Pressing her lips together, she watched as Ryu dragged the man toward him, dodging his free leg as the shooter tried to land a kick. She could see a line of blood running down the side of Ryu’s face, glinting blackly in the dim light.
Ryu dropped the leg and grabbed the man’s shoulders, blocking a wild punch as he did so. This fight was nothing like TV. It was rougher, without smooth choreography to keep things moving, the grunting breaths she heard on the wind more visceral. As she watched, Ryu landed a firm punch of his own.
Ryu’s hand…Kait blinked her eyes. His hand looked strange, was he wearing gloves? She blinked again. She couldn’t focus properly.
Ryu seemed to shimmer as if she was looking at him through a heat haze, but it wasn’t that hot. She glanced at the sky. Dark clouds hung menacingly above but nothing that would explain why she thought Ryu’s skin looked copper.
A piercing scream pulled Kait’s focus back to the fight. The shooter was crouched in front of Ryu. With his back toward her, she couldn’t see Ryu’s face, she couldn’t see what made the man scream. Ryu picked him up as if he weighed next to nothing, and with an animalistic roar, threw him against the wall.
Eyes wide, Kait’s lips trembled. Was he dead?
More running feet rang out and some of Ryu’s team raced around the corner as he made his way over to the slumped figure. Just when she thought the shooter must be dead, he moved, struggling to sit up.
Ryu said something to Hass who nodded and glanced at her. Leaving the fallen man to the others Ryu ran toward her. Part way there his hand came up to his ear and his step hesitated. Hass too, looked like he was listening to someone. Ryu smiled, and increased his pace toward her, and she knew.
It was over. She couldn’t believe it. It was all over.
Her eyes moved back to Derek’s still body, almost over. His warm blood seeped between her fingers.
“Is he dead?” Ryu’s voice cut across the sound of Derek’s laboured breathing.
“Not yet.” A sob caught in her throat.
Ryu took one look at her bloody fingers and yelled over his shoulder. “Medic! I need a medic here now.”
Suddenly Hass was pushing her out the way, an open medical kit beside him. Ryu helped her stand, grabbing some medical wipes as he moved them both out of the way.
She blinked as he positioned himself between her and Derek, blocking her view. Gently Ryu wiped her hands clean of blood. The comforting warmth of his fingers dissolving her numbness.
After disposing of the wipes in a medical waste bag, he finally looked at her. His eyes swirling pits of molten copper.
“Are you all right?” His voice was a deadly whisper.
He’d been afraid for her, she realised. Just like she’d been terrified for him.
“Hold me.” She looked up into Ryu’s face, desperate to feel his strength around her; his aliveness.
She let out a deep sigh as his arms wrapped around her, holding her safe. She pressed her head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.
Everyone else was busy but they were cushioned in a moment of stillness.
Ryu breathed in the sweet scent of Kait’s hair and squeezed her tighter against him. She was safe. His heart began returning to its regular beat.
“You’re never coming with me on a mission again. I don’t think I could cope.” He would never forget his horror when he saw the gun aimed at her. The dragon nearly ripped itself out of his skin and, in that moment, only years of training kept him human.
He felt Kait’s head nod against his chest. A little pacified, he flexed his fingers, remembering the satisfaction as his fist ploughed into the shooter’s face. He didn’t normally enjoy violence but the threat to his mate changed the rules. Thank goodness it hadn’t been Johnny as he thought. Instead, Razor was a second in command short.
Looking over Kait’s shoulder, he saw Adrian and the others arrive with three men in custody. One of them was Johnny. They all stopped near the downed shooter. A silent Johnny was pressed to his knees, Delilah restraining his hands behind his back. His skin was a pasty white, his eyes dinner plates of fear.
The shooter, on the other hand, was anything but silent. The bastard was on the ground crying a mixture of tears and snot. The bubbling, whuffing sound brought a derisive curl to Ryu’s lip. The man’s crying was broken occasionally by pleas and promises.
Pleas for his life, and promises to tell Adrian everything he knew and everyone who was involved. The fight hadn’t done more than free a little blood from the boundaries of the man’s skin. No, it was the sight, however brief, of the dragon living behind Ryu’s face that had brought him to this state. It was fear, pure and simple, loosening his tongue.
Fear—triggered by a hint of teeth, and glowing eyes, and flame, and nothing human.
Ryu wasn’t sure how well he’d managed to control his appearance but he knew it had slipped significantly. He closed his eyes. The thread tying him to Kait was still so new, so tender. If she had died….
If she had died then a part of him would have died along with her.
“I should never have brought you.” Opening his eyes, he shifted back so he could see her expression.
Lifting her face away from his chest, she looked up at him. “Why did you?”
His gut clenched. Now was his chance, but did he dare? To tell her the truth and then…to leave her.
“It’s complicated—”
“Ryu.” Adrian’s voice cut him off, saving him from decision time.
Ryu stepped away from Kait and turned to look at his boss. “What’s up?”
Adrian walked over to them and cast a quick look at Kait. “Police and paramedics are on their way. Johnny’s a minnow, he had no control over his compatriots, especially once Keilor started driving the play. That’s why the violence escalated so quickly.”
