Calavera. (Den of Mercenaries #4)

by London Miller

  “That’s not how this arrangement works. Should he venture too far off that leash I instructed you to give him, it doesn’t matter that he didn’t want to do as you bid, you’ll suffer for his actions.”

  Kit set his knife and fork down on the plate in front of him, sitting back without taking his eyes off Elias. “Don’t worry yourself, Elias. Neither my brother nor my wife will be revealing her identity to anyone.”

  “I want to believe that, I do, but you and your brother have always thought you were more clever than you are. A trait you learned from your father, undoubtedly.”

  Kit blinked in surprise, too caught off guard to shield his reaction. No one mentioned their father, ever.

  Not because they feared Kit or Uilleam’s reaction, but because most liked to pretend Alexander Runehart hadn’t existed at all.

  In many ways, he had been a bogeyman of the underworld just as much as he had been a tyrant over his family.

  “What was it they used to call him? The would-be king? One who grew mad over the years?”

  A bullet to the head had been a mercy in the end …

  “Are you trying to incite my rage?” Kit asked, genuinely curious.

  “Merely trying to remind you that the past isn’t as buried as you and Uilleam like to think. Some fear what you and he have become, but some of us aren’t so easily quelled.”

  Elias speared a piece of the translucent ravioli from his plate and chewed it, watching Kit all the while.

  Retrieving his wallet from his back pocket, Kit pulled four twenty-dollar bills from inside and placed the money on the table. He waited until his wallet was back in his pocket and he was ready to leave before he spoke.

  “Understand me, Elias. When this comes to an end, and believe me it will, I will personally see to it that I remove the heart of the person you love most and let you hold it a moment before I take yours out with a boxcutter.”

  Kit climbed to his feet and his good mood returning as he watched Elias swallow reflexively, another ravioli left untouched on his fork. For the time being, the threat had rendered him mute.

  Grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair, Kit pulled it on as he ventured out the front doors. Aidra was already waiting for him.

  “How was your meeting?”

  For once, Kit wasn’t leaving in a dangerous mood—he could even manage a smile. “Pleasant.”

  Chapter Seven

  “So you’re going on a date …”

  Luna sighed, even as she reached behind her back to pull up the zipper of her dress. She was starting to feel like she would never get away from that question. “It’s not a date.”

  “Whatever you say, but I can just about guarantee that the elder Runehart isn’t going to see it like that. Hey, is it true they call him Nix? I’m asking for a friend.”

  Winter wasn’t wrong.

  Kit wouldn’t care that it was just a part of the job—or that she was doing it to make sure whatever plan Uilleam was implementing was successful. That would probably make him angrier, if anything.

  But only three other people knew about the dinner other than Luna.

  What Kit didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  “Yeah, his name really is Nix,” Luna said, finishing with her dress then searching the floor of the closet for the booties she wanted. “And like I said, it’s not a date.”

  “Right, because you get this dressy for a meeting. the Kingmaker is lucky if he gets me out of my pajamas.”

  Luna almost laughed. “It’s for the Kingmaker that I’m even doing this.”

  At least, that was part of the reason.

  When Uilleam had asked why she’d agreed, she hadn’t been completely honest. She wanted to know more about her sister from someone who had grown far closer to her than either Uilleam or Kit.

  “Sure, sure. Whatever you say,” Winter muttered, still sounding disbelieving. “While you’re gone, I’m taking off—I have a friend that’s … around. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “A friend?” Luna asked, pausing to look back at her. “Should you—”

  “Dear God, not you too. I already have one mercenary always on my ass, I definitely don’t want another.”

  “I’m just saying. If Syn asks, I have to be able to tell him I did my due diligences.”

  Winter rolled her eyes. “‘Cause he’s like a human lie detector.”

  She was right, in a way, but it was a little more complicated than that. Syn was good at reading micro expressions, so even the slightest twitch of a muscle could tell him whether a person was lying.

  “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be at The Warehouse downtown.”

  “What’s the name of the warehouse?”

  “That is the name, and maybe that means I’ll be able to enjoy myself if I know it’ll take you a while to find it. Later.” Winter waved as she went, either oblivious or outright ignoring Luna as she called after her.

  Once she was finished with the dress, and inspecting herself in the mirror, she couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. No matter that she wasn’t telling Kit about what she was doing, and who she was doing it with, especially when she could see how this might look.

  But, now that she thought about it, there was one way for her to make her status clear since Kit still had her rings. The first time she had worn it, Kit had wanted her to wear it because he wanted to make it clear to anyone that saw it who she belonged to.

  Tonight, she would wear that collar for the same reason.

  Twenty minutes later, Luna was ready and contemplated what kind of restaurant Agustín would bring her to, whether it be something upscale and flashy to show his wealth or something cheap to have her on edge the entire night.

  This was someplace comfortably in the middle.

  He was waiting for her outside the frosted doors, his phone to his ear as he spoke in rapid Spanish to whoever was on the other line.

