No, he couldn’t. But only another Earthbound should have been able to hear the exchange. He’d suspected this morning that she wasn’t completely human; this all but confirmed it. He threw Luca a warning glance.
“It’s fine, Kat. Luca, we’ll see you back at my place. Feel free to pick up some Chinese on the way. I’m starving and I’m sure Kat will be, too.” Luca chose another mental pathway that was specific to him and McAllister, as opposed to the general one that they had been using.
“How?”
“No idea, but apparently she isn’t completely human.”
“Stop it!”
“You heard that, too?” Luca’s eyes widened incredulously and he actually looked alarmed. It was the most expression he’d exhibited since he appeared in the living room. Kassian reflected it might be the most expression he’d seen Luca exhibit in years.
“No, but I’m not a moron, despite the fact that I might have appeared to be a blubbering idiot when you literally popped into my house. I’d apologize for my reaction, but my guests normally enter through the front door, not the Twilight Zone.” She protested, slouching down in the car seat.
“She seems to be recovering nicely. I think I might be falling in love.” Luca’s voice filled Kassian’s head with laughter.
“Back off, Luca…”
“Ah, so that’s how it is. You planning to keep her?”
“Get bent, my brother.”
“Okay, children,” Luca said out loud. “Let’s get a move on. Are you sure this rat trap will make it back? I had a helluva time starting it this morning. Did you know it has a bad solenoid? Katrina, you really should think about getting a new car.” Kassian smirked and climbed in beside her while Kat rolled her eyes. With a quick glance around and a subdued snap, Luca disappeared.
Kat closed her eyes as though bracing for it, but she jumped anyway.
“You okay?” Kassian ground the car into reverse and backed out of the drive. Thankfully the car started right up without any intervention from Kat and her screwdriver.
“Define okay. But if you mean that…” she gestured toward the spot where Luca had been standing. “Well, whatever you call it…sorry, it takes a little getting used to. And in case you were wondering, yes, I am a master of understatement.” She was silent for so long that Kassian felt as though his nerves would snap. She was blocking like a trooper and he had no idea what she was thinking. But whatever it was, he was pretty sure it couldn’t be good.
“Kat, are you afraid of me?” he asked at last as they pulled onto the interstate. Oddly, he realized it mattered to him.
****
Oddly, she wasn’t. Common sense told her she should be, but she was more afraid of her attraction to him. Over the years, she’d gotten a reputation for being well…frigid, among the men of her acquaintance. It was impossible to maintain a mental block during foreplay, and reading your partners’ thoughts could be a very effective libido suppressant. That sure as hell wasn’t a problem with McAllister. And on top of everything else, she struggled to contain the escalating fear of the truths she might be about to find out about herself.
“What are you, McAllister?” It slipped out before she could stop it. Well, that sounded fabulous. She risked a glance, relieved to see that he didn’t appear offended. In fact, he smiled slightly as he mulled over his answer; as if he’d been expecting just that question.
“Well, I guess it would depend on who you ask, but basically I guess the best way to explain it is, technically…we’re angels.”
“Angels?” she echoed faintly. Okay, that hadn’t even made her Top Ten list of possibilities. Demons, aliens, day-walking vampires, Big Foot’s prettier cousins maybe, but angels? “Let me get this straight; you want me to believe that the two of you are card-carrying, wing-flapping, harp-playing, halo-wearing angels?” Her brows drew together skeptically. And for the record, there was no way she could picture either of them in flowing white robes lounging on a cloud somewhere, either. He reached over and drew her hand onto his thigh, covering it with his own.
“Just in case you decide to take a dive onto the interstate rather than stay in the car with me,” he explained with a faint smile. His voice was teasing, but she suspected he might actually be worried. Since she didn’t have the slightest idea what to expect next, she had to admit his concern might be warranted. Still, her empathy had yet to detect anything threatening about the man and he had stepped in front of her when that creature appeared. She didn’t pull away.
“Hmm, well, I’m an Earthbound, so no wings. I’ve been told I’m tone deaf, so I doubt I’d be much good at the harp. Halo? Yeah, well if I had one it would be more than a little bent and tarnished. In fact, I probably would have misplaced it somewhere by now,” he laughed.
