shaede assassin 05 - shadows at midnight

by amanda bonilla

  Ty’s jaw squared and he looked away as though he couldn’t bear to think of what had happened to me there. Still, he refused to give me a straight answer. “You were protected—as much as I could offer—even though I wasn’t there.”

  “Why do you have to be so damned cryptic? Don’t you think I can deal with the truth? I’ve proven I can handle a hell of a lot more than you’re giving me credit for.”

  “That’s not it and you know it, Darian.”

  “Do I?” I couldn’t do anything to keep the disdain from my tone. “How were you able to use your magic in the labyrinth?” We wouldn’t have made it to Xander without the things Tyler had done down there, and even so, I sensed that he’d been holding back what he’d really been capable of. “How was I able to use my ring to defend myself when Xander jumped me? Those words you made me say… They did something. Awakened something, didn’t they? What it is, Tyler? What in the hell is this thing that I can’t even take off my thumb if I tried?”

  Tyler reached out and encircled my left wrist in his strong grip. He hauled me against him and held me tight as he brought his mouth close to my ear. “Our bond is different,” he said in a murmur. “Special. I knew it would be the second you put your hand in mine. It transcends any stupid rules, time, or space. It’s unbreakable, Darian. Just like my love for you. It’s bigger than us. And stronger that any magic—any living thing—that might think to come between us.”

  My heart swelled with emotion. I felt the same way. What Ty and I had was more than love. It was all-encompassing and fathomless. I’d known it in my soul long before I admitted it to myself. Maybe from that very first touch. But in the greater scope of things, what did it matter? It wouldn’t sway the Synod’s opinion. It wouldn’t change the course of action they’d chosen to take.

  Tyler’s mouth met my neck and I shivered. He kissed a path along my throat, across my jawline to the corner of my lips. His hand reached back to cup the back of my neck and I melted into his embrace. He lips met mine slowly. Softly. His mouth seeking permission before he deepened the kiss. My hands moved of their own accord as my fingers dove into the strands of his hair. He wrapped one arm around my waist and held me tight as his slanted his mouth across mine and thrust this tongue against mine with an urgency that I knew all too well.

  All-consuming. The flames of our passion burned like the sun, as unquenchable as our love.

  I couldn’t get enough of his scent, his taste, the security I felt just being held in his embrace. He kissed me as though he were starved for the contact, as though he couldn’t hold me close enough, couldn’t taste me deep enough. I felt his desperation in every kiss, the way he kneaded the flesh at my hip with his strong fingers. In his breath that passed from him, through me, with every meeting of our mouths. I wanted to lose myself to him. To forget everything and simply let the world melt away as only he could do. I wanted to exist in that place where nothing else mattered but me and him and this moment that spread out infinitely before us…

  “Stop.” I pushed away from him, my breath sawing in and out of my chest. Jesus. How could I have been so stupid? “Do you really think you can distract me like that? Just kiss me and magically make all of my questions go away?”

  “Depends,” Ty said without an ounce of shame. “Was it working?”

  I wanted to kick him in the shin for the smug expression on his gorgeous face. “You know it was. How could you do that, Ty?” He knew how Azriel had used affection to manipulate me. “Goddamn it.”

  He scrubbed a hand over his face and had the decency to look ashamed. “You’re right. I’m out of line. It’s been a long fucking day and I think we both need some rest. I need to wrap a few things up with Levi. I’ll be back later, okay?”

  I turned away, unwilling to meet his gaze. “Fine. Whatever.” It’s not like my opinion mattered. No matter what I said, Ty wasn’t going to allow our conversation to continue.

  “I love you, Darian.”

  Damn him. The honesty in those words gutted me. “I love you, too.”

  When I turned to face him, he was gone.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Darian, I know you think that staying away is best, but we need you over here.”

