LITMIR.BIZ

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a U.S. Navy SEAL. My team and mission come first. Just as your Fae colony comes first for you.”

      Silence draped the air for a moment. “I have no colony anymore. No family.”

      Words spoken so quietly, he wouldn’t have heard them if not for being Draicon. Matt changed lanes and sped up. Odd, how they had that in common. His family had been close, hell, his own brother-in-law supported him joining the teams. It was Étienne who suggested Matt’s abilities would come in useful for the newly formed Phoenix Force.

      But in the ten years he’d been a SEAL, his family had become more distant. They’d started nagging about quitting, settling down into pack life, finding a mate and starting a family. The bonds he shared with his teammates were thick and strong as steel cable. He couldn’t leave the teams. Not with dark forces becoming more clever, and endangering more and more civilians.

      His team was his pack now. With a small pang, Matt realized he forgot how to be fully Draicon. He wouldn’t know a real relationship if it kissed him. He was a ladies’ man, but one-night stands were the norm. Relationship, hell, he couldn’t commit. Not when he got called out on an hour’s notice, or worse, never came back at all.

      Like Adam.

      Matt remembered Tatiana’s sobs. He couldn’t do that to a mate. He didn’t want one, didn’t want to fall into the trap of settling down and falling in love. Because falling in love meant giving up what mattered most to him, being a SEAL.

      “Can we start over?” Her voice was soft, a rub of velvet against his frayed nerves. “If we’re going to work together, we should try to get along. I’m sorry for the dog references.”

      “And I’ll try not to make any Mr. Spock jokes.”

      Sienna gave a small, sweet laugh, the sound stirring his jaded self. “Are all your assignments like this?”

      “No. We either go in as a pair—” he swallowed hard, thinking of Adam “—or as a team. I’m used to covert action, get in, get out and get gone. This is a little different for me. For one, I’ve never worked with a female before, let alone a Seelie Sidhe who can glamour as a Draicon.”

      Not that I’d trust one. Never.

      “My glamour isn’t limited to Draicon. It just happens to be the form easiest to me.”

      “Why?”

      She shrugged, pushed at a lock of hair, showing her pointed ears.

      “Those have to go. They’re too obvious. Glamour yourself into a Draicon. We’re getting closer to our target.”

      Sienna shot him an annoyed look. “Aye, aye, captain.”

      “It’s lieutenant.”

      She made a sound and then muttered, “Fine. You want Draicon?”

      Matt nearly lost control of the car as she shifted. A gray-and-white timber wolf sat on the seat. She grinned, showing sharp canines.

      Startled, he jerked the wheel to the left, turning into the other lane. A driver he cut off blew the horn. Matt straightened out the car and glared at Sienna.

      Sienna the wolf put a large paw on the window button, rolling it down. She stuck her head out the window, tongue lolling.

      She had a sense of humor, after all. He slowed down, and as he thumbed the window up, she jerked her head inside.

      “I’d let you drive, but I don’t think your paws would touch the pedals.”

      With a low whine, she shifted into her human form. “You’ll really let me drive?”

      “Naw.” He considered. “You probably drive like an old lady.”

      Magick shimmered in the air again. This time, she took the form of a NASCAR driver.

      Matt laughed. Sienna resumed the form of a Draicon female, an impish smile on her mouth. Her very red, very wet mouth. A kissable mouth.

      Concentrate. “Back on the subway, tell me, what were you doing on Canal Street?”

      “I was following a lead in Chinatown.” She pushed at the long fall of her silky hair. “I’ve been working on my own, disguised as a Draicon, trying to find the Orb. A Draicon in Brooklyn told me a shop owner was selling something like that in Chinatown.”

      “Did you find anything out?”

      She shook her head with a small sigh. “It was a dead end. The shop had closed and the owner passed away. He was probably yanking on my chain.”

      “Or worse. Intending to wrap that chain around your neck.” He aimed her a stern look. “No more going solo.”

      When she opened her mouth, a line furrowing between her brows as if to protest, Matt added, “Or I’ll take those memories I left intact.”

      Her mouth closed.

      Minutes later, they drove down a narrow lane flanked by oak and maple trees. Matt turned into a street lined with two-story elegant homes, each house boasting about half an acre of property. Sienna blinked.

      “Guess spell casting is a lucrative business these days.”

      He didn’t reply. His gaze was focused on the patrol car blocking the street. Yellow crime scene tape was strung across the lawn of a brick home. Dread churned in his stomach.

      “That’s her house?” But even as their gazes met, he sensed she knew.

      Making a U-turn, he drove out of the neighborhood, down the lane and turned down an adjacent street. Matt parked and shut off the engine.

      “I’m going inside to check things out. You stay here.”

      “You said I was supposed to stick by your side. And how do you plan to get in? Shift into your wolf shape? That might raise a few brows. Or get someone to call animal control. I’ll go with you and glamour us so we blend in with the background. The cops will never know you’re here.”

      He gritted his teeth. Didn’t like it. He needed his team, not this sassy, pretty Fae who didn’t even know what a pyro demon could do to bare flesh.

      They were stuck together. And she was a Fae who could glamour.

      “Fine. But follow my orders,” he grated out.

      They cut through a well-manicured lawn, Sienna keeping up the cloak of glamour to hide their presence. Uniformed police and detectives in worn jackets milled in the driveway. A maple tree, resplendent in fall crimson, stood guard next to a pole where an American flag fluttered in the slight breeze. With its black shutters, crisp brick and trimmed bushes, the house looked no different from its upscale neighbors’.

      Except for the blood splatters on the green grass.

      The magick shimmered for a minute as Sienna gasped. Matt shook his head. “Don’t fall apart on me now.”

      She shot him a cool look. “I don’t fall apart.”

      “Good girl. Keep up the glamour or they’ll see us.”

      As they neared the house, Matt led her to the deserted side of the house, sheltered by a tall hedge.

      “I’m going inside. Stay here.”

      “Let me help. I can glean some information while you’re inside.”

      Matt clasped her shoulders, feeling delicate bones and soft skin. She was courageous and tough, as he’d seen on the subway, but this was different. Eyes green as a forest gazed at him. The same sharp, sexual energy jumped between them like an electrical wire. He became fully aware of her slight stature, how broad and big he was compared to her. Beneath the tight sweater, her breasts were full and lush. A man could cup them in his palms, stroking his thumbs slowly over the nipples until she became flushed and aroused. Draw her close until the jagged need became consuming.

      Trying to ignore her delicious scent,

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