Provoked

CHAPTER 32

Kane took a deep breath, leaving Jase in the hospital bed at headquarters. The youngest Kayrs brother refused to talk to any of them. His recovery was going to take some time. And the fact that he’d still had a tendon attached in his neck had kept Kane awake and pondering several nights. The demons wouldn’t have made that mistake. They’d let Jase live.

Why?

For now, Kane didn’t have to figure that out. Now, he needed to help his brother recover.

Every time Kane visited, he opened up his senses along with his emotions. The act was getting easier each time, and soon he’d help his brother heal. No doubt the skills he’d gained from mating Amber would come in handy at some point.

They’d been home for two weeks.

He still hadn’t mastered his new skills, but Amber seemed to be doing well with hers. The fact that she’d smothered the demon attack with kindness and gentleness still impressed the hell out of him. She’d found her own way and won.

During that two weeks, Amber had been trying his patience beyond belief. When she wasn’t training with everyone who had a different gift, she was messing with Kane’s life. The brat was trying to get out of their hundred-year agreement.

He’d kept her more than busy in bed at night, and each time with her was better than the last. But during the day, the woman had run wild. She’d replaced all his food with organic food, had turned several of his soldiers into vegans, and had gotten his sisters-in-law on her side regarding love and forever.

They pestered him daily.

He shook his head. The idea of losing her made his entire body ache. The woman loved him—shouldn’t she be trying to stay with him?

He just needed a little more time to figure things out and find a cure for the virus before the damn bug attacked his mate. He was getting closer, he just knew it. So his mate could just relax. They had eternity, for goodness’ sake.

He opened his lab on the third floor and stopped short. Rabbits, mice, and his five monkeys bounded around the room, free as could be. Worse yet, string cheese covered every available space, and empty dented cans were scattered everywhere.

She hadn’t.

She truly hadn’t given the monkeys cans of string cheese. The very same unhealthy string cheese she’d campaigned against the previous week.

Walter opened his mouth and spit cheese. Then the damn monkey grinned.

Son of a bitch.

Talen clomped up behind him. “Is Jase any better today?”

Kane couldn’t answer, his mouth open as he stared at his once pristine lab.

Talen glanced around him and barked a short laugh. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I—” Kane shook his head, gaze dropping to his favorite microscope. A rabbit sitting under the scope twitched its cheese-covered nose.

Talen clapped him on the back. “You’d better get your mate under control and now.”

“I’m telling Cara you said that,” Kane murmured absently. A beaker crashed to the floor as a mouse ran by on the counter.

“Whatever. Conn and Moira are heading home tomorrow, and my mate will be here tonight.”

“So?” Kane growled as Walter threw a microscope at the far wall.

“So, we’ll all be in one place if you want to have a wedding.”

Kane started. “A wedding? You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” Talen pivoted to go.

Kane turned and grabbed his brother’s arm. “You’re not helping me clean up?”

Talen glanced over his shoulder at the devastation. “Not in a million fucking years. It’s your own fault you haven’t told her you love her. Dipshit.” He shrugged free, whistling a jaunty tune as he sauntered down the hallway.

Kane took a tentative step into the lab, his loafer sliding on cheese. His arms wind-milled, and he crashed to the ground. Finally, the temper he didn’t have roared through him.

Then humor.

He grinned as Walter swung to the far wall, licking cheese off his lips. Kane threw back his head and laughed.

The thought occurred to him that he’d laughed more since meeting Amber than he’d done in three centuries.

His heart warmed.

The brand on his palm pounded.

Reality smacked him hard in the face, nearly jerking his head back.

He loved her.

Not in a running-through-daisies way, but in a forever, he’d-be-devastated-without-her way.

As he finally allowed himself to believe in forever, love, and fate . . . his shoulders relaxed. The world finally made sense.

Oh, he loved the little minx.

But man, things were going to change.

Dage Kayrs skirted the large lab, not wanting to see the mess. He’d talk to Kane later. Maneuvering through the underground hallways, he found his mate at the small lab.

Emma’s dark hair was pulled back in a clip while faded jeans hugged her sexy hips. No makeup adorned her pretty face, and the logo on her T-shirt was faded beyond recognition. As usual, the queen of the Realm was at work, her amazing mind spinning as she tried to cure the virus. She stood, reading a file, muttering under her breath.

Dage leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. “I told you to get some rest.”

She looked up with a frown. “I’m just reading. How’s Jase?”

“The same, though his neck has finally healed.” Dage sighed deeply. “He won’t even talk to me so I can help him.”

Emma grimaced. “Give him time. They really messed with his head. Jase is strong; he’ll heal emotionally, too.”

“I hope so.” Dage studied his mate. Lines of stress cut under her eyes. “You have a headache.”

She shrugged. “A little.”

