Den of Mercenaries

by London Miller

  The Jackal came forward without a sound, and as he did, Luna got her first look at him without rain and a black helmet shielding her view.

  Unlike the last time she had crossed paths with him, only half his face was covered—like he was muzzled. Long, dark hair fell to his shoulders and curled slightly at the ends, and gray eyes that seemed as cold as they looked didn’t hold any emotion. They were just … dead.

  A bulletproof war vest with varying straps covered a well-muscled chest, with a weapons belt that held an assortment of tools one could ever need doing the work they did.

  But just looking at him, it was clear he was the weapon.

  “Vointa ta—Your will?” he asked, his voice low, the words guttural, sending a chill down Luna’s spine, the acute fear she felt freezing her in place.

  “Don’t do this,” Elias begged from his corner, panicked gaze on the Jackal. “Whatever you want! I can fix this.”

  “I’m all out of forgiveness, Elias,” Belladonna said apologetically, but she didn’t look it in the slightest. “Understand something, this could have all been avoided if you would have just listened.”

  “Because of her?” Elias dared to ask, his breaths coming faster as his gaze darted between the Jackal and Belladonna.

  Me? Luna thought, but that couldn’t be right.

  “I could tell you yes, it is because you targeted her, and the result of your actions has made an enemy of Nix—that’s reason enough—but we both know the truth, don’t we?” Belladonna unlocked the cage and stepped back. “I just needed an excuse to be rid of you. Kill him.”

  Elias didn’t stand a chance.

  Not when he was less than half the size of the Jackal without the slightest bit of his skill. It only took a few seconds at most for the Jackal to get the man on his knees, standing behind him as one gloved hand rested on top of his head, and the other beneath his chin as he gripped with a firmness the man couldn’t escape.

  As the Jackal turned dead eyes to Belladonna, he waited for the slightest nod from her before he twisted and the quick snap of bone echoed around the room.

  Seconds …

  That was all it had taken to kill a man Uilleam had hunted for years, and by the very man he wanted more than him.

  “When you recount this story to your husband, please offer my sincerest apologies, and know that no harm should come to you again. On that, you have my word.”

  Luna could only stare. “I don’t understand. Why would you do this?”

  “That’s not your question though, is it?” Belladonna asked patiently as she pulled her gloves back on. “You want to know why I’d involve you, and whether you’ll be permitted to leave now that we’ve finished.”

  She wouldn’t deny that. “Yes.”

  “Whether Elias wanted to admit it or not, Uilleam was getting too close, and it’s doubtful that he would have made it another three months. This, at the very least, buys me some time. I don’t think I’m quite ready for my meeting with Uilleam just yet. I have a few affairs to get in order first.”

  This, all of it, felt surreal, but Luna had long since stopped questioning the impossibility of her life.

  “I do have a favor to ask of you,” Belladonna said as she touched a hand to her arm, leading her out of the barn as the Jackal dragged Elias’ body from the cage.

  “What’s the favor?”

  Retrieving a black envelope with a wax seal from the pocket of her coat, Belladonna handed it over.

  “Don’t worry,” she said once it was out of her hands, and Luna gazed down at it with apprehension. “It won’t kill him—not literally anyway. As I’m sure you’ll be seeing Uilleam later due to our time together, it will help put a few things in perspective for him.”

  Luna traced the edges of the wax, following the lines of the “K” that was embedded in it. “Who are you to him?”

  Another car was waiting by the time they made it back to the front of the house, this one to take Luna back to the city.

  Belladonna’s expression shifted, back to one that was unreadable. “A distant memory.”

  “Distant, but not forgotten? Karina?”

  That was what Kit thought, and now seeing the lengths in which the woman was going to to get Uilleam’s attention, Luna was starting to believe it too.

  It was the only thing that made sense.

  A flash of recognition shined in Belladonna’s eyes. “The question isn’t whether I’m Karina, or not, but rather whether the woman Uilleam knew as Karina ever existed at all. Good day, Luna. I hope to see you soon.”

  There was no point in arguing nor extending her stay to question the woman more—she doubted she would get any more answers out of her anyway.

  As she slid into the back of the car, watching the house and Belladonna fade the further she went, Luna couldn’t help but think that something was about to happen.

  And it was going to change everything.

  They rode in silence the entire drive back to the café, not that Luna had anything to say—at least not to the driver. He wasn’t the same one who had brought her and Belladonna to the farm, so she doubted he knew anything useful.

  And if the woman was half as smart as Luna thought she was, it was unlikely that she would have used anyone who was close to her organization.

  The drive back to the city was far shorter than the one out of it, and if she didn’t still hear the sound of Elias’ pleas in her ears, she might not have thought it actually happened.

  “Please,” the driver said with a cultured accent, “watch your step.”

  Apparently, even Belladonna’s drivers were unnecessarily polite.

  Stepping out onto the curb, she pushed the door shut, watching as the driver signaled before pulling out, quickly disappearing into the sea of cars.

  Checking her watch, she had only been gone for an hour, far shorter than she had expected.

