Chapter Seven

“Not what I expected to find,” said a male in a British accent. A lycan.

Ky jumped a few inches away from Vivi and uttered a soft curse even though the tension coiled inside him released. He’d never been so happy to see his annoying younger brother.

“I can come back in a few minutes, mate, if you want to, you know, finish up here.” Flynn’s eyebrows rose to his shaggy, highlighted-blond, surfer-cut hairline as his eyes bounced between Ky and Vivi. He plucked at one of his four eyebrow piercings and transferred the lollipop in his mouth from one side to the other. He was dressed as if about to hike across Antarctica with a puffy winter coat and snow pants, which was odd, since he almost never got cold. Meant it was bitterly freezing outside. “You look like overbaked roadkill, Ky. Buuut… I can see why you might’ve been reluctant to leave.” He glanced into the dark hallway behind him and lowered his voice. “I’m thinking we should get out of here before reinforcements arrive. Just a suggestion.”

“You’re late.” Ky used his elbows to work himself to a straighter sit. He wasn’t ready for standing, and not just because of the hard-on tough to mask in scrub pants, but also the dizziness that struck whenever he stood too quickly

“You’re welcome.” Flynn shifted to address Vivi. His voice changed to his charming smooth tone. “Hey there. I’m Flynn.” He flipped his hair, which usually made women drop their panties or flash their breasts.

The impulse to deck his brother or shield Vivi roared through him.

The possessiveness over her was irrational. Vivi and he hadn’t known each other long enough for this. He had no claim over her, but feelings that hadn’t a chance to fully develop were there.

Vivi didn’t look impressed, which soothed the snarling beast inside him. “You know this guy, Ky? Is he the one who…” She stared at Ky’s wrist. Put the curse on you?

Ky shook his head at her. His chest warmed. Willingness to attack for him shone in her eyes. She might even try to use whatever magic she had to get him free of the curse, but it wouldn’t work. He and his brothers already consulted every magical expert across the planet to find a way out that didn’t involve death, coming up with no options.

“No intro? Taking some offense here, given I’m saving your asses.” Flynn addressed Vivi. “I’m the brother who doesn’t get caught. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to rescue Ky from a torture fest.”

“This is my brother, Flynn. Flynn, this is Vivi.” Ky felt the desire to vent every reason his younger brother was unworthy of her but bit it back. His jaw hurt from clenching it so hard. He couldn’t help but push a few of Flynn’s buttons. “So glad Roman found me.”

“Roman?” All charm fell as Flynn scowled and yanked the lollipop out of his mouth to wave it in the air as he talked. “You think he had any clue how to trace a computer’s movement once you sent the code? I—that’s me, not Roman—found the last place they kept you, but you’d been long gone from there.” He pointed the sucker at Ky. “You realize that was weeks ago? I had to wait until they logged onto that computer again. You’re lucky they didn’t ditch it, that they kept it when they moved you again.”

“How long have I been in here exactly?” Ky stood—too fast. His head wobbled. Urgency to get the hell out of prison dominated his resolve to get into motion.

Flynn rushed forward and caught him. “Easy there. Seventeen weeks. You look like they fed you about twice in that time.” He whispered as he pulled him into a tight hug, “Fucking glad to have found you breathing. I was worried. I mean, it’s been so long.”

“Thanks for not giving up on me.”

“Never.” Flynn squeezed his arm.

Ky nodded toward the lollipop as Flynn stepped away and returned the candy to his mouth. “You steal that from my stash?”

“Oh, I demolished that months ago. This is from mine.” When Flynn got agitated, he ate a lot of refined sugar. Made him twitchier, but he claimed it kept him sharp. “Besides, you were gone and wouldn’t care if I ate your stuff. She declared you better be dead. There’s no other reason you’d have missed four dinners.” He held up four fingers. “She” referred to their mother, who in public they never mentioned by name, since the world had conveniently forgotten about her existence. “She was pissed we all missed tonight but gave us a reprieve, since we said we found you.” He removed the lollipop to stare at it as if he forgot what flavor it was. “I figured you wouldn’t mind from the afterlife if I ate your stash. I like the cherry ones. The grape’s not as good.”

