Predatory

DRAKE POV

“Drake, you stupid fuck,” I mutter to myself as Nikki disappears around a bend in the trail, heading back towards that massive Russian psycho. Why did I let her leave?! After so many years of searching, I finally find her, and then I let her go off to…somehow get rid of a crazy dude who’s obsessed with her?! What the hell was I thinking?!

I wasn’t. It’s hard to think straight when she’s close. And that kiss….

Stop it, Drake. Focus. I start jogging along the trail in the same direction she did. Maybe I can catch her before—

“Oi, Drake! Hold up!” a familiar female voice I can’t quite place calls behind me. I turn to see Angel and Effie loping down the hill from the performing arts center toward me.

Right. Nikki said they were coming. But when and how did she contact them? So many things don’t make sense.

“She’s not here,” I begin. They must’ve come for her, despite what she said. “She left. This big Russian dude—”

“We know,” Effie interrupts, getting between me and where Nikki went. “And we know that every part of you wants to go after her, but that’s literally the worst thing you can do for her right now.”

“Wait. What? How do you— And what do you mean? He’s so much bigger and stronger than she is, and there were a couple other dudes with him. There’s no way… What if they kidnap her—”

“Slow your roll and trust us for a second. There’s a lot going on here that you don’t know about.”

“I figured, but every second we stay here—”

“Shut it,” Angel snaps, grabbing my shoulder and forcefully turning me to face her. Damn, she’s strong. Wouldn’t have thought it of a bloodsucker. “She told you to stay behind to save your life. That big dude wants you dead.”

“Excuse me?! Why the fuck—”

“Oh look, a bench!” Effie chirps. “You should probably sit down.”

“How can I possibly—”

“You’re never going to get answers if you don’t stop interrupting us,” Angel grumbles.

“Look, your friend is my—”

“Don’t say it out loud, we’re in public,” Effie cuts in, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the bench. “Now. Sit down. Before Angel makes you.”

“How does me sitting down help Nikki in any way?”

“The best thing you can do to help her is to stay out of her way. She knows what she’s doing. Don’t you think a woman with family connections to the Russian mafia knows how to handle herself?” Angel demands rhetorically as she and Effie drag me onto the bench.

“But she’s a martial arts novice, not much archery—”

“Oh, please. Like you’ve never flubbed a skill to try to get attention from a girl you fancied?” Effie scoffs.

What?!

“No, actually. I’d usually try to show off and end up making a fool of myself,” I mutter irritably. My head is spinning, my heart aching. “So. She…lied to me?”

Effie winces. “Only when she felt like she had to. She’s playing by a different set of rules than you are, and the grumpy body builder is part of that.”

“Why are you telling me this? She should be the one owning up to lying, and besides, I thought it was hoes before bros?”

“She asked us to come here to handle…this for her, because getting that body builder away from you was her first priority.”

“How did she even contact you? She never pulled out her phone or anything.”

“Specialized technology. Courtesy of me,” Angel interjects. “Speaking of the body builder, though, the less time we spend on chatter, the better. You know what Callum’s been petrified of you all running into?”

Excuse me what?!

“How would you know about— Did he say something to one of you at the archery range, or—”

“Nikki mentioned you said something to her about it, actually. But also, we have a lot of specialized technology, in addition to what she used to contact us. The kind only those affiliated with certain elite, secretive organizations have access to.”

I can’t believe this. “You’re all in the mafia? Or else….” No. It can’t be. They can’t be what Callum’s been worried for months.

“Or else,” Effie confirms. “The body builder is kind of in charge of us. And he’s convinced you’ve done some serious illegal shit.”

Nikki and her friends are WASP special operatives?!

“This isn’t real. This can’t be happening. She’s actually dating that meathead and this is just a distraction—”

THWACK! Angel’s hand connects hard with my face.

