He took a deep breath, looked over at Kiarra, and felt like he’d been punched in the gut. The woman next to him was almost unrecognizable as the woman who’d tried to kill herself inside the AMT. Her haircut flattered her face, and the red dress made her skin look more alive.
She was beautiful.
And he wanted to kiss her.
But then Kiarra shifted in her seat and he forced his gaze away. Jaxton needed to get Kiarra away from the half-drunk men in the pub as soon as possible, before he did something stupid, like act on his attraction or possessiveness.
He stood up and offered Kiarra his hand. “You’ve been out long enough. It’s time to get you home. Let’s go.”
Kiarra was grateful for Jaxton scaring away the men, but even though she’d kept her mouth shut while the siblings bickered, she wasn’t about to let Jaxton order her around. Again.
She wondered if it would ever get easier convincing people that she could handle herself and that she wouldn’t break at the first sign of trouble. It wasn’t like she hadn’t experienced her fair share of problems inside the AMT, as Jaxton very well knew.
Besides, she was more unsettled by the half-lidded look he’d given her a minute ago. That look had not only make her heart pound a little too fast, but certain parts of her body that had been quiet for years had come rushing back to life.
Afraid she’d do something rash if she touched him, Kiarra ignored Jaxton’s outstretched hand and took a sip of her drink. “No, I want to stay here a little while longer.”
Jaxton curled his hand into a fist before plucking the drink from Kiarra’s hand and placing it on the far side of the table. “You’ve had enough to drink. Let’s go.”
Kiarra reached for the drink, but Jaxton took her hand and pulled her up out of the chair. “I said stop.”
As she bumped against his body, Kiarra fought the awareness sizzling against her skin at the contact and focused on the way he was treating her. She tried to lean back, but he kept a grip on her waist. While tempted to knee him in the balls, she restrained herself, not wanting to make the situation any worse. She poked Jaxton’s chest. “You stop it. Maybe I want to stay and have a conversation with someone who doesn’t order me around.”
Jaxton leaned his face down to hers, his breath on her cheek. “From where I was standing, it didn’t look like that man was interested in talking. Next you’ll be dressing like my sister and putting yourself on display.”
“Hey!” Millie said, but Kiarra and Jaxton ignored her.
Kiarra narrowed her eyes and tugged her hand. “Now you’re just being mean. Let me go. Millie will take me home.”
Jaxton said nothing, just turned and yanked Kiarra along with him. She dug in her heels and said, “Let me go.”
People in the pub were starting to gather around them. She knew people from the AMT were looking for her, and she shouldn’t be making a scene, but between the buzzing in her head and her anger, Kiarra didn’t care.
One of the staff and a few customers walked over, preventing Jaxton from getting any closer to the door. A few patrons asked if Kiarra needed help, but before she could answer, Millie appeared at her side.
A looked passed between the siblings and Jaxton gave a slight nod. Millie touched her shoulder and said, “Maybe you should go home with him, Kiarra.”
Kiarra started, confused by Millie actions. Just a minute ago, Millie had been on her side. “What?”
Millie placed a hand on Kiarra’s back and whispered into her ear, “You need to leave. Now.”
The urgency in Millie’s voice piqued her curiosity. Something was going on, and she wanted to know what. She looked up at Jaxton. “Will you explain everything and answer all of my questions after we get home?”
Jaxton hesitated, and Millie stepped between them, forcing Jaxton to let go of Kiarra before she said, “Of course he will.”
That wasn’t good enough. “Jaxton?”
“Fine. Will you come with me now?”
Kiarra studied his face. He’d actually made a request. Something was definitely going on.
She nodded and Jaxton put out his hand. She put hers in his and decided that if Jaxton broke his word this time, about telling her what was happening, Kiarra would try to contact Neena and ask to work with anyone else. She was done being jerked around.
Chapter Twenty
The flat was within walking distance of the pub, but Jaxton had opted to take the bus since he could use all of the human witnesses he could get, and the bus had at least five of them.
