Page 96 of Inextricably Tied

“Start with the Conifers and Broadleafs.” Aren pauses. “But be aware, there’s been a lot of turnover within packs recently. It’s tenuous.”

“Lev mentioned that.” Harbinger crosses her legs. “Were those packs involved in the last battle?”

Aren shakes his head. “The Conifers were, but some packs didn’t want anything to do with subduing the Vestals. The Broadleafs are a lot smaller and weaker. Their Alpha, Diction, was having enough trouble preventing infighting. Even his beta was struggling. We offered to help, but the Broadleafs are very independent. They don’t love visitors, but you can tell Diction that you came from here. He and Lev are old friends.”

Flint sees Aren to the door. Aren gives Harbinger a look with raised brows before he steps off the porch.

“Sweet dreams this time.”

THIRTY-FOUR

Harbinger

After the dreamscape, they should be exhausted, unconscious at the earliest opportunity. But when the rest of the Timber compound settles to a low hum, Harbinger can’t sleep. The slash of Agony’s eye peeks at her from the other side of the bed.

“You either?”

She shakes her head. Flint’s voice rumbles from the chair across the room. “You two are supposed to be sleeping.” Moonlight glints off his glasses, nocturnal vision pouring over the casefiles to keep from disturbing them.

Harbinger flops onto her back. “I’m not tired.”

Agony bounces on the mattress. “And I can’t sleep — literally.”

Shadows spill around his body, falling across Harbinger’s legs before he pulls himself closer. She twirls a tendril around bare fingers, lit by Agony’s contented gaze half-closed like a cat.

“I’m sorry we kept you in cuffs for so long,” she murmurs. Shadows slip around her hand like smoke.

Flint’s guilt matches hers, but Agony teases against her cheek. “It was for the best; I did entertain the thought of killing you for fun. Plus…” He inclines his mouth against her ear. “The cuffs were kind of kinky.”

Her fingers dip into Agony’s darker shadows until he shivers back into an almost-human form. “Is it different?” she asks. “Being free?”

Agony expands out of shape and back again, like a balloon. “The cuffs are limiting.” He lifts his hand in front of his face, and the light of his eyes passes through it. “Like something in me’s always straining to get loose.”

Harbinger understands that. The yearning to push limits, to rush right up to the edge and jump over. Shadows lick along the skin of her wrist. Hesitant, unsure if he should continue. But then, his eyes lift to Harbinger. “I can do a lot more like this.”

Her heart trips in her chest. Flint’s attention rises in her, but she doesn’t look away from Agony. “Sounds dangerous.”

In a surge of darkness, Agony’s face hovers before her. “You like dangerous.” His touch is magnetic, dusting over the promise that pulses in her neck. Tendrils curl under her chin, turning her to face Flint. “Does he?”

Flint could deny it. Say he hates the thought of risk so much that he’d keep Harbinger locked away rather than let her close to possibility, but it’s not that simple. Not anymore. Not when the deadliest thing either of them have ever met touches her more softly than even Flint can. Agony stretches to extremes, suffocating darkness that becomes as gentle as wind across skin. Powerful enough to swallow them whole. Dreamy enough to slip past Flint’s armor.

Arousal streaks through Harbinger, but not just from her. Flint tries to hold onto it, to contain it, but there’s no disguising it when Agony’s sultry smirk presses to Harbinger’s jaw.

“Maybe he should watch.” Agony breathes against the side of her neck, the buttons on her suit popping open one by one. “Make sure you don’t get into trouble. Make sure you’re safe.” His mouth drifts down her bare shoulder. “Until you’re so strung out, you’d promise him anything. Swear to be a good girl.”

Thrill thrums through her veins. Holding Flint’s red gaze is like touching a hot stove, but he makes no move to stop them. Harbinger bears her hand down until it sizzles. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“Ooh, someone’s big and bad.” Flint sets aside the files, knees resting open, dress shirt and pants pulled taut over his body. Broad chest, rounded stomach muscles, thick thighs that leave Harbinger’s mouth watering. He lifts one hand to rest behind his head, pulling his shirt tighter. “Let’s see how brave you are, then.”

Desire throbs straight to her clit. It’s the closest Flint has let her get to risk. Agony’s mouth slots against hers, pulling her attention with the hot slide of his tongue.

It reminds her of dying. Sinking so completely into darkness, giving herself over to shadows that engulf her. This time, though, beneath it all is wanton need, slow and teasing before it disappears.

She tries to keep Agony close, to get her arms behind his neck, but he vanishes in smoke. Frustration sears into her before Agony appears solid again. “So fucking spoiled, aren’t you?”

She chases his mouth with bared teeth. “You’re one to talk.”

“Let’s see what Daddy wants to give you.” Agony looks over his shoulder to Flint. “What do naughty girls get?”