“You bruised her pride, not to mention her body, but she’s back up and running.” They drew silent and watched the Savages pound the snot out of Nev’s dregs dirtying up the field. “Where’s my ring?” he asked so quietly she almost missed it. But the venom in his voice literally made her cringe.
As one, her pack stopped what they were doing and turned to face her. Not a good thing, since they still had half a dozen Ravagers to take down. She drew her energy in, creating a temporary shield on her emotions—she hoped. She wasn’t used to dealing with empathic energy.
“I’m fine!” she yelled at them and pointed at the threat behind them. “Don’t turn your backs—”
A mound of limbs, claws, and teeth crowded one another. The crowd roared its approval. Trust Eric to give everyone what they wanted. Blood, guts, and a lengthy battle, she thought with irritation.
She turned to Chen, annoyed by his wide smile. “Quit threatening me. My pack can feel it. You’re interfering with the fight.”
“I know. But there are good odds the Savages will win.”
“Terrific.”
“Do you have something you want to tell me about my stolen property?” He smiled, the menacing play of humor on his handsome face oddly sensual. He focused on her mouth. “Remember our kiss?”
“I’ll tell you what I know about your stupid ring,” she snapped to stop the direction of Chen’s conversation. “But I don’t know much.”
He said nothing.
Where the hell was Gran?
Vicki sighed. “Well, shit. Look, we at S&V Retrievals pride ourselves on confidentiality and our client’s right to whatever they want retrieved.”
“It wasn’t his to take.”
“Hers. Wasn’t hers to take.”
Chen’s intensity amped. A subtle flicker of movement on his forearms reminded her of what he’d done at Rock Hall, when she’d first teased him with a kiss. “Explain.”
“You’re not going to like this, but that ring you think you own belongs to her. Sean and I manipulate energy. Each individual contains a kind of signature, and the more power in a body, the greater the echo that energy leaves behind on certain objects. Sean’s pretty good at reading energy signatures. That ring you have wants to belong to her.”
Chen gripped her by the hand and yanked her close. “Say that again.”
“You’re hurting me.” Despite her admitted fear of the man, she refused to let him get away with his strong-arm tactics, not with Ravagers around to witness his show of intimidation.
He blinked and let her go. He even moved back, putting some space between them. “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly.
“Don’t do it again.”
“Don’t push me.” Hissing sounded from the vicinity of his tattoos, and a spark of green light lit the center of his pupils.
“Ah, right.” She swallowed. “I had a feeling our client was on the level. But Sean’s the one who said the ring wanted to be owned, which really made little sense to me. And sorry, but I can’t tell you who our client was. We went through a broker, and even he never saw her face. She met him in a church through the confessional.” Great piece of irony there, but Vicki didn’t think Chen appreciated it. He looked as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Did you…” He cleared his throat. “Did you see her at all?”
“Just the back of her head once. Long black hair with an almost green tint to it, now that I think about it. And I don’t think she’d mind me telling you, I sensed a lot of anger from that brief glimpse of her. A suppressed rage. Pretty hot, energetically speaking.” She was surprised to recall so much from such a short meeting.
She expected anger on Chen’s part, frustration that she hadn’t given him much. Instead she saw shock quickly swallowed by an expression of boredom.
“Why did she want that ring so badly? Who is she?” Vicki asked to break the sudden silence.
“The ring belonged to her grandfather. A symbol of great power in her family.”
So he knew the woman. “And my client?”
“A dead woman who’s not so dead.” His kiss took her by surprise. This time, however, the alien sense of another man’s mouth didn’t taste right. “If you weren’t already pregnant, I’d throw you over my shoulder and make love to you with thanks. But I’ve got a promise to keep and my fiancée to find.”
“Fiancée?” That poor woman was engaged to Chen? Then what else he’d said dawned on her. “Make love to me? That’s your idea of a reward?” Her eyes widened. “Pregnant?” she squeaked, then quickly lowered her voice. “But how—Chen?”
In the blink of an eye, he’d done the impossible. He’d vanished.
Chapter Thirty-Four
After Chen’s announcement, the world around her ceased to exist.
“Told ya, did he?” Gran asked as she sat next to Vicki with two hotdogs in hand. She gave one to Vicki. “Congratulations, honey. And might I say, it’s about time. I’ve been at the end of my rope waiting on this. Finally. Now you’re the namesake, not me.”
“Gran?”
“Eat. You’ll need your strength.”
Vicki took a bite to appease her, startled to find she really was hungry.
“I was there when King first stepped into our world. Back when the Voids first opened up, folks were scared of their own shadow. A mass exodus left the less fortunate and the wacked out humans behind in Cross Step, with the rest of the Voiders. A ton of the Norms in this city are spies for Uncle Sam, you know that? Damned Watchers.”
Before her gran could start on the web of conspiracies in town, Vicki interrupted. “Who’s King?”
“The first Ravager Prime to walk in this world. He knew then the problems his kind would have. They can’t procreate the way they need to, not without a queen.”
Procreate. Pregnant.
“Yep. That’d be you. King’s sister told me a long time ago that I’d be the vessel to the line of queens. Have to admit though, I thought it was going to be your aunt before she met Sean senior. Then when she had a boy, I nearly had a heart attack. Thank God your mother tried again and had you.”
Vicki blinked. “You’re saying you knew I’d become a Ravager, ah, queen?”
“Had a feeling, but then, I have feelings all the time.” Gran waved at Dom and Malcolm watching Eric fight Nev, the last Lawless Ravager still standing. “Take your mates there. Dom’s special, has his own brand of power that he’ll pass down to your first daughter. And Malcolm’s going to be a nightmare when you’re carrying his son. He lost his baby brother before coming through the Void. You’ll have to help him get over the fear of losing another child.”
“What?”
“And Eric.” Gran sighed with pleasure. “Prime is going to try to run rings around you. He’ll want to settle you, a dominance thing most alphas tend to have. Don’t let it worry you. Long as you give as good as you get, you’ll rule your pack, as meant. If he tries to snow you with that Prime bullshit, you remind him who’s been blessed to carry his twins.”