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“Thou who protests—” Thana silenced Starla by placing a seal of invisible tape over her lips.

Starla’s eyes widened. Her hands scrabbled at her mouth, trying to pull it off. Thana flicked her index finger, removing the seal. She laughed as Starla gasped like she’d been starving for oxygen. “Oh, for fuckssake, stop acting like I withheld your air or some shit. I was only playing with you.”

“That was not playing. That was...mean, Thana. I’m telling your brother.” Starla grabbed a fountain hose from the holder and pointed it at Thana.

“Now, Starla, don’t do anything hasty.” Thana stepped back, holding her hands in front of her.

Starla’s eyes danced with excitement. The fear from earlier could’ve been an illusion if Thana hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

“Hasty? You don’t think putting something over my mouth to silence me was hasty?” Starla blasted a jet of cold soda water toward her. The blast hit Thana in the face, making her sputter in shock.

Thana raised her hand to shield herself from the spray, then moved with blurring speed to grab her own nozzle. She twisted and squeezed, spraying Starla’s face with pinpoint accuracy. They surely looked like two lunatic females, but Thana found herself laughing as she sprayed and tried to dodge at the same time. She felt like she was winning until a booming voice interrupted them.

“Uh, oh. I think Daddy is mad at us,” Starla gasped. The young female bent over, laughing, her hair dripping with water from their improvised liquid fight.

“Don’t call him...Daddy. That is so gross,” Thana growled and pretended to gag.

“What the fuck are the two of you doing?” Savage asked.

Thana stared at the big Boss with wide eyes, trying to look innocent. “She started it.” She pointed her nozzle toward Starla. A burst of liquid shot out unbidden, and she nearly dropped it.

“Hey, you’re the one who slapped some weird thing over my mouth when you could’ve just told me to shut it. It’s not my fault I decided that meant war and death by Sprite.” Starla wiggled the hose back and forth as if to make a point.

Savage narrowed his blood-red eyes and rubbed his temples. “Aurora,” he yelled, the decibel making the glassware behind the bar shake.

“Good lord, Savage. What’s got your boxer briefs in a twist?” Savage’s mate, Aurora, asked as soon as she materialized next to him.

Savage’s right arm shot out, pulling Aurora into his side. “The two of them were having a pop fight.”

Aurora giggled. “Did you just say that with a straight face?”

Before Thana could respond, Savage tossed Aurora over his shoulder and swatted her ass. “Female, hold your tongue unless you want me to put it to better use.”

“I’ll clean this mess up, Boss,” Thana called out.

“Savage said pop fight. I am totally writing that down,” Starla said, miming the action with her arm in the air as if she were writing.

Chapter Four

Thana couldn’t settle. She hated waiting to hear from Severin about his meeting with the treacherous female.

She cleaned up the mess with a snap of her fingers. Starla’s forgiveness took a little more effort. Bless the Goddess, the young female didn’t hold a grudge against her. After they stocked the bar, Thana turned toward the door. Her heart wouldn’t settle, and she knew it was because the male was out there and in danger. Maybe.

“I have an errand to run. If anyone needs me, tell them to reach out to me through the link,” she told Starla.

Starla’s hand shot out. “Where are you going?”

She looked down at the hand on her forearm. “Just need to check on something. I’ll be back before you know it. Don’t tell the guys I'm leaving. If anyone asks, say I’m in the bathroom or delivering an order.”

“Thana, I can’t lie to Scepter.” Starla backed away.

“Jesus fuck. Fine, just say nothing then.” Thana strode away, turning to see if anyone was watching as she became mist. She flowed into the warehouse near the roofline, doing her best not to stir the air. The same idiots from her previous visit were present again. The female paced behind a long table like she needed to burn off energy. Thana wanted to slice her throat open as the Jao leader mumbled inaudible words. As she watched her hands caress the weapons like a lover, many things crossed her mind. One of which was shoving the closest one up Mai Jao’s ass to see if it came out of her mouth. Of course, she’d done it a time or ten to enemies and knew it didn’t, but it was still fun to watch their faces when they knew their lives were ending.

A slight breeze caught her attention. She didn’t allow herself to change shape or direction.

Seconds ticked by. Her heart thrummed like a war drum beaten by an entire drum line. Thana cast her gaze around and saw three disturbances in the wind. Scepter obviously didn’t come alone. Smart male.

She watched the magnificent male stride in through the large overhead door like a king who owned the very ground beneath him. Gah, did she just think him magnificent? Thank fuck nobody could hear what she was thinking.