Page 76 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

Eli got up from the couch and closed in on our group. “You changed your mind?”

“You kidnapped me the day I got a new job. Assistant to the Head of Welfare. I finally had reached the point of my plan where I had access to data I desperately needed, and you took that away from me. And now, I can’t go back to Ilasall. They’d rip me apart for missing too many days. So I won’t.” She sauntered to Gedeon, who stood at the side of his ebony desk. “But you are going to pay for it. Trust me, I’m a bad woman to keep. You’ll regret the day you stole me.”

Gedeon arched an eyebrow. “Sounds like you are afraid I will hunt you down if you run.”

Her knee connected with his crotch. A half-grunt, half-gasp rippled from him as he dropped to his knees.

Eli’s, Ezra’s, Ryder’s, and mine expressions matched. That pain… That was not pleasure.

But seeing her do it… Now that might have been a little bit satisfying.

She brushed her bare knee as if he’d gotten dust on it and looked down on him, mimicking his signature smirk. “If I can bring you down with a single kick, why should I be afraid?”

I shifted in my seat. The zipper in my jeans was starting to step on my nerves.

Sadira hoisted her left leg over the right in her seat. “This is way better than Vice.”

“Be nice.” Eislyn elbowed her, and Sadira rolled her eyes.

“I won’t join you for free,” Kali declared, towering over Gedeon, still reeling from how hunched forward he sat on his heels, the wrinkles slowly smoothing out on his forehead. “Both of you are going to pay. I have conditions. For starters, what do your tattoos mean? They’re similar, but not identical. And no one apart from you and Zion has them.”

“It’s a mark of the leader and his closest, usually the second-in-command.” Gedeon got up on one knee and gripped her hips so roughly his thumbs dug into her flesh, the dents visible through the fabric of her cotton shorts. He’d never acted soft, but he also hadn’t said half the things bothering him out loud, either. “Enjoying the sight of me kneeling?”

Idid.

She patted his cheek. “Can’t complain.”

I’d squeeze myself right about now, but it would likely give her the wrong idea. Her behavior had demonstrated that her experiences hadn’t been all sunshine and rainbows. So I tucked the image of them into the recesses of my memory for future use and discretely adjusted myself.

Well, maybe not exactly discretely. My hands might have lingered on my crotch a bit longer than they were supposed.

It wasn’t my fault.

Their positions had brought a fantasy to life. Well, more like the beginning of it. I couldn’t resist it—my imagination had no limits. Or I hadn’t discovered them yet.

Gods, what I’d give to have both of them, separately and at once. My patience had cracked when I’d seen them in the clearing that first time. The way Gedeon hadn’t noticed me catch up with him, the way he’d halted in the tree line, the way Kali had sat up and held herself, as if she commanded him, the way it’d taken him too long to figure out she only came on nights with a clear sky, the way she’d yell at him sometimes, the way my body had thrummed with the need to chain them both up in my underground to keep forever, the way I’d had to find someone to play with each time to stop myself from taking them both for myself.

Maybe a prayer could speed things along. My mother had told me many folklore tales about people praying to their gods high up in the sky. Supposedly, if you were good and pure, they’d grant you wishes from your prayers. I was the opposite of innocent, but what if the gods were too? The world had changed since those fairy tale times.

Maybe they’d grant me my desires if I pleaded darkly enough.

“What have I missed?” Jayla rushed into the room and came to a halt at the sight of Gedeon on the floor and Kali looming over him with her arms folded over her chest. “Damn. Seems I missed the show. Well, anyway, finish whatever this is later. I’ve got to go back to work in an hour. What do we have to plan?” She plopped down on the couch and wiped away the sheen of sweat shining on her forehead. “Why is it so hot here? Can someone open a window? No, you know what, never mind, it’s hot outside too. I figured the last day of summer meant the weather would be cooling down.” She tapped the reddened skin above her chestand winced. “This is what I get for having freckles. Constant sunburns. And no tan.” Scanning the room, she pressed her lips together. “I’m babbling, aren’t I? I’ll be quiet. I promise.” She waved in a mocking bow. “Please, continue.”

Babbling was the right word. But she was useful. Working at Vice, she always had intel about people’s moods and spreading rumors.

Gedeon let Kali go, got up, and glared at the mass of papers scattered on his desk like they’d wronged him personally. “We have nothing. No one can program the chips, and we can’t smuggle anyone out or resupply ourselves. We also don’t know the locations of the auctions, which schools are next, and when they are set to take place.”

Kali laughed.

26

ZION

“What?” Kali asked, and added at the confused looks, “Maybe you don’t, but I know half of those things.”

“What do you mean?” Eislyn dabbed her forehead, nose, and chin with her forearm, the air too scorching and humid for so many people to be in one room.

“The day I worked as the Assistant to the Head of Welfare, I used my boss’s credentials to access the data. I know about the upcoming auctions and where they will take place. The closest one is in less than three months. If you give me a blueprint of the city, I can show you where it’ll happen.”