Shadow Alpha

by Carole Mortimer

  His resolve almost broke as he placed his hands on Kat’s waist with the intention of putting her away from him. She felt so warm and soft beneath the touch of his fingers, smelled of flowers and earthy woman, and those big dark eyes were still gazing up at him with warm appreciation.

  Because she’s grateful, you dumbass.

  A gratitude fuck had to be an even worse idea than an adrenaline-induced one.

  Kat stumbled slightly as Dair put her firmly away from him before releasing her completely and stepping away. For a moment—for a very brief moment—she had thought… She had thought what, exactly? That Dair was actually going to kiss her?

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d showered and washed her hair, she wore no makeup—it was one of the things Sergei had forgotten to throw in the suitcase when he locked her away in that luxurious hellhole—and her bulky sweater and loose denims weren’t exactly sexy either.

  Of course Dair hadn’t been about to kiss her.

  “I’m going to see how Lijah is getting on,” he informed her as he strode down the cabin.

  “Is his name really Lijah?”

  “Elijah, I guess. I’ve only ever known him as Lijah.” Dair shrugged. “Help yourself to the food and drink in the galley while I’m gone.”

  “Shouldn’t we…?” Kat looked pointedly at the four plush leather armchairs in the main cabin, all equipped with seatbelts.

  Dair gave a disbelieving grimace. “I just broke you out of a secure facility by bombing and setting fire to the place, we drove a mile through the woods without using the headlights, avoided the police by driving through a chain-link fence, all before jumping onto a moving plane, and now you’re worrying because we don’t have our seatbelts on?”

  When he put it like that…

  She shrugged. “I’ll just see if there’s any coffee.”

  “Pour one for me too, please.” He nodded abruptly, light-colored eyes hooded by heavy lids. “I’ll be back in a few minutes and then we can make a couple of calls, one to the authorities about the hellhole, as I promised, and the other to Gregori to let him know you’re okay.”

  Kat had to repress a quiver of physical awareness as Dair stepped out of the main cabin. This completely adult Dair was just so…just so… She had never met anyone like him before. Over six feet of raw masculinity, he gave off this aura of complete self-confidence, as if nothing could go wrong on his watch. While at the same time giving the impression he was the most dangerous thing in the room.

  The first Kat found reassuring, the second was sending her sexual arousal into overdrive.

  Or maybe it was still the meds wearing off?

  No, it was Dair. All Dair.

  And when he came back in a few minutes time he was going to start asking her all the questions she had so far avoided answering, mainly because there simply hadn’t been the time. The same couldn’t be said for all the hours it would take for them to fly to England.

  As for what she was going to say to Gregori when Dair called him…

  Kat poured the two coffees before sitting down in one of the comfortable cream leather seats. She gratefully ate the sandwich she had also found in a small fridge and turned to look out the window at the view of the lit up city of New York beneath them. The city where Sergei, and Ivan, would soon receive a telephone call telling them that she had escaped.

  And it really had been as much of an escape as if she were a prisoner in a cell.

  Kat’s hand shook slightly as she put the empty sandwich packet aside and raised the coffee cup to her lips to take a much-needed sip, her thoughts racing. Whatever she said to Gregori, she had better make sure it was good. Sergei and Ivan would prefer not to go to war over her, she was sure of it, and if she didn’t tell Gregori what they had done to her—Dair knew. Not all, but some of it. Enough to ‘break her out of that secure facility’.

  Okay, so she would have to talk to Dair too, convince him that telling Gregori the truth would serve no purpose, except to cause her brother to declare war on the Orlov family. She just had no idea if Dair would agree to do that—

  “Okay?” Dair questioned sharply as he dropped down into the chair opposite hers.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that!” Kat put her coffee cup firmly down on the table that separated the two of them, before she had the chance to spill it all over herself.

  “Do what?” He raised dark eyebrows.

  “Sneak up on me like that.” She frowned across at him. “Part of your military training?”

  His expression didn’t change. “I don’t remember saying I had any military training.”

  Kat gave a grimace. “You didn’t need to, it’s obvious in everything you do.”

  His mouth quirked. “But you haven’t experienced everything I do, Kat.”

  Her sexual awareness of this man returned with a vengeance, the ache between her thighs becoming so intense that she crossed one leg over the other in an effort to control it. The added pressure just made the arousal worse.

  She had been in love with this man when she was a teenager. Well…what she had thought was love at the time. To the extent that thoughts of Dair had occupied her every waking moment for months. When he had just suddenly disappeared, Kat had thought her world had come to an end. She had gotten over it, of course, had fallen for some rock star six months later, one she couldn’t even remember the name of now.

  But she had never forgotten Dair’s name. Hadn’t forgotten a single thing about him.

  The Dair seated opposite her now wasn’t that same man. Whatever he had done in those intervening years, he had become a man of steel. One who did exactly what he said he was going to do, quietly, efficiently, lethally if it became necessary; Kat had absolutely no doubts that if they had been directly challenged earlier this evening, Dair would have dealt with the problem without making so much as an extra blink of his eyelids.

  He was looking at her now with that same calm intensity.

