Thirty, wonderful seconds and then it ended as he jerked away and glared down at me. “What in the fuck, Kit? I smell—”
“My case,” I said. I cut him off. If I said something before he asked, then maybe he wouldn’t ask me questions I couldn’t answer. “I got stuck with a witch who does cloaking and we had to do some messy work, but it only works if we were close.”
“Close?” He pressed his hand to my collarbone, splaying it across my skin so that I felt the very heat of it rushing through me. “He had to fucking be touching you?”
“Close quarter detail sadly means just that—cloaking doesn’t work otherwise.” I plucked at the hem of my shirt. I really should have had that shower—and burned the damn clothes. “Once the job was over, I kicked the asshole in the head. It wasn’t enough.”
Damon’s eyes flashed. Light reflected back at me. Cat’s eyes—
I held his gaze. “This wasn’t a job I picked. I had to take it—lives are at stake—and once it’s done, I’m going to bloody somebody over it. But for now, I have to finish it.”
“And this?” he asked, fisting his hand in the front of my shirt, tugging me close. “Does this have to happen again? You stand there smelling of another man again? Kit…I—shit, Kit, this is gutting me.”
I curled my hand around his wrist. “If I could tell you what it was doing to me, I would.”
His eyes searched mine. “Why can’t you?”
“If I tell anybody, Banner is going to know. And people die. I can’t do that, Damon. I can’t.” I can’t let you die—
He groaned and pressed his forehead to mine. “Inside now, baby girl. Inside, okay?”
His presence was a burning ache at my back and my breath came in hot, harsh little bursts as I made my way to the door. “Don’t forget the wards,” I whispered as I dealt with the locks.
He stood there waiting, his eyes on my bowed head as I went through the process of disarming the protections wrapped around my office. “Put them back up,” he said as he shut the door behind him and locked it.
I put the bag on the desk, carefully touched my hand to it, too aware of the precious burden it carried.
I licked my lips and then went to the door. It was a simple design to arm the wards. My touch alone, on the locks in a certain way, did it. As I flipped the deadbolt, magic skittered around the room. One ward in place. Damon’s fingers brushed across the back of my neck. I put the chain in place. Second ward. He laid his hands on my waist. I unlocked the lock he’d turned and then locked it back up and the wards burst into life with a whispering sigh.
Damon shredded my shirt.
Turning around, I reached for him and all those nasty, jagged places inside me faded away. This felt real to me. Felt whole. Felt right. And I was going to make sure I kept this.
“Baby girl,” he muttered as his mouth pressed to the mark on my neck. It was sensitive, still sore, but that light caress felt so good.
He boosted me up and I groaned, wiggling against him and reaching for the waistband of the BDUs I wore. “Be still,” he rasped against my mouth. He shifted and reached down. Seconds later, the sound of cloth ripping filled the air once more. “I don’t want you ever wearing these clothes again.”
The scraps of my pants still clung to my legs, but neither of us cared.
The rasp of his zipper was terribly loud and then he was there, pressed against me…in me, driving so deep and so hard.
“Tell me again,” he muttered. “Tell me, damn it. Without hiding away this time.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. And stop running from me, Kit. Stop running…aw, hell…”
His breath hitched in his chest and I felt it against my own, felt the massive pressure of need swelling in us both. As it exploded and swelled and built again, I clung to him.
He was the only real and solid thing in my world.
I couldn’t lose him.
* * * * *
It wasn’t as easy to get out of a pair of torn BDUs as one might think. Especially since my belt had ended up in a tangled snarl around my waist. In the end, I just used a knife to cut the ruined pants off and dumped them in the trash. As I sat down to deal with my boots, I looked up as saw Damon sprawled in the desk behind my chair.
The dark, brooding look in his eyes made my heart skip a beat. Even the sly smile curling his lips didn’t help much.
“You know,” he murmured, staring at me hard. “That right there is a picture. Maybe I should get one like that for my birthday.”
