by T. F. Walsh
When Brent vanished behind the corner to his office, she followed. An enormous enclosed cage stood there. The kind she’d seen wrestlers on television sometimes use. Inside, a dark-haired male with a silvery aura crouched in the corner, his yellow gaze darting left and right.
Her eye surgery hadn’t changed her ability an ounce. She hoped it would be stronger, brighter, something. But right then, that disappointment faded into the background compared to her next test.
Rhino guy from her training the other day was there too. His hands folded over his huge chest, grinning in a way that said, you’ll fail. She glanced at the possessed, eying him with a grimace.
“You want me to go in there?” she whispered.
Brent glanced over his shoulder, wearing a stupid smirk. Damn, he enjoyed seeing her sweat an ocean. Was that part of the test?
“You’ll be fine. We’re here if things get out of hand.”
Out of hand? Oh, fuck! For a wild moment, she believed he set her up to crash. Every part of her screamed to escape. She might as well kiss her dream job farewell. But after discovering such an organization existed, how could she walk away?
Okay, grow a spine. She squared her shoulders and stepped closer. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 12
“Levi, you’re an asshole.” Tasha’s voice exploded across the phone piece. “You left Cary by herself and blind at a restaurant for over an hour. Are you insane?”
He gritted his teeth, holding back the words bubbling on the forefront of his mind. Images of the person run over outside the restaurant crowded inside his head. He’d had no choice. The speck demon would have continued to kill if he hadn’t left the restaurant. The son of a bitch was baiting him, and rage burned through Levi’s veins. Even after he’d gotten Chase to join in the hunt, the Corvette vanished. They’d searched the city ‘till the early hours of the morning.
“Is she still at your place?” he asked.
“She’s fine. Don’t worry.”
“I’m coming over.” He paced across the hotel room from the entrance to the window overlooking the city. Sunlight warmed him each time he stepped into the rays.
“She’s not here. Just leave her alone. Really, don’t obsess. This isn’t you.”
He bit back the swear words or she’d hang up on him again. Taking a deep breath, he restrained his voice. “Come on, Tasha. I want to check on her. Is that wrong? I fucked up.”
Despite every argument in his head saying he had no choice but to hunt down the speck last night, the tightness in his gut told him he’d done wrong. He should have collected Cary last night because she liked him too. He felt it in her kisses, sensed it in her words. Why hadn’t he gotten her number so he could keep track of her and tell her what was going on? Yeah, he’d screwed up. Not the first time either. Unless he dealt with that, he’d explode.
“Wow, big hunter Levi Walker apologizing?”
“Why are you giving me shit?”
Tasha fell quiet for a moment. “Cary’s a real nice girl. I don’t want you to hurt her like the others you dated at Argos.”
He ran a hand across his face. Sure, he’d done the wrong thing too many times. Dated girls for a few weeks, had fun in the sack, then dumped them. But none had touched him the way Cary did. Something about her made him crazy. The idea of her upset bugged the hell out of him.
“I don’t want to hurt Cary either. That’s why I need to speak with her.”
“On one promise.”
He squeezed the phone in his hand. “What?”
“Don’t break her heart.”
At Tasha’s words, he quit marching. Was Cary into him that much? Had she shared that with Tasha? And he’d acted like a lunatic last night. Unable to sleep, he had contemplated to turn up at Tasha’s door at five in the morning to speak with Cary. What was going on with him? The room spun. He crashed against the back of the couch, admitting to himself that Cary meant more to him than just a good time.
“You still there?” Tasha asked.
“You have my word.”
“Good, can’t believe I’m even considering this. Okay, fine, but you owe me big time. She’s at the warehouse. I dropped her off there to get her eye patches removed over an hour ago.”
He jumped to his feet. “You’re the best. Thanks. Bye.” With his phone stashed into his back pocket, he grabbed his bike keys and jogged outdoors.
