Chapter 11 #2
She chuckled and went into her closet to change, throwing on a pair of short shorts and a tank.
When she came back, he’d shucked off his jacket and sat on her sofa, a drink resting on his knee as he leaned back.
His shirt was open, and she understood fully what he meant by being distracted.
The expanse of brown skin made her want to lick a path down his chest across every ridge of his abs.
He was a predator at rest and her animal responded in kind.
He looked up at her, his eyes flashing blue before he got it under control.
“Why do you talk to my tiger like he’s separate from me?”
“Because when he gets active, I get a different Ezra. I noticed it during our weekend together. You’re soft with me, but that motherfucker is not.” Lucky shivered. His tiger was rough with her in the best ways.
A low growl was his answer to that as he pulled her onto his lap, scraping his teeth down her neck.
“Tell me about your family’s guild,” she said as she moved from his lap to sit next to him.
“What I tell you has to stay between us, do you understand? Telling you any of this is a huge risk.”
She straightened and bobbed her head in agreement, understanding his underlying seriousness.
“My family is in charge of the Aces. Have you ever heard of them?”
She shook her head because Devon had asked her the same question, but he didn’t explain, so she still didn’t know anything about them. Even after her searching the internet, she hadn’t been able to find anything.
Ezra nodded. “For now, my position as head is interim. My grandfather was murdered ten months ago and I was put in his place. In a couple of months, I’m going to fully ascend to the position of the Ace of Spades.
Tonight was the Kings Reception. The heads of the families gather to show their loyalty to the new Ace. ”
“I’m sorry about your grandfather,” she told him softly.
He took another sip of his drink before he continued.
“Long before the war between the humans and the shifters, my grandfather and a couple of men he trusted had foreseen a future where shifters lived out and about. But they understood that in order to make that come to fruition, there would be blowback from the humans. There had to be things in place…shifters in place, certain people removed to make the process a little easier, you understand what I mean?”
Her heart rate picked up as she nodded. “I think so.”
“Everything they feared happened. Humans freaked out. At first, they tried to legislate us out of spaces, but men like my grandfather had anticipated that and had shifters already in government positions. So, their next card to play was war. That’s where my grandfather and the guild he’d built came in.
There were certain key humans that they were assigned to take out. ”
She held in her gasp. “As in…”
He grunted.
“And now?”
“The guild still does the same thing, except we’ve expanded our services.”
Her hands shook as she digested what he was telling her.
“You’re a guild of assassins.” It wasn’t a question. “And you’re the head?”
He nodded, his eyes studying her, waiting to see how she would react to what he was telling her.
“Oh.” The soft exhalation was her taking a moment to think of what else she could say to that piece of news. “So, the brokerage firm that you run?”
He wiped a hand down his face. “It’s a part of it. In my position, I broker deals between those who need a service and those who provide a service.”
“So, people who need to hire assassins go through you?”
“Among other things.”
“Other things?” Her voice raised on the end.
She was proper shocked now. Whatever she’d been imagining, it wasn’t this.
Moving weight, weapons, maybe even laundering a bit of money.
She naively hadn’t expected big crimes. She thought back to the restaurant and the way the air felt in that space.
No wonder the energy had been so feral. She’d been walking amongst literal killers. She shuddered.
“I could make it all sound magnanimous, but I want a level of truth and trust between us. The fact of the matter is, it started with greed,” he began hesitantly.
“The brokerage firm was established well before shifters came out, and was wholly legal at first. My grandfather was trying to stop his family from losing their fortune. Every arm of the Aces deals in something different. Murder, sex, jewels, property—our family firm stands in the middle of it.”
His tiger flashed in his eyes again as he assessed her. What was he looking for? To see how she would handle his news? How did she handle it? He was her mate, the one fated for her. Would knowing his job change that? Change her opinion of him?
She stood from the sofa and walked to the window.
She’d rented her apartment for all the light these windows let into the room and the view of the park below.
Lucky stared down at it, searching for some kind of insight.
Ezra said nothing, allowing her to digest it all. She wrapped her arms around her waist.
Did it change anything?
Lucky was a big believer in allowing people to be who they were. Trying to change Ezra was not something she would ever do. That meant she had to live with his choices and the life he’d built.
“I know that changes the way you see me,” Ezra said behind her.
“A bit,” she admitted. She turned to face him, never one to back down from confrontation.
He stood and strolled over to her. “Would it make you feel better if it were only bad guys we took out?”
“Is it?” She looked up to study his eyes.
He shrugged. “That’s relative. It can be said that it allowed shifters to even the scales between us and the humans. Supremacy group leaders, government officials who didn’t want to play ball, but we’ve evolved.”
She shuddered. “Innocent people?”
He cupped her cheek, meeting her gaze. “Again, all relative, princess.”
“And why are you telling me like this, as though you’re testing me?”
His eyes gleamed, his tiger peeking through, studying her. “You my mate, right? Maybe I want to see if you’ll ride for me past whatever ethics shape you.”
The dark and dangerous tone of his voice had her clenching her thighs together.
She paused a beat, considering his words, trying to see what he was leaving out.
Vulnerability was there in his gaze, his body language open, but there was a hint of…
something. His animal backed away from her scrutiny and she gasped at what she glimpsed.
“You’re trying to push me away? Why?”
He flinched and separated from her. “This life is not an easy one. Tonight, I saw the way my guild members watched you for weaknesses. It’s not something I would wish for my mate.”
Lucky stepped closer to his retreating body and collared his throat. She squeezed and his cat lit his eyes. Good. It was his animal with whom she wanted to speak.
“Tiger, get your human under control. Because I won’t live without my mate.”
Kaine’s irises turned ice blue and his chest rattled with a growl. His canines lengthened as the animal pushed past the man’s control.
“You worried about how far I’ll ride for mine? Loyalty is encoded in my DNA. I’m going to fall in love with you, Ezra Kaine. Maybe I’m already well on my way. Either way, trying to run me off will just piss me off,” she told him, using the power of her panther to give weight to her words.
His eyes misted over and he nodded.
She tiptoed and kissed him gently. “Did I pass your test?”
He gripped her chin and deepened their kiss, devouring her mouth. He released her lips and shuddered, and she watched as he pushed down his animal.
“You’re my reward for surviving this life,” he whispered.
She smiled impishly. “Gonna be your punishment sometimes too.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Any other questions you have, princess, will have to remain unanswered. There is only so much I want you to know. I just want you aware of the way my life is so that you can move safely.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
“Now,” he said, his voice a deep rumble as he nuzzled into her neck. “Back to where I was.”
He lifted her and Lucky wrapped her hands around his neck.
She had a lot more questions, but she would respect his boundaries and trust that he was moving with her best interest at heart.
The security detail he put on her made a lot of sense now, and despite how easily they ended the conversation, she would have a lot to consider.
Devon’s warning was in the back of her head, but with every kiss Kaine laid against her skin, her worries diminished.
She could only pray that she wouldn’t regret it later.