Page 45 of Lethal

This time, the orgasm isn’t as encompassing. It doesn’t grip my body in its clutches, holding it hostage. Instead, it’s like a rolling flutter that seems to last an eternity. Each of my men touching me at the same time, working together to lengthen it, to draw it out as long as possible.

Fucking hell. I’m one lucky lady.

Chapter 20

Raven

Cole’s fingertips trail across my skin as he checks his work. “I didn’t give you all the ravens you’re due. We didn’t have enough time for me to get them all added.” I turn to catch sight of my back in the reflection in the bathroom mirror, but his hands land on my hips. His lips press a cool kiss to my neck. “Don’t think so, Luv. No peeking until I get the rest added.”

“Excuse me?” I snap, indignation rushing through me. How dare he try to keep it from me. It’s my body. He has no control over what I do.

“An artist doesn’t reveal his work until it’s finished. I’d prefer it if you waited.” He turns me in his hold, wrapping an arm around me and using the other to grasp my chin. “Be a good girl for me and do this?”

Fuck being his good girl. This is exactly like the time Ravenmaster took the watch from me. It’s happening all over again. I didn’t take it well then, and I’m not now either. My tattoos are my trophies, the one thing I have representing my kills. The little mementos I get to keep for myself, an aid in reminiscing each and every time I take a life. He doesn’t get to restrict them from me.

“Please,” he murmurs against my lips. “It means a lot if you’d wait.” For some reason, I get an inkling he’s trying to manipulate me. And fuck if it isn’t working. The anger pulsing through me drops to a simmer, and when he peppers kisses along my lips, it lowers even more.

“Fine,” I mumble, the word distorted from his continued assault of soft kisses.

“What do you think of the hearts?” he asks, running a finger along my collarbone, avoiding the area where the fresh tattoo is covered.

I’m not sure why Vander chose such a girly shape, although I suppose it’s better than a circle or a square. But Cole added his twist to it. It’s done in dark red ink and there are beads of blood dripping from it. It takes something that’s not my style and transforms it into something completely and genuinely me.

“You worked your magic with them. I’ve learned to trust your talents, although I must admit, I wasn’t the most confident when it came to the hearts. But you outdid yourself.”

Confidence shines from his eyes, and he gets that natural cockiness about his stature. “Get used to a lifetime of surprises, Luv. Because you’ll never be free of me.”

“I sure hope not.” I push past him. A light chuckle falls from his lips. “Shall we go save your sister?”

He cracks his knuckles before responding. “Fuck, yeah. Let’s rescue a damsel.”

“Are you sure she’ll be there? What if you’re wrong?”

He scowls, not liking my questions in the least. “I’m not sure. All I know is she was with him when I saw the original footage. If she’s not there, we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there.” I rub my hand on his back, hoping it helps to soothe his nerves. The last thing I need is for him to have a psychotic break again.

Cole

Her words pound through my head, echoing over and over, mocking me. She’s right, there is no guarantee my sister is there and I’m not sure what I’ll do if she’s not. I’m only able to function by taking one step at a time. One decision leading into the next until I reach that finish line. Normally, I’m the type to think ten steps in advance, but somehow I’ve been rendered useless. And the dumbest part of all is I can’t ask for help. I can’t give up my control. I can’t tolerate having someone else help make the decisions. This is all on me.

And I’ll be damned if I’m not considered the hero in the end.

My sister always looked at me like I hung the moon amongst the stars. It’s one of the things I missed most when she first disappeared. I was her big brother, even if only separated by a few minutes. It haunted me. I was her forever hero, and yet I let her disappear right from under my nose. I wasn’t able to protect her the way I promised I would.

That’s about to change. I’m coming for you, Becca. Hold on for a while longer, little sister.

“Where are we anyway?” Raven asks me as we disembark from the plane. “I didn’t think to ask before. You all did a good job of distracting me.”

The reminder has me smirking a shit-eating grin. Life with her has never been short of entertaining. “Denver,” I utter, giving no other details. She nods, accepting the one word response. That’s one thing I appreciate about Raven. I can go from over the top explanations and giving her every little detail, to suddenly switching to one word answers. And she simply accepts it without question. My thoughts are too chaotic right now to handle somebody demanding more from me.

I’ve arranged for everything to be waiting when we land, so it’s not a surprise to see the SUV idling on the tarmac. We load the gear that I had stashed on the jet into the back and head to our destination: a mansion two hours away that overlooks the mountains.

Vander automatically climbs into the driver’s seat, and I use my glasses to send the coordinates into the GPS system on the dash. I zone out as we eat up the miles. My thoughts turn to the mission at hand. I know we should do reconnaissance. To stalk Brent to make sure we know every hidden detail of his home and habits. To know the schedule and patterns of any guard detail or other staff members. We should go into this overly prepared with plans in place for anything and everything that can go wrong. And backup plans as well.

But we’re not. All because I’m an impatient, selfish prick.

If anything goes wrong, it’ll be all my fault. And yet, I can’t bring myself to do the smart thing. It’s actually unbelievable the others are following my lead on this. Although, I suppose that’s what family does. They blindly support each other’s bad decisions and no matter what, they’re there to catch you if you fall.

I take out my computer, wanting to go through the information I have on Brent. The files stored on his internal servers that I finally hacked into. Perhaps there are blueprints of his mansion that I overlooked or security plans. Maybe I can find video feeds to give us a better idea of what we’re walking into. Anything to help us streamline the process. To ensure I keep Raven safe.

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