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  “Wait a minute. I haven’t met this guy yet,” her dad protested, his blue eyes gleaming.

  Nari sighed. “I’ll be back.” She hugged her dad and exited the room, almost running into Quan. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” he said, leading her around the corner. “I want a moment to speak with you before I go home. I’m sorry for, well, everything.” He awkwardly patted her shoulder.

  Her eyebrows rose. “All right.”

  He stepped back. “I’m not a demonstrative man and I don’t know how to be parental.”

  She looked at the bruise on his head. “Do you not want me around because you sucked as a dad?”

  His smile was a surprise. “Yes. Well, it wasn’t that I didn’t want you around. I just couldn’t figure out why you’d want to be around me, so I figured it wasn’t a good thing.”

  She shook her head. “Working for a super-secret governmental agency makes everyone paranoid. Maybe I just wanted to get to know you.” She could finally see the flawed human being in the father she’d never known. Nari looked back at her mom’s room. “Besides, don’t worry about it. I have the best parents in the world.”

  He nodded. “That’s what I thought. But I would like to know you and maybe be friends?”

  That was odd, but what the heck. “I’d like that.” She needed to see Angus, and now.

  “Good. I told Agent Force that he could put his team back together, and if he does, you have the choice of working with that team or taking the job Opal offered you. It was actually my idea—that job, I mean. It’s needed.” He shuffled his feet.

  The team was back in action. Nari nearly hopped. “I’ll think about it. Thanks.” She’d consider everything later. “I have to go now.”

  He nodded. “We’ll talk soon.”

  She turned and walked as sedately as she could toward the room where Angus was supposed to be. Upon arriving, she had to make her way through the entire team. Wolfe had somehow gotten the kitten inside, and the animal was perched on Angus’s chest, purring contentedly.

  Angus lay in the bed, looking dangerous and irritated, hooked up to an IV. “Where the hell is Nari?” he snapped.

  “I’m here,” she said soothingly, moving around Wolfe’s solid bulk to reach the head of the bed. “How’s the shoulder?”

  “Fine.” He looked her over, his eyes flaring at the marks on her neck. “Jesus. Did I do that?”

  She touched her bruised skin. “Considering we’re both alive right now, I’ll take a couple of bruises.” She smiled at Pippa and Malcolm, who’d moved out of the way so she could stand by Angus. “Did you tell everyone the team can go back to work?”

  “Yes,” Brigid said, holding Raider’s hand and positively beaming. “Yay. Back to work. Do we get a new office?”

  “One with windows would be nice,” Dana said, snuggling into Wolfe’s side. “I’ll text Millie to tell her to get back home.”

  Angus cleared his throat. “Nari told me she loved me.”’

  Nari started, looking down at his handsome face. “What are you doing?”

  He shrugged. “Like they’re not a bunch of gossips. Plus, we’re family. I figured it out—why we all drive each other crazy. We’re family, and we share stuff like that with family.”

  Was he drugged? She looked at the IV.

  He chuckled. “No, I still haven’t gotten pain meds, which I wouldn’t mind, if anybody sees a nurse.” He grabbed her hand, holding tight, his eyes so green it almost hurt to look at them. “I love you, Nari Zhang. When I first met you, right now, and forever. No matter what, you’re everything to me.”

  Whoa. Nari’s knees went weak. She swallowed. “I, ah, love you too.” Heat filled her face.

  He pulled back the covers and yanked her into the bed, throwing the blankets over her. “I’m not the type to play around or date or seek. I know what I want and it’s you. No taking it slow. People keep shooting at us; we need to enjoy every damn minute we have together.”

  Nari sat next to him and snuggled into his unbandaged side. “When you start talking you sure do it with a vengeance,” she said, smiling at Pippa’s teary expression.

  “I know. Marry me?” Angus said.

  She stilled. He hadn’t been kidding. He was all or nothing. “Yes,” she said.

  The group around them, their assembled and chosen family, all burst into pleased applause. Kat meowed, bit Angus’s chin, and then went back to sleep.

