Page 42 of Taken By Raider Kings
Righteously purple prose, especially since the millionaire in question—Marc Harris, who didn’t rate a picture for some reason—owned a good chunk of real estate.A few more pieces of the puzzle that was their new shaman snapped into place.A “bitter divorce”, it said, but the accusations of domestic violence and stalking apparently weren’t news.
Why didn’t she move further away?But then he thought of her bare apartment, and how it took money to stay on the run.How jealously a rich man would guard his resources during a divorce—Sophie probably hadn’t had a choice.She was damn lucky to have had a friend helping her escape.
Her dead friend.Another thing to hold theupirto account for.
He scanned the rest of the article.They’d recovered a body identified as hers, but Sophie was alive and well.
You know, that just about screams “coverup.”He mulled over this for a few seconds, a shape he didn’t much like developing inside his head.
They needed a defensible place to stay, and they needed to make contact with any other Tribe in town.There had to be more.With other Tribe backing them and a place to stay, they could more than handleupirand make their shaman comfortable.
Think quick, Zach.
Julia’s voice floated across the restaurant.“He’s right there.Let’s ask.”
“I don’t—” Sophie began; he hurriedly folded up the newspaper, sticking it under his arm just as Julia bounced up.
“I want a cinnamon roll.There’s a place down the street.Can I take the shaman?”His sister bounced on her toes, long hair swinging.She sounded about twelve years old again, and for a moment he wished they’d found Sophie sooner.
Wishes don’t feed your Family, though.Or protect them.
Sophie’s shoulders slumped.She looked away, out the plate-glass window of the diner at the dull-splattering sleet.Eric arrived, picking at his teeth with a mint toothpick, looking supremely unconcerned.
“Can I?”Julia persisted.
“Later.”His gaze met Eric’s.“You two take Brenn.Find a place for our shaman to live—fleece a crowd if you have to.Get us a house.Somewhere in the suburbs, okay?”
Eric nodded.Blue eyes narrowed, but he wasn’t about to ask questions.
“But I want—” Julia subsided as he eyed her.She’s giving up way too easily, you know.Storing up trouble for later.
“Later,” he repeated.“Pick us up downtown near the fountain, at eight sharp.Got it?”
“Eight sharp.Where are you headed?”Eric dropped his gaze in case Zach didn’t want to say.Sophie began buttoning her new jacket—one of Kyle’s, actually, and far too big for her.Her black vinyl purse was still damp.
“We’re going to ask a few questions.”Zach weighed the information, decided to add a little more.“I’m taking our shaman with me and looking for Tribe.”
“But why?What’s the—” Julia shut her mouth so fast she almost lost a chunk of her tongue.
The growl retreated under Zach’s skin.Sophie was hugging herself now, pale eyes wide as plates.He wanted to reassure her, tell her she wasn’t alone anymore, calm the rabbit-thumping of her pulse and the fear that was so much a part of her scent it almost canceled out all the calm a shaman could bring.“Come with me, Sophie.”He didn’t phrase it as a request, which was wrong—even an alpha didn’t give a shaman orders.
Still, she nodded, a wildly curling sandalwood strand falling in her face.It hurt to see her almost-flinch, stiffening as he stepped close.
Well, he knew one thing for certain now.Someone absolutely and specifically wanted her dead.Maybe it was theupir,maybe not; didn’t make a goddamn bit of difference.What mattered was protecting her, not just to keep his Family alive but also because of the way she glanced up at him—pale gaze stuttering to his face to read the emotional weather there, bracing herself for God alone knew what.
She shouldn’t have to look like that.
He was inside her personal space before he realized as much.She almost backed into Julia, who stepped smartly away.Zach caught Sophie’s arm, his fingers closing gently but irresistibly, and he realized what he was about to do only when his mouth met hers.
It was a brief pressure of lips, tasting of spearmint gum—how had she gotten hold of that?It didn’t matter, because the contact burned right through him, the smell of her filling his nostrils and the animal in him circling once, a fierce sweet pain in the center of his bones.
He inhaled just as she let out a soft, shapeless, shocked sound; her breath touched his mouth and for a moment he was drowning.The rest of the world—diner, Family, rain, traffic a formless hum outside—vanished in a white glare, and he wouldn’t have cared if the whole world went up in flames just then.He inhaled again as she breathed, the air touching his skin laden withher,an unfamiliar weakness spilling through him.
She was shaking like a rabbit.He blinked, loosening his fingers one by one, straightening.It took him two tries to find words.
“Everything’s okay, Sophie.”He wanted to rub his cheek against hers, bury his nose in her hair; the conflicting desires shook him before he clapped a lid on both.
She blinked.Her mouth slightly open, she looked dazed and adorable.Those eyes of hers behind the glasses were velvet winter sky, with fine threads of gold in the iris.If he looked closely he could see a very, very light feathering of paler hairs at her right temple.She’d have a streak before long, when her body finished settling into the balanced chemistry of a shaman’s.
