Chapter Nineteen

“What are you working on?” Vivi’s sleepy voice came from the entrance to the London safe house’s kitchen.

I’m working on anything that’ll keep me from thinking about the fact we’re here alone. At night. And you’re so fucking gorgeous in that flimsy nightgown you borrowed from my mother. Which was all kinds of messed up to like his mother’s lingerie, even though he admitted his mom had great taste.

Ky closed his laptop. “Why are you up? You seemed zonked when we got into London a few hours ago.”

She rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand. “The softness of the bed woke me up. Didn’t feel right. How can it feel reassuring to sleep on something hard like the floor?”

“The sofa near the TV is hard as hell. Want to see if there’s anything on to watch?”

“Will you sit with me while I watch?”

He compressed his lips.

“You’re avoiding me. I get it.” She swallowed and looked him over. Her long dark hair floated unbound down her back. The outfit had a daring dip in the front that provided a teasing view of the top of her breasts. “You’re back to being scared of me.”

“If I wanted to avoid you, I’d ditch this place until morning.” A pulsation started at the base of his spine as he waited for her to stop staring at his lips. The more she stared, the harder he got. “I’m not scared.”

It came out hoarse and less than convincing.

He was tempted to reach out and close the space between them. He’d take her mouth with his.

She fiddled with the edge of the kitchen counter. “You’re not the kind of person to leave. Plus, you were probably ordered by Roman to stay on guard duty.”

He didn’t argue. No point.

She took the seat near him. So close that he could feel the heat coming off her. He could smell her freshly showered skin and the flowery shampoo she used in her hair. It was the same stuff he’d used, but on her it smelled a hundred times better.

“Now that you’re out and free, what do you want to do with your life?” he asked. “Once we figure out how to erase the mental triggers and make it safe for you not to worry about someone else ordering you to do things?”

“Everything,” she answered simply.

“Anything more specific?”

“Work on rebuilding my magic skills.”

“I thought you preferred to ignore your magic.”

“It’s been painful to try to suppress it. When I used it to help you, it was freeing. It felt right. I’d like to put the skills to use for the greater good. Maybe saving animals or something.”

“The greater good, huh? Does that mean you’re going to start a wildlife rehab organization? Or are you going vigilante to try to take down this group who imprisoned us?”

A flush crept across her face.

He said, “That’s our job—to go after those guys. We’re better equipped to do it, but I understand the need for vengeance.”

“I’m going after the people who killed my sister.”

“Ah.” He dropped his head.

“Look at me, Ky.” When he didn’t, she leaned forward. “You know who the Crown’s Wolves are, don’t you? ‘Wolves’ must mean it’s a group of lycans.”

He swallowed and drew in a shaky breath before looking up. “Yes.”

Vivi’s brows knitted into a frown. “How long have you known this?”

The admission of what he and his brothers were called was inevitable. The anger he was about to incite by his previous omission was a betrayal on his part. Reluctance to break her trust had him hesitating. But they needed this wedge between them. His getting attached meant she would be killed. Roman was right. “We are the Crown’s Wolves. Roman, Flynn, and I. We’re cursed to serve the Crown of the United Kingdom forever, or at least, as long as the curse stays in effect.” He held up his wrist to show her the curse band magically tattooed around it, then dropped it. “There are technicalities that regulate the specifics of what they can ask us to do, but our primary job is to hunt paranormal threats to England. We’re supposed to protect humans.”

“You?” She shook her head back and forth. “No.”

He remained silent when she gasped, holding a palm over her heart. She asked, “You’re part of the Crown’s Wolves? How could you not tell me?”

His chest ached at the pain in her question. He didn’t attempt to stop the slap that landed on his face.

Deserved that.

“You asshole,” she gritted out. “Did you kill my sister in cold blood?” She fisted his shirt to pull him closer with her enhanced strength. “Did you?”

“The order to hunt her went out after I got captured. I wasn’t involved in finding her.”

“So it was those two? Is that why they were weird around me?”

“I think it’s the uncertainty of what was done to your head that has them wary of you. In their defense, the king gives us orders, and we have no choice but to follow them. If we don’t, the curse will kill us. Sounds like resisting the order to kill Nova almost killed Roman. He fought that one hard.”

“But he’s alive, which means he followed through. Roman did it, didn’t he? He murdered my sister.”

Roman didn’t want her to know about Nova. The sisters would want to see each other, and he feared that could put Nova at risk to remember. Then someone might be able to activate the mental triggers she’d chemically erased. He hedged. “From what I heard, Roman didn’t actually kill Nova. Neither did Flynn. It was a werewolf hunter group.”

“But there’s more, isn’t there?” She stood, her spine stiff, as anger consumed her. “Tell me what happened to Nova. How exactly did my sister die?”

