Page 15 of Tempting Her Dragons

“Shedding,” I answer Maverick’s question, ignoring a conversation about marking.

“Depends on who it is,” Mav answers.

“I’ll give you his file in the car,” I tell them and turn. “We can take my vehicle. My supplies are in there.” They fall into stepbeside me, their arms brushing mine, and my toes curl in my boots.

Even if they react badly, I can’t ignore how they make me feel.

I park the car two blocks from Maxwell’s house on a dark street, ensuring no cameras are in the area. I turn to the guys and watch Kingston close the file I shared with them. Maverick read it first, and I could feel his anger.

I had to roll down the windows to get some relief from their scent in the enclosed vehicle. The heat gets worse the longer I am with them.

Kingston turns to face me, sliding the papers onto my lap. I hold his stare. “Where do you find these men?” he asks softly.

“I have a contact who gives them to me. I do more background checks on them,” I say, putting the file in the center console.

“How many have you done?” he continues.

“I’d have to double-check the numbers,” I stall. I don’t want to reveal everything quite yet.

“You do it alone?” Mav asks.

“Most of the time.”

“Not always?”

“No. My vampire friend helped train me,” I admit.

“Do you want us just to watch or to participate?” Kingston asks, surprising me.

“You want to participate?” I ask.

“We don’t like sick fucks like him,” he says plainly.

“Do whatever feels right,” I say. “Can you shield your bodies?”

“Yes,” they both say.

“Do that until we are in,” I instruct. “My bag is beside you, Maverick.” He grabs it and opens his door.

Walking across the street, I ignore the men behind me and get my head in the game. I walk into the bushes beside a house and engage my shield. I have spent many hours practicing my gifts. For a long time, I hid what I can do. My brothers don’t know the extent of my power. Micah helped me embrace my dragon. My past held me back from truly being myself. Somehow, being at the mercy of a human man, a man who coud scare me enough to freeze as he was unzipping my pants, made me doubt my abilities.

Never again.

I stop at Maxwell’s front door. Music is blaring inside. Kingston’s hand appears in front of me, gently twisting the doorknob, and the lock breaks.

They are handy to have around.

I slowly push open the door and move inside. The floor plan is simple. There are three floors. We step onto the main floor, which has a kitchen, living room, one bedroom, and bathroom. The top floor has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The basement is our focus, where the music comes from.

Before he renovated it, the bottom floor was a large open area with a kitchenette and a place for gaming. Maxwell has turned it into a torture chamber, but not in the classic sense. He installed a cage, a large bed, and a cross with wrist and ankle restraints. There is a corner where he has a video camera and several computers.

When I take on a target, I infiltrate the area where their crimes are committed if I can. I know the man’s schedule; I was here two days ago.

I silently move to the basement door; a human couldn’t hear our steps. As I swing it open, the music gets louder, so Iconcentrate my hearing on the man. I focus on the beat of his heart.

He won’t be able to see us until we lower our shields. I step off the last step and quickly scan the area, just to be sure I didn’t get his timeline wrong. My plans would not change if he had the girl here, but she would take priority over killing him.

Maxwell is sitting in front of the computers, watching a video. I grind my teeth at the vision that will be in my dreams tonight as I move behind him.

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