Bandit

Chapter One

Splat!

I found myself slammed against the side of Mercy Bank like a horribly flipped pancake. I felt like a horribly flipped pancake, too, after the beating I'd just taken. Titus wasn't holding back his punches tonight, not that I would have expected him to. He was sort of a dick that way.

Still, I peeled myself off the brick and barely managed to avoid the strike of a fist into the wall where my head had just been. The brick crumbled and cracked. Yeah, he was in a really bad mood tonight.

Though, that probably had something to do with me causing trouble in the wee hours of the night. Maybe. Possibly… It was debatable.

Twisting to the side, I blocked a kick Titus had aimed for my gut. "Damn, what's got your nipples in a pinch? Aren't you happy to see me?"

He glared, as if he wasn't happy to see me. Weird. "Are you serious right now? This is the third time this week I've been woken up with a call at two in the morning because you decided it was a good time for a bank robbery!"

I shrugged and batted away the next hit he threw at my face. It wasn’t my fault most of his Mercenary buddies were too lazy or uncaring to answer the Mercenary hotline. "What can I say? I'm a night owl.”

He ignored me. “And why are you wearing my face?”

“Oh, this?” I swiped some of my blond hair from my forehead and grinned. Only, in my true form, I didn’t have wavy blond locks. Perks of being a shapeshifter, I could look like anyone I'd touched. Anyone, including this sexy adonis with his sharp jaw, blue eyes, and ridiculously muscled body. I mean, seriously, how did he carry these muscles around all day. I was exhausted, and I'd only shifted into Titus's form a couple hours ago. “I thought I’d try something different. Don’t I look handsome?”

“No!”

I pouted. “Aw, don’t be so harsh on yourself.” I gestured to the unicorn footie pajamas I wore, wiggling my feet. “I think you look adorable like this. It really brings out the blue in your eyes.”

"Do you ever take your actions seriously?" he growled out, managing to clip my shoulder with his next punch.

My face lit in a smile as I flicked the fake, sparkly horn on my hood. "What? Doesn't this scream serious to you?"

Behind his mask, something he seemed determined to wear despite none of his fellow Mercenaries doing the same, his face reddened, his eyes narrowed, and his lips—those sexy, pouty lips I dreamed of having on every inch of my body—pursed. It was too bad he tried to arrest me almost on a weekly basis. "I'm going to kill you."

My smile widened. I waggled my brows. "Ooh, I love it when you talk dirty."

Gaping at me, he shook his head. "What is wrong with you?" he grunted out, distracted long enough for me to get a good kick to his shin.

Using the distraction, I rushed down the short alleyway. I almost reached the corner before he grabbed me by the nape of my neck and dragged me back against his chest. He banded an arm around my front. “Shift to your true form.”

"Aw, but where's the fun in that? Where’s the mystery?"

"I'm not trying to have fun here, Bandit." I shivered at my Villain name coming off his tongue. I loved it when he said my name in that honey-sweet voice of his. "You need to stop with these games. One of these days, it won’t be me you’re fighting. It will be one of the other Mercenaries, and they won’t show you the same mercy I do. They will kill you. Do you not get that?"

And with that, my smile slipped from my face, only to be left with a mask of indifference. But behind the mask, I was fuming. He had touched a nerve.