“Pervert.” I made a face at him and finished stripping away from my boots, leaving them by the couch. I opened the small closet and grabbed the first thing that came to hand—a plain black T-shirt. Jerking it on over my head, I made a concerted effort to ignore the trembling of my hands. I’d just noticed the time. It was getting late. Sooner or later, Justin would have to call and my gut said it would be soon.
I had to talk to him—
“What were you out doing today, Kit?”
Closing my eyes, I scooped my hair out the neckline of the shirt and shut the door. “I already told you I was working a case.” One that was breaking my heart. Breaking me—
No. I wasn’t broken.
I was pissed, I was furious and I was hurt, probably going to be hurt more when this was done and I had to explain what was going on. But that didn’t make me broken.
He loved me.
He’d understand that I was trying to protect him. He was doing the same for me.
He’d understand.
“I had to take care of something outside of the city,” Damon said and his voice was a low, rumbling growl.
I heard that tone often enough. It was anger. Not that icy edge I’d seen earlier, but there were a lot of varieties of anger. And I’d faced this one of his before.
He’d figured it out—thought past the mask of Xavier’s cloaking.
“Kit.”
I turned around and I saw it in his eyes.
He knew.
As he came up off the chair, he shook his head. “I’ve been trying to place it all fucking day and it wasn’t until just now that it clicked. You said you had to work with somebody who…what, cloaked? What the fuck is that?”
“It’s what it sounds like, Damon,” I said levelly. The hell if I’d lied. Lies had never come easily to me anyway and if I even tried, he’d know. “I’m working a job. I’m doing the best I can and I can’t talk about it. Let me work it, let me finish it and I’ll explain.”
The roar echoed around the room. Echoed…echoed…until I thought my ears would burst from it.
“Kit. Were you following me?” he demanded.
“I’m working a fucking job.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “Is that the only thing you’re going to say, damn it?”
“It’s the only thing I can say.” Tears were threatening to burn me now. No crying, Kit…don’t you do it.
“I don’t believe this.” He spun away and braced his hands on my desk, the muscles in his back bunching and moving under his shirt. “Fuck—everything I’ve…shit. No.”
The disjointed ramble of words bothered me as much as the pain I saw in his eyes as he turned back around to glare at me. “A job, right? Fine,” he bit off, his voice a ragged, uneven snarl. “Day’s done. Come home. With me now.”
I opened my mouth to answer. Yes. Please. Just yes…
And my fucking phone rang.
Justin…I could hear the muffled ringtone of the Imperial March coming from the garbage can where I’d dumped the shreds of my pants. I wanted to scream. “I have to talk to him right now,” I said, the words come in an awful, stilted mess. “I have the information I need to close this case and then I’m done. I just need—”
“I need you,” he roared. “Now. Come with me now.”
The phone rang again and anxiety rose to a wail in my mind as my office phone started to echo it as well. Calling both lines—not good.
And clear as crystal,
I could see Damon speeding away from Assemblyman Marlowe’s house.
I opened my mouth… I have to tell them you were doing it for me—
That was all I had to say. That was all.
But the binding spell kept the words locked inside me and even when I tried to force the words out, it was like my throat was swelling shut on me while pain swelled like supernova behind my eyes, all but blinding me. Justin, you son of a bitch…damn you.
“Damon. It’s two hours.”
“No.” He shook his head. “It’s more than that. It’s over, baby girl. Good-bye, Kit.”
My heart cracked down the middle as I stared at him. I’d taking beatings that hadn’t hurt like that. He…shit. He hadn’t just said that, had he? “What?”
He backed away from me. “You don’t trust me. Right now, you’re half sick with fear and I can’t get you to come with me when I need you like I need air. If we…if this is how it’s going to be between us, then maybe it’s better off if there isn’t an us. It’s done.”
Tears blinded me as he turned his back on me.
It was probably for the best.
I didn’t see him leaving me.
