Fear coated her mouth. Kelly wriggled, but he held her down easily. Disgusted with her weakness, she scowled into his face.
“Mind getting off me, Sam? We’re not lovers anymore, and this brick is awfully hard.”
Those chiseled features narrowed. He wore a black headband around his forehead, keeping his shoulder-length brown hair in place. A nasty-looking weapon hung from one broad shoulder. He was clad in some kind of green camouflage. Kelly felt a shiver snake down her spine.
“Let me go. I have to get to Billy...”
He touched an earpiece and glanced upstairs. “Billy is safe.”
“But the Mages...”
“Dead.” His gaze flattened. “Why did you take him, Kelly? This your new hobby, stealing innocents?”
“I didn’t kidnap Billy. I was trying to free him when I got caught. My organization is Sight Finders.”
Those dreamy hazel eyes widened. “Those nutjobs? The ones who steal Mage children in domestic disputes?”
“My organization rescues Mage children in trouble.”
“My organization is the U.S. Navy. You’re my prisoner.” Sam eased back and snapped plastic ties around her wrists.
Her jaw dropped. “You can’t do this!”
“Just did.”
“But I’m on your side.”
“Can’t trust that, until the situation is secured.” Then for a sheer moment, the indifferent mask dropped. Torment shadowed his face as he stroked a light finger down her cheek. His touch made her shiver, and remember.
“Sam,” she began, but he slid off and pulled her upright. Even with his incandescent rage, his touch was considerate and gentle.
Always the Southern gentleman. Even when taking prisoners, she thought dully.
She struggled against the ties but failed to break them. Sam gave her an amused look. “Don’t waste your energy. I laced them with magick. I’m an Elemental.”
“You were,” she whispered. “Now you’re just a bastard. When did you become one, Sam?”
Regret flashed in his eyes, and then the hardness returned. “The day your father escaped after killing my whole family.”
He walked her to a sturdy coconut palm. Before he secured her to it, he cupped her cheek with his palm. Despite the wet, thick gloves, she felt the warmth of his touch like a brand. He studied her solemnly. “Kel,” he murmured.
So close he seemed ready to kiss her. She closed her eyes, remembering those firm, warm lips nestled against hers.
When she opened her eyes, he’d vanished.
Kelly struggled against her bonds. Gunfire erupted amid loud explosions upstairs. A SEAL emerged from the house, carrying a terrified Billy. He was sobbing.
“Give him to me,” she cried out.
Sheer strength and her own secret store of magick shattered her bonds. Kelly rushed forward, only to feel the cold pressure of a gun barrel pressed to her temple. “Don’t move,” came Sam’s deep voice.
“I’m here to save Billy. I’m not his enemy!”
“Maybe not his,” he said in a soft, drawling voice that rubbed against her skin like warm velvet. “But, sweetheart, you are most definitely mine.”
Chapter 2
Propping his heavy boots on the table in front of him, Shay took a swig of bottled water and stared at the opposite wall of Phoenix Force’s ready room. Framed photographs of SEALs who’d died in combat stared back. Shay gave them a solemn salute with the bottle.
Kelly Denning. Even now, years after they’d parted, the memories rushed back in a cascade of searing heat. But now they said she was a scumbag, worse than a pyrokinetic demon. According to the rumors swirling around the SEAL Team 21 compound, she’d used her organization as cover to steal Elemental Phantom Mage children to drain their powers. Billy was the first. Others would follow if Kelly wasn’t stopped.
The door slammed behind them as Renegade and Dakota paced into the room. The two Draicon werewolves looked ready to take someone down.
Gods, he knew what they felt. They hated the mass of red tape caused by the senator whose son they’d saved. Everyone on the SEAL 21 compound was on edge. ST 21 was thought by humans to be “norms.” No one in the human world knew of the existence of paranorms. If they did, they’d freak.
And now the senator had brought an entourage of humans into the compound. “Are they done with her yet?” he asked his lieutenant.
Dakota shook his head. “Humans are. FBI and brass are letting her go. No evidence she was working with the kidnappers. But as soon as they’re gone, Senator Rogers wants a crack at her.”
He exchanged glances with a scowling Renegade.
“The senator wants blood. He says she’s lying, because all Arcane Mages lie.” Renegade shook his head. “Seems we’re in the middle of a damn blood feud.”
“Rogers is an Elemental Elder on the Council of Mages. He doesn’t trust Arcanes. This little incident fuels his reasons even more,” Shay explained.
And he had the power to fry Kelly with a flick of one hand. Not if I’m around.
Stretching languidly, Renegade winked. “That Kelly is hot. Heard you were childhood friends and then lovers.”
Shay stiffened and then crushed the bottle in one hand. “Not anymore.”
“Bad parting?” Dakota took a chair, swung it around and straddled it.
You might say. Shay gave his friend and lieutenant a meaningful look. The Draicon werewolf got it and shut his trap. Thank you.
But Renegade, a loudmouth and player, shook the topic like a wolf with a tasty bone. “I don’t get this crap about Elementals and Arcanes. You’re all the same race, all Mages.”
“Long history.” Shay pitched the empty bottle into a waste basket.
Renegade tapped his fingers on the desk. “I bet you got into it with her father because she’s an Arcane and you’re a powerful Elemental. You seduced her. Classic case of the maid seduced by the nobleman.”
Shay’s blood pressure rose. The desk began to vibrate beneath his clenched fists. Electromagnetic currents rippled in the air, sparks crackling with magick.
“And then...” Renegade grinned. “Her father went after you with a shotgun.”
“No. Her father killed my entire family.”
Both SEALs stared at him. Shay felt his temples begin to pound as he recognized the troublesome look in Renegade’s eyes.
“All that over a little something-something? Day-um. That Kelly she must be great in the sack. Those long legs...”
Shay’s temper snapped like dry kindling. “That’s it. You’re going down.”
He vaulted over the table, aiming for the SEAL. As Renegade shape-shifted into a wolf, Shay used his Phantom powers to shift.
Snarling, the two wolves clashed in midair, heavily muscled bodies thunking hard against each other. He raked his claws over the other’s muzzle, heard an answering call of pain. Renegade’s teeth closed over Shay’s left shoulder, biting hard. As the burning agony hit, so did logic. Tearing free, Shay spun around, his large paws digging into the linoleum.
His Kelly? Since when? The man inside the wolf howled for reason. This was Renegade, a bastard, sure, but his teammate, a fellow SEAL who would give his life for the teams. And Shay.
Dakota stormed forward, backhanded them both. “Stand down!”
The two wolves shifted back and Renegade clothed himself by using magick. He looked badly shaken. Blood dripped from three furrows on his face. The coppery scent hung in the air.
Shay shifted back, feeling deeply ashamed. He conjured on clothing and swallowed hard, looking Renegade in the eye.
“I’m sorry, man,” Shay said.