by Melody Raven
I ran past Ramsey. The rest of the team was in the hallway and I yelled to them, “Somebody read him in!” as I followed Carter into the room.
“Baby, you weren’t supposed to know I was here,” said Amy with a poise of someone who had no idea they were found out.
But I couldn’t gloat over my victory. I was too busy watching Carter intently.
He physically shook with rage as he stared down the woman who had gained his trust and betrayed him. “What. Did. You. Do?” he demanded, each word seeming like a struggle to come out of his throat.
Amy straightened and the serene smile fell away. “What’s going on, darling? I don’t understand.”
“He knows,” I said simply. “Just tell us the truth. Who are you really? Who are you working for?”
She bristled under the scrutiny. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She reached down to grab her purse.
Carter slammed his fists down on the metal table, leaving two large indents.
Amy jumped back, and I had to force myself to hold my ground. “What’s gotten into you?” she hissed at Carter.
I stepped forward and gently put a hand on Carter’s shoulder. Immediately, he twisted around and snarled at me, baring fangs and glowing yellow eyes.
Werewolf. So that was his big supernatural secret. I should’ve known the Boy Scout was hiding a beast. “I’ll take care of her,” I said in barely more than a whisper. “You don’t need to be here.” He was scarcely holding it together as it was.
His upper lip curled, and I didn’t know whether he was going to cry or rip out my throat. But he blinked a few times and his gold eyes reverted to dark brown. “I—”
I shook my head. I didn’t need him to say anything. There was nothing for him to say. Without saying another word, he walked past me, his shoulder pushing against mine as he left. I had a feeling we weren’t going to be best friends any time soon. But one way or another, he’d have to understand this was for the best.
I let out a deep sigh once he was gone as I pulled out the chair across from Amy.
And she was still firmly in denial mode. “There’s been some huge misunderstanding.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” I said, trying to communicate all of my hate and anger through my glare.
“Sonia, I—”
“Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” I spoke loud enough to drown out any protests she had. “You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand?” It was my first time ever saying the words out loud, and it felt so official. Transformative. For the first time, I felt as if I were really doing good.
Amy sat back in her seat and finally I saw her mask drop. “What happened?”
I wondered whether I should play it cool, but hell. I wanted her to know exactly where she messed up. “I’m allergic to Solaris. I knew immediately that my drink was spiked.” Well, almost immediately.
“Ramsey was a bad choice,” she breathed, rubbing her temples.
So much for deny, deny, deny. “How did you know I’d be at Delirium?” I asked the one thing I didn’t know yet. I’d heard that you shouldn’t go into an interview without knowing all the answers, but, hell, I was still new at this.
Amy rested her head in her hands. “I had him waiting outside for you when you left the station. He followed you. I knew he was a bad choice. I knew it. But I wanted you out of the picture as soon as possible.” She tilted her head just enough so she could look at me from beneath her perfectly applied mascara. “But what made you suspect me? You’d never even met me.”
I shrugged. “Girl’s gotta have her secrets.”
Amy nodded, agreeing with me a little too enthusiastically. I could see the wheels turning in her head. She was backed into a corner and had no idea what her next move was going to be. Really, I should’ve been more on guard, but considering we were in the middle of the DMD, I had a false sense of security.
So when Amy sent out a flash of light from her palm and straight into my chest, there wasn’t anything I could do except fall over, slamming my head on the ground as she made a run for it.
There was a moment that the world went black before my wits came back. And then I was jumping up. The room was still spinning, but I used muscle memory to take off, pushing myself as hard as I could as I ran after her.
Amy pushed past everyone as she ran, and if anyone got in her way, she shot a blast of energy at them.
Witch. Devious, deceptive, liar of a witch. I thought I scored a win when she turned right instead of left, effectively running away from the elevators and stairs, but instead she ran right for an office at the end of the row. I pumped my arms and legs harder, trying to catch up.
