by Jami Gray
The problem with using the same sparring partner was that over time they eventually got to know all your tricks. Hell, Ryuu even taught her a few. So they stood there, Ryuu’s heavy breathing in her ear, his arms squeezing, holding her immobile.
“Submit,” he growled.
Xander was a small female in a world populated by bigger, stronger males. If her years as a Wraith and a dominant had taught her anything, it was that you used whatever tricks you had to get your point across. No matter how dirty. She bared her teeth at the wall, hooked her foot behind Ryuu’s, and snapped her arms wide, breaking his hold. As his arms released, she spun and slammed her palm into his nose.
He howled in pain and she caught the sharp scent of fresh blood. She stepped to his side and fisted her now free arm to nail him in the crotch. He stumbled back. She didn’t give him a chance, turning into him and delivering a series of lightning quick strikes to his stomach, forcing him to give ground.
He retaliated by trapping one of her fists against his abdomen and driving a bruising hook kick to her thigh.
She twisted her wrist, freeing it and using her other hand to aim a palm strike against his jaw.
He snapped his head back, avoiding her hit.
Using the space she’d gain as he took a step back, she lashed out with a back kick.
He blocked it and went in for his own series of strikes. As his arms whipped out, she blocked his first strike.
Deflecting his second strike, she looped her arm over and under, capturing his wrist in both hands then twisted her body. Caught in her arm bar, Ryuu had no choice but to follow where she took his wrist. She kept twisting until she had him on his knees next to her.
Panting, she grinned. “Submit.”
Blood smeared bright red against his dusky skin, but his grin was as fierce as hers. “This time.”
Triumph burst inside her and escaped with a laugh. Whether he deliberately let her win or she managed to get the better of him due to luck didn’t matter. It hadn’t been a real battle for position. She had no desire to take Ryuu’s place, but at least now he’d listen to her first. She leaned closer until their foreheads touched over their entangled arms. “I can’t believe you fell for that.”
He tugged on his arm and she released him. Then he touched her face briefly. “Nice moves.”
She rose to her feet, offering him her hand. “Thank you.”
“Are you two done?” The dry question had Ryuu and Xander spinning around. Standing in the hall was Gavin Durand, Raine’s lover and partner. Hair, the color of good bourbon, was tied back at the nape of his neck, his long legs encased in faded jeans, and his broad shoulders covered in a dark T-shirt. The shirt’s image showed a dog chasing a cat and below that the caption Fast Food.
Xander snickered. “Let me guess. Raine’s idea?”
Gavin looked down then pulled the material out and away from his body. “Yeah.” He looked back up. “She dared me to wear it to work.”
“What did you dare her to do?” Ryuu asked. “Wear a skirt?”
A speculative light lit Gavin’s eyes. “Not yet, but you know, that might not be such a bad idea.”
Xander made a mental note to warn Raine and, if necessary, make sure to drag her friend to that little leather shop down on Hawthorne. There was this one skirt that had caught Xander’s eye, but on Raine…hmm. “What brings you over to our wing?”
Gavin and Raine’s offices were on the other side of the building. Since Warrick decided to take the office all the way on the butt end of the building, she and Ryuu ended up picking the offices closest to him.
Gavin gave a pointed look at her door, which was valiantly trying to maintain a hold on its frame by one lone hinge. “Your little discussion could be heard all the way to Rachel’s desk. I left her soothing our guests and decided to see if another opinion was needed.”
“Nope.” Xander took a step forward. She winced as her thigh protested. Ryuu’s kick was going to leave a bruise. She rubbed it and kept moving, leading Ryuu back to her office.
As she stepped past Gavin, he caught her upper arm in a gentle grip, bringing her to a stop. She turned to look at him.
“Does Vidis need to know?” he asked softly.
She gave him a patronizing smile and patted him on the chest. “Down, boy. Ryuu and I were just exchanging points of views.”
Gavin turned his serious gaze to Ryuu and let her go. “You sure?”
