by Kimber White
“When you held this, it made you stronger. It saved you...somehow. Am I losing my mind? Did that really happen?”
I let the silence grow heavy between us. I still didn’t know the best way to protect her. She was alone. Vulnerable. Dependent on me because of what happened to her family and her business and the fact that I’d brought her here. “I don’t know what we’re dealing with,” I said. It was an honest answer. “I think we need to find someone who can tell us what that diamond really is. And in the meantime, I need you to tell me the truth.”
Her eyes got wide. “But I have.”
“I didn’t say you lied,” I said. “But you can’t keep a single detail from me. I need to know who else knows about that diamond. We have to figure out who rigged Alonzo Fry like that. Because they won’t stop coming. That I can promise you. And whoever it was was willing to go through both you and me to get that thing. I need to know why. I need to know who. It’s the only way I’ll be able to fully protect you.”
She nodded. Her eyes got a faraway look. We sat like that for a moment or two. Then, Meg’s attention snapped back to me.
“What you are,” she said. “What I feel like when I’m around you. Leo, I think I know what it means. I need you to say it though.”
Say it. I could barely admit it to myself. I wanted to protect her. A very big evil was headed our way. I felt that in my bones. Whatever, whoever was behind it, I knew they might try to use Meg against me. If they knew she might be my fated mate…
I was sworn to protect her. And yet, being near me might be the very thing that got her killed.
Chapter Eleven
Meg
Over the next three days, Leo and I settled into at least a resemblance of a routine. I stayed indoors, out of sight. He worked from the basement, fielding calls from Wolfguard’s vast network of consultants. So far, no one could shed light on what happened back at the shop. It was dark magic, no doubt. But, the significant covens in the Midwest weren’t talking. They all denied having any involvement.
For my part, I tried to learn more about the diamond. I sent Leo out with a list of supplies. Among other things, he brought back a high-quality loupe to replace the one I left behind at the shop. While I lacked Alonzo’s expertise, I knew I could figure a few things out without his help.
But, there was one thing I asked for Leo hadn’t yet brought back.
“Any luck?” I asked. Leo had just come in through the back porch. He’d been gone the better part of the morning. My heart did that little lurch as he stood in the doorway. That was happening a lot lately. It was as if my body were dialed in to his. When he was near, it sent my pulse racing and heated my blood.
The other night, we’d come so close to naming what was happening between us. But, we’d both stopped just short. I wasn’t sure whether I was more afraid of knowing or not knowing what it meant.
Leo’s face held a grim expression. He wouldn’t tell me where he went each day or who he’d talked to. I’d put together that my presence here caused some friction with his boss. He kept telling me Payne Fallon trusted him to handle this job the best he knew how.
“Sort of,” he said, shocking me. I stood in the center of the living room. Leo walked toward me.
“Payne sent my cousin Milo to talk with one of the covens from northern California. Fire witches, mostly. We have a sort of family connection with one of their members. She’s my sister’s sister-in-law.”
I made a circle with my chin trying to work that out. “Got it,” I said. “What did she say?”
“The book you wanted, it’s in their library. Gemma...that’s the sister-in-law, she’s seen it.”
My heart flipped. I’d made a list of all the reference texts my father had ever talked about when researching the provenance of the red diamond. The first recorded mention of it came from a magical source.
“Will she help us?” I asked.
I held my breath waiting for Leo to answer. If I could get my hands on that text or even a copy of it, it would go a long way toward figuring out just what power this diamond had. And more importantly, what it was worth.
“She’s willing to transcribe a portion of it,” he said. “She’s going to send her notes by courier to Milo.”
My shoulders dropped. “A transcription,” I said. “Leo, I don’t know if that’s going to be worth much. Things get lost in translation.”
“It’s the best we’re going to get,” he said. “And if it weren’t for my sister’s connection, we wouldn’t even get that much.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. It’s just, I wish I could go out there myself. I’m sure I’ll have questions. It would speed things up if I could just talk to this Gemma face to face.”
Leo let out a short growl. I couldn’t help it. It thrilled me a little at the same time as it infuriated me.
“Not happening,” he said. “I want you out of sight until we unload that rock once and for all.”
“Okay,” I said, finding a smile for him.
“I have to go again,” he said. “Just for about an hour. When I come back, I’ll have the notes from Milo.”
“Thank you,” I said. He was close enough to touch. I put a hand on his cheek. I don’t know why I did it. Leo flinched. Sure enough, that arc of heat passed between us. Desire flooded my senses. I heard that single word pounding through Leo.
Mine.
I took my hand away.
“You’ll sit tight?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Okay. I’m going to grab a quick shower and change.”
He stood there for a moment. We held each other’s eyes for a beat longer than what was natural. Then, Leo turned away first and headed up the stairs.
A few minutes later, I heard the shower running. I sat on the couch and grabbed the iPad Leo left for me. I could surf the net only in incognito mode.
