Ivan left the bathroom without cursing. Malik had never been in a shower. It was hard to tell how old a vampire was, but Ivan would guess Malik was close to forty, maybe a couple of years past forty, and he’d never been in a shower. Ivan would turn thirty-four in October if they survived this mission, and he’d always assumed Malik was a few years older than him.
How did they wash in the basement? He wanted to strangle Remington Redwood.
He hadn’t seen many vamps living happy lives, but few were as miserable as those Remi kept.
The chain rattled against the shower stall wall, and Ivan winced. Perhaps he should have stayed in there. “Everything all right?” He stood right outside the door, not wanting to barge in unless Malik wanted him there.
“Hot.”
Ivan grinned. “Turn the temperature down.”
“I have.”
“Well, there you go. Enjoy!” He went to inspect Raina’s cleaning cabinet. Last he’d checked, she kept a hammer and some nails there. He didn’t hold much hope to her having something able to cut metal, but you never knew. Raina had a tendency to surprise him.
When he couldn’t find anything, he pulled out his phone.
Only one signal rang through. “What?” Her bark made him wince.
“Erm…is this a bad time?”
“Crawling with people.”
Ivan nodded; he’d assumed as much. “Do you own a hacksaw or something?”
“No, if I need something I always go to Zev on the ground floor.”
Ivan had no idea who Zev was, and he wasn’t sure it was a good thing to involve someone else. “Who is he?”
“A super-hot werewolf. I don’t think he’d like you, so better wait until I get there.”
Yeah, super-hot werewolves were normally bigoted assholes with an alpha male complex—Ivan didn’t do those. “He can’t know what it’s for.”
“I’ll handle it. A hacksaw?”
“Something to cut metal.”
“You’re sawing through the chains? I don’t think that’ll work. Hang on, I’ll call Ibine and ask how she removed them the first time.”
Ivan nodded. Calling Ibine would be good, but she didn’t remove the chains, she removed the cuffs. “I’m not cutting the chains, it’s for the stake. We’ll need some nuts to screw on and then tape some shit over so he doesn’t catch on anything. It must hurt like hell.”
“Aww, are you worried about your pet?”
“Stop it.”
“I think we should keep him. You’re cute together, and you know what they say about vamps.”
He didn’t, and he wouldn’t ask. Raina chuckled as if she knew what he was thinking.
The bathroom door opened, and Malik stepped out buck naked and dripping wet. “I have to go, Raina. Call Ibine and pick up a hacksaw and nuts in different sizes.”
“I’ll be there soon.” She hung up, but Ivan kept on holding the phone to his ear as he studied Malik.
“I left a towel out for you.”
Malik turned and looked into the bathroom, goosebumps covering his skin.
“Come on.” Ivan put the phone away and walked past him into the steaming bathroom. He must have half-boiled himself. He grabbed the towel and shook it. When Malik raised a hand to grab it, drops fell from his chains and Ivan cursed. “I’ll…” He quickly dried off Malik’s shoulders and arms. When he reached the chain, he ran the towel over it, too. “You can…eh…” He gestured at his middle, not looking despite wanting to.
For the first time, he noted a spark of amusement in Malik’s eyes and rolled his in return. “Did you do it to embarrass me?”
“No. But I like you touching me.”
Ivan froze. “You do?” Heat washed over him and Malik grinned, fangs peeking out from underneath his upper lip.
“I do.”
Ivan huffed. “I believe you’re yanking my chain, Mr. Malik.” He changed his hold on the towel, ducked in under Malik’s arm, and reached around him to wrap the towel around his middle. Those strong arms wrapped around him, and for a moment an alarm went off in Ivan’s mind, then he became aware of the hard length pushing against his belly when Malik hugged him.
“You don’t have any chains to yank.”
Ivan forgot how to breathe. “Raina will be here soon, and we’ll try to remove the stake. She’ll call Ibine—do you remember Ibine who removed your cuffs? She’ll ask how she did it.”
“I remember.”
Ivan nodded.
“You never remembered me from mission to mission.” Malik looked so soulful Ivan had to laugh.
“Of course, I did, I picked you every time.”
“No, you didn’t. You always picked one of the females, then you picked Cassius. Every time.”
Ivan chuckled. “Remi would never have given me you if I’d pointed at you first. I knew he’d never give me one of the females. And, Cassius is his name? He’s old, Remi would never let me have him. Then after he’d denied me twice, I pointed at you. Worked almost every time.”
It had. Remi believed he was in charge of everything, but he was easy to manipulate—for someone who didn’t have a stake attached to their chest.
* * * *
Malik jumped as the front door opened. Before realizing what he was doing, he’d pushed Ivan into a corner and was ready to attack whoever was nearing them.
Raina frowned as she spotted him. “What’s going on? Where’s Ivan?”
“I’m here.” A hand gently touched Malik’s back, and then Ivan pushed past him. He gave Malik a look with raised eyebrows. “While I appreciate you trying to protect me, I’m capable of taking care of myself.”
