Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  “We’ll tell Kirsten,” Jacob said, almost proud of himself when he didn’t stumble over her name. “She can probably do something about the pain.”

  “Nah, I’m good.” Her eyes were sparkling when they met Jacob’s. “You’ve left me sorer than this a few times.”

  Nicholas all but choked on a laugh. Jacob threw a glare at him, knowing what he was thinking, but it didn’t help his warming cheeks.

  “She means when we sparred,” he hissed. “God, Dad, mind out of the gutter, please.”

  Still laughing, Nicholas pulled two mugs from the microwave oven and started for the door.

  “Have a seat, kiddo,” he told Rachel. “You should always eat after being healed by magic. Jacob makes great pancakes. And then he’ll drive you home.”

  Rachel limped a little as she stepped to the table and sat down on Jacob’s right.

  “Pancakes sound great,” she said after a few seconds

  Jacob realized he was still frowning at the spot where Nicholas had disappeared, still wondering what he was up to. He shook himself and gave Rachel an absent smile.

  “Sure. Pancakes. Do you want coffee with that? Syrup?”

  She did. Coffee with two sugars, and syrup, honey and whipped cream on her pancakes—the presence of a can of whipped cream in the fridge was one of these mysteries Jacob was glad not to examine too closely.

  Remembering how hungry he had been the one time Julie had healed a deep cut on his arm with magic, he mixed enough batter for three people and set the pancakes on a plate in the center of the table as each batch was ready. When he plopped the last ones down, he blinked at the near-empty serving dish and the half-eaten mound of syrupy goodness in front of Rachel. She caught his gaze and grinned.

  “I was hungry.”

  “So I see,” he said with a snort. “Are they good at least?”

  “Delicious. You should have some before I eat them all.”

  Chuckling, Jacob helped himself to a couple of pancakes. Before he could take more than a bite or two, however, his stomach flipped unpleasantly. He looked up to find Kirsten standing by the door. Her features had never been so expressionless. Their eyes met over the table—over Rachel’s head—and Jacob had to fight the wave of guilt creeping up inside him. He had nothing to feel guilty about, he told himself. Or at least, nothing in relation Kirsten.

  A couple of seconds passed before Rachel noticed Kirsten. She smiled at her.

  “Hey! Good morning! Did I thank you last night? I don’t know what you did but your magic is pretty amazing.”

  Kirsten smiled back, though her smile was a little tense.

  “So I keep saying. Maybe now people will start believing me.” She came closer, her messenger bag full of magic supplies bouncing against her hip. “How is your leg? Any swelling?”

  “Nope. Not a trace. If I hadn’t felt my bones break, I’d wonder if I imagined it all.” She took another bite of her breakfast.

  “But she still hurts a bit,” Jacob interjected when he realized Rachel wasn’t going to mention being sore.

  Kirsten’s eyes flicked toward him before settling on Rachel again.

  “Do you want me to have a look?”

  Shaking her head, Rachel washed down the pancakes with a mouthful of coffee.

  “I’m fine, really. But you should sit down and have breakfast with us. Jacob’s pancakes are delicious.”

  “I’m sure they are.” Kirsten’s voice was toneless, giving no hint that she’d tasted Jacob’s cooking before, more than once. “I’ve got work to do.”

  She turned on her heel without another word. Jacob pushed what was left of his pancake around his plate. He wasn’t hungry anymore, all of a sudden.

  “Jacob?”

  He looked up at Rachel. There was a soft, understanding gleam in his eyes, and for a moment he was sure she would ask if he was okay. Her mouth opened, closed again without a sound, and when she finally spoke it was to say, “Nicholas said you’d drive me home. Do you mind?”

  “Of course not. Do you want to go now? There are still a couple—”

  “If you insist,” she said quickly as she transferred the last of the pancakes to her plate.

  She gave Jacob an impish smile. He grinned back.