  Angus sighed. “We might as well go all in and buy one of the lots in the cul-de-sac. What do you think?”

  She put her hand over his chest and kissed his whiskered chin. “I think yes. I love you, Angus Force.” In fact, she always had.

  Epilogue

  Angus Force walked along the trail from the lake in Kentucky, a full bucket of fish in his left hand. Roscoe scouted ahead, chased a rabbit, and then ran back to pant around Angus’s feet. He’d had a beer while on the lake—just one—and the dog was still irritated he hadn’t shared.

  They reached the outside of the cabin and Roscoe stopped, his ears perking up.

  Angus grinned. “I know. We’re not alone.”

  Nari walked out onto the porch, a glass of wine in her hand. She waved. “Did you get dinner this time, or is it frozen pizza again?”

  He took a moment to drink her in. Dark hair, even darker eyes, and a smile only for him. “We caught dinner.” Though he’d be the one cooking it. The woman had almost burned down his cabin the night before boiling water. Sure, it might’ve been his fault for distracting her and getting her naked, but still. She was a menace in the kitchen.

  Roscoe ran down the trail to her, licking her legs. She dropped to her haunches and hugged him around the neck, her hands rubbing his furry body.

  Lucky dog.

  Angus walked forward, his arm feeling better after the two weeks at the cabin. The bruises had faded from Nari’s neck, and all their many other injuries had healed.

  She stood and smiled, her eyes alight with happiness. “This was a good idea. Taking a month off and relaxing.”

  The month’s vacation was a good idea for the entire team before they returned to work for the HDD, which everyone had decided to do. He leaned down and took her mouth, tasting chocolate and wine. “I figured you’d like Kentucky,” he said, kissing her again.

  “I do.” She looked at the bucket. “I am not cleaning those.”

  “I know.” He set it down and pulled her closer for an even deeper kiss. “This is our last night before chaos descends. Maybe we should just make a run for it now.”

  “Nope.” She kept her arms around his waist and leaned back. “This is the perfect place for a retreat. Raider and Malcolm managed to rent really nice RVs, and Wolfe somehow got his hands on a motor home. Millie said she’d be fine in a tent, and Jethro is still insisting on staying at the motel in town, although I think we can change his mind.”

  “And Serena?” Angus asked, knowing full well that Nari and Pippa were starting to matchmake with poor Jethro.

  Nari shrugged. “I think she’s bunking with Millie, but we’ll see. You never know.”

  Right. Well, so long as he was bunking with Nari, he didn’t care. “This isn’t really the type of team that likes retreats.” They weren’t in to bonding or anything. “Please tell me you don’t have activities planned.”

  “Just fun stuff like making s’mores and fishing,” she promised. “And Pippa is going to teach me to cook.”

  “No. Not in my cabin,” he protested. “I love this place.”

  She slapped him in the stomach. “Funny. Very funny. Oh, and my parents are going to pop in the second week. My dad still wants to arm wrestle you.”

  Angus sighed. How had he gone from being all alone with his dog to having this many people in his life? People he’d do anything for. The anger that had ridden him for so long was gone. He shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe you should try to convince me some more.”

  She smiled, tucking her hand in his. “Now that’s a good idea. Let�
�s go inside.”

  He forgot all about his fish and walked into the cabin with her.

  Once there, she turned toward him. “I love you, you know.”

  He did, and he savored the warmth of that love every day. “I love you more.” It was the truth. It had to be. Then he kissed her and took full advantage of their last night of peace together for a couple of weeks.

  His family was on the way.

  Please read on for an excerpt from the next book in Rebecca Zanetti’s Dark Protectors series.

  REBEL’S KARMA

  Chapter One

  The smell of the earth, deep and true, centered her in the hastily created tunnel. It probably said something about Karma that she preferred darkness, muddy walls, and being underground to any other circumstances. Battery-operated lanterns had been dropped haphazardly along the trail, their artificial light dancing across the packed dirt walls and highlighting minerals she couldn’t name as she descended quickly, the swish of her skirt the only sound.

