by Nina Bangs
Ty reached out to touch her shoulder. “You. Could have. Freaking. Died. Tonight.” He shook under the force of his emotion.
Her face grew pale as she drew in a breath and stepped away from him. Damn. He forced his fury back into its cage where it howled and rattled the bars. He rubbed his hand across his face and exhaled sharply. “Sorry.”
She stared at him, her eyes wide and filled with an emotion he didn’t recognize. “You big, dumb doofus. You don’t have a clue, do you?”
While he tried to figure out her secret code, she calmly put down her flute and purse, then reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair. She yanked his head down and kissed him. No doubt about who was the initiator here. But no one could accuse him of being a slow learner.
He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. Her lips moved over his, soft and tempting.
His tongue explored all the warmth and wanting she offered. The small sounds of pleasure she made excited him almost beyond his control. He wanted to drag her down between the SUV and the Lexus beside it, rip her clothes from that lush body, and bury himself deep inside her.
Only the thought of how he’d feel afterwards, knowing he’d made love with her in the parking garage, gave him the strength to break the kiss. She deserved a soft bed, tons of comfort after the way he’d lost control on the balcony last time. His breaths came in hard gasps. “No. Not here, not like this. We’ll finish this later when you’re warm and relaxed.” There. He’d done the civilized thing. But, damn it, being civilized was going to kill him.
Her laughter was shaky. “You think warm and relaxed will make it better? There’s a lot to be said for spontaneity.” She looked like she was remembering the balcony too. But she picked up her things and started toward the elevator.
A few minutes later, Fin was leading them up the stairs to the suite they’d shared before. This time without Neva. “Stay here for the rest of the night. You’re exhausted. And I need a report about tonight, Ty.” He glanced at Kelly. “I won’t keep him long. You can take a hot shower and unwind.”
The look she sent Ty’s way said she had the perfect plan for unwinding. “No problem.”
Ty waited until the door closed before turning to Fin. “This couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow will bring other crises.” He led Ty to his office. “So we deal with this one tonight.”
Once settled in a chair on the other side of Fin’s massive desk, Ty reported everything—the fight and what he’d learned from Neva about Nine.
“Good. Very good.” Fin braced his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers as he thought. “So Nine has taken on the persona of a middle-aged businessman. And he’s sponsoring fights between nonhumans. The violence and opportunity to make bets are drawing in exactly the kind of soldiers he’s looking for. He rewards those who join him with hunting territories and kills anyone he thinks might be a spy. Ruthless and effective.”
Ty thought those words could describe Fin too.
“We won’t catch him by surprise. He’s too smart for that. So when we find out where he is, we go in knowing it’s a trap. We’ll just make sure we have our own trap in place to counter his.”
Ty was about to ask if he could go back to Kelly when a completely different question occurred to him. He asked before he could think about it. “I know you’ve said we were nothing before we were dinosaurs, but that doesn’t make sense. Are you telling us the truth?”
Fin stared at him, his eyes showing no emotion beyond their shining surface. “No.”
For a second, Ty didn’t think he’d heard Fin correctly. He almost shook his head, expecting the familiar fog to roll in and blur his thoughts. Nothing happened.
“No? Just like that? No?” Ty fought back his instinctive anger. Now was not the time to lose his temper. “Explain.”
Fin shrugged. He didn’t look concerned that he’d just shaken Ty’s life to its core. “No, I haven’t been telling you the truth. And, no, I’m not going to explain.”
“Why?” Waves of fury alternated with the suffocating knowledge that Fin had lied to them. He wrapped mental arms around his animal soul, holding it down.
“I’ve blocked your memories of the time before, and I’ve done some minor fiddling to keep you from asking questions. It was my choice. Some things are best not remembered.”
“You don’t have that right.”
