When the Viking didn’t immediately answer, Piper dragged her attention from the fragmenting picture to him. It was difficult to tell if he was actually processing anything. She reached out to touch his hand.
“Ranulf. Where’s the car right now?”
If he didn’t answer, she’d go look out the front window herself to check. But he blinked a couple of times and shook his head.
“I left it up on the mountain. We drove the SUV back.” He stood up straighter. “If the bastard got past my protections, then we’re dealing with a major power. Although, if someone was messing with my wards, I’d feel it even from here. In all the years I’ve lived up there, the only one who got past them without being tied up in knots was Kerry.”
Sandor leaned in closer. “Can you tell where the picture was taken? Your house and garage can’t be seen from the road. Besides, you’ve buried the title to that property so deep only someone with a lot of time and a big shovel would be able to trace the ownership back to you.”
Piper hit the “Print” button, hoping the catch the image intact before it disappeared. Luck was with her. She handed a copy to Grey and another to Ranulf.
“It was taken out in the driveway. The bastard snapped the picture through the front gate. The top’s down, so most likely it was right before Kerry and I left for the weekend.”
Ranulf crushed the paper in his hand and threw it in the wastebasket. “What if he followed us up to the mountain?”
“Don’t worry, Ranulf.” Grey’s stone-hard expression matched Ranulf’s. “We’ll get him.”
“Easy for you to say, Danby. Your wife isn’t the one who likes to drive that car. What if he planted a bomb in it while Kerry was out with the kids? As much as we’d like to, we can’t protect them from everything.”
Grey straightened up to his full height. “We will keep our Dame and her people safe, Ranulf. This rogue will die. This I vow.”
Grey laid his hand over his heart, covering the brand just above it. Sandor repeated the words, his hand on his bicep, while Ranulf clasped the Thor’s Hammer around his neck. As soon as they were done, Grey pulled a gun out of his desk drawer and clipped it to his belt.
He held out another one just like it. “I’ve got a spare if either of you need one.”
“Thanks,” Sandor said, looking awfully proficient as he checked it out.
Ranulf shook his head. “I’ll get mine out of the gun safe when we’re done in here.”
Ranulf stepped back, giving Piper more space. “No one goes unescorted until this is resolved. I hope your men get here fast, Grey.”
“More are on their way. I’ll have someone posted around the clock by tonight.”
“Good.”
“I’m thinking we may need to close ranks.” Grey glanced at Piper. “At least Sandor and Lena. Me and Piper, too. Otherwise we’d be spread too thin to be effective, especially while we’re out tracking down leads. I don’t want any of us out there alone.”
“Sounds good,” Ranulf agreed. “I’ll let Hughes know to expect company so he can get rooms ready.”
Grey nodded. “Good. Once everyone’s tucked in safe, we’ll do some patrolling. Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch the bastard sniffing around the area. Which reminds me, Sean hasn’t checked in. Give him another ten minutes and then yank his chain.”
It was Piper’s first experience seeing the Dame’s Talions prepare to … to what? The answer to that question was terrifying in its simplicity: They were going to hunt the bomber down and kill him.
“Isn’t it Detective Byrne’s job to bring whoever is behind this to justice?”
She knew the minute the words left her mouth that she’d asked the wrong question. Three warriors stared down at her with nearly identical looks of incredulity.
“Hell, no!” That came from Ranulf.
Sandor joined in. “It’s not his job.”
Grey finished. “Byrne might dispute that point, but too damn bad. We will track down the renegade, and when we do, we’ll suck the life out of him, leaving nothing but dust.”
The imagery was too much. “Okay, I’m out of here. You’re scaring me.”
They all were, but she directed the comment at Grey. When he made a move to stop her, she feinted to the side and darted past him into the hall. He went to grab her, but jerked his hands back when she dodged him again.
She kept her distance. “Keep your hands to yourself.”
“Fine, I will.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as a sign of good faith. “I was just trying to make sure you weren’t going to leave the house alone.”
“I was going to see if Kerry needed any help.”
“Good idea.”
Even though she was trying to escape, he followed right behind her. She wheeled around to face him, prepared to do battle. It was hard to keep her voice low, but she did her best.
“You know, I can actually make it all the way to the dining room on my own. I’ve done it hundreds of times. Ask anybody.”
He snuck around to block her way. “Why are you running from me?”
“It isn’t just you I’m running from.” She pointed past him toward the office. “E-mails about bombs and exploding cars are bad enough. But do you guys have to go all Three Musketeers on me? Because, really, all you needed were plumed hats and swords to make the whole picture complete.”
When Grey didn’t budge, she threw her hands up in the air. “Don’t you get it? You even sent Sean out on the streets to play D’Artagnan. This might come as a shock to you, but I signed on to assist Kerry, not to hang out with the Kyth’s answer to the Special Forces.”
“Damn it, Piper, this is my job. Most of the time we do let the local police handle things, but they’re not equipped to handle a renegade on a rampage.” He stepped closer. “And don’t go all us-versus-them on me. You’re Kyth, too. You know this is how it has to be.”
