Crimson Highlander (Onyx Assassins 2)

Lyric gasped from the other side of the room.

Olivia laughed and tapped my forearm under her chin.

I instantly released her.

She whirled around, respect coloring her eyes before she arched a delicate brow at me. “Iron plyers? Really? That’s a little malicious, don’t you think?”

I shrugged. “No more than fangs at my neck.”

She pursed her lips, nodding.

“Dinner and drinks would’ve been so much more fun,” Avi said, heaving a sigh from where she stood next to Lyric. “Fangs and iron plyers. God, you two. We’re supposed to be working together—”

“We are,” I hurried to stop her.

“Knowing strengths and weaknesses on both sides only helps,” Olivia added, nodding her agreement. She tilted her head at me. “Though, you do seem particularly angry with our kind today. Could a certain highlander be behind that?”

I narrowed my gaze. Just the mention of Lachlan had my hackles up—and other things going loose and tight at the same time.

“This fucking bond,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s the reason Daphne isn’t here, safe with me.” I squeezed my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms

Lachlan’s kiss—it had been world-shattering. Life-altering. Knee-trembling. His lips against mine had felt like the hottest flame and coldest ice. Felt like the answer to a question I didn’t know to ask. And his hands on me? A warm shiver danced in my blood. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him—even though I was furious with us both.

It had cost me Daphne.

“Yikes,” Olivia said, her eyes going wide as she surveyed my face. “There isn’t any iron in here, right, Avi?” She asked the question to her princess without taking her eyes off me.

Lyric and Avi hurried over to Olivia’s side, and I tilted my head at all three panicked stares.

“No,” Avi said. “Alek has a special stash of iron chains locked up in a secret location just in case one of ours denies feeding and loses their self-control.”

“Good.” Olivia blew out a breath, eyes on me. “Because it looks like if you got your hands on some iron right now, you’d likely drive it right through Lachlan’s heart.”

I flinched at her words, the mental image she painted may have satisfied my anger, but it wrecked my soul.

Lyric pursed her lips. “Or not,” she said, her voice a tease.

“How can I want to smack him across his perfect face but at the same time recoil from the idea of him being harmed?” I dropped to the mat, situating my arms on my knees. The girls followed suit.

“Mating bonds,” Lyric said, shrugging. “When I first was brought here, all I wanted to do was escape. Get back to you and school and the sun. But even when I wanted to escape, my soul begged me to stay. Demanded it. And after I stopped fighting it…”

She let the sentence hang there because each of us knew what had happened—she’d gotten her happily ever after. Well, after nearly dying twice and almost losing her mate in the process. But still, she’d stopped fighting the bond and now she practically glowed with strength and love and this insane kind of balance I wouldn’t even know what to do with.

My life had always been a chaotic web of secrets, sins, and the fight to survive.

“Not that I’m arguing,” Olivia said, one hand raised in defense, “but why are we blaming Lachlan for not getting Daphne? Ransom told me what happened. There was iron in the limo. He couldn’t have wended in.”

I rolled my eyes at myself. “It wasn’t his fault, not really. It was mine. I saw a member who would recognize me, and I needed to hide my face…fast.”

The three stared at me with wide, curious eyes.

“So I kissed him—”

Lyric squealed.

Olivia smirked.

“Ew,” Avi said, shuddering. Lyric and Olivia gaped at her. “What?” Avi asked. “He’s like my brother. All the Order are.”

I arched a brow at her, but it was Olivia who said, “Oh, really? You think of every single one of the assassins as…brotherly?”

Avi’s cheeks flushed pink, then glared at her bodyguard. “You were saying, Valor?”

I huffed a laugh. “Once I started kissing him…I couldn’t stop.” And I hadn’t even thought to protest when he’d taken me into the private room. Hadn’t been able to form a thought outside of the sensation of his touch, his kiss, the taste of him in my mouth.

“That’s the mating bond for you,” Lyric said.

“I hate it,” I admitted, and Lyric frowned. “I’m sorry, but I do. It’s not fair. These feelings I’m having are taking precedence over everything else important in my life. And I didn’t ask for it! I didn’t want it. And now my cousin’s life is at stake because I couldn’t deny it for two seconds and save her.”

“Lachlan is a good—”

“I said I hated the bond,” I cut Lyric off. “Not Lachlan.” That much was true. I’d come to actually respect the highlander assassin more than I ever thought possible. But it didn’t matter if I was starting to tolerate him, maybe even like him. Not when the bond made me question every feeling I had when it came to him. “Isn’t there like some ancient journal in your library? One written by a mate who denied the bond with ease and grace and made the decision for herself if she loved the other or not?”