JOHNSON AND HIS MATE sat in the kitchenette with freshly brewed coffee in front of them. Their whispers weren’t on the same page. She wanted him to call the agency, but he wanted to hear us out before all hell broke loose.

He wasn’t an idiot. He knew I could compel him just as effectively as I had Robby upstairs. He also knew I could make them forget us. That I could make them forget they lived here. And if I wanted to be a royal dick, I could make them forget he was the alpha of the Allegany pack.

I slid into the chair across from them while Robby retrieved a cup of coffee. I didn’t speak, and Johnson’s wife just glared at me as if I were the problem here.

Robby took the seat next to me, set his coffee down on the table, and put his hands out flat on the wooden surface next to it, where the silver burns were on full display. His gaze flashed to me before he focused on Johnson.

“I apologize for my behavior upstairs.” He pressed his lips together. “I was caged for six months, so the idea of being caged again...” He shuddered and his hands curled into fists. “Makes me lose it.”

“How could someone kill her multiple times?” Johnson’s wife spat out and waved at me.

“Because she’s other,” Johnson answered, as if he had that part memorized.

I leaned back and studied her. “Judy, right?”

She nodded, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Are you aligned with your mate or are you aligned with the agency?”

She recoiled as if I had slapped her. “I’m loyal to Rick,” she snapped. “What the hell kind of question is that? How would you like me to ask you the same?”

I smiled, revealing my sharp canines. “I’d burn down the city and everyone in it for my mate. I’d drain every last drop of blood in your veins if that meant he was safe.” I covered Robby’s fisted hand.

The click of a hammer being pulled back made both our gazes dart to Johnson.

“Put that away,” I commanded in a growl.

Johnson’s upper lip pulled back in a snarl as he reset the hammer on the gun he had under the table and then set the hunk of metal on the edge, still within reach. “You threatened my mate.”

I nodded and leaned forward. “And you threatened mine.”

He blinked and glanced at Robby, as if he were slowly understanding his militant loyalty to me as opposed to anyone or anything else.

“Locking you up is not the same as murder.” His gaze snapped back to mine.

“And being locked up for any of us is worse than taking our lives. Or do you think you could live if you were separated from her forever? Locked in a cage like an animal?” I challenged.

Robby sat stoic, letting me handle the conversation. The way his hand trembled underneath mine had me worried. He cleared his throat.

“Like I said upstairs, you will not enlighten the agency or my father that I am alive.” He glanced at me. “That we are alive.”

“Her magic has a signature.” Johnson crossed his arms. “What the hell am I supposed to do when they discover there is magical breaches surfacing in my home?”

Robby’s lips tilted in a smile. “This place is warded.”

My gaze snapped to his. That was a new piece of information.

He side-eyed me and shrugged.

“I made my provisions when I bought this place.” He glanced around the kitchen. “Otherwise, they would have already broken the door down. You’ve been whipping up steaks like a Kansas City chef since we got here.” His dimples appeared.

I had wondered why they hadn’t descended on us like maggots on a dead bird. Now I knew.

He turned back to Johnson. “I will let her burn the entire world before I allow the agency to put us in cages. If you have any doubts about her ability to do that, I suggest you remember that forest fire near where we last met.” He cocked an eyebrow at Johnson.

Johnson’s mouth popped open, and then he seemed to recompose himself. “What happened?”

“A vampire with a wolf attacked us. If she hadn’t been other, we would have both been sucked dry by that bastard, and our meat left for the wolf.” Robby pulled his hand out from under mine and crossed his arms.

He chewed on the edge of his lower lip and his eyes narrowed. “Did anyone at the agency know where you were heading when you came after us?”

“Your father knew. I don’t know if Terrance did, but since the two of them run that agency like a tight military unit, I’m sure he must have known.”

In all the years I worked at the Monster Defense Agency, I had never once met the elusive head, Terrance Winters. I had met Robby’s father, and that man was as cold as they come. The board wasn’t any warmer. They showed up every year to speak with the new recruits and attended the welcome dinners.

When Robby took the elite spot of alpha for his pack, there had been a formal dinner. Most of the agency attended, as well as the entire pack. It was an affair that would have made the rich and famous envious. And I hated every minute of it. But it was Robby’s induction into the role his father had groomed him for. Yet, Terrance hadn’t been at that event, either.

“Have either of you met Terrance?” I asked as I noodled on why Robby was digging at this particular bone.

Robby shook his head. “Nope.”

Johnson glanced at his girl. “Terrance is Judy’s uncle.” He met my gaze before it bounced to Robby’s.

