“Have it your way,” Nico snarled as the man’s neck snapped under his hands. It wasn’t as satisfying as it could’ve been.
Getting up, Nico quickly patted the body down, looking for any sign of identification. The gun strapped under the man’s smelly armpit, Nico left alone, but the wallet in the man’s pant’s pocket, he dragged out and stuffed it into his own. Satisfied there was nothing else, Nico stood up in one fluid motion, checking out the vehicle and spotting a rear door. Grabbing one of the man’s limp arms, he dragged him around to the rear of the vehicle, opened the trunk, and flung the man in it.
“Time to go,” he yelled at Ben and Teilo. “Ben, you’re driving.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ben
As he stomped into the whitewashed law enforcement building, Ben was spitting tacks. He’d broken a fundamental rule of mating, so damn sure in his own head that he knew what his kitty cats were thinking. He’d been determined that he’d be patient and understanding when Teilo and Nico showed evidence of their anxiety because of being in the same area they’d been held captives in for so long. He was older than them by miles, with decades of experience in dealing with difficult situations. He would treasure his mates and help them through their trauma.
Instead, there’s a dead body in the trunk, and I’ve broken the first rule of mating by not trusting my mates. Fuck it.If Teilo hadn’t stopped us, we’d probably be buried in shallow graves in the jungle somewhere, never to be seen again.Yes, Ben had seen the shovels Nico had thrown the dead body on top of, along with enough weaponry to sink a bloody battleship.
Wrong-footed, worried about his mates, angry at himself and pissed off at damn Kylo. If his brother had sent a driver like Ben had asked, he and his mates wouldn’t have had to drive through town with a dead body. He wasn’t his most polite when he approached the reception desk. “I want to see Kylo, and I want to see him now.”
The young man on the reception desk looked as though he hadn’t graduated to daily shaving yet, and he fumbled with first his pen, and then the phone. “Who… who should I say is calling?”
“He’ll know who it is.” Conscious of his blond shadows on either side of him who were watching his back, he ignored the man’s shocked stare, and pulled out his own phone. Before he could redial his brother, he heard Kylo’s voice from down a long hallway.
“Damn it, baby bro, I was on my way to get you. Woo, hoo!” Kylo stopped, and Ben bristled as he brazenly gave his mates the once over. “Twins, Bro? Seriously? They sure scrub up nice.”
“They aren’t twins, they’re cage brothers. Not related. Now, if you can stick you’re damn tongue back in your mouth and stop drooling over my mates for five minutes, we have a situation.”
“You already know about it? Thank the Fates.” Coming over, Kylo draped his arm over Ben’s shoulder, lowering his voice. “Look, it was a hell of a shock, I admit, but hey, how were we to know…”
“Listen to me.” Shrugging Kylo’s arm off his shoulder, Ben spun around, grabbing his brother by the biceps. There wasn’t a lot of shaking involved—just a bit. Keeping his voice as low as his brother’s, not sure who could overhear, he gritted out, “I don’t know what shit you’re talking about. There’s adudein the vehicle’s trunk I just drove here because you got caught up with dumb shit…”
“What are you talking about?” Kylo snarled, and then looking around to see people staring, he steered Ben towards the front door, lowering his voice. “You’ve only been here five minutes and already you’ve got a dead someone in the trunk? Is that what you’re telling me? Can’t you keep your mates on a leash?”
Anger took Ben’s caution and control. “You speak about my mates like that again and I’ll stick you on a fucking leash. The dead guy is the driveryousent to pick us up.” Ben enunciated every word of his last sentence.
He witnessed when the penny dropped. “But I… Oh, shit. This is bigger than I thought. Fuck.” Kylo’s distress came through loudly.
“People are listening,” Nico said quietly. “Him and him, and the lady over there.” He pointed at three people who all suddenly looked as if they were urgently needed somewhere else.
“Ben, you have to know, I’d have been there, you know I would.” Kylo went back to urging Ben to the front door. “I got told there was a threat planned on an important visitor to town. You’re the only one I could think of that fits that description. I’ve been working the phones, coordinating contacts, trying to work out where the threat is coming from. I just lost track of time.”
They were outside now, and Ben headed around the back of the building where he’d parked the SUV. “I didn’t tell anyone we were coming here. You’re the only one that knew…”
“And our family.” Kylo’s cheeks flushed pink. “I had to tell them. I got in enough shit when I let it slip you’d been here before and hadn’t visited them.”
“Well, there’s a leak somewhere. It was obvious I’d expect the only driver and vehicle on the damn tarmac was there for me and you had sent them. If it hadn’t have been for Teilo…” Ben looked around suddenly, realizing neither of his mates was with him. “Oh, fuck. What are they doing now?”
~/~/~/~
Nico
“We need to find where the lion worked,” Nico murmured as Ben was being distracted by his brother. He didn’t care how someone knew they were in the area. He was used to people knowing about his and Teilo’s movements before they’d even done them.
“Remember our training,” Teilo murmured quietly, with a slight smirk. “Walk as though we know where we’re going.”
“Do you?”
“Close enough.” Nico and Teilo ignored the hallway Kylo had come down and headed left past the reception desk instead. The boy at the desk looked at them. He even opened his mouth to speak. Nico raised an eyebrow, his lips in a hard straight line, and the boy hurriedly bent over some papers on his desk, his movements jerky. Teilo’s mirth came through their bond.
Nico knew they stood out. He was sure he and Teilo were the only blonds in the building. Their clothing set them apart as well.What was Ben thinking?
Nico peered into offices, opening some doors, checking, and closing them again. One of the key elements of their training was to leave places as they found them.
