CHAPTER SIXTEEN

O liver finished typing out the message to Darren, asking for the updated intel, then threw his phone on the sofa behind him and lifted the lid on his laptop.

“Stop fucking staring at me,” he growled at Ben.

“Why? I’m studying the anatomy of an idiot,” Ben replied.

Kurt shook his head and kept scrolling on his smartphone.

“I fucked her. That’s all. Get over it.”

He was being a dick and knew it, but he wasn’t ready to be lectured about Piper. And it wasn’t Ben’s place to do it. Sure, Ben was trying to be a friend and keep him from making a poor decision, but it was a little late for that.

“Didn’t Ari tell you she was off-limits?” Ben asked, raising his brows.

“Oh, you mean like that time he said the Moretti royal family were off-limits?” Ben’s brows dropped. “Yeah, thought so. Fuck off, Ben.”

The two of them had been friends for decades. Best friends. This wasn’t their first debate, nor would it be their last. The Institute was full of alpha testosterone and, despite their training, at times fists and words could fly. Sometimes you just had to punch an asshole in the face.

And Ben was being an asshole.

Even though he was right. Oli should have stayed the fuck away from Piper Roberts, except he didn’t regret a single damn moment of it.

His cock twitched.

Sorry, false alarm, buddy .

“Slightly different, Oliver Cammbiaaaaghi,” Ben said, over-emphasizing his full name and giving him the bird. “Anyway, Anna was my mate.”

Kurt let out a long sigh, stood and pulled his black Moretti sweatpants up, giving the waistband a snap. “Okay, ladies. Put your cocks away and let’s get back to work. Do we have the intel from The Institute yet?”

Oliver shook his head and placed the laptop on the sofa beside him. “Should be through in the next few minutes.”

He got up and walked to the glass doors, pulling the thick drapes aside. The sun was setting fast. None of them liked staying in hotels that weren’t vampire protected, but hopefully they were only here for a few days. Meanwhile, the heavy drapes were sufficient to keep out the bright light.

Oliver hoped Piper had seen his message and decided to fly home, though the chances of that happening were close to zero. It was worth a try.

Plus, he hadn’t wanted to just disappear without leaving a note. What he’d really wanted to say was: your pussy was the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted, and I want to please you all over again.

Or: w atching your face as I slid you up and down my cock was the hottest thing I’ve ever fucking seen.

Just thinking about it had his cock hardening.

Shit.

Ben was right. He had to forget about Piper. He had lied to Ari yesterday—or at the very least he’d omitted a really important piece of information.

Thing was, he had it handled. He’d convince her to go home now he’d fucked her, and wipe her memories. Then they could all go back to their lives and carry on.

“Why was she able to remember you?” Ben asked, like a dog with a fucking bone.

Oli turned.

“I don’t fucking know. She’s magic or something.”

She has a magic pussy, I know that.

“That’s weird.” Kurt said, crossing his arms and leaning on a doorframe. “You ever had that happen before?”

Oliver looked from Ben to Kurt, then shook his head.

“Never.”

“This is going out on a limb here, but you don’t think BioZen have done anything to her that’s impacting our abilities, do you?”

He frowned at the SLC for a long moment. “I know she’s related to Sage, but she only found out about the program after Ari and I met her. There’s no connection. Unless it’s completely coincidental.”

Ben nodded thoughtfully.

“You said she’s a journalist?” Oliver nodded at Ben. “Then it’s doubtful. The last thing they’re going to do is get media involved with unethical experimentations. The media would blow that story up in a millisecond.”

There was heavy silence as they suddenly realized what they were saying. Eyeballs bulged and brows shot up.

“Fuck me.” Kurt pushed away from the wall.

“Jesus. Is that what they’re doing?” Oliver ran a hand through his hair. They better not have harmed Piper, or he’d fucking rip their heads off on the spot.

Whoa.

Where they hell had that thought come from?

“They’re making little super-soldiers. Fuck me,” Ben said, shooting to his feet.

“Ring Ari. I’ll call the prince,” Kurt ordered. “We need to find these pricks, and fast.”