  Asher’s tone was grave, not a trace of his usual snark. I pulled my cell away from my ear and let out a sigh. It had been a week since we’d brought Xander back and I’d hoped that without me around, he could get his head on straight. That maybe I could prove to Tyler that my relationship with him, Raif, and the others wasn’t quite as dysfunctional and co-dependent as he made it out to be. Guess that plan wasn’t working so well.

  I brought the phone back to my ear. “I told Anya—”

  “Yeah, she’s the one who told me to call you,” Asher said. “She’s not getting through to him.”

  Goddamn it. I’d counted on her to set Xander straight. Maybe he was farther gone than I’d thought. It’s not like I couldn’t use the distraction. Ever since our fight, there’d been a palpable tension between Tyler and I that put me on edge. He hadn’t answered enough of my questions to put me at ease and he knew that I was pissed off about being kept in the dark. Likewise, I doubted that the Synod had left the city after their little chat with Ty, which meant that I’d have to watch my back for a while longer. I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of another visit from the Délash either. Hell, just seeing the sky cloud over made me anxious these days. I needed a distraction from the things I couldn’t change.

  Maybe what I needed was to focus on something I could control.

  “I’m on my way.”

  I ended the call and set my phone on the bar. Ty looked up from his scrambled eggs. “I’m actually surprised you lasted an entire week without going over there.”

  Someone was still a crankypants. I didn’t want to fight with Tyler anymore. I wanted us to move past this so we could come together as a united front. True, I had no idea what we were uniting against, but still. I truly believed that we could overcome anything as long as we were together. We’d lost so much time over the past year. I didn’t want to miss out on any more.

  I let out a long sigh. “Look, we could both use a time-out. From the sound of it, Raif and Ash are both at the end of their ropes. I owe it to them to do what I can to help.”

  “You don’t owe any of them anything,” Tyler replied. He shoved his plate of eggs away. “They dragged you into their lives. Not the other way around.”

  A second fight was coming and I didn’t have it in me to go another round. Ty obviously didn’t want me anywhere near Xander despite the fact that there was nothing between us. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened between the two of you down in Padma’s labyrinth?”

  Ty kept his gaze focused straight ahead. “Not today, Darian.”

  Yeah, it was time for me to get the hell out of my apartment before I throttled Tyler. I tried not to hold his shitty attitude against him. He was dealing with a metric fuck ton of stress and no matter how much he pretended not to be concerned by the Synod’s presence in Seattle, I knew it had him rattled.

  Patience wasn’t one of my virtues, but I was working on it. I wanted answers, full disclosure. But I couldn’t push Ty. If I did, it would make me even more of a hypocrite than I already was. We’d hash everything out when he was ready. I had to believe that. And fighting about it wasn’t going to convince him to open up to me any damn faster.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours.” I took my cereal bowl to the sink and filled it with water. Tyler’s gaze slid to the side as he watched me and the stern set of his jaw relaxed a fraction of an inch. “What’s on your agenda for today?”

  Resignation eased the tension in his shoulders as Ty turned to face me. “I’m meeting with a couple of potential clients. I should probably find Merrick and talk to him at some point today, too.”

  “If you need me for anything, call,” I said. “I’ll drop whatever I’m doing in a heartbeat if you need me.” I wanted Tyler to know that he was unequivocally my prio
rity. Nothing mattered to me more than him. Not Raif, Asher, or the entire Shaede population.

  His expression softened and he pushed up from the barstool and crossed the room toward me. His hazel gaze burned as it locked with mine and he didn’t come to a stop until our bodies touched. “Truce?”

  I smiled. “Absolutely.”

  He leaned in and put his mouth to mine. The kiss was full of heat and intensity, his lips slanting as his tongue coaxed mine to give way. His arms encircled me and his fingers dove into my hair at the nape of my neck, twining through the strands as he held me tight. The urgency of his kisses ignited a burst of heat in my belly and sent a trickle of fear through my bloodstream at the same time. I didn’t pull away. I kissed him back with every ounce of emotion I felt for him. Tyler was like the universe he’d so easily held in his palm and I was nothing more than a helpless planet caught in his orbit.

