Blaze

by Donna Grant

  Then again, Kinsey had been one of their best employees, as well. Was that the pattern? Kyvor took those who appeared to be devoted to the company?

  That didn’t make sense. Wouldn’t it serve Kyvor better to target those who didn’t have such loyalties? He knew he would in their position. Kinsey and Devon had been star employees, who spoke highly of the company without being forced to do it.

  There was a connection the Kings were missing, something that tied everything together.

  Anson came up behind the first man and wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, squeezing. The man grasped wildly, trying to break the hold as he struggled to breathe. Anson didn’t relent until the man had passed out.

  After dragging him out of sight, Anson searched his pockets and found a memory card. He tucked it in his pocket and stayed there for a moment, looking around to see if there was more than just one other human watching Devon.

  It didn’t take him long to realize the second man was trying to take pictures. Anson wanted to knock him out as he had the first, but if he did, it would alert Kyvor that they were on to them.

  Instead, he took the first man’s wallet and watch to make it look like a robbery. As he made his way to Devon’s flat, he looked at the name to give to Ryder later before he tossed the items into a trash bin.

  Anson went to the back of the structure. That’s when he saw her standing at the kitchen sink, looking out the window up at the moon.

  For a second, he was struck senseless. He’d seen Devon from afar. He’d noted her beauty. But he’d never paid such close attention to her face before. As he took in her quiet, simple allure, he found it difficult to breathe.

  Her brunette locks were disheveled as if she’d run her hands through her hair. Her large, pale blue eyes held a hint of sadness, melancholy that struck him right in the chest.

  He wanted to know what she was thinking. What would make her brow pucker so? There should be a smile upon her plump lips. And laughter in her gaze.

  His eyes traveled down the slender column of her throat to a bared shoulder. An oversized, cut-up sweatshirt never looked sexier.

  He didn’t want to worry about Devon. He didn’t want to care. She was a means to an end, a way for them to fix what Ulrik had done. The fact that he was standing there, staring at her lips meant that she’d become something more than just a means to an end.

  “Shite,” he murmured.

  This was a complication he didn’t need or want. But discovering Kyvor already had surveillance on her infuriated him.

  He hadn’t wanted her to be a part of this war, but Kyvor had made that decision for him. Now, it was time for him to make sure she wasn’t harmed as Kinsey and Esther had been.

  Devon finished off the last of her wine and washed the glass. As she set it aside to dry, she took one more look at the moon before she snapped the blinds closed.

  It was his enhanced hearing that picked up the sound of a camera clicking. While he’d been ogling Devon, the second man had come around the back of the building and began taking pictures.

  Anson stopped himself from going after the mortal and destroying the camera. For now, Kyvor needed to believe that everything was as it should be.

  He hoped that Kinsey and Esther hadn’t frightened Devon too much to change how she dealt with others at the company. If she did, it would alert Kyvor that Devon knew something. And that could only spell dreadful things for all involved.

  Anson sent a text to the girls, telling them that Kyvor had two men watching Devon with one taking pictures. He then told them he’d remain at Devon’s until the morn and then meet up with them at the office building.

  He found a dark, quiet spot to watch the back of the flat since the front was bathed in light. The photographer finished and left shortly after that. It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that another man appeared and punched in a code to Devon’s back entrance. The door swung open.

  As the mortal walked into the house without concern, Anson rose and quietly followed him inside. The intruder was looking through Devon’s mail before turning on her laptop.

  Since the lights were out, it was easy for Anson to remain hidden. He was able to see as well in darkness as he did during the day. The human, however, had to use a small flashlight to make his way around.

  The more the mortal poked around in Devon’s life, the angrier Anson became. Who did these people think they were to believe they could invade someone’s home and privacy without repercussions?

  After a bit, the man closed the laptop and made his way up the stairs. Anson waited until the man was at the top before pursuing.

  Not once did the mortal look behind him. It made Anson wonder how many nights someone had broken into Devon’s flat to look around. If the man hadn’t been in all black and sneaking around at three in the morning, Anson might have thought he was a friend of Devon’s.

  He reached the landing in time to see the mortal standing in a doorway. To the left of Anson was an empty room. There was a door a few feet ahead on the right that could be a bathroom.

  Which made the doorway the intruder stood at Devon’s bedroom.

  Anson quickly closed the distance between them when the human entered the room. When he spotted the man leaning over Devon’s sleeping form, he’d had enough.

  He gathered his dragon magic and used his power to take possession of the man’s body with his mind. There weren’t many times he used his power or enjoyed it, but that night was an exception.

  With force, he made the man retrace his steps out of the house and walk down the street, right into the side of a police car. Anson watched from the shadows as the mortal tried to explain why he’d run into the moving vehicle.

  Anson quickly forgot about the human and turned back to the flat. He checked the back door to make sure it had locked behind him. Then he returned to his hiding place.

  But the more he thought about the man inside Devon’s home, the more he realized that Kyvor might have something special planned for her. The sooner Devon discovered the truth for them—and herself—the sooner she could get clear of Kyvor.

  He refused to think about where she might go, but no matter how hard he tried, he kept seeing her at Dreagan.

