He looks genuinely affronted, jerking back from me a little, his arms flexing. It’s the only opening I’m going to get. I whip my right leg up and around his hip and drop my weight to the right, forcing him off balance. At the same time, I raise my left knee, using it to leverage him away from me with a shove. I tap his face with my foot on the way, connecting with his mouth. It’s not a hard hit, but it has impact.
He bounces to his feet and so do I, but this time we back up against opposite sides of the confined space, facing each other. I’m satisfied to see that his lip is split, but I am unscathed.
Thankfully, so is the dress. An expensive rip is the last thing I need.
His amber eyes follow every movement I make, from the smallest twitch of my fingers to the turn of my head as I consider the door and how fast I might be able to get through it.
He says, “Nice to meet you, Archer Ryan.”
It’s not nice to meet him. I glare back at him. “What gave it away?”
“Your eyes.”
I swallow a laugh. He has no freaking idea.
He continues, “And the way Cain whisked you away from Boston. You were a perfect stranger to him but he protected you that day—the same day Archer Ryan rescued Briar. I didn’t think any woman could tear Cain away from Hunter. Especially right now when she needs him most.”
There’s an element of accusation in his tone, as if he disagrees with Cain’s choice.
All I hear is “any woman” and “Hunter.” Lutz makes it sound as if Cain is bound to Hunter. My voice sharpens. “Hunter Cassidy?”
Lutz’s eyes narrow. He considers me for a moment, his expression shifting from angry to curious. And finally his forehead creases with concern. His gaze rakes across my features as if he sees things he doesn’t like.
His next question is a goading challenge, laden with implication. “You didn’t know about Cain and Hunter?”
I try to keep my expression blank, but my jaw clenches. Cain didn’t act as if he and Hunter are together, but if that’s the case, then our sleeping arrangements are well and truly inappropriate.
I snap, “Who Cain loves is none of my business.”
A deep light of concern floods Lutz’s eyes. He loses his offensive stance and drops his weight against the wall, staring at me. “Damn. This is way more complicated than I thought it was.”
I frown at him, not following his sudden change of gears. “What is?”
He curses again. “You and Cain. I thought he was protecting you because you saved Briar. But if he’s protecting you because he loves you … this is not going to end well.”
I continue to glare at Lutz. “Cain doesn’t love me.”
He arches an eyebrow at me. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart. But the more important question is: do you love him? Because if you do, you’ll come back to Boston with me.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t, the Code gives Slade the right to kill Cain.”
“What?” A shiver runs down my spine. My hands and feet are suddenly numb, my entire body heavy. I lean against the wall for support.
Lutz says, “Nobody wants that to happen. Only you can prevent it.”
My blood runs cold. Cain is strong, the most impressive fighter I’ve ever seen, but he’s not invincible. Everything I’ve heard about Slade tells me that a fight between him and Cain would be … devastating, vicious. Deadly.
Lutz holds out his hand to me. It’s like the angel of death asking me to go with him.
I snap upright. I have no reason to believe anything he says. “You’re lying.”
In response, he growls, “If you don’t believe me, then consider this: Lady Tirelli’s people are already here. I took care of the two guys tailing you outside the shop. I know you saw them. You were lucky they didn’t attack Parker. They don’t care who they kill. People will die if you don’t come with me. Including Cain.”
When I hesitate, he runs his hand through his hair, frustration bleeding into his expression. “Look … I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to take you back. What happens after that is not in my control.”
Whether or not I believe Lutz’s story about Slade and Cain, he’s right about Parker. I can’t let her get hurt. Or Cain for that matter. I know firsthand how brutal the Tirelli Family is, and I’ve seen what a single bullet can do. Dad was killed by a bullet I didn’t see coming.
A bullet I couldn’t stop.
Parker … Cain … they could be killed, too.
I press my hand against my chest. They are the first people who have ever truly cared about me, took me in without demanding something in return. For a few days, I’ve had security and happiness.
