Page 66 of Wraith (Deviant Assassin #1)

Blade

T he walls close in as I stare at two identical versions of my wife. Wild’s attempts at FBI profiling bullshit aren’t working. There was never any hope it would.

It took me far too long to catch on, but then again, it’s Sable looking back at me through Kiera’s eyes.

The notorious Chameleon. My old friend and fellow assassin.

I’d know her work anywhere, but damn… she’s outdone herself this time.

Perfect, down to the last detail. Maybe Tristan helped her.

The fucker is always looking for any excuse to get his hands on Sable’s curves.

Her lip quirks for a split second, a private signal we developed years ago during missions.

I keep my face neutral, hiding my relief at being able to tell them apart.

No need to show my hand just yet. Wild’s practically losing his shit, not that I blame him.

I need to get control of this situation, all of it, before someone gets seriously hurt .

Despite all the blood, my wife and her attacker are both breathing and moving just fine.

Lowering one hand from my gun, I brush the cell in my pocket.

Without lowering my weapon, though. I doubt Sable will attack Kiera again with me here, but this is a fucked-up situation.

I really don’t want to have to call Tris and explain why I put a bullet into the woman he’s obsessed with. Even non-fatal.

Wild tracks my movement, as both women spin in a disturbingly mirrored pirouette. Refusing to be distracted, I scroll through the pics until I find what I need.

“Speaking of people who’ve played us,” I say, pulling out the photo level with my gun. Both women lean forward. It’s a photo of Zephyr, and me, taken last year at an Umber event. “Recognize anyone?”

My wife hisses like a snake wanting to strike. “That’s him. The one who told me you’d abandoned me.”

“First, how did you find me?” I demand of Chameleon, who’s thankfully stopped mimicking Kiera.

“Oh, that…” She looks down at Kiera’s favorite boots on her feet and then back to me, mischief glinting in her sable eyes. “I cheated. At the Umber Ball.”

I know damn well better than to give in to her charm. Chameleon is almost as deadly as I am and doesn’t take failure lightly.

“You mean with man-bun guy at the at the auction?” I say, keeping her talking while trying to make sense of the bigger picture.

Perhaps if she realizes her target of that night is in this room too, it’ll rattle her a bit. Besides, I need to be damn sure Wild has come out of his mental gymnastics and knows who’s who in case shit goes sideways again. No one is killing my wife today. Not even by accident.

Sable frowns, her bottom lip jutting out a bit.

“I wish, but Tristan cock-blocked me.” She looks Wild over more slowly and squints her eyes for a second.

“Wait… aren’t you…?” She cocks her head, her gaze taking in Kiera, Wild and I slowly.

I can almost see the soap opera playing out in her mind.

She’s not wrong, but she’s thoroughly distracted, so I lower my gun and step into the room, putting an end to this shit show.

I shake my head at Sable, almost imperceptibly, and she sighs dramatically.

“Did you forget it’s almost time for our annual game of tag? ”

“I did, actually.” I reach back and put a hand over Wild’s, guiding his weapon down before switching my attention back to the Chameleon who has fucked my whole day over. “So, you cheated how, Sable?”

“I slipped a tracker into your most worn pair of shoes before making my grand entrance at the ball.”

“Why?” I demand as Wild follows me into the room, still wary, and rushes to Kiera’s side.

“Well,” Sable singsongs as if she isn’t here to kill my wife . “You can guarantee I wasn’t going to let you and Pheonix beat Tristan and me again.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Wild growls, wrapping Kiera in a dry towel from the linen closet.

I stare Chameleon down until she finally answers. “Tristan and I have a bet about this year’s tag, and I can’t lose. More importantly, he can’t win.” She puts a hand up, stopping my next question. “Don’t ask me what, because you’ll never get it out of me.”

The four of us began playing international tag when Sable and I were training under Tristan.

I proposed it one night as a distraction from thoughts of Kiera.

Sable teamed up with her handler and me with mine.

It was an enjoyable break from work; yet allowed us to hone our skills.

Phoenix and I usually win, and it pisses Tris and Sable off to no end.

“Yeah, well, you lost again this year too, since you cheated.”

