Page 48 of Dark OZ

“If I tear anything up, it won’t be her legs.” Danny’s voice dropped an octave, and reflexively, I tensed my thighs together at the image those words created. Goddammit, Thea. We just talked about this.

I pushed onto my knees, refusing to flinch at the ache that radiated everywhere and uncaring that I was naked. “The only thing getting torn up around here is about to be your face.”

“Lie back down, Thea,” Nick commanded. My mouth dropped open at the unexpected authority in his voice. His grey eyes were hard as he looked at us each directly in turn. “Danny will keep his mouth shut. Crowe is going to keep his hands to himself, andyouare going to rest.”

Crowe pulled a self-inflating pillow from another compartment. This cab really did have everything. He stretched out beside me and gestured for me to snuggle up next to him.

I hesitated because I’d never snuggled with anyone. Ever. It was a new level of vulnerability that I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with. “I’m still naked.”

“Believe me, I noticed. Come on. Lay down. I promise to behave.”

Lowering into the crook of his arm, I awkwardly draped myself over him so that my back was still elevated.“ For some reason, I think your definition of behave and mine are very different.”

Crowe pressed a smiling kiss to my temple. He didn’t argue it, though, confirming everything I needed to know. His fingertips pressed into my hair, rubbing soothing circles along invisible pressure points. I’d thought his fingers were made by the devil when they were tormenting my pussy, but I was rethinking that now. Because this felt like heaven.

No wonder girls in books were always curling up with their man. The gentle thump of his heart was calming. It took very little for me to slip into the inky darkness of sleep.

Chapter 21

Thea’sheadnuzzledharderinto my chest, whimpering at whatever was currently tormenting her dreams. Was it all the violence of the past few days, or did she always sleep so restlessly?

“Shhh,” I whispered into her ear. The tension immediately left her sleeping body. Something warm and fuzzy swelled in my chest. I calmed her.Me. It was refreshing to be someone’s port in the storm instead of the storm itself.

Oz damn it. Was I falling for this girl?

I was. Hard and fast enough I was almost dizzy from it.

Danny turned to look over his shoulder at the two of us. He ran a thoughtful finger over his lower lip, eyes lazily scouring each of Thea’s curves. From where he was sitting, he must have had the most amazing view. I almost envied him, except it was my body her naked chest and cunt had been pressed against for the past hour. It was my hand skating down her side, and it was my heartbeat lulling her to sleep.

“Is she waking up?”

“I don’t think so,” I said in a hushed tone. “She was pretty wrecked.”

“Hard to imagine why.” Nick laughed quietly. “You edged her during an adrenaline letdown.”

“Did you see her complaining?” I grinned. ‘Cause yeah, edging was intense, and the orgasm that followed always destroyed you. Which was exactly why I loved doing it. There was nothing sexier than watching a woman truly fall apart. “I would be surprised if she didn’t sleep hard for the next couple hours.”

The second I saw Thea walk out of the darkness, firelight from the exploding bike illuminating her perfect features, a tidal wave of relief washed over me. It was quickly followed by shock when she dropped the lighter, and the entire damn yard went up in flames. But it was when, smooth as a cat, she drew Danny’s gun that I knew she was meant to be mine.

When she slid into that car beside me, I had exactly one driving thought: the need to feel Thea in my arms and see her pleasure, anything to burn away the images the leader of The Winged Monkeys had given me. Because the things Orin had said about her—

“I think now might be a good time—” Danny said, interrupting my thoughts, “—for you to explain how in the fuck Orin Berret got the jump on you?”

“A day early, too. That’s what I haven’t been able to figure out.” Nick tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he thought. “He had an entire team in place. The yard was set up ahead of time. None of that is done on the fly.”

“A team infiltrating the compound, too,” Danny added.

Nick continued, “We left only a couple of hours after the call from the Wizard. Nowhere near enough time to prepare anything on that scale.”

“And how did the Monkeys know exactly where to intercept us?” I added, thinking about the small sound the dart had made sinking into my skin. We were lucky I hadn’t crashed the cab when I was knocked out.

“Maybe he’d always planned on it, and he only had to move the ambush up a day.”

Nick shook his head. “No. That doesn’t fit. Because it was never about us. He did this to get to Thea. I have no doubt.”

I held her tighter to me. It was only a slight increase in pressure to assuage my own feeling of panic. I followed it with a ghost of a kiss to the top of her head. Danny noticed it and cocked his head to the side in curiosity. Fuck it. I didn’t care if he saw my emotions. Tonight cut things too close.

Orin had told me, with stone-cold seriousness, that he’d usedmyphone to break into the compound and take her. He detailed to me what she’d felt like as he choked the life from her. The colorful ways he’d abused her body before he’d done it. I didn’t want to believe him. Orin was hardly a beacon of truth. I knew he got off on psychologically fucking with his prey, but those few minutes of uncertainty had ruined me.

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