“Mm, I think it was.” Dex booped the tip of Sloane’s nose. “You’re so cute when you roll your eyes at me like that.”

  Sloane sighed. “Austen, can you at least tell us something about the mission? If I don’t think we’re ready for it, I’ll be the first one to say so.”

  “Fine.” Austen tapped away at his desk’s glass surface, which came to life and the screen at the end of the room split into two—Sparks’s image on the left, and the image of a fair-haired Human on the right. At least Sloane assumed he was Human. He lacked the three-letter classification tattoo all Therians had on the left side of their necks, part of a government system created back in the eighties when Therians were legally required to get marked, showing the family, genus, and species of their animal halves.

  Getting marked had been touted as a safety precaution for all, but in truth it had been created to appease prejudiced Humans and their fears. It was a hot-button topic among politicians these days, with many hoping to have the law repealed.

  “This is Howard Vaughan, a Human renowned for his obsession with Therians. According to Vaughan, Humans were wrongfully denied the next step in evolution when Therians were born. He’s notorious in the criminal underworld for his experiments in his quest to give Humans the same ‘gifts’ bestowed upon Therians. What makes Vaughan different from all the other zealots is that he’s close to achieving his goals.”

  Dex peered at Austen. “How?”

  “Vaughan possesses the Melanoe virus.”

  Sloane’s blood turned to ice and his stomach lurched. That wasn’t possible. “Are you telling us the virus is still out there? That it’s been out there all this time?” His inner jaguar stirred, a low feral growl rising from his chest, claws piercing the skin of his fingertips, and his fangs elongating. He’d faced a lot of assholes in his lifetime, but this was the first time Sloane had come close to facing the very thing that had created him, the cause of so much death and pain.

  The urge to tear Vaughan apart with his own claws was strong, and Sloane had yet to hear the rest of the details. His eyesight sharpened, and he closed his eyes, telling his jaguar to calm.

  Dex’s hand on his arm acted as a soothing balm, calming his inner felid. Forcing himself to breathe, Sloane opened his eyes.

  “That’s not possible,” Dex said. “The virus was destroyed back in the seventies when Humans were first infected.”

  “That’s what we believed,” Austen replied, his expression dark. He tapped his desk interface, and the screen changed to images of an empty expanse of land. “This is Mai Chau in Vietnam, and this empty area you see here contained a small village. Almost a year ago, the residents began getting sick, their symptoms similar to those originally infected with the virus. By the time our operatives arrived, the entire village and the virus had disappeared without a trace. We believe Vaughan and his scientist, Dr. Reuter, retrieved the remaining samples of the virus while Vaughan worked with government officials to cover up the village’s disappearance.”

  “Keep going,” Dex told Austen, his voice low but steady.

  “Vaughan’s been on several wanted lists for years, but he’s managed to evade capture because he’s exceptionally careful, obscenely wealthy, and has a long list of powerful clients in his pockets, many of whom share his obsession. We’ve gathered intel that confirms Vaughan has been funding Dr. Reuter’s experiments for months.”

  Sloane’s jaw clenched so tight he was surprised he didn’t break something. He was well acquainted with these egotists and their God complexes, all of them willing to sacrifice innocent lives to achieve their goals.

  Dex hummed in thought. “I don’t get it. Doesn’t Vaughan need Eppione.8, the original vaccine, for the virus to mutate successfully?”

  “You’re correct. Sort of. We all know Eppione.8 was what awakened the dormant mutation contained within the Melanoe virus, a mutation that altered Human DNA and created Therians. The vaccine Dr. Reuter is creating goes beyond Eppione.8. It’ll awaken the mutation, but rather than history repeating itself, this vaccine will only contain strains from specific Therians, which if successful will give a Human that Therian’s traits with none of the shifting and no need for Post-shift Trauma Care.”

  Sloane’s head shot up. “Human-Therian hybrids.” His chest tightened, and his stomach churned, but he couldn’t distinguish whether it was his body reacting to the news, or Dex’s. Regardless, he placed a hand on Dex’s knee in the hopes of soothing him. He could imagine what was going through Dex’s mind, all the questions, the anger, the fear.

