Shouts rang out as the gang arrived. Marin, Finn, Ute, Torrin, all the others. They piled into the clearing. The Imani lay in smoking ruins around me. I hoped we got most of them. Xade got away, but I didn’t think many others did. I wasn’t sure who killed whom. Zanth insisted afterward that he got most of them with the knife. We agreed to compromise; he claimed one-half, I claimed the other.

Stein didn’t speak. Broot and Ned restrained him. Lara had been his only child. He wanted to kill us on principle, but he had no grounds. The proof of Lara’s complicity was overwhelming. Lara betrayed us.

The Imani weren’t defeated. They’d taken to the skies, watching and waiting.

But we had weapons now, and the magic was returning. The Imani wouldn’t find us a soft target.

As for me, I had some of my answers, but there were a lot more questions still to be answered.

Zanth cleared his throat. Marin rushed up and pulled me into his arms.

“I can confirm the metal works,” Zanth said. Marin chucked his shoulder, the uninjured one. Ute applied pressure to Zanth’s wound, leading him away.

“What happened here?” Marin asked.

“Lara came to get us. She claimed you sent her. It didn’t take us long to realize she was the spy, but we followed her,” I explained, burying my face against Marin’s neck, cuddling close. Using all that magic left me chilled, numb.

“And why was that?” Marin bit out.

I raised my head. “I wanted answers.”

Marin ran his hands down my face. That was fast becoming his favorite gesture. “Did you get your answers?”

“Yes, some.”

His eyes searched mine. Finn came up beside us. He wrestled me out of Marin’s arms and hugged me. Marin retained tight hold of my hand.

“Are you all right?”

I lied. “I’m fine.” My eyes refused to meet his.

Finn lowered his head to mine before Marin pulled me away, whispering. “You tell me if you need anything.”

I turned and placed my head on Marin’s chest and wound my arms around his waist. Finn watched us. The Fost stacked the Imani bodies in the middle of the clearing to burn. Torrin helped pile them with a wide smile on his face.

Even in death, I couldn’t tell them apart. I shivered and Marin rubbed his hands up and down my arms.

The flames were hypnotic, the dance of yellow and orange. It called to me. I couldn’t look away. The heat helped dissipate my chill. More people walked up to see the Imani barbeque.

Stein stood off to the side, not watching the fire, but me. The hate in his eyes burned almost as hot as the flames.

As we walked home, I expected celebration, feasting, but I underestimated the Fost. The gravity of the situation was not lost on them. Yes, we’d won, but at what cost?

When we got back to the house, the leadership convened in the meeting room. Marin perched me on his lap. I wound my arms around him and closed my eyes. He responded by stroking his hand along my back as he chatted with Ned about continued security. Eventually, their talk tapered off.

People drifted home. Tomorrow, there would be a lot more to deal with. I still felt cold inside. I nuzzled Marin’s neck. The hand on my back clenched as his other traveled up my thigh. I sighed. I turned my face into his, nibbling on his ear. The hand on my thigh moved to my cheek, turning me to look at him. He ran his fingertips down my face. His kiss seared me. His tongue ravaged my mouth. Damn, I needed his heat, his spark. I skimmed my hand under his shirt and placed my palms flat, feeling skin, needing the contact.

Marin stood up and pulled me against him, then placed me on the table. Without much ado, he had my shirt off and my skirt lifted. I looked around to make sure we were alone. The conference room had emptied. His mouth feathered along mine. “I thought I lost you today.”

“You didn’t.” I moved my palm to rub against him through his leather. That got his attention; he grew harder in my hand. He pushed me so I was lying flat on my back, my hips and legs hung over the edge, his body anchoring mine in place. Once he had me there, he stopped and gazed down at me. That look again. He took off his vest, watching me watch him.

I did love his chest. Chiseled. There was no extra flesh on him. His muscles moved smoothly under his skin. It was so damn unfair how sexy I found him.

He took his knife from his belt and slammed in into the table with a thunk of metal sliding onto wood. Even the sound turned me on. I reached my hand up. He licked the middle of my palm as my thumb caressed his cheek. I felt the spark spread down to my belly, and lower.