“I have more right than you’ll ever know.” For a moment anger flared in Fin’s eyes and then was gone. “You couldn’t change what happened or what came after. You wouldn’t have been able to function with your primitive soul if you’d had those memories. And now? Those memories would get in the way of what we have to do. Saving humanity is all that matters.”
“You’re a cold son of a bitch.”
Fin’s smile would’ve frozen fire. “Oh, yes. Only a cold son of a bitch could have guarded our secrets for two hundred million years.”
Two hundred million years? “Why admit this now? Why not just keep messing with my mind?” His head would explode if he didn’t take a shot at Fin.
“Because you’re in love with Kelly, and you have to understand how your past will affect her.”
Ty stilled. “What do you mean?”
Fin laughed, not a kind laugh. “No, I didn’t get that revelation from your mind. I didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face.”
Love Kelly? The truth hit Ty so hard, he almost forgot his fury at Fin. “You already told us what a woman would have to do if she made the mistake of falling in love with us.” He didn’t bother hiding his bitterness.
“I told you she’d have to walk into the heart of your beast and claim a piece of your soul. And you’d have to let her.” He met Ty’s gaze. “I didn’t tell you the rest. I think I have to tell you now.”
This was going to be bad. Ty could sense it coming.
“Before she claims that piece of your soul, she’ll see all that you were in your previous life…and all that you were before. And the before is almost more than a human mind can bear. I won’t have the power to spare her that.” Fin spun his chair to face the bank of windows that showed Houston still cloaked in darkness. “Even if she keeps her sanity, I can’t guarantee she’ll come out the other side of the experience still loving you. And beyond that, there’d be the problem of her immortality.”
“Immortality?”
“After surviving that peek into your soul, she’d be immortal like us. Think about how that would change her life. Think about what you’d be asking of her love.”
Ty wasn’t able to wrap his understanding around everything Fin had said. “So what you’re saying is that no woman can ever survive loving us.”
Fin’s voice held a touch of humor this time. “Well, it wouldn’t be a good start to the relationship. And, no, I’m not saying she couldn’t survive. I’m saying she’d have to love you a hell of a lot for her feelings to survive. Call me cynical, but I’m not a big believer in unconditional love.”
“In other words, we’ll never be anything other than what we are now.” Men, beasts, alone.
“Maybe that’s all we deserve to be.” Fin sounded as if he was thinking about that time before.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell everyone?” How did Kelly feel about him? Did it matter? Even if she loved him, he wouldn’t put her through what Fin had described.
“Hey, tell away. I don’t care. It won’t change a thing. We still have to work together so humanity can survive, and I still won’t tell you what you want to know.”
“A lot of the guys would hate you for this.”
Fin’s laugh was harsh. “I’ve been hated by experts. I don’t react to the emotion of others. It can’t touch me, Ty. Nothing can touch me.”
“Then I feel sorry for you.” Ty rose and left Fin still staring out across a darkened Houston.
When he walked into the suite, the lights were on, but Kelly was in bed. She was asleep. Exhaustion had taken its toll. He turned off the l
ights, then stood staring at her. Moonlight bathed the room in pale light. He’d always remember her this way.
Finally tearing his gaze away from her, he went into the bathroom, peeled off his bloody clothes, and stepped into the shower. Hot water washed away the gore and eased some of the tension from his muscles.
But it would take more than a hot shower to do the same for his mind. Would he tell the others? Probably not. Maybe after they got rid of Nine. He didn’t know, wasn’t sure. Did he want to be the one who tore the Eleven apart?
Once out of the shower, he dried off and walked back into the bedroom. He slipped under the covers beside Kelly. Ty smiled. She wore another nightshirt. He wore nothing. Habits were hard to break.
He loved her. Fin was right. Ty closed his eyes and thought about Kelly. Did she love him? Didn’t matter. The whole love thing was a lose-lose proposition. Even if she did love him, he’d never let her take the chance of trying to claim his soul. And if she didn’t love him? Well, either way he ended up miserable.
