Page 109 of Burned

“Publicly shaming you into submission,” he says, a little too loudly. “It’s the only way I know to keep you from crossing my boundary.”

Rafe taps an impatient finger on the tabletop. Gregory clears his throat.

Isobel looks on as Lucian turns his body towards me like a shield. The pink is rising in my cheeks. I have a dangerous thought.

He’s been like this with her.

The possession, the obsession, the dominance, the claim.

Do the things we do together belong to her because they were hers, first?

The thought threatens to break me. To break us. I push it away, telling myself she’s the one who made him this way.

This, is the after Lucian.

My Lucian.

I reach up and touch his face to prove it to myself as much as to her.

Smiling seductively, I smooth my voice. “Sounds lovely.”

He shifts in his seat.

Cass sighs. “Get a room already.”

“Moving on,” Lucian says. He takes my hand from his face and presses it to his thigh.

Rafe is eager to move on. He leans, both hands on the table. “It’s an old signal relay device, living in the property’s original wiring. Possibly installed recently — repurposed. Someone either preserved the access or knew exactly where to find it.”

Lucian’s grip tightens. “Meaning it could have been placed when the wiring was originally being installed?”

“Exactly.” He nods. “Or, not. And put in more recently.”

I’m sure we’re all thinking of the same name: Carlos.

“Meaning someone’s been listening,” Cass says.

“Meaning someone’s been watching,” Rafe corrects. “It wasn’t wired to do anything. No trigger, no charge. Just a line out.”

Gregory lifts his head. “An observation post. Not a weapon.”

Everyone turns toward him. He immediately looks regretful about having a mouth.

His timing is getting less guarded over time.

“Careful, there, Greggers.” Blaze smiles. “You might just be one of us, yet.”

“I am not volunteering to become whatever terrifying thing all of you are,” he says.

“You’re dangerously close, though,” Rafe says. “Hanging out with us is how it begins.”

“And he has the DNA. The name.” And most importantly, Blaze adds, “The handsome face.”

Gregory’s voice is soft. “I don’t have the thing that sets you apart.”

The ability to kill. It goes unsaid.

Lucian says nothing other than, “Moving on.”