Malik didn’t believe him. Ivan was small, even by human standards. Most people would be able to overpower him.
Ivan popped his hip. “I don’t like the look I’m seeing, Malik.”
“You’re small.”
Ivan huffed and stepped back so his back was against the wall, then he stepped back some more. Malik made a surprised sound as Ivan melted into the wall, disappearing. “Ivan? Ivan!”
He touched the wall where Ivan had disappeared and yelped as a hand caught his.
“Are we done playing?” Raina gave them both an unimpressed look while Malik tried to get his heart to slow down. Ivan had disappeared…into a wall.
“Can you walk in there?” If he could live in the walls, no one would ever be able to find him.
Ivan walked out of the wall, and, for a second, Malik believed it wouldn’t let him go. It was almost as if it stuck to him.
“Along it, yes, but I can’t get past corners or doorways, and I can’t go through walls. If I could, the necklace being in a vault wouldn’t be a problem.”
“I have a saw and some nuts, don’t know if they fit. Maybe we can glue them on if they don’t.”
“Glue?” Ivan waved a hand at her. “We can’t fucking glue his heart together.”
Raina rolled her eyes. “Not his heart, stupid. I meant if the nuts don’t fit, maybe we can glue them on instead of him having sharp metal things coming out of his chest.”
Malik suppressed a shudder. He lived in constant fear of triggering the stake by mistake or that Master would do it deliberately. Having someone try to saw the screws off wasn’t anything he was looking forward to.
Ivan met his gaze. “Ready?”
He shook his head. “Yes.”
Ivan’s laugh had heat climbing his cheeks.
“It’ll be fine.” The wince wasn’t convincing.
“Have you ever…removed stakes before?” Malik did his best to keep his voice from trembling.
“Can’t say I have.”
The chains rattled as Malik raised his hand to his heart. The wall behind Ivan was a soft yellow, and he looked at it for several seconds before nodding. Not having a stake ready to shoot through his chest would make life easier.
“I think the coffee table is sturdy enough.” Raina looked him up and down. “But perhaps not long enough.”
Ivan curled a hand around his arm above the cuff. “You can have your feet on the floor.” He turned to Raina. “A towel or a sheet or something so he doesn’t have to lie on the cold surface.”
She went to the same cabinet where Ivan had gotten him the towel.
“Did you manage to find him some clothes?”
“No.” Raina walked into the living room and spread a sheet over a low table, looking like a matchbox in dark wood. There were several tiny drawers on the sides. What did people put in so many drawers?
“I considered asking Zev, but he’s nosy. A hacksaw I could explain, needing a set of his clothes wouldn’t be as easy.”
Ivan grunted and guided Malik toward the table. “Looks like you’ll be naked.”
Malik stared at him, his pulse thudding in his ears as Raina held up a saw of some kind.
“It was a joke.” Ivan tilted his head as he studied Malik.
“I think he’s more concerned about you putting a saw to his chest than what to wear, to be frank. His sense of fashion isn’t as developed as his survival instinct.”
“It’ll be fine.” Ivan patted his arm. “Probably.”
With Ivan’s help, he got down on the table. A voice in his mind screamed at him to get off there, to not let anyone touch the little cage holding the stake in place, but he took deep breaths and stared at the ceiling.
“Did you talk to Ibine?”
Malik jumped at Ivan’s voice.
Raina hummed. “She was a bit vague. I got the feeling someone was nearby, and she couldn’t talk. She gave me some pointers.”
“I don’t think we can get rid of the chains. She removed the cuffs when I went to her.”
“I know, but I have an idea.”
Seconds went by, and no one moved or spoke. Had Ivan changed his mind? Then Raina huffed and stepped closer. “Here, let me do it. You’ve never been good with tools.”
Malik waited for Ivan to protest, but he didn’t. “Just be…I don’t know, maybe this is a bad idea.” He leaned over Malik, so they could look at each other. “The stake won’t kill you, right?”
“No, it’ll paralyze—” He jerked. Everything stopped. There was no pain, but the impact of the stake piercing his heart made his body react before it went limp. Panic rose in his mind, and he tried to scream, tried to move.
Ivan’s shout cut through his roaring alarm. “What did you do?”
“I hardly touched it. Really, I didn’t even try to saw them off.”
“Is he dead?” Ivan touched him, ran a hand over his cheek, gently shook his shoulder. “Did you kill him?”
Silence again and Malik tried to speak. He wasn’t dead.
“Will Remi know it’s been triggered?”
Ivan removed his hands, and Malik pleaded in his mind for Ivan not to leave him. “Shit, I didn’t think of that. We need to get moving. It won’t take many minutes for him to get here. Those fucking trackers. Pack a bag!”
He was leaving? Ivan was leaving.
Panic clawed at Malik and inside his head, he was screaming.