Dark Assassin

by Dena Christy

  “Is that all?” Hadria crossed her arms over her chest and gave Samara her best probing glare. How did she know whenever she wasn’t getting the whole story? Mindreading wasn’t one of her skills, yet she always knew when Samara was withholding information. That particular ability had been a real pain in the ass during her teenage years. Samara knew the other woman wouldn’t quit until she heard everything.

  “I may have mentioned that his brother Rowan was one of the wolves infected. It’ll be fine. I gave him three days to decide. I’m sure he’ll go along with it.” She tried to downplay what she’d revealed to Eric the night before. If she continued to think positive, maybe she’d even convince herself to believe what she was saying. She hoped that at least Hadria believed it.

  “And what if he finds out about your involvement with Rowan?”

  “He won’t find out. There’s no way he could. We covered our tracks well.”

  “You’d better hope he doesn’t. If you don’t have control of him there’s no telling what he’ll do if he finds out. Do you know why your powers have no effect on him?”

  Samara remained silent as she walked over to sit on one of her dining room chairs. She had a feeling she knew why it was impossible to get inside Eric’s head, but she didn’t want to admit it. Not to Hadria. Not to herself. At least not out loud.

  “You know why, don’t you?”

  Samara buried her face in her hands. Hadria wouldn’t give up until she knew it all. “I’m attracted to him.” There, she’d said it, knowing that statement would say it all. The only way for her to harness her powers was for her to keep tight control over her emotions.

  The human feelings she inherited from her father interfered with her concentration, since she needed a clear head to tap into her demon side. She’d learned over the years to divorce herself from her emotions whenever she went out on a mission. Last night had been a complete failure. She wanted him in a way she hadn’t wanted anyone before, which spelled disaster if she couldn’t get a grip on herself.

  “You’re attracted to him?”

  Why was Hadria repeating everything? Saying it again wasn’t going to make it go away. Samara lifted her head to look directly at the other woman. She couldn’t say it out loud again, so she nodded her head before turning her face away. She sat there waiting, knowing Hadria would have something to say once she gave up the parrot imitation. She didn’t wait long.

  “Under any other circumstances I’d be so happy for you. I’d be overjoyed that you’ve finally found someone who intrigues the woman inside you. But this couldn’t be a worse time for that. Too much is riding on this for you to go to Horn’s compound without being in control of Eric. I’m going to go to Cadric and tell him that you can’t do this.”

  “No you aren’t.” Samara stood and her chair scraped against the floor. Hadria must not go to the head of their cell. If Cadric thought her incapable of doing her job, he would pull her back immediately. “You can’t spend all your time protecting me. I’m over a century old. I think I can take care of myself. Cadric assigned this mission to me, and I can’t fail him.”

  “Samara, this situation is too dangerous for you not to be in complete control of yourself. You know that. We have to tell Cadric your powers aren’t working on Eric.”

  “Don’t you dare tell him anything. I’ll never forgive you if you do. It may be a moot point if Eric doesn’t agree, but I need to do this. I know you mean well, but you need to let go. I’m not your responsibility anymore. I haven’t been for a long time. I can handle myself.”

  Hadria was opening her mouth to say something more when Samara’s cell phone rang. Her lips tightened as she glared at the offending instrument. “You’d better answer that,” she said before turning on her heel and going into the kitchen. Samara reached for her phone and was surprised to hear Nick’s voice on the other end.

  “I just talked to my brother. He’s going to do it. What I want to know is why he even needed to think about it. Once you made contact with him, he shouldn’t have needed further persuasion.”

  “I can’t control your brother. He’s immune to my touch so I had to fill him in on the situation.” There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and she waited for the lecture she knew was coming. Another one; just what she needed.

  “This isn’t good, Samara. Eric is very volatile. If he finds out what happened to Rowan, and our involvement, he’s going to go ballistic. This could blow up in our faces. We need you at Horn’s compound to destroy that formula.” Nick’s voice got stronger and louder with every word he said. “Jesus Christ, you need to get you head in the game. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but Eric’s no fool and you have to be able to handle him. If he goes offside on James and finds out he had nothing to do with Rowan’s disappearance, he’s going to be gunning for you.”

  “I know. I’ll be careful. I know what I’m dealing with now, so don’t worry. I can handle it.” Samara turned her head when she heard Hadria come back from the kitchen.

  “Is that Nick? Let me talk to him.” She pulled the phone out of Samara’s hand. “Is she going to be safe with your brother?”

  Hadria fell silent as she listened to Nick, and Samara rolled her eyes at the pair of them. They were like a couple of nursemaids in charge of a wayward child. The creatures she’d stalked over the years, the ones who wet their pants at the thought of her catching them, would surely be laughing their asses off if they were still alive to witness this. She didn’t know how to prove to Hadria and Nick her capability of taking care of herself. Hadria treated her like her teenage daughter, and Nick treated her like the little sister he never had.

  “No, we aren’t going to tell Cadric. If he finds out he’ll pull her immediately.”

  That’s all she needed to hear. She stopped listening to the one-sided conversation and it wasn’t long before Hadria hung up the phone.

