Catalina grinned at Destiny. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” Then she winked at Ethan. “You, though… that was new.”
“Hope you enjoyed it,” he said, trying not to blush. Destiny kicked his ankle. “I mean, hope you didn’t enjoy it.” She kicked him again. “What?!”
“Stop talking, jarhead. You’ll only dig yourself in deeper,” Destiny advised him. To Catalina, she said, “Man, it’s good to see you.”
Nick, the ex-gangster werewolf, looked around incredulously. To no one in particular, he remarked, “What the fuck is going ON in this fucking place? Fucking monsters?” His gaze settled on Merlin, who was rapidly going from pony size to chicken size and back again. “Fucking dinosaurs? Are you fucking serious?”
Merlin finally managed to become a man. His security guard’s uniform was streaked with green slime.
“Yeccch,” he remarked, vainly trying to wipe it off and only succeeded in getting it on his hands too. “I’m jealous of you guys who don’t bring your clothes with you.”
“Don’t be,” the copper-haired man advised him. “The only thing worse than monster slime all over your clothes is monster slime all over you.”
“Good point.” Merlin stuck out his hand, then hurriedly withdrew it. “Sorry. Anyone got any wet wipes? I’m Merlin Merrick. Pleased to meet you.”
“I’m Justin Kovac. I have a medical kit in the corridor. Have someone else open it and take them out for you, if you don’t mind. I doubt that stuff’s sterile.”
“Wait, you’re Justin!” Ethan blurted out. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you.”
He’d only met Justin once before, for about thirty seconds, and he’d been distracted at the time by Shane having just gotten shot in the chest. The last Ethan had heard of him, he’d been so traumatized by his experiences with Apex that he’d dropped off the map and was refusing to contact anyone, even Shane.
“Yeah, I get that a lot. I’m Protection, Inc.’s newest bodyguard. And Fiona’s mate. Lot of stuff happened while you were overseas.” Justin’s look of amusement faded as he went on, “Looks like a lot of stuff happened to you, too. So you’re a tiger now. Did Apex have time to put you through Ultimate Predator, or did Destiny get to you first?”
Ethan rushed to reassure him. “Apex never had me. At least, not for more than about fifteen minutes. Destiny made me a tiger. She had to, to save my life. I was sick…” Everyone was listening to him with bated breath, except for Destiny, of course, who was watching her teammates with bated breath to enjoy their reactions. He joined her watch as he added, “And we’re mates!”
A flash of astonishment crossed Shane’s imperturbable face for about a millisecond, then was gone. “Congratulations. I always thought you were.”
“You did not,” Destiny said, giving him a playful shove.
“Fucking awesome!” Nick exclaimed. He slapped Ethan on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over, then turned around and gave Destiny the exact same whack.
Catalina flung her arms around Destiny and congratulated her, then gave her a poke in the chest. “Why’d you wait so long, you weirdo? You must’ve known he was your mate ever since you met!”
“I didn’t!” Destiny protested. “I was taking a medication that turned out to block my ability to sense my mate.”
Catalina, a paramedic, nodded wisely. “Those unexpected side effects can really get you. A lot of meds have ones that doctors don’t warn you about.”
“Ah-ha,” said Justin, amusement dancing in his dark eyes. To Destiny, he said, “So that’s why you rushed off after Ethan. The mate bond told you he was in danger.”
“It couldn’t have,” she said. “We weren’t bonded yet.”
Justin shrugged. “I knew when Fiona was in danger before we even met.”
“Oh, so Destiny’s your girlfriend?” Pete gave them a surprisingly sweet smile. “Good for you, man.”
“Mates are more than that,” Nick said. “I’m mated too. It’s true fucking love. Unbreakable. Forever.”
“There’s no such thing,” Ransom said flatly. Then, obviously realizing he’d been rude, he shrugged and said, “Just speaking for myself.”
“Congratulations,” Roland said. But though he sounded sincere, his mind was obviously on other things. Urgently, he addressed the other members of Protection, Inc. “Did you see any other prisoners? Any women? A tall woman, African-American, middle aged? Beautiful…”
“No, sorry,” Justin said.
Reassuringly, C
atalina said, “But if she’s here, the others will find her.”
“Others?” Destiny asked.