by Zoe Forward
He tucked his gun and cell into his overcoat pocket. As he rounded the corner into the rec room, he said to his brother, “Yep, thought you’d be finishing off the last one. A little consideration for once might’ve been in order. Did you even consider that I might’ve been saving that?”
Eli granted him his classic like-I-give-a-shit smile before taking a hefty swig from the bottle. He closed his eyes in appreciative bliss. In his perfect British accent he said, “You can afford to buy more.”
“You want to change lives and do this thankless shit? Just give me the green light and I’ll fix that scar so it doesn’t cross your entire face, just a little something like mine. Imagine, all this can all be yours.”
Eli ran a finger over the scar that ran diagonally from his forehead, across his nose to chin. It was the reason he’d been pulled from MI6 missions. Too memorable. “I’ve become attached to this. It’s nice not to be identical. There’s also no way I’m spending Fridays with your mental sister and your mother. Not to mention those boring-ass PR parties and business bureaucracy. You can keep it.”
“Allison is your half sis, too. She’s not that bad. And Mandy is your mother. You should actually meet them at some point.”
“How is Allison doing? Any recent hospital trips?”
Matt shook his head. “She’s still struggling.” He wished he had the miracle cure for her anorexia and depression.
“I still wonder why Quinn only negotiated to free one of us from that life. Why he’d leave you in the hands of Mandy and that psychotic asshole Grant Ryan…” Softly he added, “If you’d have let me I would’ve killed the old bastard for you. For what he did…”
Matt shrugged. His stepfather. Any time he dwelled on the abusive prick, years of repressed rage screamed for freedom. The asshole left a tornado of devastation in his wake when living, and continued to fuck with him from the afterlife. Thank God Matt wasn’t blood-related to the guy.
His mind moved to his bio-dad, Quinn, who had appeared when he was about ten, and spent years secretly tutoring him to use his druid talents, right up until Quinn’s murder eight years ago. He’d begged Quinn to take him away from the Ryans, but Quinn always denied him out of deference to some deal arranged with his mother. Matt never understood. He vowed if he ever had a child trapped in that type of situation, he would do anything to get him out of it. Even so, he was grateful for every moment he got with Quinn.
“Why are you here? Did you find any information on Kat?”
“Sort of. This will seem mental, but I’m on assignment from the Big B.”
Matt swiped the longneck out of Eli’s hand and took a deep swig. He closed his eyes in bliss. “Damn, that’s good.” He handed back the bottle. “Does Bryce still think we hate each other?”
“Yeah. But I think he suspects we’re not really on the outs.”
“He just can’t leave me alone this week. I’m not going to have a sit-down with him.”
Eli shook his head. “Not about that. He wants intel on a Pleiades. Katherine something or other. He thinks you’ve got her chained in your bedroom. Is she the same Katherine you asked me to research?”
Matt shook his head. “I don’t know. Did you get any information on her yet?”
Eli shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
“Doing what? You’re retired and from what I can tell you’ve become a professional couch potato.”
Eli flipped him off. “This Katherine thing is way too coincidental. She’s probably the same girl. But I didn’t even need to check your place. No way would you get involved with one of them. That is even too stupid for you.”
Matt’s neck heated. “Yeah.”
“If I gave a shit, I’d be jealous. I think Bryce likes you better than me. He’s obsessed, really. Every meeting he corners me to ask about you. He wants you back. Bad.”
“Probably because his current shaman sucks.” Matt sank into a plush chair.
“The new healer isn’t that bad. He’s just a little green.” He clicked through a few channels.
“He’s that bad, huh? Does Bryce still think he can make you into a shaman?” Matt snagged a Dorito from the open bag on the coffee table.
Eli grumbled, “He just doesn’t get that I don’t have your level of healing ability.”
Even though he wasn’t hungry, Matt couldn’t resist another chip. As he crunched, he asked, “So, now that you’ve confirmed I don’t have her, what’re you going to report?”
