Taming A Predator

Chapter 1

A/N: Quick reminder that this is the SECOND book in this series, so make sure that you've completed Prey before looking at this one.

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Doe's POV:

The ringing phone acted as our alarm, cutting through the morning silence.

The man whose arms were currently tangled around me groaned out an exhausted exhale I couldn't agree more with.

I don't think either of us got much sleep last night.

Despite what I tried, my thoughts wouldn't slow down enough for sleep to take me for a decent amount of time.

And Xander tended to absent-mindedly rub my back until either I fell asleep, or the incredibly rare occasion showed where he fell asleep first.

And there wasn't a second I remember of last night that didn't include that touch against me.

I lifted my head as he begrudgingly pushed himself up and out of the bed, stretching his arms over his head with a cat-like yawn while padding over to the phone.

His absence caused me to turn over and curl up into a ball, my exhaustion and excitement still going at it with each other.

Maybe I'll follow his lead and end up crashing during the drive there.

The ringing finally stopped as he reached the phone.

"Good morning my beloved brother," the tiredness in his voice only added to the coo in which he spoke.

A typical manner in which I've heard him speak to Nico before, but this time it was absent of any of that underlying nervousness that usually trailed behind the words spoken to his brother.

Given the distance, I couldn't make out what Nico was saying on the other end, just some incoherent mumbling in the pitch of his voice and Xander's replies.

"Mhm."

"Yeah, we're ready."

"Wait you what?!" the sudden energy in his voice prompted me to push myself up with my arms to face him.

"Dude..." a slight laugh bubbled his words, "yeah we can take him down with us."

Him?

Xander turned to face me, leaning his hips back on the desk.

His amused smile lifted as he met my eye.

That with the mess of his bed hair and the lack of coverage his 'shirt' was giving made for an interesting sight first thing in the morning.

"Give us like five minutes to get our crap together and then we'll- Yes, Nico I'll get us a good limo.  Who do you think you're talking to here?"

I looked away to rub my eyes, pushing the blankets off of me.

It sounded like I only had five minutes to get ready.

My limbs protested at their movement as I tore myself out of this bed.

I think of all things, I'm gonna miss this bed most of all.

I gave it a little pat once my feet hit the floor, making my way to scoop up the comfy travel clothes I had laid out the night before.

"Yes, Yes, I know. being sneaky is what I'm good at... yeah okay, most of the time, but you didn't have to bring that up." The flat tone he always got when he talked about the times he got in trouble as a child caused an involuntary smile to rise onto my face.