  THROUGH HER OPEN OFFICE door, Kirsten watched Jacob support Rachel’s arm and help her to the door. Kirsten wanted to shake her head and point out to him that the girl didn’t need the support. She’d said she was fine, hadn’t she? Trust Jacob to be overprotective.

  Returning her attention to the journal on her desk, she read the same page twice without taking in much information before getting distracted again when Trixie jumped onto her lap without so much as a warning meow. The cat rolled onto her back, paws in the air and her belly offered for a rub. Kirsten smiled and obliged. Trixie had strolled into Kirsten’s office just about every day for the past couple of weeks, and Kirsten was not only used to these visits, she enjoyed them. Better that than Jacob’s distance. He only talked to her when he had to, which wasn’t all that often. She didn’t know what had happened to ‘being friends.’

  “At least someone missed me,” she murmured, stroking Trixie behind the ear and getting a purr in response. “Didn’t you, old girl?”

  A sound caused her to look up; her heart stammered when she discovered Andrew standing in the doorway. How long had he been there? Had he heard her?

  “Hey boss.” She tried to sound casual. “What’s up?”

  He walked in and sat in the chair on the other side of her desk.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  Kirsten swallowed hard. She didn’t know what to say, certain he was talking about her and Jacob, about the argument they’d had the previous evening. She felt very uncomfortable. Had she been wrong when she’d decided to come work for Andrew? His agency was the best, she’d known that for a long time. And then there was Jacob...

  “Tell me about that spell you mentioned last night,” Andrew continued. “The one you wanted to try on demons?”

  Kirsten swallowed a relieved sigh.

  “Oh yes. The spell.”

  She offered Trixie one last scratch behind the ears then picked her up and set her on the floor. Trixie complained loudly, but Kirsten didn’t yield; she had work to do, and her employer to impress.

  “It’s based on something you told me,” she said, leaning forward as she rested her arms on her desk. “Years ago, I asked you about demons, and you said there had never been an attack during the day, which was good because if demons came out in the sunlight you wouldn’t be able to fight.”

  A brief frown crossed Andrew’s brow, but he soon nodded, inviting her to continue. She did so eagerly.

  “So I thought, what if the demons have the same problem as vampires? What if they can’t go in the sun at all?”

  “I’ve wondered the same thing before,” Andrew said, “but how can we use that to our advantage?”

  It was all Kirsten could do not to start bouncing on her seat in excitement. “I’ve come up with this spell. It’s like... sunshine in a box.”

  “Sunshine in a box,” Andrew repeated, thoughtful. “Open the box and burn the demons?”

  She beamed at him.

  “That’s the idea. I’d love to show you how it works, but...”

  Andrew laughed softly.

  “Thanks, I think I’ll pass. But it’s a good idea. Smart thinking. Next time we get a call for a single demon sighting, you’re on. Jacob will go with you, keep you safe while you do the spell.”

  “All right,” she said with a nod, “that sounds good.”

  She expected Andrew to leave her to her work, but he stayed there, watching her until she started growing uncomfortable again.

  “Does it really sound good?” he asked very quietly. “Are you okay with working alongside Jacob?”

  Kirsten sighed.

  “You asked me this before, and I already told you I’m fine with it. Maybe you should ask him. He seemed pretty adamant
about not working with me last night.”

  “That was different,” he said as he stood. “With four demons, I didn’t want you there either. Not so soon.”

  “It’s my job,” she reminded him. “It’s why you hired me. Wasn’t it?”

  Something flashed in his eyes, and she wondered if her magic was really why he had hired her, or if who she was—who she had been—had more to do with it.

  “It was,” he said simply. “And it still is. Get that sunshine spell ready. You might be using it tonight.”

  Kirsten wasn’t sure whether it was impatience or trepidation coursing through her at his words. Probably both. It didn’t help that Andrew turned back after he had left the room and asked, “Kirsten? Why did you break things off with Jacob?”

  The question startled her enough that she gaped at him for a second or two before looking down at the journal in front of her to try to regain her poise.

  “With all due respect, Andrew, that’s none of your business.”