I checked the national news and grew quickly tired of the tribal politics of the day. When I flipped to the local offerings, the first story took the air right out of me. I saw my own face staring back at me. It was the headshot I had done a few years ago for the business website.
I clicked on the linked video. A young, male reporter with a fresh face and thick, blond hair came on.
“Police are still trying to determine the cause of the toxic gas leak at this downtown Ann Arbor mom and pop antique store. It was a favorite with the locals…”
They showed footage of Grandpa’s shop. It looked gutted, charred, the windows all blown out. I thought I might be sick. The reporter interviewed a fireman who said it was being treated as an environmental hazard and the block surrounding the store had been closed off and evacuated.
I put my hand over my mouth.
“Police are focusing their investigation on a person of interest, shopkeeper Margaret Crossley. She went missing the day of the explosion and was seen by neighbors fleeing the scene.”
Above me, I heard the water shut off. I couldn’t look away from the screen. The shot widened and the reporter held a microphone in front of a face I hadn’t seen in over a year. My father stared right at the camera looking grim.
“My daughter’s not a bad person. The things I’m reading on social media. What people are saying. It’s not true. Margaret is kind, caring. I know she didn’t have anything to do with this. Honey, if you’re out there. Daddy just wants you to be safe. Come home. We’ll work all of this out together.”
The camera cut to a shot of the red diamond. I’d never seen that particular photograph before. It was of the diamond, in its box, on a table with a white linen cloth. God. My father wasn’t supposed to know anything about the Kingsblood. I’d made my grandfather swear to keep him out of the loop.
At the end of the report, a tip hotline number flashed. Then, my picture came up again before the video faded to black.
My hands shook. I got lightheaded. Leo was next to me in a flash. He put his arm around me and instantly, my pulse began to slow.
“Look at this,” I said. I handed him the tablet. I got up and started pacing as Leo watched the video replay. When it finished, his face was sheet white. He tossed the tablet on the couch.
“Your father? Where did he come from?”
I put a hand on my brow. “That’s the thing. He had been AWOL for nearly a year. I told you, my grandpa always bailed him out of whatever fix he got himself in. Horse races, blackjack, online poker. It’s either that or whatever get-rich-quick scheme he’s involved in. I mean, I’ve got childhood memories of my father getting tossed out of a moving car in front of our house.”
“The cops must have contacted him after the shop incident,” he said.
“His name is on the lease. But, he wasn’t supposed to know about Mrs. Davies’s diamond. I made my grandpa promise not to say anything. I knew it would bring him out of the woodwork. And I knew Grandpa wouldn’t be able to help himself. He would have given the lion’s share of the profits to my dad if he asked. Leo, I know I should have told you this before. It just didn’t seem relevant to what we’re doing, but now I don’t know. Somehow, my dad knew about my grandfather’s death. I kept it out of the papers. We didn’t even have a service. But a couple of days after, Dad showed up. He waited until I left the shop to run errands. He took my car. He cleaned out all the petty cash we had in the shop.”
“Ignore it,” Leo said. A tremor of rage went through his face. “Wolfguard will handle the cops on that investigation. We have contacts there too. There’s no reason for you to have any contact with your father either.”
My knees felt weak. I sat down on the couch. “No,” I said. “I’m not worried about the shop or any trouble with the police. It’s just...Leo, that wasn’t my dad in that interview.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. He came in front of me. Leo bent down on one knee and peered into my face.
“Margaret,” I said. “My father’s never called me that my entire life. And to tell me how he’s got my back? No. That’s not E.J. Crossley’s style either. Daddy, he doesn’t refer to himself like that. Not ever. I don’t even call him Dad. He never wanted to be a father. I’ve called him E.J., Emerson Junior, since I started talking.”
Leo’s brow furrowed.
“Leo, he’s trying to tell me something. Like in code.”
“Meg, that’s a stretch. The things he said. That’s what normal people say in those kinds of interviews. Does your father care what people think of him? If he’s the kind of conman you’re describing, it makes sense that he’d want people to feel sympathy for him. He’ll probably start a crowdfunding page if he hasn’t already.”
I scratched my chin. I wanted to just say Leo was probably right. But, my father’s words nagged at me.
“Leo,” I said. “I really think someone else put him up to that. He’s been coerced. You don’t know him like I do. The last thing my dad would want is that kind of attention. He’s always...he always owes bad people money. He wouldn’t voluntarily stick his face in front of a camera and give out many details about himself and our family business. He’s on the lam most of the time. This isn’t good. I have to go with my gut here. I think my dad’s got himself in the crosshairs of whoever got a hold of Alonzo Fry and sent him our way.”
Leo growled. He shot to his feet. Now it was his turn to pace.
“I need to get ahold of him,” I said. “We need to know what my dad knows. And...he’s not safe any more than I am if the whole world knows I’ve got possession of this diamond.”
Leo startled me. His eyes turned to blue fire. He drove his fist straight through the wall.