Ryu nodded. “He told you who else is involved? Keilor specifically.”
“He couldn’t wait to tell me, and the man you brought down has been even more helpful.” Adrian’s eyes tightened at the corners. “Seems something frightened him enough he thinks we’re more of a threat than the rather scary men he’s involved with. You got here before we did, I don’t suppose you know what scared him like that?”
Ryu winced before he could stop himself and he knew Adrian spotted it. “I just roughed him up a bit.”
Adrian’s eyes flicked over to Kait then back to Ryu. “You’re obviously scarier than I realised, Ryu. Either that or he’s on something. He kept babbling about demons.”
“Keilor wasn’t in the warehouse?” Ryu tried to move the conversation away from his lapse of control.
“No, we weren’t that lucky, but we’ll keep looking for him. Every time something happens we get closer and the evidence against him gets stronger. You coming back in the van with us?”
“Yes, give us a call when you’re ready to go.”
“Sure.” With another quick look at Kait, Adrian walked back to where Delilah was holding Johnny.
Ryu knew the conversation about his dragon coming to the surface wasn’t over, just postponed, his second slip in days. Adrian couldn’t have his non-human operatives revealing their true natures.
Chapter 34
Kait watched as Adrian walked away. There was something unsettling about a man who was so in control, although she was glad he was here to deal with Johnny. Her former friend, no, her former co-worker, no friend would be involved with trying to kill her.
Her former co-worker was sitting on the ground looking dejected and shooting occasional glances toward her and Ryu. She was glad he wasn’t the coldblooded killer who’d tried to take Derek’s life with such awful accuracy.
She shivered and looked up at Ryu. “I was so scared. I thought he was going to kill me.” She glanced over at Hass, still crouched by Derek. “Derek might still die.”
Ryu reached out and rubbed his hands over her arms. “Scared is a normal reaction when dealing with gun toting madmen.”
; “Were you scared?” He hadn’t look scared, he had looked powerful.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more afraid in my life than when I saw his finger tightening on the trigger.” She felt his hands tighten around her arms.
“I still don’t know how you reached him in time, I was so sure I was going to be killed.”
“You know what they say about fear, it gives your feet wings.” He smiled but she knew it was for her benefit.
Kait pulled a tissue out of her pocket and hesitantly began wiping the blood already drying on Ryu’s face. “You know the weirdest thing, for a moment it looked like you really did have wings—not on your feet, I mean real wings, like an angel.”
Ryu chuckled. “I’m anything but an angel.” He took the tissue from her still trembling fingers.
“That man sounded like he saw something as well, only he thought you were a demon. What’s going on, some kind of mass hallucination? Well, not mass, since it’s only the two of us, but you know what I mean.”
Ryu rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her awkwardly. She struggled to process his expression. Why wasn’t he laughing off her comment?
“Ryu?” she asked hesitantly.
“Remember how I said things were complicated, I may have understated the issue.”
“What are you talking about?” Something wasn’t right. She rubbed her palms nervously against her legs. She felt the way she did in horror movies when she was waiting for something to jump out. Waiting, knowing something was coming, but somehow when it came it still caught her unprepared.
“The world isn’t as clear-cut as you’ve always thought—”
“I’ve never thought the world was clear-cut,” she said, confused. “The world is a crazy, messed up place, just look at Johnny.”
“Then what I have to say next should be easier to take but I doubt it.”
“What are you talking about, Ryu? You’re starting to scare me.” She hugged herself, her hands holding tight to her elbows.
The sound of sirens cut the air and they both looked over as two police cars powered into the lot, stopping with a screech of rubber on gravel. An ambulance, its siren running a cross rhythm, stopped close behind, paramedics quickly jumping out the back. It reminded Kait of the fire, and her lips tightened at the unpleasant memory.
Delilah grabbed the paramedics’ attention, leading them over to Derek. Several armed police officers poured out of the squad cars and hurried over to where Adrian was standing with Johnny.
Kait watched as the paramedics lifted Derek onto a gurney, then the ambulance sped out of the lot, sirens blaring. She blinked rapidly. Derek was shot defending her. She might never see him again, but she was never going to forget him.
She turned and watched as the police officers spoke with Adrian and took custody of Johnny and the other men. All through the burst of activity, Ryu stood silently beside her, a wall of strength. Whatever he had been about to tell her, it would have to wait, it looked like they were about leave. But first, there was someone she needed to speak to.
She touched Ryu’s arm. “Give me a moment.”
As the police officer holding Johnny walked past them she hurried forward and snagged Johnny’s sleeve. “Johnny.”
The police officer holding him glared at her and would have pulled Johnny away, but a look from Ryu stopped him. Kait barely noticed the byplay as she looked at her erstwhile friend.
“How could you?”
Johnny looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “Money.”
“I thought we were friends.” She held out her hands imploringly. “Money was enough to make you betray me?”
He finally brought his eyes to hers and a wealth of pain and regret drowned the usually vibrant colour. “It’s like I told you in the park, I needed money for my mother’s care. I never thought things would go this far. It started so small, so easy.” He shrugged.