  Kat moistened her lips before speaking. “I really am grateful to you. For rescuing me earlier,” she added as he just continued to look at her.

  He gave a shrug of those muscled shoulders. “Your words of gratitude may be a little premature.”

  She tensed warily. “Why?”

  Dair grimaced. “Because at the moment Lijah is doing some fancy talking to the New York authorities regarding the flight plan we didn’t log, and the authorization we didn’t have to take off. He’s also denying having any passengers on board.”

  Kat’s fingers were gripping the arms of her seat so tightly her knuckles showed white. “I’m not going back.” She hated the tremor she could hear in her voice. “I can’t go back there, Dair!”

  His expression remained completely impassive. “No one is suggesting you do so. Lijah knows what to do. He’ll keep them talking until we’re out of U.S. airspace, after which we’ll change our flight plan and disappear off their radar.”

  “We aren’t going back to England…?” She had been counting on them flying straight back to England. Had made her plans to disappear accordingly.

  “Not immediately, no.” Dair took a sip of his cooling coffee.

  Kat found herself staring at the long column of Dair’s throat as he swallowed the liquid, before quickly forcing herself to avert her gaze. Everything about this man fascinated her, it seemed, and the last thing she needed right now was another crush on this man.

  “England is the first place the Orlovs will look, Kat,” Dair reasoned calmly, hating having to do this to her after all that she had already been through, but knowing it was necessary, for all concerned.

  Just as it was better that Kat didn’t know about the verbal battle he’d had with Gregori over the need to keep everything about this mission as quiet as possible. Despite Gregori’s initial caution, he knew the other man would have gone in with all guns blazing if Dair had reported back to him on the way Kat was being treated. Which was why he hadn’t done so.

  “Gregori and I had a long chat befo
re I came to New York, and I eventually managed to convince him that, although I have no doubts the Orlovs will try to track you down on their own at first, when that fails Gregori needs to have deniability when the Orlovs make their call to him.” Dair’s mouth twisted at the understatement. “That’s why I haven’t contacted him once since I came to New York two weeks ago—no phone records, nothing that will link me to him.”

  “So Gregori doesn’t know where we’re going either…?”

  “No,” Dair bit out decisively, knowing from her suddenly wary expression that he wasn’t helping to ease Kat’s tension in the slightest. Had she been with the Orlovs for so long that she didn’t trust anyone anymore?

  “What about you, Dair, don’t you need ‘deniability’ too?” Her voice had hardened noticeably. “The security cameras at the clinic were—”

  “A joke, like the rest of their security,” Dair scorned. “It was designed to keep people in, Kat, not intruders out,” he explained at her questioning look.

  “But you’ll still show up on the cameras?”

  “Only ever in profile,” he assured her. “I did my homework, Kat, knew where every security camera was placed before I came in. All that will show up when they review their security discs is a man dressed in tweeds wearing a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses.”

  “A man with a distinctive scar on his right temple.”

  “I kept my right profile to a minimum—”

  “Nurse Cruella will remember it, though.”

  He smiled slightly in acknowledgement of the comparison between the nurse and the fictional character. “Yes. Well. Some things are harder to hide than others.” The fingers of Dair’s right hand went instinctively to that scar at his temple before he caught himself doing it, checked himself, and returned his hand to the arm of the chair.

  “Maybe if you grew your hair longer…”

  “Like when I was a teenager, you mean.” He eyed Kat mockingly.

  A blush colored her cheeks, as if she remembered his ‘bad-boy’ image only too well. “How did it happen?”

  “It’s a long story—and not one I’m prepared to talk about,” he added harshly as Kat would have spoken again. “I made an anonymous phone call to the police while I was in the cockpit, told them they should take a good look at the staff and patients at Harmony View Clinic,” he deliberately changed the subject. Because the scar on his temple wasn’t the only one he had, there was another one on his back, both wounds caused by bullets, because of a woman who had the same beautiful, limpid dark eyes as Kat Markovic, and he didn’t want Kat prodding any further into the topic.

  “Thank you.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else being locked in there against their will.” She gave a shake of her head.

  Dair nodded. “That should keep the police busy for a while. The Orlovs might have a little explaining to do too, regarding your admission there,” he added grimly.

  “Not for long.” Kat grimaced. “They have too many judges and law-enforcement agents in their pockets. Sergei threatened to have one of those judges admit me to a mental hospital if I didn’t agree to go to the clinic willingly.”

  Dair sat forward tensely. “What happened, Kat? Why did Sergei have you locked away?”

  She turned sharply away to stare out of the window before answering him huskily. “He said I was imagining things, making wild accusations after—after I lost the baby.”

  What the fuck?

  Gregori hadn’t mentioned anything about Kate losing a baby.

  Maybe because the other man hadn’t known?

  “It happened the week before—before my father died.” The darkness of Kat’s eyes burned like twin coals in the pallor of her face as she turned back to look at Dair. “I was in shock. Traumatized. The doctor Sergei called gave me something, to calm me he said. Everything that happened after that is a blur. My father’s death. His funeral. The flight back to New York with Sergei and Ivan. My admission to the clinic.” She gave a shake of her head, tears now balanced on the edge of her silky dark lashes. “The only emotion I remember feeling through all of it is hatred for Sergei.”