  Circling back around to the front of the café, she looked for any sign of the security Kit had assigned to her, but neither the man nor his car was anywhere in sight.

  Knowing that her absence had to have been noticed by now, she dug out her phone and called Kit, already thinking of what to say to calm him.

  “I’m fine,” she said the moment the call connected before he could get a word in.

  “Thirty seconds from you,” he said in return.

  Luna looked up, searching for his car in the sea of others, but despite looking over each one, she didn’t see his anywhere.

  “Traffic jam down on Fifth,” Kit suddenly said from behind her, his voice startling the hell out of her. She’d barely turned to face him when he said, “Explain.”

  “Where’s your car?” she asked, looking past him, trying to see if one of the many she knew he owned was parked somewhere that she hadn’t noticed during her first sweep.

  “I told you—traffic jam.”

  “So you walked from there?”

  That was a solid few blocks, and in New York, those blocks could be treacherous. While most natives walked everywhere in the city, Luna was far too lazy for that.

  “I ran from there.”

  “How did you know—”

  He held up his phone, showing her the blinking icon flashing on the screen. “The imbecile I assigned to you didn’t realize anything was wrong until twenty minutes ago, apparently. He said there was a woman who’d needed assistance.”

  Undoubtedly a plant by Belladonna.

  Luna was starting to think the woman was the female Kingmaker.

  “It wasn’t his fault.”

  Kit didn’t look like he agreed. “Nevertheless, I blame him entirely.” He looked at his phone once more. “Better to be safe than sorry.”

  Maybe she should have been upset that he was tracking her, but after the last time she was taken, she couldn’t complain.

  He cupped the nape of her neck, dragging her closer, eyes scanning over her face. “I’m fine,” she said again. “She wasn’t trying to hurt me or anything.”

  “Sh
e?”

  Luna didn’t have to give him a name for him to know who she meant. “There’s a lot I need to tell you.”

  They were barely through the front door of the penthouse before Kit turned to her and said, “Explain.”

  “First, Elias is dead.”

  Kit didn’t even blink. “How?”

  “Belladonna—or rather she gave the order and the Jackal carried it out.”

  Now, he reacted, unable to hide his hatred at the mention of that name. Kit might not have been afraid of the Jackal, but he knew what the man was capable of.

  Luna, too, knew what he could do, but seeing the cold efficiency in which he worked up close and personal … she didn’t think she ever wanted to be his target.

  “Go on.”

  “Elias wasn’t the boss,” she said, remembering the way the man cowered and everything he’d said. “She is.”

  Kit rubbed his forehead, as if to ward off an oncoming headache. “Because this could not possibly get any worse.”

  “She asked me to give you a message on her behalf.”

  Kit looked like it was the last thing he wanted to hear. “And?”

  “She sends her apologies for Elias’ behavior.”

  “Anything else?”

  She held up the envelope for him to see. “We’ll need Uilleam for the rest.”

  Chapter 20

  Present day …

  Kit made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat, not liking the reminder of just how close Belladonna had gotten to her under his watch. It was one thing to inadvertently work for her because of a job, but it was a different matter altogether when she could get to you outside of it.

  But despite his unhappiness, Luna smiled at him.

  He might not have liked the woman—or rather, he didn’t trust her motivations, no matter how morally ambiguous they were—but she couldn’t say that she didn’t.

  Belladonna was … different.

  While she had never confessed it to Kit, Luna found the woman to be rather interesting. Maybe she would have felt differently if she was trying to actively destroy Uilleam or hurt him, but from what she could tell, Belladonna was merely playing the same game as him—using his own moves against him.

  If anything, she was curious how this would all end between the pair of them, and if it ever would.

  “Obviously, if she wanted to hurt me, she’s had plenty of opportunity,” Luna reminded him, hoping to smooth away the notch between his brows. “Her beef is with Uilleam.”

  “Somehow, any problem of his becomes a problem of anyone close to him. We need to take the necessary precautions.”

  “If you say so.”

  His eyes narrowed on her, but despite his attempt to look threatening, she wasn’t moved. “Surely, you take issue with someone kidnapping you.”

  “Your brother did it first, remember?”

  That only made his frown deepen. “Are you trying to annoy me?”

  “Depends. Is it working?”

  Dr. Marie regarded them with veiled amusement, a stark difference from the last time they were in her office.

  Luna had always thought the look of indifference was just her permanent expression, one that was meant to stay neutral over the course of the session, but as their time passed today, she had frowned along with them, and even smiled when they did.

  There was no denying that everything had changed since the last time they were here. The future had been in question, and Luna hadn’t been able to see an out from the hole they’d dug.

  But now? Now, things were different.

  There were no more secrets.

  Nothing left to divide them.

  Dr. Marie clicked her pen, setting it between the pages of her notebook before closing it. “So, where do you see yourselves going from here?”

  “Vacation,” Luna said immediately.

  While her contract with the Den might not have been up, Kit had convinced—rather forcefully told—Uilleam to give her two weeks’ leave.

  It was the least she deserved, he’d said.