The moment Levi rounded the office building inside the Argos compound, his sights landed on an old-times jail cell. The same one he’d fought a demon inside years ago to prove his worth to Argos. And his stomach ached at the thought of Brent giving Cary the same test.
His boss and a few others surrounded the prison, staring inside. Levi hurried closer, trying to see past the heads. When he spotted Cary locked up with a possessed man twice her size, suddenly the room closed in around him. His heart pounded.
The giant drove a punch into the side of Cary’s head. She fell flat on her back.
An invisible hand squeezed Levi’s heart. He rushed forward.
The cage was a rite of passage and protected by magic runes to keep the demon imprisoned, but it was where hunters were pitted against an adversary larger than them. Brent insisted on viewing how far he could push new recruits. But putting Cary in there just after removing her eye patches was insane. Brent wasn’t giving her the chance to perform at her best.
“Stay down,” Jack shouted at Cary. The same asshole who’d faced Chase on his first day and put him in the hospital for two days. Jack loved to make anyone squirm; negativity spewed from his lips as if it were on sale. “You’re not a hunter. Give up. This is painful to watch.”
Levi marched closer, and in one swift move, he elbowed the middle of Jack’s back. The force drove him forward, and his face slapped the metal bars.
Jack spun with a glare on his face, hardening the moment his gaze landed on Levi. “What the hell do you want?”
“Keep it shut, or I’ll rip your spine out.”
“Levi?” Brent’s surprised voice streamed from the other side of the cage.
“All good over here, boss.” Levi refocused on the fight inside, shoving Jack aside.
Blood dripped from a cut below Cary’s eye and dripped to her busted lip. She pulled herself to her hands and knees, each breath loud and raspy.
In the opposite corner lay the lasso. The possessed stood in her way.
He steamed forward and threw a roundhouse kick into her chest. Cary groaned and collapsed into a curled up ball.
Levi’s rapid breathing smothered him, choking him from the inside out. Each time Cary received a hit, he tightened his fists.
Without remorse, the seized Cary’s wrist and dragged her across the floor as if she were a limp doll. She never made a sound.
“Cary,” Levi called out. “Get up. Listen to my voice. You can do this. You’re stronger than you realize.”
She twisted her head to face him, and a tiny smile curled at the corner of her mouth.
“You can do this.”
Her attention shifted to the possessed. With a deep breath, she collected her legs closer behind her and thrust her fist into the back of the guy’s knee.
“Yes, fantastic. Get into him.” Levi’s body buzzed with adrenaline.
The demon tripped, pitching forward.
Cary teetered to her feet.
“Yes.” An anaconda might as well be squeezing Levi’s chest as he labored for each breath. He silently willed Cary to move. She wobbled forward, swung a punch out, but missed wide and spun on the spot.
The giant twisted around, his yellow eyes locked onto Cary, and lunged.
She threw herself into a roll, away from the enemy and inches from the lasso.
“Take the weapon. Now!” Every molecule in Levi’s body stood on end with the urgency to pry apart the bars and jump in there to rescue her.
She wiped an eye, blood streaking across her temple. In haste, she covered her hand with a sleeve and seized the lasso’s handle.
But her body trembled, and the glistening sweat along her brow beaded down her nose.
“Come on, Cary. You’re almost there.”
The giant was on her, clutching a handful of hair and wrenching her sideways, throwing her off balance.
Levi’s insides stung from watching her face scrunch from agony. But she hadn’t released the weapon and remained on her feet. A surge of pride shot through him.
In one swoop, she shoved the loop upward. From her angle, she wouldn’t capture him, but the leather whacked him in the face.
Facing her foe, Cary stood solid, arms pinned by her side, then charged. She smacked his head with the holy loop again.
A growl shook the cage and the ground beneath Levi’s feet. How strong was the demon?
Levi gripped the bars with white knuckles. Put it around its neck.
As she fiddled with the weapon, the giant slammed a fist into her chest. She flew backward from the inhuman force. The weapon dropped from her grasp, and she crumbled to the ground.
