have bison steaks.”
“Mmm, bisteak.” She slapped a hand over her belly as it grumbled again, glancing over her shoulder with a self-effacing grin on her face. “I could
maybe
be convinced to eat that, sure.”
maybe
be convinced to eat that, sure.”
Quill watched her turn back to press her nose to the window. “I can see my building from here. I never noticed before.”
She'd never looked before, too busy ripping Quill's clothes off. Ignoring the twinge of irritation that thought brought, he keyed the unit to dispense three plates of bisteak, sweet potatoes, and greens. The information uplinked into the system; then the door clicked as it opened.
“I'll take them,” Kienan said softly, right behind Quill.
He froze, wariness sliding through him. He hadn't heard the wolf move, and his senses hadn't warned him of another predator approaching. It had happened a couple of times over the last few days, and he didn't know what to make of it. Was it some skill the wolf had cultivated in his work as an operative? It made Quill uneasy. Things slipping past his notice was an unpleasant development. People died when they got sloppy, and he'd always prided himself on never losing his edge. His jaw clenched. He'd never had anyone sneak up on him before, but no feeling of danger slid through him when the other man was near. Only sexual awareness. It crawled through him now, the hot scent of the wolf curling into Quill's nostril, and his loins tightened, his cock beginning to lengthen and stiffen.
Kienan reached past him into the unit and pulled the food out. He balanced two steaming plates on one arm and carried the third in his other hand. Shaking himself, Quill keyed in a code for a bottle of chilled ginger wine, then retrieved glasses from a cabinet.
“Utensils?” Gea walked into the kitchen, her gaze a bit wary, a bit uncertain, as if anything outside their normal sex-on-arrival worried her.
The novelty of Gea-the-mystery was wearing off. He'd contented himself with nothing more than sex until now, but he wanted to know more about her. No more mystery. Perhaps it was having Kienan the last week that completed the change, perhaps it was just time. The attraction was as powerful as always, having her a few steps away brought his stiffening cock to full arousal. Deus, the two of them would kill him.
He nodded to the cutlery drawer and walked past her to join Kienan in the main space. He was aware of every movement his lovers made, knew when Gea came up behind him, her scent ripening. He sat beside the wolf while the fox curled onto the couch next to Quill, putting him in the middle. He set the glasses on the low table in front of his couch and poured wine for everyone. Kienan slid the plates down the table until there was one in front of each of them, and Gea dispensed the utensils. There was little conversation as they settled in to eat, but the silence was comfortable. Kienan's shoulder brushed against Quill's as they ate, and Gea leaned into him, for once content to simply remain with him. With them.
The scene was so domestic it made some emotion Quill couldn't name tangle inside his chest. Some kind of longing that he couldn't put his finger on. Hardly nostalgiaâthere'd been no domesticity in his childhood with an absent father and drug addict mother. He'd never had a home or family to call his own, was never even exposed to such a thing. His friends had lived in a nightmare much like his own, a cage with no way out but violence, death, or sinking into the same bliss-addled avoidance his mother had enjoyed so much.
He shook his head, focusing on his food. So he liked having them here, so what? They weren't staying, and he had work to do. Gea might not be ready to bolt at the moment, but she would. She always did. Nothing had changed, and he wasn't even sure it should. Kienan wouldn't be in New Chicago forever, and what would Quill do if Gea ever did decide to stick around? Hell, he had no idea what a real relationship would be like. He didn't even want one. He controlled his affairs like everything else, and he severed them like a business deal gone bad when they got too deep. He'd gone around and around with this in his mind the last week, and he could come up with no better explanation now than he had before. It didn't make sense.
He growled, letting his empty plate clatter onto the table.
Gea tensed beside him. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing.” There shouldn't
be
anything wrong with him.
be
anything wrong with him.
She twitched as if she sensed how deep that lie was. Setting her plate on the table beside his, she moved to rise. “Maybe I should go.”
“Of course.” He hissed the words, the leopard inside of him bristling. “You need to run. As usual.”
Upset flickered across her expression, but she stayed seated. “You've never had a problem with it before. I thought we both preferred not to get too close.”
