Page 64 of Silver Fire

His brows furrowed. “Come again?”

“Men are psychologically programmed to be hunters,” Sophie explained. “It’s your natural instinct. I had sex with you too soon.”

Derek fell silent because he was trying hard not to grin. Her eyes squinted at him.

“Are you laughing at me, Derek?”

“First of all, you are right,” he cleared his throat to disguise his chuckle. “Men are hunters. And Angel, I’m letting you know now, I’ll be hunting you down if you try to run away from me.”

“God, you’re impossible,” Sophie muttered in exasperation. She tried to pull away, but Derek only tightened his arms. “You’re not letting me go, are you?”

He shook his head.

“We should have dated first.”

Derek chuckled. “You know, I’d love to take you out on a date, but Viktor advised me and Maia to lay low. Not that Viktor’s advice would stop me, but I’m not risking you.”

“You’re making excuses.”

“What if I cooked dinner for you tonight?”

“Can we invite Beth and Stephen?”

Derek sighed. “You use them to deflect. And I’m not their favorite person right now. I really want to have you all to myself tonight.”

Sophie tried to pull away again and this time he let her go. She sat on the bed, expression contemplative. “I was hurt this morning, Derek. You knew sex was a big deal to me. Can we, can we take it slow? Just hang out maybe, get to know each other, not on a carnal level?”

Derek chuckled, crouching in front of her and hugging her knees together with his. “I can hang out, Sophie. And get to know you. But honestly, I can’t promise not to fuck you. I’ve been inside you, it felt damned amazing, and I’d be wanting more of that pussy.”

“Derek! I wish you wouldn’t be so…so…uncouth,” Sophie groused.

“I’m a dirty talker, baby. Get used to it.”

* * *

Nash Becker lockedup the doors of Silver Fire Research as the last of the workers left. The repair work was almost done and the men would only need one more day to do cosmetic fixes to the walls and ceilings. They would have to rope off the area that needed a fresh application of concrete, as it would take several days to dry.

Becker shook his head as he remembered the initial mess that greeted him on Friday morning after the Forensics team left and the coroners packed up the bodies. There were stains of blood everywhere; it took the crime scene clean-up crew a couple of hours to get all the organic matter out of the lab’s hallway. The situation must have been desperate for Dr. Leroux to use an IED. Becker heard she lost one of her bodyguards. Sad day.

“I’m outta here,” Becker barked into his radio, alerting the night shift security that he was leaving. He couldn’t wait to get home. It was the weekend and he had to work late. As head of building maintenance and construction he had to oversee the repairs. Divergent employed a permanent maintenance crew, but for extensive repairs such as what Silver Fire Research needed, they had a list of approved contractors.

As he pulled into his driveway, he noticed that the living room lights were off. He sighed. His wife must be pissed. They were supposed to go on a date tonight and had already reserved a babysitter. He made a mental note to get her a dozen roses.

He opened and shut the door quietly so as not to wake up their six-month old son. He heard some movement in the kitchen, and made his way there through the living room. Funny, the lights were on, his wife was not a late night binger and she was not one of those women who used baking or cooking as therapy when she was angry.

“Honey,” Becker’s voice died on his lips as he witnessed the scene before him. His wife was tied to a chair, a gag wrapped around her mouth. Three strangers were in his kitchen, one of them holding his son.

The youngest of the three, who looked no older than twenty, addressed him in a tone that chilled his blood. “Mr. Becker, my name is Justin. I believe we need your help on a certain matter.”

“What’s the meaning of this?” Becker spat out harshly.

Justin raised an eyebrow and glanced at Becker’s wife before returning his gaze to Becker. He shrugged. “I thought it was fairly obvious, Mr. Becker. We require you to do something for us. Your wife and son are insurance.”

“How do I know you won’t harm us anyway even if I give you whatever it is you want?” Becker countered. He knew there was little hope of these people leaving them alive. They had not even bothered putting on masks.

“I give you my word,” Justin said seriously. “You give us what we want, we’ll leave your family of three intact.”

Becker snorted incredulously. “You expect me to believe that?”