“No. Seriously.”
“I am serious.”
She snorted a laugh. “My God. You’re a geek!”
“Shut up.”
“A big, giant geek.” She laughed harder and suddenly he was straddling her hips.
The man was so enormous and she realized he may not take too kindly to her laughing at him. Most guys didn’t. The drug dealer boyfriend sure didn’t.
“You know, I actually take what I do quite seriously. It’s an art.”
“An…art?”
Fresh round of laughter from that. Man, she really hoped this guy had a sense of humor because she was practically hysterical at this point with a naked giant sitting on her.
“You’re making fun of me.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, come on! Computer games? What are you? Twelve?”
“What do you think paid for this apartment? And my house out on the Island?
And Tye’s Lamborghini? And the lawyer for Mike during that whole paternity mess? So, we’re not geeks.”
Neecy choked back the laughter. “Okay, then…where did you go to school?”
“MIT and Caltech.”
She pushed herself up on her elbows, staring straight into his eyes. “Geek. Geek.
Geek. With some nerd thrown in for flavor.”
Yager leaned down, their faces inches apart. “Yeah. And this geek has been getting you to scream his name. All. Day. Long.”
Damn right he had. And she’d been enjoying every goddamn minute of it.
“Pure luck,” she smirked. “But I bet you can’t do it again.”
“Neecy Lawrence, you know a Raven can never turn down a direct challenge.”
“Really?” she asked in mock innocence. “I’ve never heard that before. It must be a Viking thing. You know with my girl brain, I’d never understand any of that.”
“You know, Lawrence,” he began as he settled himself comfortably against her hips, his naked ass rubbing against her pelvis, his big hands framing her face. For such a big guy, he knew how to handle his size well. And nothing was more delicious than having Will Yager’s hard body at her disposal. “You really do talk some shit.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. And I think it’s time we find something else for your mouth to do. .”
Rachel lost sight of her prey as he went over a fence. She spread her wings and followed. As she moved something flashed past her, slamming into her wing and yanking her back, nailing her to a wall.
Screeching in rage, Rachel stared at the all-‐metal spear jutting from her body.
Covered in Nordic runes and infused with powerful magic, it pinned her to the red brick. Her feet didn’t even touch the ground.
Again she screeched in pain and rage. She reached for the spear as men stepped out from the shadows. Human men. Hunters. They were dressed like they were hunting deer in the mountains. She didn’t understand. How the hell did they see her? It was dark—cloaking time. Once her wings came out at night, only her prey, some Norse-‐descendent Shifters, and other Clans could see Crows when they were on the hunt. But these men were looking straight at her.
“Bastards!” she spat in Russian. She only used her father’s language when she was really pissed off. “I’ve already been killed by better than you.”
“Is it her?”
“No. Waste her.”
One of the men raised a rifle and aimed it at her. So focused on her, they never saw her sisters coming. Crows never fought alone. They’d been moving toward her from her first screech. Now her team leader, Delia, landed behind the one with the gun. Snatching his head back, she dragged her blade over his throat while another sister grabbed the gun from his hands before he could fire. They both moved so fast, the man didn’t even have a chance to whimper.
The other Hunters realized females surrounded them, so they went for their weapons. But they’d never be fast enough. Not against Crows.
Rachel gritted her teeth and yanked the spear out of her wing. She dropped to the ground and gutted the first Hunter who crossed her path. She liked this spear. She planned to keep it and use it for future hunts.
“You gonna stand there bleedin’ or you gonna kick a little ass, Rach?”
Rachel looked up at her team leader, and smiled.
Karl Waldgrave watched as the team of women ripped apart his men. He knew when he sent them out, they wouldn’t come back alive. They were necessary sacrifices to give him and the other Hunters an idea of how these females fought.
And even Waldgrave had to admit, as legendary a Hunter as he was, his goddess had given him a true challenge.
He offered up a silent thanks to Her as he planned his next move.
Chapter Seven
Neecy picked up her crumpled jeans from off the floor and dug her cell phone out of the back pocket. She flipped it open. “Yeah.” She cringed at the croak she wanted to pass off as a voice.
“Am I interrupting anything?”
“What is it, Didi?”
“Get your ass back to the House. But feel free to stop at your place and shower first. It’s not that big a rush.” Didi hung up.
Flipping the phone closed, Neecy slid it back into her jeans. She shook her head, trying to clear her brain. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this exhausted. Her entire body sore and sticky.
A big hand gripped her jeans and pulled them away, dropping them back to the floor.
“Yager, I gotta go.”
“I’ve got an hour left.” He kissed her neck, his lips sliding down to her breasts.
“Didi wants me back at the House and I need to go home and get some clothes, catch a shower…ah!” He sucked her nipple hard into his mouth and Neecy couldn’t help but squirm in response. How did the man keep doing this to her?
Damn him! She needed to get out of here or she may never leave.
“Shower here. I’ll give you one of my sweaters.”
“Sweaters? What happened to my…”
“It got dirty on the butcher’s block.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No buts. My time. Didi can fuckin’ wait unless she said it was an emergency.”
True, she could lie to him. But Neecy didn’t lie. Didi didn’t tell her it was an emergency. Otherwise, she would have ordered her back to the house immediately.
“I’ll take your silence to mean it’s not an emergency.” Yager pulled himself up until he hovered over her, his arms braced on either side of her shoulders. “I still have an hour. Which means this sweet body still belongs to me.”
Her body may belong to him at this moment, but once she walked out of his apartment that would be it. She’d allowed herself this indulgence, but never again. At least not with Yager. It would be way too easy to lose herself to this man. Way too easy.
But, hell, what was one time? And it was just one time. She and Yager had an agreement.
Neecy looked up into his gorgeous face and smiled. “Tick-‐tock, Raven.”
Yager pushed her up against the wall, his mouth fastened to hers. Her hand reached out, fumbling for the door handle. He grabbed it and her other hand and pinned them both above her head.
She pulled her mouth away from his. “I’ve gotta go,” she gasped.
Leaning his body into hers, “Stay.”
“I can’t…no, no, no! Not the neck! Not the neck!” He gripped the flesh of her throat between his teeth. Once he found out how much nipping her neck turned her on, he did it all night long. Of course, he didn’t bother telling her he’d riddled her poor neck with hickies and he kept her away from mirrors as he got her showered and put her in his turtleneck sweater.
“Off! Off! Off!” She pulled her wrists out of his grasp and pushed against his chest. “We agreed to twenty-‐four hours. We are now past that.” Way past…he’d kept her busy for another two hours after Didi called.