Something snapped, hissed. I flinched as I realized what it was—the wards. “Damon—” I swiped the tears away, made myself look at him.
He powered through it without sparing me a glance. They weren’t designed to holding something in. They must have hurt like hell when he broke them. But as he stumbled down the sidewalk, he didn’t much look like he cared.
He just wanted to be away from me.
And still, the damn phones wouldn’t shut the hell up.
* * * * *
“Timetable has been moved up,” Justin barked once I was finally able to answer. “He’s slated for execution once the warrant is signed at the meet tomorrow and if they can get enough people together tonight, they may even try to get it going before then. Damn it, Kit—”
“I have the proof you need to stop it.” I stood at the window, staring at the spot where his Challenger had been. He’d walked away. Just like that. “It was all about me. Charter decrees a were can’t be executed for acting in defense of a mate, loved one or clan if he feels a threat is imminent. Alpha Damon Lee heard rumors that my grandmother was looking for me and those he killed were the ones who had shown interest in exchanging information about me for future favors from her.”
There was silence.
“Your fucking bitch of a grandmother,” Justin muttered. Then, his voice fell back into formal tones. “You said you had proof of this.”
“He spoke with an Assembly speaker. Delores Richards. Es. You know her. She knows all of it and more; she read him when he confronted her.”
“Why did he confront her?”
“Because my grandmother reached out to her and he was approaching anybody he thought might be a threat. He decided Es wasn’t. She read him and she’s willing to swear before the Assembly and a Banner court that he was acting in defense of me. He cannot lawfully be put down. Es has also made it clear that if Banner takes him out, she’ll seek legal action. He’s done nothing wrong.”
“What’s the proof?”
“Signed and sworn writ from Es herself. She has a copy and there’s one at the Assembly as well, in the hands of somebody she trusts. If he goes down, people are going to burn over it, Justin. He was set up for the whole damn thing and Banner was manipulated. I haven’t figured out that end of it, but this all …fuck it. I’ll get there. But for now…how in the hell can I get you this letter?”
“I’m at HQ. Bring it. Immediately.” His voice was edgy, tight. I knew him well enough to know it was kind of battle high he got when something big was going down. At least it wouldn’t be my….Damon. He wasn’t my anything more, I thought. Hours ago, he’d been my everything.
I’d been everything to him. And now I was nothing.
My heart simply shattered.
“Kit, you have to stay out of sight for a few days, okay? If this shit about your grandmother is legit, I need to check a few things, and TJ got in touch—she still hasn’t dealt with all of the wolves. You got a place to go underground? Stay with your cat or something?”
“He’s not mine anymore.” I turned away from the window, unable to look out there anymore. But a fading spark caught my eye. I looked over at the doorway, saw the dying ripple of the magics from where he’d busted the wards.
I’d have to get them repaired. I’d have to…what?
What did I have to do?
“Kit!”
I blinked and glanced at the phone. Justin. Yeah. Had to focus and finish this up. “What?”
“What are you talking about, Kit?”
“Nothing,” I said, swallowing the knot in my throat. I’d fall apart later. If I broke now, I’d never even make it out the door and Damon still wasn’t safe. “Let’s get this done and then I’ll get out of sight. I’m good at hiding, remember?”
* * * * *
I made the drive in a numbed haze. Halfway there, something hit me and I put in a call to Chang. His voice was cool when he answered, but I didn’t let it stop me.
“Do you remember what I asked you about working a job you hated? Then you said it has a way of working out?”
“I’m terribly busy, Kit.”
Ouch. It was a distant thought, more of an afterthought than anything else. I didn’t need to ask what his problem was. I already knew. He and Damon had talked.
I was now persona non-grata.
“Yank the stick out of your ass, Chang, and shut the fuck up,” I warned him. I was mad enough to think about going back to the office and grabbing something with enough firepower behind it to make him do just that. But there was no time.