He ground his hips into mine. One by one, he nibbled each of my fingers. My legs linked behind his back as he jerked his hips against mine. With one hand, he held my wrists above my head and with the other he skimmed my sex. He pushed two fingers deep within my folds. Marin hummed, pleased when I bucked and moaned at the invasion. His fingers rubbed and found my sweet spot. I gasped and reached up to pull him down on top of me. Our gazes locked, his fingers still deep inside me, I leaned up to kiss him. Tongues clashed. Marin pushed me down again and reached to unlace his pants.

“Off,” I said.

He looked surprised and dismayed. “What?”

“Your pants, off.” I grinned up at him.

His relief evident, he growled and shoved his pants down. I bit my lip. Whoa.

“You are going to pay for that.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He grabbed my hips and guided me, so his shaft rubbed against my entrance. He pressed forward a few inches, and then withdrew, moving his hips in a circle. Tease. I was having none of that. I pushed up, but the angle was wrong. I hooked my ankles behind his back and arched to rub against him. He just braced himself above me, grinning at my impatience.

“You like that?”

I nodded at him.

He chuckled “Good. You want me inside you? You want to feel me stretch you and fill you?”

I didn’t realize Marin had a dirty talk fetish.

“You want me to come inside you?” He held my shoulders down as he continued to tease, muttering dirty things until I snapped.

“Marin!” He smiled and leaned down. His rod filled me, but not enough. Not deep enough. “Stop teasing and take me!”

His pupils constricted; he tensed and shoved into me with one hard deep stroke. “I love when you tell me what to do,” he purred. He thrust hard, setting a fast rhythm. His fingers slid between our bodies. The thrusts rocked the table.

“Oh lands.” He leaned his head back, and his shaft swelled inside me. His fingers flicked my moist sex once, and I joined him, screaming his name. My magic settled tight in my belly, finally dispelling the cold. The tension melted away as I relaxed. Sex had never felt like this before. I felt so connected to him. My mind, my body, my magic.

He leaned down to nuzzle my neck, licking and kissing. His head rose, and he kissed me. His tongue stroked mine. He tasted male, sweet, and hot, mine. He tightened his arms around me, lifting me up. He turned his head. “Upstairs. I want you on the bed.”

I breathed against his ear. “No. I want you on the bed. I want to be on top.”

He shuddered. In a flash, Marin had me on the bed and I had him.

We didn’t get much sleep that night, but it was worth it.

I woke to fingertips stroking my face. I knew that touch.

“Marin,” I said, my eyes still closed. His mouth covered mine, his lips soft. His hands framed my face.

I looked up to see him gazing at me, eyes shining. He opened his mouth to say what, I didn’t know. I kissed him, pulling his hair, which got me a groan as he moved to cover me on the bed.

“None of that now,” I laughed, then wiggled away and got up. Wait. We were in Marin’s room. I poked my head out the door to check if the way was clear.

Marin climbed into my personal space, bracing me from behind. “Where are you going?”

“I need my clothes.”

He licked my neck. “You do not need clothes for what I am planning.”

I wiggled against him before I looked back outside. Zanth exited his room across the hall. I turtled back, slamming the door. “Zanth.”

“What about Zanth?”

“He is in the hall!” I felt my cheeks burning.

“I am sure he has no idea what we are up to.” Yeah, right.

Zanth knocked on the door. Marin nuzzled my neck, shaking with mirth.

“You two alive in there?”

“No,” Marin yelled.

“Yes,” I replied. I stomped on his foot. He started to laugh like a hyena.

“The clan leaders are here. They wish a meeting. They cannot wait till Midday.” And all of Marin’s plans went boom.

“I will be right down.” He ground into me one last time. With a sigh, Marin turned to dress.

I scooted out to my own room. We met near the bottom of the steps. Great minds and all that, we were both in black leather pants and vests, armed and ready to rumble. I felt badass. Imani beware. Marin grabbed my hand as we entered the room, his thumb slipping down the back of my fingers. That small touch grounded me. Support. Affection. Acceptance.

The room was packed. There were over thirty people, crowded close to hear Marin’s news. Along the back wall, guards and citizens stood, waiting.

“Report,” Marin commanded after he sat, tugging me next to him.

