Assassin's Kiss

by Sharon Kay

  “Just uh, the adrenaline let down, I guess. I’m fine.” Tessa adored her friend, but wasn’t ready to share the jumbled knots in her mind with anyone yet.

  Scorpio gently set Fenrick on the grass and Zeebi rushed over to check on him.

  Kharv shook his head. “He was gone in minutes, Zee.”

  “Shit.” Zeebi dropped the hand she grasped to check for a pulse. “Him and Samuel.”

  “I can carry them both back to the coven,” Scorpio offered.

  Tessa’s eyes darted to Scorpio’s massive shoulders, knowing he could carry both males with minimal effort, then to Orser, seeing the same assessment in his eyes. “He can do it. But he needs to be at full strength.”

  Orser’s eyes dropped to the collar Zeebi had cast to the ground. He exchanged glances with Kharv. “Fine. Let’s go home—but bring the restraints, just in case.”

  Carefully, but with absolute confidence, Scorpio lifted first Fenrick and then Samuel, one over each shoulder. With Orser leading the way, they headed back across the river.

  Tessa felt the familiar pang that clawed her every time she left their true land. This time it was accompanied by the sadness of losing two noble men who she called friends, and her confusion over the demon who’d fallen from the sky and now swore to protect her coven.

  You think a leopard can change his spots? Orser’s words haunted her.

  Did his spots change, or rather, did the rest of the world simply view his actions through a different lens, depending on their situation?

  And if so, where the hell did they go from there?

  C

  HAPTER 8

  SHOCKED GASPS AND HORRIFIED STARES met the group as they neared Bronwy land. Tessa’s already heavy heart grew more leaden, as she anticipated the grief of the guards’ families. Loss of good men equaled loss of morale and, with Tessa departing soon, the coven sure as hell didn’t need that.

  Entering the clearing, Tessa drew Zeebi with her to the front of the group. Hallon stood, arms folded and eyes stormy as he studied them, then swept Tessa up and down, his face wrinkled in worry.

  “The demon is unrestrained!” One witch pointed.

  “There’s no need, Gert.” Tessa turned and shot what she hoped was a steely glare. “He proved himself today. He defended us.” She swung her gaze back to Hallon. “I can explain.”

  “I know. You’re all right?”

  She nodded. “All of us except…”

  His focus moved to the men still draped over Scorpio’s shoulders. His mouth tightened. “Set them down.”

  Scorpio lowered himself to a crouch, and Kharv and Orser shifted Samuel and Fenrick off his shoulders. Inga rushed forward, but halted at the shake of Kharv’s head.

  Her shoulders sagged and she knelt next to each man, the healing talent in her too ingrained to not look, to not give a final, hopeful check of vital signs. And to murmur her own goodbyes.

  Scorpio straightened, and the crowd shrank back. Soft mutterings abounded.

  “Restraints back on, Tessa,” Hallon said.

  “He doesn’t need them, Dad.”

  Scorpio’s head yanked around to stare at her and she frowned at him. Did he want to be bound? “Only another fifty feet and you’ll be back in there.” She gestured to the cage.

  His golden eyes flared, and for a moment she wondered if she had made a mistake. He stood tall, muscles rippling as he breathed. He was the definition of masculine power, unbridled and unrestrained. He could overpower any of them.

  He’d be met with harsh witchfire set to stun, though.

  The insane thought popped into her head that if he wanted to, he could sling her over his shoulder and take off before she realized her feet had left the ground. He was that fast, that strong. She held his gaze, trapped by the raw force vibrating from every brawny muscle.

  But that didn’t make sense. He said he wouldn’t leave. She shook her head. Gods, what was wrong with her? She sighed. “Let’s go. The job’s done.” She nodded to the cage and started walking.

  He was at her side in a heartbeat. “Hallon’s your dad?”

  Oh, that was his issue? She quirked a brow, unable to stop a tiny smile. He wasn’t concerned about being restrained or subdued once more. He was all about his new knowledge of her parentage.

  “Yep.”

  “I’ve never heard you call him Dad before.”

