The manager motioned for Conlan to come behind the counter into his office. “This shouldn’t take long since her purchase was so recent.”
With just a few keystrokes, the manager had the footage up and running on his computer screen. “It gets pretty crowded in here in the mornings, so she might be hard to spot until she gets right up next to the counter.”
Conlan stared at the screen full of milling people. Then the crowd parted and Kat stepped into view, holding up her number to show she was next.
“There! That’s her.” He finally read the man’s name tag pinned to his uniform pocket. “Mr. Dent, can you roll it back until about five minutes before she came in?”
“Sure thing.”
Both men watched as Kat backed up into the crowd again, eventually out the front door. Then he played it forward again. As far as Conlan could tell, she was relaxed, happy even. She spoke to Cami and handed over some money before stepping to the other end of the counter to wait for her order. It didn’t take long.
Well, other than confirming that this is where Kat had disappeared to, he still had no clue as to what had happened to her. He thanked the manager.
“Anything for the Coalition.”
Conlan started back out of the office when Mr. Dent spoke up again. “Would you like to check the street view, too? Not sure it’ll show much. The cameras are both directed at the door, so you don’t see much except for what happens right outside.”
“Sure thing.”
Conlan studied the film, asking him to replay it several times. It might be a coincidence, but it appeared that the same transport had driven by the front of the deli twice only minutes apart. The first time it had driven past, it had been heading away from the condo. The second time the vehicle had passed by in the same direction, this time much faster.
All of Conlan’s hunter instincts were running hot. He leaned in over the man’s shoulder and pointed at the screen. “See if you can slow it down enough to pick up the plate number on that transport.”
“Sure thing.”
They played it frame by frame until the light hit the vehicle’s back end just right, but they could only make out the first two numbers clearly. Conlan grabbed a piece of paper and wrote them down.
“One last thing, Mr. Dent. Can you make a copy of the file for me? I’d like to forward it to my boss at headquarters.”
“It will only take a second.”
The man fished a flash drive out of his desk drawer and copied the file onto it. “Take this. It should give you the same quality as the original.”
“Thanks again, Mr. Dent,” Conlan said. “This will be a big help.”
Conlan headed out into the early-morning light, hoping like hell with the sun coming up he’d be able to pick up more clues about what happened to Kat. If he couldn’t tell anything from where the food and coffee were spilled, he’d call Ambrose and shoot him the footage. With the technical resources available to the chief chancellor, he might be able to read more of the plate number. If so, he should be able to track down the registration on the vehicle and determine if the owner was involved.
If that didn’t pan out, Conlan wasn’t sure what he’d do next, because it meant that Kat could be anywhere with anyone. Alive or dead. No, he had to believe that she was still alive, that she was out there waiting for him to find her. And when he did, he’d make sure the bastards who were after her didn’t live long enough to try again.
Chapter 13
Kat’s chest hurt. Her whole body did. She’d been running for what seemed like hours but in reality was probably no more than twenty minutes, tops. She needed to get back to the condo, but she wouldn’t risk leading the bastards right back to Conlan. Rather than standing around waiting to get spotted again, she sank down to the ground behind a cluster of trash cans. The smell was vile enough to make her gag, but at least she was out of sight for the moment.
Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her forehead on her knees. What had she been thinking by going out by herself? The answer was simple. She’d needed to put some distance between herself and the memories of making passionate love to Conlan all night long. She’d never experienced anything like it before. Even now, after a long, thorough shower, she could swear she could detect the scent of his skin on hers.
She touched the side of her neck. He’d healed the wound he’d left there. That didn’t matter when her overactive imagination could still remember how it had felt to take him deep inside her body at the same time he’d taken her life’s blood into his, etching a connection between them soul to soul.
Thinking a breath of fresh air would help, she’d stepped out onto the porch. It had been pitch-black outside, the heavy darkness relieved by the light coming from a lamppost a few houses down and the garish sign from the deli down the street. On impulse, she’d headed toward the promise of hot coffee and breakfast sandwiches. At least she’d been thinking clearly enough to keep the hood of her jacket cinched down close to her face.
So the question was, how had her pursuers recognized her? Now that her hands weren’t shaking quite so badly and her lungs had caught up on oxygen, maybe she could make sense of what had happened.
Several transports had passed by on her way to the deli. Nothing unusual about that. She’d kept her head down in the restaurant, only speaking when it had been her turn to order. The teenager at the counter hadn’t even looked up except to give Kat back her change. Her order had been only one of several sitting on the
counter when she’d picked it up. They’d called out her number, not her name.
Outside, she’d headed right back for the condo. About halfway back, she realized the same transport had driven past her twice before. At the last second it had swerved toward the curb, and the side door popped open and a man dressed all in black had jumped out and started straight for her.
Scared as she was, she still thought clearly enough to throw her scalding-hot coffee right in his face and take off running. The vehicle was parked between her and the condo, so she reversed directions and bolted down the closest driveway, hoping to lose herself in the shadows.