As Ty drifted off to sleep, he hoped Fin did lots of dreaming about the past he’d denied the rest of the Eleven.
Chapter Sixteen
Kelly lay with eyes closed, savoring that drowsy moment right after waking when her mind was completely empty, her body relaxed, and everything was right with her world.
Too bad it only lasted for a few seconds. Then reality started trickling back into her consciousness. The good stuff? If she opened her eyes and turned her head, she’d find Ty sleeping next to her. The other stuff? Nine was still out there, and she was sick of werewolves. A good night would be one when she didn’t see a werewolf, didn’t talk to a werewolf, and wasn’t an entree on some werewolf’s menu.
She opened her eyes and turned her head. Kelly smiled at the gorgeous guy watching her with serious intensity. “What’s wrong? You don’t look happy. I’m sure happy waking up next to you.”
His sensual lips tipped up in a smile. “Just thinking.”
“Care to share?” She rolled to her side to face him.
He’d only pulled the covers up to his hips, leaving everything else bare. The wide expanse of golden skin over hard muscle was enough to make her light-headed. She had an almost uncontrollable urge to kiss every inch of his spectacular chest and ridged stomach before slipping the covers down a few more inches.
Ty folded his hands behind his head. “How powerful is human love, Kelly?”
She blinked. That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. “Be a little more specific.”
“Say a man loves a woman. How far does he have a right to ask her to go for him before it becomes selfishness on his part? We’re talking hypothetically, of course.”
“Of course.” Kelly glanced away. His question came uncomfortably close to emotions of her own she hadn’t sorted through yet. “I’ve never been in love.” Getting really close, though. “But I don’t think there’s any do-not-proceed-beyond-this-line sign posted when two people love each other.” She gave the question more thought. “If I loved a man, I’d lay everything out and let him decide. It wouldn’t be my call to make.”
“Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced.
She met his gaze. “Is there a point to this?”
“Just trying to get a handle on human emotions. They’re all new to me.” His smile looked a little strained. “I was thinking about Neva and Macario. She’s giving up the life she knew to live in his world. It won’t be easy for her.”
“Love usually isn’t.” Kelly smiled. “But the perks are great.”
Speaking of perks, the perks of sharing a bed with Ty should include the right to touch. Sounded fair to her. Before her brain could marshal a string of reasons why she should keep her hands to herself, Kelly reached out and slid her fingers over his chest. Smooth, warm, male. Tactile heaven.
Drawing in a deep breath, he rolled to his side and then kissed her. It was long and deep, and the force of it pushed her onto her back. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down with her. The sensation of his body—hot, naked, and definitely ready to play—promised that her day would start on a high note.
And then it was over. He broke the kiss, and as he rolled onto his back again, she glimpsed regret and something else in his eyes.
He turned his head to smile at her, but his gaze was shuttered. “I’d explore possibilities right now, but Fin is expecting us downstairs in—” he glanced at the bedside clock—“about fifteen minutes.”
Reluctantly, she moved away from him and swung her feet to the floor. She tried to push aside the thought that if he really felt motivated, fifteen minutes would’ve been more than enough time. Sighing, she shuffled into the bathroom.
And exactly fifteen minutes later she was seated at the dining room table with Ty and Fin, eating breakfast at 2:30 in the afternoon. Someone had collected their clothes while they slept, washed and dried them, then returned them to their room. Wearing clean clothes and drinking her first cup of coffee made Kelly feel almost normal. No, make that dissatisfied and almost normal. Sexual frustration was a terrible thing.
Fin tapped his fingers on the table as he thought. “It’s interesting that Nine is keeping a sorcerer with him. I’d bet black magic is a big part of this guy’s repertoire. Nine needs as much dark energy as he can get.”
“If Nine is so powerful, why would he need a sorcerer?” Kelly slid her glance to Ty. He was being strangely quiet around Fin.
