Unknown Protector

by Maggie Mundy

  The music came to an end and another track started. This time the music was a blues number. The sort you listen to in a room full of smoke and smelling of booze. Their faces were close to each other. He placed his other hand on her waist as she placed her hands against his chest. He leant forward and whispered in her ear.

  “I wanna kiss you. The taste of you hasn’t reduced but increased my feelings. I wanna do so many things to you, but I’ll not touch you unless you want me to.”

  Nicole drew back and looked him in the face. She wanted the kiss as much as he did. In fact she wanted a whole lot more than a kiss. One of them had to show some restraint and from Ridge’s reputation, restraint wasn’t one of his strong points.

  “How is this helping anything? We’ve a battle ahead and you’re bringing relationships into this, plus we have no relationship apart from the fact you have to save my ass.”

  “Nicole, I promise to save you even if my own life is forfeit. Just say you don’t wanna kiss me. That nothing attracts us to each other and I’ll not pursue this any further.”

  She couldn’t say it. “You said yourself this is the bonding. It’s not to do with our minds. The attraction is physical. I don’t like to think I’m reacting without control. That’s not me. I’ve chosen what I do with my body for a long time, and for obvious reasons.”

  “I wouldn’t ask you to do anythin’ you don’t want to, and even if it is the bonding I still wanna kiss you. It’s an easy question. Is the answer yes or no? It’s your choice.”

  Nicole stood before him and tried to make her head obey her and shake, but it wouldn’t. It nodded damn it. Darn him, but he had the wickedest grin that made her legs go weak.

  He bent his head to the nape of her neck as if he was drawing in the scent of her so he would never forget it. His lips touched her and she jumped. For a second it felt like her heart stopped. He continued with gentle kisses up her neck till he stopped below her ear. Nicole leaned into him. He moved to above her pulse where his tongue swirled, sending shivers through her body. She ran her fingers up and down his back. His kisses stopped and a groan escaped his lips. She moved away from him even though it was one of the hardest things she had done in her life.

  “When you’re like this I believe you’re a passionate man, one I can’t resist, but you’re not. You’re not even human. Before you kiss me I want you to show me your wings. I want to see what I’m accepting here.”

  Ridge closed his eyes and in one moment they were there. She hadn’t seen them since the night he flown to Pergor, and so many strange things had happened since then. She’d almost forgotten how completely different he was to her. She moved behind him and surveyed the magnificence of his wings. He didn’t move. The wings reached from his shoulder to his knees. She couldn’t remember how large they had appeared when they were spread but she was right about one thing she remembered. They were not pure white like Mira’s. They were not the dull off-white she remembered either. They were cream with threads of gold through them that caught the light, or maybe there was a radiance emanating from them.

  She reached out to touch but drew back. Touching them meant accepting so much. It was too late for hesitation. She touched between his shoulder blades where the two wings joined his body. The feathers were soft like down on top but felt like steel beneath. She moved closer to his back and laid the palms of her hands against each wing as she leant forward and placed her cheek against the soft downy feathers between the two wings. A shiver passed through his body. This was what he was and she still wanted him, she yearned for him.

  He turned and gazed at her. She realized because of her own feelings it wasn’t passion she saw there but raw hunger. His lips were so close. Nicole reached out and put her hands around his waist and moved so their bodies touched. She was making the decision here and knew if he was struggling half as much as she was, then he was doing a good job holding back. He was hard for her and she wanted his hardness pressing against her. She wanted his hardness inside her. Ridge lifted her so her legs encircled his hips. She throbbed where he pressed against her. She couldn’t remember moving, but realized her back was against a wall of the room and his wings outstretched beside them.

  The air was full of the sound of heavy breathing but Nicole knew neither of them would look at each other. There would be no turning back once they did. Their foreheads touched as they gazed down.

  “You’re drivin’ me insane. I wanna be in you so much.”

  She was glad he had not offered undying love, this was simpler. They all said she would die anyway. Lust she could cope with. She placed a finger under his chin and lifted his face so their eyes made contact. That was it, she was lost. The raw need and wanting in him could only be coped with if it hadn’t been equaled in her.

  There was no gentleness when his lips touched hers. There was pressure and need. His tongue searched her mouth and Nicole matched it in ferocity as she tried to taste and touch him. She wanted his tongue to come into her body as she wanted the rest of him pushing into her. She caught her breath as Ridge leant back making his hips thrust harder against hers. He had to be able to feel the throbbing and heat at the centre of her being.

  He wasn’t staring at her face but her breasts as he brought his hand up to undo the buttons on her blouse. With each button released the delicate lace of her bra showed more. Taking the edge of her blouse between his fingers he moved it back. She could see her nipple straining against what encased it. He ran his finger along the lace and over her nipple. She had never thought she could be so sensitive. Each move was slowly pulling her will apart. She needed to remember he was a master of seduction, but as he sucked her nipple through the lace the thought was gone. As he nipped and sucked, her body pushed into his. She sighed as he moved away. His voice sounded like syrup to her and she was lost in some strange hallucination.