  CHAPTER SIX

  There were times a dream seemed so real that she didn’t want to wake from it. And last night’s was a doozy. The hunk Devon had seen the previous day was in her flat.

  Except he hadn’t been wearing a cap. She still hadn’t seen his face clearly, but she saw his profile, and it only made her ache to see more of him. In the dream, he’d stood in her doorway, staring at her.

  The soft glow of light from the moon and streetlights had allowed her to see his wide shoulders and the mouthwatering way they tapered to his trim hips. He’d stood silently. And she’d wanted him to come to her, to bend down and kiss her.

  She stretched, thinking of the dream and wishing it had been real. She sat up and rose to get ready for the day. Even as she replayed the fantasy over and over, her mind kept coming back to the questions posed to her last night. A feeling of disquiet grew.

  It wasn’t until she was dressed and downstairs that she came to a halt. Something was wrong. She knew it. It was the notion that someone had been inside her home—and not her hunk. Someone else.

  She tried to shake it off as she cooked scrambled eggs and toast, but the sensation grew. Her mind drifted back to her search of Kinsey Burns.

  Her stomach soured as she realized if a company could do that to Kinsey, it could do it to her, as well. Devon wasn’t the paranoid type, but with the new questions, it made her wonder.

  So she looked at the facts. Someone had taken pictures of Kinsey, which meant they could do the same to her. For all she knew, her flat was bugged. But she wasn’t quite ready to open electrical boxes to search.

  Not yet, anyway.

  She tossed aside the half-eaten toast and scraped the remaining eggs into the garbage. Without finishing her coffee, she put on her coat and g
rabbed her purse before walking outside.

  With her mind crammed full of awful scenarios, she didn’t feel the cold temperatures. She hailed a taxi and gave the address for Kyvor as she got in. Every mile that brought her closer to the office building, the more her stomach twisted in knots.

  It was as if someone had yanked off a pair of rose-colored glasses she hadn’t known she wore and exposed the dark side of the company. No longer did Kyvor feel like a second home. Perhaps that’s what the people who’d contacted her planned.

  She wanted to deny all of it. To believe that whoever had reached out to her was jesting and making it all up. But wanting something didn’t make it so.

  After paying the driver with shaky hands, Devon had no choice but to get out and make her way toward the building’s doors. She stopped before she reached them. Then, tilting her head back, she looked up at the tall, elegant structure.

  She lowered her head, wondering if her imagination could be making things worse. She didn’t know the people who’d contacted her. The only thing she had was a name and photos. What did that mean, exactly?

  What if Kinsey had done something illegal, and Kyvor was merely protecting themselves? It was definitely a possible scenario.

  It was the very private nature of some of the photos that tripped her up. If Kyvor wanted to follow Kinsey, they could’ve done it without taking pictures of her in the shower or getting dressed. Those were the ones that imploded Devon’s theory.

  Devon glanced to her right, her eyes meeting those of a man. The hunky man she’d seen from the café window the day before. The one who’d haunted her dreams. Their gazes tangled, and her stomach fluttered with exhilaration.

  Suddenly, she was bumped into from behind, causing her to look away. When she returned her gaze to where it had been, he was gone. She remained a moment longer, searching the crowds.

  What a pity. Had she imagined him? Made him up to help her cope with everything? Shaking her head, Devon tried to get herself under some semblance of control. It was difficult when every instinct urged her to return home.

  “What are you doing out here?” Stacy asked as she walked up.

  Devon glanced at her assistant and blinked.

  Stacy laughed and nudged her toward the door. “Today’s the big day. Don’t tell me you’re nervous.”

  Nervous? What was she talking about? Then it all came back. The big meeting that could propel her career. Devon hadn’t thought about it all night.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at a loss for words before.” A small frown marred Stacy’s brow. “Let’s get to your office, and I’ll bring you some tea. That’ll surely help.”

  With no other recourse, Devon found herself allowing Stacy to lead her through the doors and onto the lift. Before she knew it, Devon had reached the twentieth floor and was making her way toward her office.

  After she’d hung up her coat and purse, she sat at her desk and stared at her computer. She realized how far-reaching Kyvor’s hand was in the tech world. She knew all too well what the company could do.

  That kind of power could grant all kinds of access when investigating someone. It didn’t matter if they were the queen of England or some random person on a boat somewhere near Bora Bora.

  The thought made her physically ill. None of this had bothered her before, but that was because she’d assumed the programs were used in the right way.

  How fucking naïve. It was one thing she’d insisted she wasn’t. Now, it was as if there were letters hanging over her in fifty-foot-tall flashing neon that spelled naïve.

  “Here’s your tea,” Stacy said.

  Devon nodded because it was expected.

  Her assistant bent and looked at her before putting the back of her hand against Devon’s brow. “You look flushed. Are you coming down with something?”

  Yes. That something was reality.

  And it sucked.

  She almost asked Stacy if she knew Kinsey Burns, but Devon thought better of it at the last minute. After all, she wasn’t sure who to trust.

  “You need to cancel the meeting.” Stacy straightened, her brow puckered.

  “Why would she do that?” Harriet asked as she strolled into the office with her blond hair in a French twist.

