The twins had beaten us to the safe house and were already waiting when we arrived, leaning against Austin's car like the cover of a magazine or something. As we exited River's car, with me stumbling and almost falling while clambering off Wesley's lap, Caleb gave us a surprised look.

“Kitty Kat, you could have come with us you know. It looks like that was an awfully cramped ride…” He looked curiously at the other men piling out of the car.

“You have no idea,” Cole muttered, stalking past us and into the house.

The safe house was a lovely countryside home, set in perfectly manicured gardens and looking like the sort of place you expect to see a nice old lady baking pies. Not at all what I would have expected from a spy safe house, but I guessed that was kind of the point.

“Hey, Austin.” I grabbed his arm as he moved to walk past me, and he paused, raising his eyebrows. “Do you have the number for Lucy’s rehab? I want to call and let her know what’s going on. Actually, maybe we should get her out of there…”

“I’ve already called and spoken to her,” he told me with a slight frown. “She said she’s not going anywhere, that the whole point of moving her there was that no one knew where she was, so it’s the safest place. Also, she said not to stress about Finn and that she’s handling it.”

Lucy’s message did the complete opposite of instilling confidence in me because now I was stressing about her getting herself in trouble if she tried to question Finn herself. As I had already seen, he was no stranger to casual murder.

“So I am going to ask you again, princess,” Austin continued with narrowed eyes. “Who the fuck is Finn, and why does Luce need to handle it?”

“Kitty Kat!” Caleb called out, and I saw that everyone else had already gone inside. “The Director is on the phone wanting to speak to you.”

Austin held my gaze for a moment longer, silently demanding answers, but I took the distraction Caleb had provided and ducked inside to take the call.

“Kit, what the hell happened outside the townhouse?” Jonathan's irate voice echoed down the phone, and I cringed. We should have called him sooner.

“Car bomb,” I told him succinctly. There was a long pause on his end and then a heavy sigh.

“Never mind; I will get the details from Alpha later. There is a huge mess of paperwork that I will need to action in order to get this cleaned up. Are you okay though? Was anyone hurt?” Instead of sounding worried, like I might have expected, he sounded sort of… curious? Has he been body-snatched or something?

“Um, no, everyone is fine; we were all out of range when it went off.” Why I’d just lied to him, I had no idea. Other than his failing to sound super-concerned, which could have just been my imagination, I had no reason not to trust him.

While I was speaking, River had come to stand in front of me, and when he heard my lie, he raised an eyebrow in question, to which I just gave a small shrug.

“I see,” Jonathan murmured. “That’s very lucky. I understand you’re at the Omega safe house with Alpha team right now. What are your plans from here?”

“Ummm,” I looked to River for guidance, but of course he hadn’t heard the question and just gave me a confused frown. “I think we will stay here for a bit and try to work out who was responsible for that car bomb.”

“Okay, sounds like a good idea, kiddo. I have to deal with all this paperwork tomorrow, so I will come up there as soon as I can get finished.” There was something seriously strange about his tone as he spoke, but he gave me no further opportunity to question it. “Can you pass the phone to River please, hon? I want to get his report directly.”

“Uh, sure.” I handed the phone to River with a small shake of my head, and he nodded, taking it from me.

Not bothering to hang around and listen to their conversation, I headed through to where the guys were all gathered in the living room. When I got there, I sighed heavily, rubbing my tired eyes.

“I understand there is a whole thing going on here between you two,” I waved my hand between Cole and Vali. “But can it wait? I’m so exhausted it’s not even funny. I need sleep, and then we need to get ourselves to Alaska somehow. Can everyone please stay alive for like… eight hours?” Running my hand through my wild, tangled hair, I grimaced. There were little twigs and bits of stuff all through it, and I probably looked a sight.

“You do kind of look pale,” Caleb noted, stepping forward to lay a hand against my forehead. “Do you still feel sick? Wes just told us you vomited when you woke up from that faint.”

“I’m fine,” I brushed off his concern. “Nothing a shower and sleep can’t fix.”

“You’d better do that then, Vixen,” Cole suggested from his spot on the couch. “I’m sure Dragomir’s bullshit can wait until morning.”

Vali glared hard at his brother then nodded to me, his eyes softening. “Of course, dragă, I’m not going anywhere.” Cole grunted an angry noise, and I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever; you two have a fun night, and try not to kill each other. We can talk tomorrow.” Leaving them to it, I followed Caleb as he tugged me down the corridor to a bedroom.

“Bathroom’s just through there.” He motioned to the door leading off the bedroom. “I’ll see if I can find you something to sleep in. Most safe houses have spare clothes somewhere.”

“Thanks, Cal.” I pressed a quick kiss on his cheek then took myself into the bathroom to shower off the soot and dirt from my near death experience today, again. This was getting way too damn frequent. What were the odds that in two days I would need to use my newfound magic twice to save the lives of guys I cared for?

Woah, calm down, sunshine. You do not “care for” Vali. That’s the Stockholm Syndrome talking.