Millie’s rapid nose twitching had signaled that there had been trouble inside the pub. Their code wasn’t sophisticated enough to say exactly what kind of troublemakers she’d spotted, but with the shadow-shifter’s earlier warning about others coming to retrieve Kiarra, Jaxton wasn’t taking any chances.
Besides, it’d given him the perfect excuse to get Kiarra out of the pub.
Even he was ashamed of the way he’d acted, and Millie’s words about Jaxton needing to be the commander he should be still echoed inside his head. It was his duty to protect Kiarra, but not in such a way as to draw attention. If he had approached the situation with a calm head and had treated Kiarra like a normal recruit, respecting her intelligence, he wouldn’t be as worried about their safety right now.
Kiarra shifted her leg and accidentally brushed it against his. He looked at her reflection in the window and decided to stop fighting the attraction between them. The longer he did so, the greater the chance he’d compromise everyone’s safety in the future. He wanted her, and once both of their tempers had cooled, he’d find a way to let her know.
Kiarra caught his eye in the reflection and raised an eyebrow in question. Luckily, he was a master of keeping secrets. “We’ll get off at the next stop.”
Neither one of them said a word as they disembarked, and Jaxton guided Kiarra down a maze of streets and alleys; he wasn’t going to risk a tail.
Ten minutes later, satisfied that no one was following them, he turned up the alley to his flat and went up the stairs. Jaxton quickly checked the security, found it untouched, and proceeded to do a quick sweep of the house with Kiarra in tow. For once she understood the necessity to stay quiet and not ask questions.
Flat secured, Jaxton switched on the light in the living room and turned to face Kiarra. She was waiting with her arms crossed over her chest. He couldn’t read her expression, but knew she wanted the promised explanation, so he gave it to her. “Millie spotted some troublemakers inside the pub. We don’t know if they were after you or not, but it was best to play it safe and get you out of there.” Until he settled things between them, he was still her trainer, and he needed to reprimand her as one. “It would’ve been a lot easier to slip away if you hadn’t made such a scene.”
Kiarra re-crossed her arms under her breasts. Jaxton forced his gaze to stay on her face as she said, “I made a scene? First you bark off the men, then you start dragging me out the door. All you had needed to do was tell me that there was danger and I would’ve gone quietly, but no, instead you decided to keep me in the dark. If we’re to work together, you need to treat me as a member of your team, not a child to be looked after.”
“All I recall doing is protecting you. If that’s treating you like a child, then so be it.”
Kiarra let out a sound of frustration and crossed the small space between them to stand in front of Jaxton. “There is protecting and then there is belittling. Would you ever forcefully pull one of your men out of the pub? Or take away his drink? Of course not, you would let them make their own decisions, or at least consult with them.” Kiarra narrowed her eyes and raised her face closer to his. “I am not twelve years old, Jaxton Ward. I was imprisoned for fifteen years, but I assure you I can make decisions on my own and face the consequences.”
“Can you really, Kiarra? Any more alcohol and that randy ginger bloke could’ve coaxed you to do anything. What if he’d raped you? Or murdered you?” Jaxton grabbed Kiarra’s chin and tilted i
t upwards, forcing her gaze. “The world is different now, and until you learn how it works, I won’t stand by and watch you put yourself in harm’s way.”
Kiarra jerked her chin free of his hand. “Sure, until you get what you want, then you’ll just pass me along to someone else and forget I even exist. I may be naïve about the world outside, but I won’t be your tool. I’m tired of people only using me for their own personal gain and tossing me aside when it’s convenient. You’re little different than the AMT staff in that respect.”
She turned, and Jaxton growled as he grabbed her wrist. “Don’t compare me to them.” He tugged and turned her to face him again so he could take hold of her shoulders.
Kiarra didn’t struggle, but gave him a cool look. “Let go of me, Jaxton.”
“Not until you acknowledge that I’m different.”
