Kali could almost see the pain behind that statement. She felt certain that Alex had been hurt that way before. She knew it in her heart. She had no way of explaining, even to herself, the sureness of what she was sensing, but she felt very confident that what she “knew” was right. But blurting it out seemed inappropriate at this moment. She wanted to lighten the mood, say something or do something that would give them all a chance to breathe, but the words wouldn’t come.
She smiled when Ronan stepped closer, pressed his lips to hers for a moment, and then placed her hand over his erection. “Go get some rest. Whatever happens between you two, just know that I still want you just as much as I did five months ago.”
She nodded, biting her bottom lip to keep her tears from spilling. Ronan may seem a gruff soldier, but he truly cared for people, and despite the fact that they were different species, he thought of Alex as a brother. How she knew that, again, she had no idea, but the feeling that she was correct stayed with her even as she fell asleep cuddled in Alex’s arms.
Chapter Five
“What’s for breakfast?”
Ronan glanced over at Alex and tried not to growl. Four days without an attack should have made him happy, but boredom was setting in for all of them. There were only so many card games three adults could play before they were climbing up the walls—figuratively speaking of course.
“Eggs,” Ronan answered, not caring to elaborate. He’d discovered after an inedible dinner and two burned breakfasts that both of his roommates were lousy cooks. If he wanted to enjoy eating, he had to do the cooking himself.
He cracked several eggs into a bowl and was adding salt and pepper as Kali wandered into the kitchen. She looked adorable in his rumpled shirt, and he already had half a hard-on just looking at her. His cock drew to full salute when she wrapped her arms around Alex’s waist and accepted his passionate good-morning kiss. A moment later, she moved into Ronan’s arms and he did the same, practically inhaling her with his need to stamp her with his possession. She’d slept between both men each night, but so far nothing more than some rather zealous kissing had gone on between them.
Ronan tried desperately to think of something else—at least until he had breakfast cooked.
“Did Dave have any news?” Kali asked.
“Not today,” he answered with a slow shake of his head.
He ran into the nearest town each morning to call Dave from the payphone, but so far the only news he’d had was that they’d been able to track down only one of the five other women born around the same time as Kali. The woman—the same one who’d been attacked and had survived by sheer lucky timing—was currently being protected by one of Ronan’s employees, Nathan, working with one of Alex’s squadmates, a shifter called Brody. As a precaution they’d all abandoned technology, and so his only contact with any of them was through Dave.
“I wonder where they are,” Kali mused out loud for about the hundredth time. The other four women’s whereabouts remained a mystery. It was quite possible that they were already dead, but Ronan drew hope from the fact that if neither his team nor Alex’s PUP squad could find them, there was a good chance the assassins couldn’t either.
Alex also had one of his brothers and several others in the paranormal community unofficially investigating the Oracle’s murder. The fact that twenty-seven years had passed was making it very difficult, but with a bit of luck they might be able to identify who killed her and why. From there they should be able to neutralize whoever the threat was coming from now.
But, while all that was going on, they had no choice but to sit tight and wait for someone else to make a breakthrough. Sitting idle while others did the investigative work wasn’t his usual habit, but this time he wasn’t willing to hand over protection duty to anyone. Kali was too important—to him and to Alex.
They talked idly about the case through breakfast, but since they had no new information they were really only rehashing the same stuff over and over.
“Can we talk about us?” Kali asked, changing the topic unexpectedly. Ronan glanced up to see Alex wore the same surprised expression he could feel on his own face.
“Sure, beautiful. What’s on your mind?” Kali looked a little disconcerted by Alex’s flippant-seeming attitude, and Ronan wanted to kick him under the table. Wasn’t Alex supposed to be the one who was good at this stuff?
“I don’t know how to explain it,” Kali said, coloring a little with embarrassment, “but I feel a connection to you both.”
Ronan reached over and grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, Kali. We already discussed this. Do what you feel is right for you. If you want both of us, or only one, or neither, it’s not going to affect our friendship or how we protect you.”