Saint rolled his eyes. “You aren’t naked. It’s called a loincloth. The game automatically gave you an outfit that fit your character. Shifters usually wear as little as possible, in case they need to turn furry in battle. Saves on wear and tear.” He knelt beside the girls and shook his head. Julie Wu and Liam? “I didn’t call either of you here. Just Ume. I think my wires are crossed, man, I really do.”
“You called her? Here? That’s Julie’s cousin, right? The one you wanted me to find out more about?” Liam looked around, an expression of wonder crossing his rugged features. “I’m in a friggin’ video game? I didn’t know you could do this. Say, when this is over, my little brother is a huge fan of Hal—”
Saint was standing with his hand over Liam’s mouth before he could blink. “They’ll come to any second. Your mate and my…experiment. I need you to focus. First, you don’t know me. Got it? I’m just another character in the game. Second, tell me exactly what you were doing before you showed up here.”
Liam was mumbling. Fuck. Saint took his hand off the shifter’s mouth.
“I called her. On the phone. Like you told me to. It was bloody awkward if you want to know the truth. Before she could tell me she was getting an unlisted number and calling the cops I heard two women screaming, felt a shock like a lightning bolt through the damn earpiece you gave me and whammo, here I am.”
He didn’t check. How could he not have checked? What was this woman doing to his mind? Saint hadn’t even thought to make sure she was alone before sending out his signal.
Julie must have touched her. There had to be a conduit between them for something like this to happen. Not to mention a damn strong surge of power from Ume. Maybe she did have kitsune blood after all.
Saint shook his head. “No time.” Bending back down to Julie, he touched her forehead, inserting the right coding so she wouldn’t recognize him. He looked over his shoulder at Liam, whose teeth were bared warningly. “Just a little insurance. Don’t worry, Fang, old boy, we can still get your girl. In fact, this might be the perfect place for both of us to get exactly what we want.”
It wasn’t what he’d intended. But there was no going back now. He had Ume exactly where he wanted her. Along with her cousin and a mate-hungry wolf.
A few minor hiccups for a demon in lust.
Chapter Four
“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
“There’s snow face in Rome? You’re babbling, Ume. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Ume shook her head at her cousin. Here they were, in the middle of nowhere, sitting by a campfire across from a giant nudist and the warrior from her cyber-fling, and Julie was being cute.
The men were talking quietly amongst themselves, both of them eyein
g her and her cousin with expressions that made Ume feel distinctly like a rack of tasty lamb.
It made her tails twitch.
“Julie, it may have escaped your attention…but I have a tail. Three in fact.”
Julie covered her mouth to hide her smile. “I noticed that. I also noticed other, um, prominent features that I don’t remember you having.”
Ume groaned, looking down. When she’d created her avatar, she’d modeled it after herself, as much as she could. But when it was time to choose a body type, she couldn’t resist. It had been a game after all. An anonymous, fun game. Now she’d gone from A cup to the perky prow of a ship in one, insane leap.
She buried her head in her hands. “Don’t you get it, Jules? We’re in the game. In. The. Game.”
It was true. She recognized everything, even though it no longer looked computer generated. The luminescent flowers at her feet that she knew flew around the glade like fairies every morning. The large and small moons, glowing red and gold in the sky. The eerie, whispering sound the trees made, like trapped souls or children laughing. It looked rich and vibrant. Real. Terrifying.
“It’s happened. I’ve gone crazy.” She looked up with a gasp. “Or I’ve had an aneurysm. Maybe I’m dead. I’m not ready to be dead yet, Jules. I’m really not.”
Julie knelt in the dirt, huffing in exasperation as she pushed the long, flowing princess skirt she was wearing out of the way. “Listen to me, Ume. You need to calm down. You aren’t dead. And if you’re crazy, then so am I. Something happened that we can’t explain yet.” She pursed her lips. “But after the big guy and I have a talk, I’ll have more information.”
“The big guy?”
Julie nodded. “Liam. He’s the cameraman from the show I was telling you about. He’s here too. That can’t be a coincidence. He was on the phone with me when this happened. I have a feeling Saint has something to do with our current situation, and I bet Liam knows exactly what’s going on.” She hesitated. “I’m not sure who the other guy is.”
“Sinner,” Ume shrugged helplessly at Julie’s confused expression. “The warrior from the other day.”
“The one you…?”
“Yep.”
After a speaking glance, Julie stood up as gracefully as she could and raised her voice. “I need some water to boil if I’m going to make us something to eat.” She pointed to the giant nudist, and Ume’s eyes bulged. “Take me to the nearest stream or brook or whatever.”