  Austen moved his gaze from Sloane to Dex and back. “We believe Vaughan is close to achieving his goal. He’s hosting an exclusive secret retreat for his best and wealthiest clients, and during the retreat, there will be an auction.”

  Dex shifted in his seat. “What kind of auction?”

  “Vaughan will be auctioning off a Therian. The highest bidder will be the first to inherit that Therian’s traits. We’re waiting on intel that will reveal who the Therian is. The auction will continue with clients bidding to get on the waitlist.”

  Anger bubbled up inside Sloane, threatening to erupt, so he quickly pushed it down. If it wasn’t bad enough this asshole was experimenting on innocent Humans and Therians in his quest to create Human-Therian hybrids, he was auctioning off Therians.

  “If Vaughan already has a list of clients he’s extending invitations to, how are you going to get us an invite?” Sloane asked. “The guy’s clearly smart. He’s not going to take the security risk of adding a new client he doesn’t know.”

  “You’re right. New clients are excluded from the list, but Vaughan has asked that those invited bring exceptional Therian ‘playmates.’ We believe Vaughan has an ulterior motive. He’s looking for extraordinary and rare Therian specimens. We believe any Therian ‘playmate’ who catches his eye will at some point during or after the retreat, disappear.”

  Sloane cursed under his breath. “He’s going to kidnap them for his vaccine.”

  Austen nodded. “We suspect the events at the retreat will center around the Therians to showcase their strengths and weaknesses. There’s more.”

  “Oh, lovely,” Dex murmured, his smile not reaching his hard blue eyes.

  “We believe one of the events at the retreat will be one of Vaughan’s favorite pastimes—illegal Therian fighting.”

  Dex launched to his feet. “Fuck no.”

  Sloane cringed. “Dex—”

  “Are you kidding me?” Dex rounded on him, his eyes glowing amber with fury. “You want me to accept a mission that’s not only going to bring back all kinds of fucked-up and painful memories for you, require me to put you on display to be poked, prodded, and inspected, but where you’ll have to fight some poor Therian who has no idea they’re one wrong move away from becoming a lab experiment?”

  Sloane moved his gaze to Sparks, who’d been silently observing them this whole time. “Why us?”

  “A mission like this would benefit from our secret weapon. We’re also confident we can get an invite to Vaughan’s retreat because of you, Sloane. You’re a black jaguar Therian in peak physical condition and a First Generation Therian, but most importantly, you’re the Therian who helped scientists discover why Therians were dying when they shifted back to Human form.”

  “Helped?” Dex growled, his tone dangerously low. “Is that what we’re calling it? He didn’t help them. They performed experiments on him when he was a kid and stumbled upon the answer when he told them he was hungry because his body was tearing itself apart from lack of protein after a shift.”

  Feeling the anger bubbling up inside his husband, Sloane gently laid his hand on Dex’s, giving it a squeeze. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

  “My point is,” Sparks said gently, “Sloane would be invaluable to Vaughan, granting us access to his operation.”

  “Where Vaughan is concerned,” Austen pitched in, “Sloane is like a unicorn. If we were to ‘leak’ a hint on the Dark Net that he was the one responsible for this scientific breakthrough, along with rumors that he’s working as a bodyguard for a reclusive billionaire sugar daddy—a billionaire who also happens to have an interest in Therians—Vaughan would do anything to get you both over there. Your objective would be to retrieve the virus and capture Vaughan, along with Dr. Reuter. We need to know if there are more samples of the virus out there.”

  Sloane held up a finger. “You said this mission would benefit from your secret weapon. Surely it’s crossed someone’s mind what would happen if Vaughan discovers the truth about Dex.”

  “It’s a risk TIN is willing to take,” Sparks replied somberly. “We can’t take the chance of that virus getting out there. Who knows the damage it could do a second time around?”

  Dex shook his head. “You’ll have to find someone else.”

  “There’s one more thing,” Austen said as if Dex hadn’t spoken.

  Dex snorted. “Of course there is.”

  “There’s a very real possibility you’ll both be expected to… perform.”