  She bent her head, trying to stay in the moment and not panic at the job to come. One she was no more prepared for than she had been for mating a Kurjan general nearly two centuries ago. Or was it closer to three?

  Taking a deep breath, she turned the corner and faced the cell. The cell that had been dug just the day before, in case it was needed.

  It was.

  She swallowed.

  The male sprawled across the ground, so large he could probably spread his arms and reach the cement blocks on one side and the steel bars on the other. If he’d been conscious. Bruises mottled his face and neck, while a wound bled freely beneath his jaw. The red ran past his ear to pool on the dirt beneath him.

  She couldn’t breathe.

  It really was him. Even with bruises, blood, and dirt covering his face, she recognized him from more than three years ago. He’d tried to pull her into a helicopter with him after he’d attacked the Kurjan stronghold. He was bad, he was the enemy, and yet . . . he’d saved several kidnapped human females from the Kurjans.

  Had he thought he was saving her? Or had he hurt those human females? Were they now in worse danger than they’d faced when captives of the Kurjan nation?

  She waited patiently, as she’d been taught. The guard would get to her when he had time. The medical supplies in her pack became heavy, so she set them down, stepping closer to the bars to study the male.

  Benjamin Horatio Lawrence Reese. He was a vampire-demon hybrid, large even for his kind. At about six-foot-seven, or maybe -eight, he was as tall as many Kurjans. The wideness of his torso tapered down at his waist, then was matched by the length of his legs. His boots had to be a size eighteen, and his hands were big enough to cause colossal damage. Oh, she’d been hit before, but one punch from him and she’d be dead.

  He could never know how much she already knew about him. How she’d been training for this day for years—since he’d tried to take her from another Kurjan holding. Her home.

  The air changed, and she stiffened as the guard made his way down the tunnel, his white hair glowing as he came closer. He was a Cyst: one of the elite soldiers and spiritual leaders of the Kurjan nation. A single line of white hair bisected his pale scalp, leading down to a long braid. His eyes were a deep purple tinged with red, and he spared her not a glance as he unlocked the cell and then stepped back.

  She took a deep breath and entered, wincing as the coppery smell of blood assaulted her nostrils. Then she dropped to her knees and reached inside the pack for the materials that would clot the bleeding wound. How badly injured the hybrid must’ve been after the skirmish to still be bleeding.

  The second she touched his head, his eyes opened.

  He was fully alert in a second, his deep eyes an unreal, metallic color. “Karma,” he murmured.

  She drew back. He remembered her name? Nobody remembered her name.

  “Do you need blood?” she whispered, leaning closer, even as the guard locked the cell door and disappeared down the hallway, leaving her with the enemy. Right now she was useless to the Kurjans, so if the prisoner killed her, they’d find a plan B.

  “No.” Benjamin sat up, looked around, and put his back to the cement brick wall. He took up all the available space in the cell with his impressive size.

  She shook her head, her lips trembling. “You must be badly injured or you would not have been captured. You need blood.”

  “I let them take me. I’ve been searching for you for years.”

  God. The Kurjans had been correct. He really had been looking for her. “The baby? Rose?” Karma held her breath. When Benjamin’s people had attacked the Kurjan holding, she’d gone with her instincts of the moment and forced him to take a toddler who had been kidnapped by the Kurjans—and she’d paid for that decision. “Is Rose well?”

  Benjamin nodded. “Rose is fine. She’s at Realm headquarters with a nice family.”

  Relief and fear were an odd combination in Karma’s blood. “Realm Headquarters?” The Realm was the enemy of the Kurjans. Its people were evil, or so she’d been taught. She’d always wondered, because lies were everywhere. She held out medical supplies, although the wound beneath his jaw was already closing as he sent healing cells where they were necessary.

  “I don’t need those,” he murmured, studying her with an intensity that shot tremors through her abdomen.

