“Raguel knows about the portals,” he said quietly. “He thinks telling the rest of them is a bad idea.”
I didn’t miss his choice of wording. Of course Raguel knew about the portals—especially if he was the one creating them.
“And the part where you haven’t told me the whole truth?” I asked.
Adrik’s mouth tightened. “It’s a long story. One we don’t have time for now.”
I sidestepped his attempt to nudge me forward. “Not until you answer my question. Are you working with the enemy?”
The idea of it left a sick feeling in my stomach.
But Adrik’s expression never wavered. He stepped closer, no longer giving a second glance to my furry demon friend. Instead, all of his attention—and power, not to mention the sexy bedroom vibes he gave off—was on me.
He lifted his hand, trailing his fingertips down my cheek. “I’m on your side, Gemini. I swear it.”
I stepped back, a little dizzy from the intensity he exuded. And the feel of his skin on mine…My knees were weak.
“Fine.” I swallowed hard. “But I’m not going in there until you tell me what Raguel meant.”
“There’s talk inside the agency of council corruption. Rumors of experiments gone wrong. Supes disappearing,” he said haltingly.
“What does that have to do with me?”
He hesitated. I watched several expressions flit across his usually stoic face. Before he could answer me, his phone buzzed.
I watched with interest, a little surprised to see a Nephilim doing something as mundane as checking a phone. Whatever he saw there made his brooding worse, though, and he shoved it back into his pocket with a scowl.
“I’ll tell you everything inside. It’s not safe out here.”
He had a point. Already, I could hear a few humans whispering from across the garage as they made their way to their cars. One of them suggested the big furry guy was a Star Wars cosplay attempt. The others agreed, but I could hear their skepticism.
We needed to move.
“Fine. We’ll get inside,” I said, calling up my glamour as I started walking. “But then, I want answers about whatever’s going on between you and Raguel. No more stalling.”
“I’ll get you past security,” Adrik promised. “And you can have your moment to explain about Wolfrick. When it’s over, we can talk.”
It wasn’t exactly the promise I wanted, but it was close enough. And we were out of time.
Using the original plan Jax and Milo and I had come up with, I glamoured Wolfrick and myself. Adrik took one look at my disguise and frowned, his brooding reaching a whole new level.
“Would you rather I walk in as myself?” I asked.
“I’d rather you didn’t walk in at all, but here we are.”
I watched as he slipped into the sky and disappeared toward the Delta building. When he was gone, I motioned for Wolfrick to follow and led the way out of the parking garage
From the street-level, it was a straight shot across a busy road and into the Delta building. Otherwise known as Nephilim headquarters. The fact that they named their base after an airline company was a joke that wasn’t even funny anymore.
My dad, however, used to think it was hilarious.
Beside me, Wolfrick went unnoticed by pedestrians, thanks to the magical veneer I’d painted him with. He was also a slow walker, which meant I had to yank him out of the way of at least six people so they didn’t bump into what looked like an oversized fur handbag on my arm. Fae glamours were great, but they could only do so much with a level six demon in downtown rush hour.
From sixteen stories above, I could feel Adrik’s eyes on us as he watched from the Delta rooftop. I didn’t let myself look up. I also didn’t let myself think too hard about what he meant when he said he’d “do anything” for me.
Maybe later.
When I was alone at home with nothing but my trusty vibrator, I’d revisit the way his eyes went all heavy-lidded and his words had wrapped around me like a blanket or a silk sheet. But not now. Now, I was tugging Wolfrick through the revolving door—a feat that was a lot harder than it looked since the seven-foot creature had to duck and shuffle as the self-propelled mechanism bumped him in the ass.
My foot landed on his as we both shuffled into the chilly Delta lobby.
Wolfrick grunted, yanking away from me, and I nearly lost my grip on the glamour spell.
“Come back here,” I hissed, and he shuffled in close again, glowering at me as he limped along. “Sorry,” I added, and he looked satisfied.