“I get that. And you’re right.” Not that she liked to admit it. She brushed her hair out of her face. “This is all new to me, and the thought of you three dusting some guy scares me.”
Grey’s hands were seething with dark swirls of energy but he was gentle when he touched her face. “Damn it, Piper, that bastard tried to kill you and Hughes. He’s threatening our Dame.”
He pointed down the hall to where the other two Talions were surely hanging on their every word. “Ask Ranulf and Sandor what happens when a renegade goes unchecked. How many people have to die before you think we should be let off our leashes to do the job?”
It was all too much. As a Talion warrior, Grey was clearly capable of great violence. But in truth, she was more afraid for Grey than of him.
What could she say? “I just want all of this to go away.”
“I’m not a magician, Piper. But you have my word that I will keep you safe, and this will end.”
Grey flinched at the powerful emotions Piper was throwing at him. He would never read her thoughts without her permission, but right now he didn’t need to. Her feelings were loud and clear. It didn’t surprise him that she’d been horrified by her first experience with Talion warriors preparing for battle.
Maybe she would have been able to process it all better if she wasn’t emotionally involved with one of them—him.
“Go talk to Kerry. She’s been where you are right now, and recently. See what helped her deal.”
He held out his arms, hoping Piper would at least accept that much comfort from him. She barely hesitated before she slammed up against his chest.
“I don’t mean to be a total wuss, Grey.” She sniffled a little, and then let out what sounded like a giggle.
He leaned his head back to get a look at her. Sure enough, her mouth was twitching as she held back her laughter.
“Care to share?”
“When I came in this morning, my biggest worry was whether or not you wanted anyone to know that you and I were … well, you know.”
Yes, he did know, and now, thanks to the Talion’s sensitive hearing, so
did Sandor and Ranulf. “I’m guessing it’s a bit too late to worry about that.”
She nodded. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“That a beautiful woman has outed me as her lover? I’d have to be four kinds of crazy to mind that.”
And while they were on the subject, he needed to kiss her right then and there. When she melted into his arms, the fear that she’d been about to walk out of his life rather than just his office disappeared.
He held her close and rested his chin against her head. “We’ll figure this out, Piper. Go have some tea, talk to Kerry, and leave this mess to me.”
Grey pulled back and looked her in the eye. “I’m really good at my job. I know you worry, but no more than I do when you’re out there on street waiting for the bus. We can’t let fear rule us, not if we’re going to have any kind of future together.”
Piper gave him a solemn nod. “All right, then. We agree it’s okay to worry, but not to let it ruin what we have.”
“Exactly.”
They kissed again to seal the pact. Damn, he wished they were back at his hotel or her apartment. Anywhere but here with two Talions and his ruler just down the hall.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He grabbed it without letting Piper go. After a quick glance at the screen, he answered.
“Damn it, kid, it’s about time you called in.”
As he listened to Sean, Piper slipped out of his embrace and disappeared down the hall. He was being pulled apart by his need to keep everyone safe and to keep Piper with him at all times.
He knew his duty even if he didn’t like it.
“You did good, kid. Come back and we’ll figure out our next move.”
Grey braced himself to face the two men waiting in his office. The silence from their direction was oppressive. They were bound to have questions about his relationship with Piper. So did he, for that matter. He wished he had some answers.
When Grey walked back into the room, Sandor pretended to be mesmerized by the exploding car. Ranulf, on the other hand, sat on Grey’s desk, his arms crossed over his chest. Okay, so the two of them had decided to let the Viking be the point man. Great.
Grey tried to avoid the conversation. “Sean called. It took him a while to spot the guy, but he found the kid a block over right behind the house. He was standing on a rock at the edge of the yard, snapping pictures with his cell phone.
“Our boy Sean’s got definite potential as a Talion. He managed to trail his quarry all the way to the guy’s car and even thought to get the license plate number. There was no way to track him once he drove off, so Sean’s on his way back.”
Sandor looked like a proud papa. He was entitled to, especially considering he’d been the one to give Sean a new chance at life. Even Ranulf looked impressed, but then his eyes flared as he focused back on Grey.
Okay. Fine. Let’s get down to it.
“Get it out of your system, Viking.”
“You and Piper?”
Grey picked up a piece of paper and ran a finger along the edge, leaving small flames burning in its wake. He watched with satisfaction as the paper curled up and blackened. As a show of strength it wasn’t much, but it was a damn fine indicator of his current mood.
“Yes, me and Piper.” He tossed the flaming paper into an empty wastebasket. “Got a problem with that?”
Sandor spun around to face him. “You haven’t known her long. How far has this gone?”
Grey’s temper hit the flashpoint. “What the hell is this? The bloody Spanish Inquisition?”
“Damn straight it is,” Sandor snarled right back at him. “We like Piper.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? “So do I. Or is this because you don’t like me? Well, too fucking bad.”
“That’s not what I meant, Grey, and you know it.” Sandor was sparking a few flames himself. “She’s only been aware of her Kyth heritage a short time. You saw how she reacted to our plan.”
Ranulf reentered the fray. “She needs time to adjust to what she is without adding complications like—”
Okay, this was going to get ugly. “Like what, you bloody berserker? From what I’ve heard, you two wankers were both sniffing around Kerry from day one. How much time did you give her to adjust before you added those very same complications to her life?”