  When she looked up again, he was gone.

  .

  Chapter Six

  AFTER GIVING DIRECTIONS to Jacob, Rachel fell silent. Jacob glanced at her, and wasn’t all that surprised to find her asleep, her head resting against the passenger side window. He tried to drive smoothly so he wouldn’t jostle her and wake her up.

  He’d only ever needed the help of magic to heal once until now. He’d had scrapes, of course; plenty of them. Anyone who fought demons as often as he did was bound to get hurt eventually. He’d been lucky so far and even the cut to his arm Julie had healed for him would have taken little more than a day or two to fully heal on its own. It also helped that he’d trained so hard for this, and that his body was closer in strength and endurance to that of a vampire than a human’s.

  However, even if healing magic had only been performed once on him, he’d had a few occasions to watch mages in action, and he had long ago noticed the toll magic took on healed bodies. Rachel’s appetite upon waking up had been an effect of it; her tiredness now was another.

  He’d heard that a different kind of appetite could also be a consequence of healing magic. For him, he hadn’t seen much difference—but then, he’d been nineteen at the time, and rarely had he not wanted sex. Certainly, on the nights after one of his fathers had needed magic to heal, Jacob was always careful to go to sleep with ear buds tightly jammed in his ears and music playing loud enough to cover any sounds rising from the other end of the hallway. Andrew and Nicholas weren’t discreet at the best of times, and the hunger the magic left them with caused them to forget Jacob had much too good hearing. He didn’t want to find out if Rachel would feel the same kind of need when her tiredness ebbed away. Hopefully he’d be back home by then.

  Even if he drove at a moderate speed, the ride to her apartment complex didn’t take long. It was close enough to the house that most days she walked to work, she had mentioned. After he shut off the engine, Jacob rested a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake.

  “Rachel. Wake up. We’re here.”

  She stirred, her eyelids fluttering like heavy wings before they finally remained open. Something flashed through her face that looked a lot like she was hurting.

  “Are you in pain?” Jacob asked at once, concerned.

  “Not pain.” Rachel grimaced. She pressed a hand to her stomach. “Just really, really hungry. Like I didn’t eat for three days instead of stuffing my face for breakfast.”

  Jacob nodded.

  “That’s normal. It’s the magic. I’ll help you up to your place.”

  For a moment, she looked like she was going to decline his help, but after she opened the passenger door she raised her hand in front of her face and stared at it. It was shaking very badly.

  “Yeah,” she murmured, “maybe I do need a bit of help.”

  When Jacob realized she lived on the seventh floor and the elevator was out of order, he was glad he had accompanied her. At first he only held her arm, but by the time they reached the second floor landing he slipped his arm around her and started supporting more of her weight. He’d have offered to carry her but from getting to know her in the past weeks he was rather certain she wouldn’t agree to it.

  The sweatpants were riding low on her hips, and with her tee-shirt knotted in place a band of skin was exposed at her waist. She felt burning under Jacob’s hand. He tried not to think of how long it had been since he had touched a woman. It felt like an entire lifetime.

  “I’m... sorry... about that,” Rachel said, panting hard, when they reached her floor. “Usually I’m not even... out of breath... when I take the stairs.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about,” Jacob assured her. “A couple days of rest and you’ll be fine.”

  Her hand was shaking again when she tried to unlock the door. Jacob held out his free hand, palm out, and she gave him the keys. He accompanied her inside, quickly taking in the layout of the small apartment. A living room was in the front, with a battered sofa, a couple of warm-looking lap quilts, a pile of paperbacks on the coffee table and a small television on the wall. A half wall separated the space from a kitchenette. A corridor led the way, Jacob supposed, to the bedroom and bathroom.

  He helped her toward the kitchenette, letting go only when she said, “I’m all right, thanks.”

  He remained by the half wall and watched her pull a frozen dinner from the freezer. There seemed to be two or three more in there. She poked a small vent in the plastic cover and threw it in the microwave with an ease clearly borne of habit. While the microwave buzzed, she helped herself to a tall glass of orange juice. Jacob stole a peek into her fridge before she closed it again. The freezer seemed better stocked by far than the fridge, and that wasn’t saying much.