  She shrugged. “I usually don’t in front of the coven. He’s our leader, he deserves respect, and I don’t expect special treatment. I’ll work as hard as anyone else here. Harder, actually. You won’t catch me acting like a princess in a tower.”

  He chuckled. “That’s the last thing I’d expect.”

  She kicked at a dirt clump. “Yeah, I’m not exactly the royal type. Digging in the dirt and casting spells seems pretty un-princessy to me.”

  “That’s not it.” He walked so close his arm nearly brushed hers.

  “Then, what?”

  “Princess in a tower implies helpless, and that’s not you. If the witchfire you hit me with was any indicator.”

  Her eyes widened and for one second, she felt bad for flinging it at him on that first night. “I…”

  “No apologies.” They reached the cage and he turned to her. “I would have expected no less.”

  She dropped her eyes to the door, unsure of what to make of his assessment and unable to look him in the eye. Guilt soured her stomach at the thought of putting him back in this makeshift cell. After today, she couldn’t fathom him harming any of the coven, or running away.

  But the other side of her knew what was expected of a prisoner, and of the leader’s daughter. No exceptions. She opened the door on silent hinges.

  He stepped in and turned to look down on her. “You know I don’t need this.”

  She took a breath, but had no words to voice her agreement. Saying it out loud seemed traitorous to her people. And part of her knew her feelings didn’t matter. They wouldn’t undo the past. She swallowed past the confusion muddling her brain. “Maybe.” Then she closed the door and spoke the spell that would seal the lock. Stepping back, she muttered, “I need to debrief with Hallon.”

  “I’ll be here.” His deep voice held a touch of humor and hint of promise, mixed with the obvious.

  Guilt and curiosity collided in her head. Needing to put distance between her and this powerful, intriguing demon, she made a non-committal noise in her throat and strode back to the group.

  Hallon extended an arm and she tucked close to him, drawing comfort in a way she rarely did in public. She much preferred to keep private stuff private, and she meant what she’d said to Scorpio. She didn’t expect special treatment. But she sensed that her dad needed touch as much as she did, after the ordeal.

  Samuel and Fenrick’s stricken families surrounded the bodies. Their shocked, weeping, mournful cries filled the air, swamping Tessa with their auras’ raw grief. Coven members came forward to carry the dead to Inga’s infirmary, where she would clean them up and prepare them for the burial ceremony.

  Hallon looked down at her and squeezed her shoulders. “You ready to talk now, or want to wait?”

  “Now,” Tessa said. No sense in waiting and mulling over details.

  “Kharv, Orser, Zeebi. In my office.” Hallon headed to his large home. The group followed. Winston joined in, and Tessa was more than happy to unload the crystals from her back pack to the bright-eyed Elder.

  They all took seats in Hallon’s briefing room, and he listened as the four of them recounted the day’s events. Winston unrolled the crystals as they talked, getting dirt all over the table, but no one seemed to care. “I knew that demon would come in handy.”

  “We still lost two men,” Kharv said.

  “Yes, but we would have lost all of you if not for him,” Winston spoke matter-of-factly. “Five of them. Gods above.”

  “Well, I don’t know that we would have lost all of us.” Zeebi turned her eyes on Tessa. “You just would have joined them sooner rather t
han later.”

  May as well be lost, then. But Tessa kept that to herself. “We were at a huge disadvantage, with them stopping weapons and fire midair.”

  Kharv growled a curse. “Still can’t believe they developed that power.”

  Orser grunted in agreement.

  “The other Elders and I will start on a counter spell today.” Winston frowned. “This can’t continue.”

  “Good,” Hallon said. “And I deeply regret the loss of two men, but I agree with Winston, things would’ve been worse had the demon not been there.”

  “Doesn’t change the facts,” Orser growled.

  Hallon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Perhaps the male will serve a purpose greater than spell practice.”

  Zeebi raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

  “Not sure yet.” Hallon’s tone had a final edge to it. “You can all go, except Tess.”

  The group filed out, Zeebi last. When the door clicked closed behind her, Hallon leaned back in his chair and leveled Tessa with a look of love and reproach. “What you did today was dangerous.”

