Gravity (48 page)

ass time. Chalk up the tat to the rebellious nature of youth, but it serves as a reminder of who I

am: a proud Chitah. It’s also a vow that I’d always honor the truth and be true to myself. They

didn’t accept me with open arms in the beginning. It took a while for them to wrap their heads

around the fact I wasn’t going to carry on the Cross legacy.”

Logan grunted sleepily and buried his face in my stomach, his fingers clawing at my hip. He

released a long breath and I looked at Levi, who ruffled up his short hair.

“What changed their minds?” I asked.

“Someone tried to kill me. When I first started dating, I hit on a guy in a bar and didn’t know

he was straight until halfway through our conversation. By then, he’d figured out what my game

was. It was humiliating, so I did my usual walk of shame out the back door and told Logan and Leo

I’d meet up with them later. The guy followed me out—he was also a Chitah. Before I could turn

around, he put a knife in my back and I tried to fight him. Got my ass kicked pretty good because

of the knife, and Leo came out the back door when the guy was shoving his boot in my stomach

for the umpteenth time. Instinct kicked in, and from that night on, my brothers had my back.”

I touched his cheek and then looked at Logan. “I envy that kind of devotion. I don’t have a

family. Guess it was never in the cards for me. I always wanted a sibling, and Sunny counts in a

way. You guys are really lucky to have each other.”

“You have us,” he said loudly and rose up from the floor, kicking off his shoes.

Levi suddenly crawled over the bed and plopped down on his right side, pulling my feet against

his chest. It was hard to deny him the right to show affection in the Chitah way as I stared at the

smile spreading across that tough face of his.

We were a tangled mess of bodies, and I’d never felt so loved in all my life. Logan lifted his

head and for a split second, I prepared for a yelling match when he saw Levi lying in bed with us,

holding my feet.

Instead, he smiled cozily and nestled his face in the soft pocket of my belly.

I reached for the water and noticed something on the floor.

A knife.

Logan’s hand dangled off the bed just an inch or two above it. It wasn’t my knife, because

going to see the Overlord armed wouldn’t have been well received. At first, I wondered why Logan

would have placed a knife by the bed. A Chitah’s speed and bite against other Breeds were

weapons unto themselves. But then it occurred to me that if anyone were going to exact revenge

on us, it would be a Chitah. A knife would not only bring him down, but also finish him off.

A snore vibrated at my feet and I realized our sleeping arrangement wasn’t going to work out.

A manwich to save my life was one thing, but this was Cross brothers’ salad dressing.

The door slammed against the wall and Leo burst into the room.

“Get up!” he shouted.

Levi was on his feet in a heartbeat, but Logan didn’t move an inch from covering me like a

shield. Except now I noticed he was gripping the knife.

“We spotted movement outside and two of the guards are missing.”

“Maybe they had to pee?” I suggested.

Leo tore out of the room and Levi turned to me. “Don’t worry, honey. I still adore your terrible

jokes.”

I pushed Logan away and sat up, noticing my pants were still unzipped. While I secured the

button, Christian strode into the room. He approached the window and stood very still, lowering

his eyes to the floor.

“You hear anything?” Logan asked.

Christian raised a hand. “Your fecking voice?” he said pointedly. After a few seconds, he

decided to be helpful. “Footsteps running. A dog barking. It’s too far down for me to pick up

through a windowpane. Silver, go to the toilet and lock the door.”

“If there were a fire, I would be trapped. I don’t particularly want to die on the toilet.”

“Always the last word,” he grumbled, poking a tiny hole in the foil and peering outside.

“Logan, where are my shoes?”

He twisted his back to look around when suddenly a cacophony of voices shouted out from the

living room. Logan rushed out and Christian closed the door, pressing his back against it.

I jumped out of the bed and pulled at the knob. “Let me out of here!”

“Over my rotting corpse.”

There was an explosion of noise in the other room—a struggle between men fighting and

spitting out curses. Bodies crashed against the wall and glass shattered. My heart stopped in my

chest as I thought about Logan getting hurt.

The bedroom window smashed in and glass flew everywhere. A cold blast of wind circulated

within the room and a Chitah descended upon me with impeccable speed. He bared his fangs and

threw me on the floor.

“You must be the Mage,” he hissed.

It all happened so fast.

I charged up my light and the second he fell on top of my body and sank his teeth into my

neck, I wrapped my legs around him and gave him an electrical bear hug.

Christian gave me a crooked smile. “You got everything under control, or do you think you need

to go to the toilet? I wouldn’t want there to be a fire.”

“Dammit, Christian, get him off me!”

The Chitah flailed about and his teeth tore at my throat. Christian reached down, pried open

his jaws to release his grip, and then threw him across the room. The Chitah went into convulsions

and finally fell still.

“I thought you were supposed to guard me,” I grumbled, wiping my sleeves angrily.

He snorted. “My job is to protect your life, not to kill spiders like that one. You’re a capable

woman, and maybe I like watching you roll around with other men.”

“You’re a pig.”

“What’s going on out there?” Christian shouted at the door.

“Four Chitahs. One contained, three left,” I heard Logan yell out.

Christian held me back and I smacked at his arm.

“You’re my guard, Christian, not my boss. So if I’m going to run out there, guns blazing, you’re

going to guard me. Got it?”

His hands fell across the curve where my neck met my shoulders, and I could see that he was

biting his tongue from saying something vulgar. Christian got it, but he wasn’t happy with it. He

stepped aside and I flew into the hallway, soaking in the visual.

Levi and another Chitah were on the living room floor, fingers wrapped around each other’s

throats in a chokehold. To the right near the kitchen, Leo and a Chitah in black were throwing

punches. Logan held a third Chitah against the wall with his forearm and the man struck him in

the head with brass knuckles. Logan grew disoriented for a moment, and the energy swelled in the

air like snaps of electricity.

