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“Of course you’re here.” I wagged my head. “The one thing I can count on is you being predictable.”

“Predictable?” Her voice went up, already unsettled that I wasn’t reacting the way she was used to. “You were clueless that I’d been following you. I practically had to sign my name to the letter.” She stepped up to me, her body lining up with mine. Without looking, I sensed Katrina bristle, imaginary claws digging into my skin.

“It was you I was thinking of when I sucked that guy off.” Her voice went to a throaty timbre, peering up at me through her heavy lashes. How many times had I folded under that look, pushed her up against the wall, and forgotten whatever fucked up shit she had done to me? “I felt you under the bed, getting off. Made me so hot.”

She used to use this trick on me with Ryker. When she was fucking or blowing him, she told me it was me she was thinking of. I used to get off on that, revel in how twisted it was. Like I was somehow winning over the Viking. Took me way too long to come to understand it was all bullshit. A lie to keep me hanging on, to keep me as her pet. Fuel for her ego.

“Thought I recognized that bad Russian accent,” I recalled. Deep down, I had recognized her. My body reacted to the voice, but I brushed it off and shoved it far down before I even analyzed it. Plus, I had been preoccupied with who was underneath me at the time. “And thanks. Ididget off.” I peered down at her, not flinching at her nearness, my tone indicating it wasn’t her I had gotten off to. My skin sizzled with the awareness of possessive need, but not for Amara.

Katrina hadn’t moved, but I felt her everywhere, sinking into my bones. I recalled the other night with precise clarity—how my tongue stroked through her folds, how she tasted. How I spanked her pussy, hearing her cry out.

Katrina’s breath hitched next to me, my gaze darting to her. It was as if she read my thoughts, felt everything I was doing to her in my mind.

And that scared the shit out of me. Far scarier than falling into Amara’s shit again. Being with her was torture, but it was superficial. It would never break me.

Katrina felt different.

“I always could, if you remember.” Amara ignored my implication, her hand sliding up my arm. “I know you’ve missed me. It’s been a while.”

“Not long enough.” I kept my voice even, but every syllable rang with the truth. Amara had coveted the Stone of Fal, a treasure of Tuatha dé Danann. She’d been part of the fight with Stavros and had hitched her ride to the idea he might become King. That was who she was: a survivor at any cost. She used, charmed, tricked, killed, and slept her way into any bed she needed to stay on top.

Her being in the middle of this, going after the most dangerous and powerful object, was right on par for her.

Amara’s brows lowered like lying dogs, and a tic flicked at her cheek before a smile curled her mouth. She patted my chest like I was teasing her. “Oh, I’ve missed you.”

I knew every gesture, every manipulating, conniving trait she had. She wanted to get mad, confused by my pushback, but she was still trying to play the game. I had seen it time and time again. And sadly, most men—fae or human—were pretty simple, falling for her pretty smile, sultry eyes, and flattery, even as she robbed them blind. It was why we got along so well—she had no scruples and slept with whoever she needed to get ahead.

It took me a long time to realize I was just another one of her fools, not a partner in crime.

“Too bad I can’t say the same.”

Amara’s dark eyes flickered with anger, her temper rising. She stepped back, her gaze turning hard on me. Her hair was knotted up, but in the torches, I could see a streak of purple reflecting in her dyed black locks, her true personality coming to the surface. Her eyes went over me as if she was coming up with a way to lash back, to cut me, but I should have known Amara would never go straight for my throat.

She’d go for my weakness.

Her gaze slid over to Katrina, cruelty tipping up her lips as she turned to face her.

Fuck.

“You know you’re just a little substitute Zoey, right?” She tipped her head at Katrina. “A fill-in for the girl he really wants.”

Kat stared at her, not responding.

“See, that is what Croygen does. Falls for the women Ryker has. First it was me, then he was bewitched by that stupid human.”

“She’s not human,” I countered. Zoey had been at one time, but after a strange fae storm, which transferred Ryker’s powers to her, she became one of us.

“See?” Amara motioned to me. “Always so protective of her. Followed her like a puppy. Even became a lab experiment for her. So if you think you are special, that he cares for you…”

“Yet you kidnap me, fully knowing Croygen will come for me.” Kat tipped her head like Amara’s. She was smaller, but her power, the ruthless pirate, vibrated under her skin.

“Because he likes to think of himself as thehero.” She chuckled. “When at worst he’s the sidekick, at best the villain.”

“I already know he’s the villain,” Kat spat back, sending a shiver down my veins. “And you can have him. I don’t need a hero or a sidekick. I don’t need saving.”

It was a second, but Iknewwhat she was about to do. Her thoughts streamed into me, notifying me of her actions. Like the girl who tried to take me down in my cabin, exhausted and weak, she fought me with all she had, never giving up.

Her elbow snapped back, cracking the nose of the man behind us. He stumbled back, his gun dropping from our heads.