13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Beneath a clear sky dotted with stars, they rode back to the den in relative silence. Winter wind chilled his features, but Remmus didn't feel cold. The presence of the woman coiled around him had fanned outward, enveloping him.

Something had changed between them tonight. Though he'd originally been intrigued by her hatred of him, he'd also been drawn to her fire every time they interacted.

Now, Remmus was beyond mere attraction. The idea of her being hurt by one of his kind made his stomach revolt.

When he'd made a quip about freezing her tail off, Ava had actually laughed. A true laugh, not forced or malevolent, and not accompanied by a death threat. It confused him. Hadn't she vowed to hate him forever?

Remmus wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. If Ava had softened toward him, he'd take the win and continue in his quest for her affection.

Even the forlorn, forsaken pieces of his soul awoke at her nearness. Ava was passion and fire and poise: everything he wasn't. From her sarcasm to her intellect and everything in between, she was a seductive mystery Remmus fully intended on solving—and savoring.

As they rode back into the garage aboard their borrowed treasure, Remmus wasn't exactly surprised to find an angry alpha awaiting their return. Ava leapt off the bike as though she was the guilty party, her head lowering in clear submission.

Riaz and his mate had both adopted matching scowls, and the sight of it instantly made Remmus bite his lip to keep from laughing. He took his time getting off the bike and gave a mocking bow.

"Use your words, Riaz."

The alpha bared teeth at him but refocused on Ava. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. I agreed to go with him." She grimaced. "Remmus didn't kidnap me."

Riaz studied her for a moment, then turned back. "Stealing what's mine will make you no friends in this den, Raeth. How did you even manage to start it without the keys?"

"I'm gifted. Ask anyone." With a flick of his wrist, the motorcycle's engine cut. Then, as an aside, "I did vow to sweet Ava that I'd clean the gravel dust. Shall I sign in blood now, or wait until after you've done the tar and feather act?"

A dangerously threatening growl sounded, a primal warning icing up his spine. "Are you here for a purpose, Raeth, or are you just going to cause problems and get my betas in trouble?"

Oh, the irony.

"Actually, fair and magnanimous alpha, Ava and I were just about to launch the downfall of Hannah Preston."

"Who is Hannah Preston?" Riaz asked.

"Our favorite new domestic terrorist," added Ava. "The Citizens lead at the St. Louis facility. What they're doing is illegal, we just need to bring it to light. I also have a pile of paperwork from the facility that Remmus downloaded in my cloud storage. I haven't gone over it with a fine-tooth comb yet and could use some assistance."

"Ooh, paperwork," Remmus chorused. "My favorite. I volunteer as tribute."

Something that sounded suspiciously like ‘Why am I not surprised' came from the blushing beta. Riaz, however, softened. "Fine. You ‘borrow' my bike again and I'll take it from your flesh."

Instantly, Remmus was reduced to his bare bones. Pulling his lips back in some semblance of a smile, although all humor had fled him, he spoke the words that would damn him: "Forgive me. Won't happen again."

He didn't wait for Ava to follow, brushing past the alpha pair and up the staircase that led to the den. Nails bit into his palm, and the strength of his coercion kicked into overdrive. When he heard Ava on his tail, too close for comfort, he simply teleported to his borrowed quarters.

Remmus had a feeling he hadn't managed to fool her. The moment he'd apologized, Ava had noticed the rigidity of his posture and his erratic behavior.

A minute later, she was pounding on his door. He froze with the blade still biting into his flesh. Hastily stowing the dripping weapon in his bag, he rolled his shoulders and pulled transfiguration over his broken skin.

Beyond the door, her muffled voice asked, "Remmus?"

He opened it to reveal her staring at him, perplexed. "Yes, oh wolfy one?"

"Why did you disappear?"

He chuckled. "Can't a man have his secrets?"

"No. Not here. Not as abruptly as that."

He stepped forward into her personal space. Behind him, the wood creaked closed—not so subtly shutting out further questions.

"Don't we have things to do, Blondie? Paperwork to sort through, cupcakes to eat, people's lives to destroy?"

"Was about to ask you the same thing," Ava replied dryly. "Let's go. We're already behind thanks to your disappearing act."

When his hand gently caught ahold of her shoulder, Ava's entire body tensed in an instinctual response. Weightless for all of a second, they reappeared in her office as soon as the teleport completed.

Pivoting to chastise him, Ava's wolf instantly leapt into her eyes, and a whine rumbled in her chest. "Why are you bleeding?"

"What?"

"Your nose." Pointing to his face, Ava shook her head and rounded the desk to pluck a tissue from her desktop. "Here."

Taking it without a thank you, Remmus dabbed at the staunched flow before chucking it into the waste bin near her door.

"Must be the silver." He shrugged. "You mind if I borrow your laptop? I want to start building the case against Hannah."

"Have at it. If the silver is still giving you trouble, shouldn't you—"

"While we were there," Remmus interrupted her, uninterested in talking about the state of his health, "I installed a loophole in their closed system. A back door, if you will. It allows me to tap into their tech from offsite."

"That's handy. And also a little disconcerting."

"It's untraceable, I promise. I'll upload everything else they log into the cloud. Now, all we have to do is work on our proposal to Uncle Sam, and I can do most of that up here." Two fingers tapped on his temple.

She rolled her chair over toward his. "How does it work?"

"Trade secrets, Ava—but since this is your computer, I'll give you a temporary pass." He pointed to an icon on the screen. "I've hidden it in this folder—"

"The one oh-so-covertly named ‘Espionage and Secret Documents?'"

"No one will guess," he chuckled. "Anyway, from here, you can remote into her desktop without her knowledge—even in her phone if you wanted to, since it's connected. All very hocus-pocus."

"And they can't track it back to us?"

"It'd be easier to nail Jello to a tree. Anyway, let's get to this paperwork you've teased me about?"

She grunted. "All the fun's right here!"

It was an hour and a half later before something worthwhile surfaced. A single employee name hadn't been redacted, lost in a jumble of handwritten notes at the end of a document. Fortunately, the error would prove beneficial to their cause.

Remmus jumped at the chance to prove his worth once more. With a hand to Ava's computer, his eyes shuttered closed. He dove into the technology, and a prickle of static electricity hummed around him.

Beside him, Ava's small gasp made it plain that she was fascinated to see a million pieces of information opening and closing in a battery of light.

Remmus remained absolutely still, but the speed at which he moved through the tech increased as he grew prideful. Within twenty seconds, his eyes had opened, and a smile drew over his mouth.

"Bingo, Blondie. Be my date?"