Scanning the lobby with all the confidence of the body I now wore, I spotted several security personnel. None of them were Tony. My heart sank. I’d secretly hoped to find him here at work. That we’d been too quick to assume the worst at his apartment last night. But he was nowhere in sight.
My gut tightened with what might have happened to him. Wolfrick had sworn he hadn’t been involved, and I believed him, but where did that leave my friend?
“Excuse me?”
I stopped short as a wide-hipped security guard frowned at me. When she caught sight of my face, her frown vanished, and she batted her lashes.
“Did you say something, sir?”
I tried not to roll my eyes. So this was what it was like, huh? Just a day in the life.
“Just talking to myself.”
I flashed a smile, and she was quick to reciprocate.
“Oh.” She giggled. “I do that all the time.”
Turning away, I gritted my teeth as I realized Adrik hadn’t been lying about the first obstacle. And it wasn’t the security guards. Just ahead, a force field designed to disable all forms of glamours and magicks was pulsing outward.
It took all my strength to hold the glamour I’d cast, and I knew if I took another step, it was going to evaporate like my bank balance at a boot sale. Shit. Adrik better do his part, or I wasn’t going to make it past the lobby.
“Well, can I help you?” the female guard asked, managing to sound brusque and flirty at the same time.
She eyed the furry bag on my shoulder that was, in fact, not a furry bag. Then again, if this went sideways, there was a good chance that’s how Wolfrick would end up. If she thought it was strange, a grown man carrying a furry satchel, she didn’t let on.
“I’m here to see the Nephilim council.”
The female blinked, her expression carefully blank—as I knew it would be.
“I’m sorry, I’m not sure who you’re referring to. The businesses located in this building are listed on the placard.”
She pointed, and I sighed.
“Right. Let’s go with Saving Grace Security Firm. Sixteenth floor.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but they’ll want to see me.”
“Name?”
“Jax McGuire.”
“One moment.”
She returned to her booth and made a call. I stayed where I was, unwilling to give any ground but unable to move forward without the glamour going up in a puff of force field vapor.
Damn these Nephilim and their protocols.
“McGuire, is that you?”
A voice behind me had me groaning inwardly. I knew that voice, and it was the absolute last person I wanted to see here today.
Pasting on a smile, I turned and angled my body to keep Wolfrick away from the man sauntering over.
“Rigo, what an unwanted surprise,” I said.
His eyes narrowed. “I thought we agreed you’d call before coming by again.”
I blinked. Since when did Rigo talk to Jax?
“And it’s Detective Garcia now.” He smiled, and I bit back a snarl.
“Is that right?” I murmured, trying to channel Jax. An alpha-in-charge with a secretly soft heart. He definitely wouldn’t be friends with Rigo . . . right?
“Yep.” Rigo straightened the lapels on his jacket. “You’re looking at the newest team leader for the French Quarter.” He leaned in and added, “Do
you know the kind of tail I’ll get with this kind of title?”
I swallowed back the bile—and the urge to kill the bastard right here and now. “Looks like the agency’s more desperate than I thought.”
The words were out, and I wasn’t sorry.
Rigo’s eyes narrowed. “You feeling okay, McGuire?” He glanced at the furry bag on my shoulder. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
“I guess I’ve reached my limit on pervy assholes for the day.”
“Says the guy carrying a woman’s purse.”
His wiry smile was smug and made me want to poke his eyes out with my little toe.
“All right, sir.” The security guard reappeared, saving Rigo from an embarrassing doctor visit and me from losing a boot when I buried it in his ass. “You’ve been cleared for entry. Follow me please.”
As she spoke, the force field winked out.
I gave Rigo a satisfied smirk and followed the guard over to the security checkpoint. Wolfrick snarled at Rigo and hurried along behind me. I let out a relieved breath. Adrik had come through.
“Step through the security scanner please.” The guard waved me forward.
Impatient to get upstairs, I stepped underneath the scanner.