“Do you know where the girl is?”
“No.”
Eli grunted and took a swig of beer. “So, how bad you got it for her?”
Matt scowled.
Eli was silent for a second, then laughed.
Matt’s face burned. His twin couldn’t read minds, but knew him too well. “Bad enough. I was looking forward to that beer tonight.”
Eli continued laughing to the point that he snorted. “This is too good. You get her in bed yet?”
“None of your goddamned business.”
“She was that good, was she? You’re screwed.” Through laughter Eli managed to choke out, “No pun intended.” Eli suddenly sobered up. “Shit. That’s why Bryce is always up my ass about you, isn’t it? Are you the one he thinks is her destined?”
“Look, I may have been with her once a long time ago, but I’m sure as hell not her destined. It’s not like that.” Matt sighed and threw his head against the sofa cushions. “I ran into her last night at that benefit event. I think she’s probably the ‘Katherine’ that Bryce is searching for.”
Eli clicked the TV onto mute and sat up. “You’re shitting me. I mean, I theorized but…fuck.”
Matt shook his head. “I’d still like you to do research and see if you can find her here. If you can’t, then she needs an identity to throw the OLM off her trail. She’s in serious danger. Can you set that up? I mean, why not use those MI6 skills for some important hacking?”
“I can try to put something in play for her tomorrow, if I come up with nothing. It won’t be airtight, given that she’s already on the OLM radar. Can you get a picture of her?”
“Maybe,” Matt said. He closed his eyes and relived the memory of Kat in the cloakroom.
Eli chuckled.
Matt’s fantasy paused. He scowled at a very amused Eli. “What?”
Eli’s smile didn’t waver. “Deny it all you want, but it looks like the gods have plans for you. Bloody big plans.”
“The gods can go to hell for all I care.” He was in trouble. Eli was right. He pushed off the sofa. “I’m going out to buy some more beer.”
…
Kat pushed her eyes to pass through the rebellious nonfunctional phase fast, not that it worked. Stinging cold wind and spitting ice rain tore into her scrubs. Her knees folded against the too-familiar vertigo, landing her hard on the damp sidewalk. Water soaked through the thin cotton scrubs where her legs hit the concrete. The bus stop sign a few feet away offered five ways to get cheap Broadway tickets. New York. Again. At night.
She stumbled upright and into a lean against a stone building. After the standard period of disorientation and eye burning, she swiped rain from her eyes and gazed around. Now what?
An icy gust speared through her soaked scrubs. Full-body shivers racked her to the point her teeth clacked together.
A large hand snaked around her arm and clamped tight. “Come with me, whore of the devil. Or I’ll kill you,” a man ordered.
Her heart pounded so hard that she feared she’d have a heart attack.
The man towered over her. Maniacal hatred shimmered in his dark gaze.
“What do you want?” she asked. Rape? Mugging? She tugged against his bruising grip. She couldn’t pick up any thoughts from him other than streamlined motivation to kidnap her.
He laughed low, menacing. “I am the gateway to your salvation.”
“What do I need saving from?” Keep him talking. At least then she wasn’t being dragged into an alleyway.
“Shut up, wit
ch.” He wrenched her arms behind her. She heard a plastic zipping sound and then her wrists were secured. Tight. With a rough jerk he forced her to stumble up the slick sidewalk beside him by gripping her bound wrists.
“Let me go.” Had he seen her sudden appearance and assumed her to be a witch? Or was that some sort of slur? She slammed on the brakes and refused to walk. He raised her bound arms behind her back. The excruciating pain in her shoulders forced her to bend forward and move wherever he wanted. She tripped and lost a shoe.
He caught her against him before she face-planted onto the wet concrete. “Walk,” he ordered.
“My shoe…”
“Fuck the shoe.” With a curse, he thrust her body outward, slamming her into the side of the building. Her head bounced against the stone in a mind-numbing ricochet. Dizziness gave way to excruciating head pain.