She flips me off but says nothing because she knows I’m right.

“Are you fucking friends? Or are you here to kill me?” Kiera yells, unnecessarily loud for the small space.

Wild pulls her close to his side, glaring at both Sable and me now.

“An excellent question, my Heathen.”

If this wasn’t such a tense situation, the irony of this little face-off would slay me. Sable huffs an exasperated sigh like we’re all slower than molasses in winter but stubbornly doesn’t respond.

Fucking children. All of them.

“Answer her.” I demand, tired of talking in circles. “Tristan knows what I’m up to, so why did he send you?”

Sable’s eyes narrow, becoming cold. “What did she fuck the brains out of your head, Shadow? It didn’t come from Tris. There’s a mole in Umber. I was called in directly.”

Thunder grumbles in the distance, a mirror for my mood.

My jaw tightens. “You were?”

She nods, crossing her arms, her shadow stretching across the wall as lightning flashes somewhere far off.

“But I wasn’t trying to kill her, obviously. I was told to bring her in for questioning.”

Her gaze shifts to Kiera, assessing, curious. Her words sink into my mind with a realization that pricks my every nerve.

Esther never put out the first hit on Kiera.

I haven’t called in for the last three days, so the wily old bird has kept her cards close, waiting, watching. Assessing us all.

A flicker of guilt scratches at me. I faked Kiera’s death, twisting the knife in deeper when I pinned it on Wild.

I played my role well, but who’s casting this play?

Esther must have figured out Kiera is Wraith.

Or she wouldn’t have sent Chameleon in with a capture order.

She knows Sable prefers to play with her targets rather than end them and wouldn’t overreact when Kiera fought like hell.

The wind outside intensifies, rattling the windows.

Thunder cracks overhead, its rumble following Chameleon’s words like punctuation.

Wild pulls Kiera closer. It should irk me, but he needs to have a good hold on her in case she decides she’s had enough and tries to rip Sable’s throat out.

No one fights with Kiera and walks away, except me.

I press my lips together, working through the questions clambering to the front of my mind.

Why didn’t Esther target me, too? If she knew…

But only Zephyr and I knew the location of my house. So…

“It has to be Zephyr. He’s trying to clean up the mess he started with Wraith.

We already know he’s a mole, but there may be more.

” I turn my attention to Wild and Kiera.

“Go get dressed, Love. We need to sort more shit out.” I point a finger at Sable, “Shut the goddamn water off before the place floods and meet us in the living room.”

Kiera snarls.

My hellcat is pissed her opponent is going to remain breathing.

On any other day, I’d be enormously proud and back her into a wall to fuck all that rage out of her.

But I don’t have that luxury today. I meet her eyes in silent warning, then look to Wild and remind them both of what’s fucking important.

“She’ll be more protected in clothes and armed, yeah? ”

That does the trick, as the FBI agent who would literally do anything to keep my wife safe all but tows her past me and into the bedroom.

I turn back to Sable who’s got an oddly gleeful expression of someone watching a particularly juicy Telenovela, an expression that has never crossed Kiera’s face.

Then again, Sable’s always been a bit… off. We’re friends, but Tristan’s the only one who really understands Chameleon. Sable reaches under the sink and turns the knob until the water stops spraying. I gesture with the hand still holding the gun for her to go in front of me.

Sable rolls her eyes as she saunters past. “Geez, Shadow, tell me how you really feel.”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to, Chameleon. Tristan is going to lose his shit over this, you know.”

“Tristan can bite me. I was following orders. Why the hell are you here anyhow, Shadow?” she asks over her shoulder. I just gesture her forward with the gun, keeping her moving into the small living room.

It’s not long until Wild and Kiera join us, neither looking much calmer than they did in the bathroom, but I’m just starting to put the pieces together in my mind. I lift my phone out to Kiera, letting her see the decade old photo: me, Zephyr, and Colton.

“That’s Zephyr, obviously the one who told you I owed a debt.” I say, placing my finger over Z’s head, startled by the confusion that crosses both Kiera and Wild’s faces.

Her face twists, and she slides my finger left.