Darkness robbed Levi of his strength, his muscles cramped, leaving him immobile.
The enemy lowered his head and crossed the cage in lightning speed. He leapt onto her, straddling her body, then laid punches into her body.
Levi shuddered. “Get her out, now.” He bolted to the door, tugging on the lock. “Fuck, he’ll kill her.” His words were fire, and he’d rip apart everyone there to free Cary.
Brent was by his side and unlocked the door in a second flat. “Get a medic,” he called out.
Levi flung it open and darted inside. He seized the giant’s shoulders, but the fiend spun so fast, Levi froze. His brow whacked into Levi’s. Vision blurry, head pounding. But Levi still fisted his T-shirt and swung him against the metal bars.
Claw-like fingers jerked for Levi’s neck, scratching, tearing flesh.
He drove his knee into the bastard’s stomach, forcing him over, then drove an elbow into the giant’s back. Without hesitation, he collected Noose from his belt and clicked it open. In seconds, he had it over the man’s head and pulled it so tight he didn’t care if he strangled him to death. The fucker hurt his Cary.
Six seconds later, a puff of black mist gushed from the victim along with a cloud of moths. Without hesitation, Levi spun on his heels and darted to Cary’s side.
“Can you hear me?”
She slumped forward, her back pressed to the cell bars. He lifted her chin and her eyes were still open. Blood marred her features, and his stomach churned. The walls of the warehouse were suffocating him, dread looping in his mind. He’d seen hunters leave the industry after similar beatings. He buckled under the weight of worry.
He lifted her into his arms, her body curled up against him, just like the previous night. “You’ll be all right. I promise.”
He faced his boss. “You’re a bastard.” Every molecule in his body demanded he rip the smirk off Brent’s mouth. “She was still healing from her surgery, and you threw her into the cage. You set her up to fail.” His words trembled, and the rage threatened to swallow him.
“Get out of my face.” A sliver of fear lined Brent’s words.
“She deserves a fair go when she’s ready. Not this fuckin’ bullshit.”
“I need to see how she reacts in severe adversity, not handhold her until the right time. There never is a perfect time, and I don’t need a weak link in my team. Now move.”
“You’re wrong. She’s tougher than most fighters here.” He stormed from the cage, following a couple of staff.
In the office, he laid Cary on Brent’s desk.
Levi had watched dozens of fights, some bloodier. But witnessing Cary getting bashed killed him. Hunters had to be relentless. Even when facing death, they got up and kept going. Cary had tenacity. She could do it; there was no doubt in his mind. Or maybe that was the kick she needed to avoid getting involved with an organization that didn’t give a crap about its employees and would rather see them in the hospital than miss a hit.
Back in the hotel, Levi wasn’t sure who suffered more. Cary, blue and bruised, sitting beside him on the couch, or him, replaying the vision of her getting pummeled.
“You sure you don’t want me to take you to the hospital?”
She shook her head, but avoided meeting his gaze. “I’m fine. It looks worse than it is.” Still, agony reflected from her battered face.
Her arms wrapped around her bent legs.
“Need more ice?” Without waiting for an answer, he headed into the kitchen and took another pack from the freezer. No matter where he traveled, his one essential was filling the fridge with ice packs. It was inevitable he’d get injured. Came with the territory.
He took the one lying across Cary’s shoulder and replaced it.
“Thanks for helping in the cage, but if you ever leave me blind in a restaurant again, I’ll be kicking your ass.”
He crashed on the opposite corner of the couch, drew a leg under him, and ran a hand down his face. “I fucked up the other night. The whole situation sucked. The car had run someone over, and I know it was doing it to lure me out. I couldn’t let it harm anyone else… but I never should have left you alone.”
Cary stared at him, expressionless, which was not the Cary he knew. Her lower lip was busted and swollen twice its size, but still, his thoughts sailed to him closing the distance, taking her into his arms. Right then, he wanted to cover her in cotton balls and keep her safe. But if anyone did that to him, he’d go ballistic, and Cary had too much pride to admit defeat. She’d been fighting demons before he met her, so it wasn’t her first rodeo.