By the time she’d reached the backyard, she could hear several sets of footsteps pounding after her. She’d hopped the fence into the neighbor’s yard, depending on the soft grass to mute the sound of her running. When she cut over to the next street, she shoved a crate out of the way to crawl under a derelict truck parked next to an old shed. Once she was in place, she tugged the crate back in place and prayed they wouldn’t think to look there.
Her heart was pounding so loud in her head that she could barely hear the man walking by the truck. When he was out of sight, she resisted the temptation to take off running again and held her position. Sure enough, a few seconds later he walked back by and the transport pulled up beside him.
“Lost her.”
“The boss won’t like it.”
“Yeah, well, let him come out here and look for her, then. There’s no telling where the bitch went to ground.”
Then there was the sound of the door slamming shut. She counted to a hundred after the vehicle pulled away and then did it again for good measure before abandoning her hiding spot. Just because they’d given up on the search on foot didn’t mean they weren’t still out there circling the neighborhood.
She ran from shadow to shadow, stopping every so often to listen and to catch her breath. By her calculations, she was less than two blocks from the condo now. Once her pulse was back down somewhere in the vicinity of normal, she’d do one last sprint back to the safety of Joss’s home—and Conlan’s arms.
Poor man, he must be going crazy by now. At least she’d yelled in to him in the shower that she was stepping out for a few minutes, but he would’ve expected her back long before now. She took her time standing up, not wanting to draw attention to herself, especially now that the sun was chasing the shadows away.
The alley was clear in both directions. Would she be better off continuing down the narrow pa
ssage or heading back for the street? The sound of traffic had picked up. Hopefully that meant there were more people out and about, making it harder for her would-be captors to attempt another grab for her.
Hoping that she was making the right decision, she trotted the short distance back to the street, pausing only long enough to figure out where she was in relation to the condo.
Even though most of the dwellings on the street were similar, Joss’s place was easy to pick out of the crowd. It was the one with a pissed-off chancellor standing on the front porch. Mad or not, Conlan represented safety.
She broke into a dead run, ignoring the tears pouring down her face. All that mattered was that Conlan had spotted her and came charging down the street to meet her halfway.
* * *
“Never mind, Rafferty. I just spotted her. I’ll call you back in a few.”
Conlan cut off his sputtering employer without a second’s thought and broke into a run. He was going to throttle Kat for scaring him, but not until he hugged her within an inch of her life. She had some explaining to do, but all that really mattered was that she was back, alive and unharmed.
Or maybe not. There were dirt streaks on her pants, and her jacket had a jagged rip in the sleeve that hadn’t been there yesterday evening. And unless he missed his guess, those were tears glittering in her eyes as she ran toward him, the expression on her face a mix of terror and relief.
When she was just short of his reach, she launched herself straight into his arms, calling out his name. Sobbing his name, was more like it. He swept her up into his arms and jogged back down the sidewalk, not stopping until they were both inside and the dead bolt was thrown to lock out the rest of the world.
There were things he should be saying. Plans to be making. Not happening. Not now. He needed to know she was his, that she hadn’t abandoned him, not after last night. He’d marked her as his, and he was going to remind her of that fact.
Where? The bed was too far, the kitchen table too small. That left the couch. He half dragged, half carried her across the room.
“Strip off your pants,” he snarled.
Her eyes widened in shock or maybe in surprise. He couldn’t tell and didn’t care. All that mattered was that she willingly did what he said. As soon as she kicked them off, she laid back and spread her knees apart, her own hunger showing in her eyes. When he knelt in the space she’d made for him, he freed his cock, pressing against her core.
“Hold on, honey.”
Then he took her, relieved that she was already slick with desire. It was fast; it was furious; it was perfect.
His eyes blazed bright as he demanded, “Promise you won’t ever leave me like that again.”
“Conlan! I can’t—”
“Yes, you can. Promise me, Kat. Now.”
He punctuated each word with a kiss on the small bruise that was all that was left of where he’d taken her blood during the night. How had they lived without this for the past three years? The answer was simple. He hadn’t been alive at all until she came back into his life. He kept up his demands until she broke and gave him what he wanted.
“Promise me, Kat. I need to hear it.”
“I promise, Conlan, I promise!”
His smile was triumphant as he nipped her shoulder again, stopping just short of breaking the skin. Even so, it sent a fresh burn of heat pouring through him, centering at the exact point their bodies were joined.
All too soon, she was shuddering in his arms, and he was pouring out his own pleasure. As soon as the tremors began to fade, her tears started.
They didn’t last long. He held on tight and stroked her back with slow circles as he pressed a soft kiss to her temple and whispered a promise to keep her safe. When the tears finally stopped, he helped her back into her jeans and righted his own clothes. After fetching a warm washcloth from the bathroom, he wiped the last of the tears from her face.
When he noticed she was still trembling, he asked softly, “Are you hurt or scared?”
She drew a shuddering breath. “Mainly scared. A few bumps, nothing major.”