  “Is that what you live on?” he asked, nonplussed. “Frozen dinners?”

  She finished gulping down the juice before offering him a shrug.

  “Not everybody knows how to cook. Between frozen stuff and take out, I’m all set.”

  Jacob snorted.

  “Sounds healthy.”

  Her eyes darkened and she straightened up, standing of all her height as she came closer to him. She was still wearing her combat boots, and the heavy soles put her at eye level with Jacob.

  “I’m grateful for your help,” she said, her voice cracking a little before firming up. “And grateful for the ride. I also realize very clearly that you’re my boss. That doesn’t give you the right to criticize how I live my life.”

  Surprise left Jacob speechless for a second or three. He’d been training with Rachel from the first day she had started at the agency, whether it was sword practice, weightlifting or running. She’d always been all smiles toward him. This was the first time she stood up to him for any reason.

  He... rather liked that.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, offering her a crooked grin. “You’re right. I just thought we’d become close enough friends for me to tease you.”

  Her expression wavered a little, uncertainty taking over her confidence.

  “Friends?” she repeated, like the words were foreign to her. “But you’re my boss.”

  “My father is your boss,” Jacob corrected her gently. “I’d rather be your friend.”

  Even as he finished, he realized he had said the very opposite to Kirsten only the previous night. Did that make him a hypocrite?

  The microwave beeped and Rachel blinked, turning away almost by reflex, it seemed. She grabbed the frozen dinner and pulled the lone stool from underneath the counter that extended a few inches past the separation wall. She sat down to eat right out of the plastic box. Cutlery was sticking out of a mug on the counter, ready to be used. Efficient, but lonely.

  “Being friends sounds good,” she said with a small smile after she’d taken her first bites of what vaguely resembled lasagna. “Can I abuse that friendship and ask if you’ll take me shopping when I’m done? At the rate I’m eating, I’ll be out of food by the end of the day.”

  �
��I’ll take you if you want,” Jacob said, eyeing her dubiously. “But do you think you’re up to it? I wouldn’t want you to crash in the middle of the supermarket.”

  She grimaced.

  “Well, up for it or not, I do need to get food.”

  The solution was easy enough. At Jacob’s prompting, Rachel jotted down a short list of what she wanted. She was already half asleep on her feet by the time she handed him some cash. He locked the door behind him.

  The supermarket was a few streets away. Remembering how touchy Rachel had been about his teasing, Jacob bought exactly what she had asked for, even though a few of her choices left him rolling his eyes. Maybe he’d start cooking dinner for the team every once in a while; that’d be a little healthier than frozen dinners or fast food deliveries.

  Actually... why wait?

  When he returned to the apartment, he tried to be as quiet as he could, assuming that Rachel would be asleep. It was a long time before she emerged, her hair wet from a shower and her eyes still heavy with sleep, dressed in a thick robe belted tightly around her. By then, he’d stashed the food away and was pulling a hot dish of homemade lasagna from an oven that had probably not seen much action in quite a while.

  “What’s this?” she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes like a sleepy child; it was rather adorable. “What happened to buying food?”

  He set the lasagna down and opened the freezer and fridge, showing her that they were full.

  “I watched you eat ‘lasagna’ this morning,” he said, drawing quote marks in the air with two fingers. “I thought you might want to see what real lasagna tastes like.”

  For a moment, he thought she’d protest, but her nostrils flared, her eyes drifted behind him to the piping hot dish, and even with normal hearing he would have easily noticed her stomach growling. He struggled to hide a grin.

  “Fine,” she muttered, “but only if you have lunch with me.”

  She spoiled her glare with a smile that showed her dimples. Jacob laughed.

  Space was tight on the counter, but it turned out that Rachel did own actual plates and cutlery. Jacob served generous portions, and even so Rachel went back for seconds.