If only I could make myself believe that. No matter how hard I tried, my brain just kept seeming to focus on his redeeming qualities and skipping over his casual attitude towards murder and drug running. Every time I tried to remind myself that he was a bad person, all I could see was him catching me as I lost my grip on his window or getting shot trying to save me from Mr. Grey’s men.

“Kitty Kat?” Caleb’s voice cut through my troubling thoughts as he cracked open the bathroom door. “I found some clothes; where did you want me to leave them?”

Having just stepped out of the shower, I laughed when I saw him politely staying on the other side of the door.

“Seriously, Caleb?” I snickered. “Now you’re worried about seeing me naked? What happened to offering to help me wash my hair?” There was a short pause on his side while I wrapped myself in a towel and grabbed another to start drying my hair

“Was that you asking for assistance? Because I am in the business of assisting damsels in distress you know…” The door creaked open a little wider, and I grinned.

“Sadly, you missed the boat. My hair is already washed. I could use some help drying and brushing it though,” I suggested. “I really am feeling a bit off, and my arms hurt just looking at this tangled mess.”

“Your wish is my command, Kitty Kat,” Caleb replied, slipping into the steamy bathroom and closing the door behind him. For a moment, he hesitated where he stood near the door, his gaze heavy on me as he raked his eyes over every inch of wet skin exposed by the too-small towel wrapped around my body.

“What?” I teased. “You act like you've never seen me in a towel before.” A sly smile crept across his face, and I knew I was playing with fire. Despite the circumstances, having just been bombed and five other guys only just down the hall, nothing could make me stop playing with this particular fire. It had been too long coming already.

Tossing my second towel to him, I turned back to the vanity, bending down to grab the hairdryer and a brush out from one of the drawers. Thank goodness someone has kept this house stocked with useful items. If my hair had gone much longer without seeing a brush, it would have needed to be cut off or fashioned into dreadlocks.

As I bent, Caleb sucked in a sharp breath, stepping closer behind me and trailing a finger up the back of my thigh.

“Kitty Kat…” he murmured. “Are you intentionally teasing me?”

With a cheeky grin, I straightened back up and winked at him in the mirror. “Maybe.”

He let out a frustrated groan and held out his hand. “Give me the damn brush.”

For a few minutes, he worked in silence, gently and methodically working the tangles out of my long hair while I kept my hands braced against the sink. Every now and then, as he encountered a particularly nasty snag, my balance was tugged backwards and my towel-covered rear would bump into him. After this had happened several times, he stopped and placed the brush down on the sink, bracing his hands on the counter to either side of mine.

“What's up?” I asked a little breathlessly because I was not totally unaffected by the hardening region my rear had just bumped.

“Fucking Christ, I don't think I can do this,” he muttered, his head hanging to press his forehead on my shoulder.

“Do what?” I teased, being deliberately obtuse. “Brush my hair?”

“Keep my hands off you.” He grasped my waist, spinning me to face him and grabbing my lips in a crushing kiss. My heart raced in excitement, and I lifted my hands, one snaking into the back of his hair and the other grasping his neck to pull him closer to me. The movement caused my towel to shift and untuck, and it slid off my body and pooled at our feet.

“Fuck,” Caleb moaned, his hands sliding down my naked body slowly, as though memorizing every inch of skin, until he reached my ass. Lips still caressing mine, his palms smoothed over the round of my butt, making me sigh against his mouth, silently begging for more. His hands slid lower, grabbing tight to the tops of my legs and lifting me just a couple of inches to perch on the edge of the vanity.

My knees spread, and he stepped closer into the gap I’d just created, pressing hard to my already throbbing center. Pulling back from my lips a fraction, he dipped his head to watch as his hands moved up my body once more, this time finding my breasts and gently palming them.

Oh my God, he's trying to kill me.

My breath caught in a gasp as he lightly, infuriatingly, teased at my nipples, and I tilted my head back, giving his mouth access to my neck. Seeming to read my mind, his lips closed over the skin of my throat, teeth brushing me lightly as he dragged his mouth lower, then lower, then grabbed one of my tight, hard nipples in his gentle teeth.

“Caleb,” I moaned, not entirely sure what I was trying to say, but thankfully he didn't let up what he was doing. Fuck me, it felt amazing.

“Mmmm?” he asked, his mouth still on my sensitive flesh, and the vibration sent shivers of pleasure radiating through me. Lips on one breast and fingers on the other, he slipped his free hand lower to part my already wet folds and ever so lightly stroke my throbbing clit.

Desperately, I grabbed at the hem of his shirt, yanking it up and dislodging his body from mine only long enough to pull it off before he went right back to what he had been doing, thank fuck. With him occupied, driving me to near insanity, I made quick work of his belt and fly, roughly pushing the offensive fabric out of the way so that I could even out the clothing score between us. His belt buckle clinked as it hit the tiles, and he kicked his pants out of the way, leaving him just as gloriously naked as I was, and I pushed him back a step.

“What?” he panted, his lips deliciously red and swollen as he stared at me with hungry eyes.

