Page 68 of Homecoming

Grabbing her hair, he twists it into a knot around his fist and, with a gentle tug, pulls her head back. “You are a really,reallybad girl, Lieutenant Morgan.”

His words are like warm whispers brushing against her neck and she immediately stops moving. Her grin broadens as she feels the pulse of desire throbbing in her veins. “Wait… did you call meLieutenantMorgan? Darius, does that mean I get my place back on the team?”

“No. No, you won’t justget it—you need to earn it,” he snarls. “You have one month, Lieutenant, to prove you deserve that place over the other candidates and if you do, then yes, yes, you can return to the team.”

“Oh my God, really? But only a month? Darius, I don’t… You know what? I can. I can do it. Just give me this one chance and I’ll show you.”

Closing her eyes, her legs spread wide and her back arched, she lets a long deep sigh escape her lips.

Darius rakes a gaze over her body as he holds her pressed against the desk and leaned against her back, he grips his hand firmly around her throat and squeezes gently. Another deep and more sinister growl escapes his lips as Kat begs, “Master Chief, fuck me!”

“Goodmorning.”Katsmiles,watching asBud fills a large bowl with frosted flakes and quickly shovels into his mouth whilethe rest of the guys rush around, gathering up various possessions from the worktops and dresser.“Are you getting spun up?” she questions.

“Yeah,sorrybabe, we gottago.” Digby looks at his watch. “Alright guys, let’s speed it up guys—you’regettin’slow.”

“Will you shut the hell up!” Zak pulls his hand through his messy hair and growls.

“Are you still drunk?” Digby furrows a brow as he looks up from his bag and stares at him.

“No, not drunk. But if you really must know, I'mseriouslyhungover.”

“Yeah, well,gettin’in a fight with Quinn was not a good move—especially at his brother’s engagement reception. If you wanna win QT back, that was not the way to go about it.”

“Wait, you got into a fight?” Kat looks up and questions Zak as he drops his large frame onto the stool opposite. “What the hell is wrong with you? And you did this at Riley’s party… But why?”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” he sighs. “I don’t know, maybe because I drank too much, or maybe because Quinn wouldn’t stopflirtin’with QT? You know, I’m sure he wasdoin’it on damn purpose to wind me up.” His voicefadeswithembarrassmentas he scratches the itch in his groin and then disappears to the refrigerator where he takes out the new bottle of orange juice and slurps from it.

Helena tuts loudly as she smacks the back of his hand and takes the juice away from him. She then pours it into a clean glass before handing it back.

“You actually believe Quinn wasflirtin’with QT? What the hell Zak? No, he wasn’t. They were justtalkin’and if Iremembecorrectly, it was you who wasbein’more than a little friendly with one of those young she-wolves. All that giggling and herstrokin’your damn ego—‘oooh, Zak’.If anyone should be pissed off, it should be QT.”

“Alright, I know,” he sneers in Digby’s direction. “I wasouttaline, but I just… I lost it for a minute. Don’t look at me like that, I’ll apologize to Quinn when I see him.” Zak drinks the juice and pours himself another largeglass,gulping it back almost as quickly as the first. “Anyway, he was fine—what I mean is, his nose will be fine… eventually. Hell, his brother’s a doctor, I’m sure he can sort it out. Oh man…” Zak slumps back onto the stool. “Kat, do you have any painkillers here? My head’sthrobbin’like mymornin'hard on, right now.”

“No, and by the sounds of it, you don’t deserve any. Now, I have to go, I need to get ready to feed Evelyn.”

“Kat, are you okay?” Digby arches a brow as he watches her.

“Yeah, but… oh, you might as well all know, I’ve decided to stop feeding Evelyn after today—at least for most of the day. I'llmaybegive her one last feed before bedtime. I’m just worriedhowhard it's going to be on Luna and I could have really done with your support on this.”

“Yeah, sorry babe, we gotta run. But if that's what you really want to do, then you know I'm here for you.”

“I don’tsee thatI have much choice. Not if I’m going to get back in shapenow thatDarius has okay'd for me to try out for the team. When you come back from this operation, I need to start training more seriously.”

“Okay, sure. Tell you what, me and Oz will draw up a proper routine for you.”

“What’s that?” Oz calls from the other side of the room where he hurriedly loads his folded clothes from the laundry pile into a large canvas holdall.

“I said that you’ll sort Kat a training schedule when we get back.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll speak to Marco—better to have him involved, he’ll know if we’re pushing you too much. What’s the time frame? I mean, how many months do we have to plan? And what’s it for, exactly?”

“It’s for my place on the team,” she grins. “But the bad news is we only have a month.”

“A month?” Oz stands up and stares at Digby. “Onemonth? That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Darius’ voice echoes from the doorway. “If she wants the place on the team badly enough, she’ll have to find a way to do it.”

“Ohc’monDee, that's not nearly enough time. Kat, I’m not being funny, but I'd hardly say you’re hardly fit.”

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