“She was pissed?” His stomach squeezed.

“Who are you talking about?” Vivi asked, uncertainty on her face. She thought he had a mate or someone special.

He opened his mouth to cut off her misunderstanding, but Flynn spoke.

Flynn said, “You promised to make her that bread pudding she loves and then you disappeared. She declared you wouldn’t dare die before making it for her.”

Probably better not to speak about his mother in here, especially since her existence had become a myth in the lycan world. Most assumed she’d died. She was one of the oldest of their kind.

“Give me a lollipop. I need the sugar.” Ky held out his hand and wiggled his fingers.

Flynn pulled one from his shirt pocket.

Ky glanced at Vivi. “Make that two.”

Flynn offered her a red one, which she took and began unwrapping.

She stuck it in her mouth and fell on the bench. “Amazing. The first food that’s not good for me in…” Insecurity flooded her face. “A really long time.”

“Where’s Roman?” Ky asked.

“He’s clearing the building and gathering information on occupants. And setting detonators. Small warning: he’s in a super bad mood. He killed a few on the way in, which you know is totally not his MO when it comes to handling humans. Ro got one whiff of it in here—reeks of tortured lycans—and lost it.”

“I kinda wanted to kill them.” Ky stepped toward the door.

“Wait,” Vivi said. “Collar.”

Ky tugged at the metal band.

Flynn moved behind him and fingered the collar. “It’s got an electronic release. We need the control.” He pressed on his ear. “Hey, Roman, Ky’s wearing some sort of electronic collar. We need whatever they use to release it. Got to get it off before he can get out.” Pause. He whispered as if trying to convey only to Roman, “It’s complicated and not good. There’s a woman in here with him. Lycan.”

“What’s not good?” Ky asked.

Flynn’s forehead wrinkled, and he rubbed his face. “Let’s get you out of here.”

The diplomatic words, atypical for Flynn who usually laid it out without decoration, meant Ky must be in rougher shape than he thought.

Before he could question further, Roman appeared, holding up one of the small remotes the guards usually carried. Tall and broad in his fur-lined leather coat, styled dark hair, and smooth-shaved face, this was the guy who saved people, arguably the world, over and over with a suffocating sense of responsibility. Sure, the three of them were ordered to complete their missions, but they didn’t have to be thorough. They didn’t have to try to save those who could be saved. They could stick to the mission parameters at all costs, the rest be damned, but that was unacceptable with Roman in charge, whose moral compass ran true north. Roman would fight to save every innocent he could during their missions, even if it meant they worked until they were burned out and crawled home half alive. He was their unequivocal leader, sometimes motivator, but most of the time their ass-kicker.

Roman’s eyes widened momentarily when he took in Ky. His chin went tight, and he shifted into his someone’s-going-to-die mode.

If the situation were reversed and he found either of his brothers in his state, he’d lose it. And he excelled at killing. It was a tribute to Roman’s control that he kept comments to himself.

Ky smelled human blood on Roman, not that he felt an ounce of sympathy for whomever he took down to get the remote and maneuver through the prison.

“Who’s that?” Vivi asked Ky.

“Who are you?” Roman countered, distrust etched into every angle of his face.

“Roman, meet my full-moon cellmate, Vivi.” Ky met Roman’s gaze. No need to say more. There’d be only one reason they’d put him in a room with her once every four weeks. “Nothing happened. I swear.”

“Looked like something was almost happening when I busted in,” Flynn muttered.

“But it didn’t.” He might’ve gone with it as far as she allowed this time. Or last time. Or any future time.

Flynn said, “You’re a better man than me. Not meaning to offend, Vivi, but you’re gorgeous, and you in that skimpy getup on full-moon night… You’re lucky it was Ky you got stuck in a room with. The man’s got an iron will when he puts his mind to something.” He leaned in and whispered to Ky, “No clue why you decided to resist her.” He waved the remote near the back of his collar. It clicked open. Ky ripped it off and flung it to the far wall.