“No, that’s him,” she spits out. I look down to confirm she’s indicating Colton.

“That’s the man who ruined everything. Lied to me, made me think you ghosted me.

That it was my job to fix everything.” Her voice wavers, cold and pained.

“ He destroyed our life, Blade. But I’ve never seen him since. ”

“Then who’s that?” I ask, the pieces falling into place.

“That’s Zephyr, my handler” Kiera says, her voice tight. “He’s…always around.”

Wild and I both tilt our heads, confused. The similarity in response annoys me, but I don’t let myself become distracted. “Explain.”

“He has a crush on me, Blade,” she says, tone sharper than I expect. “He was always…pushing it. Kept asking me out. Saying I should forget about you, divorce you, that I deserved someone better. Not everyone thinks I deserve to be abandoned.”

Her voice cracks on the last word, her fists clenched at her sides. Wild growls at her pain, but a bitter laugh escapes me.

“He thinks he’s a suitable replacement. You actually bought that bullshit?”

“It’s not about believing him,” she snaps. “It’s about how much he wanted me to believe it. Why?”

“Good question. I don’t know why he would lie about giving you my letter or the safe deposit key, either. More importantly, why is he sending you on unsanctioned kills for Umber? Because he’s the mole.”

“And Colton is helping him,” Wild and I say at the same time.

The thunder rolls again, louder, a beat too close. “Figures. Zephyr’s setting him up, then. Making Colton do the dirty work while he stays behind the scenes.”

Wild lets out a bitter scoff, his expression dark. He nods, glancing at us both before he speaks.

“You already know Colton’s my FBI partner, though I’d rather put a bullet in his head.

Which I can’t do because our family ties go deeper.

” He hesitates, the next words leaving a sour twist on his lips.

“Their grandmother, Silvia, and my grandmother are incredibly tight. Practically family. My parents named me after Zephyr and Colton’s dad, Bennett.

My family calls me Bennie, which… let’s just say it drives me insane. ”

Kiera snorts, a flash of humor in her eyes. What the fuck is wrong with these women? Nothing is fucking funny, and neither are the words that follow an awkward giggle. “So that’s why you got mad when I called you?—”

Wild slaps a hand over her mouth before she can finish. Sable laughs at his antics, and it cuts a bit of the tension suffocating me. All three of them relax just a bit, and the worry that they might snap and try to kill each other at any moment eases.

“None of them are family to me, though, not really.” Wild continues, “Zephyr, Colton—trust is a long shot. We’d all gladly end each other. They hate me as much as I do them.”

I flop into a chair adjacent to where Sable has curled up and lean back, fingers tapping against my leg as another memory claws its way to the surface.

“I met them back when I was a kid. They’d visit this children’s home, do these so-called ‘charity’ projects with their grandmother.” I study Wild’s reaction carefully. “But her name wasn’t Silvia. They called her grandma, but I know her by another name.”

Wild’s expression freezes. He’s fighting to not react, to keep something under wraps.

Esther’s the power behind Umber. I know her games, her intentions, better than anyone in the organization.

Save Pheonix. But the way Wild’s jaw clenches as if to keep something in, confirms it.

I hold my tongue. I’ve no idea if he knows the power Esther holds. That she’s running the show at Umber.

Chameleon clears her throat, cutting through the tension rising in me. No one moves, silently wrestling with the situation.

“I need to call Phoenix,” I say finally.

Wild scoffs, his glare sharp. “Phoenix? Who the fuck is that? We don’t need any more people in this mess, Blade. She could be a mole too.”

I let out a long, slow breath, folding my arms as I meet his stare. “Phoenix is someone who understands the bigger picture.” I pause, choosing my words. “And I trust her.”

Wild’s jaw tightens, but he holds his tongue.

He continues to glare, eyes filled with suspicion and perhaps grudging understanding.

Something deep within me is sad he doesn’t trust me, even if I understand.

We’re a long way from the bonded couple we pretended to be in bed last night, no matter how right it felt.

As if he agrees with my thoughts, he wraps an arm around Kiera’s waist and demands, “Fine. But we don’t know or trust her. So, let’s make that call on speakerphone.”