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As much as I wanted to protect her, I wouldn’t take her choice away. We also didn’t know what was ahead or how this night would go. If we found the nectar, we had no time to go back and get her. We had to run and not stop until we got to a country that was part of the Unified Nations, giving us a slight umbrella of safety.

A chime rang, declaring the late hour, the shadows covering the five (and a quarter) of us as we moved across the city.

Amara waved for us to follow her up the path, keeping low and quiet as we snuck to the old monastery built into the mountain. The stone structure appeared to have been in a state of decline for a while now, the neo-Gothic structure chipping away like the rocky terrain around it. It blended in so perfectly, as if it’d been born from the earth and grew among the stone. A fortress where ancient Druid magic crusted in the rock—weak, a voice from long ago, with only whispers of it remaining.

Two guards patrolled the gated arch doorway, the emblem on their outfit stating who they belonged to.

Killian.

Half of me was shocked at how the little boy I provided a home to so long ago turned out. The other half wasn’t at all. Killian always had this dire need to prove himself, to be better than everyone else. To rise from his poverty-stricken life like it was a reckoning for anyone who doubted him. Who hurt him.

Retribution for the cruelty of his father. And I was the face he hung that vengeance on. The father he despised, the pirate he envied, and the man he felt took the woman he was destined for.

Ducking behind a wall, we watched the guards stroll around the front. A heavy chain locked the gate opening to the cave/church. Chatting in Hungarian back and forth, they hardly glanced around, too busy with whatever gossip they were talking about to notice intruders. They probably never had to deal with any before. If the prison was just being built, there would be no one inside or outside to guard against. They stood in mind-numbing boredom for hours with nothing to do. After a while, their attention would wane, responses dulling, not believing they had to be vigilant right now.

I automatically glanced at Katrina as if I needed to check in, to contrive a plan between us. Though I didn’t have to look at her to know we were on the same page, our movements being one.

There was a thrill and fear in that. The overwhelming sensation of wanting to run from it, at the same time knowing I’d scorch the earth if anyone hurt her.

Her green and yellow eyes reflected in the night back at mine, her pupils vertical, ready to attack. I felt her slip under my skin, buried so deep I couldn’t recall how she wasn’t always there. Though I think she had been. Waiting. Hibernating.

In that single moment, I realized we never had a chance to fight what was between us, nor would I want to. She was part of me. My possessiveness of her swelled, desire tightening my muscles, needing to claim her, mark her in every way as mine.

Cooper’s low growl drew me back into the moment.

“You’re distracted,” he muttered to me. “I need your head in the game. You can fuck her later.”

I couldn’t even try to deny his claim. I was horny all the time now. “Yeah.” I cleared my throat, dipping my head. “I’m here.”

“Get their attention.” Cooper’s eyes flashed red, his hands growing into claws. “I’ll come from behind.” He slipped silently away, his body staying mainly in his man form.

My gaze once again found Kat’s, though I felt Amara’s burn into my profile. She was used to being the one with me on missions, the one who had my focus.

“Let’s do this, pirate,”Kat’s eyes said to mine.

“Tradesman.”

Her lips quirked up, her eyes rolling as her thumb clicked off the safety.

It was so natural, so innate, to communicate with her like this. Like we always had been this way.

Dipping my head, I pushed off the wall, moving around the barrier. The two fae men froze, instantly feeling a shift in the air, my boots crackling the loose stone underfoot.

“Did someone here order a sexy-as-fuck pirate?” I winked at them, their shock turning into defense, their hands yanking out their guns.

“Állj!“ one of them barked, his finger about to press down on the trigger. “Stop!”

Through the darkness, an enormous figure snuck up behind him. A vibration rattled from Cooper’s throat as his claw sliced the fae’s throat, blood sputtering out, the body dropping to the ground before he could cry out. The other man screamed, whipping around to Cooper, his gun pointed at the beast.

“No…” I rushed forward.

Bang!

The single shot ricocheted off the stone, echoing like a bomb, spearing the air like a warning bell.

With a roar, Cooper grabbed the man’s weapon, ripping it from his hand while yanking him closer. His claws wrapped around the man’s neck, picking him off the ground.

Crack.