Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance

by Ashley Jennifer

  “He must’ve done forty or fifty of them. When I left home, I took a few of my favorites and had them framed.”

  “How old was he when he drew this?” He held it up for her to see.

  “Hmmm. Since that one’s not dated, he was probably fifteen or so. He only started dating his pictures when he got a little older.”

  As she worked on the hall closet, he cleared off the table, carefully wrapping her collection of whimsical colored porcelain pigs and placing them in the box. It occurred to him that she’d enjoy shopping in Greenway, an open-air market on his side of the portal. Greenway was home to many local artists and—

  He needed to stop thinking that he had a future with Olivia and remember what had happened Jenny. They’d be parting ways tomorrow, which was the right thing to do. He’d get her situated at Rand’s, then go to meet the other Iron Guild warriors at the rendezvous point.

  The next framed drawing was hanging by the window. He peered through the blinds and saw Conry sitting patiently at the base of the stairs. The parking lot was still quiet.

  He grabbed the picture off the wall and started to reach for more packing material, when something about the drawing caught his attention. He took a closer look. He blinked a few times and took a step backward, but his boot caught the leg of the coffee table. Trying to keep from dropping the picture, he cradled it to his chest as he crashed to the ground, landing on his ass with hard thump. The corner of the black frame hit the coffee table and the glass shattered.

  “Asher?” Olivia called from the other room. “Are you okay?”

  He could barely breathe.

  “I’m the one born with the klutzy gene, not you,” she said, coming down the hall. “Or as my mother likes to say, I was cursed by gypsies.” Suddenly, she was at his side, her hand on his shoulder. “Asher, you’re bleeding. Oh my God, what’s wrong?”

  He didn’t answer. He couldn’t speak.

  The young woman in the drawing looked exactly like his sister.

  CHAPTER 18

  “I haven’t seen Zara in many years,” Asher said as Olivia held his hand.

  The cut wasn’t deep. It took hardly more than a thought to heal him. “That’s a pretty name,” she said.

  “My father used to say he loved us from A to Z.”

  “And you really think it could be her? How is that even possible?”

  “If it’s not, then she’s got a twin sister I don’t know about.” Flexing his hand, he thanked her, then carefully examined the rest of the drawings, five in total. “Are these the only ones you have?”

  She nodded. “And the one you’re holding is the only one I have of her face. There’s something sad and melancholy about the ones where she has her back to you. That’s why I took them, I think. It seemed as though she was looking for my brother, missing him like I was.”

  “Where were you living when he drew these?”

  “I think we were in Granite Falls by then. It’s a small town in the Cascade foothills. Vince and I were fifteen when my father retired and we moved there.”

  “Fifteen?” he repeated, almost to himself. “And he was taken from home when he was seventeen?”

  “Yes.”

  Asher said nothing for a long moment as he stared at the drawings, then he pointed to one of them. “Do you recognize these mountains as being the ones near Granite Falls?”

  Olivia tried to remember, but when you see something every day for several years of your life, you forget to pay attention to the details. “That would be my guess, but I don’t know for sure. My brother liked to go camping and fishing with his buddies. He was really outdoorsy. Sometimes he’d go out by himself with a sketchpad and our dog. I honestly didn’t pay too much attention to what the mountains looked like. They all seemed the same to me.”

  Asher looked like he was about to ask another question when headlights flashed against the living room wall, interrupting him. It made a moving geometric pattern through the blinds. He jumped from the sofa to peer outside.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Do you see anything?”

  He held out a finger. “Hold on. I’m not sure.”

  Olivia’s heart thumped in her chest.

  “Is the light on in the bedroom?” he growled.

  “Um, I think I turned it off. Crap. Maybe I didn’t. Why?”

  “If this is the only light, it could easily be the one you’d leave on if you weren’t home, right?”

  “I…I guess so.” She didn’t understand what he was getting at. “Want me to go turn it off if it’s on?”

  “No, it’s too late now. If you do, then they’ll know for sure that someone’s here.”

  She tried to think clearly and not panic. “Where’s Conry?”

  “Still there, but he’s standing now. And watching.”

  Okay, that’s it.

  She slung the messenger bag over her shoulder and grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter, stuffing them into her pocket. They’d already packed up most of the rooms and taken everything down to the truck. She glanced around, doing a quick survey. The furniture in the living room would have to stay. She’d always hated that ratty sofa anyway.

  Maybe Asher was just being overly cautious and it would turn out to be one of her neighbors. If so, then they could finish up and make sure she’d left nothing behind.

  Conry gave a quick bark.

  “Shit,” Asher said, ducking away from the window. “Night Patrol vehicle. Do you see many of them around here?”

  Her heart dropped into her stomach. “No, not really. It’s a fairly quiet neighborhood.”

  “Let’s go,” he ordered. “We’ve got to assume they’re coming here.”

  She grabbed the box with Vince’s artwork and ran toward the door.

