Page 15 of Bad Moon Rising
He didn’t answer as he pushed open the door and pressed the short-range earbud in his ear, even though he didn’t need to touch it for it to be active. It broadcast everything audible around him. Softly, he said, “I got recalled for a meeting. Did you, Flynn?”
He paced to the trunk of the car. Did his handler know about Nova? Had they been caught together on camera?
Shit.
“No,” said his brother, Flynn, who wasn’t too far away, likely on the way to the airport. “Is she in the car with—”
“This is about the new royal throwing around his weight,” he interrupted. “We’re going to England. Actually, only I’m going in. No choice.”
“Sheisin the car,” Flynn said. He’d been on the roof of the building across from the club, sniper rifle at the ready. Of course he’d seen Roman leave with Nova. “We need to discuss the importance of following a plan. I can’t believe you blew him up. It was a simple retrieve.”
“I got the vial.”
“Who cares about the vial when you picked up a passenger who’s not supposed to know we exist? Why is there a woman in the fucking car with you?”
“It’s complicated,” he muttered. “But I got it.”
“I saw on surveillance she took a bullet for you and pulled some moves that looked bloody hot for someone in tight leather. I bet it’s as complicated as your balls in a twist.”
He whispered, “She’s one of us. It’s a female with amnesia who doesn’t know what she is or who she is. There’s more we’ll talk about later.”
“Jesus, a lycan? I think I have the cameras controlled, but if she got caught… You think that’s why you’re getting called in by yourself?”
“I don’t know. I have to go in,” he intoned without emotion and massaged his tattooed wrist. If one of them disobeyed an order, they’d all be punished, and possibly killed. Maybe not a death sentence for resisting an in-person meeting with the newly crowned king, but the curse would start hurting all of them. They’d tested it in the past. He wouldn’t be the one to bring harm to his brothers.
“You have to go in,” Flynn repeated. “She’s lycan?” He blew out a long whistle. “The last time I got close to a non-mated female, I almost got my nuts sliced off. Man, it was worth it. I’ll bet she smells amazing.”
“This isn’t about sex.”
“Sure it’s not,” Flynn said sarcastically. “She’s hot as all bloody hell, and she’s one of us.” He paused. “You think she’s a spy? What’s she doing targeting you to help her?”
Roman switched to Gaelic, which he and his brothers used when they didn’t want anyone around listening in. Over their long lives, they’d picked up multiple languages. The dead ones, like Gaelic and Latin, turned out to be the most useful. “I don’t know who she is. Neither does she. But this has something to do with Shane.”
“He’s dead and gone. How can this be about him?”
He quickly explained the Zippo lighter connection.
“Is she…did she mate him?” Flynn responded.
Denial roared through Roman’s brain, dark and deadly.
“It’s been almost two years,” Flynn said. “Why would she appear now? Makes no sense. We would’ve known about her if she belonged to him, wouldn’t we? He spent very little time apart from us. He didn’t have time to go find someone like her and build a relationship in secret. Gerard would have known, and if Gerard had known, we would.”
Roman got back in the car and faced her. In English, he asked, “Did you know Shane?”
“Who’s Shane? I can’t remember my own name? Why would I remember anyone else’s?”
“Are you a spy?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. An hour ago, I didn’t know I could speak German and Italian or that I could fight.”
In his ear, Flynn asked, “She’s got to know what she is. She has to understand why you want to get her naked. Don’t bother denying it.”
He pressed his ear, turned his head away from her to duck it low, and snapped in Gaelic, “Unlike you, I don’t want to screw anything female that crosses my path.”
“That’s unfair,” Flynn shot back.
“Belfast.”
