“Your file says—”
“I don’t care what my file says,” I argued. “I didn’t fail.”
His eyes narrowed a fraction. “I’m merely trying to answer your question. You’re here because your superior at the academy requested your placement into the cleaner division upon your completion of the training program.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You’re telling me why I’m a cleaner. I want to know why I’m here. As in, reporting to an office that is actually a condemned house in the middle of the Ninth Ward, to a boss that’s Nephilim and who doesn’t like conversations.”
“I don’t have a problem with conversations. It’s the needless chatter I could do without.”
I offered a sweet smile. “Tomato, potato. I want to know why they sent me to you and why they sent you to me.”
He sighed. Or he probably sighed judging from the way his shoulders rose and fell, although I couldn’t hear the sound of his breath as it left his lungs. “As I said, we don’t need to rehash the past. Focusing on the assignment is the best way to get—”
“Did you curse in church or something?” I asked, my imagination kicking in as I contemplated what a Nephilim could have possibly done to get into trouble. They just didn’t have the same rules we did. “Or borrow a fiver from the offering plate? Sing off-key in the celestial chorus? Is that what made them send one of their own into the working class?”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re annoying?”
I beamed. “My mother calls it tenacity. She says it’s my best trait.”
He glowered, and the weight of power behind the expression nearly knocked me backward. I sucked in a breath, blinking against the urge to let my knees buckle.
“I know what you’re doing, and I’m not going to let you bully me,” I said through clenched teeth even though there was no “letting” here. He was just doing it. Nephilim were entitled that way.
The crushing weight eased up, though not by much. “Most supes have the sense to defer to the power they’re up against.”
“Most supes wouldn’t have made it to the address you gave,” I shot back, thinking of the shifter keeping watch outside. And all the eyes I couldn’t see but knew were watching me. “You have this place guarded like it’s some kind of stronghold.”
“Murphy’s one of ours,” Adrik said, and I cocked my head.
“The shifter outside is SSF? Why?”
“He’s a lookout of sorts.”
What the hell did that mean? And how had he survived all the creatures looking out for him? Because I didn’t for one minute think those eyes weren’t studying him for a weak spot in his defenses. Not to mention the fact that he was alone.
“Look, being assigned here isn’t exactly a step up for you, and it’s not what I had in mind when I joined the SSF either,” I said, trying again to find some sort of common ground. “So just tell me what I have to do to graduate up and out of here so we can both get on with our lives.”
“Your job as a cleaner is to clean the messes left behind by your kind’s stupidity or general disregard for the whole.” I scowled, not bothering to argue while he went on. “You’ll complete the assignments I give you. And I’ll report to my superiors about your performance.”
My stomach twisted at the flimsy promise he was offering in that scant job description. “And if I perform well? Will you recommend me for detective to your superiors?”
“I don’t have that kind of pull,” he said quietly. A shadow passed over his features, gone before I could catch hold of what it could mean.
My curiosity rose, but I bit my tongue to keep from asking questions I already knew he wouldn’t answer. “You still haven’t told me jack shit about why you’re my boss. I’m not going to blindly work for you without any promise of a future—”
“You’ll do what you’re told,” he roared, and suddenly, he was in my face, his breath hot on my cheeks as he glared back at me.
The power accompanying his closeness was so thick I could feel it pushing me backward. Before I knew it, my shoulder blades bumped the far wall. I hadn’t even realized my feet were moving before I’d retreated as far as I could go.
If he’d been any other creature, I would have destroyed him for this, but he wasn’t any other creature. He was Nephilim. One wrong word… Hell, one wrong tone, and I was dust.
“You’re crowding me,” I said softly, my heart racing and chest heaving as I stared back at him.
The urge to look away was so strong I barely held his gaze. The raw power of an angry Nephilim had been known to reduce even the strongest supes to a puddle of tears and pleas for mercy. I gave myself two points for doing neither of those. Yet.
In the meantime, my entire body shook, right down to my bones, and my brain screamed at me to avert my eyes in deference to the creature before me. Instead, I held his stare until my mouth was dry and the room around us began to tilt sideways with the effort.
“You’re under my authority for now. I expect your full compliance as long as we’re stuck together,” he said, and I didn’t miss the way he spat the last part. He obviously didn’t like this arrangement any more than I did.
“And if I don’t?” I asked.
“You’ll be removed from the SSF. And I think we both know you’re not going to let that happen.”
There was something in his voice now that snagged my attention more than anything else he’d said so far. The fact that he seemed to understand how desperate I was for a position inside the agency. Like he knew something about why I was actually here.
I studied him carefully now, my eyes searching his for whatever he was holding back. But the darkness in his eyes was bottomless. A pit of never-ending secrets and lies and deception. Nephilim were nothing like the pure and honest angels they’d come from. Nephilim were cunning and vicious and moody as hell. They had to be in order to battle demons.
The more I looked into the granite gaze of my new boss, the more convinced I became that Adrik Romanov was the worst of them all.
But . . . he was also familiar.
“Do I—” I stopped, uncertain now. “Have we met before?”
