Zoey Avenger (Incubatti Series Book 2) (33 page)

“Private family compound. They’ll be safe there.”

Zoey fingered the stiff paper. “I hate it when you do this.”

“Come prepared?”

“Outmaneuver me. It’s really not fair.”

“You zapped me earlier. We’re even.”

It was hard not to smile. Declan’s charm was as irresistible as his perfect body. She began to see the parts of him that scared her – his intelligence, immense power and determination – differently, as assets rather than threats, the same way she realized how valuable Chrissy was. Declan was brilliant in the way of no one else she knew, his ability to read people, think strategically and balance the power of opposing parties making him the perfect kind of leader. He made it look effortless, too, while she struggled for every inch she won as the head of Team Rogue. Her focus had always been to use action to solve problems. She wanted no part of the negotiation or politics that Declan handled so deftly.

Uncertain she could trust him with her heart again, she innately recognized the powerful leader he was, and how much more effective she could become if they worked together. If there was one man who could give her the help she needed to win a battle with Olivia, it was him.

“Come home with me. We’ll be on your terms,” he added. “Whatever you’re ready for.”

And then there was this side of him, the one so determined to possess her that it frightened her sometimes to feel she was walking into a trap. Declan played for keeps. The moment she gave an inch and stayed the night with him the way she did last night, she was his again, and they both knew it. If he asked, it was out of politeness, not because she had a real choice.

“I suppose,” she said. “I’ll come home with you. But only to take a shower and rest.”

“I’ve heard that one before.”

Zoey spun and walked up the berm. She hurried to the spot where the core Team Rogue members stood with the three incubuses. “Send the girls here. We all need the rest before we hit Olivia’s compound,” she told Vikki, handing the card to her. “We’re meeting in the morning to discuss our plan. Grant needs to be there.”

“Got it,” Vikki replied.

“How long did you know I’m pregnant?” Zoey asked, glaring at her friend.

“Oh, thank god!” Vikki exclaimed. “You have no idea how hard it was not to tell you!”

“Ah, good,” Liam said from the other side of Vikki. “’Bout time the secret was out.”

“How many people knew?” Zoey demanded, appalled by the idea even Liam knew.

Vikki, Tiff, Ginny, Chrissy and all three incubus brothers raised their hands.

“Yeah, well, fuck all of you.” Turning on her heel, Zoey walked back towards the parking areas and spotted Grant near Declan’s black car. Conveying instructions for him to hold off on his clean up duty, she then went to Declan’s car and waited.

Declan spoke to his brothers before heading her way. She slid into the passenger seat the moment he unlocked the door and rested her head back, fatigue melting her in place. In the confined car, Declan’s sex energy was intoxicating, winding through her senses and igniting her blood.

“Just so you know, you’re not forgiven yet,” she said, the urge to put space between them back.

“I’m sure we can work something out.” He was tiredly amused, as if already aware that her resistance was all but gone.

Zoey rolled her eyes and sighed. Being with him always felt natural, safe, and the tension within her began to unfurl. The image of the trench full of Halflings remained forefront in her thoughts, overriding the news about her pregnancy. Seven months was too far away for her to consider when she was faced with the problem of stopping Olivia this week.

“It’s not your fault,” he repeated, listening to her thoughts about the Halflings.

“How do you handle it?” she asked and studied his profile.

“Losing someone?”

“Everything. Budgets, personnel, missions, losing people … people declaring war on you. Everything!”

“You’re doing it,” he said.

“But you do it better.”

“I was groomed for this, kitten,” he reminded her. “There’s no easy way to deal with losing someone, other than to let yourself mourn then get up the next day and do your damnedest to make things right.”

“There is no making it right. I can’t bring them back.”

“But you can protect those that remain and everyone else who’s in danger.”

She fell quiet, thoughts too heavy for her to voice them without breaking down in tears. His features had not yet relaxed; he still wore his Enforcer mask, the one that reminded her of how far apart they were on some issues and reminded her of how little she actually knew about Declan, her soul-mate and the one person strong enough who could influence her, whether or not she wanted him to. Their relationship had had spanned the entirety of three days before he cheated. So short a time couldn’t have bonded them they way it did, if not for the rite where they shared a soul. From enemies to lovers to enemies to quasi-allies once more, she didn’t think it possible for their relationship to get much more complicated or confusing.

Yet his words tonight hit deeper than any discussion she’d had with anyone else. He meant what he said about never wanting to lose her and wanting to raise a family together. He also hadn’t tried to talk her out of doing what she intended – facing Olivia – and instead offered to make her mission more likely to succeed.

He had to be afraid, if not for her then for their child. He chose to trust her. It was this knowledge, that he was risking his own heart and family and respecting her judgment and decisions, that hammered away at what remained of her resentment.

“You really love me, don’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah. I do. God help me, I can’t stop, and I’ve tried.”

“I like you like this, Declan. I like it when you’re on the edge of losing control and you tell me what you think.”

He said nothing.

“Are you ever out of control?”

“No,” he replied. “There’s no outlet for me to be, no one who can tolerate the magic and no one I’d risk exposing if I blew my top one day.”

“I bet I could handle it.”

“No.”

A spark of defiance lit in her blood. She couldn’t stop thinking about him, or the way she responded to the sound of his voice, and never, ever was it possible to get enough of his body. Incubuses knew sex, and a lifetime wasn’t long enough for her to grow weary of what he could do. How much more incredible would he be if he simply let go of the control he seemed to think necessary? How deep were his emotions, and how powerful was he really?