The moment I saw Logan in danger, all reflexes kicked into action. I flashed forward, knocking

the Chitah away and diving out of his grasp. Before Logan could right himself, the Chitah rushed

me and I ducked, sweeping out my leg and tripping him. As he fell to the floor, I kicked him in the

groin like I was stomping the yard. That’s when Christian stepped in and knocked him out with

brute strength.

Logan and Leo cornered the Chitah in black near the front door and my attention went to Levi,

who was on his back.

I casually walked over and tapped the Chitah on the shoulder. The gesture confused both of

them and he twisted his neck around to look up at me.

“Excuse me, but you need to get your hands off my brother.” I couldn’t throw my energy into

him since he was on top of Levi, so I touched his neck and gave him a jolt.

It was enough for him to lose his grip. Before I could charge up again, he lunged and sank his

fangs into my neck. Levi roared like I had never heard him before and threw the Chitah against the

wall.

Levi pulled me into his arms screaming, “She’s been bit. Four, no… fuck! There’s eight!”

“Levi, I can’t breathe,” I wheezed as he rocked me back and forth.

Christian could have easily taken out each Chitah, but that would have distracted his attention

from guarding me. He wandered down the hall, scoping out the bedroom where the window was

broken in. I also felt a little honor system going on with him allowing each man to have his own

fight.

Leo and Logan were in full swing with the Chitah in the hall, but when Logan heard Levi

screaming, he rushed to my side.

“Silver,” he said urgently.

In the background, Leo shoved the attacker’s head against the wall and knocked him out.

“Let me go, Levi, or so help me I’m going to put a thousand volts into you,” I complained.

“I’d do what she says,” Christian said, tearing a wrapper off a flat red sucker and popping it

into his mouth. “Or maybe as another torture technique, she’ll sing you a song. I have to admit

that my Vampire hearing is a curse; have you ever had to endure her singing those shower songs?

Jaysus.”

“Shut up, Vampire!” Leo bellowed, pacing across the room to study the scene.

Levi finally loosened his grip and I crawled away from him. “Give a girl some space, will ya?” I

rubbed at my neck, smearing away some of the blood.

Logan’s face was as white as a ghost—as if he were in the midst of reliving the memory of my

first bite. “You’re—”

“I’m okay,” I said with a look of reassurance. “I’m immune. When we raided the lab, Slater

injected me with Chitah venom. Probably a whole lot more than what you put out in a bite, but I

didn’t have any kind of adverse reaction. Page thinks that I have antibodies or something, like

when you get vaccinated. She thinks my genetics play a factor.”

Logan looked at my face with awe and bewilderment. “Impossible,” he breathed.

“Believe it,” Christian replied from his comfortable spot on the end of the sofa.

“You know, Christian, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were beginning to enjoy watching

me get bit.”

He twirled the candy around in his mouth. “Someone needs to call your people and collect the

dirty laundry on the floor,” he muttered, kicking one of the bodies at his feet.

Logan ignored him. “There is no immunity. Have you ever heard of anything like this, Leo?”

Leo shook his head and crossed his thick arms. “Then again, you picked a pretty unique

girlfriend. I wouldn’t put anything past Silver, including figuring a way out of her own death.”

I sniffed out a laugh as Levi rose to his feet and looked like he wanted to vomit. He was green

and sweating profusely. “I’ll check on Lucian and make sure he didn’t have a heart attack in there.

Did we get it on video?”

“Yeah, brother,” Leo replied. “We started recording when we set up the room; it was Lucian’s

idea to keep it running constantly. Sometimes things are missed in those first crucial seconds and

these men will pay for attacking the Overlord’s guards. All of you sit tight while I check out the

hall. Levi, call for a pickup,” he added, nodding at the pile of bodies. “I’ll see how many guards are

left outside. I don’t think the Overlord will bump up security; we’ve already been granted six

guards who should be watching him. The windows are broken, so we’re going to spend the rest of

the night in your control room, Logan. I don’t like the exposure.”

Levi opened the coat closet in the hall and went inside the control room while Leo slipped into

his jacket and headed out the door.

“Slater thinks because I’m half Chitah that the initial exposure activated the same antibodies

that you guys have naturally.” I touched my fingers to my neck, wondering if the new bites would

scar. I slipped my arms around Logan’s waist and tilted my head to the side, smiling wickedly. “Will

you heal me, my love? With your tongue.”

He growled, going primal as his eyes rolled black and his bare chest flashed with magnificent

spotted patterns.

Christian released a sigh and pushed off the couch. “Well, that’s my cue,” he murmured in a

deep voice, dragging one of the bodies into the hallway while crunching on his sucker.

Logan’s warm tongue glided across the puncture wounds and he released his scent, the smell

wild and dangerous like an oncoming storm. It was a subtle, natural cologne that sifted from his

pores—just enough that I wrapped my arms even tighter around him, hopping on my left leg.

He immediately dropped his gaze. “What’s wrong with your foot?”

“Glass. No biggie,” I assured him.

Logan bent over and gripped my ankle, looking at the sole of my foot. I didn’t see any blood,

but I also didn’t like the look on his face. He wrapped his arms around my lower back and lifted me

up, walking a few steps until he set me down on the couch. He slowly pulled my sock off and

examined the cut. By this time, the bright amber had returned in his eyes.

I had a knee-jerk reaction when his finger lightly brushed over it. Logan snatched my ankle and

in a swift movement plucked the glass free.

I hissed through my teeth and he immediately put his mouth around my foot and rolled his

tongue over my cut. I shuddered as it went from instant pain to something else entirely. The