Page 28 of Juneau Heat (Urban Heat 1)

“Don’t hello me. I want to know what you did. And it looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere. How did I even get here?”

“I carried you.” Kotori came into the cabin and shut the door behind him. She shifted her glare to him, taking in his words.

“What do you mean you carried me? Are we close to Juneau?”

“No.” Kotori pulled the hat off his head, and she noted his wet hair. The man must have wanted to catch his death of cold. He sat down to shed his boots and socks. When he tugged the shirt over his head, she lost track of her thoughts, taking in his bare chest.

“Is that all you have to say?” she demanded when she pulled herself together.

“And where are my clothes?”

Birk scooted up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Butterflies fluttered in her tummy. He teased her earlobe with the tip of his tongue and sucked it between his lips. She suppressed a moan and forced her eyes to stay open rather than drift closed like they wanted to.

Birk’s throaty voice drove her temperature higher. “Why do you need clothes when you look so sexy in this sheet?” He pulled the material away from her breasts to take a peek, but she slapped his hand.

“I’m beginning to think you two kidnapped me.”

Birk moved nearer until she felt his hard cock against her back. He ran his hand down over her stomach to cup her sex. “Isn’t this what we agreed on? Someplace away from your suite, where we wouldn’t be disturbed, so we can get to know each other better?”

“Yes, but I didn’t agree to be drugged, damn it!”

Birk grew serious and turned her in his arms. He raised her chin and looked into her eyes. “You’re not afraid, are you, Shiya? You realize Kotori and I would never hurt you?”

She considered putting on a show or at the very least demanding to be taken back to civilization immediately and never speaking to them again, but Birk was right. They had decided to enjoy each other without interference.

Inside, she struggled with what Kasen had said to her. She knew she would never allow him or her dad to kill innocent people, and the thought of what happened to her mother warred with her desire to overlook what Birk and Kotori were when she hadn’t done so for any other shifter. She couldn’t look into these two men’s eyes and let them touch her body and then turn around and allow them be killed. However, she also couldn’t pretend that they did not have the ability to be instinctive killers if they determined a threat. The cold, hard fact was, that included her. If they thought Shiya would harm them, they would end her life first.

“Fine,” she said at last. “I will stay, but I don’t like your methods.”

“Why, because your people can’t track you here?” Kotori said.

She glared at him.

He walked over to her. When he pulled her into his arms, Birk let go, and Kotori kissed her. She was pissed and wanted to deny him, but instead her lips parted to allow his tongue entry.

After some time, he raised his head, and she stood there with slitted eyes, drunk off his kiss. “While we are here, there is no one else. Not your father, not your brother, or any of the men who work for you. You won’t have your cell phone, and you will be given clothes to wear.” His gaze swept over her form, and she saw appreciation in their dark depths at her bare legs. “While I love you in my shirt, the clothes will fit you because you’ll have to be able to go outdoors with us.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Outdoors?”

“Yes,” Birk answered. He picked up the rest of the instructions. “You will be entirely at our mercy. However, at any time, you can call it quits. No more pleasure. We will take you back to your suite, and you will not see us again.”

Shiya said nothing. From their explanation, she got the impression that it was all or nothing. She had to trust them and do what they wanted or go home. When Birk said she wouldn’t see them again, she began to think that meant not even on the street. They would disappear, and the Keiths wouldn’t find them again.

This was her opportunity. Either she learned enough about Birk and Kotori to satisfy herself that they were not like other shifters, or she would confirm that they were and let her dad kill them without remorse.

Still she hesitated. “You know it’s colder than a monkey’s grip out there, right?”

Both Birk and Kotori appeared puzzled. She clicked her teeth together to keep from laughing at them wondering how a monkey’s grip could be cold.

Birk spoke up first. “We will ensure you’re warm.”

“But Kotori’s hair was wet.”

“I went swimming,” he explained.

“I’m not going in the water!”

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