  “I don’t understand why you’d come looking for me,” she said, sitting back and keeping her knees covered with her dress. It had been the plan, but she hadn’t believed it. The Kurjan leaders had noted that this male kept showing up in different attacks, and he took ridiculous risks for a soldier with his experience. They’d known he was coming. Why would this male put himself in danger for her? “You let them take you hostage?”

  “Yes.” Benjamin’s voice was low and rough, with a hint of what must be demon ancestry.

  She rested her hands on the thin material over her knees. “I don’t understand.”

  A bone snapped loudly into place somewhere in his body, but he didn’t even flinch. “Let’s start here. I’m Benny Reese.” He held out a hand the size of a frying pan, as if they were meeting at a village game instead of in a cell.

  She hesitated and then slid hers against his. “Karma.”

  His hold and shake were gentle, and he released her before the mating allergy could hurt either of them. She’d been mated centuries ago to a Kurjan, and no other male could touch her for long without both of them developing terrible rashes.

  “What’s your last name?” he asked. Another bone popped into place.

  She jerked at the sound. “I do not have a last name.”

  “Oh.” He looked beyond her at the steel bars securing the cell. “I was out for a while. Where are we?”

  “We are at a temporary holding area before you are transported to a more secure location.” She coughed. “For questioning.”

  His smile nearly knocked her over. Even the slight tipping of his lips turned his rugged face from dangerously hard to nearly boyish with charm. Amusement, real and true, glimmered in his metallic eyes for a moment. “Darlin’, I’ve been tortured before. You don’t need to worry yourself about that.”

  She had bigger things to worry about than the life of this massive hybrid. She allowed herself one moment to stare into his unusual eyes. Oh, many immortals had metallic silver eyes, gold eyes, even copper or purple. But his were a combination of all metallic colors, mingling into a hard-edged glint, even with the humor lurking there. In another time, she might’ve thought him beautiful. She’d learned long ago that beauty masked the darkest of evils.

  Vampires were bad, demons were bad, and this male was a hybrid of both. When he decided to kill her—and he would at some point—she wouldn’t stand much chance of surviving. Yet she still couldn’t comprehend why he’d come for her. “Why are you here?”

  “For you. To rescue you because I couldn’t last time.” He stretched out his arms and healed a broken finger in his left hand.

/>   His words didn’t make any sense. “Why?” Surely his ego wasn’t such that he’d spent three years chasing her down, risking his life just because she’d rejected his help last time. She wasn’t worth that.

  He sighed. “I’d hoped to ease you into the truth, but here it is.” He held up his right hand, showing a demon marking with a jagged R in the center. The R was a crest representing his surname: Reese. Demons mated with a branding and a bite, while the marking was transferred from the demon to the mate during sex.

  Her mouth dropped open and she hurried to shut it. “You’re mated?” Why did that thought nauseate her? How odd.

  “No. The brand appeared when I touched you three years ago.” His chin lowered, and he studied her, towering over her even as he sat. “When you shoved me away and refused to get into that helicopter with me.”

  She snorted and then quickly recovered. “Impossible. I’m already mated.” Well, she had been mated a couple of centuries ago, although her Kurjan mate had died shortly thereafter. Sometimes she forgot what he had looked like, and that was fine with her. “Your brand appeared for someone else.”

  “No.” Benjamin looked down at the dark marking. “The mark hasn’t faded, and it’s pulsing like a live wire now that you’re near.”

  Oh, Lord. Her research on Benjamin stated he might be insane. She sighed. Dangerous and unstable? There was no way she could succeed in this mission. “Benjamin—”

  “Benny. Might as well get cozy with me now.” His smile held charm and determination that warmed her in an unexpected way.

  For the second time in her life, she let her instincts take over. “Just leave. Take an opening and find freedom,” she whispered tersely, her stomach cramping. “Forget about me.”

  “Not a chance.” His gaze ran over her face like a physical touch.

  Movement sounded down the tunnel, and she stiffened.

  Benjamin tensed and set his jaw. “Get ready, darlin’. We’re about to escape this place.”