“OW! What the fuck—”

“Shut your goddamn ungrateful mouth,” the vampire hisses as I rub the cheek she struck. “Trust me when I say she’d rather die than let that bastard touch her.”

“Fuck’s sake, Drake, we’re just trying to help you, and her,” Effie adds. “She really does like you, or she wouldn’t have risked standing up to him for you.”

Damn, Angel hits hard. “How am I supposed to believe you? If you’re telling the truth now, every interaction we’ve had up to this point has been a pack of lies, a scheme to get close to my friends and me to find some excuse to—”

“And despite our best efforts and being the best in the world at what we do, we haven’t found that excuse,” Angel cuts me off through gritted teeth, her black eyes hard as diamonds. She’s telling the truth. There’s no vampire bullshit or other trickery going on with her, or Effie either, as far as I can tell; they both look just as frustrated as I feel. “And so when that bastard demanded that she…end you, she refused and challenged him to a duel.”

“She WHAT?! And you didn’t let me go after her?! How the—”

“It’s not like you could help her. Duels are, by definition, one-on-one fights. We wouldn’t be able to step in, either, and no offense, but we’d be more useful to her than you’d be,” Effie explains in a matter-of-fact tone that’s somehow more irritating than Angel’s outright hostility. I don’t know how to deal with this right now. She’s a WASP operative, and she’s been lying to me. About everything. But that kiss didn’t lie. Whoever and whatever she actually is, she’s still my mate. I have to find her, make her explain everything herself, and she’s—

“My main concern, though, is whether she took this risk in vain or not,” Angel continues with a voice like a knife blade. “So tell me, truthfully, or so help me I’ll make sure your demise is as slow and torturously painful as I can make it. Did she put herself on the line to save an innocent man, or a guilty one?”

Angel is fucking terrifying. Those deep black eyes look like portals to hell, and the slightest suggestion of fangs glints under her upper lip. There’s not a doubt in my mind that if I give the wrong answer, I’m dead.

But if Nikki really put herself in harm’s way to keep me out of that body builder’s hands, her friends probably aren’t overeager to execute me, right?

“I’m not an expert on the law,” I hedge. “Callum, though…. He studies it, and he’s a bit paranoid.”

“Answer the fucking question,” Angel growls.

Drake, you gotta watch yo’self, man. There’s only so much I can do t’keep you outta trouble, and you’d better hope them WASP leaders ain’t read 1984. If they start policing thoughts and ideas, you’re fucked, a warning from Callum, after I’d spoken a bit too freely outside of our house about my thoughts on WASP, echoes in my head.

“The only way anyone could consider me guilty of any violations is if Orwellian thoughtcrime can be prosecuted.”

Effie and Angel exchange a glance. Have I cooked my own goose?

“Seems we were right all along. Your friend Callum has probably saved all of your asses with his ‘paranoia’,” Effie asserts. “You ought to thank him, as soon as you get him here to pick you up.”

“Pick me up? What—”

“I mean, that’s how you got here. And our business is complete. We have other fish to fry now.”

“The only place I’m going is wherever Nikki went. She has some explaining to do.”

“You have no idea where she is, and you’d be as much use there as a chocolate teapot. She told you she’d be back—”

“And you told me that she’s fighting a duel against a man the size of a dump truck, which she should not be doing alone, the rules of dueling be damned.”

“This is the kind of talk that’ll land you in hot water,” Angel grumbles. “Quit while you’re ahead and go home. Every second you keep us here arguing with you keeps us from finding her and helping her however we can.”

“Then stop arguing with me and take me with you.”

“Not a chance. We do that and all of our heads are on the chopping block.”

“That might be better than wasting more time, and having more fighters isn’t the worst thing we could do for the next step of the plan,” Effie suggests. She looks almost as worried as I feel.

Angel rolls her eyes and huffs. “She’s going to hate this. But you’re driving, so I guess it’s your call.”

“Right. Drake, get your friends to meet us in the parking lot in front of that building. We have a party to crash.”