“Watch it, Danby. That’s my wife you’re talking about, not to mention your Dame.” Ranulf’s hands were at his sides, tightly fisted and ready to fight.
Grey didn’t give a damn. “And what about you, Sandor? We’re supposed to keep our identities secret from humans like Lena. How long after you met her did you ‘complicate’ her?”
Sandor jumped to his feet. “Hey, now!”
Facing off against two pissed off Talions might be suicidal, but Grey planned on giving as good as he got. That didn’t mean he really wanted to start trading punches with these two, especially with Kerry and Piper around. The two women would not appreciate their men acting like idiots.
He forced his anger down a couple of notches. “I will be careful with Piper. That’s all you need to know. Now, can we get back to business?”
Ranulf was already nodding. “Fine. But Piper has no family to stand up for her, so I’m the one you’ll answer to if you get careless with her feelings.”
“Right. But the bottom line is that this is between me and her. Nobody else.”
They all froze when Sean appeared in the doorway. He hesitated to cross the threshold, no doubt sensing the tension in the room.
“Come on in, Sean. Tell us everything.”
“Adele, I thought you’d be here by now. I’ve been waiting to set the final timetable.”
She winced, hating the possessiveness in Wes’s voice. There was a lot about the guy she enjoyed very much, but she’d had enough of being treated like a prized possession by her father. She wasn’t about to put up with it from anyone else. On the other hand, she still needed Wes’s services—all of them.
“I’m sorry it’s taking so long, but I’ll be in Seattle tonight. Thanks for texting me the directions. I shouldn’t have any trouble finding you.”
She dropped her voice low and gravelly, just the way he liked it. A whisper near his ear was all it usually took to get him hard and ready to ride. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you. I’ve had nothing to think about on this long drive but how I want to please you, and I know just how to go about it.”
Especially because she’d tried a few ideas out with the highly talented Randy last night. Her compliments to his parents; they’d certainly named him appropriately.
Wes’s reaction was predictable. “Hope you’re prepared for a long night then. I’ve been saving all my energy for you.”
What a shame she couldn’t say the same, but she wisely kept that little tidbit to herself. Instead, she began, “Here’s what I’ve been thinking …”
To entertain both of them, she described in great detail what she had in mind for the evening. Wes made a few suggestions that had her clenching her knees. He was inventive; she’d give him that.
She pressed down on the gas pedal, wanting to get to Seattle as fast as possible. She glanced at the mileage sign up ahead. “I’m about ten miles south of Olympia. I’ll see you soon, lover. I can’t wait to see how our plans are coming along.”
She let him ramble on about e-mails and his plans to blow up an antique car. It all sounded good, but traffic was getting too heavy for her attention to be split. “Sorry, Wes, but I’ve got to go.”
He was still talking when she closed her phone.
The Seattle airport was busier than Harcourt remembered, but at least his flight had been on time. He shuffled along in line to clear customs and retrieve his luggage. Normally, he would have found the whole process tedious, but he needed time to figure out his next step. He’d been eating antacids by the handful since this mess had started. Between the burning in his stomach and his inability to sleep, he was a disaster.
If Adele were with him, he�
��d be sorely tempted to choke the life out of her and be done with it. Nothing—not even seeing his daughter ascend to the throne of their people—was worth this misery. If he didn’t put a stop to whatever madness she was up to, the Talions would kill her for him. Maybe that was inevitable, but that didn’t mean he wanted to die with her.
The stupid bitch! Why couldn’t she have inherited her late mother’s compliant nature? All he’d wanted was for her to be the face of the Kyth while he ruled their world from behind the throne. No chance of that happening now. The most they could hope for was to skulk back to London without anyone knowing.
It certainly didn’t help that Adele continued to ignore his phone calls and e-mails. He was convinced she was heading straight for Seattle, if not already parked in front of the Dame’s home with a detonator in her hands. Did she really think he wouldn’t piece it all together?
He’d always suspected that her superior intellect was going to cause them both problems. Yes, she’d always done everything he’d asked of her: excelling in school, making friends in all the right circles, being stylish without being ostentatious. The perfect daughter. The perfect candidate for Grand Dame of the Kyth.
And yet, there’d been clues all along if he’d only paid attention to them. Her taste in music was appalling. She’d also alienated more than one of her professors with her sharp intellect and even sharper tongue. Granted, he didn’t suffer fools well either, but occasionally one had to deal with them. Insults and shrewish behavior did not make things any easier.
Finally, there was Wes. He’d had the boy investigated when Adele first started seeing him. Despite his dreadful origins, Wes had used his freakish genius to worm his way into the same university as Adele. The school prided itself on its scholarship program. Fine. He supposed that was necessary in today’s PC culture.
That didn’t mean Harcourt appreciated them allowing—even encouraging—such beings to associate with their betters. He wished he knew if Adele was using Wes as a way to rebel or for some other, darker reason. Wes had taken a degree in chemistry with high honors. And the investigator Harcourt had hired found magazines on weapons and explosives in the boy’s apartment when he’d searched it.
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