  Dair was convinced that Gregori had no idea his sister had suffered a miscarriage two months ago. He would never have allowed all this time to have elapsed between seeing Kat if he had known, no matter what Sergei may have said to fob him off.

  No, for some reason Sergei hadn’t told Gregori that Kat had lost a baby, and Kat herself had been medicated and admitted to the clinic. All to stop her from talking to her brother?

  Of course it could also be true that losing the baby had thrown Kat’s emotions off balance, her father’s death following so quickly afterwards having broken her completely. She certainly looked sane enough, but—

  “I know what you’re thinking, Dair.” Kat eyed Dair mockingly.

  Because she really did know what he was thinking.

  He was asking himself the same questions Kat had asked herself until they had increased her mediation, after her attempt to stab Sergei with a knife, and she had no longer been able to string a single thought together, let alone questions.

  Had finding out exactly what a bastard Sergei was, losing the baby, and then her father’s death, all pushed her over an emotional precipice?

  More importantly, was she still sane?

  Kat was now convinced that the answer to the first question was no, and a definite yes to the second.

  Anyone would have crumpled emotionally under the force of the blows she had received in so short a time. But that didn’t mean she was insane, only that she was grieving for all that had been lost to her.

  She still felt those losses like an ache inside her, but she was no longer filled with that utter despair that had consumed her two months ago.

  Without realizing it, the medication and being locked away in the clinic had also given Kat the peace and calm she needed to heal, to recover from the deep shock of that double loss.

  She raised her chin determinedly. “I’m really not insane, Dair. And you don’t have to be concerned that I’ll attack you with a knife when you least expect it.” Her mouth twisted humorlessly. “The only person to bring out my murderous tendencies is Sergei.” She determinedly shook off the darkness of her thoughts. “Now, if it’s at all possible, is there’s a bathroom of some sort on this plane?” she continued briskly. “I would dearly like to have a wash that doesn’t involve being watched by some perverted security guard.” She had noticed that there was another door at the back of this luxuriously appointed jet, hopefully leading to a bathroom that was big enough to wash in.

  Dair’s mouth tightened at the thought of the security guard he had met yesterday watching Kat while she stripped and washed. “There’s a shower through there.” He nodded towards the closed door at the back of the cabin. “A bedroom too, if you want to sleep,” he added as she stood up.

  She paused. “Maybe I’ll sleep after I’ve spoken to Gregori… You’ll wait until I come back before calling to him?”

  Was that anxiety Dair could hear in Kat’s voice? He thought it was, yes.

  Why?

  What was it Kat didn’t want him to tell Gregori?

  What was she hiding?

  Dair gave an inner snort; Kat didn’t need to hide anything, any and everything that had happened to her over the past two months would be enough to send Gregori into revenge mode.

  Maybe that was the problem?

  Kat didn’t want Dair to talk to Gregori because she didn’t want her brother to know what Sergei Orlov had done to her?

  As if that was going to happen when Gregori was going to demand to know exactly what had been happening to his sister.

  Or maybe Kat was reluctant to tell Gregori because she still had feelings for Sergei?

  Yeah, like that last one was a possibility; she had tried to stab and kill the bastard only weeks ago!

  “I’ll wait.” Dair nodded agreement.

  Kat breathed a sigh of relief bef
ore entering the second cabin. She could almost have wept with joy when she walked into the bathroom and saw all the glistening-clean tiles in the shower cubicle and the fluffy white towels warming on the rack. Better yet, when she turned on the shower the water was up to temperature within seconds, but best of all she had complete privacy.

  All of these were things she had taken for granted her whole life, but after her weeks in the clinic, they were now more precious to her than all the diamonds and rubies Sergei had given her, and which she had left behind in his safe.

  “You look happy,” Dair commented with satisfaction when Kat rejoined him in the cabin fifteen minutes later, her hair still damp, her face aglow as she grinned at him.

  “Whoever this jet belongs to has my eternal gratitude.” She resumed her seat opposite, still smiling.

  “It’s hired.” Dair shrugged.

  “Deniability,” Kat guessed ruefully.

  “Deniability.” Dair nodded.

  “What about Lijah?” She glanced towards the cockpit. “He doesn’t have deniability.”

  Dair’s mouth thinned. “Lijah is one of mine.”

  “‘One of yours’…?”

  “We worked together for eight years, now he works for me. He’s one of mine.” He gave a shrug.

  “I see.”

  “Do you?” he mused.

  “Not really.” Kat grimaced.

  Dair shrugged. “It’s enough that I do.” He had tried to explain the relationship he had with his army buddies to Lucien once; his cousin hadn’t understood either. Men who served together necessarily had to trust the rest of the men in their unit to watch their back. Dair had a dozen such men now working for his security company, and he would trust each and every one of them with his life, as they knew they could trust him.

  Unfortunately, Dair had never learned that trust where women were concerned. Not after trusting Karin had almost gotten him killed.