  Before Luna could hear what he was saying, he hung up and pocketed his phone, gifting her with a smile. “A part of me thought you weren’t going to come,” he said, kissing both of her cheeks once she was close enough.

  “Promises are promises.”

  As they entered the front doors, Agustín placed his hand on the small of her back, but she hastened her step a bit to force him to drop his touch. There was no point in giving him the wrong idea.

  Once he had given his name to the hostess, they only had to wait as long as it took her to step around the podium before they were being led to a secluded table in the back of the restaurant.

  Agustín pulled her chair out then took his own seat as the hostess flitted off.

  “Red or white?” he asked as the waiter approached.

  “Water,” Luna returned, “with lemon.”

  Agustín ordered for the both of them, waiting until the man in the white waistcoat strolled off to get their drinks before he spoke again.

  “Tell me,” he said, “how does a girl like you end up working for someone like the Kingmaker?”

  Luna thought of the sexual abuse she’d suffered at the Kendall estate then of her time spent with Kit and The Wild Bunch while she trained.

  With a slight shake of her head, Luna said, “It’s a long story.”

  The waiter returned, setting a goblet of ice water with thick slices of lemon in front of her before turning over Agustín’s wine glass. Popping the cork on the bottle in his hands, he poured a healthy amount of the red wine before setting it in the bucket of ice.

  “Are we ready to order?” he asked in a posh accent Luna didn’t think was real.

  Agustín graciously held out a hand toward her.

  Luna ordered fish over a bed of asparagus, and Agustín ordered steak and potatoes.

  While he took a sip of his wine, Luna looked around the restaurant, surprised that Agustín’s men were good at blending in. She noticed they stayed relatively unassuming in the scores of people in the room.

  In her study, she didn’t notice Agustín staring at her, his gaze
assessing and curious.

  “Why should I take this deal your boss is suggesting?”

  Luna looked back at him, picking up her glass and bringing the rim to her lips. “You would be a fool not to.”

  “Oh? How so?”

  “You solve a problem for him, and you’ll gain a friend in the process. Can’t get better than that, right?” Or at least the kind of friend Uilleam could be …

  “I think you and I understand the Kingmaker’s offer very differently.”

  He might not have been entirely wrong about that, but Luna didn’t offer a response.

  Luna shrugged delicately. “Undoubtedly.”

  Agustín seemed amused by her—at least, until his eyebrows shot up as though he had just realized something important.

  “Tell me,” he said as he refilled his empty glass. “What made you want to betray your family?”

  Too many years spent with Kit and Uilleam had taught her how to temper her reaction, so Luna didn’t even blink at the question, but her sudden stillness was enough of an answer for him.

  “I’ve wondered why you seemed so familiar,” he said, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “But it wasn’t until I spent the day fucking your sister that I finally see the resemblance.”

  She frowned. “You’re disgusting.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe so, but all the same. It’s curious, though, Ariana has never mentioned you.”

  This made Luna smile. “I’m sure she hasn’t.”

  “Your secret is safe with me,” he said quickly, as though she were more concerned with him revealing her presence to Ariana than anything else. “But I can’t say I’m not curious.”

  “What makes you assume I’m betraying them?” Luna asked, pausing as the waiter set their food down with a brief nod then went on his way. “What if they were the ones to betray me?”

  Agustín laughed in good humor. “That’s not so hard to believe. Your sister, dios mio, she’s a handful. And your mother”—he touched a hand to his heart— “La amante del diablo—the devil’s mistress. No offense, of course.”

  None taken. “Since we’re asking personal questions, what do you do for her?”

  Agustín took a sip of his wine. “A little of this. A little of that.”

  “A little human trafficking, and a little drug smuggling?”

  “From anyone else, I might think the contempt in your voice was offensive, but I’ve done my research on the Kingmaker and his Den. I’ve heard curious things.”

  “Nothing good, I trust.”

  “Depends on who you ask.”

  Some would sing their praises, others would curse their existence—that was the trade. “Yet we’re about to start a great relationship.”

  “How about this—you give me a truth about the Kingmaker, and I’ll agree to whatever favor he asks of me.”

  “You agreed to the favor the minute we walked into this restaurant together.”

  Agustín finished his wine, setting the glass on the table. “Then humor me.”

  “Ask your question, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll answer.”

  “What’s his endgame?”

  Luna blinked.

  “When the Kingmaker makes a move, it’s wise to pay attention. There’s been … talk … of him signing new clients, blackmailing others, and using his Den to take out those who don’t agree. Now, he can’t be doing this because he wants people to know fear. People already know fear, so he’s trying to get someone’s attention, no?”

  All of this was true, but they both knew this already. “Ask the question you want answered.”

  “I need to know if he’s the winning team, because whoever the Kingmaker is trying to make a fool out of, I want to make sure my interests are protected when they decide to strike back.”

  Luna couldn’t hide her smile if she tried. “I think you already know my answer to that.”

  “But I haven’t heard it.”

  “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but in the Den, there’s me,”she gestured to herself—she didn’t feel the need to mention what she had done to his men. “An unmatched sniper, a master thief, the best hacker money can buy, a man that’s literally like a tank, former British intelligence, and Syn.”