One way to find out. “I don’t know what to think about you,” she said. “Do I push you or leave you be?”

“You over think things when you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared, especially not of you.”

“This song sounds familiar, too.” He smiled, some of the tension leaving his face. “How you can fear me but be willing to face Olivia and all her degenerate minions is beyond me.”

“That’s easy. She’s a bad guy, and I get rid of people like that. You hurt me, and I can’t get rid of you.”

“I know, Zoey. If there were something I could do or say to make everything better, I would.”

Rather than head back towards DC, Declan went west, towards West Virginia.

“Trust me,” he said at her hard look.

“I do.”

He glanced at her.

“I don’t think I’m afraid of you anymore, either,” she said. “I think I figured out some things tonight.” Like why I want there to be a future for us.

She fell silent, tired and pensive.

Chapter Twenty Two: Challenged

The suburban areas of Northern Virginia transitioned into rolling farmland and then forests. Zoey dozed, comfortable in the car, only waking when they left the paved road for a gravel one leading into a thick forest. Sitting up, she caught the glow of lamps at a concrete gate ahead. They opened for Declan’s car, and they drove through to the massive ranch style house at the center of the compound. Unlike the grey concrete walls, the home was log with wooden shingles.

“This is the nearest compound. It’s where the coordinates lead,” Declan explained, stopping the car in front of the home. “The guards will show the Halflings to the dorm area. We were all raised here until we turned thirteen, old enough to train for our Incubatti occupations.”

Zoey got out of the car, the influence of his magic lessening some, though nothing would stop the way it wove in and out of her body. Her nipples were hard and her lower belly blazing from the trip at close quarters. Even the night air wasn’t able to cool her flushed skin. Her restless nap had been filled with images of their naked bodies together, and despite her exhaustion, she had the urge to go for a very long run to shake off some of her pent up sex energy.

“It’s an option for the future when …” Declan trailed off.

She said nothing, not quite ready yet to discuss a future, let alone one with him and a child. She had to get rid of Olivia before she dared consider it.

“The four rules apply here,” he added more firmly. “No weapons.”

Zoey stepped onto the front porch of the home, her heartbeat quickening while her mind raced. He was right about many things, one of which being that a night of sex with him would wipe out her lingering weakness from being blown up.

She’d never experienced the raw Declan, the man who no longer tried to control every aspect of his life. Trusting him, when he’d never revealed himself completely to her, was possible ... but how incredible would it be to know him the way he did her? After what she’d seen at the old range, tonight seemed like the worst night ever to challenge him and yet, doing so was guaranteed to take her mind off the issues threatening to send her into tears.

She walked into the open living area, lit by a single lamp on the far side. Zoey waited until he was inside before she placed her hands on her head and faced him. “Feel free to remove them, because I won’t.”

Declan scanned her face, his eyes traveling down her body. For a moment, he didn’t move, as if trying to figure out what she was doing. He shifted forward, into her personal space, and gripped her belt, pulling her closer. Zoey’s breath caught, and she focused on remaining as unaffected as possible by his nearness by staring at his neck.

“You wanna play a game,” he said in the husky voice that tickled her from the inside out.

“Not a game. A test.”

His hands rested on her forearms, his magic sending spirals of warmth and electricity through her. He traced them down her arms to her sides, the sensual slide controlled, steady and light enough to tease, enhancing his natural ability to turn a woman on with a simple touch.

“Let me guess,” he said. “Chicken. Your favorite game to play with me.”

She snorted, trying not to let the movement of his hands affect her or his dark vanilla scent to distract her. “You’ll find out, won’t you?”

Declan’s hands moved to her lower belly, and he unfastened the utility belt that held the majority of her weapons. Lowering it to the ground beside him, his large hands then returned to her sides and slid down her hips, circling her body to reach the knife she kept at the small of her back. Tugging it free, he tossed it, his hands skimming over her ass. He slid one finger down the crease, a reminder of how he’d fucked her every way possible the last night they were together.

Zoey interlaced her fingers and squeezed to keep from moving.

Declan smiled, sensing her determination. “Spread ‘em,” he ordered.

She complied and stepped out past shoulder length. Declan crouched, running his hands from the top of one thigh to her ankle, freeing the weapon there, before deliberately skimming his hands up her leg once more. His palms paused at the top, and one finger traced the crease of her thigh before skimming the cloth covering the sensitive skin of her pussy and starting down the other leg.

Zoey forbade her body from jerking at the super light, teasing touch. She was already wet and aching for him, and he’d only touched her through her clothes. He continued searching her other leg before rising once more, his hands never leaving her. They skimmed over her hips and up her sides, his thumbs meeting beneath her breasts.

“Chicken?” he whispered, pausing.

“Never,” she breathed.

With a smile, he let his thumbs move over her breasts and the tight nipples already aching to be touched. Tugging free the blade she kept in her bosom, he dropped it and moved closer, until his hips met hers. His hands continued up, across her collarbone and to her neck, the light touch making her shiver. He caressed the skin of her neck and increased the pressure when he reached her scalp, massaging gently. She lowered her hands to her side, loving the sensation of his fingertips working through her scalp.

His tough grew light once more when he reached her neck and slid his hands down her back, pressing her against him. His arousal was hard against her belly, one hand pinning her to him while the other slipped to her ass and stroked the crease all the way down to the part of her that ached.

“Zoey.”

Almost breathless already, she met his gaze. His face was inches from hers, his intensity growing by the second.