  “No.” Asher lunged, grabbing her arm. “It’s too late. They’ll see us coming down the stairs. We’ll go out the balcony and hope they don’t have another unit back there. We’ll run along behind the two buildings and get to the truck from the other side.”

  Thank God the parking spots right in front of her unit had been taken, which had forced them to park in the overflow parking at the end of the row near the tennis courts. Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael who lived downstairs were continually forgetting that they only had one parking spot and were always taking hers. She’d meant to talk to them but never got around to it, feeling it would be too bitchy to make senior citizens move their car. It had been a pain in the ass to carry the mattress that far, but now she was grateful.

  They heard another bark.

  “They’re parking,” Asher hissed. “Let’s go.”

  “You don’t think we can bluff our way out of it?” she asked, not expecting a positive answer.

  He paused to lock the front door. “We can’t take the chance. We got lucky at the Grape and Bean. It’s not going to happen again.”

  True. She was the first one not to push her luck too far. She opened the slider and stepped out onto the narrow balcony.

  “I’ll go first,” Asher whispered. “I’ll give a little whistle and then it’s your turn. I’ll catch you.”

  “What about my box?” she asked, thinking about all of the drawings and the collectible pigs that Vince had given her. He’d started giving them to her for Christmas a few years before he’d been taken, mistakenly thinking she liked pigs. She never knew what had given him that idea, so it became a funny joke between them.

  “Leave it.”

  It felt like someone punched her in the gut. “But this is all I have left of Vince.”

  “Sorry, Liv. Can’t chance it. It’s going to be tricky enough getting down without it. The glass could break or the box could crash to the ground, alerting them that someone’s out here.”

  He took the box from her and set it on the floor of the balcony away from the slider, then climbed over the railing. “Ready?”

  “Um, I guess so.”

  He jumped to the ground. Almost instantly, there was a low whistle that sounded like a night bird.


  Okay, good, he’d made it and was fine. She put a hand on the rail then hesitated. No, she had to at least try.

  She turned back to the box and reached inside, searching for the one with the broken frame. There, she found it. It was wrapped in newsprint and— Damn. The glass cut her finger too. It stung like hell, but she couldn’t stop now. She was too close.

  Asher whistled again.

  Just one more second and I’ll have it.

  There. She located what she hoped was the drawing, pinched the paper between her ring finger and her thumbnail, and slid it out as fast as she could. Just as she tucked it into her messenger bag, a loud knock sounded on her front door. She had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep quiet.

  “Liv!” Asher hissed from below.

  She swung a leg over the railing and slipped down. Holding on with just her fingertips, she tried to ignore the pain as she dangled between the balcony and the ground. She’d heal herself as soon as they got away. It felt as if Asher were a mile below her. Considering that she was five foot six, it couldn’t be more than a seven or eight foot drop from her feet to the ground, right? She said a little prayer and let go.

  She landed in Asher’s arms.

  “What the fuck,” he whispered, as he set her on her feet. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him, not saying another word. They hugged the back wall of her unit, then sprinted across the opening to the next building. As they rounded the far corner, she could see the truck straight ahead and pulled the keys from her pocket.

  Glancing back, she saw the lights go on in her apartment. They were in her bedroom. Assholes. She handed the keys to Asher, but he wouldn’t take them.

  “You’re driving.”

  “I am?” He wasn’t planning to lean out the window and shoot at them like they did in the movies, was he? “Why? What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to fuck with their car to keep them from following us right away.”

  They kept their heads low and hid behind a hedge near the truck. Conry was watching them from the front of Olivia’s building. Asher gave him a signal and pointed. The deerhound trotted to the left, across the parking lot and into the big field near the pond.

  “When I say go, you are to run to the van, get in quietly and count to ten, then start it up and get the hell out of here.”

  “What about you? Where will you be?”

  “Conry and I will meet you when you turn out onto the main road.”

  The main road? But that was around the tennis courts, past the kids’ play area, and down another street. “That’s too far, Asher.”

  “If we’re not there in five minutes, don’t wait. Go back to Rand’s. We’ll figure out how to get there on our own.”

  “But—”

  “You’d better fucking do as you’re told this time.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Asher had barely said two words to Olivia after he and Conry jumped into the truck. The open highway in front of them stretched as long as the silence between them. It was obvious he was angry. Her hesitation on the deck had almost gotten them caught.

  “Asher, I—”

  “Pull over here,” he said gruffly, pointing to an exit that led to a rest area.

  Okay, he definitely was pissed.

  She took the off-ramp, drove past a few semi-trucks in the dark lot, and parked the moving van near the back. He stared straight ahead, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

  “I’m sorry, Ash, but I just couldn’t leave without taking one of Vince’s drawings. Next time, I’ll—”

  “Olivia, this…thing…between us has been fun. I’ve had a…a great time.”

  Oh my God. Was he breaking it off with her? She gripped the steering wheel to keep her hands from shaking.

  “But I’m afraid it has to end.”

  It felt as if someone had punched her in the chest as all the air evaporated from her lungs. She knew their week had been drawing to a close, but she’d been hoping that things would continue.

