Lilith Saintcrow - Taken

Sophie flinched, and he let go of her as if burned. He straightened and stepped away, shaking his fingers, and gave her a scorching, unreadable look. She slid to the edge of the bed and had to try twice before her body would let her stand upright. Julia was suddenly there, with a handful of clothes. “God, Zach, give her a minute. She’s soaked. You don’t have to—”

“Shut up, Julia.” But there was no heat to it. He simply stood there, watching her, as Sophie palmed the aspirin up to her mouth and took a throat-scouring mouthful of coffee to get them down.

“Jeans. A T-shirt. I found a pair of Keds that might fit you, too. I even got underwear.” Julia tucked her dark hair behind one ear. “About the only thing I didn’t get was a bra, since I didn’t know your cup size. But nobody ever died from going braless. Let’s get you dried off and cleaned up and warmed up, and then we’ll—”

“I’m fine.” Sophie grabbed blindly for the clothes and beat a retreat to the bathroom door while she could. Halfway there she had to brush past Zach, so she looked over her shoulder. Julia looked crestfallen, and in that moment Sophie saw how young she really was.

I feel old. “Thank you.” The words were ashes in Sophie’s mouth, but Julia brightened. And then Sophie was past Zach, who stood very still. She swept the bathroom door closed, locked it, and took a deep breath.

The mirror held a very pale, half-drowned Sophie, dark circles under her eyes and every scrap of feeling okay she’d had that morning drained away. She took another gulp of the too-hot coffee, and found a furious heat rising to her cheeks.

Why was he looking at me like that?

And another, more troubling pair of questions. Why did he hold her up against the wall? And why didn’t he hit her afterward? I was sure he was going to.

She didn’t know. She didn’t know their rules, and she had to learn quickly.

He supposed he might’ve felt lucky if she’d wanted to sit next to him, but he hadn’t given her much of a choice. He’d dropped down in the semicircular booth next to her, and with Julia squeezed in on her other side, she didn’t have a say in the matter.

“You mean you steal? ” Her pretty eyebrows drew together, and she pushed a few stray curls out of her face. At least she was taking an interest in things, instead of just going all pale and glaze-eyed. Some food in her perked her right up, thank God.

Julia gave a contemptuous little laugh. “We’re scavengers, honey.” His sister took a giant bite of her cheeseburger, and Zach suppressed the desire to strangle her. “We pick up the bits and leavings. How do you think we live? Nothing’s free .”

Brun signaled the harried waitress and asked for another side of fries. The bleached blonde looked about to protest until Brun gave her puppy-dog eyes, and the woman melted. Sophie’s quick eyes took this in, and she hurriedly took a sip of Diet Coke. Zach tried not to hit her with his elbow, but it was close quarters with all of them crowded into the diner’s biggest booth.

It was good to feel a shaman in the Family again, good to see Eric stop twitching and Brun open up a little bit, the ice and moonlight smell calming both of them. Julia was on her best behavior, making girl talk and acting world-weary. The only thing missing was Kyle’s quick grin and sharp good humor.

Kyle would have liked this woman. The thought was a hurtful jab.

She won’t see a hunting run for a while. Let’s be happy about that. “Enough.” He decided to stop trying to give her some space, and leaned a little closer. “We don’t just fleece, Sophie. We do leatherworking, Julia’s a fair seamstress, too, and I’ve fixed cars before. We’re jacks-of-all-trades.”

“Oh.” Sophie nibbled at a French fry. “Like Gypsies.”

Djombrani are different, and there’s no love lost between us and the Rom. “Kind of. And now that you’re with us, we can settle down and get real jobs.” He almost smiled when she shifted her weight, almost tipping herself into Julia’s lap, and settled back down next to him, her arm brushing his. Her hip bumped against his, and the flush that went through him was pleasant and frustrating in equal measure. She just smelled too good, and he was finding out that he liked her.

Every once in a while she would stop, look over the top of those glasses, and take a deep breath, as if readjusting the world. Each time, the ice and moonlight intensified, a powerfully soothing pulse spreading through them all.

When she did that, he wondered what it would be like to taste her breath. As it was, he got a drenching wave of her scent whenever she moved—healthy, brunette spice with that silver thread of shaman running through.

It was enough to drive a man crazy. Especially with one of those curvy little hips touching him. And when she picked up her turkey sandwich, her elbow brushed his again and she gave him a quick glance of apology.

Jesus . He was actually sweating . Not much, but enough to drive home the fact that she smelled too good to be left wandering around alone. She’d already blooded him, so that was all right—not that he thought Eric would try to muscle in, and Brun was far too submissive for her. She needed someone who could bully her into taking care of herself, someone who—

Wait a second. Bullying her around is the worst thing to do. He listened with half an ear as Julia chattered at her, Sophie’s soft interested responses like music. Slow and easy, Zach.

He almost wished Kyle was around to give him some advice. Women liked Ky—it was the little-boy smile and the stubble when he was wearing his rough face.

Zach’s hands tensed. There was that, too—revenge for Kyle. A way for them to all avenge their brother, their alpha, one of their own.

The upir were working in concert, had killed his brother, and were after his mate. Never mind that she didn’t know she was his. Yet.

He turned it over inside his head for the rest of the meal, watching the restaurant and keeping vague track of the conversation. Eric paid and tipped the waitress, Julia dragged Sophie off to the restroom, and Brun took one last, long pull at his milk shake. “You’re awful quiet.” His face hadn’t lost its baby look yet, smooth-cheeked and with only a suggestion of the strong jaw he’d eventually have. The paleness beginning over his left temple marked him as young, too.

Zach could remember the kid in diapers, with his open sunny smile. “Thinking.”

“About Kyle.” Brun nodded. “Julia thinks it’s her fault.”

It was . But it wasn’t—if I hadn’t let Kyle take the alpha, he might still be alive. Goddammit. “It’s not.

Upir are nobody’s fault. They’re just carrion.”

“I know. But she doesn’t.” Brun slid for the edge of the booth. “I like the shaman. She’s nice.”

And she’s got no choice, she admitted it herself. “She’s seen reason, I guess.”

“Or something.” Brun grinned, and was gone before Zach could ask him what the hell that meant.

Zach made his way up to the front counter, and eyed the newspapers in their little metal hutches. He was contemplating getting a toothpick when something snagged his attention.

What the hell?

The headlines were screaming in thick black ink. MILLIONAIRE’S ESTRANGED EX-WIFE DEAD IN FIRE, ARSON SUPECTED.

And right under the headline, next to a block of dense text, was a spotty black-and-white picture of a younger Sophie, probably a wedding picture since a small band of white held a veil on her head. She was smiling, and it had obviously been cropped out of a larger photo.