The moment I did, the force field winked to life again, and the sudden jolt knocked the breath from my lungs. Magic slipped from my tenuous grasp. The glamour vanished.
Wolfrick grunted, nearly plowing into my back as I stumbled and felt the glamour of Jax McGuire slip away. Once again, I was Gem Hawkins, fugitive with a price on her head. And I was standing beside my new friend, a level six lupine demon, in the lobby of the last place on Earth either of us should be.
Fuck.
The lobby occupants screamed.
“Hawkins? What the hell?” Rigo lunged sideways in an attempt to grab me without tangling with the wolf-demon between us.
“Security breach!” The female guard drew her gun, aiming it at the seven-foot furball huddling behind me.
The other guards rushed to join her.
“Don’t shoot!”
I threw up my hands, hating that Rigo was going to be the last thing I saw before I died. Before I could comprehend how much that was going to suck, the guard raised her weapon and fired.
Chapter Sixteen
The pain of a pounding headache coaxed me awake. I heard a low moan and realized, with mounting concern, that the voice moaning belonged to me. Damn. Everything hurt. And not in a good way. Which meant I hadn’t ripped Adrik’s clothes off in that parking garage and seen the face of Heaven when he drove me to an orgasm that had drained me to the point of fatigue and stolen my consciousness. That meant something besides Adrik’s body parts had left my bones aching.
What the hell.
My eyes flew open, and I moaned again as my body tried slumping forward, only to strain against the confines of the rope someone had used to tie me to a very uncomfortable metal chair.
I blinked into the dim, gray room, and it all came rushing back.
The glamour.
The force field Adrik hadn’t managed to shut off before I’d stepped inside it.
The gun.
Why had I thought sneaking into Nephilim headquarters was a good idea? I mean, I wasn’t dead, so there was that. But the pain in my head was kind of making me wish I were.
Ugh.
A quick glance around yielded zero clues as to where they’d stashed me. I didn’t even know if I was still in the Delta building. Hell, or even in the city. Maybe I was dead, and Hell was just one big migraine-fest.
While I sat and waited for proof, either way, my head continued to pound in time to my pulse. I concentrated on breathing through it. If I couldn’t stop it, maybe I could slow the pounding by slowing my heart rate.
I’d just begun to relax a bit when the metal door swung open and a woman walked in.
“You’re awake. Good.”
Whoa. Not woman. More like serpent of seduction.
It was the best way to describe the creature before me. She was too ethereal to be considered simply “pretty” and, judging by her swagger, way too aware of that exact fact. She was perfection, honestly. Just hot enough to make me wonder what it would be like to bat for the other team.
She stopped in front of me and studied me curiously.
No fear.
Though she didn’t need to worry, considering I was tied up and she was an all-powerful Nephilim.
“You look surprised.” Amusement colored her voice.
“I guess I expected to be a lot deader than this when I woke up.”
She laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. Except maybe for the words “open bar.”
“Trust me. If I hadn’t arrived, you would have been.”
I licked my dry lips. “Not that I’m ungrateful, but why would you do that?”
She tilted her head, her curiosity sharpening as she totally ignored my question. “I wonder what you did to warrant Adrik’s loyalty. If not for his insistence that I hear you out, you’d absolutely be dust now, Gemini Hawkins.”
“He’s pretty cagey even with me,” I said.
Her brow furrowed like she really wanted to understand my connection to Adrik, but I was too distracted by her perfect brow creases to offer more of an answer. Somehow, those creases only made her more beautiful.
It wasn’t fair.
“I’m Selaphiel,” she said.
Selaphiel.
I’d heard that name before.
Raguel. He’d mentioned it to Adrik like it meant something.
Shit.
Was there something going on between Selaphiel and Adrik? The very idea of it nearly blinded me with a jealousy so sharp it made the pain in my head throb even harder.
Forcing myself to concentrate, I looked up at Selaphiel. “Gem,” I said.