  “Syn?” he asked, brows drawing together.

  “Trust me, the less you know about him, the better off you’ll be.”

  Agustín hummed, pulling out his wallet to place a couple of hundred-dollar bills on the table. “Let’s get you home. My car is waiting outside.”

  It wasn’t until they were inside his car that he said, “One more question.”

  “You might get one more answer.”

  “If I asked you to come home with me, would you say yes?”

  “My answer would be no.” Without a doubt.

  Agustín might have been nice to look at, but he didn’t hold a candle to her husband.

  “Because I am a job, or because of the man in your life?”

  Luna glanced at him. “You seem to have all the answers tonight.”

  “But none that you seem willing to confirm.”

  “Both,” she said, finally answering his question, “but more of the second than the first.”

  “And he let you come here with me this night? I don’t think I’d let you out of my sight if you were mine.”

  If Kit could have his way, he would do the same. Luna patted his knee. “Then it’s lucky I’m not yours.”

  Waiting until Agustín was gone, headlights disappearing as the car rounded a corner, Luna crossed the street, walking the two short blocks back to the bungalow—she could never be too careful.

  As she walked, she pulled the pins from her hair, letting the heavy mass of it fall around her shoulders before threading her fingers through it to ease the tension in her scalp.

  She hadn’t expected anything to come of the dinner. She’d thought mostly that Agustín would hit on her, and she’d be warding off his advances all night, but when she really thought about it, he hadn’t seemed very interested in her in that way, but rather who she was because of her relation to Ariana.

  But over the course of the night, even as pleasant as it had all been, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Kit and wishing he was the one sitting across from her.

  Even the most mundane of dinners had a level of intimacy about them, and she wanted to share that with him.

  It was almost laughable how she had been so adamant about staying away from him until this whole mess was resolved, but now, all she could think about was running right back to him, answers be damned.

  Once she was inside, she kicked off her heels, breathing a sigh of relief as her feet hit the flat surface of the floor.

  Leaving everything by the door, she kept her phone in hand as she headed back for her bedroom, sending Uilleam a quick text to confirm that she had gotten Agustín’s acceptance.

  She wasn’t paying attention, too busy to notice her bedroom door was ajar as opposed to firmly shut as she’d left it—too busy to notice the figure sitting at the edge of her bed. She startled, but settled quickly as she realized who was sitting there.

  His hands clasped in his lap, his gaze trained out the windows toward the ocean, Kit sat unmoving with an unreadable expression on his face.

  “Kit? What are you doing here?”

  She should have noticed right away that something was wrong, but Kit had a way of hiding his emotions until he was ready for them to be seen. When he turned to look at her, she could tell at a glance he was angry—or maybe something a little stronger.

  Even in the face of it, a part of her was still happy to see him

  It was the first time they had been this close in weeks, and she wanted to reach out and touch him, re-familiarize herself with the way he felt, but she didn’t dare move from where she stood at the mouth of the doorway.

  Rising from his perch at the edge of the bed, Kit was practically humming with rage as he closed the distance between them, blue eyes glowering down at her the closer he
came. His anger felt almost tangible, snapping and twisting between them.

  Luna was suddenly reminded of his moniker, and the deadly skills he possessed.

  “Kit—”

  “Your vows.”

  “What?”

  “Your vows,” he repeated with an edge to his voice. “Say them.”

  His fury was barely contained and in an instant, she knew it was because of Agustín and their dinner. Somehow, he had found out about it.

  No, of course, he would have found out. Not just because Uilleam was his brother, but because he would know about anyone who was close to the Rivera family.

  So maybe a part of her had known that he would find out—she just hadn’t cared.

  “Have you forgotten so soon?” he asked, his voice dangerously calm, which was far more frightening than his yelling. When she still didn’t offer a response, he gave one for her. “I love you with all that I am and all that I’ll ever be.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised her that he remembered her vows with such startling clarity—even she didn’t remember her words verbatim—but the more he spoke, the more she realized that it wasn’t just jealousy that was fueling his anger … it was sadness.

  She had hurt him in a way that no one else could.

  “And until there’s nothing left of me, and even then, I’m yours,” he finished, using her words like a weapon.

  Even as she hurt at the idea of causing him pain, she still raised her chin a fraction, boldly meeting his gaze and refusing to back down in the face of his hostility. “I know what I said.”

  That was the wrong thing to say. She knew it the second the words were out of her mouth and his hand came up to curl around the back of her neck to draw her closer—firm, but gentle, until there was hardly any space left between them. “Then why did you go out with him?”

  “It didn’t mean anything,” she said, reaching up to touch his hand. At first, she had meant to pull it away, to put more distance between them, but despite his anger, she liked him exactly where he was.

  “Don’t play innocent with me, Luna. You knew what you were doing. You knew how I’d respond.” As the words left his lips, that potent anger that had seemed to bleed out of him slowly ebbed away as a different sort of expression crossed his face. “Is that what you want? You want me to punish you?”