Don't Tempt Me (Nora Jacobs Book 4)

by Jackie May

  I feel sick to my stomach. Fear and disgust overwhelm me.

  “Nora, you with me now?” Nick asks. He climbs off me and helps me sit up. “Are you okay?”

  “I…I…” My voice trails off. No. I am definitely not okay. My eyes find Sabin. He’s hunched over in his chair. “Is he dead?”

  Nick checks his pulse and shakes his head. “He’s alive. Mostly.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Nora, what happened?”

  I plop into my chair and cover my face with my hands. I can’t bear to look at Sabin. His skin is dried up and wrinkled, as if he’s severely dehydrated, but I know that’s not it. I’ve sucked a lot of his life’s essence from him. I’m a monster.

  I don’t want to admit what I did, not even to myself. But I’m dangerous and unstable. I need to be contained. “I’ve been having trouble controlling my siren. It’s like she has a mind of her own—an evil mind. My power was born from a curse. It’s dark. And the more I use it, the more it starts to control me.”

  Director West and Parker enter the room, concern written all over them. I get up and fling myself into Parker’s arms. “You should lock me up,” I tell him. “I’m dangerous.”

  “There has to be a way to fix this,” Nick says. “A way to control your power.”

  I swallow hard. I’ve never loathed myself more than I do right now. “Giselle said there isn’t. She said all sirens eventually go dark.” My eyes fill with tears. “Oliver said he didn’t believe it. He said if a light magic user can turn dark, then a dark magic user can turn light, but he has no idea how. He was going to look into it, but…” I sniffle. We all know why he couldn’t look into it. “And now there’s this contract out on my whole clan, and there’s the missing mythics. There’s too much going on, and no time to worry about how to fix me. You should just lock me up!”

  I’m panicking. My heart is pounding and my thoughts are scattered. I’m going to have a complete meltdown. When I start to hyperventilate, Nick takes me from Parker and grasps my cheeks in his hands. “Jacobs,” he says calmly. “Take a deep breath and hold it.”

  When I do, he tells me to let it out slowly and take another one. He waits until I’m completely calm before wiping away the tears on my cheeks. His touch is shockingly gentle. “You okay now, partner?”

  I hold his gaze, letting his deep brown eyes ground me. I let out a shaky breath and nod. “I’m okay.”

  He holds me a moment more, letting us have a moment, making sure I know he’s there for me. “Nobody’s going to lock you up. You hear me, little spitfire?”

  “But I can’t control it. I’m dangerous. I could—”

  “I’m not locking you up.” He gently shakes my shoulders.

  “We’ll figure this out,” Parker says. “But until we do, we’ll just keep one or two of us with you at all times to snap you out of it if you lose control.”

  His promise, as much as I love him for it, doesn’t make me feel better. “And if I unleash my power on one of you? I couldn’t live with myself if I did that”—I wave toward the unconscious man slumped in his chair—“to one of you.”

  “You won’t.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  I look to Director West for backup. She’s much more levelheaded. She’ll see things my way.

  She grimaces. “They’re right. We can just make sure to keep people with you for now.” My jaw drops, and she sighs. “We need you too badly, Jacobs. We need this case solved. You don’t understand how important mythics are, or what could happen if this collector figures out some way to use their power.”

  “So far, you’ve only hurt men you considered a threat,” Parker says, taking my hand. “Your siren is possessive, correct?”

  I nod warily. “Very.”

  “And she’s protective, right? At least of what she considers hers? That’s why she went after Mitchell, right? Because he hurt Oliver?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “She won’t hurt us,” he insists with a firm nod. He waves his hand toward Sabin as if to prove his point. “She attacked him, but she didn’t even try for Nick. Not even after he knocked you to the ground.”

  He’s right. But I still don’t like gambling with their safety. He cups my face in his hands and gives me a sweet kiss. “I promise we’ll figure this out, just as soon as we find the missing mythics. Who knows, maybe one of them will have answers. They are the most powerful magic users in the world. Nick’s too much of a restless cowboy to really be disciplined in magical history.” Nick snorts in agreement. “But the gryphons and unicorns are usually fountains of knowledge. It’s worth a try.”