She grabbed a box of Kleenex from her desk and tossed it to Ryuu, who started mopping up his face.
“We’re good,” he told Gavin. “Besides, I’m sure Vidis already knows.”
Leaning against her desk, Xander folded her arms, watching Ryuu make a bigger mess of his face. “Oh for gods’ sake, Ryuu, come here.” She stepped up, snatched the wad of Kleenex from him, and began wiping away the worst of the blood. “Which guests are out with Rachel, Gavin?”
“Sector Chief Osborn and some other suit,” he answered. “Once you two are cleaned up, your presence is requested in the large conference room.”
Hands stilling, Xander turned and glanced behind her at the clock on the wall. She winced. Ten to one. Damn it. Turning back to Ryuu, she asked, “Do you have another shirt in your office?”
He shook his head. “No, but I can get one out of my locker in the gym.” The fourth floor housed a gym utilized for training and after-hours workouts. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He gave her a mock scowl. “Next time, leave my damn nose alone.” He turned and began to walk out of the office.
“Aww, don’t worry, you can tell your lady friends some big biker dude did it.”
Ryuu didn’t look back, just gave her a one-finger response.
She laughed.
“You know,” Gavin said as Ryuu disappeared, “until today, I thought the fact you and Raine were friends was just strange.”
“Why?”
He grinned. “I was under the impression you were somewhat sane.”
Grabbing her jacket, she waved him out of her office. “You must have been fooled by my demure appearance.”
“Nope,” he said as they walked down the hall. “I think it’s more that everyone believes you’re the one person who can tame Vidis.”
She snorted, stopping outside the restroom. “Tame and Warrick will never exist in the same sentence.” She slid Gavin a glance under her lashes and gave him a wicked smile. “Besides, I like him wild.”
She left Gavin laughing as she went into the bathroom to make sure she was presentable.
An hour later, she was seated next to her brother, Ethan, at a large oval table while the tension in the room was thick enough to choke on. Not only was he Warrick’s lawyer, but his position as a senior legal advisor for Taliesin made his attendance mandatory. His yellow legal pad was filled with his chicken scratch. She wondered if it they were actual notes or just doodles. Knowing her brother, it could be either.
Across the table, Section Chief Victor Osborn and Special Agent in Charge Reynolds were trying their hardest not to flinch under the stares of the Kyn sitting across from them.
“Chief Osborn, are you informing us that your government is seriously considering making the existence of the Kyn public knowledge without our permission?” Ethan tapped his pen against his pad.
“No, Mr. Cade, I believe my exact words were, ‘there are rumors that some individuals are starting to discuss exposing the Kyn.’ Individuals, not the government.” Xander was impressed with how Osborn kept his tone patient and level.
“Are these same individuals aware that such a move is a direct violation of the Agreement signed in 1946?”
“Whether they do or not is beside the point,” Osborn said.
“We beg to differ.” The melodious voice belonged to Natasha Bertoi, the petite Chief Marketing Officer and deceptively beautiful head of the Amanusa House. Humans had misnamed them demons, even though most could walk down the street without raising an eyebrow. But if you could shatter their tightly held reins of discipli
ne their human masks would slip, showing the predator lurking within.
Osborn shook his head, his voice grave. “If you continue to have such public situations as the massacre at the club last night, it’s not the politicos you’ll have to worry about, but Joe Q. Public who’s going to plaster it all over the internet.”
“Last night’s situation was highly unusual,” Warrick cut in.
Xander caught the flex of muscle under Ryuu’s arm, a sure sign of a clenched fist under the table. Obviously, she wasn’t the only one sensing how close Warrick was to throwing Osborn out a window.
The first half of the meeting had been quite civilized, as various strategies were devised to deal with the public relations fallout from last night’s disaster. Coordinating a unified story between the Kyn and Division had been an exercise in creative writing. It never failed to amaze Xander at how good Natasha was at her job. The woman’s thought processes were downright scary. No wonder she enjoyed her work. Her ability to obscure reality was phenomenal.