Amy was slowed down by the people she was shoving out of the way. I was just about within reach when she let out a blast in front of her, causing the window to explode outward. The crazy bitch jumped right through.
Oh hell no. I wasn’t letting her get away. Without even stopping to think about it, I jumped right after her, slamming into her in midair so we each fell onto the hard concrete in a painful heap.
For a moment, I just lay there, groaning as I tried to figure out whether anything important was broken. But then Amy, who was apparently a freakin’ Terminator, started to stand. I kicked out a leg and sent her back to the ground as I flipped over and tried to crawl up on my hands and knees. “Don’t make me use my magic,” I warned as I gasped for air.
Of course, she didn’t listen as she started to get up. I grabbed her ankle, but that proved to be a mistake because she kicked out. The bottom of her black boot connected with my face and sent me right back to the ground.
I groaned and tried to get up, but I couldn’t manage to get my vision straight, let alone my balance. I could just turn my head to see her getting away. Nope. Not on my watch. Even as the world spun, I continued to stumble forward. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I caught up to her. My powers would probably kill her.
And at the moment, I couldn’t think of why that was a bad thing. I reached out my hand and started to call the energy from deep within me. I could feel it burning and bubbling to get out. But then a dark shape emerged from behind a parked SUV and punched Amy right in the face.
The momentum fled from my body and I fell to my knees. Carter stood over Amy and looked down at her dispassionately. It would’ve been a good time for a breakup speech—if she weren’t out cold.
I sucked in deep breaths as the DMD closed in around Carter and started to take Amy’s pulse and put some sort of handcuffs on her. Those had better be enchanted to hold the bitch.
The world started spinning around me. Maybe it had never stopped. What a day. I finally gave in and fell back, not even caring I was in the middle of the road. I was running on fumes at this point. There just wasn’t enough in the tank to get me to crawl off the asphalt.
Let the cars go around me. Let them hit me. I’d won. I’d done the thing I needed to do. And wasn’t that the most important part?
“For goodness’ sake, you’re a government agent. Get off the ground.”
“I’m on break. That’s a thing I get, right?”
I could only imagine the dispassionate way Melanie was staring down at me, willing me not to make an ass of her.
“You’re bleeding. I want you to get a doctor’s clearance before you go home for the day.”
I was bleeding? Huh. I reached up and felt my forehead, where pain radiated out from where Amy had kicked me in the head. Sure enough, my fingers came back red. Well, that wasn’t great.
As soon as I started to sit up, Melanie bent and helped me up. Though, if I thought she was doing this out of the goodness of her heart, she quickly proved me wrong. “You should’ve told me about Amy first.”
Ugh. I didn’t have enough blood in my body to deal with this. “I didn’t have any proof. There was nothing you’d be able to do off
icially.”
“People are asking questions about you. About what you’re really doing on the team.”
My head started to throb even more than it already was. “Let them ask. I’m never going to tell the truth, and neither will you. So our secret is safe.”
Melanie narrowed her eyes, and her perpetual scowl was more exaggerated than usual. “I’m just trying to protect you.”
I started to walk away, fully detaching from her. “I’ll protect myself, boss. Always have. Always will.”
20
He was here. Of course he was here. Where the hell else would he be?
And he knew I was there, too. Without even looking, Carter said, “Why won’t you leave me alone?”
“You’ve been through so much. You shouldn’t be alone after all that.”
The wind whipped through the trees, dark clouds rolling in and signaling a storm. Perfect weather for a spell. As though it were teasing me. I kept my hands behind my back.
“No fiancée. No partner. Kind of seems like I’m going to be alone for a while.”
I didn’t normally give people passes for that much self-pity, but I’d let this one slide. “Do you know who sent her yet?” If Amy was spying on Carter, and presumably the DMD, someone had to send her, right?
He shrugged, his annoyance with me increasing by the moment. “She hasn’t said anything yet.” He rubbed at his eyes. He looked like he could use a good thirty hours of sleep, but I knew sleep wouldn’t be coming to him any time soon. “Probably Mace Reeves. But I don’t really know anything at this point, do I? But you do. You know everything. You’re one step ahead of everyone else.”