  Kit nodded. “After a few last-minute details.”

  And by last-minute details, he meant Fang and the Wild Bunch.

  While the others were back home, Fang was still missing, and despite the worry Kit felt for him, he hadn’t tried to find him just yet—he deserved to grieve.

  If Luna had to guess, Tăcut knew where he was, but she doubted they would get anything out of him. Of all of them, he was the most trusted with Fang’s secrets. So until he wanted to be found, there was nothing to be done.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Dr. Marie said. Covertly glancing over at the clock hanging on the wall, she gave a slight nod of her head. “That concludes our session.”

  As Luna stood, she wondered whether they would ever end up back here. In their time there, there had been no stone left unturned, no secrets left unshared, and by the end of it, she felt closer to him than she ever had.

  But she would never rule it out.

  “What are these last-minute details you were talking about?” Luna asked once they were out of the office and riding the elevator down to the lobby.

  “Uilleam wants to use the Wild Bunch for an assignment,” he explained.

  Luna looked at him in surprise. “Is that a good idea?”

  “To him, all of his ideas are good, but whether or not this will work out in his favor, we’ll just have to see. Fang and the others won’t do well taking orders from him.”

  She wondered whether Kit planned to talk him out of it. Then she wondered what job he could possibly want the Wild Bunch to do for him that he couldn’t bring to the Den.

  But, it wasn’t her problem to solve.

  “Your phone,” Kit said, holding his hand out as they exited the front doors of the building, his car already waiting.

  Luna merely looked at him in amusement until she realized he had no intention of letting her in without having it.

  “Is this about Agustín?” she asked playfully, “because I promise that I haven’t responded to any of his texts.”

  “I’m dangerously close to putting you over my knee.”

  She laughed, dropping her phone into his waiting palm. “Is that a promise?”

  As she slipped past him and into the passenger seat, she just heard him say, “I guarantee it.

  “From now until the time we set foot back here,” Kit said once he was beside her, “you’re mine, only. No phones. No assignments. Just us, as it should be.”

  Smiling, Luna didn’t argue, not even a little.

  CODA

  Episode Four

  Not once in many, many years had Uilleam cared what another thought of his actions. He was prone to reacting on a whim, and depending on his mood, it could mean bad things for others, but it always meant good things for him—he made sure of it.

  But as he stepped out the back of the chauffeured car, a twenty-four rose bouquet in hand, he wasn’t sure of the reaction he would get once he walked into the house of his lover.

  Lover … even that sounded mundane when he thought of Karina, but it was a far better term than girlfriend, which felt far too juvenile.

  But that was the problem with honesty—many thought they wanted it until they realized how awful it could be.

  Once upon a blue moon, he had thought to keep her in the dark, to conceal as much of his life as the Kingmaker if it ensured that she never left his side, but that wasn’t what she wanted.

  His little white rabbit had made her demands quite clear, and if he wanted to keep her, then he would have to honor that.

  No matter how badly he wished he didn’t.

  Uilleam was a man of his word.

  Fitting the key she had only recently given him into the door, he let himself into the brownstone in the heart of Manhattan, the smell of herbs and spices assaulting him before he was fully inside.

  It was just another thing to love about Karina Ashworth—her exceptional cooking.

  He’d tasted some of
the best food in the world, but nothing compared to hers.

  The thought made him frown as he set the bouquet down to shrug his coat off and hang it on the rack by the door. Somehow, over the course of his relationship with her, he had turned into one of those lovesick fools he quite happily mocked.

  That, all of it, was supposed to be beneath him, yet there he stood, more eager to eat and enjoy whatever she had prepared rather than eating at an acclaimed restaurant in the city.

  Uilleam didn’t know whether to laugh or think himself pathetic—though, he was leaning toward the latter.

  “Uilleam?” Karina called from the kitchen, the heels she always wore clicking on the wooden floors. “Is that you?”

  “I would hope so,” Uilleam said as he neared. “Or else you would be dead in no time.”

  Karina, with her messy brown hair she usually kept in a high ponytail, had the kind of smile that calmed him. There was something that seemed so remarkably pure about her that drew him in.

  The exact opposite of him.

  Whereas he enjoyed taking anything he could get, she gave back, using her knowledge and skill for good.

  Some days, he wanted to corrupt her, entice her over to his side, but most days he wanted to protect the good he saw in her. After all his sins, it was the least he could do.

  Karina was smiling as he entered the kitchen, a glass of wine in her hand as she stood next to the stove.

  “Or,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she saw the roses he carried. “It might not have ended well for them. Had you thought of that?”

  He knew she had a gun for protection, but since he’d been in her life, she had never had a reason to pull it, so he wasn’t sure if she even knew how to use it.

  Uilleam smiled as he kissed her cheek, presenting her with the flowers. “They wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

  She happily accepted them, setting them aside as she went about looking for the pair of cutting shears to trim the stems.

  Karina was meticulous about it, carefully cutting each one before grabbing a vase, filling it with water, and then adding the flowers before setting it in the center of the dining table.