“Just give me a minute,” I grinned, leaning back on my hands and taking in the sight of him. He hadn't been lying all those months ago when he told me he had more tattoos than just the one I had seen on his side. They were all stunning and highlighted his incredible, muscular body perfectly.

“Enjoying the view, Kitty Kat?” he purred, like the shithead he was. My gaze had just dropped low enough that I was now perusing his impressive dick, standing straight up as though begging for my attention.

“Maybe,” I smirked. “But I think I need a closer look…” Sliding off the counter, I dropped to my knees in front of him and grasped his rigid shaft in my hand. A shocked noise gasped from him, and he stared down at me with wide eyes.

“Kitty Kat, you don't—” His words cut off as I licked up the length of his cock, then slid the head inside my mouth. “Oh fuck.”

My tongue rolled over his silky skin, and the sound of his moan made me almost smile. Keeping a grip on his shaft, I sucked lightly, scraping my teeth just the tiniest bit down his length as I took more of him into my mouth. Pulling back, then taking more on the next down thrust. The sound of his whispered curses spurred me on, and he tangled his hands in my freshly brushed hair, holding my head and indicating a pace that he liked.

My other hand was clasping one of his tight ass cheeks, and I used that control to pull him in deeper, making him groan loudly and pull back. His cock slipped from my mouth with a wet pop as he tugged me back to my feet and reclaimed my lips in a crushing kiss, our tongues both fighting for dominance while his hard length pressed against my stomach and my folds throbbed with heat. Already, I could feel the wet slickness of my own arousal on my thighs, and it only made me want more.

“Damn, girl,” he muttered when he finally released my mouth. “I swear you will be the death of me.” Not disagreeing, because I could have said the same about him, I grinned wickedly and ran my nails down his back, not lightly but not hard enough to draw blood.

“Fuck,” he muttered, his head tilting back, and I used the opportunity to seal my mouth onto the bend of his neck, which was as far as I could reach in bare feet.

“Caleb,” I whispered as his hands roamed my body in return. “Quit teasing. I need you.”

“Need me to do what, Kitty Kat?” He smirked, bringing his face back down to kiss me again.

“I need you,” I panted, between toe-curling kisses, “in me. Now.”

His mouth curved into a smile against mine, and his hard dick twitched between us.

“Well, when you ask so nicely…” He grasped my waist once more in his huge hands and spun me back to face the mirror. “Seems unfair for you not to enjoy the view as well.”

Palming my breasts once more, he rolled my nipples between his fingers while his hot, heavy, cock rested against my ass. The mirror was still fogged up from my shower, but I could still clearly make out our forms, and the added visual made me quiver with anticipation.

“Please,” I begged, planting my hands on the counter and pushing backwards in encouragement. Not needing any further urging, Caleb grasped his dick in his hand and lined up from behind, then pushed in firmly and dragged a low moan from me. He made it halfway inside, then pulled out briefly before surging in the rest of the way with a sexy groan. The instant feeling of fullness was incredible, and I was already so wet that there was no need to take things slow until I adjusted to his considerable girth. Instead I pushed back onto him, urging him to move. Obliging, he thrust in and out firmly, confidently, while his hands gripped my hips tight. Panting hard, I dropped my head low, my wet hair falling forward like a curtain and brushing against the sink.

After only seconds, Caleb released one of my hips and gathered up my hair in his hand, pulling gently to bring my face back up to the mirror.

“I want you,” he gasped, “to keep watching.” His sexy green eyes bored into mine in the mirror where the fog had begun to fade, and my pussy clenched hard around his cock. He kept his firm hold on my hair and maintained his intense eye contact with me as he pumped in and out of my tight sheath at just the right speed, and before long, I was crashing into an intense orgasm. As I came, keeping my eyes on the mirror, I caught Caleb roll his eyes back and flicker his lids shut for just a moment before snapping his gaze back on mine.

Desperately trying to keep my eyes open as directed, my body convulsed with waves of pleasure, and Caleb's hard thrusting picked up in pace. Without letting go of my hair, he gripped my hip harder, pulling me backward as he thrust forward, and I arched my back a little more to increase his depth. His grip on my hair tightened, and I knew he must be close to coming. I shifted my weight slightly onto one hand and used the other to rub at my clit, sending me crashing into a second earth-shattering orgasm while he thrust deep, unloading into me with a primal cry.

For a few moments, neither of us moved. We stayed where we were, bent over the bathroom sink, Caleb deep inside me while he rested his face on my back and we both caught our breath.

“Kitty…” He finally gasped and caught my gaze once more in the mirror. “I think you need another shower…” A laugh snorted out of me, and he slid out, leaving me feeling empty and badly looking forward to round two.

“I could go another shower,” I said breathlessly, turning to face him. “But only if you'll scrub my back…”

Smirking, he swept me up in his arms, startling a surprised squeak out of me as he carried me back over to the shower.

“I think I can probably manage that.” He grinned, then pressed an indulgent kiss on my mouth as he turned the shower back on.