Page 25

Marjani drove west along the Susquehanna River.

Rock Run owned several thousand prime acres along the shore, including the mouth of Rock Run Creek.

The river fada’s underground base followed the creek; its actual location was a closely kept secret.

Adric had gotten inside once, but the sun fae had wiped his memory of the details, and he’d never been able to get past the wards again.

Adric felt the familiar clench of possessiveness. God’s cat, he wanted Rock Run’s territory for the clan. It had everything—forests for their cats and wolves and bears and deer to run free in. Fresh water to swim and fish in. An underground base that was perfect for a growing clan.

Once, he’d plotted to take Rock Run’s territory, but he’d set that plan aside.

Rock Run had three times the people, and now that Dion had mated with the sun fae queen, it would be suicide to go up against them.

Queen Cleia could literally incinerate a man where he stood.

No, his clan was going to make the money they needed from selling the new quartz technology, and then they’d buy their own chunk of prime forestland.

And Jace Jones was crucial to that plan. He was the brains behind the smartphone project. Kill Jace, and the clan could kiss their plans for new territory goodbye—and Corban knew that as well as Adric.

They reached Rock Run’s border. The road narrowed to a strip of asphalt and gravel. To their left the terrain was thick with trees; to the right, the Susquehanna rushed by just yards away, the rising moon casting a shimmering gold trail on its wide black waters.

“Here?” asked Marjani.

When he nodded, she stopped the jeep. Nika was still unconscious. Adric set her in the grass beside the road.

Marjani followed with Nika’s quartz. “She’s stronger than she’s pretending,” she said as she unwrapped it. “You know we have to do it.”

“Fine.” He dragged a hand over his spiked-up hair. “Do it then.”

His sister’s eyes flashed the chilly sapphire of her cougar. She found a heavy rock, set the quartz on the road and smashed it into several jagged pieces.

Nika jerked and slipped further into unconsciousness.

The quartz shards sparkled like dim stars, still sharing energy with Nika. Scooping them up, Marjani walked onto the narrow beach and tossed them into the river. The last piece, she placed on Nika’s chest where she’d be sure to find it.

“She’ll be all right,” Marjani said, as if he were arguing. “That’s more than Corban allowed me.”

The sparkling pieces were carried rapidly downriver. One by one, they winked out of sight as they sank beneath the water.

A dolphin’s fin appeared upriver. A Rock Run sentry coming to investigate.

“Let’s get out of here,” Adric said, and they jogged back to the jeep.

But he glanced over his shoulder as the dolphin shifted—and felt the shock clear to his bones. It was Rosana do Rio, the only sister of the Rock Run alpha—and the woman he’d wanted for six long years.

“I’ll be right there.”

“Damn it, Ric,” Marjani growled, but he was already moving down the road.

Rosana strode onto the beach. It was too dark to see her clearly, but her image was emblazoned on his brain: a heart-shaped face, a cloud of wavy black hair, and eyes the rich blue of the ocean. Her irises turned a bright, night-glow silver, and their gazes locked.

His heart thundered in his ears. He stopped a yard away. “It’s been a while.” A year, in fact.

They’d danced at Tiago’s mate ball. She’d melted into him for that single dance, and he’d murmured in her ear, trying to entice her to come to him later. But when the dance ended, she’d pulled out of his arms, saying, “I can’t do this,” and walked rapidly away.

Now he hungrily took in her naked body. She was a man’s wet dream—slick from her swim, with high breasts and sleek thighs.

Her hair tumbled in damp ringlets over her shoulders and beneath his heated gaze, her nipples beaded.

But she kept her chin level and met him look for look, a proud and arrogant do Rio to her very toes.

But she wanted him. He gave a slow, deliberate inhale, letting her know he scented her need.

She glanced from him to Nika. “You’re on our territory.” Her voice was naturally husky. The woman could read a fucking menu and sound sexy.

“I brought you a gift.”

“A gift?” A delicate black eyebrow winged up.

He indicated Nika. “She attacked one of my men in Grace Harbor. I figured your brother might want to question her.”

“Grace Harbor isn’t our territory.”

He shrugged. “Close enough.” Which she knew as well as him.

Upstream, another dolphin was making a beeline for them. Adric stepped closer, fingered a wet black ringlet. “I have to go.”

He prided himself on his control. He’d never have made alpha without it. But then Rosana moistened her full lower lip and his control broke with an almost audible snap. With a growl, he speared his fingers into her hair and dragged her up against him.

She went stick straight—and then she gripped his shoulders and opened her mouth.

Adric sank into her. There was no other word for it.

He went deep and mindless. One hand tangled in her hair while the other smoothed over her firm ass, urged her up against his aching cock.

His tongue sought hers and they tasted each other. One slow, sweet kiss.

His heart slammed against his rib cage. His head swam with her scent—fresh water and green grass layered over something that was all woman…a fragrance that could only be Rosana do Rio.

A furious snarl sounded from the river. A young, hard-driving tenente named Davi rose from the water, his gaze lethal.

Adric raised his head and resolutely set Rosana from him.

Behind him, Marjani had backed up the jeep. She shoved open the passenger-side door. “Get in, you ass.”

He ignored her to touch Rosana’s cheek. One last stroke of her downy skin.

Her throat worked. She captured his hand—and set it firmly against his chest. “Goodbye, Lord Adric.”

“Rosana—” He was close to begging…and he’d never begged a woman in his life.

Davi strode toward them. “What the fuck’s going on?”

“It’s all right.” Rosana slapped a palm on the tenente ’s chest. “Go,” she told Adric.

His cougar gnashed its teeth at seeing her touch another man. But Marjani was right. Rosana do Rio wasn’t for him—and not just because he was alpha of an earth fada clan and she was a river fada. No, there were other, darker reasons he couldn’t allow himself to take Rosana.

With a mocking salute to Davi, he hopped into the jeep. The Rock Run man growled and started toward them, but Marjani slammed her foot on the gas pedal and they sped off in a hail of gravel.

His sister shook her head. “God’s cat, Ric. You have to get over this obsession with her.”

“I don’t want her.” It was a lie, and his stomach lurched in response. “Not for more than a fuck,” he amended.

Marjani snorted and he scowled at her. They drove in silence until she reached the main road. Then her eyes creased with amusement. “Dion’s going to go insane trying to figure out why we left Nika here.”

It wasn’t a smile, but it was the closest she’d come in a long while. Adric blew out a breath—and wrenched his mind away from the sexy Rock Run female.

“And then he’ll give up,” he said, “and have his mate ’port her back to Iceland or wherever the hell she’s from.”

“Either way, she’ll be taken care of. Smart.”

“Exactly.” Adric smirked and tapped his quartz. “Zuri? Any news?”