Page 38 of Trick's Elite

They reached the van, and Trick pulled open the passenger side door for her. “That’s not the case today?”

She shot him a glare. “No.”

Trick chuckled. “I was just trying to get you to continue.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get in the fucking van, and I will.”

“Right.” Trick closed the door and jogged around the hood. Once he was in the driver’s seat and had started the van, he took off down the dirt road at a fast clip.

“Seeing them now… I see the vile thirst for aggression.” She sighed. “I’m not an angel. I’ve handed out my fair share of torture to get information. I’ve been rough with a criminal because their crime fucking deserved it… like child molesters. But this is different. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before. Those trainees don’t give a fuck about shifters or humans. They care about being able to inflict pain and shoot weapons. That’s fucking vile.”

When they reached the end of the road, Trick took a left turn. “You’re looking at them from a different perspective. You’re bound to see things differently.”

“Yeah,” she said on another sigh. “No wonder you guys hate us so damn much.”

“Them,” Trick corrected. “You aren’t one of them anymore. Now you’re my mate.” He reached over and gripped her hand.

“I just… I wish I could just take them all out. Ya know? Problem solved.”

Trick shrugged. “So, let’s figure out how to do that.”

“What?”

He glanced at her before focusing on the road again. “Let’s do it.”

“Are you serious?”

“About protecting my mate and my family? As a fucking heart attack. Let’s figure out how to do that, then we’ll give Ordys the heads up to get his crew out of there. We’ll wipe them out, then we’ll return to Warden’s Pass and get on with our lives.”

He heard her chuckle, but there was no humor in it. “You’re insane.”

“Maybe, but I still mean it.”

Back at the cabin, Trick made some calls and was waiting for Ordys to get in contact with him. As he paced the porch, waiting for the call, Stiletto had gone inside to throw together some sandwiches for lunch.

About ten minutes of waiting, his phone rang. He knocked on the window to get Stiletto’s attention and waved her out to the porch before he pressed answer and put the call on speaker.

“Ordys, hey.” As Trick spoke, he watched as Stiletto stepped out onto the porch. The look on her face was one he didn’t understand, but he couldn’t ask her what it meant in that moment. All he knew was her eyes were wet with tears, but she didn’t look sad. Still, his bear went on high alert.

“Trick. Tell me it was you on the grounds, and I’m not dealing with a possible third party in this game.”

Still taking in the expression on Stiletto’s face, Trick replied, “Yes, it was us.”

“Us?”

“Me and my mate, Stiletto.” Trick witnessed the second she pulled herself together and focused on the call. She blinked rapidly, shook out her arms, and put her hands to her hips. Her brows pulled together, and her eyes trained on his phone. The strength in her to be able to battle whatever had her weepy without a sound, without help from him, without help from anyone, was what Trick considered one of the most powerful skills she had. He knew damn well that her emotions were still in there, but she prioritized and did it in a matter of seconds. Damn, the woman was so fucking impressive. His cock twitched as he took it all in, and his bear huffed his agreement.

When her gaze shifted up to meet his, and she clocked the look on his face, she lifted a brow and nodded to his phone, silently reprimanding him for thinking about sex while they were in the middle of an important call.

Trick chuckled quietly.

They spent the next few minutes talking to Ordys about a rumor he heard that the academy was working on another location. He hadn’t heard where it would be yet, and he wasn’t sure it was an alternative location or a secondary location. Whether they were moving or setting up another one was an important detail they needed to know, and Ordys said he would look into it further.

With nothing left to discuss at that moment, he ended the call with Ordys and followed Stiletto inside to eat their sandwiches.

Sitting across the kitchen table from her, he reached underneath and hooked his hand around the back of her calf. He pulled it up and set her foot in his lap as she smirked at him.

He shrugged in response to her amusement. “I just like touching you,” he told her and lifted his sandwich to his mouth with his other hand.

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