  She sighed and traced a circle on the worn wood table. “I know it was, but I had to make a call right then and there. Samuel had just been stabbed. Nothing was working.” She paused, as the first wave of sadness she allowed crept higher in her heart. “But also…I knew he’d stick around.”

  “Not doubting your judgment, but how did you know?”

  How could she explain the weird trust that she couldn’t even explain to herself? “He says he’s not leaving. That he’ll do whatever we ask. Even when it was time to come home, and Orser wanted him bound again, Scorpio assured us he would get us home ‘because that’s what he said he would do.’” She made air quotes around the last words.

  “What? Does he have some warped sense of needing to do justice? It’s a little late.”

  “No…” She glanced to a window, where willow branches swayed in the breeze. “He has another kind of warped idea.”

  Hallon quirked a brow, waiting.

  “He thinks I’m his…” Crap, she couldn’t even say it. “Um…Dad, I don’t know why he thinks this. This is embarrassing and awful.” She took a huge breath and pushed the words out before she lost her courage. “HethinksI’mhismate.”

  “What?” Her dad’s jaw dropped.

  “Yup.” There, she’d said it. Silence stretched in the room. She swallowed, partly wanting to sink into the floor and partly wanting to laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of the idea…except overriding both was guilt-tinged confusion.

  “He doesn’t even know you.” Hallon stared at her like her face could give answers.

  “I know. It makes no sense. Lash demons need to get to know each other, or whoever, and fall in love, right? Then the mate bond forms?”

  “Yeah.” Hallon grimaced. “I don’t like this. I’d say he’s delusional, except that he seems as calm as a glacial pool. He may be extremely calculating. I don’t trust him, not one bit.”

  Tessa picked at a cuticle. She wanted to say she didn’t trust Scorpio either, but stopped.

  Because she did trust him, on some crazy level. Maybe she was delusional too.

  “I don’t know what Scorpio’s game is. And I hate that I’m losing you to Damien.” Hallon leaned forward. “I know you pushed for it. I never thought I’d meet a woman as selfless as your own mother, but you’ve turned out more like her than I could ever have imagined.”

  “Stop.” Tessa tried to smile, but her heart wasn’t in it. Not when loss and pride tinged her dad’s words like they always did when he mentioned her mother.

  “Two enemies want you.” Hallon shook his head. “You know I have every right to tear their hearts out for that kind of feeling toward my daughter.”

  “Technically yes, but that’s not who you are. And I won’t stand for that kind of barbarism.”

  “Because that’s not who you are.” He smiled. “I’m proud of you. So proud.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” She dropped her head back against the chair, needing to gain a glimmer of insight into her dad’s plan. “What do we do with Scorpio though? After how he stepped up today, it hardly seems right to torture him.”

  “I agree. But he’s never denied his crime. I can’t let it go unpunished.”

  Not for the first time, Tessa didn’t relish what her dad had to go through. The tough decisions, the ones that no matter what he chose, some of his people would be upset. So many lives upturned after Pennar died, all of it pointing to the power vacuum left by what Scorpio did. “Will you talk to the Elders?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Hopefully all those years will add up to some wisdom.”

  She stood. “I’m sure they will. And even though I’m only thirty, I’m here too.”

  He pulled her in for a hug. “That means a lot. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Dad.” Tessa absorbed her father’s quiet strength for a minute, part of her wishing to stay here with him forever, dreading her future with Damien. It hung overhead like the sword of Damocles.

  But for her people, she would do it without hesitation.

  Anyone who objected would be a footnote in her life story, a name in that tiny print that almost no one read. And if one of those people was Scorpio…too bad.

  But his name pulsed like a breath of life in her soul, along with the steadfastness and raw power that surrounded him. And she knew that the tangled, unsettling emotions he awoke in her were just the beginning of a deeply complicated web.

  “You need a refill.” Zeebi giggled as she poured more wine into Tessa’s glass. Stars shone in the thick velvet blanket of night where they sat behind Zeebi’s cabin.

  “No more,” Tessa protested halfheartedly, watching the liquid rise to the top of her glass. “Oh, fine.”