He reached out and wiped his thumb across her head, drawing the pain into his skull. A quick push and the ache disappeared.

“That’s so cool how you do that,” Emma murmured.

Yeah. Too bad the virus was so strong, or maybe vampires with infected mates could yank it free. Talen had tried so many damn times—without success.

Dage forced a frown. “Rumor has it Kane’s large lab was destroyed by a multitude of animals and string cheese.” Talen had reported in within minutes of escaping the disaster.

Emma bit her lip. “Now that’s unfortunate.”

Oh, her stunning eyes couldn’t hide the truth from him. “I believe Amber Freebird probably had an accomplice or two, love.”

Emma tossed the file to land on the granite countertop between two humming machines. Wincing slightly, she straightened her arms and stretched her graceful neck. “Maybe the monkeys did it.”

Dage grinned. “Kane is murderous when planning paybacks, and you’re on your own.”

Her eyes darkened, and she took soft steps toward him. “You wouldn’t protect me from big, bad Kane?”

“Nope.” Dage allowed her amazing smile to send peace through his body. Finally, he could relax and focus on family. “You deserve whatever he comes up with as revenge.”

She reached him, sliding her hands up to his neck. “Hmm. I wonder if I could change your mind.”

The woman was dangerous as hell and could actually destroy his mind. “I don’t know. Just how persuasive are you talking?”

She licked her lips, pressing along his length. “I can be very persuasive.”

He fought a groan, trying to keep his face set in calm lines. It wouldn’t do to let the blue-eyed seductress know how easily she affected him. “We haven’t been swimming in a while.” Then he ducked, tossing her over a shoulder.

She yelped and smacked his back. “Why do you always do this?”

He grabbed her butt in a strong grip. “So I can do this.” She predictably tried to kick him, so he banded an arm around her legs while jogging down to the underground pool.

“I’m the queen, damn it,” Emma hissed.

“You only play the queen card when you want to get out of something.” They reached the pool, and he swung her around to cradle easily in his arms. Her narrowed gaze almost made him laugh. “What?”

“Don’t even think—” she screeched as she flew through the air to land with a splash.

She came up to the surface sputtering.

He laughed and yanked off his clothes. “Time to play, my queen.”

Talen met the helicopter at the landing site and ripped open the door to gather his mate in his arms.

Cara laughed, snuggling close and kissing his chin as he lifted her out. “I take it you missed me?”

The damn world finally righted as he held her, the scent of wild honeysuckle wrapping around his heart and squeezing. “Yes. I missed you terribly. You’re never leaving me again, mate.” He looked up to give a nod to his son.

Garrett jumped to the ground. The fourteen-year-old stood at six feet with odd metallic gray eyes and a charming smile. “Hi, Dad. I kissed a shifter.”

Cara groaned. “Your son is a little Casanova. He had the feline fathers ready to cut off his head.”

Pride filled Talen as he set Cara down on her feet. “That’s my boy.”

“Wrong response.” Cara punched him in the arm.

Talen gathered his son for a hug. “We’ll talk later,” he whispered to the boy.

Garrett laughed, stepping back. “It’s a deal.” He sobered. “How’s Uncle Jase?”

“He’s getting better,” Talen lied. A long time ago, the carefree look in Garrett’s eyes had lived in Jase’s. Sorrow had Talen forcing a smile.

Cara leaned into his chest, stroking gently. “Jase will be fine.” The little empath always could read him.

Talen nodded. “I know.”

Garrett glanced around. “Where’s Janie?”

Talen turned to lead his family indoors. “She’s learning to play bridge from Hilde Freebird.” He paused. “I think something’s up with Janie, but I can’t figure it out. Probably girl stuff.”

Cara raised an eyebrow. “Girl stuff?”

“Yeah, girl stuff.” Thank God his mate was home to deal with the confusing girl stuff.

Cara slid her arm around his waist. “Speaking of girl stuff, how is Kane doing with Amber?”

“I think there will be a wedding in the very near future, whether the genius likes it or not.” Talen smiled, his heart feeling lighter than it had in a month. Well, since Cara had left to help the shifters.

Cara gasped, a wide smile filling her face. “A wedding? Oh, how fun.”

Garrett groaned. “Why can’t they elope? You know Uncle Kane will want to just get it done.”

Talen shook his head. “That’s not how marriage works.” Unfortunately. “Plus, just think how much fun it’ll be watching Kane run in circles.” Oh yeah, this was going to be a lot of fun.

Garrett frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“That’s because you’re a sweetheart, Garrett,” Cara murmured.

The kid rolled his eyes. “Mom.”

Talen grinned at his son. “Don’t worry, we’ll go later and try the new guns Kane created. They take a tree out at a hundred yards.”

“Oh yeah!” Excitement sizzled Garrett’s eyes into a deep silver.