He shook her, activating a vicious mental spin. As he leaned in close she smelled coffee and cigarettes on his breath. He gritted out, “Shut up and move, or I will kill you. They don’t care if I bring you in alive or dead.”
“Let her go,” ordered a male.
She blinked through her double vision toward the source of that voice. Matt. Her heart jumped, and her stomach did a small crazy flip. Complete and utter confidence surrounded Matt. Ice-cold anger reflected in his gaze.
Relief flooded her.
“Or you’ll what?” asked her attacker.
Matt’s grin promised pain. This was the predator she’d sensed yesterday. The volatile danger radiating from him sang to every one of her senses and reassured her.
“Have you come to save one of your pets?” Her captor moved her to stand in front of him as a shield.
“I am not what you think,” Matt replied.
“We know about you. And her.” Her captor wrapped her neck in a headlock and pressed a gun to her temple.
Renewed shivering shook her body. Her gaze didn’t leave Matt while her mind whirled with regret and shock. I’m going to die. Her captor choked her neck tight. She couldn’t get in air. Panic rose sharp and fast. She gasped and choked. Her mind whirled.
Matt raised his hands to shoulder level. In a low, mesmerizing voice he said, “Kat, take a breath. Breathe for me, baby. Nice and slow.” He addressed her captor, “You don’t want to shoot her.” He took two steps closer.
“Get out of my way.”
“Put the gun away,” Matt said in that soothing tone. He took another step forward.
“If you take one more step, I’ll blow her brains out. Now back the fuck up.” Her captor subtly eased his hold around her neck.
She sucked in air.
Matt jumped forward to grip her captor’s gun hand, folding the weapon away from her head and into her captor’s chest. Matt slammed his elbow into her captor’s nose. The force of the hit pushed her captor slightly backward. He released her. Momentum slammed her onto the sidewalk. Pain streaked through her at the jarring landing. Dazed, she watched Matt fight. The freezing water seeped into her clothes.
Matt didn’t release the guy’s gun hand, keeping the weapon pressed tight with its muzzle aimed into her captor’s chest. Then he gripped the back of her captor’s neck to pull him down while he kneed upward into his face several times, never releasing his grip on the gun, which was still pressed tight to his chest. There was so much blood that her captor’s face was barely visible.
Matt kneed him in the face once more and asked, “Are there more of you?”
“Fuck you,” her captor grunted. Then he pulled the trigger, which released the bullet through his own chest. His body slumped to the ground. Dead.
“Damn it,” Matt cursed. He peered up the street for a few seconds. Then he patted down the body, recovering a brutal serrated knife. He knelt next to her and popped apart her wrist binding with the knife. “Are you okay?”
She couldn’t stop shaking, her teeth chattering. So cold. Her gaze locked on his face.
He put his arms around her and pulled her close. If he hadn’t been nearby…oh God. She bit back a sob as the reality of her almost death crashed in. She burst into tears, and sobs racked her body.
Pressing her face against his solid chest, his fingers slid through her hair and over her back in soothing motions. “You’re okay now.” His hand slid upward over the nape of her neck, his fingers slowly massaging.
The sobs diminished. Kat wanted to stay right here. Safe. Warm. After a few residual sobs, she murmured against his chest, “I’ve never seen anyone die like that. I’ve never seen anyone killed.”
“I didn’t have a choice. One of us had to die. It wasn’t going to be me or you.”
With the back of her hand she swiped moisture from her eyes and then pulled her head away from his chest. Her uncontrollable shaking was lessening. She should say something meaningful or maybe even grateful, but her mind remained a mishmash of frozen fear.
Sirens echoed in the distance. He glanced up the street. “We’ve got to get out of here. Gunshots in this neighborhood means someone called the police. Do you think you can stand?”
She nodded and took his hand to help her up. After a few wobbly steps she rubbed her forehead against the headache. The world shifted from doubles to singles. “My head hurts…” Darkness engulfed her mind.