It was all fake smiles and civil tones until Osborn decided to warn the Kyn that their time behind the curtain might be coming to a close faster than they realized. Which meant Xander would be cooped up longer than anticipated. She kept her sigh to herself.
“We understand that.” Osborn shook his head. “Hell, I understand that, but it doesn’t change the fact that maintaining silence on the Kyn’s existence is coming under fire.” He sat back in his chair, his fingers beating a restless rhythm against the table. “To be honest, I’m impressed that the government managed to keep you all behind the scenes as long as they have. As helpful as the Kyn have been in the past, the fact remains that when you’re outed, the American people are going to find out their government has been keeping some very dangerous secrets.”
“That shouldn’t be breaking news.” The dry comment came from Gavin who was sitting in as Ryan Mulcahy’s representative. As CEO of Taliesin Security to the humans and Head of the Fey House to the Kyn, Mulcahy also carried the title of Captain of the Wraiths to a few very select Kyn. The man was a bit busy, and since Gavin was here, Xander figured he must have drawn the short straw for today’s meeting.
Osborn’s sidekick, Reynolds covered his smile with a quick cough when his boss frowned at him.
“Chief Osborn,” Ethan redirected Osborn’s attention. “Forgive me for asking, but why are you sharing this information with us? Won’t that put you in direct confrontation with your superiors?”
Osborn’s lips curved in a grim little smile. “I’ve worked with the Kyn for years and I know just how good you are at keeping secrets. I have no fears you’ll keep my name out of things.” He met Warrick’s gaze directly. “If the actions of a select misguided few threaten the relationship between the humans and the Kyn, I want to make sure you know who the instigators are.”
Xander gave the human points for courage. He managed to hold Warrick’s gaze longer than most. It helped that there was no acrid scent of lies behind his words either.
Warrick studied the Division agent for a moment and when Osborn finally dropped his gaze, the tension etching lines around Warrick’s mouth lessened. “We appreciate the warning.”
Osborn gave him a short nod and stood up. “Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today. I’ll make sure these statements are released to the press by tonight.”
Next to him, Reynolds stood as well, his escalating pulse telegraphing his relief at their impending departure. Xander couldn’t blame either one. She watched both men make their good-byes and wondered how much longer the Kyn could depend on Division for help before fear set in.
Chapter Seventeen
Warrick hadn’t missed Ryuu’s bruised face or Xander’s slight limp when they came into the meeting. There was a moment before Rachel showed in Osborn and Reynolds where his wolf had come to attention, trying to get him to open the bond. Since he had been in the midst of a conversation with Natasha Bertoi, he gritted his teeth and ignored him. It hadn’t been easy. In fact, he had to remind himself and his wolf that Xander was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Something she was continually reminding him. Since his wolf reluctantly settled, he forced his attention back on task.
Now, thanks to Osborn’s little bomb, it would be even longer before he could get some answers.
“Well, that was fun,” Xander said into the silence left in the agents’ wake.
Ethan snorted and began packing up his paperwork. “I’ll get to work on getting this all documented and to our chief legal officer, Ms. Iver.”
“I especially like the usage of airborne hallucinogens on the club-goers as their explanation for seeing a ‘big hairy wolf dude.’” Gavin added finger quotes around one eyewitness’s description of Neil.
Natasha gathered the loose papers in front of her and carefully placed them in a leather binder. “It was more believable than trying to insinuate they were too drunk to see straight.” She rose from her chair and turned to Warrick. “We need to meet with Cheveyo and Mulcahy immediately.”
Frustration nipped at Warrick’s heels. He didn’t want to be stuck in another meeting. His wolf was gnawing at his restraints, thanks to his earlier meeting with Dmitri. The need for action raked its claws deep. Besides, his to-do list was growing at a frightening rate. First, he had to find out what the hell happened between Xander and Ryuu, then he needed to track down the illusive puppet master behind the trio of idiots now calling six-feet-under home, and if he was lucky, he might figure out how Neil and the other dead Bitten fit in. Add in his brother with his headache-inducing demands, and dealing with the amorphous threat of the human government could damn well wait.