Finn stepped forward. “I stayed up all night. All the traces of Imani I found ended in a body except one. I do not think there are anymore, but we still do not know where they came from. We are widening our search.”

Marin nodded as others stepped forward and gave reports on the damage from yesterday.

Marin turned to Zanth last. “Report.”

Zanth stood. “After the blast in the conference room, I secured Elizabeth in the library. Lara came up to us, stating that you wished Elizabeth to go to Ute’s. The situation seemed strange. I knew you would not have sent anyone but a guard to get her. I also know you would not have sent Lara. You would have told us yourself.

“We followed her and she led us to the clearing where the Imani waited. She had planned everything. She admitted it. She said the Imani told her they would leave us alone, if she cooperated. I am not certain of her involvement in the other deaths. Her task was to bring Elizabeth to the clearing.”

“Lies!” screamed Stein. He stood up and moved toward Zanth. “You killed her, you killed my little girl, and now you are spreading lies about her.”

“Shut up, Stein,” said Ned. “I have had suspicions about Lara. She had been acting weird, even for her. I caught her out several times after curfew. We checked her room.”

“What?” Stein swung to Ned, aghast. “You had no right!”

Ned continued after a glance at Stein. “She had a few items in her room. One was the necklace from Gia that she liked to wear.”

I flashed to the haze and Gia twisting something around her neck.

“There was also a lock of hair that we are sure is Linc’s. She even wrote a diary.” He hesitated. “It details where she met the Imani and what they did to her, what they said to her.” Ned glanced again at Stein. “They tortured her in some sort of tube.”

I gasped. A tube. A memory beckoned. Marin touched my shoulder, and it drifted away. “There is no question of her guilt. Amalie, Linc’s sister, remembers her. Her mother told me this yesterday. I was getting more information.”

Stein’s cries faded as he stopped struggling and fell to his knees. His head hung down, shoulders slumped. “No, no. Please no.”

Marin stood.

Everyone stilled as the crowd waited. Silence filled the room; anticipation built. Everyone leaned forward to hear what he was going to say. Silence stretched. Marin’s voice rang out.

“Fost, in the past week, we have seen the worst and the best in ourselves. We have faced our enemies. We have crushed them!”

There was a spattering of applause.

“But we also lost our own. For now, I want everyone to go about their regular duties. Guards will finish cleaning up the damage done last night with the storm. Finn, I want you searching. You said only one trail got away. Make sure it does not come back. At Midday, all the clan leaders will review defense and strategy and tonight, tonight we will remember the dead.”

Stein stomped out of the room in the middle of Marin’s speech.

I spent the day with Zanth; we didn’t mention anything that had happened in the clearing. He seemed to feel my hand-to-hand and knife skills were inadequate. He taught me more defensive strategies.

It felt good to train. I needed the skills. But my power was strangely absent. A deep well of nothing filled my gut. Was my power gone or just drained?

I twirled and swung at Zanth. Marin watched me from the doorway. My swing faltered. I loved the way he looked at me. Zanth’s knife flashed in front of my face.

“Do not let my brother distract you. Any distraction could prove fatal.”

I huffed at him. Jerk.

Marin walked up.

“Time to take a break. Get ready for tonight.” Marin smooched me hello, then I dragged my butt to the pool for a bath. I thought he was going to join me, but Marin stayed behind to talk to Zanth.

When I finished bathing, towels waited on the bench nearby. Such an organized man.

Wrapping the towels around me, I proceeded to my room. Marin had been filling my dressers full of clothing. There was a short-sleeved red wrap dress laid out on the bed. I guess the Fost didn’t believe in black for mourning. They believed in celebrating life, color, love.

I brushed out my hair. The dress fit snugly. I ran my hands down my sides. Lara’s image flitted through my mind. This was something she would wear. Belly tight, I headed downstairs, fingers trailing along the railing.

Hands grabbed my waist at the bottom of the steps. My skin tingled. I turned and there he was. Marin was in red, as well. God love a metro-sexual man with color-coordinating skills.

“Hi.” I twined my arms around him.

“Hi,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine. “Ready?”

I nodded, and he picked me up in his arms.