He buried his face in his hands. “Please, don’t ask me about this. I know it seems impossible, but don’t. Leave it alone for now.”

When she said nothing more after a few seconds, he met her glare.

“Tell me,” she said. “I deserve to know.”

Aw, crap.

Something about her made it impossible for him to lie to her.

He said, “Here’s the thing: what happened has happened. It’s done. The Crown needs to believe what you read on the computer screen to be the truth. If they can control you, they can get information from you. They can’t find out what they believe as truth might not be. According to that screen, she’s dead.”

Her eyes widened. “She’s dead to them? I need you to clarify. Does that mean…? Is she not…?”

“Bloody hell.” He stood abruptly and spun to grab a can of beer out of the refrigerator. He popped the top and chugged half.

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

He started when he found her right next to him and almost dropped the beer.

“Do. You. Trust. Me?” she asked again.

“I trust you. But don’t get angry at me for this. I don’t trust whatever they did inside your head. For all I know, I tell you this about Nova, you knock me out and make a phone call to them to relay information.”

Her face scrunched. “That’s ridiculous. If our places were reversed and you wanted to know what happened to that brother of yours who died… If it turned out he might not be dead, what would you do to find out?”

“What wouldn’t I do?” he murmured and took another huge swallow of the beer.

“This is my sister. She’s the only person related to me who wasn’t executed by the psychopathic Lycan Council. She’s the reason I didn’t fight staying inside. I kept thinking I’d find out what happened to her or where she was or some small tidbit about her. To find out she’s been outside while I was in there kills me on multiple levels. I deserve the truth.”

He put down the empty beer can and leaned with both hands on the kitchen counter, dropping his head. Torn between the need to protect his brother’s mate, which made her family, and his loyalty to Vivi, he agonized.

“Please. I need to know. Tell me.” She moved close.

He nodded his head. Decision made. “She’s alive.”

“Oh, thank you, Jesus. She’s not…” Vivi swiped at the tears pouring down her face. She slid to the floor with her back against the kitchen island. “Where is she?”

“She’s safe.”

“Where? Do you know?”

“I’ve told you too much already. Roman’s going to kill me. We’re putting her at risk by even talking about it, which is unacceptable. You have to understand this. If they find out from you that she’s not dead and put the order out again for us to go after her… Because she’s lycan, it means we have to follow the order. We’re no longer under a kill order, since she died and was resuscitated.” He held out a hand to her when she jolted at the news that her sister had died for a few minutes. “I promise, it wasn’t us. A friend of ours saved her. But if they realize she’s alive, they’ll reinstate the order to execute her.”

“Would you kill her if ordered to do so again?”

“I can’t…wouldn’t.” He knelt next to her and lifted her face. With his thumb, he swiped away the track of tears from one of her eyes. “It’s the same for you, if they order I assassinate you. I’d never be able to kill you. I’d die first. Your sister found someone to love and is safe from those who wanted her dead. She’s safe as long as everyone believes her dead. None of us will kill either of you unless that’s your choice.” Unlikely any of us could do it even if you asked it of us.

Since she was Roman’s mate, if something happened to Nova, then Roman would go insane. Some lycans, like his mother, survived the loss of their mate, but Roman’s fidelity and loyalty ran so deep that even though Ky had never met Nova, he understood if she died, they’d lose Roman.

“What does that mean?” Her brows wrinkled inward.

He almost said too much. He’d never give away she was Roman’s mate. That was one step too far. “She’s one of us now, protected and no longer alone. And she’s found herself a mate.”

“My sister bonded with someone? A lycan?”

“Does that imply you thought she’d bond with someone not lycan?”

“I don’t know. I always envisioned her with someone magical. She’s so much better at magic than me, and you know how anti-magic lycans are. I need to talk to her. Where is she?”

“Somewhere not here.”

“Call her.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t risk you talking to her. But, after tomorrow, when we figure out who sent me into the prison and who’s in charge of all this, then you can talk to her.”

“I can’t believe she’s alive. You should’ve told me.”

“I’ll protect her… All of us will protect her against…”

“Me,” she whispered.

“Everything,” he added. “Come on, you should get some sleep.” He held out his hand, which she took. He led her back to the bedroom.

She glared at the bed as if it was the perpetrator of her inability to sleep.

“You prefer the floor?” he asked.

“Not really. I just…” She turned to him and buried her face against his chest. She looked up. “I don’t want to be alone. Everything’s so dark. The walls close in. When I close my eyes, I’m back in there. I fear sleeping because that’s when they’d knock me out. I’d wake up somewhere else.”

“You’re safe,” he whispered while smoothing the hair around her face. He couldn’t resist; he had to kiss her, but he moved slowly, giving her the chance to refuse. She met him, lips ready, and hands burying into his hair. Her lips, so soft, drugged him with lust…with the want of much more.