  I loved him.

  When Ty finally pulled away, I was breathless and flushed. A very arrogant, very male smile spread across his lips. “A little something to remind you of what you have to come home to today.”

  As if I needed the reminder. Not that his show of affection wasn’t incredibly appreciated. My toes curled in my boots and my lips throbbed as the heat of his kisses dulled to a warm glow in the center of my being. Ty smoothed the hair away from my face, his gaze searching mine.

  “If you run into any trouble today, hold out your left hand.”

  I assumed by trouble, he meant, if you run into any black, menacing clouds with red eyes today. I didn’t exactly appreciate his continued need to be cryptic, but I got the gist. Wonder Woman had her gold, bullet deflecting cuffs, I had a silver ring.

  “That’s it, huh?” I raised a dubious brow. “Just lift my hand up and poof!”

  Tyler kissed me once, just a peck. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  I pursed my lips, pinned him with an accusing stare. “Uh huh.” I leaned in and kissed him back before I let my body fade into the light.

  #

  Almost midnight.

  I watched from the cover of shadow as Tyler took his fifth lap around the building’s rooftop. He looked fidgety as hell. Not a good sign. He stuffed his hand in his pocket and it balled into a fist as though gripping something. A weapon? From this distance it was hard to tell. With my recent bad streak where work was concerned I had to play this close to the hip. For all I knew this Tyler guy was a contract killer sent to take me out. I’d made waves in the underground crime syndicates lately—namely, I’d offed a few of the nastier bosses—and I didn’t trust any of my potential enemies not to at least try to turn the tables on me.

  Intuition tingled at the back of my mind. Something that told me despite my misgivings, Tyler didn’t want to hurt me. This was business. Nothing more. It didn’t help the knot in my gut when he reached up to comb the tangles of his hair away from his face. Gorgeous didn’t even begin to describe him. Tyler was goddamned beautiful. I was tired of taking my chances, contracting jobs that ultimately ended in disaster—or me running a knife through the guy who’d hired me because he ended up to be a bigger piece of shit than the person I’d been hired to kill. I needed a handler I could trust. And I couldn’t help but feel like I could trust Tyler.

  That he’d be one of the good guys.

  He continued to fiddle with whatever he had in his pocket as he paced. Back and forth. Back and forth. Jesus, I was starting to get dizzy. I’d already agreed to work for Tyler, it was stupid to stay hidden like some sort of voyeur and watch him pace. Though I had to admit, I didn’t mind the view. I caught the wind current and drifted to the roof of the next building. His back was turned to me and I stepped from shadow and regained my corporeal form.

  “Well, I’m here,” I said by way of a greeting. “Let’s get this over with so I can go to bed.”

  He kept his back to me and I was almost glad. Aside from his killer good looks, Tyler had the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen. A gorgeous hazel color that was almost inhuman. I swallowed down the sudden loneliness that threatened to crest over me. The only inhuman thing on this roof tonight was me. Tyler and I had nothing in common save the fact he had money to burn and I was more than happy to take it off of him. I couldn’t afford personal entanglements, no matter how much I yearned for even a momentary connection with another living being. He turned to face me and I swear my traitorous heart skipped a damned beat.

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you asked to meet up here so you could get me alone.”

  His teasing tone caught me off guard. My lips twitched, threatening a smile. I locked that shit down, though, and hid my amusement until I knew that my face was once again an expressionless mask. “I don’t mix business with pleasure, Tyler.”

  How many times did I have to remind him? With every interaction, he became more familiar with me. More playful. Flirty even. I’d never worked for anyone like Tyler before. Hell, I’d never met anyone like him before. It seemed the more off-putting I was, the more it encouraged him. The boy was a glutton for punishment. He’d called me a couple of times a week since our first meeting. You’d think he was looking for an excuse to talk to me.

