“I don’t know how he did it. Neither does he.” I walked over to the couch, clenching my hands in front of my mouth. That was it—the truth was out—and Kane was standing there not saying anything.
When I couldn’t take the silence anymore, I stood and took a few steps toward him. “You can’t kill him. He’s the one that saved my sanity. Protected me in the Shadowlands. He got me the space I needed from the crawlers to keep going. I owe him everything.” Why wasn’t he looking at me? Or saying something? “You can’t kill him. I owe him.”
He turned and said, “Owe him or want to keep fucking him?”
I stepped back, as if he’d struck me. “Go to hell. It has nothing to do with sex.” Flashes of Isabella came unwanted into my head as she ran her hands all over him. “I don’t fuck everything that walks. He saved me and I can’t just let him fend for himself. He can’t do it. He’s not that strong, and it’s my fault he’s out.”
His head jerked back to me. “Your fault? How’s it your fault?” He turned, and I felt the full force of his attention on me.
Maybe he didn’t believe me? Of all the things that should’ve caught his attention, it being my fault was what triggered him?
He was silent, almost to the point of it being unnatural, as he watched me. It had the opposite effect on me, and I started to fidget. I felt better when he was seething.
I rubbed a hand on the back of my neck, staring at the floor. “It happened right after he did the spell to keep the crawlers away. He thinks it sucked him out of his world and into ours somehow. This could be my fault. I can’t let you hurt him.” But I didn’t know how I could stop him.
He sat on the edge of his desk, quiet, like the fight had completely seeped out of him. Had he made his choice? Was Asher already dead and just didn’t know it?
“You left to protect him because you think this is your fault?” He wouldn’t stop staring at me in that weird way I hated.
“It probably is my fault.”
He didn’t argue. He even nodded once, but he didn’t look like he believed me.
I wrapped both arms around myself, fighting a chill. “What are you going to do?”
“The situation has to be handled.”
“What exactly does that mean?” For someone who was about to commit murder, he seemed very calm. Maybe I was misinterpreting “handled”? Or maybe killing wasn’t that big a deal to him?
“Right now? Nothing. Go home. Call Zee. She’ll drop you.” He turned and walked over to his desk, still seeming very distracted.
What was he up to? “And Asher?”
“He stays here until I decide what to do with him.”
I could dig in and fight it out with him, but something told me to leave well enough alone for now. Let this soak in a bit, and tomorrow I could start in on him again, chip away at his resolve.
I left his office, and then it hit me—he knew I could call Zee.
Chapter 14
Zee was opening my bureau drawers and emptying my underwear into a sack. She paused to hold up an especially cute bra I’d gotten from the dwarves.
I sat up in bed, shoving the hair out of my eyes. “What are you doing?”
She flipped it to look at the back. “I was admiring it.” She tossed it in the bag.
“No, I mean dumping all my stuff in a bag in the middle of the night?” I looked over at my clock. It was three in the morning. After getting home and worrying about Asher for hours, I’d finally drifted off—for exactly twenty minutes.
“We’re supposed to pack anything that looks important.”
I threw the blanket off me. “What the—”
“Kane’s orders. Take it up with him.” It sounded like that line had some mileage on it.
I grabbed my phone beside the bed, but Zee stopped me. “No need. He’s downstairs.”
I was out of my room, passing two gargoyles going through my kitchen on the way. Kane was downstairs in my office, flipping my bills like a deck of cards.
“What are you doing?” I moved quickly and grabbed the pile from his hand. “These are none of your business.” I would’ve put them in their basket, but I didn’t trust him not to pick them back up.
“You’ve got a lot of late notices.” He casually took a seat on my desk, his eyes skimming down the t-shirt I’d been sleeping in down to my bare legs.
I shifted, suddenly very aware of how short the hem was. “Again, none of your business. Where’s Asher?”
“He’s at the Underground, where he’s going to remain until I figure out what else to do with him.”
Kane picked up another sheet from the papers scattered on the desk, and I pulled it out of his grasp. “Is he…”
Now that he no longer had the paper to look at, his eyes were back on me. “In one piece? Yes. Didn’t touch a hair on his head.”
Kane hadn’t killed him, so that was a good sign. I should’ve been upset he was keeping him. I wanted to be, but the main feeling running through me was relief. Asher was safe and maybe I’d get a little break? Was that really so bad? Did that make me a horrible person? It wasn’t like I’d tried to get him caught. I’d done everything to keep him away from Kane. Asher was the one who dangled himself like bait in front of the shark. And I’d probably be upset after the shock wore off. That’s all this was. Delayed reaction.
There were loud noises near the stairs, and I looked to see a pair of gargoyles disappearing out the back door. “Where are they taking my stuff?”
“Helping you move. It’s not safe here anymore.” His voice was a little huskier than it had been a few minutes ago.
“Why wouldn’t it be safe? I thought you warned them off?” I’d heard him at the meeting. It was the only reason I hadn’t been looking over my shoulder when I walked down the streets.
“When they find out about Asher, they might get unsettled.”