As Kurt burst out of the room with his phone in his hand, the door slowly closed behind him, as hotel room doors did. The quiet click didn’t seem to fit the mood and would have been comical if the situation wasn’t so damn serious.

Ben stood and slipped his hands in his pockets. “I doubt very much that’s why Piper remembers you.” He calmly walked to the door. “You need to tell Ari everything.”

“I can’t.”

“Dude, she’s hot. He’ll understand. It’s not like you to keep it in your pants, anyway.”

Oli shook his head. “You don’t—”

“I know she’s Sage’s sister. That’s more reason to tell him.”

Oliver felt the tension in his neck spread through his body. Jesus, he’d fucked up.

“He’ll get it,” Ben pressed. “But you need to wipe—”

“I fucked Sage,” Oliver spit out.

Ben froze, then his mouth fell open.

“Twice. Well, once. Technically. Two separate times.” He couldn’t stop talking. “Once with my cock. That was the second time. The first time I only licked... Jesus. It doesn’t matter.”

Ben wiped his hand over his face. “Ari knows?”

“Of course he knows. He was there. Well, he was there for the first time. And listening the second.”

“Listening?” Ben asked, his brows raised. Then he let out a short laugh. “Okay, I know we’ve all done some interesting stuff with females, but he’s always been more of an action guy.”

Oliver scowled.

“Right. Missed the point. You fucked his mate.” Ben nodded repeatedly. “And lived to tell the story. So... now you’re fucking his mate’s sister.”

“No. Last night was the first time.”

“Really? Because it sounded like—”

“It was the first time. And the last,” Oliver said firmly, because it had to be. “It’s out of my system. Forbidden fruit and all that.”

Ben nodded, looking completely unconvinced.

“She’s here looking into the same people we are. She just doesn’t know that. I’ve told her to leave, but she’s as stubborn as a mule. We need to keep an eye on her. If only to keep Ari’s new sister-in-law alive.”

He then shared what he’d learned from Piper the night before. He was right to be concerned about her getting close to dangerous people and looking into things she had no idea about. Eventually she’d hit a brick wall—BioZen weren’t exactly going to tell her anything—and go home.

But when?

Damn the sunlight. Oliver had barely slept lying there wondering what she was up to while he couldn’t follow or keep an eye on her.

This path she was on wasn’t a safe one.

He knew this was what journalists did, but this was a whole new ball game. If BioZen learned what she was trying to do...

Shit.

“So she’s writing a story? That isn’t good,” Ben said. “Tell Ari that Sage needs to get in touch with her sister and ask her to come home.”

Oliver ran a hand over his short hair. “Yeah, that could do it.”

AFTER BEN LEFT, OLIVER pressed the green button on his phone and waited for Ari to answer.

“ Ciao , Oliver,” Ari said in greeting.

“Hey,” replied, waiting for the video to load properly. When it did, he saw the familiar bookcase on the wall behind the director. Good, he was in his office, but he wanted to be sure before he launched into it. “We need to speak privately.”

“ Si , I’m alone. What’s going on, Oliver?”

Oliver knew the ancient vampire well enough, that when his Italian accent got thick, the male was in a serious mood. And it was thick.

“We believe the humans have already begun human experimentation. It’s likely why Dr. Phillips is in California. He’s led the science of this program so it makes sense Tomassi would appoint him as the lead on the execution phase.”

“Especially while Xander Tomassi remains hidden,” Ari replied.

Oliver nodded. “Kurt is updating the royal family as we speak.”

“Do we have proof yet?” Ari asked.

Oliver shook his head. “No, but I suspect we will find it. Although Ben—”

He stopped short of sharing his friend’s thoughts on why Oli’s memory wipe had failed on Piper.

“Ben?”

“No, nothing important. We are heading out in a few minutes, so will you update the team, or should I brief Travis?”

Ari stared at him for a long moment and Oliver felt a chill run through him. Damn it, he needed to get his shit together. He wanted to prove he was worthy of this job and his desire for Piper was fucking that up.

“One other thing,” he said, and Ari’s eyes locked on his as if he’d been waiting for him to share something else. “Piper Roberts is here.”

Those ancient eyes darkened. “Why?”

