So tight. So greedy.

Mine.

“Raize!”

Her hands clamped down harder, her fingers sinking in. I’d feel her nails scraping soon.

I didn’t stop.

Jesus.

This feeling.

Being inside her.

It was the closest experience to heaven I’d ever get.

I moved my thumb down, rubbing her and needing her to come.

She always fought, wanting to come with me. No way.

Her first. Always.

But damn, I was close.

“Babe, you gotta come.”

She started to lift herself up.

I clamped down on her hips, holding her and I just moved with her, thrusting even deeper.

A low guttural moan came from her, and she froze for a second. “Holy—Raize!”

I moved my thumb over her clit, pushing, rubbing, caressing.

“Now.”

She was fighting it.

“Now.”

She exploded in my arms, and I held her through the waves until she had stopped trembling. After that, it was all me. Taking her from the shower, I moved her to the bathroom counter. Her legs were positioned. “Arms up.”

She snapped forward, pressing her palms against the mirror, and then I lined up.

I sank in, and bent over her, claiming her with every goddamn stroke inside of her.

I wanted her to feel me for the next month.

She started tensing again, and as I continued sliding in and out, she moaned again. “Raize.” Her eyes were closed and she was panting.

I repositioned, pulling her up. I wrapped one hand around her chest, anchoring her to me, and continued moving up into her as I slid my hand down her front and back to her clit.

She fell back, her head and entire body resting against me as I worked her over once more, and as she climaxed, I was shooting myself into her.

We got her on birth control, during a stop and I was thankful.

Bare was the only way I wanted her from now on. We both collapsed and I waited until my legs could move again before carrying her into the bedroom and lowering her down onto the bed.

“You okay?”

She groaned, stretching out and smiled up at me.

The best satiated smile I’d seen on her face.

She whispered, “Yeah. I’m good.”

I chuckled, but checked my phone.

The text stopped everything.

Unknown: We can meet now.

Unknown. Here. 2:30 am.

Unknown: image

“Raize?” Ash sat up, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

I checked the time.

1:34 am.

They sent a map of where to meet. We had a fifty-minute drive ahead of us.

I said, “We have to go.”

60

Ash

Jake and Cavers stayed back. I had no idea why, and so did Gus.

When we arrived, I wasn’t totally sure what we were doing here. Abram had a grim set to his face so I was guessing he knew and Verónica seemed as clueless as me. We were both wired, because how could you not be?

It was the middle of the night.

We were meeting beneath the Canadian border, which was on the other side of this gigantic lake. Or maybe the lake crossed the border? I wasn’t sure and driving up here, there’d been no time to question Raize on what was going on. Or it didn’t feel right.

Raize talked the entire drive up, which was also different. There was a sense of urgency to his voice, and he didn’t talk to Abram or myself. He talked only to his sister. He’d been a different Raize. It was the brother version of him. He’d been teasing her, getting her to smile, getting her to talk, getting her to open up and relax. They talked, finally, as if they were long-lost best friends and there was no tension or bad history or nothing between them.

All that changed when we pulled into a back gravel road that wound through dense forest. The trees were almost intimidating, but then the road opened up to a beach. The sounds of lapping waves were almost refreshing, along with the smell. There was something about water. It was clearing, pure.

Raize parked, keeping his lights on.

We just saw water. There was no one else there.

That changed after we’d taken a few steps.

Two individuals came down from an embankment. They skimmed over the dirt, landing on the beach twenty feet from us and immediately Raize and Abram had their guns in the air.

The taller one, who was a guy, held his hands up. He came closer, dressed in dark clothing, a stocking cap that was pulled low over his head. Dreadlocks peeked out from underneath. He was wiry. The female with him was dressed the same, but shorter. A little more petite. She had orange hair and she held her hands up, too. She shared a look with her companion, then approached slowly.

“We’re the ones you came to meet.”

Raize didn’t say anything.

Neither did anyone else.

The woman narrowed her eyes, but added, “I’m Carol.” She motioned just behind her. “That’s Blade. You reached out to us.”

Raize studied both, giving the guy the longer stare before he glanced at me.

That was my signal.

I approached, bypassing Verónica and stepping between Raize and Abram.

“You can take them tonight?”

The woman started to respond, lowering her hands.

Abram cut her off, asking in a clipped tone, “What the fuck? Who are you talking about?”

“You and Verónica.”

“What?” Verónica gasped, moving forward. Her eyes were wide as she was taking everything in. “What are you doing?”

Raize ignored both, asking the woman, “Can you or can’t you? I need to know.”

She lowered her hands all the way, but took a step back. Her gaze was flitting among all of us, but lingering on me before moving back to Raize. She raised her chin up. “We can take them.”

The man moved to the side. He was almost completing a circle with him at the most northern point. “We know you, who you are. We just want you to know that.”

I had no clue what was being said. They were being cryptic.

Raize’s eyes cooled. “I reached out to see if you can hide both of them. That’s all you need to know.”

Guess I wasn’t supposed to know.

“Clay!” Verónica snapped. “What are you doing?”

He turned to her. “Marco won’t stop looking for you. These people are from a network that hides people. They’re the best at their job, and as long as you’re missing, Marco can’t kill me.”

Her eyes were getting bigger and bigger with each word he said.

And, wow. That made sense. A whole lot of sense.

Raize had been planning this the whole time? Was that why we came up here? These people were here?

“You know he’s going to come for you anyway.”

“Marco assumes you’re still with me. He’s not prepared for what I’ll tell him. As long as I’m alive, I know where you are. He won’t touch me. He won’t dare because he does love you in his way.”

Verónica stumbled back a step, her hands rising to knead at her temples. She bent over, muttering in Spanish under her breath.

“You won’t know where they are.” The woman stepped forward again. “We don’t work that way. You know we don’t.”