Holy hell. That meant Terrance Winters was not only in bed with the Allegany pack, he also had the nation’s largest pack in his pocket. Although, he did have a tough mountain to climb after his father fell from grace and the werewolf council reformed under new leadership. The new regime outlawed being doused in silver. However, the agency still carried that heinous punishment out. So, maybe Terrance had taken a few of his father’s bad habits along with him.

It was why the agency was so feared by all supernatural beings. We were ruthless in our deliverance of justice. Well, at least the leaders’ idea of what justice was, albeit one with a very skewed lens now that we were no longer insiders. And to think, we used to be part of their network of intimidating muscle.

I shook my meandering thoughts away and focused on Johnson. The family ties meant our existence would no longer be secret. I glanced at Robby, and his gaze was fixed on a point on the table in front of him. He had that analyze the shit out of the situation expression that I was intimately familiar with.

“Our time here is limited,” I said softly. “She’ll run to her uncle as soon as we are out of sight.”

Her eyes widened, and her face paled.

“If she hasn’t already,” Robby added.

“Tell me the truth. Did you already alert your uncle to our presence here?” I asked the question with the force of my coercion. She wouldn’t be able to lie under my command.

“N-n-no,” she stuttered and blinked rapidly. “Rick asked me n-not to.”

I sat back and slashed my gaze to Johnson, giving him a nod of thanks. “Neither of you will be able to tell anyone about us. Understand?” I narrowed my gaze, forcing my will on both of them.

They winced and nodded.

“If you try, you will be crippled with an unimaginable pain that renders you silent and unable to communicate in any manner.”

Robby glanced at me, raising his eyebrow.

I shrugged at him. “It’s better than wiping their memories.”

Johnson’s face reddened, and his glare just got more intense. His girl’s eyes looked as if they’d pop out of her head at any moment.

“Robby was kind enough to offer the guest room to you. But I think you’d be much happier living elsewhere. Don’t you agree?” I asked.

“Afraid I might kill you in the wee hours of the night?” Johnson said through clenched teeth. His eyes blazed with righteous anger.

I smiled at him and leaned forward.

He leaned back in response.

“Are you afraid I will drain you and your pretty little bride of blood?”

“Stop it!” Robby snapped. “Both of you.” He glanced at me. “As you so eloquently put it before, Johnson is my closest friend. Probably the only one left besides you.” His gaze slashed to Johnson. “And you’ve known Sarah as long as I have. Hell, you’ve had her back all that time, too. So, both of you just stop being assholes.”

I glanced down at the table and took a deep breath. What Robby said was true, as much as I hated to admit it. Johnson had kept me alive by thwarting Robby’s wolf. I met Johnson’s gaze. “As much as it aggravates me, I do have to admit, you kept me as safe as he has.” I hooked my thumb at Robby. “So, I’m sorry if I seem overprotective and territorial.”

“You’re not sorry.” Johnson’s lips tilted in a smirk. “You’ve always been as militant as I am in protecting Robby. Even before you became other or his mate.” He pressed his lips together. “You didn’t need to compel us not to say anything, either.”

I laughed. “Yes. I did. Family bonds and all, it’s the only prudent thing I could do without wiping out your memories. And no. I don’t think you’ll sneak in and try to kill us. But I don’t know your mate. She may very likely try because of what I am and because of the gag order you’re both now compelled to follow.”

“What are you?” Judy interrupted.

“She’s a phoenix,” Robby said.

“A...what?” She blinked.

“A phoenix,” Johnson repeated, glancing at her.

“Like rising from the ashes?”

I laughed. “Yeah.” I held my hand out and willed flames to dance across my fingers and then closed my fist, dousing them. “That’s how Cassius could kill me multiple times.” I shrugged.

Johnson’s gaze widened, as if the information we were saying now was new. Robby had said as much upstairs, but the reality of what we went through was just now sinking in his best friend’s mind. I could see the gears moving, the horror of it all settling in.

“Wait. You had to watch him kill her?” Judy asked before Johnson could.

Robby noticeably paled and the shake returned to his hands. He nodded as his gaze focused on the table. “Multiple times.” His voice trembled, as if he had just stepped back into the memories again.

I reached out and took his hand. He stiffened and blinked, coming back to us from whatever momentary hell he was reliving.

“Shit, man.” Johnson ran his hand down his face.

Robby let out a laugh that sounded as stressed as he was. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get my shit together.”

His admission dropped Johnson’s jaw for a moment, but then Johnson said, “I think I’d go crazy, too, if anyone made me watch Judy getting hurt.”

Robby twitched and tried on a smile, but it transmitted just how broken he really was.