As they stared at each other, Jaxton knew he was being irrational. Kiarra was saying things in anger, and deep down, he knew she probably didn’t mean them. But for some reason, he needed to hear her acknowledge that he was different than the AMT guards and researchers.
He didn’t want to use and dispose of her; he wanted Kiarra’s help, as well as all of the things she could offer in the future.
Most of all, he wanted to tell her that as soon as she’d mentioned passing her off to someone else, a resounding “not bloody likely” had gone through his head. There was no way in hell Jaxton was going to toss her aside.
She wasn’t quite sure how they’d devolved into yet another argument, but Kiarra had hit a nerve, and while she knew Jaxton was nothing like the AMT staff, Kiarra was too fired up to back down. Instead, she’d use the opportunity to get some answers. “Since you claim to be different, answer me this: what will you do with me once we find the information you’re looking for?”
Jaxton said nothing at first, but just when Kiarra was trying to think of how to keep a grip on the situation, the corner of Jaxton’s mouth rose and he said, “My sister seems to think I should ask you questions rather than just assume answers. So, what would you like to do once we finish with Sinclair?”
Kiarra blinked. She hadn’t expected that response. “I want to continue working with DEFEND and help the first-borns. I have a lot of information that could be useful.”
“If we succeed with Sinclair, finding the leak that we need, then that is quite possible.”
She felt a glimmer of hope in her chest, but a question nibbled at the back of her mind. “What if Ty succeeds in capturing me? What will you do then?”
Jaxton’s eyes narrowed. “Who is Ty?”
Her calm and collected façade slipped. Jaxton was volatile enough tonight; she didn’t need to add fuel to the fire by telling him about Ty. But he tightened his grip on her shoulders and growled, “Kiarra? Answer me. Who is Ty?”
She’d never told anyone about her experiences with Ty, and it weighed heavy on her heart. But she was still wary of trusting another person to not use her past against her.
Yet Jaxton had told Kiarra about what had happened with Garrett, and if she confided in him as well, she knew something inside of her would shift. She resisted it, because of what Ty had done to her, but from everything she’d learned about Jaxton, he was different. The relationship he had with his brother and sister told Kiarra more about Jaxton than he would probably ever realize. From the evidence she’d seen so far, Jaxton would’ve stood up for Kiarra whereas Ty’s ambitions had taken precedence.
But she wanted to hear the answer to her question before taking such a giant leap of faith. “First, answer my question. What would you do if he captured me?”
“I’m tired of this game, Kiarra.”
Kiarra raised an eyebrow and forced herself to remain patient. Jaxton was unaware that his answer would dictate how she viewed him from this point forward.
Jaxton relaxed his grip and sighed. “After seeing what they’ve done to you, both physically with the scars and emotionally, I would never allow you to go back and rot inside the AMT. I can’t promise to move heaven and earth to get you out, but I would bloody well try as hard as I could.”
Jaxton’s eyes were sincere, and she liked that he hadn’t given her some hyperbolic answer such as never sleeping until he found her or conquering armies to free her. To her, the simplicity spoke of honesty, and she believed that he would try to rescue her if she were captured. No matter how difficult it might be for her talk about it, if Ty did succeed in finding her, Jaxton needed to know about him.
Kiarra took a deep breath and said, “Ty Adams was the researcher assigned to me. He developed a formula that, after he injected me for years with different prototypes, eventually succeeded.
“His formula is the reason I can’t gather fire. I was his first success story, and invaluable to both him and his superiors. They see me as central to erasing all elemental magic and allowing Feiru to fully integrate with the human world.”
Jaxton remained silent and studied her face. Kiarra tried to keep her emotions hidden, but Jaxton must’ve seen something, because he asked, “What else did he do to you?”
For most people, ten years would’ve been more than long enough to get over a former lover. But Ty had done something much more than break her heart. He had broken her spirit.