“No.” His answer was a growl that bore no trace of hesitation and more than enough malice to rekindle my temper.
Well, fine.
“Which means you don’t know anything about me,” I said in a low voice that, despite my brain warning me otherwise, was meant to threaten. “Including what I will and won’t let happen.”
“I know what I need to know,” he shot back.
Shoving aside the déjà vu, I glared back at him. “So you say. But what about me?” I countered. “What do I get to know about you?”
His gaze heated then dropped to the rest of my face before landing on my lips. My body shuddered for entirely new reasons, and suddenly the blanket of power around us shifted into something else. It was still dangerous and heavy enough to pin me where I stood, but now I wanted it to. I wanted Adrik to be in charge. I wanted him to make me the assignment.
Reflexively, I ran my tongue over my lips to wet them. Adrik’s eyes sharpened on the movement, narrowing with a small twitch as he continued to study me. His body tensed, and it dawned on me how close he stood. Close enough for me to feel the hardness of his body, to taste the musky smell that was his skin mixed with his soap.
My fingers twitched with the desire to reach up and bury themselves in his messy hair. A knot of need balled inside my stomach, traveling lower and lower until my thighs ached to be touched.
It was ridiculous how badly I wanted him. How badly I wanted him to want me. The last time I’d felt this attracted to a man, I’d been too busy killing another man to act on it. The Monster Ball had woken all sorts of desires inside me that I’d buried in favor of training for the agency. Now, I wondered if I couldn’t have a little bit of both.
“Gemini,” Adrik breathed, and my knees finally did wobble at the sound of my name out of his gorgeous mouth.
“Yeah?” I managed, my
entire focus now caught up in the way his own mouth hovered so close to mine.
His eyes closed for a long moment as if he was working hard on maintaining some sort of control. The power hovering between us waned, and when he opened his eyes again, they were carefully guarded. Detached. Just like they’d been when I’d first arrived.
He glanced down at my hand and then back up at my face as he said in a flat voice, “You’re bending the folder.”
He stepped back, effectively shattering the tension between us.
My thoughts cleared, and a heavy breath whooshed out of my already-straining lungs. I blinked, foggy and a little pissed at what I’d just almost allowed to happen. Hooking up with your boss was one thing. A little hot if not a little risky, but still not the worst thing in the world.
Hooking up with a Nephilim was totally different.
Amazing in bed, if the rumors were true, but trouble with a capital T. Needy, bitchy, and a little bit deadly. They called it the “morning-after effect” because when a Nephilim lost control, there was no guarantee their partner would wake up the next day.
Orgasm of your life, though. So there was that.
And I’d just offered myself up like that was a fair enough trade.
Besides, after everything that had happened with Rodrigo, all the innuendos and come-ons when he should have been training me, not to mention the petty punishment he was currently inflicting by sending me here in the first place, I was adamantly against workplace romances. And I wasn’t about to change my mind now.
I shuffled toward the door, in case I needed a quick escape, and did my best to concentrate on the file folder that I’d already maimed in my clutched hands. Adrik waited while I opened it and, with shaky hands, smoothed out the report inside.
If he wanted me to focus on the work, that was fine by me. The work was safe. Or safer than whatever the hell had just happened here. I’d just have to find a way to impress him with my amazing cleaner skills so he’d recommend me for a promotion as fast as possible.
“This is my first assignment?” I asked, scanning the notes that detailed a string of animal attacks over the last month. If Adrik noticed my high-pitched tone or the awkward flush of my cheeks, he didn’t comment.
“I have an appointment for us to go by the most recent location tomorrow. You can clean things up while I interview the property owner,” Adrik said.
“What’s to interview?” I frowned at the photos of the latest victims. Gross, but not the first time I’d heard of this sort of thing. “It looks like a classic case of rogue werewolf to me.”
“Then it shouldn’t be a hard one for you.”
The challenge in his tone made me look up with eyes narrowed. “Piece of cake,” I agreed coolly. “Though, I have to ask why we’re waiting until tomorrow when this mess is currently slicking up someone’s backyard.”
“SSF has the place glamoured until the investigation is complete. You can use today to pick up these supplies.” He handed me a slip of paper.
I took it, careful not to let myself touch him in the process. (I was lonely, not stupid, and my knees were still very willing to get weak if the situation called for it.)
“A shopping list?” My brows shot up as I read the paper. “Garbage bags. Shovel. Lye. Are we moonlighting as serial killers now?”
“We’re cleaners. We’ll need to be prepared to clean.”
His answer was simple and probably accurate. It was the dry sarcasm that made me glare.
“Are you sure they didn’t pick you for this assignment because of your winning personality?” I shot back.
“Just get the supplies and report here tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” I turned for the door, tucking the file folder into my jacket as I went.
“Gem?” Adrik’s voice called me back.
I turned in the doorway, casting a glance over my shoulder at the brooding Nephilim standing by the window. It was a steep contrast, his beauty cast against the ugliness and grime of his surroundings. “Yeah?”
“Try not to break any more rules before then.”
I scowled.
“No promises,” I told him as I turned and walked out, marching loudly down the stairs and out the door.