  “I have a bad feeling about this.” Hadria turned towards her.

  “You have bad feeling about every mission I go on. I don’t know why you wanted me to join the Order in the first place, since you freak out every time I have an assignment. I can handle myself. This mission is no different from any other I’ve been on.”

  “This mission is completely different. You’ve always been in total control before. I can’t help it if I worry about you.” Hadria’s eyes roamed over Samara’s face, as if this was the last time she would see her.

  “I know and I appreciate your concern, even if it’s totally unnecessary.” Samara hugged the woman to whom she owed her very life. She may bitch and moan about Hadria treating her like a child, but deep down she liked the fact that someone cared about her enough to worry about her.

  “Do you want me to send Alex with you?” Hadria pulled back, letting her go. Alex, Hadria’s lover, was a werewolf who also worked for the Order. She didn’t think the other woman would really send him with her. There was a strict no interference rule within the Order, and Hadria would not break it, even for her. She figured she should say something in the event that this was the one time Hadria decided to bend the rules.

  “I don’t need a babysitter. It would be too hard to explain why I’m going to the compound with two wolves in tow. Besides, if Cadric found out you sent Alex with me, he’d lose his mind and have kittens. Don’t worry, I can handle this.”

  “Just make sure you stay in touch with me, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen,” Samara assured her friend as she hugged her for the second time. “Now get out of here so I can start packing.”

  As she watched Hadria leave the apartment, Samara took a deep breath. She would prove to Hadria, Nick and Cadric that she could do this. She wanted missions with more meat to them than the ones she was usually given. Being the Order’s number one assassin wasn’t enough for her anymore. She wanted to do more work in the field, something beyond tracking and executing those on the Order’s hit list.

  After her last
mission, she’d begged Cadric to give her a chance to prove she could do more than just kill. Cadric had been skeptical considering how badly things had gone, but had agreed to give her this chance. She wouldn’t blow it. She’d find a way to get past her attraction to Eric and do the job entrusted to her. Failure wasn’t an acceptable outcome. Potentially hundreds of human and werewolf lives depended on her destroying the research and formula. No matter what it took, she was going to succeed in this mission. Not even her attraction to a werewolf was going to stand in her way.

  ALEX TREMBLAY LOOKED up from his newspaper as his lover Hadria walked into their apartment. He smoothed out his face when she leaned over and kissed him. He tolerated her sitting on his lap, since she was a means to an end.

  “What’s going on?” he asked as she looped her arms around his neck. He resisted the urge to push her away; he’d grown tired of her in the past few months. She was pretty hot but not nearly as hot as Samara, the one he really wanted. He’d thought getting to Samara through Hadria was the way to go, but now it looked like that had been a mistake on his part. Still, screwing the old Valkyrie wasn’t that much of a hardship, so he’d continue with that until it suited him not to anymore.

  “Just went over to see Samara. Cadric’s sending her off to do something a little different than what he usually sends her for and I’m…” She hesitated, and Alex almost rolled his eyes at how tiresome and predictable she’d become. Still, he had to play the role, so he tightened his arms around her.

  “You’re worried,” he finished for her. “I’m sure Samara can take care of herself. What’s Cadric got her doing?”

  “She’s going to James Horn’s compound to destroy his formula, you know, the one that’s making all the wolves injected with it feral.”

  Alex tried not to shift too much in his chair. No use alerting her to the fact that he knew a lot more about Horn’s formula than she should.

  “That is different from her usual mission. How does Cadric think she’s going to get in there?” Alex tried to keep his voice casual as he delicately pumped her for information. Perhaps getting close to Hadria had been the right move after all.

  She seemed to hesitate for a moment, and Alex leaned forward and kissed the side of her neck, exactly in the spot that she liked. She shivered slightly and it seemed to be enough to prompt her further.

  “She’s not going alone. Nick’s brother Eric is going with her, apparently he and Horn have a bit of a history. I was worried about him, but Nick assures me that things should be fine,” she said as she slid her hand over the muscles on his chest.

  He let her touch him, although he lips tightened in disgust at the mention of Nick’s name. That candy-ass wolf had been sniffing around Hadria for years, and it had given Alex no small amount of satisfaction to steal her from him. Perhaps Nick should have grown a pair, and approached Hadria like a man.

  Alex kissed Hadria full on the mouth and reached up her T-shirt to caress her full breasts. He needed to make a call but in order to do that he needed to get rid of her.

  He stood up with her legs wrapped around his waist, kissing her for the entire walk to the bedroom they shared. She hit the bed with a bounce, and looked mildly surprised that he seemed to want to take her without his usual finesse. Hadria was on her way out as far as he was concerned, but he didn’t want her to know that yet, so he gentled his touch and took her in the way she’d become accustomed to.

  After, as they lay together for what seemed like forever, he shifted away from her.

  “Where are you going?” she asked, her voice sleepy. He looked down at her, trying hard not to curl his lips in distaste. Hopefully he would be done with her soon.

  “I just need to make a phone call, baby. Go to sleep. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Alex walked out to the living room, not bothering to pull on any clothes, and picked his cell phone up off the coffee table. He selected the number he wanted in his contact list.