  “Because of what just happened?” she asked.

  “It’s not only that, Olivia.”

  She literally felt sick to her stomach. Was he not as into her as she was with him? Could she have misread him this whole time?

  He cursed under his breath. “I know I’m not doing a good job explaining myself. I care about you…a lot. But it’s clear that the army is closing in on me and they’re using you to do it. You’re not safe with me, Olivia. You could easily get hurt…or worse…in the fallout. And if they realize you’re a Talent, we both know what that will mean for you and your future.”

  “But how do you know it’s you they’re after? Maybe they want me.”

  He pounded his fist on the dash and Conry sat up. “Because the scarred man who asked Sandy about you is known as the Fixer. It’s his job to find Cascadians who have infiltrated Pacifica. He’s the same guy who turned Fallon over to the army. When we were questioned after the explosion, we told them we lived together, so they figure if they can find you, they’ll find me. That’s why they came to your apartment. They were hoping I’d be there.”

  “But—”

  “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened.” He paused, sat back in the seat and ran a hand through his hair.

  “And…?”

  “I know I’m doing a shitty job at explaining why I’ve got to do what I need to do.” He gazed out the window for a few moments, saying nothing, while Olivia’s heart continued to pound. “I’d been seeing a woman over here for a few months. And she…died because of her association with me. I…care about you too much, Olivia, to risk the same thing happening to you.”

  A million responses floated in her head. She wasn’t that other woman. She was capable and careful and very savvy when it came to staying out of the army’s reach. Well, except for tonight. She opened her mouth to say something…anything…but he stopped her.

  “Don’t argue with me, Olivia. I’m heading back through the portal soon to get as far away as possible and let my trail run cold.”

  “And how long will that be?” she asked, her voice small and quiet.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

  ***

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” The Fixer paced around the small room at the army command center and came close to punching his fist through the drab gray wall. “I made a simple goddamn inquiry about the resident of that apartment. That didn’t mean I wanted her picked up.”

  The sergeant consulted his handheld. “That’s not what it says here. But don’t worry. She wasn’t picked up.”

  “Give it to me.” The Fixer grabbed the device and checked for himself. Sure enough, the resident was to be brought in for questioning.

  “Who the hell changed my order?” he asked, tossing the device carelessly onto the desktop, ignoring the sergeant’s outstretched hand. “I specifically asked for confirmation of whether or not a young woman who matched the general description I gave lived at that location. I needed photos. That’s it.”

  With the HOT still closed, driving out to the peninsula or taking a ferry would’ve taken too much time. All he wanted was a Yes, this could be the same girl and he’d have had the Institute fly him over in one of their helicopters to bring her in. “Under no circumstances was the woman to be approached or detained.”

  He shook his head. The ineptitude of these people was mind-boggling. No wonder the Institute used private contractors like him to get the important jobs done.

  The sergeant held out his hands, palms up. “Beats me. Are you sure it was input correctly in the first place? Mix-ups happen, you know.”

  Not with me they don’t.

  “Why wasn’t someone from AIU sent to handle the request?” Most of the agents were fairly capable.

  “You didn’t hear this from me,” the sergeant said, “but word is there’s an undiscovered portal somewhere along the western face of the Olympic Mountains, so they’ve got all army units s
tationed on the peninsula searching for it. They must’ve sent the request to the Night Patrol and the order was inadvertently changed from Eyes Only to Pick Up.”

  Officials didn’t like to admit that the police force was under army control, but they were. He didn’t tell the sergeant, but he did know about the possible new portal because one of the army Talents had sensed the ripple.

  “If that girl is who I think she is, she’ll be a valuable asset to our cause.” He removed his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes, ignoring the sergeant’s gasp at his appearance. Why the hell was he even arguing? The damage had already been done. This was the last fucking time he relied on someone else to do the job right.

  “Well, that’s the thing,” the sergeant said, tugging nervously on his tie as sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped down the side of his face. He was one of those overweight army lifers who wouldn’t be able to pass the physical tests if he were joining the service today. Too many years behind the desk had expanded his ass and gut to fit the proportions of the chair he sat in all day as he gave orders for other people to follow. “When our men arrived on the scene, it was obvious she knew they were coming. Someone had tipped her off.”

  “Tipped her off? Why do you say that?”

  “Well, for one, it appeared she slipped over the balcony shortly before the NP arrived on the scene. She’d been packing. And from the looks of it, she’d almost finished.”

  “Hold on. The Night Patrol entered the premises?”

  “Yeah, they were going in to detain her, remember?”

  The Fixer narrowed his eyes. “She was moving?” he said more to himself than the sergeant, but the guy answered anyway.

  “Yeah, that’s what they said.”

  Which meant she had known before the Night Patrol unit arrived that she was being pursued. When he’d been hired to locate the unregistered Talent, he assumed it would be an easy task. After all, how hard would it be to find a civilian woman? Given that she’d eluded capture at the scene of the explosion and had avoided it again now, he wondered if she could be getting help from someone.