  “Perform what? Magic tricks?”

  “Only if it involves your penis,” Austen grumbled.

  “First of all, did I mention we’re not doing this?” Dex thrust a finger in Spark’s direction. “Second, no one but me has sex with my husband. That was a deal-breaker when you recruited us, remember? You have your honeypot agents for that.”

  “I’m certain you can find a way around that,” Sparks replied.

  “Vaughan is well-known for his orgy parties.”

  Dex stood and buttoned his suit jacket. “Did you not hear point number two, because I’m pretty sure I spoke a language we all understand; if not, I’m fluent in several other languages, and I’ll be happy to tell you to fuck off in all of them.”

  “Vaughan expects his clients to enjoy themselves, and none of them will have issues with showing off their Therians in a sexual fashion. It’s best if you’re prepared.”

  Dex turned toward the door as Sloane stood. “I don’t need to be prepared, because we’re not accepting the mission.”

  “Go home,” Sparks said. “Review the mission file and think about it. You have twenty-four hours to give me your reply. Frankly, none of what we discussed is our greatest concern.”

  Sloane studied her. It wasn’t like Sparks to discourage them from a mission, especially one as important as this. Whatever her reason, it had to be big.

  With a sigh, Austen resumed his seat behind his desk. “Then there’s that.”

  “What?” Dex asked.

  “Your bond,” Austen replied. “Even if you could act your way through everything required for this mission, there’s no acting your way out of that. We can disguise your scent, hide the tattoo covering the scars left behind by Sloane’s claws, conceal the change in your eyes, but we can’t do anything to suppress your bond.

  “For Vaughan and the Humans involved, it’s about power over Therians. To them, a Human bonded to a Therian is the worst sin a Human can commit because it requires the Human to submit to a Therian. If either of you reacts to whatever the other is feeling, you run the risk of exposing your bond and blowing your cover. Vaughan will send every Therian at his disposal to kill you, and I can assure you, he’ll have a small army with him.”

  Dex opened his mouth to reply, but Sloane spoke up. “We’ll think about it.”

  “I can still say no,” Austen said, his gaze moving from Dex to Sloane. “It’s my call.”

  Sloane shook his head. “Don’t make that call. Not yet.” He steered Dex toward the door, feeling his husband’s anger down to his bones. It wasn’t until they were out in the hall near the elevator that Dex hissed at him.

  “What the hell, Sloane? We’ll think about it? There’s nothing to think about.”

  “We’ll talk about it at home.”

  Dex didn’t reply, but he didn’t have to. This wasn’t going to be pretty, but no matter how difficult the conversation, it had to happen. TIN might have other operatives perfectly capable of taking on this mission, but no one understood what was at stake more than them. Vaughan had to be stopped.

  [Location: Daley House, Redacted, New York City]

  The car ride to their brownstone went as well as Sloane expected. Not even Retro Radio—Dex’s favorite music station—could lighten the mood. After weeks in Europe, it was good to be home. The moment he stepped foot inside the doorway, a sense of peace washed over him. It was like they never left. Dex tossed his keys into the new Death Star half bowl where their keys lived, and Sloane followed him into the kitchen.

  Rarely was Dex this quiet, and certainly not for this long. Sloane leaned against the counter, tracking Dex’s movements as he went to the fridge and removed a bottle of water. His sparkling blue eyes landed on Sloane as he gulped down half the bottle in seconds. So much had changed since they’d bonded, but the one thing that hadn’t was their love for each other.

  “Isn’t this why we signed up?” Sloane asked softly, breaking the silence. “To bring down monsters like Vaughan? We knew we’d be facing the worst the world had to offer.”

  “You’re right. It’s why we left a team we love, our family, to sign up for this, but, Sloane…” Dex cupped his face. “You’re my husband and my mate. We’re connected in a way few are. We feel each other’s pain if it’s significant enough. Do you think this won’t be significant? I can act and bullshit my way through anything, you know that, but this? What you feel, I feel, and the same goes for you. Baby, this will fuck with us”—he put his hand to Sloane’s chest over his heart—“in here. You can’t tell me that coming face-to-face with Therians being experimented on isn’t going to mess with you. Were it any other mission, I wouldn’t hesitate, but not this. I don’t think we can pull it off.”