  I sigh. I’m still terrified I’m going to hurt someone I love, or even just someone innocent, but Parker makes a compelling argument. Maybe the mythics will have answers. And even if they don’t, there’s a missing child. I can’t refuse that case. “All right. Let’s head over to that storage unit. Maybe I can pick up some clues.”

  Parker and Director West walk us to the front doors, but neither puts on their coats. I frown at Parker. “You’re not coming?”

  Parker casts an almost wistful look toward the door, but shakes his head and gives me a small smile. “Gorgeous is your partner. I’m not a field agent. I’m training with the director to take over her position on the night shift so that she can go back to mostly daylight hours.”

  “Oh.” That’s a little disappointing, but I should have realized the deputy director would be office bound like Director West.

  Parker sees my disappointment and smiles softly. He takes the coat from my hands and helps me into it. “Gorgeous will keep you safe.”

  I nod. I’m bummed he’s not coming, but he’s right. If anyone can watch my back, it’s the ornery, fire-breathing dragon.

  “What happened to your new coat?” Parker asks as he zips me into Charlie’s too-big-for-me coat.

  “It was covered in Oliver’s blood. I threw it out. I think I’m cursed.” I wince. “More cursed.”

  Parker sighs and tucks my scarf inside my loose coat. “We’ll find you a new one that fits properly tomorrow evening.”

  One more thing to put on the to-do list.

  I kiss him good-bye, and then Gorgeous leads me out to his car. Gone are the motorcycle and the sports cars, and in their place is his winter vehicle—a huge white Ford pickup truck that I’m sure is top-of-the-line everything. It’s the only American-made car I’ve ever seen him drive, but I have no doubt it’s the most expensive truck on the market and has all the luxury bells and whistles. It’s so big I feel like I’m flying above the road on the way to the storage place.

  We drive up to the self-storage place Sabin mentioned before I tried to devour his soul. Only half of the sign out front is lit up, and there’s only a faint glow flickering in the security booth. The guard must be watching TV. He barely gives us a glance as we punch in the gate code Sabin gave us and head to unit 119. I don’t even remember Sabin giving us that information. I was too sucked in by my power. Good thing Nick was taking notes.

  For once, the clouds are gone, allowing the moon to cast enough light for those of us without night vision to see in the dark. The weather is just as freezing as always, though. I don’t even want to know what the wind chill factor is right now. I tighten the drawstrings on Charlie’s hood and pull my scarf up over my mouth and nose. I seriously hate winter. It makes sense that I’m a summer fey.

  There’s a lock on the unit, and we don’t have the key. Nick reaches out to pulverize it with his bare hand, but I stop him. “Let me try it first.”

  He pulls back, and I regretfully take off my warm glove. The padlock feels like ice, but I’m instantly sucked into an imprint.

  Sabin is holding the padlock in his hand. He pulls down the door of the unit and kicks it in frustration. “Damn it!”

  “Enough!” Galina rebukes. “Don’t draw attention to us.”

  Sabin doesn’t seem to care who sees or hears him—not that there’s anyone around. “Two-hund
red thousand dollars?” he roars. “It’s pathetic! We could have gotten double that for the blood and four times that for the scales. We should have just gone to the sorcerers, like I suggested.”

  Galina shoves a thick white envelope that I assume is full of cash into a backpack and slips the pack on her back. In her hand is a single sheet of paper. I can’t see what’s written on it. It’s too dark out. “You know as well as I do that whoever is paying out the bounties on these underworlders is powerful if he’s brave enough to go after mythics. We’ve already pissed him off by killing the dragon. We couldn’t stiff him completely and sell the goods to anyone else. We had to give it to him.” She holds up the note and waves it angrily. I still can’t read it. “This is proof. It’s a death threat, Sabin. We screw up again, and he’ll come after us.”

  Sabin kicks the storage unit again, but his temper calms down some. “Fine. Then let’s go find us a phoenix before someone beats us to it and we miss out on that bounty, too. I heard there’s a flock in Southern Utah, and possibly one in Montana.”