She flashed another smile. “Charmed.” With a snap of her fingers, the ropes binding me to the chair vanished. With subtle movements, I brought my hands up to my pockets and felt for my phone. Nothing. Damn. So much for giving Jax and Milo the SOS signal.
I leaned forward, stretching my arms as if to relieve stiffness, and peeked into my boot. A small, silver square clipped onto my shoelace caught my eye, and I sat back again.
At least I still wore the tracker Jax had insisted on.
“I’d like to hear how you came to arrive in our lobby with a level six lupine demon,” Selaphiel said, still eyeing me with interest.
Well, someone was getting straight to the point.
But if Adrik had sent her, maybe that meant I could trust her with the truth. As long as he saved those broody, bedroom eyes for me. Damn, even kidnapped and at the mercy of all-powerful Nephilim, my libido wanted to be in charge.
Focus.
“Speaking of, where’s my furry demon friend now?” I asked, hoping he was still breathing wherever he was.
“The demon has been contained.”
Dread curled at the words.
“As in, he’s tied to his own chair somewhere, or he’s a puddle of guts?”
Her lips twitched. “He’s being held in a containment cell in the medical wing.”
“You guys have a medical wing?”
“We have a lot of things here that the general public isn’t privy to.”
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”
She blinked, and I couldn’t tell if she was considering it or just confused by the offer.
“Gemini Hawkins, did you come here intending to use the demon to attempt harm upon the Nephilim?”
Okay. This Neph chick did not mince words.
“Actually, I came here to stop harm from coming to me. Or to Rick.”
“Rick?”
“My furry demon friend. You can call him Wolfrick. The fact is, he’s only been violent out of self-defense.”
Her lips curved in a confused smile. “I see. And he told you that himself?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. We’ve chatted about a numb
er of things.”
“And what have your communications gleaned?”
“He was summoned here. Forced against his will and torn away from his family. I would think any of us would be pretty pissed about that. So, he’s angry and trying to find his way home. That’s why he killed those people—out of fear and defense.”
“And yet, he didn’t try to kill you.”
I crossed my arms. “Once I assured him I wasn’t trying to control him, he was pretty chill.”
“Chill,” she repeated as if the term were foreign to her. Maybe it was. Did Neph chill?
I definitely wanted to Neph-and-chill with a certain brooding member of their team.
“Look, put me in a room with him, and I can show you he’s not violent by nature.”
“You’re suggesting demons aren’t the enemy they’ve been made out to be.”
“Yes. Well, not this one anyway. And I can prove it.”
She studied me in silence.
Impatience made me itch to get up. To walk out and find Wolfrick and show them all how wrong they were. About the lupine demon. About me. About all of it. But when she spoke again, I knew this wasn’t going to go as I’d hoped.
“These creatures are dangerous, including the lupine. Containing demons, protecting the Earth from their evil, is our entire purpose here. Without it, the Nephilim would be unnecessary.”
“I . . . yeah, I guess I never thought of it like that. But if demons were no longer a threat, couldn’t you all just go home?”
I tried not to think about how much I didn’t want Adrik going anywhere.
Selaphiel looked away, something painful flashing in her eyes before she turned. “Nephilim are unwelcome in the heavenly realm.”
I had no idea what to say to that. Politics here was a nightmare. I couldn’t imagine dealing with the red tape involved with getting back to the man upstairs.
When Selaphiel turned back to me, the strange expression was gone, replaced once again with curiosity. “You say someone has opened a portal that summoned him.”
“Some old school black magic, yes.”
“If you’d like to report illegal magic in the city, I’m sure your local SSF would be happy to look into it.”
“Considering I’m a current fugitive and you all have a blow-up-now-ask-questions-later sort of thing going, I decided to come straight to the source. Besides, I’m thinking a Nephilim already knows about the illegal summonings.”
Knock Em Dead (Supernatural Security Force Book 2) Page 17