Now I have to let it go.
But, dammit, I’m going to do it on my own terms.
I snarl, letting my anger out. “I’m dead if I go with you. I was dead the moment I threw that coffee at you.”
He breathes out a slow exhale. “I’m sorry, Archer.”
He actually sounds like he means it.
He closes the distance one step at a time, testing me, his amber eyes assessing every twitch I make. He lifts his hand, inches away from me.
He says, “For what it’s worth … what I saw in this dressing room tells me Cain was lucky while he had you.”
I inhale a sharp gasp. “Asshole.”
My fist cracks against his cheek.
He stumbles backward, hissing out the pain. “Damn, woman! You hit like Hunter.”
I grind my teeth. I guess I like Hunter again. I’m fifty percent sure that Lutz was talking trash when he implied that Hunter and Cain are together, but if Hunter has put Lutz in his place, then I have to respect her.
Lutz says, “Thank you. I needed that. The pain helps take my mind off doing things I don’t want to do.”
I swallow my own pain and now my confusion. Did he deliberately provoke me just now? “You don’t want to take me back to Boston.”
He shakes his head. “I really don’t.”
With that, his hand snakes out and wraps around my arm. When I don’t resist, he propels me to the dressing room door. Pulling it inward, he drives me directly toward a service door on the right, the opposite direction to the front of the shop.
I side-eye him. “You’re not in protective gear today. That was a mistake.”
“I don’t make mistakes.”
I smile. “Apparently you do.”
My confident response makes him frown.
I prompt, “I’m told that collateral damage is unacceptable.”
He stiffens a little. He stops pushing me. “So?”
“You don’t want Parker to get hurt.”
I tug left, swinging around to reveal the woman in question, her feet planted in the middle of the dressing room corridor, holding two dresses that she promptly throws on the ground.
I love the fact that she moves so quietly; Lutz didn’t hear her approach.
Storm clouds gather across Parker’s expression, her lips compress, and a deep frown mars her forehead.
Lutz slowly releases me, unclasping his hand from my arm. He takes a careful step away from me.
“You.” Parker walks straight up to him and pokes him in the chest. “Stay away from Grace.”
Despite the force behind her movement, she barely makes an impact. Lutz stares at her finger as if it’s a feather. But his frown disappears, lifting.
His expression changes, becomes intent, his head tilting, the slightest challenge entering his eyes. It’s the same way Cain looks at me. As if he’s daring me to make a move…
Lutz whisks Parker’s hand into his, capturing her fingertips within his palm, making her gasp. He carefully draws her hand up to his lips and brushes a kiss across her knuckles, never taking his eyes from hers.
Her focus shifts to his wounded lip.
“Oh,” she says, her eyes widening. “You’re hurt.”
The hole in my heart widens. Parker can’t fight her inner nature; she can’t stop car
ing, even about this man who could kill her in a heartbeat. I can never see the world the way she does, as if everyone is innately capable of goodness. I need her in my life, but I can’t have that either.
Lutz gives her a crooked grin. “It’s all better now.”
Then he releases her and spins to me with a ferocious glare. “Remember who you’re putting in danger.”
Parker. She’s in danger every second she spends with me.
He strides toward the service door, but I call after him. “Not for long, Lutz Logan.”
He half-turns with a frown, an imposing force paused in the doorway.
I say, “You’ll see me again soon. At a time of my choosing.”
His frown clears. A hint of respect enters his eyes. “I’ll be waiting.”
I give him a nod. I will go with him, but only as far as it takes to lead my enemies away from Parker and Cain. After that, I’ll disappear again.
Parker rubs her hand where Lutz kissed it, blinking away her surprise. “Assassins are very confusing.”
I sigh, coming back to myself. “Men are confusing.”
She says, “Not Cain.”
I laugh. “Especially Cain.”
Parker says, “It’s hard for me to reconcile what Cain is with who he is.”