  “You know, there’s this thing called a wire transfer,” he remarked as he handed me an envelope of cash. My fee for the job I was about to do for him. “Maybe you ought to look into opening a bank account? I mean, what are you going to do, stuff that money in your mattress for safe keeping?”

  I cocked a brow, and though I was going for threatening, I got the impression that it only turned him on. His gaze warmed as it raked me from head to toe. There wasn’t an ounce of me from the neck down that wasn’t covered in my signature black, but I swear to god, when Tyler looked at me I felt bare.

  “I never said I didn’t have the means to accept a wire transfer.” I needed to keep my mind on business and not how delicious he looked in his tattered jeans and tight t-shirt. “I don’t trust you. Plain and simple. And until I do, I’m not giving you anything that you can use to track me.”

  Tyler probably thought I was a bitch. I had a tendency to come off as abrasive as five grit sandpaper. But it was for his own good. For both of our own good. I couldn’t let anyone get close. I refused to take the chance that anyone would hurt me again.

  “So I guess you won’t be inviting me over to your place any time soon?”

  My lips twitched. He was persistent, I’d give him that. “Not a chance.”

  “Since we’re still having trust issues, you’re going to continue to get fifty percent of your fee up front, and fifty percent when the job’s done for your next few assignments.”

  I scowled. Suspicious SOB. I could hardly blame him, though. I was as suspicious as they came. His gaze heated once again and my heart picked up its rhythm in my chest. Business. This was business. “Fine. But once we’ve established that I’m consistent in getting jobs done, damned efficiently I might add, I get one hundred percent of my fee up front. No questions asked. Got it?”

  “We’ll see.” Jesus. I think he actually enjoyed riling me up. A first for both potential employers and a man in general. I didn’t have a bubbly personality and I was about as girly as a mud hole. That didn’t seem to bother Tyler, though. “There’s a bonus in the envelope as well,” he said with a jerk of his chin. “The client was impressed with your work and was thankful you were able to recover the locket the mark had stolen. Apparently it belonged to the client’s daughter. The bastard kept the locket as a souvenir after he raped her. I hope you gave him exactly what he had coming to him.”

  A wisp of shadow snaked from my booted foot and slithered in a graceful arch until I called it back to my body. The mark had been a lowlife son of a bitch and I’d made him pay for his sins. “Trust me,” I said, my tone as dark as the shadows that constructed me. “I did.”

  A worried crease cut into Tyler’s brow. I wanted to tell him that he shouldn’t waste any of his concern on me. I was immortal. It’s not like any of my antics were going
to get me killed any time soon. Long moments passed and Tyler continued to study me with that same unnerving intensity that made me feel as though he knew more about me than I even knew myself. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Squirmed under the scrutiny of that bright hazel stare until my breath hitched in my chest. The urge to reach out and touch him, to press my body against the solid wall of his chest damned near overwhelmed me. I needed to get the hell out of here before I did something stupid. Before I did something that I’d surely regret.

  “Call me when something else comes up,” I said, and turned to leave.

  “I’m not quite done with you.” I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart hammering in my chest. “Before you go, I have something for you.”

  He had something for me? Curiosity won out over common sense and I turned to face him. I tried to keep my face expressionless but the corner of his mouth quirked in a half smile and I found my own mouth wanting to respond. I raised my brow in question. “What?”

  “Relax,” he laughed. “It’s not a big deal.”

  His tone was light but his expression told another story. Tyler’s brow remained furrowed and his jaw squared as he dug in his pocket. I took a few steps closer and warily inspected the shining silver object pinched between his thumb and finger. I took another step closer. Another. And one more until I didn’t think I could resist the urge to reach out and touch him.

  “What is it?” I asked quietly.

  “Just a ring,” Tyler replied. The words seemed nonchalant, but something simmered beneath the words. Hope? Longing? I met his gaze and I swore a light sparked in his eyes. Jesus, it should have been illegal for anyone to be so alarmingly gorgeous.

  “A ring,” I said, flatly. Seemed suspicious as hell to me.