from where Nick could either punch X or shake Caprise for what he believed was their madness. Kalina was silently grateful for the distance. The last thing they needed right now was fighting within the ranks. Even though she was almost positive Nick and X would put the Assembly and the shifters before their personal rift, the tension would still be a huge weight for them all to carry.
“Sebastian Perry.” The voice sounded throughout the space as Eli initiated the speaker that sat in the middle of the conference room table.
“Bas, we’ve got a situation. Is X with you?” Rome said immediately.
“I’m here,” the heavy male voice said. “What’s going on?”
Despite the urgent nature of this call both Nick and Rome grew quiet, but only momentarily.
“Seth was killed this morning. Some type of attack by another shifter.”
Both X and Bas cursed, with X rebounding first.
“What the hell happened? Where was he?” X asked.
“He was on watch at Athena’s. He’d already called in to say he was on his way back when he was attacked. We’ve got footage from video in the truck but—” Rome paused and looked at Nick.
“But what? Who the hell did this to him? Was it a Rogue?” From the sound of X’s voice he was ready to come through the phone line to get to Seth’s killer. This situation was so not good.
Kalina clasped her hands and tried to take slow breaths. Her eyes stung each time she thought of Seth and his young face but manly build. But she wouldn’t cry. She was a leader now, she had to set the example. Instead she sat with her shoulders squared and let her husband do his job.
“It wasn’t a Rogue,” Rome said slowly.
“It wasn’t
Complete silence filled the room and the phone line.
“Where is Caprise?” Kalina asked finally. “She has to be told. I can talk to her on a separate line.”
“No!” X yelled through the connection.
Then they could hear a throat being cleared, and Kalina suspected it was his. Interesting.
“I’ll tell her,” he said.
“Kalina’s going to see what the cops know about this, and Nick and I are organizing teams to go back to Athena’s tonight. I need you back here to analyze this video. I know you’ve trained some guards to do computer work, but I’d feel better if it was you,” Rome said sitting back in his chair.
He looked tired, as if the boulder he’d been carrying on his back had finally tipped over the edge. Kalina reached for his hand, then gave him a small tense smile when he took it and held on tight.
“Did you get what you needed from Hernandez?” Rome asked quietly.
“Yeah, I did. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. Send the jet, we’ll be ready to fly when it arrives,” X said.
“Where’s Caprise?” Nick asked.
“She’s in our room,” X said.
There was an awkward sort of pause in the conversation. Bas spoke up, saying, “We had some action here this morning as well.”
Nick leaned forward as if that would somehow get him closer to X or his sister. “What kind of action?”
“Rogues. Three of them taunting at the perimeter of Perryville. We took them out but it’s not a good sign,” Bas told them.
“We? Please don’t tell me my sister was hurt,” Nick said, a tortured look on his face.
“She’s fine,” X said. “I don’t think she’s ever fought another cat and—”
“Caprise was fighting? She shifted and she was fighting? What the hell, don’t you have enough guards for that, Perry?” Nick’s calm was quickly shattered.
“The important thing is that she’s all right,” Rome interrupted. “Eli’s already called the pilot. You two get back here as soon as possible. Bas, do you need help following up with your Rogue problem?”
“No. I’ve got teams out searching now. We’ll handle it. Keep me posted on what you find out about this new attacker,” Bas told Rome.
“Will do. Let’s plan to talk to all the FLs later this week. I’ve got a feeling whatever we uncover now will soon affect us all,” Rome said.
“I agree” were Bas’s final words before the line was disconnected.
When the room was silent again Rome looked to Nick. “You have to get a grip on this thing with X and Caprise. She doesn’t need you two butting heads when she comes back to find out her guard is dead.”
“You don’t understand,” Nick started to say.
Rome continued to look brutally serious. His compassion, even though Kalina was sure it was there, was carefully masked by the serious nature of their current situation. “Look, X is our friend. He’s our brother.”
“And she’s my sister, Rome. Tell me you wouldn’t feel pissed the fuck off if it were your sister he was with. You know how he is.” And in return Nick’s frustration filled the room like a huge gray cloud.
“I know what and who X is and I trust him with my life. With Kalina’s life,” Rome stated finally.
Nick shook his head. “This is different, Rome. It’s so different.”
“It’s life, Nick,” Kalina chimed in. “We don’t get to pick and choose who we mate. It just happens.”
“That’s the problem. They’re not going to mate. That’s not the type of man X is. Rome knows this and I know this. And that’s why I have such a problem with this whole situation,” Nick said only a fraction calmer than he’d just been. Worry was clearly etched in the shifter’s eyes, in the slump of his shoulders. This wasn’t easy for him—especially so soon after his ordeal with Ary. It was a lot for anyone to withstand, but if anyone could get over it and move on, Kalina was sure Nick Delgado could. He simply had to want to move forward. That was the hard part. She was quickly learning how stubborn these male shifters could actually be.
Still, Kalina wasn’t 100 percent sure of what Nick was talking about. There seemed to be a lot left unsaid between him and Rome. But what she did know without a doubt was that the sound in X’s voice when Caprise was mentioned was not that of a man who had no feelings for that woman. X probably hadn’t figured that out yet—and if she knew Caprise, as she was sure she did, Kalina was certain she didn’t know it, either.
The two of them were in for a stark surprise.
Chapter 18
Her limber body moved in ways X had never seen before. She bent at the waist, flattened her hands on the planks of the patio floor. Her knees did not bend and she rested there for what looked like an uncomfortable amount of time. When she returned to a complete standing position, she leaned to the side, her entire torso bending like a flower in the wind. She circled and arched her back. Then she came up on her toes and did some sort of spin that left him breathless. She lifted a long leg, planted her ankle on the railing of the patio, and leaned over so that her head touched her knee, her hand cupping her foot.
His dick was hard, his body alert to every sexual tendril sifting its way slowly down his spine. His chest constricted when she stood straight and turned, her gaze immediately finding his.
Caprise had sensed his presence. From the doorway, he could see her nostrils flaring, her eyes darkening, and her nipples growing to ready peaks beneath the thin white T-shirt she wore. She’d scented him.
X inhaled deeply, picking up a warm musky scent himself, one he’d never smelled before. Then, because this was the only way he knew how to do this, he took a step toward her and said, “Seth’s been killed. He was attacked by another shifter. Not a
Of all the things X accepted himself as being, a psychic was not one of them. So there was no way for him to predict that Caprise—of all the women he knew, on legs he’d admired when she’d danced on that pole and when they were wrapped securely around his waist—would crumple to the ground.
With a curse he took another step, caught her before her head hit the railing, and lifted her into his arms. Her eyes remained closed as X held her there, like a baby in his arms. He didn’t sit down, didn’t have to because he doubted she weighed more than 130 pounds. He made a mental note to see that she ate more. With her head resting against his shoulder, the scent he’d smelled upon entering the room was even stronger. It was intense and played with his senses as if he were a kid in a candy store. He wanted so much and then that didn’t even seem like
