Page 26 of Claimed (Powertools: The Shields 5)

“And us?” Legend asked, hoping he knew the answer.

“I’m not even going to try to keep you three apart.” Jordan rolled his eyes. “Stay with her. It’s not a hardship, is it?”

Tavish muttered, “It will be if I do something dumb.”

“Like what?” Karolena asked him sharply.

Legend wondered the same thing. Sleeping with her hadn’t seemed to bother Tavish. No, it was putting faith in Karolena or allowing himself to experience affection for her in addition to lust that was freaking him out. And he was too fucking petrified to be as gutsy as her and admit his anxieties out loud.

Instead, he cracked a joke.

“I’m getting too old for screwing on every flat surface. Next time I’m going to need a bed, or at least the carpet instead of the table.”

“Remind me never to accept a dinner invitation from you two,” James teased.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean it. Again.” Karolena crossed her arms. “Seems like I’m going to have a lot of free time.”

“Way to ruin it for us both.” Legend glared and the rest of the Shields chuckled. It had been a hell of a lot more amusing to him when the other trios were struggling to figure their shit out.

If he wasn’t fighting Tavish and his insecurities, they might be able to create something lasting together. How the hell was he going to prove to both Tavish and Karolena that if they entrusted more than simply their bodies to him, he would take care of them like the rest of the people who’d let them down should have too?

Legend figured his assignment was the most difficult of all.

“Okay, let’s get to work.” Jordan pushed back from the table and stood. “One more thing…”

Legend knew he was going to hate whatever it was his boss had saved for last.

“Someone go over to Sweet & Spicy. Tell Morgan and Devra that if those guys come back, they should pass along a message. Let them know that if the woman they’re looking for is in Middletown, they’re only going to find her if they send Levin in person for a meeting.”

“Son of a bitch.” Tavish groaned.

“I don’t like that. At all.” Legend agreed with his partner’s assessment of exactly how terrible a scheme that was. Though really, those assholes had tracked her that far. It wasn’t going to be long before they realized where she was holed up. Did he hate it more because he didn’t want her in any more danger, or because he wanted her to stay away from the one man in her past she gave a shit about?

Maybe he wasn’t much better than Tavish after all.

“I’m on that. I’ll grab everyone lunch while I’m there. Text me your orders.” James waggled his phone. “And soon enough, Karolena’s friend will be here so we can figure out how to stop these assholes for good.”

Karolena smiled for the first time since she’d admired the results of her labor in their apartment earlier. “Thank you. Really. I don’t care so much about myself. I mean, I do, but…if that’s all it was, it would be one thing. If I could stop this from happening to anyone else, ever again, that would make everything I’ve gone through mean something. The suffering would be worth it.”

Legend recognized the spark in her eyes. The drive to set things to rights inspired her. Gave her purpose. And in that moment, he fell for her a little bit, because he held a twin flame deep in his soul.

It was then he realized James was going to be bummed because Karolena had never been destined to be their housekeeper. He didn’t know exactly how or in what capacity yet, but he was sure she was going to be a Shield and protect others the way no one had done for her.

10

Karolena’s head spun as she reentered Tavish and Legend’s apartment. So much had changed.

After years of stagnation, things kept evolving before she could adjust to the previous iteration of what her life had become. Though she would never have admitted it out loud, it sort of stressed her out to make her own decisions about every aspect of her new existence.

Overwhelmed, she wandered to the windows again, sinking onto the floor, her legs folded and tucked beneath her. She stared out at the clouds floating past as she reflected on that harried flight into darkness and how she’d awoken into the dawn as her plane had touched down. The bus ride across an unfamiliar land, her stark hotel room, shopping in a department store without an escort, interviewing and landing a job, moving in, then hooking up with the pair of nice guys—who’d turned out to be well-meaning executioners—and the possibility of a future where she could do something more than look pretty and dread every moment.

It was a lot to process.

She hugged her abdomen and swayed as she counted the cars that passed on the streets below, looking like toys from her perch on the fifth floor. “Please don’t stand there and gawk at me like that.”

“Huh?” Tavish tried to play dumb.

“I can see your reflection in the tinting.” She shook her head. “Shouldn’t a superspy know that?”

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