  Sabin hooks the padlock on the door of the unit, locking it. As soon as he lets go, the imprint fades.

  When I come to, Nick is gripping my arm. I sway and my stomach rolls, but it passes quickly. This imprint wasn’t a bad one.

  “You good?” Nick asks.

  I breathe through the nausea. “I’m okay. I got a vision of Sabin and Galina locking up. They were pissed because they didn’t get nearly as much money as they’d hoped for the blood and scales. There was nothing to tell us who the buyer was. They were scared of him, though. They got a warning that if they screwed up again, he’d come after them. They mentioned going after a phoenix before someone else did, so I’m assuming the buyer is still looking for his last mythic.”

  Nick nods in thought. “That could be useful. We’ll have to see if Oliver can hack the message boards on the darknet. Maybe we’ll find something on that end.”

  “I’m sure Illren knows how to get to those message boards.” I smirk. “He’s probably a VIP member.”

  Nick grabs the padlock and smirks at me over his shoulder as he smashes the thing to dust. “You know, it’s extremely useful that you’re dating a criminal.”

  I groan. “I’m not dating him.”

  Nick scoffs.

  “And I’m not sure he’s still in the assassination business. I think he’s taken over as our clan’s enforcer/security.”

  Nick rolls his eyes and lifts the door on the storage unit. “Right. I’m sure he had nothing to do with all the dead vampires in Henry’s clan.”

  I make a face, saying nothing. Nick’s teasing me, and I don’t think he’d arrest Illren, but I’m not going to rat my assassin out just in case.

  Nick laughs. “I suppose he could have gone straight. Security for your clan is a full-time job.”

  I sigh. “It really is.”

  The storage unit is completely empty. I spend a half an hour running my hands over every surface of the unit, but I pick up nothing other than that one imprint I got off the lock. When I’ve touched everything and my fingers are in danger of getting frostbite, we finally give up and close the storage unit. “All, right, we’ll do this the less fun way,” Nick says. “Let’s go question the night guard, see who rented this space, and get his security footage. Maybe they were captured on a camera somewhere.”

  That leads to another dead end. The storage unit was rented to one John Doe, the security guard doesn’t remember seeing anyone, and, conveniently, all the security footage for the day before was missing. We’re assuming magic was involved. “Well, that was helpful.” I groan as we climb back into Nick’s truck. And I do mean climb. It’s so high off the ground it has a stepladder to help people get in. “We’ve got nothing.”

  “That’s not true. We’ve got the darknet lead—don’t underestimate Oliver’s skills with a computer—and we know they’re going after a phoenix next. I know a phoenix.” The cringe he makes with that admission has my curiosity piqued, but I don’t ask. Not now, at least. “We can have her give the others in the country a heads up and they can let us know if anyone comes after them.

  “For now, it’s after 4 a.m. I’ll take you home, and this evening we’ll talk to Oliver. Hopefully he’ll be feeling up to a little research. We can look up who owns the house where Galina and Sabin dropped off the goods, too. Maybe that will give us a clue.”

  I blink at him, amazed by all the different avenues I hadn’t even thought of. Nick grins at me as if he knows what I’m thinking. “I did use to have to do this job without you,” he teases. “I know a thing or two about solving crimes.”

  “Sorry.” I laugh. “I didn’t mean to underestimate you, but you just seem like this crazy, fun-loving cowboy man-child. Who knew there was a smart badass detective under all that?”

  You’d think Nick would be insulted, but he really is a bit of a man-child, and I think he’s even proud of that fact. He throws his head back and laughs. “Come on, rookie, let’s get you home.”

  Terrance built our den under the Ambassador Bridge—it’s a troll thing. To keep us hidden from humans, he placed a glamour that makes people think there is a tall chain-link fence around the support pillar that doubles as the entrance to the den. There’s also a ward that warns people away and a protection ward that keeps out anyone who isn’t expressly invited. When Nick drives up to the boundary, there is a sleek black Mercedes with dark, tinted windows idling just outside the wards. It looks a lot like Parker’s car, but I know it’s not. Parker would just pass through the wards and go inside.

