Branded by Frost Read online

  She washed up swiftly and joined him at the vehicle. The ride to town was quiet as she hovered in her own thoughts.

  They parked outside the bar and headed to the door. As she ducked her head and tried to shrink into her coat more, she paused. A flash of gold caught her eye. Halting, she leaned back and tried to locate it.

  “What’s up?”

  “You go ahead,” she said. “I’ll be right there.”

  He gave her an odd perusal but continued on inside. Where the heat is, woman. Still, the gold meant an artifact. She backtracked and picked up the faint trail. It lingered down the sidewalk before it faded away.

  “Great,” she muttered. “I don’t know if it is coming from that way or going that way.” She trotted off to see which store it faded by. Aminta turned up the collar of her coat, trying to block the increased bite from the cold wind.

  “A sweet shop?”

  She peered in from her position and frowned. Nothing in there had any sort of golden glow around it. Movement in the window’s reflection had her shifting focus. Across the street, a man in a long black coat stared at her. Her sign stirred to life and she resisted the urge to whirl around and face him. Instead she took in what she could this way, unsure if he knew she was onto him.

  Tall, fit, military haircut. Could he be from The New Order? Perhaps it was time for her to do a bit more digging into what constituted all these ‘accidents’ around here.

  She shrugged and headed back to the bar, turning right into Dex’s chest. “Oomph.”

  He caught her and kept her from hitting the ground. “Wondered where you had gone off to.”

  Lord, his hands were nice on her. She craned her neck to see the man in black vanish from view. “Sorry. I got sidetracked.”

  “Someone you know?”

  She stepped from his touch. “Who?”

  “The one across the street.” He pointed and she followed his finger. “He was watching you when I came up. Do you know him?”

  “No, do you?”

  “No, can’t say that I do. But I don’t know a lot of people in this town. I tend to keep to myself.”

  Her unease grew. “Anyway,” she said with a smile. “How about the beer?”

  He ran his gaze over her for a few moments. “Sure.”

  Aminta couldn’t help but wonder more about that man. Does he know who I am? That I’m a Guardian? If he does, am I now putting everyone on the team in more danger?

  Chapter Four

  Dex pushed open the cabin door. The scent of warm, rich chocolate chip cookies assaulted him as he closed out the cold. “Frost? You here?”

  She strode up the hall, a smile on her face. “Hey. Were we called up?”

  “No, we still have the remainder of the day off.”

  “Good. Cookies are cooling. Help yourself. There’s another batch in the oven. I plan on continuing to do nothing for the rest of the day.”

  He shrugged out of his jacket. “Didn’t you go running with Celia and Mason this morning?”

  “Yes, that was my bit of something so I can say I wasn’t a complete slug—and allows me to eat cookies.”

  “This mail came for you,” he said, offering the stack in his hand.

  “Thanks.”

  Their fingers brushed when she took it from him, sending electrical pulses through to his cock. He cleared his throat and walked away. She’d been there for two weeks now. He’d offered her other places to live and she’d just brushed them off, saying she was fine there. They got along well and had begun to take some evening meals together.

  He’d learned she wasn’t big on eating out. Since he couldn’t cook worth a damn, she had been. She said she didn’t mind cooking for both of them—something other than frozen pizza or microwaved meals, and he wholeheartedly approved.

  She sat on the sofa, legs curled beneath her. Today she’d put her hair up in a simple ponytail. The long black strands begged him to touch, caress—discover what they were like sliding along his naked skin.

  He coughed and went to the coffee pot. After a few deep breaths, he fixed himself a mug. He’d been training with Colton on the wall earlier today and every inch of him hurt. Part of him had wanted to soak in the hot tub but more of him had longed to get back here, to see her.

  “Oh thank God,” she said.

  He returned to the living room. She sat there clutching a sheet of paper in a trembling hand. He perched beside her. “Is everything okay?”

  Dex repeated the question twice before she focused on him. The tears in her eyes shook him more than if he’d just experienced an earthquake.

  “Yes.” A deep breath. “Sorry, I just… My sister was injured and this is the first I’d heard from her.”

  He placed a hand on her leg. “I’m glad she’s better. What happened?”

  “A lot. She was poisoned.”

  “And you were here instead of there?”

  He witnessed her guilt and how hard it hit her this time. “I called daily and spoke to someone. Had they told me she took a turn for the worse, I would have gone. But I do her no good sitting at her side.” A small smile. “She was surrounded by everyone else and would want me to be somewhere I could do some good. She’s an attorney and believes very highly in doing your job.”

  “I’m glad she’s better now.”

  “Me too.” Her expression backed up that sentiment one hundred percent.

  It was hell for him to take his hand away from her firm thigh. She reached for the box and turned it all around.

  “What?” he asked.

  “No return address. I don’t know who it’s from.”

  “Where’s the postmark?”

  She stared at it. “From town. I wonder why someone mailed something to me instead of just dropping it off.”

  He frowned. “Maybe you have an admirer who’s a bit too shy to let you know.”

  She scrunched up her face. “I suppose it’s a possibility. I don’t find myself all that scary of a person. Half the people in this town could toss me in the air.” She winked. “And then there’s the men.”