Unfortunately, Natasha was still waiting for his response and ignoring her had never really worked in the past. “Tomorrow,” he said, struggling to keep his impatience in check. He rose from his chair and turned away.
“No, Vidis. Today.”
Her not-so-subtle order brought him to a stop. Obviously, he’d done too good of a job of hiding his fraying patience since Natasha felt free to push. His wolf surged forward. His head lowered and he slowly, carefully turned back to her. Noticing her whitened fingers wrapped around her binder and the bright avarice light in her eyes, he revised his earlier assumption. Natasha knew she was provoking him. She just didn’t care.
He let his wolf out a little more, no longer caring what such an action revealed. His lips curled back and a low, hair-raising snarl escaped. “Tomorrow.” It was hard to push the word out.
Instead of giving ground like any sane individual, Natasha gave him a condescending smile, queen to peasant. A thin ring of red appeared around her periwinkle blue irises as she let her own predator out to play. “We don’t have the luxury of indulging your temper tantrum, Vidis. If the humans decide to turn against us, we must have a plan in place, or we lose all we have managed to gain over the years.”
He hadn’t realized he had moved to lunge forward until his chest collided with Xander’s back. Somehow his mate had managed to get between him and the demon queen. That, more than the feel of her small form holding him back, had him pulling up short.
“Okay, time out,” Xander said, addressing Natasha. “Warrick is in the midst of investigating what caused Neil’s public display of temper last night, Natasha. We need to get that resolved before we can help with the possible fall out of Chief Osborn’s intel. It won’t hurt things to wait till tomorrow, will it?” Her tone was conciliatory.
Natasha fixed Xander with an unblinking stare. Warrick growled, faintly aware of Ryuu moving up on his far side and Ethan rising from his chair. Right now, he didn’t give a damn if they were preparing to help him or stop him. If Natasha didn’t stop eyeing his mate like she was considering how to dissect her, it would take more than Ryuu and Ethan to stop the impending carnage. No one threatened his mate, not even the Demon Queen.
“Natasha.” Gavin’s voice was mild, but effective in redirecting her attention to him. “Mulcahy and Cheveyo may not be available t
oday. Tomorrow would be best for all involved.”
Endless seconds ticked by before Natasha blinked. The looming presence of her true character winked out of existence, allowing Warrick to pull his wolf back though he didn’t make the mistake of taking his gaze off of her. Instead, he continued to watch her as she flexed her bloodless fingers against her binder.
She tilted her head to Gavin in acknowledgement. “Fine, tomorrow then. I’ll give Rachel the time.” She turned back to Warrick, giving him a lethal bearing of teeth. “Attendance is mandatory.” She didn’t wait for an answer, but swept from the room.
“What a bitch,” Xander muttered as soon as the blonde disappeared down the hall.
“I think that gives bitches too much credit,” Ryuu said, sotto voice.
“It’s what she’s best at.” Gavin rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He glanced at his watch and rose from his chair, deliberately avoiding Warrick’s gaze. “I’ve got to head out, too.”
Ethan shot his sister a raised eyebrow and Warrick felt the brush of her silky hair against his chin as she shook her head. Ethan sighed and said, “I’ll follow you out.”
As the two males left the room, Warrick’s wolf finally stepped all the way back, letting the man resume the driver’s seat. He shook his body like he was flinging off water and caught Xander’s hips in his hands. He pulled her back until she was leaning against his chest. Drawing her scent into his lungs, he turned his gaze to Ryuu. “Now, what the hell happened between the two of you?”
“Nothing.” Xander stepped out of his hold until she could turn to face him.
“Try again.” He switched his gaze back to her, his hands curling in an attempt not to shake her.
She flicked a glance to his Second then back to him. When she raised her chin, he knew he had a choice. Either badger her until she answered, or find another way around her. He took the path of least resistance and said to Ryuu, “I’m only going to ask once more. What happened?”