“But no one knows about him.”
“We don’t know that.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Who was he to tell me what I should do? We weren’t friends anymore, or anything else.
He shrugged. “Then stay.”
“Fine. Then I will.” I didn’t want to stay. He wasn’t supposed to say stay.
“I’ll have the gargoyles return your things.”
“Fine.” It didn’t feel fine, though. It felt horrible. I wanted to go to the Underground. I’d wanted to go back there the very minute I’d left. Why had I said I didn’t want to go? I should’ve grabbed my purse and gone. Now he was going to leave and I’d still be here, alone, while everyone else was over there.
He stayed seated on my desk. “Of course, Asher will remain at the Underground.”
I nodded. He’d already said this. Now he was just rubbing it in. Great, everyone was at the Underground but me. Asher didn’t even want to be there and he was there. Man, I was stupid.
“All the meetings will be there as well, so until this situation is fixed, you might have to commute.”
My mouth dropped. “You can’t pick me up? Do you know what it’s like to get out there without a car?”
“Maybe sometimes if it’s on the way, but I don’t like detours. Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all.
I remembered his detour problem well. Who makes someone meet a bunch of vampires that want to kill them just so they didn’t have to drive an extra ten minutes?
It was probably easier to go with him. Truth? I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be at the Underground. What was I going to do? Fight to not get exactly what I wanted? Had I reached that level of stupidity?
“Where are you going?” he asked as I walked from the room.
“Grabbing my purse and getting dressed to leave.”
When he laughed, I realized he’d never intended to leave me here anyway. It was more fun for him to torture me slowly.
We walked through the Underground, and I was relieved that the gargoyles had my bags. I didn’t have to make a grand entrance with everything I owned at four in the morning, whil
e the party that happened in the wee hours was in full swing.
“Where is Asher? You don’t have him in the dungeon, do you?”
“You mean my basement? No. He’s in your rooms on sixth.”
I nodded. I hated the idea of him locked up, but as far as jails, it wasn’t bad. And I’d get him out. I didn’t know how yet, but I would.
The sleeping conditions might be a little tight, but my old rooms had a very comfortable couch, so that was manageable.
The elevator opened and I took a step toward my door, which had some guy I didn’t recognize standing in front of it. Kane grabbed my arm and steered me toward his apartment. He opened the door and tugged me in behind him.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ll be staying here. Not there.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t trust him, and it was either there or the basement. That’s the only other room available.”
I was about to tell him I couldn’t stay in this room when I thought of Isabella. It would drive her crazy if I was in here. She’d hated it when I was even on the same floor. It was petty. I knew it. “Fine. I’ll take the couch,” I said, making it clear what type of roommates we’d be.
“You can take the bed,” he said, as if he was being nice to me.
Actually, he was being nice to me. He’d been kind of nice this whole time. What was wrong with him? Was I imagining it? Didn’t he remember he’d declared us enemies after I left?
“I still want to see him,” I demanded. That should get things back to familiar ground. Enough of this fake nice stuff. I didn’t know what the deal was, but I didn’t like it. It was hard to figure out where I stood with him when he was acting like this.
“It can wait until tomorrow. Last report had him sound asleep.” Kane said everything in a nice, calm manner, as if completely unruffled.
I should poke at him again. I nodded instead, wishing I could put up more of a fight, but I wasn’t that eager to see Asher. Kane was being so agreeable that I was afraid he’d relent. Would it really be that bad if I got some sleep first?
He walked toward the door, and even though I was curious where he was heading, I didn’t ask. I was afraid he’d be nice and tell me. Then my head would explode.
Chapter 15
I didn’t get up until eleven the next morning, and guilt drove me immediately next door. The guard moved in front of me, blocking the door. “What are you doing? I want to go in there.”
“You’ll have to ask Kane.” He spread his stance out, as if preparing for a fight.
He might have had some floppy puppy-dog hair, but he was still twice my size. Soft hair or not, he had me beat. Clearly, he didn’t know I was all out of magic. There might be some begging or groveling, but there wouldn’t be any fighting of note. There might be some blustering, though. “I don’t know where Kane is, and it’s not up to him.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you in.” He lifted his chin, as if waiting for my worst.
“Who are you? I don’t even know you.”
“I’m Badger.”
“Well, we’ll see about this, Badger.” He even had a dog name and big, dark almond eyes. Kane was making this one tough.
I dug my phone out, hit Kane’s number and typed:
I want to see Asher but your man won’t let me in. What’s the deal?
A second later, I got back:
I told him not to. You can see Asher when I return.
My fingers flew over my phone as I texted back:
No. I can see him now. Call off your man.
I stared at my phone, waiting for a response. I walked down the hall, still waiting for a response. When I had nowhere left to walk, I called. “What the—”
“No.” He hung up.
I called him back.
“Still no.” He hung up again.
Damn stubborn man. I called again and somehow in that one minute, while I’d been stewing, he’d changed his ringtone to Meghan Trainor’s song No. If I wasn’t so annoyed, I might’ve laughed.