“Ms. Colbana, I’m afraid I don’t have time for this right now. If you’d like to schedule an appointment—”
“Shove the appointment up your ass,” I snarled. “I asked you a damned question—hey, you owe me a favor. Four months ago. One of your bastards trespassed on me and you owe me. Remember? I’m calling that favor in.”
Silence, ugly and raw, fell.
His voice, when it came, was cold. “Make it fast.”
“You said the things that matter that much usually had a way of working out. It didn’t. The job’s wrapping up, but I need you to make sure somebody stays at the Lair until after tomorrow. Please.” Razors blades gripped my throat and in desperation, I grabbed a knife from inside my vest. Adrenaline loosened many bonds. I plunged the blade deep into my thigh and twisted. Pain flared hot and brain, while blood flowed like a river.
And deep inside me, something wavered—weakened.
“A life is at stake,” I said, forcing the words out. “The Lair is safe from certain…entities. These entities, they can’t go there.” Those razor blades wrapped tight around my throat, but I gave the blade in my thigh another twist and managed to continue. “He’s safe there, Chang. They can’t go there.”
Through the roaring in my ears, I heard him hiss. “Banner…” The word stretched out of him and through the roar of pain and nausea in my head, I heard his shock. “Is this about Damon and Banner?”
“They can’t go there, right?” I demanded. He knew the ins and outs of clan law better than I did. He’d know.
“Kit, what is going on?”
“Just keep him there. Keep him safe. Give me time to finish this,” I said, gritting the words out. It was enough. He’d get the point. Chang wouldn’t take chances with Damon.
I yanked the blade from my thigh and threw it down, blade still bloody.
He went to say something else, but I disconnected and hurled the phone down. Nothing else mattered now. Damon would be safe. Chang would see to it. That one thing was all that mattered. Fishing a couple of loose cloths from the bag I kept in the back, I slapped them against my leg. Hot blood gushed out, but I didn’t care. It would slow in a minute and up ahead, I saw the bright, silver lights…Banner HQ.
And Justin was right out in front, pacing i
n front of his bike, a dark look on his face.
I wasn’t even out of the car before he had his hand out.
I slapped the envelope into his hand and scowled as I saw the blood on it. My blood. Justin paused, staring at the blood and then my hand. His eyes dropped to the dark stain spreading down my leg. “Kit, your leg.”
“Fuck the leg. The letter, damn it.”
He sighed and broke the seal Es had placed on it. Both of us felt the whisper of her magic, but I suspected he felt it even more. As he unfolded the letter, her power started to scream.
“Yeah. This will do it.” He looked back at me. “Now what’s wrong? Damn it, you look like you’ve been beaten, Kit. What’s wrong? You win.”
“He knows,” I said flatly. “Not why, but he knows I was following him and investigating. He…” I shoved harder against the wound in my thigh as I leaned back against my car. Pain screamed at me and I welcomed it. Anything to keep my mind from dwelling on the pain inside me. “It’s over, Justin. He needed something I couldn’t give at the time and I needed to make sure he was safe. The needs didn’t meet and it’s over.”
Justin opened his mouth to say something but I didn’t want to hear it. What did it matter anyway?
“I’ll get lost for a while,” I said, using the cloth to form a makeshift bandage. “I need to go pack up, but then I’m gone.” I headed toward the car door, but stopped and looked back. “You…you’ll call me when this is officially put to bed, right? I need to know. For me. I need to know he’s safe.”
His vivid green eyes rested on my face and he sighed. “You know I will. It shouldn’t be a day. Look, Kit you can’t just let it go so—”
I climbed back into my car and drove off. Whatever he was saying, it didn’t matter.
* * * * *
I dumped the bag into my truck and slammed it shut.
My house was locked up tight, light down and wards up. Although I couldn’t do anything about the wards at my office, I went by there last, studiously trying not to think as I locked the doors and secured the valuable stuff. As much as it had hurt to go back, the majority of my weapons were stored there and I needed some of them.
Night Blade (Colbana Files) Page 20