  It took a lot for Dex to surprise him these days. He knew his husband too well, but hearing that Dex didn’t believe in them enough to get this done stunned Sloane. “Are you saying you don’t have faith in us?”

  Dex eyed him. “You know that’s not what I’m saying. I always have faith in us. Always have, always will.”

  “You said we can’t pull this off.”

  “That’s not a lack of faith in us, Sloane. It’s because of us”—he motioned between them—“because of our bond, our love, our past, that we shouldn’t do this. Have you forgotten about the small army that will try to kill us the moment Vaughan realizes we’re bonded? Sparks is right—I can’t believe I said that—but she is.”

  Sloane took Dex’s hand in his. “I know this mission makes things personal, for both of us, which is why I think we should do this, why we need to do this.”

  “What about the orgies?”

  “We do things our way. That was the deal, remember? I have every faith we can handle any situation we come across, and I’ll follow your lead. Same as I always have.” They were more than familiar with the risks of a mission and had received their fair share of injuries and sleepless nights, but sex had never been a part of any of it, despite knowing it would come up at some point.

  Dex swallowed hard, his eyes glassy before he kissed Sloane’s cheek. “I’m going to shower. Don’t forget Ash and Cael are coming over.”

  “This conversation isn’t over,” Sloane said gently as Dex headed for the stairs.

  “It is for me.”

  Dex disappeared upstairs, and Sloane considered his options. It wasn’t often Dex felt so strongly against something like this. With Sloane, Dex knew he could push if he wanted something enough, and most of the time, Sloane came around to Dex’s reasoning and gave in. When Dex put his foot down, he was unmovable. No one was more stubborn than Dexter Justice Daley.

  Sloane used the shower after Dex and dressed in a comfortable pair of black jeans and a gray henley. Classic rock floated up from the kitchen, where Dex had started on dessert since they were ordering in, but when Sloane got downstairs, Dex wasn’t singing along or playing air guitar to his favorite Def Leppard songs. He stood at the counter, staring off into space.

  “Hey,” Sloane murmured, slipping his arms around Dex’s waist. “We okay?”

  Dex turned in his arms, his face lighting up with that gorgeous smile that made Sloane’s heart skip a beat every time. “Of course we are. I love you.” He kissed Sloane, and Sloane hummed, leaning into the kiss, his inner felid content to have his mate in his arms.

  “I love you too.” Sloane slid his hands down to Dex’s ass, smiling when Dex laughed and pushed him away.

  “Oh no you don’t. Remember what happened the last time you decided to have a quickie before dinner guests arrived?”

  Sloane cringed. “Yeah, that was a miscalculation on my part.”

  “Miscalculation?” Dex’s brows shot up. “Is that what you call it when my little brother and your best friend walk in on us having sex in the kitchen?”

  “They’ll get over it,” Sloane said, pulling a couple of beers from the fridge.

  “Really? The way Ash got over the fern incident? It’s been years, Sloane. Years since Angel drunkenly pissed on the man’s fern, and he still gives Angel hell for it. You think he’s going to get over us traumatizing him with me being balls-deep inside you while I fuck you against the counter? One day when he’s a very old and even grumpier guy, he’ll die and have ‘I’m still not over it’ engraved on his tombstone.”

  “Is it safe?” Ash growled from somewhere by the front door. “You both better have some fucking pants on!”

  Dex’s grin was unapologetically smug. “Damn, but I love it when I’m right.”

  Sloane let his head hang in defeat. “Yes,” he called out. “We have pants on.”

  Cael and Ash stepped into the living room, then headed for the kitchen. After a nod in greeting toward Ash, Dex brought his brother into a hug, a wide grin splitting his face.

  “Hey, Chirpy.”

  Cael rolled his eyes at the childhood nickname. “Seriously, can we not leave that name behind?”

  Dex sweetly patted his brother’s cheek. “Sure. When you stop chirping.”

  “I’m a cheetah Therian! I’ll be chirping the whole of my life!”