So had he. But he was finding he
did
have a problem with it. Damn it, what was wrong with him? How had things gotten so jumbled up in a few short days? He'd missed her since the night they'd spent in Kienan's room, and as much as he'd enjoyed the wolf, it had been better with all three of them. When had he ever cared enough to
miss
anyone? Never. Not once in his entire life had anyone mattered to him that much, and he'd never mattered to anyone else enough for them to miss him. It was simpler that way.
did
have a problem with it. Damn it, what was wrong with him? How had things gotten so jumbled up in a few short days? He'd missed her since the night they'd spent in Kienan's room, and as much as he'd enjoyed the wolf, it had been better with all three of them. When had he ever cared enough to
miss
anyone? Never. Not once in his entire life had anyone mattered to him that much, and he'd never mattered to anyone else enough for them to miss him. It was simpler that way.
And yet, here he was. Missing them when they were away. Doubting they missed him. They'd been together when he'd found them, and he could smell the lingering odor of sex on them. They'd fucked without him. Why should he care? He had fucked Kienan when Gea wasn't there. How was this any different? If they wanted each other, they should take advantage of the opportunity. He always had.
The kleather creaked when Gea twisted to kneel beside him. Her eyes were wide, churning with emotion. “You know . . . I can't be involved with anyone.”
“Are you married?” A question he'd never let himself ask. Even with his taunting questions about her, he'd never put to words what might push her away.
“No!” Her face went pale, hurt molding her features. “I would never,
could never
do that to someone. Deus, I'm not that kind of person. If you believe nothing else, believe that. I just don't want to be involved with anyone. What's so wrong about that?”
could never
do that to someone. Deus, I'm not that kind of person. If you believe nothing else, believe that. I just don't want to be involved with anyone. What's so wrong about that?”
“You were
involved
with Kienan earlier.” He hated the jealousy in his voice, hated himself for saying anything.
involved
with Kienan earlier.” He hated the jealousy in his voice, hated himself for saying anything.
She reared back as if he'd slapped her. “Just sex, the same as what I offer you. I don't play favorites with my lovers.”
Arching an eyebrow, he crossed his arms. “How many other men do you fuck and drop, like me?”
“Just the two of you.” Her throat moved when she swallowed, something like resignation entering her gaze.
He didn't understand that, didn't understand anything about her, just that he wanted to. “At the moment.”
“Since we startedâ”
“You haven't been with anyone else in a year?” Disbelief dripped from his words. He couldn't help it. A woman as beautiful and sexual as her had limited herself to a night here or there with him? It was difficult to believe, though he despised the idea of her fucking anyone else except him. And Kienan. That didn't bother him, and he didn't know why. What a fucked-up mess.
Her chin lifted and she stared down her nose at him. “I'm a busy woman. If I have an itch to scratch, I have a dildo . . . or you.”
“Note that I come second on that list,” he retorted. Kienan vibrated beside him, but remained silent to let them have their argument. Smart wolf.
“Shut up, Quill,” she snapped, her cheeks flushing. “You've fucked other people in the last year, so don't act like the scorned lover now. Until this very nanosecond, you haven't behaved as if you wanted more than a quick shag either. We were convenient to each other, and that was the end of it.”
The cold truth took the wind out of Quill's temper. He sighed and reached out to run a knuckle down her silky jaw. There was no good answer he could give her. He didn't have a good answer to give himself. Hell, he didn't have a
bad
answer for either of them. “Do you want me right now?”
bad
answer for either of them. “Do you want me right now?”
“Yes.” She glanced away, took a deep breath, and then met his gaze again. “I always want you. I don't know how to stop.”
“Why would you want to?”
Instead of answering him, she leaned in and kissed him. There was a bittersweetness to it that he didn't like, but the heat spiraling through him distracted him. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, and his cock went hard in moments, chafing against his fly. He wanted inside her with a fierceness that should have shocked him, but didn't. Thrusting his fingers into her hair, he took over the contact, twining his tongue with hers, nipping at her lower lip.
A moan bubbled out of her and into his mouth. She set her hand on his shoulder and straddled his lap, the motion breaking their kiss. She leaned over and reached out to drag Kienan forward, sealing her mouth to his while her hips ground down on Quill's cock. Deus, yes. This was exactly how he wanted it. All three of them.
One of his hands cupped her breast, pinched and twisted her tight nipple. His other hand slid down Kienan's torso until he could reach the other man's dick. Both of his lovers moaned, arching into his touch, and he liked that power. It was heady, how they reacted for him. Gea's sex moved on his, and he could feel the heat of her through their clothes, could smell the scent of her desire. She was hot and creamy for him, for Kienan. Hell, he was hot for both of them. He couldn't decide which one he wanted to slide his cock inside first. His hips surged upward at the thought, and Gea's fingers turned into claws on his shoulder.
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