CHAPTER ONE
Robert Brannick stared at Juliet, every suspicion lit on fire. She’d been the star of a recent dream and the hot-as-hell images kept streaming through his head like a porn movie he couldn’t shut off.
Yet something about the dream wasn’t right.
He just didn’t know why.
He was in the garage of a private homeowner, moving boxes away from a secret tunnel entrance he’d built to smuggle abused human females out of Five Bridges. Tonight, Juliet had driven the van containing four of them, each rescued from Revel Territory sex clubs. With the vehicle in the garage and the door shut, the neighbors wouldn’t be able to see what they were up to.
He steadily shifted boxes and plastic tubs out of the way.
Another image flashed.
Juliet’s long curly hair splayed out on his red sheets.
Lips parted.
His body moving over hers, connected.
Her cries filled his bedroom.
He could see each freckle on her creamy skin and her hair smelled like strawberries.
So real, like more than a dream.
Doubt nagged at him about what had actually happened between them, as in something very fae and highly illegal.
He glanced at Juliet again, the star of his cockfest and a beautiful alter fae woman. He couldn’t seem to move as he watched her.
She stood next to the van and wore a loose, light green dress, a gauzy thing that draped her curves. He’d seen those curves in his dream, beautiful, lush, full. His hands and mouth had been all over her. Would she look the same as what he’d pictured beneath the dress?
She glanced at him and turned her hand in question, probably because he was staring at her. She had large, dark blue eyes, even delicate features and all those faint freckles that in the dream he’d kissed over and over.
She was about to open the door, but when he remained silent and staring, she let go of the latch and turned in his direction.
“Everything okay?” Her voice had a soft, melodious sound. She was a feminine kind of woman, not like the vampire females he banged noisily in Crescent Territory. But then Juliet was an alter fae who lived in Revel, not vampire at all. In many ways, she was his opposite.
He tore his gaze away from her, resisting the urge to clear his throat, then put his feet in motion. He called out, “Everything’s fine.”
But he knew in his gut it wasn’t. As soon as they got the women to safety, he’d have to confront her about what he suspected was going on.
He heard the van door slide open, then Juliet as she spoke quietly to the women inside. “I need all of you to refrain from talking. We’re on a residential street and don’t want to alert anyone in the area of our presence here. But please don’t worry. You’re in good hands and you’ll be back in the human part of Phoenix within the hour.
“We work with excellent people as dedicated as we are to ending this nightmare in Revel Territory. And that man over there? Moving the boxes? That’s Officer Brannick of the Crescent Territory Border Patrol. He’s the one who’s set up this whole operation.”