Ugh. So much for a peaceful work environment.
Murphy was absent as I made my exit.
At the sight of his blanket lying abandoned where he’d sat earlier, something primal inside me sent a warning bell ringing.
Hadn’t Adrik said he was a lookout? That meant he needed to be somewhere he could, well, lookout. Had the shadows that lurked in this neighborhood closed in on him while I’d been inside? Why else would he have left his blanket behind?
Through a broken window, I peered into the utter blackness of the warehouse Murphy’s chair was backed against. Blinking to adjust my vision to the murky interior, I froze when I caught sight of something moving among the forgotten machinery. It wasn’t human, not with such a large frame. But it also hadn’t seen me yet.
If I left now, I could double back. Call for help—
From inside the depths, I heard a whimper.
My feet stopped moving even before my brain had given them the okay. I tore my gaze from the building’s interior to glance at the intersection up ahead. Cars passed by, and while none of them turned this way, I knew that corner symbolized an escape. Once I made it there, whatever monsters lived here wouldn’t follow. I’d be safe. Besides, I had a list of supplies to purchase. A job to do. And I was on thin ice already. Whatever was making noise in there wasn’t my business. Agents. Patrols. Detectives. That’s who handled this sort of thing. Not me. Not anymore.
I looked back into the building’s depths, uncertain.
The whimper came again, louder this time. More urgent.
My shoulders sagged because even in the midst of bravery, I knew I was stupid. But I couldn’t leave. Not with the sound of something helpless ringing in my ears.
Knowing I was fully insane and probably about to die for it, I found an unlocked door leading into the back of the darkened building and slipped inside.
Chapter Three
I was barely through the warehouse door when a familiar buzz sounded near my ear.
“Gran,” I whispered, glaring at the June bug fluttering against the windowsill. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy, believe me. Since when do you go on dates down here?”
“I’m not on a date.”
A fact she already knew because I’d told her three times I started work today. But Gran’s memory wasn’t the best.
I huffed impatiently. “My new office is down here.”
“Your office?” She gave a snort of disbelief. “Dang. The SSF is on a serious budget if they’re renting offices around here.”
“You shouldn’t be in here. Go wait outside.”
“No way. I’m your wingman.” She snorted. “Get it? Wing? I crack myself up.”
“I’m serious. It’s not safe.”
She huffed. “If that’s true, you shouldn’t be here either. Besides, I’m not leaving my granddaughter alone in a dangerous warehouse. Even if I did find an open window at the Irish Whiskey Bar down the street. But instead of drowning my sorrows, I came here. That’s love, you know. Not everyone is as lucky as you.”
“Yeah, I’m real grateful. Gran, listen—”
“You’re also terrible with men. I saw your awkward flirting back there, and if you want some pointers, I’d be happy to help. There’s this trick I can do with my tongue. Well, you probably can’t see it bein’ as I’m so tiny now, but you just fold it back like this and—”
“Gran!”
“What?”
“Promise me right now to never, ever show me tricks you do with your tongue. And also promise you’ll stop lurking nearby when I don’t know you’re there.”
I couldn’t afford to be worried about my grandmother watching me the next time I had sex. If I ever had sex a
gain. At this rate, it might never happen, and that wasn’t even her fault.
Ugh.
Agency life was not conducive to orgasms, apparently.
“Fine,” Gran said grudgingly. “I promise. But that angel is hot as hellfire. If it were me, I’d sex him six ways til Sunday even if I did catch on fire doing it.”
“Dear Baby Jesus, make it stop,” I moaned just as something wet landed on my forehead.
I swiped it away, grimacing at the sight of the slimy, green goo coating my skin. Gross. I looked up to find where it came from and spotted a large chunk of slime stuck to the metal grate high above me. The ooze was thick enough to cling but not so solid it wouldn’t drip—slowly. Before I could move aside, another drop hit me square on the tip of my nose.
“Ugh.”
“That can’t be healthy,” Gran said.
I ducked my head and slid sideways to avoid another hit, but even without another dose of the slime, my stomach roiled. The smell permeating the musty air was almost worse than the feeling of having goo on my nose. It was definitely worse than anything the French Quarter had ever produced, and that included the stinking remains of a Mardi Gras parade at four in the morning.
“Come on,” I said, knowing we were past the point of me convincing Gran to leave me alone.
With her buzzing at my ear, I hurried to find a space that wasn’t raining green goop. I pressed my lips tightly closed, breathing only through my nose. Somehow, tasting the smell was another level of gross. It was also a clear indicator that a demon was squatting somewhere inside. And not one of the lesser ones, either.
Thanks to a crash course in all things evil these past weeks, I knew that only the greater demons left behind a scent signature worse than an overfilled outhouse. More specifically, only a gorscht demon could ooze this badly. But how in the hell had a level five demon gotten this far into the city without notice?
“This smells worse than your grandpa’s bathroom blowouts,” Gran said.
I didn’t even want to know.
From deep within the building, a snarl rose, echoing around me.
Knock Em Dead (Supernatural Security Force Book 2) Page 3