  “Gordon, I’ve got a job for you.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Eric stood outside the security door of Samara’s apartment building and took a deep breath. Once he rang the buzzer he would be committed to doing this. He hoped a few days away from her had cooled his reaction to her. He needed a clear head to get her into Horn’s compound. Raising his hand, he pressed the button next to her name.

  Her voice came over the speaker. His gut clenched. How could he have forgotten what her voice did to him? Three days hadn’t been enough time away from her. His body didn’t want to forget it wanted her, no matter what his brain said.

  “It’s me. Let me up,” he growled into the speaker. He tried not to let his impatience to see her again leach into his voice. Her kind was adept at reading emotions. He didn’t want to make it easy for her and spell out how much he still wanted her. To do so would give her too much power over him, and she had more than enough of that already.

  “I’m on the top floor.”

  The security door buzzed. He yanked it open and proceeded into the lobby. There wasn’t anyone around, but it was still early in the morning, just after dawn. The doors of the elevator slid open and Eric stepped inside.

  The ride up to the top didn’t take long. There was only one door. He knocked and it opened immediately.

  At the sight of her standing in front of him he had to fight the urge to tell her he wasn’t going through with the mission before turning on his heel and running like hell. That course of action smacked of cowardice, and he was not a coward, so he welded his feet to the floor. He clenched his hands to keep from touching her.

  She’d obviously just gotten out of bed. A disheveled braid hung over her right shoulder, and she wore a yellow satin tank top with a pair of matching low-slung pajama bottoms. What would she do if he picked her up right now and carried her back to bed? Probably encourage him. He fixed his gaze on the tattoo on her shoulder, to remind himself of what she was and why he needed to fight his attraction to her.

  “You gonna let me in?” he asked when she made no move to step aside. She stepped out of his way and swept her arm out to indicate he should enter.

  “Have you come to a decision?” she asked from behind him.

  “I’ve decided to go with you, but I want to lay down a few ground rules first.”

  “And they are?” She stood in front of him. Her sweet fragrance drifted into his nose. He closed his eyes, willing his clamoring blood to get under control. He’d been with her for less than five minutes and he couldn’t get anywhere near her without wanting to rip the clothes from her body. Not a good sign.

  “First, the only way I’m going to agree to do this is if we do things my way. I don’t trust you, and I know I haven’t gotten the whole story. The only reason I’m doing this is to find out what happened to my brother, and to make sure those responsible pay. My word is law, and you’ll do as I say when I say it.”

  Eric could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t appreciate his tone or his words. He didn’t really care. He needed to establish himself as the alpha in this little duo, otherwise she’d stomp all over him.

  “I’m not one of your werewolf bitches you can order around. I’m the one with the experience in this type of thing and we should follow my lead.” She took an aggressive step toward him.

  Christ, he wanted to throw her to the floor and take her right there. No other woman had ever had the guts to stand up to him, and it was a major turn-on. He fought to keep his face impassive so she wouldn’t know what he was thinking. No point in giving her the upper hand this early in their working relationship.

  “If you can’t agree to do things my way, I’ll walk.” Standing his ground, he took one look at the stubbornness on her face and turned to go back toward the door.

  “Fine, have it your way.” She raised her voice to halt his progress out of the apartment. “We’ll do things the way you want, but if it gets too dangerous I’m reserving the right to take over and do what I’m trained to do.”

  “Fin
e.” He turned back to her, trying to suppress the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. It wouldn’t do for her to know he was happy she hadn’t called his bluff.

  “What are the other rules?” she asked, her tone resigned.

  “Don’t look like that, sweetheart. I only have two more conditions before we go. I don’t want you using your succubus, voodoo mind control on me. I won’t be manipulated.”

  “Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What’s the last rule?”

  She folded her arms across her chest. He tried his best to ignore how the action pushed her breasts together against the neckline of her low cut top, but it was difficult. What he wouldn’t give for just five minutes with those beauties in the palm of his hand, though. Hell, he’d settle for two. He ripped his eyes away from those two tempting morsels, and looked back up to her face. He could tell by her smug smile that she knew exactly what he’d been thinking. Damn her.

  “No sex,” he practically shouted at her, almost as if he needed to tell himself more than her what his final rule was. Based on his reaction from just looking at her in her pajamas, he considered having it tattooed on his forehead as a constant reminder.

  “Pardon?” She looked at him as if he’d sprouted another head. Like he needed one more. The one below his waist was giving him enough trouble without the burden of another one.

  “You and I aren’t going to have sex. I realize there is an attraction between us, but we aren’t going to act on it. We are going to need our wits about us. We cannot be physically intimate with each other, it’s too much of a distraction.”

  “I agree.”

  “You do?” He’d wanted her agreement, but she didn’t need to say it quite so quickly. She could have at least acted with a little more reluctance, pouted maybe.

  “Don’t worry, Casanova, I think I can resist you.” Well, now that just made it worse. Heat crawled up his face when she dismissed him with a look. “This mission is too important to get muddled by sex between us. When did you want to go?”