Flynn repeated the release with Vivi’s. Her neck had a ring of red, irritated skin where the collar had been. She should heal fast. Did that mean they’d zapped her with electrical charge recently?

“We’re leaving,” Roman announced. “Flynn, you got Ky?”

“I can do it on my own—”

“No, you can’t,” Roman glared. “You’re barely able to stand. Vivi, you look…” He worked his jaw back and forth and his eyes narrowed. “Better than him.” The distrust returned, which iced his face even colder. He glanced to Ky in an are-you-sure-about-taking-her-with-them look.

“She’s going with us, especially if you’re blowing up the place. Are there any other lycans here?” Ky asked. “We need to get them out, too.”

“Nobody else here. Which is weird, since the place is set up to hold ten or eleven, minimum.” Roman waved for them to follow through a series of dark hallways. No windows, which suggested underground.

“Where are we?” Ky tried to catch words on a door but missed them in their hasty movements.

“Manzhouli.”

“Across the Russian border into China?” Although they traveled the world facing off with paranormal threats, they avoided this city, hell, this country, at all costs. It was tough to get in and tougher to get out. The indigenous people, especially Mongolians, innately picked up on the fact they weren’t human. Perhaps it was the culture’s strong connection to the natural world. Or it could be the fact neither he nor his brothers spoke Chinese or any of the native dialects well. People picked up on their insecurity. Their gift of voice persuasion could command compliance when necessary if they could clearly communicate their need.

“It’s negative twelve outside. We have to run about a half mile to get to the car. Here.” Flynn removed a winter jacket, pants, and men’s shoes from his backpack. He scowled when he looked at Vivi. “We weren’t expecting to have an extra to take with us. I don’t have outdoor gear for you or time to comb the building for some.”

Ky handed the jacket to Vivi. “You take this. I’ll wear the pants.”

Without a hint of shame, he turned away from her and ripped off the scrub pants, revealing his birthday suit, and donned the winter pants.

“Jesus, Ky,” Flynn said roughly. “What’d they do to you?”

He briefly glanced his brother’s way. “You don’t want to know.”

Roman shook his head. “It’s too cold for you to run around in that short-sleeved scrub top. You’ll freeze.”

Ky grabbed Roman’s wrist. “I don’t care if it’s negative forty-five. Get me the hell out of here. I’ll run the entire way, be it one mile or ten. If I have to, I’ll carry her, because she’s got no shoes. Anemia, starvation… It won’t faze me. We’re getting out.”

All three of them stared at her feet.

Flynn cursed.

“You’re not carrying me.” She stared up at the three guys dwarfing her without a hint of intimidation. “None of you are.”

Roman shrugged out of his overcoat and wrapped it around Ky. Beneath that he had on his regular coat, a knee-length custom with pockets everywhere to house magical items and various weapons. They never could tell what kind of trouble they’d be in, but it was Roman’s job to be sure they had the right tools. “I might survive against the freeze. You won’t, at least not until we get you a few steaks.”

“Now I feel like the overdressed ass,” Flynn commented.

“You are.” Roman said without a hint of a smile. Ky might know he didn’t mean it negatively, but it fell flat as a joke. “Let’s go. Maybe one of the humans we pass on the way out has a coat that’ll fit one of us. Guessing reinforcements will arrive in minutes.”

“Here.” Flynn unlaced his boots and removed his socks to hand them to her. He shoved his feet back into his boots. “I’ll carry her.”

“No.” To Ky’s ears it came out as a growl. Ky cleared his throat. “I got it.”

Flynn held up his hands. “Just saying you look—”

“I don’t need to be carried,” Vivi interrupted. “Are any of you listening to me?”

All three glared her way before staring at her feet.

Ky said, “You being prickly is cute, but you’re going to let me pick you up. You can’t run on snow or ice in socks for a half mile. They’ll get wet in seconds. Frostbite is serious, even if you might heal. If a toe falls off, no one can put it back on out here fast enough to save it.”

She pressed her lips together.

“Be reasonable,” he said.

The two of them glared at each other for endless seconds.

Finally, she nodded and whispered, “You’re going to make me waffles when we get out of here. You have to promise.”