Why? That felt all kinds of accusatory, but he couldn’t blame his boss. Ari was too old and experienced to accept a lie as truth. He’d know Ben hadn’t told the full truth.

The last thing Oliver wanted was the trust between them broken. He had to fix this.

“She’s here on business. She’s a journalist, if you recall, and she’s doing a story,” Oliver replied.

“You spoke to her?”

Fuck.

“Yes.”

“Does she remember you?”

Shit.

“Yes.”

“I think it’s time you told me what’s going on, Oliver. All of it,” Ari said sternly.

Oliver let out a long sigh and moved to sit on the couch. “Wiping her memory isn’t working. I’ve tried twice, three times. Maybe more.”

“More? How many fucking times have you seen her?” Ari’s voice rose. “Wait. Are you—”

“Yes,” he replied, running a hand over his head. “Last night. I fucked her, okay?”

Ari groaned. “Christ. This makes things complicated. We’re about to send Sage back into her family’s life and my goddamn head assassin is fucking her sister.”

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck.

He felt like he should apologize, but he wasn’t going to. He hardly wanted to admit this to himself, but last night had been... kind of incredible. She’d never hear him say it, but apologizing for what they shared felt disrespectful and he wouldn’t do that.

“Sage needs to ring Piper tonight and tell her she’s alive and kicking,” Oliver said. “Piper is here looking for you both and thinks BioZen is mixed up in your disappearance.”

Ari cursed.

“I wiped her memory, Ari. I swear it. She keeps remembering. That’s why she arrived at the mansion the night you turned Sage.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” He replied honestly. “It partly worked. It’s jumbled her memories more than anything. She knows you and I are friends. She remembers that I know Sage. That’s appears to be all.”

He let that sink in, then added. “Ari, she’s smart and brave, but na?ve enough to get herself into trouble here. If BioZen work out what she’s looking into, I’m pretty sure they’ll hurt her. And we can’t protect her during the day.”

More cursing.

“Keep an eye on her. And try to keep your cock inside your pants,” Ari said, and Oliver tried not to cringe. “Sage will phone her. I just don’t know when. That will be up to her.”

Oli nodded.

“Oliver.”

He raised a brow.

“I selected you as my head assassin for a reason. Don’t lie to me again.”

“I won’t, sir.”

“You never have before, so I gave you time to rectify it. And you have. If... fuck, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but if Piper is your mate, then you need to tell me,” Ari said.

Mate ? Oliver blanched. “No. Fuck no.”

“Okay.”

“She’s just... some females... you know how it is. She pushed my buttons and I had to fuck her. Yes, I’m an asshole. Wrong female to get horny over. I get it.”

“Especially because of Sage,” Ari said.

“I know. Shit. God, don’t tell her.”

Sage had a special place in his heart. Not because of what the three of them had done. She wasn’t the first or the last female he’d had a threesome with. Nights like that were common in his life.

Perhaps it was because she was Ari’s mate, or that she had helped Callan escape? Deep down, he knew it wasn’t that. Vampires might only have one mate, but just like humans, they got along with some people better than others.

When he’d been playing sexually with Sage, a connection had formed that didn’t happen often. He cared for her, and he liked that she saw the goodness in him. His job saw him do some dark stuff, and it was like Sage chased away the bad.

Piper, on the other hand, made him want to be a really bad boy. With her. And he loved it. He could be all of himself and her body reacted so fucking beautifully.

But no more.

She was off-limits.

“I won’t lie to my mate,” Ari said. “But I won’t offer the information unless she asks me directly.”

Oliver bunched his lips together and nodded. Sage would ask. He knew it. So, clearly, did Ari. Both the sisters were smart and intuitive.

“Okay.” Oliver walked to the counter, picking up his handgun and tucking it into the back of his jeans. He lifted one of two medium length blades, flicked it around in his hands and then slid it into his ankle holster. Then repeated it with the second, which went into a wrist strap.

A beep on his phone alerted him the information had come through from Darren.

“Keep me updated,” Ari ordered.

“Roger that,” he said, and ended the call.

Oliver shoved his phone into his front jeans pocket and slid on his black jacket. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and then walked out the door.

Time to go hunting.

For evil little scientists.

And hot, sexy little journalists.