“Last night, I was pissed at you,” she began. “But more so because you threw yourself at danger without backup. And I was angry at myself that I couldn’t help. Yeah, what you did was a jerk move. But I get it. You’ve got your priorities.” Despite her calm tone, resentment layered her words.
The word priorities tore through him like barbed wire. It left him spinning in a tangled mess of emotions, and for once, his voice vanished. With one word, she’d confessed to liking him but then pushed him aside. How could he shove away his emotions when they kept crashing through him, reminding him of the dozens of ways he could have handled the situation better.
“If last night played over again, I’d have done things differently. I would have gotten someone to look after you first, taken you to my hotel room.” Cary had infiltrated his life as if she’d always been there. But was it so wrong of him to want more than a fling? “My priority is to keep everyone protected, including you.”
“Yep.” Hair was plastered to her head, bandages sat above her injured eye, and her gaze kept lowering. Nothing like the woman he’d first crashed into on the sidewalk. And it was his fault.
What did she expect him to say? That he’d let innocents die to make sure she got home okay? He lounged back against the sofa, figuring it was better he said nothing, but the fiery response nudging his mind wasn’t helping.
Chapter 13
Two excruciating days had passed, and the painful part wasn’t even Cary’s injuries or being humiliated in front of Brent. It was that Brent hadn’t called to see if she was okay, meaning he’d likely already dismissed her before giving her the Argos job.
Her world spun, each breath sucked into the hollowness in her chest. What was she supposed to do now? Where would she live after Levi left Detroit?
Climbing off the couch, she pushed loose strands off her face and pulled the hair over one shoulder. With a few quick steps, she crossed the living area of Levi’s hotel room and stopped near the floor to ceiling windows. Night cloaked Detroit, lit up by the tall lamps in the parking structure across the road and the multi-colored neon lights glowing on the storefronts. She watched a family with two young kids laughing as they walked on the sidewalk below, reminded her of her father. He’d do her grocery shopping only at night because that was when the aisles were empty. Would Cary ever feel that sense of belonging again? A part of her wanted the family outside to feel pain too, so
she wouldn’t be all alone, but that was selfish. No one deserved her life.
Tears flooded her eyes as hopelessness filled her. She wiped them away.
In a few days, she’d be homeless, and despite that, there was the agony of breaking ties with Levi, which sat like a brick in her gut. They had a fling and the sex was incredible, but never had he implied their time together would end with anything more. So why had she let herself believe otherwise?
“How are you feeling?” Levi’s voice was softness tracing the length of Cary’s spine, leaving her tingling. Levi came down the stairs of his penthouse room, dressed in boots, jeans, and a closed up leather jacket.
“Better. You heading out?”
Levi stood a foot away, studying her with true concern. She never doubted his caring nature, just his feelings toward her.
“Never seen anyone heal so fast. Your bruises are almost gone. I want whatever’s in your system for the next time a demon beats me up.” He broke into a soft chuckle, but it sounded forced.
“Listen,” she began. “Really appreciate you putting me up at your place, for taking care of me.” She shrugged, unable to find the right words. “You mean a lot to me, and I pushed you away when I shouldn’t have.”
Her attention fell to her bare feet as an inferno claimed her insides. Her throat choked up. What was wrong with her? Getting emotional wasn’t her thing and yet around Levi, she was a pushover, trembling, eager to please him. Despite telling herself to pull away, she was desperate for him to reach out and touch her. She didn’t even know how they went through the last two days with barely any words spoken.
Levi’s warm hand cupped the side of her face, lifting her chin. “You did nothing wrong.”
The pounding of Cary’s pulse shuddered through her veins, and she struggled to find her voice. Especially when Levi stared into her eyes with a softness she’d craved for these past two days.