Ghosted (Team Zero #3) by Rina Kent

“What do you mean it’s not President Joe?” Shadow doesn’t even attempt to wipe the blood off his torso.

I pour alcohol over the wound. My jaw clenches at the burn. I think about not cleaning it altogether but since Elle would give me hell, I do a quick work of wiping the alcohol with cotton. “The attackers are mercenaries, not gangsters.”

“So?” Mist is folding her arms under her chest. “He could’ve hired mercenaries.”

“He wouldn’t,” I say. “President Joe is all about profit. He’s smart enough to not antagonise me when the factory’s shares are at stake.”

“Johnny would,” Shadow says.

I bandage the wound, and it’s actually painful. It’s pulsing too much for a mere graze. We don’t feel much pain when on Omega. The knot in my chest loosens a little. This means that the drug is almost out of my system.

“Johnny doesn’t have the money to hire so many mercenaries,” I say. “And he’s not stupid enough to attack us in our compound. Besides...”

“Besides?” Shadow asks while Mist looks at me expectedly.

Besides, someone shot the mercenary I was questioning. On purpose, so he wouldn’t talk. And they didn’t shoot me. The ones who appeared where the shooter disappeared are the closest two people I’ve ever had.

Mist and Shadow. One of them could’ve shot him.

I close my eyes. I don’t even want to consider that option. But add this to Hades’ call, and it’s clear as fuck that we have a traitor on the inside.

One of mine. One of my fucking family.

“Ghost?” Shadow waves a hand in front of my face.

My lids open and I stand. Alcohol and whatever meds Shadow has given me are making my head light.

“We will let President Joe believe that we suspect him. I’m using this to make him agree to a share in the factory and possible ownership.”

“And leave Elle alone,” Mist clips out.

“Yes.” I glare. “She’s mine.” I meet both of their gazes. “You both better get that in your heads. If anyone threatens her, they will have a personal problem with me. Understand?”

I don’t wait for their responses and stride out of the room.

No idea how I got to the safe house, but I somehow manage to wobble my way through. All I keep thinking about is that I need to see Elle’s face and touch her so all this chaos will somehow fade away.

My closest mates could be traitors. It’s a worse blow than Diablo’s death or Hades’ hell or Omega’s robotic state.

This could ruin everything I’ve been building. Decades of companionship. An alternative family.

Every-fucking-thing.

I don’t want to think about Shadow and Mist as traitors. And I won’t. Not without proof.

As soon as I open the door to the room, Elle jumps in my arms. Her body snuggles against mine as she lifts and wraps herself around me in a Koala embrace. My good arm tightens around her waist and I hug her close.

Peace falls over me. One thought remains in my hazy brain; I need inside her. Then, everything will turn for the better.

I carry Elle to the bed and lower her to the mattress. When I see what she’s wearing, my head spins – and it’s not because of the meds. My shirt. Out of all clothes, Elle’s wearing my fucking shirt.

She couldn’t look any prettier.

I grunt as I rip it off her. The buttons fly everywhere.

She chuckles. “Do you have a problem with clothes or something?”

“On you. Fuck right, I do.”

Her cheeks tint in crimson and I kiss it all. The innocence, the cuteness, the strength of this fucking woman. She deserves to be out there in a normal world with a normal life, but she’s not. And won’t be. I’m tarnishing her. I know I am. I’ve been in the dark for too long, I can’t help feeding off her light. I can’t think of any possible scenario where I would ever let her go.

I’m still hazy, but I manage to sink into her warmth. She starts doing those little noises that drive me fucking nuts and make me thrust into her like a lunatic. Once she moans my name, I’m right there with her.

My arms tighten around her as we lie facing each other, gazing at one another with so much intensity, it’s almost more intimate than sex itself. What’s going on in that head of hers?

“You will never betray me, Firefly?” I don’t know why it came out as a question. It was supposed to be a statement and all she has to say is ‘Yes, Julian’. Because the thought of her betrayal is too painful to even consider. Not after the whole mess with Shadow and Mist.

She stiffens a little. My mind goes on alert.

The bright blue of her eyes softens and she palms my cheek and smiles. “I won’t.”

I’m still uncertain, unable to let that little stiffening go. But when she buries her face in my chest and whispers, her words strike me, no matter how much she repeats them.

“I’m yours, Julian.”

I kiss the top of her head and surprise the hell out of myself when I say, “And I’m yours, Firefly.”





Chapter Twenty-Two





The bed is achingly empty and cold when I wake up.

I groan and bury my face in Julian’s pillow. I’ve become a hopeless addict of his presence and his intoxicating, masculine scent.