Chapter 17

17

The guys ended up in the finals together, which I found extremely entertaining. I sat at the bar again to watch their final match and sipped on a mai tai.

“There you are!” Lana exclaimed as she and Tiffany entered the bar area.

“Hello, again,” I said, and smiled at them.

“Oh, your dress is gorgeous,” Tiffany complimented.

I’d decided I wanted to dress nice since it was the final game and there was a chance that one of them would win. The dress I’d brought wasn’t flashy enough, so Jong-min and Jong-hyun had taken me dress shopping yesterday. Thankfully, this area was big on flashy clothes and it was easy to find a stunning dress. It was low cut, hugged my shape, and sparkled under the lights.

“Thank you,” I replied. “I thought I should dress up for the final game.” I still wore flip flops, but the dress was long enough no one would see them.

Lana and Tiffany sat on either side of me and ordered drinks.

“I see your twins made it to the final,” Lana said.

“Actually, four of the nine players are my boyfriends,” I corrected her.

Both of their mouths dropped.

“What?” Tiffany screeched. She looked at the guys and asked, “Which other ones?”

I pointed Grant and Reed out and Grant noticed as I did it, sending me a wink.

“Damn, you are a lucky bitch,” Lana said with a laugh.

“And they really don’t care about sharing you?” Tiffany asked.

I shook my head. “Nope. They’re all friends and this was something they’d planned to do when they formed their group.”

Although I was certain they hadn’t foreseen ending up with someone like me.

“I’m jealous. My man would flip his lid if I even suggested it,” Lana said and pouted.

Chuckling I said, “I hear a lot of humans are staunchly monogamous.”

They both nodded.

I shrugged. “Whatever works for you. I honestly thought I’d end up single the rest of my life, so ending up with four is a huge bonus.” Or three, depending on how this went. I still hadn’t spoken to Reed since the event.

It felt like he was avoiding me, but I also wasn’t actively reaching out to him, so I couldn’t fault him too much.

Samantha walked in wearing a stunning dress, the front cut all the way to her belly button and held up with what had to be dress tape. The emerald green color brought out her eyes and looked great with her skin tone. She sat at the other end of the bar, flipping her hair over her shoulder to block me from her line of sight.

I snickered at that and took a long drink with a satisfied smile. She could avoid looking at me all she wanted, that was fine with me.

“I can’t believe she came back here,” Lana said with a scoff.

“You’re much more stunning than her,” Tiffany said to me. “She’s definitely jealous.”

“Thank you,” I said. “We’ll just ignore her and enjoy ourselves, okay?”

They both nodded vigorously and held up their glasses so we could cheers.

The girls took turns telling me about themselves and I listened as well as I could while also paying attention to the game. An hour in and Jong-hyun was out.

He walked into the bar, up behind me, and slid his arms around my waist, resting his chin atop my head.

“Sorry you lost,” I said and patted his forearm where it lay on my stomach.

“We all knew only one of us could win. I just had hoped to last longer.”

“That’s what she said,” I snickered.

He chuckled and squeezed me. “Incorrigible.”

“Want a drink?” I asked.

He nodded and released me.

“Let me move,” Lana said and got up to sit on Tiffany’s other side so Jong-hyun could sit on the stool beside me.

“Thank you,” he said and took her vacated stool. The bartender came over and gave him a drink on the house for losing.

“I see she is here,” Jong-hyun whispered as he raised his glass up to drink.

I shrugged a shoulder. “I assumed she would be.”

He took a drink and watched me, brows furrowed.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re much calmer than I expected you to be.”

“Well, I can’t go around causing scenes everywhere. I’ll probably get arrested here if I bite someone’s arm off.”

He snickered and tweaked the end of my nose. “Most definitely.”

“You bit someone’s arm off?” Lana asked with a gasp.

I’d sort of forgotten they were there and listening. Whoops.

I turned and smiled. “They hurt my friend.”

“Bad ass,” Tiffany breathed out.

A group of men in suits walked into the bar, their movements smooth and languid, and their expressions full of confidence. They were definitely shifters, though I couldn’t tell what kind. Walking together like that, they reminded me of the gangster movies Reed and I’d watched recently. They sat on the edge of the bar, a few seats away from Tiffany and Lana.

Jong-hyun gave them a once over and then resumed watching the match. If he wasn’t worried about their presence then I would ignore them, too.

“We should get ice cream tonight, no matter what the outcome is,” I suggested.

Jong-hyun nodded. “Okay,” he answered me, but his focus was completely on the poker game.

The game moved so slow and I didn’t fully understand it, so I spent more time chatting with Lana and Tiffany instead.

An explosion behind us shook everything and sent debris flying around.

Chaos immediately ensued as people, including Lana and Tiffany, started screaming and running in all directions.

Lana had been struck by debris and her leg bled profusely.

“Jong-hyun, carry her,” I ordered him. “She’s human.”

Jong-hyun’s eyes widened and while I could tell he wanted to stay by my side, he instead picked her up and carried her. Tiffany clutched his arm, staying at her friend’s side as they started to make their way through the crowd and towards the exit.

I followed behind them, confident my other men would stay together and keep each other safe.

My concern should have been for myself as someone stabbed a knife into my lower left side.

I screamed and turned to see who it was, my shark skin beginning to cover my vital parts now that I realized I was in danger.

One of the suited men sneered at me. “Sorry, love, it’s just business.”

Movement in front of me made me turn and I thanked whatever gods might exist that my skin was so tough as another of the suited men tried to slash my chest with claws. I’d never seen a paw like his before. He managed to tear my dress, which infuriated me, but my skin remained unmarred.

“Weak claws,” I taunted and snapped my teeth at him, trying to put space between us, but the knife in my back slowed my movements.

He stabbed me in the stomach, his knife going right through to the same spot as the one in my back.

I screamed and fell to my knees as an odd fiery sensation spread from the place both knives touched inside my stomach.

“Kass!” Reed roared.

“Grab her,” the first one who’d stabbed me ordered.

Two of suited men grabbed me and carried me in the opposite direction that everyone was running.

No. No, I would not be kidnapped. Never again.

Turning my head, I bit into the shoulder of the guy holding me, my teeth sinking straight to bone.

He screamed and made an odd cackling laughing sound and released me, dropping me to the ground.

“What the hell is she?” one of the others asked as I turned to try to bite him.

Grant and Reed grabbed the men and tossed them away from me, standing on either side of where I lay on the ground.

“Kass, how badly are you hurt?” Grant asked.

“Skewered,” I panted on my knees. My vision started to get hazy with darkness encroaching on the edges. “It burns oddly. Poison, maybe.”

“Who hired you?” Reed asked.

“Confidential,” one of the men replied. He took out two more knives from inside his suit jacket and smiled. “Please step aside. Our assassination has not been completed.”

Grant and Reed growled and the deep bass sound vibrated through me.

Jong-min knelt beside me and said, “I’m going to have to pull them out, flower. It’s going to hurt.”

“It hurts to breathe with them inside me. Do it,” I said.

The suited men tried to come forward, but Grant and Reed each shifted partially and fought against them.

I wanted to watch, to pay attention, but it was harder and harder to keep my eyes open.

Jong-min gripped both handles and jerked the knives from me simultaneously.

A scream tore out of my throat at the unbearable pain. The next second, I fell into Jong-min and the darkness consumed me.