I looked down at a set of bare tits.
…Right. No shirt. Oops.
Trying to keep my coffee steady, I yanked the shirt on with one hand before sprinting down the hallway. An urge hit me, sharp and impossible to ignore, as I saw him leaning against the doorway, smiling at me.
I didn’t have time. I shouldn’t. But…
He’s my mate. I get to want him. For once in your life… live a little, Nova.
Setting the coffee down, I crossed the hallway in three quick bounds, hooked one arm around his neck, and gave him the kiss I’d been wanting to for over six years.
He responded immediately. Groaning into my mouth, his hands explored my body, touching as much as he could as he slid them beneath the shirt. I hitched a leg around him, and his hand cupped my breast, playing with my nipple in a way that made my breath stumble.
The sudden pinch of his fingers made me gasp, then melt. His eyes drank me in. Every flinch, every breath, guided me without a word, pulling me along for the head-spinning ride.
When his other hand went into my shorts, his thumb circling my clit, the world snapped white. I bit off a cry that still escaped as a shaky, breathless prayer of his name.
I sagged into him, my forehead on his, a plea just a breath away. Zeth lifted his fingers to his mouth and tasted me with slow, deliberate swipes of his tongue. I watched helplessly, entranced and greedy enough to consider risking Ezra’s wrath.
“You’re already gonna be late,” he teased against my lips, his voice edged with a real warning.
He was right. Damn him for being good at his job.
I tore myself away before my self-control combusted, sprinted to my office, dropped into my chair, and flicked on the receiver.
My siblings’ faces blinked into focus.
“Ooooh, Nova is…” Aniyah checked her watch with theatrical horror. “Three minutes late! Shame corner! Shame corner!” She pointed somewhere off screen like a game-show host.
“Aniyah.” Ezra’s voice sliced cleanly through her laughter. “I’m sure Nova has a perfectly good reason for being late to a meeting that has been the same time for five years. The meeting in which we discuss the Syndicate’s stability. Where we meet as equals with respect and loyalty. The meeting that strengthens our unified front. Correct, Nova?”
Her words were a sugar-coated blade, and the hit made me flinch. I’d seen it coming. Still hurt.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my breath still uneven. “Last night wrecked me. But I’m ready. I’ll walk you through everything.”
Ezra didn’t speak. She didn’t have to. Her glare was a scalpel, and I was the flesh waiting to be carved into, but she gave one sharp nod. My chest rose and fell with relief that she wasn’t grilling me now… but that didn't mean I was safe from later.
I proceeded to lay out the night piece by piece: the bank, the cultish fairy girl with pupils too wide to be sane, the demon carving air with fae-forged blades, the underground lab that smelled like fear and chemicals. The doctor. His words, his experiments, the way he’d broken when I finally ended him.
With every detail, a shadow crawled deeper across my siblings’ faces. Their projections flickered in the air, but the static heat rising off them felt real, like the first exhale before a wildfire.
“Supe eyes on a human.” Aniyah’s upper lip curled. “Wannabe trash.”
Calix leaned forward, brain already in gear. “Interesting,” he muttered, rubbing his chin. “The one at Aniyah’s place was like a sleeper agent—mixed bloodline, probably meant to pass unnoticed. But the one Nova fought?” He tapped a pen hard against the desk. “Almost like a soldier class. Powered up by that substance. Created to hit hard but not sustain over time.”
His gaze snapped downward, and he started scribbling like a man possessed.
Ezra’s smirk was small, eyes glinting in thought. “Revolution, hmm?” She reclined in her chair, unbothered in the way only someone who thrived on war could be. The others looked ready to hunt someone down; she looked ready to play chess with their bones.
Riot tilted her head. “You said the doctor mentioned something—Morte?”
I nodded. “He said, ‘Morte doesn’t let us go… not until everything burns, and we begin again.’”
Aniyah’s eyes narrowed, fox-sharp. “Leader? Group? Anyone heard the name?”
We shook our heads in a silent, unified admission. We were staring at a ghost of a person with a grudge.
“One thing’s clear,” I said. “We’re the finale. Whoever they are, they want everyone else handled before they come for us. I just don't know whoeveryone elseis.”
