Kody returned to the bed, stripped off his jeans and T-shirt, then slid under the covers with me. His arms closed around me, holding me tight to his chest, and his fingers trailed through my hair.
"Sleep, babe. I've got you."
Despite my total conviction that there was no possible way to sleep after the break-in, the next thing I knew, I was waking up to the soft murmur of voices.
"Shhh," I mumbled, not bothering to open my eyes. I recognized those voices. "Sleeping."
Their conversation paused, then one of them chuckled. A moment later the bed shifted, and Steele wrapped me up in his arms, taking the place Kody must have abandoned to let them in.
"Go back to sleep, Hellcat," Steele murmured with a kiss to my hair. "We don't have anywhere to be today."
Kody gave a soft scoff and Archer murmured something too soft for me to hear, but Steele didn't leave. In fact, he just hugged me even tighter still, like he couldn't bear to let me go.
The feeling was mutual.
Another hand stroked over my hair, and Archer leaned down to kiss my cheek. "Sweet dreams, Princess."
He and Kody left the safe room, and Steele stayed behind with me, humming softly under his breath with a vaguely familiar tune.
17
Steele and I slept most of the day, curled up in the darkness of the underground safe room, and only resurfaced when my stomach growled loudly enough to echo.
Upstairs we found Archer and Kody sitting at the kitchen table with a handsome, black-clad man who appeared to be only a couple of years older than them. Anna was fussing around the kitchen preparing dinner and muttering under her breath about all the extra mouths to feed. It was cute because she also clearly loved having people to cook for.
"Zed," Steele greeted the guy. "I didn't know you were on this job."
"Steele, good to see you," the stranger replied as he stood up and held his hand out to shake. "This your girl?"
"Also known as Madison Kate," I muttered, eyeballing the guy with suspicion. Logic told me he was one of these mercenaries, but I didn't like being talked about like I wasn't standing right freaking there.
"Yeah," Steele replied with an edge of amusement and looped his arm around my waist, "Hellcat, this is Zed. He's... not an enemy." But not necessarily a friend, I assumed.
Zed gave me a look up and down, and his brow quirked. "Cute."
Steele's grip on my waist tightened a fraction and Archer's head snapped up to glare at Zed's back. Kody just folded his arms and shook his head, like he could hardly believe the balls on this guy.
Zed shifted his attention back to Steele, oblivious or unconcerned with their protective reactions. "And I'm not on this job. Not really, anyway. Conflict of interests now that Hades is buying up real estate here in Shadow Grove."
Steele nodded, like that made perfect sense to him, but I was lost. I was also starving. Slipping out of Steele's grip, I made my way over to Anna in the kitchen and left the boys talking about whatever the fuck they talked about.
"What are we having tonight?" I asked our cook, leaning my elbows on the counter and watching her finely chop garlic.
"Pizzas," she replied, giving me a stern look. "Proper wood-fired ones, not that cardboard shit Steele keeps ordering to the house."
I snickered a laugh. Anna didn't swear often, but somehow Steele's choice of pizza shops brought it out of her.
"Well, it already smells delicious," I told her with a smile. I'd always grown up with my father’s staff floating around in the shadows, never really existing as real people. But now that Anna was around more, I was finding her company all kinds of enjoyable.
She scowled, but it was playful. "Of course it does," she muttered. "It's made with love, not preservatives."
I grinned, then turned to look over at the guys. Zed was leaving, so I did the polite thing and gave him a tight smile.
"Nice meeting you, Madison Kate," he said with a small, sarcastic smile. "Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials."
"I'll walk you out, Zed," Archer offered, then left the kitchen area with his friend. Or his not-enemy.
Folding my arms over my chest, I headed over to where Kody still sat at the table. Steele took the seat Archer had just vacated.
"So, who wants to explain Zed?" I arched a brow at the two of them. "He's not one of the mercenaries? Or he is? I'm confused."
Kody tugged on my hand, pulling me into his lap, and kissed my temple. "Good morning, babe."
"Zed is a member of the organization, yes," Steele answered, "but he's not working on this contract. He was here to discuss the guest list for your wedding." His pointed look implied more than his words.
"He's Hades' second," Kody murmured in my ear, soft enough that no one could remotely overhear—not even Anna—because we trusted no one. "He'll be coordinating our security for the wedding day."
I nodded my understanding. But also, curiosity rippled through me with this new information. I knew that we were leaning heavily on the Timberwolves for this plan to succeed and Archer had told me that the whole thing would be held on one of Hades' properties, but I had yet to actually meet anyone from their gang. Aside from Demi, that was.
When the boys had said their new management was serious about keeping the gang out of the media, out of public eye, they hadn't been wrong. It was actually impressive. Not to mention scary.
"He's the Timberwolves second in charge?" I murmured, thoughtfully. "He doesn't seem much older than you three."
"He's not." Steele shrugged but didn't elaborate. I supposed it wasn't good form to gossip about other organized crime syndicates.
Archer came back into the kitchen and yawned heavily. "Princess, come with me; I'll introduce you to our new guards."
I climbed out of Kody's lap and took Archer's outstretched hand, letting him lead me out of the kitchen. He kept my hand in his as we headed up the stairs, but instead of turning left to the wing housing the master suite—where our mercenaries would be staying—he went right.
"Uh, are they in your room?" I asked with a laugh when he pushed his own door open and pulled me inside.
Kicking the door shut behind us, he shot me a smirk. "No, but you are now." A tug on my hand pulled me closer, and a moment later I found my back against the door as Archer's mouth explored mine in a hungry kiss that made my heart race and my skin tingle.
"Sneaky," I murmured when he released my lips some moments later, his eyes heated as he met my gaze. "If you wanted to get me alone, you could have just asked."
He cocked a brow. "Are you kidding? Steele threatened to stab me in the leg when I tried to get him out of bed with you a few hours ago. Possessive bastard. I've been going out of my mind needing to hold you all damn day."
It shouldn't make me so amused to hear that. If this whole relationship was going to work, the guys needed to find some sort of balance. Or at least drop some of the jealousy. Yet I couldn't deny the warm glow I felt whenever one of them threatened violence to stay around me a little longer. It was hot as hell.