“Believe me, they’re more trouble than they look,” I muttered, but the complaint was half-hearted. I couldn’t say I regretted that the trio had barged into my apartment and my life those weeks ago—not even a little bit, the loss of that apartment and just about everything else I’d counted on notwithstanding.
And we had much bigger trouble to tackle tonight. I’d have loved to linger there on the plump cushions, ignoring the algae smell and chatting with Vivi as if this were some unexpected aquatic holiday and not an attempt to save her life, but I really should get back to our final preparations.
I pushed myself off the chair. Vivi got up too so I could squeeze her in a hug. She hugged me back just as hard.
“You lay low completely this time, all right,” I ordered, wagging a finger at her. “Don’t set one foot off this boat—unless the bad guys set foot on it, of course.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” she said with a cheeky salute. Then a cloud crossed her expression, a hint of the fears she was suppressing. “Ditto.”
“Ditto.”
As I crossed the houseboat’s deck, my own fears swelled inside my chest. I’d only just barely protected Vivi this time. If the Company tracked her down here…
We’d just have to make sure they didn’t get the chance to so much as try.
As I headed for solid ground, I spun a lyric around and sang the newly mangled version under my breath to bolster my spirits. “Stand up and burn ‘em down, never let them see us frown. Ne-eh-ver. Ne—”
I stopped in my tracks when I saw Omen waiting for me on the road. The Everymobile had vanished, leaving just him—and the motorcycle he’d apparently retrieved when I wasn’t looking. He straddled the old but well-polished Harley, one foot on the ground and one propped on the footrest. All he’d need was a beat-up leather jacket, and he could have driven straight out of a ‘70s biker flick.
Not my decade, but I could appreciate the vibe all the same.
I ambled over, crossing my arms. “Decided it was time to lean into the bad-boy persona, did you? This does look more your style than good ol’ Betsy.”
He grimaced at me. “You will not besmirch Betsy’s good name. She gave us her all. This is Charlotte.”
I swallowed a guffaw. “Do you name all your vehicles?”
“All two of them that I used to have, yes. Do you think you can manage not to get this vehicle blown up, Disaster?”
“The other ones weren’t even my fault,” I felt the need to point out. “Why are you letting me near dear Charlotte if you’re concerned about that?”
His gaze sharpened. “Thorn mentioned that you used your powers again to fend off your friend’s attackers. You seem to be getting better at bringing them out—it’s just the control bit that needs work. It occurred to me that the bike might be a good way to get some concentrated practice.”
“How so?”
“You can’t drive, so I’m going to guess you’re not quite as confident on a speeding vehicle as standing in front of one. And I’ve got plenty of tricks to get your heart thumping. Get on.” He tapped the seat behind him and then a strip of paper he’d taped to the end of the right handlebar. “When you’re agitated enough that you can feel your power, see if you can light this on fire—not me. I’ve got more where it came from once that one’s good and crispy.”
It actually sounded like a reasonable plan… except I wasn’t only hesitant about the whole riding on a speeding motorcycle thing but also having to cling to the man in front of me while I was doing it. I couldn’t exactly hope to perch daintily on the back—no, this was going to require full body contact.
I wasn’t going to let Bossypants see that hesitation, though. “Fine,” I said, and hopped on.
As I settled my knees against his hips and wrapped my arms around his waist, Omen turned to face ahead. His entire abdomen was packed with solid muscle. This wasn’t a man I’d ever expected—or wanted—to be embracing, but I couldn’t say it was an entirely unpleasant experience. Here was hoping I didn’t, like, drench him in sweat in the summer heat or something.
“No helmets?” I asked.
He chuckled. “And here I thought you had a hard-on for danger. We’re going to do a little death-defying today.”
Without another word or any warning, he sent the bike roaring forward.
My arms jerked even tighter around Omen’s frame in an instinctive bid to, y’know, not die. My legs pressed in too, my body shifting forward to meld against him for security’s sake. Well, now I could say I’d had the fourth member of my shadowkind quartet between my thighs, even if it wasn’t in the way Vivi had been teasing me about.
As we tore down the street and around a corner, the shifter’s hellish scent filled my nose, plenty dangerous in itself. His muscles flexed beneath my fingers. My heart was thumping all right, but it might have partly been because my jerk of a brain couldn’t help wondering how Omen would react if I dipped my hands a little lower and found out what he would get a hard-on for.
Then the hellhound took another turn with a rev of the engine and a lurch of the bike to one side, and all thoughts of anything other than surviving fled my mind. Seconds later, he whipped around a curve dipping so low I’d swear my hair grazed the pavement.
My pulse stuttered. With his shadowkind strength, he’d probably recover from a high-speed tumble. Did he comprehend how easily my head would crack open?
Yes, yes, he did. That was the whole point of veering so close to this guardrail that I could see the traffic passing below the bridge as vividly as my life flashing before my eyes. For one specific purpose.
Focus, Sorsha. I wanted to master this force in me.
With my next jolt of panic at a risky maneuver, I trained my attention on the strip of paper now flapping wildly in the wind. Heat flared in my chest alongside the clanging of adrenaline. I narrowed my eyes—and the paper went up in a burst of flame.
Omen slowed at a traffic light and fished another slip out of his pocket. “Good. Let’s do it again. After a few times, we’ll see if you can manage it when you’re slightly less terrified.”
“I’m not terrified,” I objected, and lost the rest of my protest and probably all of my credibility when the bike took off again with a squeal of burnt rubber that shocked a yelp from my throat.
As much as I was tempted to whack Omen across the head for the wild ride, it did work. By the time I’d fried my fourth slip of paper, the surge of power from my gut to my chest was becoming familiar. True to his word, the hellhound shifter eased up on the stunts, and even with the—okay—terror dwindling to a tamer uneasiness, I managed to summon enough sparks to burn up a few more strips by dredging up that sensation.
I hadn’t realized he’d swung around to arrive at the bus lot until he parked just outside it. I pulled myself away from him and clambered off the bike, figuring a little space was in order now, but the smile he shot me—the brightest and most genuine one I’d seen from him so far—brought back that pulse-thump of attraction.
That was okay, wasn’t it? I didn’t have any plans to actually jump his bones or anything. Why couldn’t a gal simply have unusual taste in men, as Vivi had put it?