  “Do you have any idea what you are? I’ve lived three hundred years and loved, but you’re a drug I would consume even if it poisoned me.”

  Nicole couldn’t speak. Her body was ablaze with emotion. She wasn’t sure she would be able to control it.

  “Kiss me,” the words came out as a breathless plea.

  Ridge smiled at her and his mouth was upon hers. Lips fighting lips, tongues fighting tongues as he pushed his hips and the hardness of his cock against her. She was becoming lightheaded with the ecstasy of his touch. He moved the flimsy material of her bra back and he was sucking on her nipple. He was driving her insane. His wings were fluttering and at this moment she wanted him more than anything. She had loved Ben, but this craving was overpowering. Groans of pleasure escaped her lips as he sucked and nipped.

  Ridge moved away and let her legs drop down from encircling him. They were like jelly and if his hands hadn’t held her she would have sat crossed legged on the floor.

  “Sara’s here. She’s outside and as usual she’s pissed off. Somethin’s happened.”

  Nicole would never have believed you could go from the intensity she felt to zero so quickly, but it was true. It had been good while it lasted, but she was well aware this wasn’t going to be a big love-in with a happy ending.

  Ridges wings disappeared as she buttoned up her blouse a second before the door to the room opened. Sara stormed in. No smile as usual but the hands on hips and look down her nose attitude, especially at the hard on still evident in Ridge’s leather pants. Nicole folded her hands across her chest and stood next to Ridge.

  “Seems we’ve a problem if you two want to carry on like this, some guy is sending cryptic messages saying he’ll suck someone dry because of her. Are we dealing with vampires? Because I’ve lived on this planet for sixty years and not seen one.”

  Nicole tried to warm to Sara, but it wasn’t happening. Maybe if they were in a fight together it might help, but she doubted it.

  “I need to talk to Peter.” She didn’t wait fo
r anyone to follow. This was good. She could concentrate on a problem and help someone. If you sorted out other people’s problems you didn’t need to look at your own. She strode up the stairs to the apartment. She was losing herself and needed to regain control. Knowledge meant power, which was what Ben had taught her. Even if it was the tiniest bit of evidence it could change things, but they weren’t dealing with the law.

  Peter sat at the counter with his laptop in front of him. He was studying his screen so intensely he didn’t sense them enter the room and jumped when she touched his arm. He was pale at the best of times but any vestige of blood had left his face a while ago. Nicole stood beside him. “What’s happening, Peter?”

  “When we moved here after the fire, I transferred the calls so we could still keep in contact with any of our past clients. I didn’t want them to think we’d passed off the face of the planet. I got a call from someone saying he would kill one of our clients if you didn’t leave Ridge.”

  Peter tapped on the counter continuously. Nicole knew the signs. He would close down and be a shell in the corner within an hour if she didn’t take control and tell him what to do. He was brilliant but lost. Ben had always known that.

  “Have you tried to call the client?”

  “There’s no answer. It’s Mrs. Jones. We completed her case three months ago and the solicitors are dealing with the details. It’s all ready to go to court.”

  “Try calling again. If there’s no answer, Ridge and I will go and see what’s happening. I want you to call all our old clients, tell them we’re doing courtesy calls to make sure everything is okay.” That would keep him occupied.

  “You should stay here. I can get Carrick and Jake to go,” Ridge said.

  “This was my business and she was one of my clients. I’ll not have strangers turning up to scare the life out of her. If you want to come with me it’s fine, but I’m going.” Five minutes ago they had been matching each other’s looks of passion. Now they were matching each other’s stubbornness as they faced off with arms folded across their chests.

  “You know where she lives?” Ridge asked.

  Nicole nodded.

  “Why are we wastin’ time here then?”

  Mrs. Jones house was one of the Painted Ladies on Steiner Street. This one was a beautiful pale yellow that made you smile when you peered at it. They drew up across the street.

  “You been here before?” Ridge asked.

  “Once, after we finished the job. Most clients don’t like you going to their homes. A lot don’t like coming to the office. I used to arrange to meet them at a coffee shop that wasn’t too noisy. Most people like to think they’ll never need the services of people like me.”

  They stood at the bottom of the steps and Ridge touched her arm to stop her moving.

  “Two things I can sense. One is that another Midworlders been here. It wouldn’t be too hard to guess who.”

  “What’s the other thing?”

  “Blood,” he answered, fisting his hands.