I take her arm, needing her to hear me. “He’s still your brother. He hasn’t changed.”
“But there’s darkness in him that I never knew about.”
“We all have darkness. Cain channels it in a way that balances out the scales of justice.”
She searches my eyes. “Do you truly believe that?”
“I have to. Or else I’d run screaming from the lot of them.” Which I’m going to do. Just without the screaming part.
She gives me a small smile. “I guess.”
I say, “He needs you to forgive him, Parker.”
She chews on her lip before focusing on me again. “I think you should get that dress. It matches your eyes.”
I glance in the far mirror. The dress matches the color of my contact lenses. Only the deepest violet would match my eyes.
* * *
I see Parker safely home, where I quietly alert Sarah that it’s too dangerous for me to visit the apartment again. She gives me a sad nod and then Spencer drives me back to the Realm.
Cain waits for me, leaning against the doorway into the Realm, a smile growing on his face when he sees the bags I’m carrying.
I miss a step. That smile. It makes my heart squeeze painfully inside my chest. I’d give anything to have a lifetime of Cain’s smiles, but now I have to build distance between us. Somehow, I have to honor my promise to tell him I’m leaving, and then I have to make myself go.
Before I can speak, he says, “I’m glad you’re back. It wasn’t the same without you.”
No … he can’t say that to me right now.
I search for the coldness in my heart, trying to numb myself, needing a protective cloak around emotions. All I find is anger. Damn Lutz Logan. Damn Lady Tirelli. And damn Slade Baines.
I growl, “I hope you’re prepared for how expensive this dress was, Cain Carter.”
He doesn’t miss anything, certainly not the heat in my response.
His voice lowers, slightly cautious. “Consider it a gift.”
“In exchange for what?” Too sharp. I try to swallow it back. My emotions are getting the better of me, but I can’t rein them in. “Gifts come with strings.”
Oh, if only I could hate Cain, too.
I try to take a calming breath. But all I can think about is my warm toes and his deep breathing in the morning. Why did this have to be so hard?
A mask falls over his face as he carefully takes my arm, giving me entrance to the Realm. “Not this gift.”
“Why not?” I spin to face him as soon as I step foot on the Realm’s pebbled courtyard. “Why are you doing any of this?”
He contemplates me for a moment, searching my eyes the same way that Parker did earlier. Can he read my thoughts? Is that an assassin’s skill?
He draws nearer to me, his voice lowering. “What happened out there?”
“I ran into Lutz.” Having answered his question, I rush on, “Is it true that Slade Baines is entitled to fight you?”
“Yes.”
My eyes widen. I breathe, “Lutz was telling the truth.”
Cain is like stone, his jaw like granite. He squares his shoulders, his muscles flexing, and maybe for the first time since I met him … I’m looking at an assassin.
It sends a chill through my heart.
He says, “Slade has given me the courtesy of waiting until I become Master.”
“Wait … what?” I gasp, but I want to scream. I drop the bags and stumble backward, wobbling over the edge of the pathway, the breath knocked out of me. “You’ve already arranged it? You’re going to fight him?”
“Yes.”
The world spins around me; panic billows up from my stomach. I’m going to throw up. Or scream. Or run. “Is he strong enough to kill you?”
Cain’s response is simple, ringing with truth. “He is.”
13
This isn’t happening. It can’t be…
Cain’s determined eyes meet mine and my heart plummets, my emotions spiral; coherent thoughts stop.
My voice is strangled. “You never should have helped me.”
He reaches for me, closing the gap again. “Archer, listen to me. Slade won’t—”
The breath stops in my lungs. He called me Archer…
I dart backward, my hands shooting out, keeping him at a distance. I need to ask one more question, the most important one. “If I leave, will Slade stay away from you?”
“Yes, but—”
I spin for the door. I wanted to leave on my own terms. I thought I could stay another day, take a moment, say a proper goodbye. I have nothing with me, no belongings, no money, but it doesn’t matter. This isn’t how I wanted to go, but I can’t stay another moment knowing that Cain is walking to his death because of me.