“So, then, are you a…fallen angel?” That was probably a bad thing, right? She’d read about fallen angels. Of course, she’d never actually thought the stories were true. Wasn’t Satan reputed to be a fallen angel? Well, McAllister definitely was as hot as the devil, but she’d never sensed evil around him.
“You’ve obviously heard of the Fallen, at least the commonly accepted legends, but no, we’re not Fallen. Okay, not, exactly…well, at least not anymore. We do share a common history…up to a point. If you’ve heard of the Fallen, then you probably know they were cast out of the heavens and damned for sedition and disobedience?”
Kat nodded cautiously. When he didn’t continue right away, she tugged on his hand to urge him to continue. He flashed a quick smile and squeezed her fingers before continuing.
“After the fall, some of the rebels realized they’d mistakenly backed the wrong horse. There was a lot of political maneuvering going on back then and it turned out that things weren’t the way they’d been made to appear. Forgiveness wasn’t exactly easy to come by, but finally, Michael the Archangel brokered a deal. In exchange for an agreement to give up their wings and spend their lives on earth, fighting the Fallen and thwarting their evil for the rest of eternity, he was authorized to restore their souls and create a new order...Earthbounds. No wings, no harps, no halos, although we do have a couple of special powers. We’re born and spend our lives on Earth, as you do, and our primary purpose is to protect humanity.”
“From…?”
“Itself, mostly.” He glanced over with a frown. “Female Earthbounds generally involve themselves in humanitarian causes and charities, guiding and influencing humanity to do the right thing by example. The Defensori that Luca and I belong to are a group of specialized combat warriors, but all Earthbound males are warriors in a sense, businessmen, politicians, scientists. Earthbounds battle in many arenas to thwart the Fallen and their puppets.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm? That’s it? You seem to be taking all of this pretty calmly.”
Kat leaned back against the seat, absorbed in thought. Despite the unruffled exterior she struggled to present to McAllister, she felt profoundly shaken. She had always known there were things in the world that went beyond the obvious, some hazy impression, a vague awareness that she was not really alone in her isolation or so different in her differences. Today’s events had thrown open a door of knowledge that let in the light of understanding through cracked and discolored glass. She had been paralyzed by the sense of instant recognition when Luca appeared. Had her mother known the truth? She must have, of course. And yet she had never said a word; and right at this moment, that hurt more than she cared to admit. Kat had spent a lifetime wishing for a place to really belong; now she wondered if she should have been a little more specific. Her life had just been rewritten and she had no choice but to weigh who and what she’d always believed about herself against whom and what she actually might be.
She turned her head and regarded McAllister, an angel, a warrior, so dark and classically beautiful. Her initial terror had faded, but the sense of unreality remained. He kept his eyes on the road, but she felt the sidelong glances of concern from time to time. He brought her hand to his lips,
pressing a slow kiss in the hollow of her palm that somehow felt more intimate to her than the kiss they’d shared in his bedroom that morning. She knew he intended it as some kind of comforting gesture, but she felt it on a far more visceral level; her bones felt as though they were melting. She also didn’t need empathy to feel his regret; he hadn’t intended to involve her in any of this. Now, after seeing Luca and being slapped in the head with a healthy dose of reality, she wondered if maybe it had been fate, after all.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, at last. His thumb was stroking her wrist in the most distracting way. She wondered if he even realized he was doing it.
“Do you always assume the guilt for everything that happens around you? I was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Kassian. You had no control over it, you aren’t responsible for it.”
The set of his jaw told her everything. He wasn’t going to allow himself to be exonerated.
****
No matter what she said, he was responsible. Sure, he couldn’t have controlled her attendance at the party, but he sure as hell could have walked away and kept her out of it. He thought about why he’d brought her home instead of letting Elle take over after he’d broken her connection to the murdered woman. It didn’t improve his opinion of himself to realize that the truth was he’d seen something he unconsciously craved and had taken it, though even then he realized on some level it put her in an impossible situation. He wasn’t thinking, he was feeling, something he rarely allowed himself these days. He was a selfish bastard, all right. He was touched by her attempt to assuage his guilt, but she was wrong; this was totally on him. There was no way she could get it. He’d failed so many people in his life; he didn’t want to add her to that list.