  He smiled a bit more at her laughter, liking it when she laughed. Something she should do much more often. Aminta was a serious woman when it came to her job but there were times, usually when it was just the two of them or the team was out, that he was afforded this side of her.

  He leaned over the box and stared. “I don’t recognize the writing either.”

  Unease slithered along her face and he couldn’t fathom the reasoning. Still, it was one he didn’t much care for. Digging in her pocket for her knife, she then withdrew it and flicked open the blade. One more pause before she sliced through the nondescript brown paper wrapping.

  She scrunched up her features at the sight of the white box, taped shut. Flipping the knife in her hand, she moved the tip through the clear tape. Frost kept hesitating, a complete turnaround from the woman who flew fearlessly into situations that could—and did—make grown men queasy.

  “Not opening it?”

  His question made her focus back on him. “Something doesn’t feel right to me.”

  “Maybe you should open it outside.”

  “On the off chance I’m not just paranoid, would you step back?”

  He rose in a smooth motion and relocated a good distance away. He crossed his arms as he waited, his gaze direct upon her. She must have a good reason for asking me to back away. I’ve never seen her this uncertain before. She slipped the blade underneath the top flap and used it to open the lid.

  It fell back, sped along with the assistance of the snake that launched itself out and directly at her. Dex cried out a warning and lunged for her. She jumped back, over the couch, even as she threw her blade at the creature, the force of her own attack sending the legless being to the wall where it dangled.

  “What the fuck!”

  She stood there, a haze around her—akin to how they depicted being rained on in cartoons—and looked to Dex. “You okay?”

  “Me? What
about you? I swear it didn’t feel like a goddamn snake in there. What kind is it?” He flicked his attention between her and the box’s surprise.

  She approached it.

  “What are you doing? Are you sure it’s dead?” Would it be wrong of me to pick her up and run like hell?

  “I’m sure.” She stared at the long body dangling from her trio of spikes that pierced it to the wall. “It’s a cobra. A Philippine Cobra. They also spit.”

  He moved up behind her as she spoke, her tone bland and unaffected, almost as if she were reciting from an encyclopedia. “What the fuck is going on? I know that box I carried in here wasn’t that heavy. No way that thing was in there.”

  “I concur. I didn’t feel anything in it when I took it from you.”

  He turned her toward him. “Frost? What the fuck?”

  She shrugged, her gaze shuttered. “I suppose I have someone in town who doesn’t like me here—or they don’t want me shacking up with you.”

  His cock stirred at the mention. A wicked grin lifted his lips. “Trust me, Frost. This isn’t shacking up. If it was, we’d be in the same bed every night, I would have nail rakes down my back and you’d be walking like you’d been riding a horse.”

  She flashed a grin. “I grew up riding—it’d take a lot to make me look like I was bowlegged.”

  Her words surged magma through him. She pivoted back around and reached for the snake. Grasping him by the neck, she yanked out the spikes that had nailed it to the wall.

  “Where did those spikes come from? Did you have them on you? Do you always carry weapons like that on your person?”

  “Yes, it was on me.” She opened its mouth and looked at the fangs.

  “Is that safe?”

  “That’s what I thought,” she muttered. “I have to go dispose of this. Will you keep an eye on the cookies?” Before he could form any sort of response, she’d strode out into the night.

  “Great,” he said. She goes out to take care of the dangerous animal and leaves me inside to finish up the baking. I’m feeling a bit emasculated right now. Although, handling a cobra is not anything I need to do. But how the fuck did she manage to pull that off? I’ve never seen anyone move so fast my entire life. Then there’s the weapons she pulled out of nowhere and hit the snake—the launching snake—with a direct hit. He filled a glass of water and took a drink. “There’s something going on here for sure. I just need to figure out what it is.”

  As he waited for her to return, he allowed his thoughts to return to her comment of having been riding for years. He adjusted his cock in his jeans and grunted. I can’t wait to see her riding me, my dick shoved deep inside her.

  * * * *

  “Lian?”

  “Yes, my child?”

  “I think I have a problem here.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  She looked at the cobra in her hands. “I received a package tonight. It contained a spitting cobra.” She called up an ax and lay the creature on the ground. “I couldn’t feel any weight in the box and neither could the one who delivered it to me.”

  “But it was there when you opened it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “They are beginning to use other means of magic now in an attempt to catch us off-guard.” He didn’t sound all that shocked by that realization, almost as if he’d been expecting it. “Were you or your friend bitten or hit by its venom?”

  “No. I killed it before it could get either one of us. But I think I tipped my hand to the issue of me being a bit different by how fast I moved and the spikes I nailed it to the wall with. It was right in front of him.”

  “Are you concerned by his reaction?”

  “I didn’t think we were supposed to let people know.” She swung the ax and chopped the snake into tiny pieces. Until each one vanished in a puff of brown smoke, she retained her hold on the handle, ready to strike again if, on the off chance, it rejoined and attacked once more.