I’m five paces away from the door when the pathway blurs. My back suddenly burns. My body is no longer cold but … far too hot. My gaze shifts upward to the sky, as if I could reach into it and pull it to me. At the same time, copper light streams around me, an undeniable force.
Cain appears in front of me, far faster than I ever expected. Light streams around him like sunlight. It curls around my torso and legs, caressing me like a breeze as he blocks the doorway.
“Archer, stop.”
I pull up sharp. My heart is beating far too fast. My shoulder blades feel like they’re going to explode; the pain is hard to process.
I’m … panicking.
I never panic. Not even when Dad was killed. But now I have to move, I have to run, I need to escape my own body. I remember Briar telling me not to die because of her.
Now it’s Cain who is going to die.
I cry, “You can’t die because of me. I’m not worth it.”
His eyes widen, then narrow, his jaw setting. “Not worth it?”
He closes the gap between us. The copper light curls around me, a tangible force. Before I can draw breath, he wraps his arms around me, one around my waist, the other sweeping up my back.
His head tilts to mine. “You are worth every second.”
Our surroundings shift, golden light solidifying in a dome around us, creating a visual barrier that blocks out the rest of the Realm, the sky, the door. We are enclosed in our own private space created by magic that hums around and inside me, calling my senses. The world expands around me and the burn in my back eases.
My heart hammers hard in my chest as Cain searches my eyes. His nearness is intoxicating, his hand stroking the back of my neck, tangling in the strands of hair, his other palm flexing against the small of my back, making me arch.
I close my eyes against the tears I won’t cry.
I gasp when his lips brush my cheek.
His question is soft. “What can I
do to make you believe me?”
He plants a kiss on my other cheek. Then his lips brush across my temple, trailing kisses down to my earlobe.
My heart rate begins to slow, to calm.
His thumb brushes slowly back and forth across my neck, cradling my head, and I shiver when he drops the lightest kiss against the corner of my lips.
“Archer?”
I open my eyes, needing to know: “Why did you stop calling me Grace?”
“Because I want you to know that I see you.” He pauses, his lips mere inches from mine, his strong hands making me tingle. “I want you to know that you’re real to me. You matter. You. Not your alias.”
“Why?” It’s the question I’m always asking him but he never answers.
He draws me even closer, his lower hand curving around my waist. “Why do you care if Slade kills me?”
“Because I…” My breathing spirals out of control again. The idea of Cain ever dying, of losing him, makes me want to rip apart the world. “Because you … because I want … because I need…”
“What do you want?”
I can’t go without knowing what kissing him feels like. I lean forward and up, instinctive movements, rising just the slightest on my toes, my hands planted on his chest.
I press my lips against Cain’s.
His are soft, parting slightly as he inhales against my mouth. Craving spreads through me, making me want to stay right there, making me want more, but with it comes terror. I kissed him. Not the other way around.
I draw apart, but he doesn’t push me away, following me instead.
He tips his head to mine, whispering, “Finally.”
His lips meet mine, soft at first, like a gentle question. My senses hum and I sigh against his mouth, melting into him, responding when he deepens the kiss, my hands sliding out between us to find the muscular curves of his back and shoulders, pulling him closer. The intensity of his kiss increases and his breathing hitches when I arch into him. My own is rapid, but not from panic. I can’t get close enough. I tug on the back of his shirt, sliding my hands beneath it, needing to feel his bare skin under my hands while I kiss him. Just once.
Before I know it, he pulls me, still kissing me, two steps left so that his back is pressed against the side of the golden dome that he created around us. He lifts me up against him, one strong hand still cradling my head while his other strokes down my thigh, drawing my knee up so that it is propped against the wall next to his hip and my lower half presses against his. I gasp as intense need rises inside me, sensing him smile against my mouth.
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