They reached the entrance to headquarters, and Talen eyed Garrett. “For now, why don’t you go learn how to play bridge?”

Garrett opened his mouth to protest, and then glanced from his father to his mother and back. A pink blush wandered from his neck to cover his angled face. “Um, yeah. I’ll do that. ’Bye.” He turned and all but ran in the other direction.

Cara chuckled. “You’re terrible.”

Talen swung her up in his arms, where she belonged. “Let me show you how terrible I can be.” His mouth took hers even as he hurried for their quarters. Reaching the door, he kicked the heavy steel open. “I missed you.”

She smiled, her eyes a deep blue. “I missed you, too.”

The world was all right now that she was where he wanted her. “I’m so glad you’re home, my mate.”

Then his mouth descended on hers again.

Max Petrovsky frowned at the angry brunette currently shouting at him. His Sarah wasn’t a shouter. Why in the world was she yelling? Finally, she wound down, pretty brown eyes sparking.

Her eyebrows lifted. “Well?”

Shit. He’d been so surprised at her yelling that he hadn’t listened to her words. “Um . . . I’m sorry?”

Her gaze narrowed. “For what?”

He shuffled his humungous feet. “For whatever pissed you off so much.”

Wrong answer. He knew it the second the words left his mouth. The woman grabbed a vase to throw at his head.

At that point, he’d had enough. Plucking the flying vase out of the air by the little handle, he went for his woman.

She backed up, eyes widening.

Putting the vase down gently because he knew it was one of her favorites, he grasped her by the upper arms and lifted her until they were eye-to-eye. “Now tell me again what’s wrong.”

Her lips pursed. “What’s wrong is that your best friend, and almost-brother, Kane Kayrs, is a complete ass who needs to pull his head out of his butt and make Amber happy.”

How the hell was that Max’s problem? “And?”

“And you need to talk to him and get him to fix this.”

“Why in the world do you think I can get him to fix this?”

Her voice softened. Her pretty chocolate eyes darkened. “You see things, Max. You notice things nobody else does, which is why you are such an excellent hunter, and the bodyguard most trusted around here.”

Charm. The woman was trying to charm him. Based on the warmth sliding through his veins, she was succeeding. “What else, Milaya?”

A light pink covered her freckled face, and not from him calling her “my pretty one” in Russian.

Max frowned. If he was reading her right, and he was, that was guilt in her eyes. And her big defense was a yelling offense that had quickly turned to charm, which was totally working on him. “What did you do?”

Her eyes widened and those long eyelashes fluttered. “Do? What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”

“Sarah.” He lowered his voice to the growl he used when training the young vampires on the field.

She shivered and swallowed. Her tiny fingers began to play with the buttons on his shirt, while her gaze concentrated on his neck. “Well, I may have helped Amber, ah, sabotage Kane’s lab.”

“Sabotage?” Everybody knew not to mess with Kane’s lab. “Are you crazy?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But Emma and Janie helped.”

“What did you do?”

Then she told him. Sure, he tried to keep a stern face, but when she got to the part about the monkey, he couldn’t hold in the laugh. He laughed until his eyes stung.

Winding down, he sat and pulled her to straddle him. “Kane is going to get you all back . . . you know that, right?”

Sarah shifted on him, rubbing her core against Max’s already aching erection. “I thought maybe you’d protect me.”

He threaded his large hand through her silky hair. His heart was at peace whenever she was near, and he thanked God daily for her. Yet a vampire had to have some fun. “Now, why would I do that?”

She grinned, slowly undoing the buttons on his shirt. “Because you love me.”

“That I do, Milaya. But it’s going to cost you.” His fangs dropped low.

Damn if her smile didn’t widen.

Dangerous women, all around.

Across the ocean, Connlan Kayrs rubbed a broad hand through his hair, glad the mass was finally reaching his shoulders again. He had yet to pay back Moira for singeing it all off. Sure, he’d been trying to mess with one of her spells, but the little witch hadn’t needed to booby-trap the spell.

While he liked Ireland, he was more than ready to go home.

Studying their spacious penthouse with the amazing view of the Liffey, he stretched his neck. Okay, this was home also.

He kicked back on the sofa, his gaze on the water, his boots on the sofa table.

His witch walked leisurely in from the kitchen, her hands full with a tray.

His eyebrows rose. “You made dinner?”

“Aye. Get your boots off my coffee table.” Her green eyes flashed with irritation.

“Our coffee table.” He dropped his feet to the polished wood floor.

“Our coffee table.” She slid the tray before him. “I figure we’d better eat all the steak we can before heading to Realm headquarters.” An adorable grin lifted her saucy lips.

Suddenly, he was hungry and not for steak. A quick grab had his woman on his lap.

She laughed, shoving at him. “I cooked, now you eat.”