I pocketed my phone and glanced at the door, while soldier boy was still girding his loins for magic I didn’t have. He’d probably heard about the witches and the monsoon. He was really lucky I was running on empty.
Only one option left, and it didn’t leave much room for dignity. I stormed over and got as close as I could, before I hollered through the door. “Asher?”
“Ollie?” I heard some shuffling and then, clearer, “Is it you? Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine. Are you good?”
“I’m okay.” His voice, although a tad melancholy, wasn’t completely out of the usual range. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll see you tonight and explain then, okay? Just hang in there and I’ll get this worked out.”
“Okay.”
I stepped back, taking a moment to glare at the guard. I didn’t matter if he was only following orders. He wasn’t looking directly at me, as if he’d turn to stone if our eyes met. I groaned and walked away. Damn puppy eyes.
This was ridiculous. Asher had the mentality of a little boy, not an evil mastermind. Kane was becoming a control freak. Actually, he’d always been a control freak, but it hadn’t been so aggravating until now. I got in the elevator as I thought of all Kane’s personality flaws, of which there were many.
I made it downstairs and was relieved to see the booth empty. I didn’t need another lecture from Butch or Leon, and I was sure they’d add their complaints to what I’d done wrong or hear them say “still quitting.” There was only one bright side to this mess. I’d be able to pay my bills again soon.
Nothing had changed at the Underground, though. I was still getting dirty stares from the witches, slightly less nasty looks from the vampires, and the shifters ignored me. There was a table across the room with food and no patrons, where the dwarves were doing whatever it was they did.
I made my way to the empty booth, alone and happy for it.
Zee, the exact gargoyle I needed, popped up when I called. I took a quick look around to see if there were any heads pointed in our direction before I said, “I need a bagel, and the list of spells?”
“I’m working on it as we speak.” She popped back out.
I was taking a bite of my bagel a little while later when a chair scraped across the floor loud enough to cut over the music. Flip was standing a few feet away from a disgruntled witch. She threw the witch a last dirty look for a probably imagined slight and floated her way over to me. Technically her feet were touching the ground, but I could see the Fae blood in the way she seemed weightless.
She slid in opposite me and ordered up some oatmeal, smiling the entire time. She was typically pleased to see me, but she seemed a little too happy today.
No matter how much she smiled at me, I wasn’t going to ask. I had enough going on. I’d eat my bagel and mind my business.
“I knew you’d be back.” She took a big spoonful of oatmeal with strawberries while she stared at me.
I didn’t know I’d be back until yesterday. How could she have known? I nodded anyway.
“I won the bet.” Another spoonful of oatmeal went down.
“The bet?”
“Yep, on when you’d be back.”
I dropped the bagel and the pretense of not caring along with it. “Okay, so how did you know?”
“I just knew. No way Kane was going to let you go. Not his style. He liked you too much.”
“He kept himself busy, though.” I didn’t have to say with Isabella. Flip could fill in the blanks like Monet filled in a canvas.
“I don’t think he was as busy as you think he was.”
Sometimes she filled those canvases with pure imagination. “I know what I saw.”
“You saw what she wanted you to see.” She continued to eat her oatmeal, unperturbed.
It would be something Isabella would do. But Kane hadn’t denied it. Although we’d hardly been on good terms when I’d asked him. I let the subject
drop, filing it away for when I could stand to think of it.
I glanced over at the empty dwarf table. Not knowing dwarf protocol, I asked Flip, “When you get a chance, can you get a message to the dwarfs for me?” I still had a debt outstanding for all the clothes, and considering how ugly the situation with the leprechauns had gotten, it might be good to get proactive in the one relationship that hadn’t soured. I had no desire to end up in another basement when they got around to their accounting.
“What do you need?”
“Tell them I’ll be able to square up with them soon.” Soon being sometime before they decided to break both of my legs.
There was a question clear on Flip’s face, but she ate another couple bites of oatmeal before it made its way to her lips. “I feel like I should know what you’re talking about, but I don’t.” She leaned back in the booth as she waited for me to explain.
“I know I still owe them for the clothes.”
“You don’t owe them anymore.” Her face scrunched like her last strawberry was too tart. “It was paid months ago.”
Settled months ago? Now I was the one stumped. Were they lying to Flip? Maybe they didn’t want her to get messed up in their business with me?
“Kane took care of it.”
“Kane?” Why would Kane pay my debt? I’d walked out on him and he turned around and settled my debt? What was he getting out of this?
I leaned forward, thinking of the lack of harassment or contact from anyone. Was that why I didn’t have a line of supernaturals banging down my door? “Do you know if he paid anybody else?”
“Not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised.” And cue the smirk. “Because he likes you.”
I held back on asking why she thought that, knowing I’d have to hear about her Cupid connections again. I let out a ragged sigh before I dug in to my defense. “You could see how that’s a tough pill to swallow, no?”
And she dug in to her position. “No. I don’t see that at all. It’s as easy to swallow as strawberry shortcake.”
Walking in the Dark Page 9
