Asp

by Kris Michaels

  "Don't tell me what to do, lover. I don't like it."

  "I don't want to see you taken down. Stop with the vigilante justice, Miho, or sooner or later, it will come back and trap you."

  Moriah blinked at the use of her given name. She took his Grey Goose and downed it in one swallow. "Stop worrying about me, Ryan. I'm not yours. I never will be. Perhaps it is time we said goodbye." She slid around the table and got out. Lycos stayed seated. She pulled down her skin-tight skirt and turned to face him. "I will always be there for you, my dear, sweet friend. Stay safe. Whatever it takes."

  "As long as it takes, my beautiful China doll."

  "I'm not a doll."

  "I know," he said to her back as he watched the swing of eyes, both male and female, follow her out the door. He motioned to the waitress and ordered another Grey Goose. He knew he’d been pushing what she tolerated when he criticized her actions, but he’d never expected her to break off their arrangement. He watched the throng on the dance floor pulse and grind against each other while he tried to decide what he felt. He took his drink from the waitress and dropped a fifty on her tray. She smiled enticingly, but he ignored her. He took a long pull on his GG. Sad. He was sad the time with her was over. Wasn't that a shame. He should probably feel more, but...that wasn't him. Or her.

  Moriah struggled to get to the exit before the first tear fell. Ending it with Ryan hurt so fucking bad. She jerked at the waist and caught a sob in her gut before it could escape. She'd developed intimate, powerful feelings for him years ago, and time had only deepened them. She'd killed that bastard because he'd taken a rope into that house. He would have taken Asp's woman, and he would have raped her. She knew it in the fiber of her DNA. She'd been that woman back when she’d been young…and fragile. She wasn't either of those things now. Now, she eradicated vermin like that bastard with the same lack of guilt she felt when stepping on a cockroach. Had Guardian sanctioned the hit? No. Did she regret it? Never.

  The only thing she regretted right now was the feeling of being gutted when she walked away from Lycos. Lycos had meant well, but he couldn't know the reasons behind her actions. Nobody knew. Those reasons lay in her past, a past she’d buried as deep as the bodies of the men she killed to hide it. She lifted her hand and hailed a cab. Tonight, she'd grieve the loss of something that never should have been. At first light, she'd slip away, and become nobody until Guardian called her again.

  After all, a Shadow was only an illusion, a lack of light cast upon the world for a short time.

  The End.

  Also by Kris Michaels

  Other Titles by Kris Michaels:

  Titles in the Kings of Guardian Series:

  Jacob, The Kings of Guardian - Book One

  Joseph, The Kings of Guardian - Book Two

  Adam, The Kings of Guardian - Book Three

  Jason, The Kings of Guardian - Book Four

  Jared, The Kings of Guardian - Book Five

  Jasmine, The Kings of Guardian - Book Six

  Chief, The Kings of Guardian - Book Seven

  Jewell, The Kings of Guardian - Book Eight

  Jade, The Kings of Guardian - Book Nine

  Justin, The Kings of Guardian - Book 10

  Guardian Security Shadow World Series:

  Anubis

  The Everlight Series:

  An Evidence of Magic

  An Incident of Magic

  Stand Alone Novel:

  A Heart's Desire