  “Girl, after today, we need to finish a bottle each.” Zeebi pointed between her and Tessa.

  “No, we need sleep. My god, I feel like I ran for miles.” Emotionally and physically, she was exhausted. Going back to their homeland, putting themselves in danger, losing two guards, finding their magic all but useless, was awful.

  But everything about Scorpio still unnerved her to the nth degree.

  “We need girl time.” Zeebi took a big drink of her wine. “Pretty soon we won’t be able to do this.”

  Tessa sighed. “I know.” She laid her head back against the high back of the chair and looked for the twin moons. They weren’t visible from this vantage point, so she settled on the brightest star. So much was about to change. “I don’t want to think about it.”

  “Then, new subject!” Zeebi’s grin turned sly. “Scorpio.”

  Something inside Tessa stretched and sparked as if given permission to be let out. But she wasn’t ready to acknowledge it. “You want to talk about the coven’s prisoner?”

  “Hell yeah.” Zeebi swirled her glass a little too hard, making a thin splash of wine sail over the rim and onto her hand. “Ooops, damn. But anyway. From the minute you put the restraints on him, oh my gods. He was fixated on you.”

  “Not really.” Tessa sighed. “He’s a predator and allowed himself to be bound. Of course he was paying attention to me.”

  “He didn’t have to stare at your boobs like he was dying to touch you.”

  “Zee!” Tessa scrunched her eyes shut. Heat snaked up her arms at the memory of where he’d been looking while she spoke the restraint spell as fast as she could. His eyes had been hungry, but not lecherous. More like he wanted to devour every detail of something he found exquisite…and she had no clue how to deal with that. She hoped no one else had noticed. Leave it to Zeebi to pick up on it.

  “Let’s talk about him and you,” Zeebi dragged out the last word in a wine-induced sing song voice.

  Tessa swallowed. “There is no him and me.” There can’t be. It’s not an option.

  “Pfft. He told you he wants you.”

  “No he didn’t!” Tessa felt her eyes go huge.

  “He looked at you and said mine.” Zeebi a
rched a brow. “He. Wants. You.”

  “Well, he’ll be waiting forever then.” Tessa frowned and picked a stray cat hair off her pants. “Why are we even having this conversation?”

  “Because he looked at you like you’re some kind of goddess. He was all, ‘I’m not leaving, and I’ll do whatever you ask.’” Zeebi giggled her way through an attempt at imitating his deep voice.

  “He meant the coven! Not me. I didn’t ask for anything.”

  “You don’t need to.” Zeebi pinned her with a smirk. “He’s hard whenever you walk by.”

  Tessa’s jaw dropped. “He is not.”

  “Girl, there’s no hiding that big-ass demon dick.”

  “Ew!” Tessa scrunched her nose. “And why are you looking, anyway?”

  Zeebi grinned. “Come on. You can’t miss it. The male is hung. And he’s set his sights on you.” Zeebi laid a finger on Tessa’s arm. “Just sayin’.”

  “He’s being held for murder!”

  “Yeah, but he worked for Dalamos. The whole realm knows that dude had like, a mercenary army. He forced them to do his dirty work.”

  Tessa sighed. “That doesn’t change what he did. And what happened to us as a result.” And what I’m about to do to try to help the coven out of this mess.

  “He was in pure warrior mode today,” Zeebi continued as if she hadn’t heard Tessa’s protests.

  “Zeebi, stop.” Tessa drained her glass and set it down. “There’s no point in talking about this. Nothing can change the past. Or the future.”

  “The past, okay. Nope, no changing that.” Zeebi refilled her own glass. “But the future is one…big…mystery.”

  Tessa reached over to give her friend a hug. “I’m going to bed. I can’t think about this anymore.”

  “Fine.” Zeebi stifled a yawn. “See you in the morning.”

  Tessa circled around the side of the cabin and started down the dirt path that would take her to her own cabin. But before she got there, she changed direction. Prompted by a subtle feeling she couldn’t explain, she headed to the center of the gathering area.

  To Scorpio’s cage.