Great. Now he was directing all that anger and annoyance at me. “I did all this to help you. You know that, right?”
He let out a grunt that was almost a growl, his werewolf side showing. “Do me a favor. Stop helping me.”
“We’re kind of partners. Even if you don’t want anything to do with me, I’m not going to stop.”
He shook his head as he walked toward me. “We’re not partners. We’re not friends. We’re not acquaintances. We’re an unfortunate pairing. A mistake. And it will be rectified soon enough. Got it?”
I opened my mouth but then shut it. Quiet wasn’t my specialty, but I knew there was nothing I could say to convince him otherwise right now. He was bursting with anger and needed someone to direct it at. Why not me?
He walked by me, making sure to give me plenty of berth, his long black jacket blowing melodramatically in the wind.
As he left, the wind seemed to close in on me, circling and embracing me with its chill seeping straight through my skin and to the bone. The tombstones seemed to get larger and surround me. I’d come here to be alone. I didn’t know why feeling this way felt so unnatural now.
In the distance, a car door slammed and tires squealed. Obviously Carter had flown out of the cemetery like a bat out of hell.
My head fell as my feet led me forward. I’d been here so many times I could get to this tombstone with my eyes closed. And sometimes I would walk it with my eyes closed. I hated that I was here. I hated that this had ever happened.
As soon as I reached the grave, I fell to my knees. The red rose I’d brought fell out of my fingers and onto the ground. The cloudy sky seemed to give everything a gray hue and made the whole depressing place seem even worse.
“I….” A warm tear fell over my cheek, but it immediately chilled in the wind. “I’m done. I love you, Ian. I know I always will. But you’re go— you’re go—” I sucked in a deep breath. “You’re gone. I did what you wanted. I stopped Amy. I still don’t know what tipped you off, but you were right. You were always right. About everything. I’m never going to forget you, but I need to move on. I need to have my own life.” I pushed myself up and forced myself to look at the grave. Ian’s name etched in bronze. The depressingly short span of years between birth and death.
I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to move on. I didn’t want to be forced into this.
But I’d very clearly been left without a choice. I shook my head as I backed away and headed back for my car. I needed to hold it together. Once I was alone in my room with a bottle of whatever liquor I had in the house and could freely indulge my pain, I’d let loose. But for just a few more minutes, I needed to keep my shit together.
And even as the thunder started to pound in the distance, I kept my gaze straight ahead.
Epilogue
After the Storm...
Carter’s eyes snapped open, and he jumped out of the armchair he’d fallen asleep in. “Amy?” he called instinctively before the events of the day rapidly caught up to him. Fuck.
It wasn’t her. At least it better not be. But someone pounded on his front door.
Knowing his luck, it was Sonia. Why couldn’t that blasted good-for-nothing witch leave him alone? He yanked his front door open, ready to let all of his rage explode out toward whoever had dared bother him tonight. But all of that rage quickly caught in his throat at the sight before him.
Covered in mud, dirt, and wearing a worn-out suit that might as well have just been rags, was Ian Butler.
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I thought he was gone forever. But now the love of my life is back from the dead and has no idea who I am.
Between trying to prove that a demon has taken over his body and being assigned an arrogant movie star who has sold his sold for fame and fortune, I'm not getting a lot of rest and relaxation.
Just another day at Dangerous Magic Division...
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Also by Melody Raven
The Lost Vampire Prince
The Vampire Villain
Her Very Own Demon
The Werewolf and the Shifter
Beauty and the Shapeshifter
New Breed Series
Blood Price
Blood Bond
Blood Cure
Blood Pact
Sins and Spells Series
Pride and Magic
Envy and Magic
Lust and Magic
Greed and Magic
Wrath and Magic
Dangerous Magic Series
Blood Magic
Kindred Magic