He glanced at her face. On the surface, she appeared completely calm. He couldn’t believe how well she was taking all this. In fact, since she’d followed that brief initial instinct to run, she’d been remarkably composed. Maybe she was in shock or something? Most people simply rejected the supernatural out of hand or considered it something to be investigated, disproven, or taken out for entertainment value and cheap thrills. Most didn’t calmly and thoughtfully accept it as truth the way Kat appeared to be doing. Today she’d gotten whacked right upside the head with a whole dump-truck load of truth that would send most people off the deep end and her response was “hmm”? Was that even normal? Oh, wait, look who was talking about normal. Right, like he would know.
“Kat, I…”
The sudden blare of Kat’s cell phone interrupted whatever he had been about to say. Idina Menzel was singing about Defying Gravity as Kat dug in her bag with one hand and checked the display. She bit her lip.
“It’s Elle.”
He reluctantly disengaged her fingers, releasing her hand.
“Maybe you should take it. She must be worried sick by now.”
****
Kat knew he was right; although she wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say. So much had happened that she hadn’t fully wrapped her own head around it yet. She took a deep breath and clicked accept.
“Hey,” she breathed in a cheerful voice.
“Kat, thank God! I’ve been going crazy! Where are you?”
“Coming through the tunnel, what’s up?”
“What’s up? You have to be kidding! Are you okay? What happened last night? Where have you been? Are you on your way here? Did you hear about that poor girl they found in the Dumpster?”
“Did you want me to answer in any particular order?” Kat laughed fondly. Typical Elle; so many thoughts, so little time. It felt good to know there was still one person in the world that actually worried about her. She remembered McAllister’s comment this morning about limiting the information she shared with Elle to keep her safe. “I’m fine, yes, I heard about it, and no, I’m not on my way there.”
“You aren’t?” Elle responded blankly. “Well, where are you going?”
“I, uh…to McAllister’s actually. He seems to think I might be in danger because of what happened last night and has appointed himself my own personal bodyguard. Aren’t I lucky?” She glanced at Kassian, who rolled his eyes.
“Oh my God, Kat, please tell me you are not buying that pathetic crock! Did he offer to show you his etchings and sell you some swamp land in Queens, too?”
“Not yet.” Kat bit back a smile. “But the night is young.”
“Katrina Shephard!” Elle gasped in mock horror. “I am your best friend! How could I not know you were such a tramp? Seriously, honey…he’s…well, it’s McAllister. Are you sure you aren’t in over your head?”
“I think I should be insulted…on so many levels,” Kat laughed wryly. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be in fine. I love you. I’ll be in touch.”
“You bet your ass you will! And I’ll expect the details, all of them. I, uh…I’m researching my next book…The Wallflower and the Billionaire. And please take note that I’m seriously envious and might actually hate you right now. Love you more, doll. Call me,” she warned before terminating the connection.
Kat clicked off and dropped the phone back in her bag.
“Now, where were we? Oh yeah, this guilt on steroids thing you have going on.” She smiled. He didn’t.
“Elle is a good friend?” Kat immediately recognized his attempt to divert her attention to a new subject. Clearly he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so she let it go. For now.
“Yeah, she is. She’s the sister I never had.” They’d met in college shortly after Kat’s mother died and Elle later moved into Kat’s place to escape a bad situation at home. She was Kat’s most loyal supporter, fiercest defender, and closest companion.
“Fudge!” she exclaimed suddenly. “I forgot my laptop.”
Kassian shrugged. “No big deal, you can use mine.”
“Thanks, but I had some files on there that I can’t access on yours.” She supposed she could get caught up on Monday, but she was a little OCD about deadlines; she was a lot more comfortable getting things done three weeks early. You never knew when all hell would break loose and put you behind schedule. Today was nothing if not proof of that!