Chapter Seven
Matt lunged forward to catch Kat before she smacked onto the concrete. Christ, she was soaked and freezing. Maybe she had a concussion. He placed two fingers on her neck. Thank God, she had a weak pulse. He shot a quick bolt of healing energy into her to stabilize her.
He needed to get her out of this rain to somewhere private where he could use his healing ability to fix her injuries, but not his apartment. Eli would face off with him over doing the right thing, which for Eli would be calling Bryce. Then he’d lose her to the druids. No one would take her from him now that he’d gotten her back.
His office was two blocks away. Two very long blocks, but still a better option. He swiped her purse off the ground but couldn’t locate her other shoe. Sirens echoed in the distance. He jogged away from the scene with her in his arms.
On his way out of the elevator at his office building, she moaned and demanded, “Put me down.”
“Are you sure? You fainted.”
“I did not. I do not faint.” She pushed against his chest to glance around. “Why are we inside?”
He smiled at her baffled expression. “You almost conked your head a second time when you went down.”
“I can walk. My head feels…fine, which is weird. It really does feel absolutely fine now.”
At least the quick healing session in the elevator had worked. He liked holding her. A lot. And didn’t want to release her. She squirmed. Reluctantly he lowered her, but kept a hand on her arm until she stabilized.
She stepped away, putting a few feet of air between them. “Where are we?”
“The Ryan Corp office building. It was close.” His gaze dropped to the scrubs plastered to her body, outlining every perfect curve.
She crossed her arms and looked around the hallway lined with expensive artwork chosen by a designer years before he’d become CEO.
“Aren’t you at least going to thank me for saving your life?”
She uncrossed her arms. “Yes, of course. Thank you. I’m sorry.” A myriad of emotions passed through her eyes before she said, “I keep imagining what that guy planned to do.”
“He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“I know.” She shuddered and shadows passed through her eyes again. “How did you find me there?”
“I was at the corner store.”
She mumbled, “Strange coincidence.”
“Yeah.” The improbability of that coincidence had churned in his mind ever since he’d spied her being dragged up the street. It suggested she might be linked to him, if she’d just shifted into this dimension. This would be the third time she’d shifted directly to him. And if she was a legitimate Pleiades witch, then that might mean she and he were… Nope, he wa
sn’t finishing that thought. No thoughts of destineds right now. There was just him and her…and now. And some unfinished business about a curse.
He said, “Let’s get you out of those clothes and warm you up.” His gaze dropped to her pebbled nipples. “I can tell you’re still freezing.”
“I’m not sleeping with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, obstructing his view.
“That suggestion came from you, not me.” He stepped close and slid his hand around the back of her slender neck. “You had quite a trauma. But I could be convinced it might be a good idea.” No this isn’t a good idea. He knew better. But everything about this woman challenged and then seduced him into an irrational need to touch her.
She gasped when he swept his thumb up and down the indentation of her neck. She stiffened. Indignation flared in her gaze. “I won’t deny I’m physically attracted to you. I don’t know why, but you are exactly the kind of guy I have decided it’s best I avoid.”
“Kiss me.” Reassure me you’re alive and okay.
Her gaze snapped to his lips. A flush stained her cheeks.
He leaned in close and whispered hoarsely, “Kiss me, wildcat.”
Her fingers dug into the collar of his coat and tugged him down to her level.
A ripple of shock went through him when her lips touched his. He pressed her backward against the wall. With a groan he teased her lips apart. He’d meant to tempt her, but his control rapidly slipped away when she moaned and her tongue tangled with his. She slid her leg over his to notch his hips firmly between her thighs in a desperate way that signaled she sought relief from the same need consuming him. They kissed furiously until breath ran short and they paused to draw in air.
“More,” she requested.
“More what? This?” Matt hooked his arms beneath her legs and positioned the straining length that pressed insistently against the fly of his jeans against the junction of her legs. He ground her back against the wall and kissed her again.