“Power of any kind can run down if you overuse it. Nine wants to keep his battery strong, so he’s hired a sorcerer to do the small stuff.” Fin stopped tapping his fingers and met her gaze. “And Ty is quiet because he’s angry at me. I told him some things last night he didn’t want to hear.”
“Fin.” Ty’s voice held a warning.
Fin ignored him. “Since a lot of what I said involves you, I’d get him to fill you in sometime soon if I were you.”
Uh-oh. Ty was starting to broadcast. Fin just grinned at him.
Ty pushed his plate away. “What should we do tonight?”
“I spoke with Jude, and he was able to give me a good description of the sorcerer. Vampires seem less impulsive than werewolves. They think before they kill. One of Jude’s crew took the time to get some information out of one of the nonhumans before he tore his head off. The sorcerer’s name is Thadeus, and I’ll have Shen e-mail you a full description.”
Shen. Kelly felt guilty for not asking about him sooner. “Is Shen okay?”
Fin looked distracted. “Shen is resilient. It would take a lot to kill him.”
Kelly subsided. She’d be willing to pay good money to be in the audience if Fin ever displayed any real emotion about anyone or anything.
Fin turned his attention back to Ty. “Take Q with you and see if you can find any places in the city with connections to the occult or magic. Check out stores or clubs where someone might know our Thadeus.”
Ty nodded, then rose from the table.
“Why don’t you play your music before you go, Kelly?” Fin remained seated.
She took that as a royal command. Luckily, she’d brought her flute down with her just in case they had to leave right after they ate. She quickly assembled it, then played her brain music for Fin. It really was an amazing little tune, and the acoustics of the huge room gave the melody’s Celtic flavor an ethereal feel. Or maybe she just thought it was amazing because it was a part of her.
“If we’re lucky, that’ll be the last thing Nine hears before you banish him from Earth for another sixty-five million years.” There was almost a fanatical gleam in Fin’s eyes.
Kelly looked away, pretending to concentrate on taking her flute apart and putting it back in its case.
Ty locked gazes with her. “We’ll find another way.” He ignored Fin.
Turning away, Ty strode toward the door. She ran to catch up. No way would she try to question him while he was in this mood, but sometime soon she’d find out what Fin had said. If it concerned her, she had a right
to know.
He didn’t speak all the way down to the parking garage, but she didn’t mind. It just gave her more time to think. Absently, she noticed it was overcast outside. Maybe they’d get some rain.
Silence reigned during the drive to their apartment building. Finally, on the way upstairs, Mr. Somber and Silent spoke. “Kelly, how would you feel about being a driver for one of the other guys?”
“What?” She felt as though he’d gut-punched her.
“You’ve seen a lot more violence than any of the other drivers. Maybe you need a break.”
He was lying. She sensed it in a part of her that was intimately connected to him. And wasn’t that scary. Violence had nothing to do with this. Maybe he was the one who needed a break. Add depressing to scary.
What to do? If her feelings weren’t all tangled up with him, she’d simply say okay. Let him do what he wanted to do. But walking away from Ty now would be like slashing an emotional artery. She’d bleed out fast. So she took the let-me-think-about-it path. “I need time. Let’s talk again later about this.”
He nodded before disappearing into his apartment. She stared at his door for a long time. Ty still wanted her. Kelly was woman enough to recognize the signs. But he’d been pushing her away since last night, since he’d talked to Fin. The next time she got Ty alone, she’d worm what Fin had said out of him.
As Kelly let herself into her apartment, she lined up the things she wanted to get done before they left for the night. She definitely had to call Mom and Jenna. Then…
Closing the door behind her, Kelly looked around. Something was different. A scan of the room showed nothing out of place. But suddenly it hit her. The drapes were closed. They’d been open when she’d left.
Before she had a chance to react to the discovery, a cowled figure emerged from her bedroom. Its hood was pulled so far over its face that she couldn’t see any features clearly in the darkened room.