“They kept offering more money if I would do more. I got in deeper and deeper without even realising how far I’d gone. I put mom in a better facility, full-time nursing care.” He looked at his shoes. “She’s been looking so much better. I thought I was saving her, but this might kill her.”
“I…I can understand trying to help you mother, understand but not condone. But trying to kill me. How could you?” Tears were welling up in her eyes and she blinked them away furiously.
Johnny stepped forward, only to be jerked back abruptly by the officer. “Oh, Kait, no. I never tried to hurt you. I didn’t want you involved at all. I wrecked your car so you’d run, but I tried to stop them burning your house, from…killing you.” His voice stuttered on the last two words.
“Why did they do it?”
“They saw you hand me something when we were talking. A man called Razor worried about how much you knew. The best way to stop you talking was to kill you. A house fire would have been passed off as an accident, no one would have looked too closely. I tried to stop them, but they knocked me unconscious and they’ve kept me in the warehouse ever since.”
“You should have told me what was going on.”
Johnny glanced at Ryu. “I didn’t know you had friends in useful places.”
Kait glanced at Ryu too, his face stoic as he listened. “I didn’t know I did either, but we could have worked something out.”
“Life is never as simple as one wants it to be.” Johnny looked vacantly above her head. “I’m glad it’s over.”
Kait wanted to tell him it would be okay now, but she really didn’t know if it would be. Instead she said, “Keep safe. I’ll do what I can, and I’ll visit your mother.”
“Thank you.” He looked back at her. “And I’m sorry for everything.”
Kait watched as he walked away and was helped into the waiting police car. When Johnny vanished from sight, she turned and pressed her face into Ryu’s chest. Her breathing hitched as his arms came around her, hugging her tight.
“I’ll let you know what happens. Johnny will cooperate, that’ll help.”
“I wish this had never happened.”
Ryu’s finger tipped her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “Then I never would have met you. I’m not sorry for that.”
She sighed. “Neither am I.”
Turning she looked across the gravel lot. Adrian nodded to the remaining police officer and headed in their direction. Time to leave.
They bundled back into the van and, as it took off with a shudder, she wondered where they were taking her. Her house was a burned-out shell and now Johnny was captured, there was no reason for Ryu to stick around. She swallowed hard at the thought of Ryu leaving. He was attracted to her, but he’d clearly been upset to discover she was a virgin. He kept trying to talk to her and the stress on his face suggested he was looking for a way to let her down easy.
She wouldn’t hold him if he didn’t want to stay. Being an honourable man, guilt might drive him to stick around when all he wanted to do was get the hell out of Dodge. She would make sure he knew he was free.
She took a deep breath. She was a grownup, she made the choice to sleep with him without promises, and she would live with the consequences.
Her heart squeezed and she rubbed her hand over her chest absently. She would never be the same. Her time with Ryu had changed her. She’d discovered she had the strength to cope with crazy things being thrown at her. Things she’d never expected to be able to cope with. She swallowed hard as she remembered Derek’s lifeblood, wet and warm. Her hands the only things holding back death.
She’d also thrown aside a childhood infatuation and found the real man underneath, found she loved the reality more than she ever loved the dream. And she’d chosen to love him with her body as well as her heart.
The van pulled to a halt, and she realised she’d been lost in thought the whole ride. She glanced instinctively at the windows before remembering they were blacked-out.
“Where are we?” she asked, leaning toward Ryu.
“Back at the motel.” He unbuck
led his seatbelt.
“Why don’t you take Kait into the other room, the rest of us can tidy up,” Adrian said to Ryu.
Ryu nodded and Kait trailed behind him as they headed back to the room where, not long ago, Ryu had kissed her senseless. They were going to be alone, and while she’d rather he kissed her senseless again, she suspected this time he would control himself. This time they would talk.
She shook her head. Actually however much she wanted to kiss him, she wanted to talk more. They needed to talk, she had questions of her own. First on the list was her crazy vision. She needed to know if something was wrong with her.
What was her world coming to, hallucinations and murder?
Chapter 35
Ryu closed the door behind him with a click. The curtains hadn’t been opened and the motel room was humid and murky. He ran his fingers through his hair. The police had arrived at precisely the wrong moment or was that the right one? Standing in the car park hadn’t been the right place to tell her, but tell her he must, and now was as good a time as any.
“Kait?”
“Yes?”
He walked over to where she was standing by the bed pulling the curtains open to let in some light. “Before the police arrived we were talking…”
She turned and looked at him. “You were going to explain why the man with the gun and I were seeing angels and demons. Some kind of drug? How did I get exposed? Was it because of Johnny?” she asked with remarkable composure.
Ingenious, but not even close to the truth. “Not demons and angels—dragons,” he said.
Her brow concertinaed. “What?”
“What you were seeing, it was a dragon.”
“What are you talking about? I saw you with…” she waved her hands vaguely, “… ephemeral wings.”
“Kait.” He took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe how hard it was to get the words out. “You weren’t seeing things. I’m not human. I’m a shapeshifter. I can turn into a dragon.”
She blinked slowly, then stared at him as if worried her hallucinations were moving from visual to aural.
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