  Nicole rang the doorbell but only waited a second before trying the handle. It was unlocked. It hadn’t been forced so Mrs. Jones had let her assailant in. The door opened into a large hallway. There were rooms off to both sides and all of them were beautifully decorated with no expense spared. No wonder she had been so keen to keep her husband and his new young girlfriend from getting their hands on it all. They moved to the back of the house, past the parlor and through to the kitchen, there was still nothing.

  “Let’s try upstairs,” Nicole said. There were four doors leading off the landing. The first three showed immaculately kept rooms where nothing appeared out of place. Nicole reached out to take the door handle of the final room. It was as the others had been. Neat and tidy.

  “Some of these old houses have cellars,” Ridge said.

  This time Ridge took the lead as they walked down the stairs. The light showed the cellar was used as a storage area with multiple plastic boxes. The walls had been whitewashed which helped the room appear bigger. Nicole shivered as they moved boxes aside. There was Janet Jones. She had been bound into one of her beautiful brocade chairs with tape around her arms and her ankles. Her wrists had been slashed open, and so had her throat.

  “I’ll phone the police,” she said, her hands trembling as she pressed the numbers.

  As she spoke to the police department, Nicole scrutinized the scene. She trained herself to always start at the body and work her way out in ever increasing circles. There was no evidence of a struggle not here or anywhere else in the house. The boxes were all still neatly stacked. The police would check them for prints but she was sure there would be none. One thing she did observe was the lack of blood. The wrists were cut and yet there was not a drop on the floor. Janet’s throat had been slashed and yet the amount of blood soaked into her dress front was less than would be expected. Peering around she couldn’t see any blood splatters.

  She could hear sirens. They needed to go. She was good friends with a few of the police but they wouldn’t want her on the scene. They would want her and Ridge down at the precinct for questioning. She hated lying but who the hell would believe her if she told the truth?

  Chapter 18

  Joint Powers

  Nicole didn’t usually feel awkward at the police department, but today she couldn’t wait to get away. She knew Detective Greg Burton well. He and Ben had been good mates and the last time she had seen him was the day of the funeral. He was a decent guy and they were always polite and agreeable with each other. Today she sensed he wasn’t convinced by her story. Why should he be? Her fiancée had wings.

  Ridge was next door being interviewed. If there was one benefit to the bonding, it was that he was letting her know what he said. She wasn’t sure how he was doing it, but if she was going to say the wrong thing she got a painful throbbing in her right temple.

  “And Peter said the caller told him he would hurt her. Why didn’t you call us straight away?”

  “I thought it might’ve been a hoax, but when she didn’t answer the phone I got worried. We got there and as soon as we found her we called you, Greg.”

  “I’m letting you go home, Nicole. Your apartments blown up, your office set fire and one of your ex-clients is murdered. Something isn’t right here. I’d feel better if we set some guys watching you for a few days.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll stay at Heaven’s Gate, and Ridge has bouncers.”

  Greg walked towards the door and held it open, but then stopped and turned back.

  “So what’s going on with you and this, Ridge? I know it was hard for you after what happened to Ben, but we’ve had dealings with this guy, and I wouldn’t have thought he was your type.”

  Nicole wasn’t sure what this had to do with the investigation. “We’re engaged.” She smiled. She imagined Ridge grinning in the other room.

  “Tell me to mind my own business but you sure about this? I think he’s hiding something.”

  “I know you’re coming from a good place, but this has nothing to do with the case. We got a call at the club on our old number, and we just went to the house. You said I could go.”

  “Don’t forget where your friends are.”

  Nicole winced at the pain in her temple at that comment. “I won’t, I never have.”

  She needed to be far away from here. If someone would use an ex-client to get to her then they would use Greg. He was forty and married with four kids. Ridge stood waiting in the entrance as she left. She grabbed his hand and squeezed.

  “Get me out of here.”

  Kaylie opened the door to the apartment and Nicole hugged her. For once she was glad it wasn’t Sara. She didn’t need anyone judging her. She glanced around the room and saw Peter asleep on the couch.

  “He spoke to a policeman that called earlier. He
’s pretty much been like that since. He curled up in a ball.”

  “It’s okay. It’s his way. Some bad shit went down when they were kids, Ben held him together. I’m surprised he’s lasted this long without phasing out. Get Carrick to carry him to his room. He’ll sleep for a while.”

  “Frieda is fretting about him, and swearing in German about Ridge, but that’s usual.”

  “Give me ten minutes then I’ll come and tell you what happened.” Nicole walked towards her room. Ridge was behind her. At the door she turned and placed her palm against his chest stopping him. “I need some time alone.”

  He nodded and turned away.

  She headed to the bathroom and bent over the sink and cried. Tears flowed and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. Instead she let the flow of them try to do their job of cleansing her of the guilt. A woman was dead because of her. She had been a policewoman and a detective long enough not to be affected by a crime scene but this was different, she was the cause.