  Nick growls as he pulls to a stop behind the car. Now is not the time to have mystery cars stalking our den. “Stay in here,” Nick orders. “I’ll check it out.”

  Seconds later, the doors of the car open and Henry and one of his vampires step out of the vehicle. I grind my teeth in annoyance, and Nick growls again. “You want to talk to him?” he asks me. “Or do you just want me to enter the wards?”

  I sigh. “He won’t go away until I talk to him.”

  Nick debates a moment and then nods. “Stay behind me. I don’t think he’ll try anything, but I’m not taking any chances.”

  “Okay.”

  We get out of the warm truck and meet Henry in the space between the vehicles. We stay in the beams of Nick’s headlights, making it easy for us to see Henry and his man but making it hard for them to see us. I’m sure that was intentional on Nick’s part. I keep to his right and a step behind him as he requested, but I don’t wait for him to do the talking. “What are you doing here, Henry? We called a truce, remember? You promised you’d stay away from my clan.”

  Henry holds up his hands in a gesture that’s both a defense and a surrender. “I mean no harm, Nora.”

  I roll my eyes. His definition of doing me harm is very different from mine. “That doesn’t matter. You promised you’d stay away from me.”

  With a sigh, Henry drops his hands. He gazes at me with longing until I clear my throat and motion for him to get to the point. “I’m worried about you,” he finally says.

  I grit my teeth again and ball my gloved hands into fists inside my pockets. “I have enough people to worry about me. You don’t need to concern yourself with me.”

  His eyes flash red in the dark. His vampiric side barely contained. I wait for his speech about how he will always worry about me, how he cares for me, and how he will always watch out for me whether I want him to or not because he loves me and blah, blah, blah. But he skips the platitudes and says, “I heard about the sorcerer who attacked you.”

  Of course he did. I’m not surprised he knows about Mitchell. I don’t think Nick really is, either, but he’s definitely pissed. “How did you hear about that?” he snaps.

  Henry shoots Nick a glare for butting into our conversation, but he answers him. “People talk. I know everything that happens in this city.”

  It’s an arrogant statement. It’s also probably true.

  Nick grumbles, but Henry ignores
him. His attention is focused on me again. “Nora.” There’s worry in his tone. “I know what you did to him.”

  I suck in a quiet gasp. I don’t know why I expected people wouldn’t find out about my darker nature, but then, maybe most people already know. Giselle knew, after all. Why wouldn’t Henry? “I didn’t mean to,” I murmur, shame washing over me.

  Henry’s face softens. “He attacked you, Nora. He nearly killed your sorcerer. You were in the right to defend yourself. You did nothing wrong.”

  I know he’s right, but it doesn’t assuage my guilt. “Is that why you came tonight? To make me feel better about killing a man?”

  He frowns. “I came here to help you.”

  “I don’t need your help.”

  I’ve had enough of this. I turn back to the truck, and Nick follows me.

  “You’re a creature of the dark, Nora,” Henry calls out to my back. “Just like vampires.”

  I whirl around and hiss, “I’m nothing like you!”

  Henry pins me with a heavy stare. “Your magic is dark. It will only get worse every time you use it until it consumes you completely.”

  I start to tremble with both anger and fear. Anger because I hate Henry knowing my business, and fear because he’s right. I’m already starting to lose myself to my siren. It’s only a matter of time before I give in to her completely, and not even my men can snap me out of it. “We’re already looking into it, thanks.”

  “I can help you.”

  Henry takes a step toward me, his arm outstretched. Nick steps all the way in front of me, blocking Henry from my sight, and shifts into his partial form. His skin turns to dark armor. Heat and fear pour out from him. “Back off,” he warns in a low, harsh voice.

  Henry snarls at Nick but lowers his hand. He peers over Nick’s shoulder at me. “I really can help you.”

  I don’t want his help. I don’t want to take his bait and ask. That would only encourage him. But I’m just desperate enough to hear him out. “How?”