  “While it is wise not to, there isn’t a rule against it, so long as it is a human you can trust. We tend not to tell them because most can’t handle the fact of knowing there is a battle nearing that holds the earth’s future in its outcome. If you feel it safe to impart this knowledge to him, do so. You have not said if he is your mate or not.”

  “I haven’t any clue. He’s a colleague and so we spend a lot of time together, training, rescue ops.” She returned the ax and shoved her hands in her pockets as she thought about it.

  “I know your sign is the ram, little one, but you are more than stubbornness. You are a brilliant Guardian. Trust your instincts.”

  “Thank you, Lian.”

  “Anytime. Stay alert.”

  Their connection was broken.

  Aminta paced outside for a while before she found the guts to take herself back in to where Dex waited. He sat at the table eating a fresh cookie when she entered.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “So, gonna tell me what the fuck that was all about?” He brushed the crumbs off his hands. “We work together, for Christ’s sake, Frost. If something is wrong, let me in on it. Allow me to help. I mean, we are friends, right?”

  She sat opposite him at the table. “I suppose I do owe you some sort of explanation.”

  “Would be nice. I mean, I get that you didn’t send the snake to yourself. Your expression of surprise couldn’t have been faked. But the rest of it, including why someone would send this to you… Yes, I’d like to know what’s going on.”

  Lord, I love his voice. Wonder what it’s like to have it in my ear as he’s… So not a direction she needed to send her thoughts currently.

  “So sure it’s not an admirer of yours who thinks there is something between us and wants me out of the picture?” She only half joked with her question.

  His gaze became molten. “Trust me, Frost. When that happens, this entire town will know that you’re sharing my bed. There won’t be a single bit of speculation.”

  Heat pooled in her belly and she almost squirmed on the seat in a meager attempt to stem the flow of moisture in her pussy. She bit the inside of her lip and arched an eyebrow. “Is that so?” He didn’t say someone or who, he said me. Maybe we can go right now and I can scratch this itch all the while avoiding telling him anything that will have him looking at me like I will never be fit to fly again.

  “Yeah,” he said completely confident. “That’s so.”

  Lordy, her stomach wouldn’t stop flipping and flopping. Grasping the bull by the horns, she took a deep breath. “Just hear me out all the way first, please.”

  He slid the plate of uneaten cookies to the side and gave her his full attention. “Talk to me.”

  I’m not sure if having all that attention on me is a good thing or not. I really need to keep my mind out of the gutter right now and get this done.

  She gave him the overview of being a Guardian and laced her fingers as she fell silent. His incredible eyes never moved from her face and she began to worry. Have I made the wrong decision and trusted the wrong man?

  “So you’re telling me that you’re a bit more than the average human, run in a world that deals with magic and demons and you and five others are going to be responsible for keeping the world from falling into complete chaos?”

  “In a nutshell.”

  “And because of the power your sign gives you, you can move faster than most, which is how you avoided the snake and pinned it against the wall.”

  She wasn’t entirely sure he was asking, but she nodded anyway.

  He rested his forearms on the table and she stared at the hair covering his arms, highlighting the muscles in them. Hunger for him grew exponentially within her.

  I can’t fall for him. If he is not my mate, I don’t want to fall for someone I cannot have. The mental reminder didn’t do her a damn bit of good.

  Why can’t I have Roz’s ability to just have sex for sex’s sake? Why do I have to get attached? It was true, while her foste
r sister could—or had been before she found her mate—been okay with just hooking up for some relief, Aminta had always formed attachments, even when it hadn’t been healthy to do so.

  “Where’d the spikes come from?”

  “I had them on me.” She dipped her head from side to side. “Have. Have them on me.”

  “Stand up and come over here,” he ordered.

  She slid the chair back and stood beside him. He adjusted his position in the chair so she stood between his legs. Along her arm, she could feel his warm breath. His hands outlined but never touched her body, generating a cry of rebellion within her.

  “You’re wearing next to nothing here, Frost. Where exactly do you have weapons stored on you?”

  She struggled to locate any sort of moisture for her throat. “It’s hidden.” She gulped air. “All my weapons are hidden.”

  She barely bit back her whimper when his large hand settled along her waist, the calluses on his palm like shocks to her system, pushing raw lust through her veins. And again when he placed his other on her hip.

  “Hidden where, Frost? Because I don’t see any place on you that would be withholding a spike like that. Much less three. They were at least as long as your hand. And aside from your muscles, trust me when I say I know there’s nothing long and hard on you.” His voice lowered to a decibel of pure decadence and temptation to sin. “Although, I have something that fits that description I’m willing to put in you.”

  “They’re…they’re hidden until I call upon them.” She struggled to get the words out.

  He tugged her closer so his mouth was nearer still to her breasts. “Hidden. Show me, unless you want me to search for them.”

  Lord, yes, she did. Not anything you can do about now, Aminta. Stay focused and fill him in.

  “Such hesitation, Frost.” His fingers flexed on her skin, singeing her. “You want me to search.”

  He had her ensnared by his gaze and she hadn’t any doubt he witnessed her craving in her eyes. His hands spanned her waist and the slight brush of his thumbs along the underside of her breasts nearly took her legs out from under her.