He ran his mouth along her smooth skin. “I’m not giving up steak just because Kane mated a vegan. Period.”

“I know,” Moira breathed, tilting her head so he could continue his wanderings up to her ear. “But we might want to cut down for a while until she gets used to all of us.”

“No.” Conn nipped her ear. It was nice to see the smile on Moira’s beautiful face. He levered back to study the woman who held his heart. “Thank you for coming to headquarters with me. I know you’d like to stay here.”

She nodded. “Jase needs us, so we go. Once he’s better, we can come figure out what’s wrong with Brenna.”

Brenna Dunne was Moira’s youngest sister and a member of the council who ruled the witches. She was also an amazing artist. Lately she’d been pale and greatly overworked, so Moira had wanted to lighten her burden.

Conn tugged Moira’s hair out of the constricting braid and feathered her wild curls on her shoulders. “We’ll come back and help Brenna as soon as we can.”

“I know.” Moira reached for the plate, feeding him a piece of steak. “I do hope things have settled down at Realm headquarters by the time we arrive.”

Conn sighed. “Kane is the smartest person on the planet. I have no doubt by the time we get home that he’ll have figured out he loves the woman. I mean, he has to.” Thoughtfully, Conn grabbed another piece of steak to feed to his woman. “But if he doesn’t, I guess we’ll have to beat some sense into him.” Now that sounded like fun.

Moira punched his arm. “You’re such a brute.”

He allowed his fangs to drop. “Let me prove it to you.”

Amber finished wiping off the table, her mind spinning. Okay, letting the animals go and giving Walter an entire case of string cheese might have been a bad idea. Had she gone too far?

Sure, she wanted Kane to want her around, and hopefully he was figuring out that no matter what havoc she caused, he wanted her.

At night, he really wanted her. The sex was amazing and full of emotion.

Why couldn’t the stubborn vampire see it was love?

Suddenly, he filled the doorway to the kitchen.

A scratch marred his forehead. He wore dark jeans with a T-shirt, and his hair curled over his nape. He’d obviously just showered.

Amber tossed the dishcloth to the sink, forcing a polite smile on her face. “Hello, mate.”

“Where’s Hilde?”

Amber shrugged. “She went to teach Janie how to play bridge. What happened to your face?”

His smile seemed predatory. “Walter scratched me when I took his can of cheese away.”

She bit her lip as humor bubbled up. “Well, cheese is bad for monkeys. You did the right thing.”

“Yes. And I explained to him that there are repercussions for actions, so he doesn’t get a treat for the rest of the week.” Kane slowly rolled up his sleeves on both arms, revealing strength and muscle.

“Well, that’s just mean.” She put her hand on her hips. There was something threatening about the way Kane was staring at her. She took a step back.

He moved before she could blink.

The world tilted and she found herself over a pair of strong thighs. Five hard slaps hit her ass before she could breathe out.

He lifted her to stand between his knees.

Her eyes widened as she realized what had just happened. Her butt smarted. “You ass.”

With a shrug, he upended her again, smacking her a good five more times.

The world tilted again as she stared into an amused pair of metallic eyes. “Stop that.”

He shrugged. “Are you going to stop messing with my lab?”

Probably not. She tried to step back. “Are you going to admit you love me?”

He studied her for a moment, his expression turning serious. “Yes. I love you with everything I am and everything I’ll ever be.”

She stilled. Her eyes widened. “You do?”

He grinned. “Of course. You’re perfect. Stubborn, impossible, horribly devoted to a way of life I don’t understand. I’ll love you until the day I die.”

Her heart swelled. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do. Have I ever lied to you?” His eyes darkened.

“No. But love, I mean . . . love.”

“Yes, love.” He smiled, the curve of his lip happy.

She struggled not to fall into bliss. “What brought this on?”

“Well”—he tugged her to sit on his lap—“when I was cleaning up string cheese and rabbit poop, the realization dawned on me that I was putting up with such nonsense for only one reason. I can’t live without you.” He brushed hair off her forehead. “Truth be told, I think I fell in love the first time I saw you in that bar. But it took me a while to realize that it was love.”

She played with the wet hair at his nape. “Well, you are kind of slow.”

He nodded. “True. It’s my cross to bear.”

She squirmed to find a more comfortable position considering her smarting butt. “I believe that spanking was inappropriate.”

Both eyebrows rose. “You are the definition of inappropriate.”

“New deal. No more of that.” She tugged hard on his hair.

“No deal. I have no doubt there will be more of the same.” He stood, smiling at her surprised squeal. “However, I’m rescinding the deal that you only stay for a hundred years. I want forever from you. Let’s go seal the new deal.”

She threw back her head and laughed as he carried her into the bedroom. “I love you, Kane.”

“I know.” He tossed her on the bed to yank off his shirt. “I love you, too, my sweet demon destroyer.”