“Just tell me what you need and where it is and Luca will go back for it later.”
“No!” Kat cried sharply. The last person she wanted snooping around her house unsupervised right now was Luca. She hadn’t quite decided how she was going to handle him yet, so for now, the less anyone else knew, the better. “I mean, um, thanks, but it can wait.”
****
Kassian pulled into the parking garage beneath his building and turned off the motor. He’d noticed a few diehards from the press still hanging around outside the lobby, but most had given up and gone home. He was puzzled at her reaction. What was her problem with Luca anyway? Well, okay, so maybe he had exploded into her living room and vaporized an animorti right in front of her, but still, now that she knew the truth, she had to realize Luca was no threat to her.
“Kat, about Luca…” he began, but she cut him off.
“Did I hear you mention Chinese food? I’m starving.” She was talking too fast and started toward the elevator without waiting as he grabbed her duffle from the back seat. He caught up with her in a few long strides and grabbed her hand to keep her close. He tugged her back, bringing her to a halt.
“Tell me.” He gazed at her steadily without blinking and she looked away.
“Don’t you dare try your hocus-pocus mind control crap on me, McAllister. You remind me of Bella Lugosi when you do that. I told you, I’m hungry. A girl can’t live by M&M’s alone.” Something was bothering her, he was sure of it. And it had something to do with Luca, which made no sense to him at all.
“Is the food here yet?” she asked. Kassian sought Luca on the common path. He was already parked in front of Kassian’s big screen, having a beer, and watching the Yankees kick Boston’s ass.
“You better hurry; the lo mein is almost gone.”
“Not a fan of l
o mein anyway,” Kat remarked. “But tell him he’d better keep his paws off the sweet and sour. If that’s gone when we get up there, angel or not, I won’t be responsible for what happens to him.”
Chapter 6
“Rivera is, hands down, the greatest closer to ever play the game.” Luca tugged down the brim of his Yankees cap and settled back, locking his hands behind his head with a satisfied sigh. Mariano had just thrown a sizzling strike, dead center over the plate, to end the game and ensure the Yankee victory.
The chrome and glass coffee table was strewn with half-empty cardboard cartons, chopsticks, and bottles of warming beer. Luca sprawled in the armchair and Kassian occupied one corner of the deep leather sofa with his feet propped up on the coffee table while Kat sat slumped in the other struggling to keep her heavy lids from closing. It wasn’t very late, but the emotional rollercoaster she’d had a free pass for all day was catching up with her. She crawled stiffly off of the couch, stifling a yawn and began to gather up the bottles and greasy food containers, an automatic habit of living alone and taking care of herself. Kassian and Luca both jumped to their feet.
“Kat, you’re beat… go to bed. Luca and I will clear this up.”
“I guess I am kind of tired,” she sighed with a faint smile. All three of them had studiously stuck to small talk all evening, as if nothing unusual had happened earlier in the afternoon. She’d felt Kassian’s thoughtful gaze on her more than once, and it caused a slow heat to curl in her stomach every time. Luca remained politely indifferent and stuck to commentary on the game. Always a fan, she now knew more about the Yankees than she’d ever thought possible. Kat sank back into the couch while Kassian and Luca made short work of the leftovers. All three turned at the unexpected knock on the door.
“Dimitri,” Luca said grimly, obviously having scanned for the newcomer. He moved to open the door after the two men exchanged a look. Kat gasped at the sight of the imposing figure who stomped in. Bigger than either Kassian or Luca, he reminded her of a biker who’d gotten on the wrong side of a bar fight. He was dressed in black leather from head to toe and a wicked scar ran along the right side of his face from his temple to the corner of his mouth. Hanging in a thick braid halfway down his broad back, his thick, dark hair was held away from his face by a black bandana tied around his forehead. His clothes were spattered with a dark, oily substance that looked suspiciously like the puddle in Kat’s living room when Luca had killed the animorti. There were jagged slashes in both his jacket and the snug, leather pants clinging to his massive thighs. Instinctively she moved closer to Kassian, who tucked her into his side and partially behind him without speaking or taking his eyes from Dimitri.
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