Kiarra felt a brush of fingers on her cheek, and unaware that she’d closed her eyes, opened them. She was afraid that she would see pity in Jaxton’s eyes, but all she saw was concern and kindness.
So many people in the past few days had been kind to her. Between their kindness, memories of Ty, and the effects of the alcohol, she felt overloaded. Her vision began to blur, and she tried to blink away the tears. She did not want to cry in front of Jaxton.
Jaxton stroked her cheek again and asked, “Is he related to the scars on your back?”
Jaxton hated to see anyone on the verge of tears, but it was so much worse with Kiarra. She’d been strong for so many years inside the AMT, was still getting stronger by the day, and Kiarra’s display of weakness and vulnerability unleashed a mixture of feelings. While he wanted to hunt down Ty Adams and make him pay for Kiarra’s pain, Kiarra needed him right here, right now.
He continued to brush Kiarra’s cheek, and she slowly started to lean into his hand. She still hadn’t answered his question, so he cupped her cheek and tilted her head up toward his eyes. He was gentle, yet firm, when he asked, “Is he?”
Their faces were inches apart, and Jaxton could feel Kiarra’s breath on his chin. Kiarra’s cheeks were flushed, her breathing fast. When she started to speak, it took every bit of his self-control to focus on her words and not to look at her lips.
“Yes. Ty and I were together about a year. But once the guards found out about our relationship, Ty tossed me aside. I was accused of seducing him, even though he was the one to start it, and I was punished accordingly.”
“Bollocks.”
Her eyes widened. “You don’t believe me?”
“I believe that a spineless worm of a man used you for his own selfish purposes—but, pet, there is no way you could’ve seduced him.”
“And why is that?”
He smiled, determined to make her do the same. “Because you’d be bloody awful at it.”
Kiarra looked at him a second before she smiled and ran her hand up his chest. The touch, combined with the look in her eyes and her sweet scent filling his nose, sent blood to his groin. He knew it was wrong to take advantage of her current vulnerability, but before he could tell Kiarra to go up to bed, she leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “Is that a challenge?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Gio’s mobile phone rang and he pushed the accept button. “Yes.”
“I’ve confirmed her last known location, but we just missed her.”
The caller was a member of the retrieval team he’d sent after Kiarra, a hired man named Dominik. “Was she alone?”
“No, two people were with her, but only the man accompanied her out. I can bring in the other person if you want t
o question her about the first-born.”
“Go ahead. We’ll see what we can get out of her. Split up the work, and send the others out to question people on the street. The target is not far from Grassmarket.”
“Will do.”
The line went dead. Gio looked back to the tracking program on his computer and kept an eye on Kiarra’s location.
He’d accepted his father’s mission and taken over Kiarra Melini’s retrieval operation. The previous person in charge, Ty Adams, had been reluctant to cede control, and had made his case for why he should stay in charge—Kiarra was Adams’ prized subject, and after handling her for years, he knew her quirks and fears better than anyone.
But all Adams had been ordered to do was write a detailed behavior profile and pass on the information to Gio.
Even without the report, Gio had arrived in Edinburgh and met with his team. During their first briefing, he’d learned that a prototype tracking chip had been placed under Kiarra’s skin a few months ago in case she ever escaped or was kidnapped. While the signal occasionally shorted out, probably due to being in a tunnel or some such place, it was working now.
He was still uncertain of how he felt about tracking down Kiarra. He’d been young when she’d gone off to the AMT, and while he’d seen Cam once or twice after their parents had died, the concept of having siblings was foreign to him. He considered James Sinclair’s house staff to be more family than either one of his sisters by blood.
But Kiarra was an escaped first-born and a risk to everything his father was trying to accomplish. If the general human population found out about elemental magic, his father and other prominent anti-Article I proponents predicted that humans would round up the Feiru and put them into special camps, not unlike what had happened in World War II.
At least until humans thought of a way to exploit them for their own gain.
Blaze of Secrets (Asylums for Magical Threats) Page 15