  Devon actually groaned at the sight of her boss. Her stomach rolled viciously, and she broke out in a sweat. Not because she was sick, but because she was coming to realize with crystal clarity just how screwed—and scared—she was.

  “I think she’s sick,” Stacy said.

  Harriet walked closer, her blue gaze narrowed. “Devon, you look like shit. I can’t have you stand up in front of a roomful of executives and lose your cookies.”

  Devon opened her mouth to agree, but Harriet thought she was arguing.

  “No. I insist,” her boss stated as she took a step back. “We’ll reschedule. Go home and rest. I don’t want whatever it is you have.”

  As soon as Harriet had left, Devon rolled back her chair and stood. Stacy was there with her coat and purse. She let her assistant help her with her jacket before walking to the lift.

  Devon felt as if every eye in Kyvor were locked on her. It made her want to scream. Mostly because the very thing that had brought her so much happiness, now frightened her. How could a job do that?

  The lift doors opened, and she stepped inside, pushing the lobby button. She paid no attention to the others in the lift with her. All she wanted was to go home.

  Once more, the pictures of Kinsey taken at her flat flashed in Devon’s mind. She couldn’t go home since she felt as if someone had been there. For all she knew, Kyvor was watching her.

  Her legs felt wooden as she reached the first floor and slowly made her way outside. The frigid air cooled her heated face, but nothing could ease the knot of anxiety within her.

  She turned and started walking down the sidewalk. Perhaps a stroll was all that was required to clear her head. She had no destination in mind, only the need to be alone.

  Devon had no idea how long she walked. When she finally looked around, she discovered that she was in a section of the city she’d never been in before. As soon as she saw the park, she made a beeline for it.

  She sat on a bench and watched others, her mind going over everything again and again. The more she thought about it, the more she began to think of different things that could mean someone was watching her.

  Just as she was about to tell herself that she was being silly, a woman stopped near the bench and knelt to tie her running shoe.

  “You’re being followed.”

  Devon’s gaze lowered, wondering who she was talking to. Then the woman looked up. Devon sucked in a breath because she recognized the face.

  Kinsey Burns.

  “Get home,” Kinsey whispered urgently.

  The Scottish accent hardly registered before the woman was gone. Devon barely kept herself from watching Kinsey run off.

  She was being followed. Devon’s blood turned to ice. There was no faking it when she put her hand to her stomach and gagged.

  When she was sure she wasn’t going to be sick, she stood and jogged to the street to hail a taxi. The entire ride to her flat, she wondered if there was a car following her, or if someone was already at her home, waiting.

  She’d begun to shake from the fear when she exited the cab and walked up the steps. A quick punch of the code and the door unlocked.

  But she didn’t feel any safer inside.

  She walked upstairs and changed into a pair of jeans and a beige sweater before she curled up in her bed. At least she knew Kinsey wasn’t dead, but that didn’t mean Kinsey’s life was exactly her own.

  Devon jerked when she heard the buzz of a cell. Since hers was downstairs in her purse, she was more than paranoid when she sat up and pushed aside the accent pillows on her bed to find a mobile phone buried beneath.

  Hesitantly, she picked it up and saw the text message that read: HI. IT’S KINSEY.

  She quickly responded with:
YOU WERE IN MY HOUSE.

  YES. WE HAD TO HAVE A WAY TO SPEAK WITH YOU. WE BROKE IN AFTER YOU LEFT FOR WORK.

  WE? WHO ELSE IS WITH YOU?

  ITS BETTER IF WE MEET.

  Devon snorted, shaking her head. I DON’T KNOW YOU. I CERTAINLY DON’T TRUST YOU.

  HEAR US OUT. PLEASE.

  Devon stared at the plea for several minutes, weighing her options. Her life had been much simpler before Kinsey had come into it, stating things about Kyvor and showing the pictures.

  Yet how could Devon forget what she now knew? She couldn’t. And Kinsey knew it. Besides, Kyvor was following her. Whether that had just started or they’d been at it a while didn’t matter.

  The fact was, they were trailing her, and that pissed her off royally. She might work for Kyvor. She may have even given more of herself to the company than she had to anyone or anything else in her life, but that didn’t give them the right to invade her privacy.

  Devon held her thumbs over the small keyboard on the mobile phone. After releasing a deep breath, she wrote: WHEN?

  TODAY. TURN OFF ALL YOUR COMPUTERS AND YOUR PERSONAL MOBILE.

  Those cryptic words sent a chill down her spine. She knew exactly how Kyvor could watch someone through their electronics. She sold the equipment and software to companies. She should’ve known to turn off everything, but her mind hadn’t wrapped around all of it.

  To be honest, she still hadn’t come to terms with everything. But facts were facts, and right now, she had to act if she wanted to find out more about what was going on.

  She made her way downstairs to the sofa. After sitting, she grabbed her laptop and opened it, pretending to try and work for those spying on her. After a few minutes—with some fake gagging—she shut off the computer. Then she powered down her mobile.

  Devon returned to the sofa and curled up on it with the mobile from Kinsey clutched between her hands. All the sneaking around made her feel as if her life were in danger, which meant it doubtless was.