Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,96

here.”

“There is a better time,” Silas promised him, and ran through his reasoning.

Rafe stared at him, unimpressed. “You just want your chance to dance with Maddie and eat bon-bons while the rest of us stand around.”

“That all sounds terrific,” Silas agreed, “but mostly, I want the shield. Without bloodshed. Because it will take us time to get the damn thing loose without using magic, and magic would raise an alarm, and alone won’t hold forever.”

“Maddie and Jensen will watch the doors,” Rafe said, overruling him.

Silas’s jaw ticked. “You really have decided I’m just a worthless asshole, haven’t you?”

Rafe regarded him steadily. “This isn’t all about you, Silas. Believe it or not, Mr. Incredible, not everything is.”

“Rafe,” I said, my voice warning.

Neither of the two alpha males staring each other down spared me a second glance.

So I tossed my champagne over the two of them.

They both turned to me with shock written over their faces.

“I am done,” I told them crisply. “We’re on a mission now. No more of this.”

Rafe stared me down, his jaw tense although the effect of his flashing, angry eyes was ruined a bit by the champagne trickling down his face.

Silas raised his hands, after a beat of thought. “Fine. We can do it now. But it’s a mistake.” His voice was sardonic when he told Rafe, “You’re in charge.”

A long look passed between them, just for a heartbeat, and then we were all moving. I began to shed my dress, and my men moved around me, helping me unlace it and step out of it.

When they saw what I was wearing underneath it, they all stopped and stared. It was nice that I could make them all stutter to a stop, just for a moment, no matter where we were.

Rafe cleared his throat, and I ducked my head to hide my smile at his expression as he said, “Ah, okay, let’s get to work. You two keep watch.”

Silas pulled the bundle of lock picking tools out of the skirt and tossed it to Rafe.

Jensen and I went to the doorway and then into the antechamber beyond, where we could keep an eye on anyone coming this way.

He took the empty champagne glass out of my fingers and set it on a nearby pedestal. “You look like you might crack that in two with your grip, sunshine.”

“They are so exasperating,” I said.

“I know. They’re terrible.” He stepped close to me, although my skirts seemed to be between us. The two of us used our kisses as a cover, although both of us watched out of the corner of our eye lest someone approached.

Jensen cupped my cheek with his hand and added, “You have terrible taste in men.”

“I chose you,” I reminded him glibly, my lips brushing against the smooth, hard angle of his jaw.

“As I said.”

Between kisses, I told him, “You’re a nice man.”

“Try again.” His lips turned up at the corners, right before he kissed me again.

“You’re mine. I don’t mind if you’re a little bit dreadful too.”

“The truth comes out.” He whispered in my ear, and then his hand was in my hair drawing my head back, and his lips were on my throat.

The two of us were still trading kisses when two couples walked toward us, their shoes noisy on the polished floors. We stumbled back into the room where Silas and Rafe were working on freeing the statue, still kissing.

Silas immediately stopped, his tools vanishing up his crisp sleeve in a heartbeat. But it took Rafe a heartbeat longer—he wasn’t a hardened criminal like Silas—and I could see frustration flash across his face, just for a second, as suddenly those other couples were in the room with us.

“What are you doing?” One of the men asked, cocking his head to one side as if he wasn’t sure if he’d just seen what he thought he saw.

The other guy was too distracted by the two women draped over him, all three of them trading kisses, to even notice. They barely managed to glance our way. But they were still potential witnesses.

“We were just looking for a private spot,” Silas said mischievously.

Then suddenly, he lunged forward, and his lips were on Rafe’s.

Rafe, for his part, managed to put his hands on Silas’s arms and not push him away. The two of them shared a brief kiss that was convincing enough for the couples. It was strangely hot to me, but from the look in Rafe’s eyes, that was the one-and-only memory of their soft lips