“Did I hurt you just now?”
“Not at all.” Her smile was a bit shaky when she added, “I think we both needed that.”
That was a relief. He ran his hand up and down her arms to reassure himself that she was back and mostly unharmed. “We need to get back to business. That was smart thinking on your part to throw the coffee at the guy who tried to grab you.”
She blinked. “How did you know about that?”
“When I got out of the shower, I couldn’t find you and went looking. Once I spotted the empty coffee cups and breakfast sandwiches on the ground, I realized what had happened and headed up to the deli to see if I could learn anything. Luckily, they have security cameras.” He swallowed hard. “Once I knew for sure you’d been there, it wasn’t hard to figure out that transport wasn’t driving up and down the street taking in the local sights.”
He had to hold her again to reassure himself that she was all right. For the second time, he picked her up, this time settling them both on the sofa. She leaned against his chest, still shivering.
“When I spotted you coming this way, I was on the phone with Rafferty and Ambrose to get them to run the identification on the vehicle. I still want to do that, but I want details first. What happened?”
Her voice was little better than a whisper at first but gradually gained in strength as the story poured out.
Finally, she leaned away from him far enough to look him straight in the eye. “Go ahead and yell at me. I know going to the deli was stupid, even though I was careful. All I wanted to do was get us some breakfast.”
“I’ll put yelling at you on my to-do list for later. Right now I’m too busy being glad that you managed to get back here safely. The real puzzle is why they didn’t attack the condo directly.”
Kat frowned. “Unless they were headed here for that exact reason and then realized it was me out there on the street. Maybe I just made their job easier.”
“Or else they’re patrolling anyplace they think we might have gone to ground. If they know this place belongs to Joss, they might hesitate to make the grab here and start a feud with Rafferty. Snatching you—or us—out on the street would be neutral territory.”
“How do you think they recognized me in the dark and with my hood pulled up?”
Conlan thought about it. “These guys are some of the best-equipped mercs I’ve ever seen. If they had night-vision equipment, they would’ve been able to see your face clearly even in the dark. Or, hell, maybe it was simply just bad luck that they spotted you.”
Then he frowned. “Okay, time for some of that yelling. What were you thinking by taking off like that?”
Before she could answer, his phone starting ringing. Since he’d left Rafferty hanging, he figured he’d better take the call. He lifted Kat off his lap, careful not to jar her any more than necessary.
Before getting up, he kissed the tip of her nose. “We’ll be continuing this discussion in a minute.”
* * *
Kat leaned against the back of the couch and tried to shake off the last effects from her scare. The sex had definitely helped. But as great as it had been, there were other things they needed to take care of, and soon. She still hadn’t had anything to eat, and neither had Conlan. She’d only taken a couple of sips of caffeine before she’d had to turn her cinnamon-flavored coffee into a weapon.
Conlan was in full investigative-chancellor mode at the moment, the calm in his voice belied by the complex mix of emotions running hot in his eyes. She had to wonder if Rafferty was picking up any of that from the other end of the line. It wasn’t hard to guess what the vampire and his wife thought about her right now. Obviously they cared a lot about Conlan and no doubt hated that he’d gotten mired in her mess again.
If so, she didn’t blame them one bit. Even if he’d made the decision himself, she still felt guilty about it. When he got off the phone, she had ev
ery intention of telling him to write her off as a bad investment and go back home while he still had a chance.
It was the right thing to do, even if she hated the idea of being left alone with killers prowling the streets looking for her. Even now, they could be circling the block and closing in. One man, even one with a chancellor’s strength and speed, probably wouldn’t stand a chance against half a dozen heavily armed thugs.
It sounded as if he and Rafferty were done talking. “Give me a call if you learn anything. This place has been compromised, so we’ll be out of here soon.”
Conlan listened a few more seconds. “Yeah, I’ll let you know when we light somewhere. Let me know if Finn is able to trace that call I told him about. I’m thinking it will prove interesting if he does.”
She was already up and moving by the time he finally hung up and stuck the phone back in his pocket. Her pack was right where she’d left it earlier. She slung the strap over her shoulder.
“I’m ready whenever you are.”
Conlan’s mouth quirked up in a wicked grin, erasing the last vestiges of his temper. “Well, as attractive as that offer may be, Kat, I’m thinking we’d better hit the road before those bastards decide to come back.”
She blushed even as she grinned. “Okay, that’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
Even though it felt good to laugh a little, they didn’t have a lot of time for hanging around making jokes—or love. The danger lurking right outside the door was all too real and too close. Conlan obviously felt the same way, because he made fast work of gathering up the few things he’d left scattered around the condo.
When he came back into the room, she did her best to sound businesslike and calm as she asked, “So, where are we going next?”
Okay, so her voice cracked midquestion. “Sorry, you’d think after all these years of being on the run, I would’ve gotten used to all of this.”
“No one gets used to being hunted, Kat. That’s why we’re going to take care of this once and for all.”
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