“No!” he shouted. “Don’t call him. If you’re right, I won’t risk him leading Fry’s killers straight to you. It’s not happening. I’ll keep you safe, Meg. I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you.”
His tone was dark, intense. I recognized his words for what they were. He’d just taken an oath to protect me. It went beyond Wolfguard.
“He’s my dad,” I said. “Trust me, half the time I want to kill him myself. But, I need to know. For as much of a screwup as he is, I know he doesn’t want to see me hurt either. I think I can get him to tell us who put him up to all of that.”
“Meg,” Leo said. He charged toward me. He took me by the shoulders. Those fiery blue eyes of his searched my face. His wolf. Oh, Lord, I felt his wolf. The beast inside of him roared to the surface. Animal. Primal. It stirred my deepest desires.
“He’s not going to get to you,” Leo said through gritted teeth. “Do you hear me? I won’t allow it. I. Will. Not. Let. You. Get. Hurt.”
Snap. Sizzle.
I couldn’t breathe. Lust flooded through me. Leo’s pulse matched my own. I could barely feel where mine ended and his began.
Something was happening. I was attracted to him. Anyone would be. Tall, muscular, rugged good looks. He was like some kind of mountain man underwear model. But, none of that is what stoked the flame inside of me.
Mine!
I heard the word thunder through him. And I felt it pouring from me.
A moment. A flash. Before I knew what was happening, Leo’s lips were on mine. I’m not sure who even moved first. But, once we started, I sank into the kiss.
Hot. Probing. Devouring. Leo was light, heat and pleasure. His hands roamed to my back. He pulled me against him. Solid as a tree trunk, I felt the outline of his hard muscles.
I wanted. I craved. I melted.
Then, Leo pulled away. Gasping, I sank back against the couch cushions.
“Meg,” he said, his voice ragged.
I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t even talk. Leo wiped a hand across his lips. I knew my touch burned through him just as powerfully as his did me.
Then, his phone rang in his back pocket. His eyes wild, he took it out.
He turned from me and answered the call. In hushed tones I couldn’t make out, he spoke. A moment later, he came back to me.
“Leo,” I started.
“One hour,” he said. “Then I’ll be back. And then...we need to talk.”
I was still gasping with unspent desire as Leo turned and walked out of the house.
Chapter Twelve
Leo
My heart was no longer my own. I knew it. Now, I felt it. God. Meg’s scent lingered on me. I could still taste her. It shredded me not to have her in my arms that very second.
Duty. Honor. Loyalty.
I’d sworn an oath to Wolfguard. I couldn't forget the job. But now, I’d sworn to protect Meg with my life if I had to. I didn’t really need to declare it. It was in me. Part of me.
I drove to the meeting point off I-75. It was just a little rural town with one stoplight and an abandoned church next to a cornfield. I parked in the overgrown lot adjacent to the church and waited.
Ten minutes later, another black SUV, a twin to mine, pulled up alongside me.
My cousin Milo slid out from behind the wheel. He scanned the fields. He knew I’d already made sure we were alone. I ran a hand through my hair and got out to meet him.
“Leo,” he said, relief in his tone. He stuck a hand out, shook mine, then pulled me into an embrace.
Milo was close in age to me. His father was my father’s younger brother. Uncle Ivan died back in Moscow when we were kids. No. Not died. Been murdered. There had been a pack war for control of the territory. Our rivals had tried to kill every male member of the Kalenkov family. They would have succeeded if my father hadn’t gotten us all out and fled to Chicago.
But that was more than twenty-five years ago now. My father had reclaimed control in Russia. Milo barely remembered his own father. We’d been raised almost like brothers.
“You look good,” I said.
“You look like hell,” he said back. “I had to see it for myself. Grace is about to sic Gideon on me. She wanted me to promise to drag you back.”
I smiled. My sister Grace worried way too much. She still lived in Chicago with her husband, Gideon.
Gideon. There was another fam
ily secret. He was a full-blooded dragon shifter. One of the most powerful beings on earth. My family had been entrusted with keeping the secret of their existence as a condition of their marriage. Not even Payne knew everything there was to know about the Brandharts.
“Tell her I’m fine,” I said.
Milo gave me a sideways glance. “Like hell you are. What’s going on, brother? You’re acting just like Uncle Val last year. When he…”
Milo stopped himself. Last year, our fathers’ youngest brother, Uncle Val, got caught up in something on his previous mission for Wolfguard. He’d gone AWOL for weeks. It all worked out. Val found his fated mate on his last job.
Milo read my face. As we were both Alphas, we weren’t part of a pack, but we knew each other’s moods almost as deeply.
“The girl,” he said. “This Crossley woman. She’s yours. Is that’s what’s going on?”
I let out a deep breath. “Milo, it’s complicated.”
“It’s not. I think it’s pretty simple. She’s got your head turned around. Am I right? That explains why you’ve been so secretive. Does she know? Have you…”
“We haven’t mated,” I said. “I haven’t marked her. I told you, it’s complicated.”
“You have to tell Payne,” he said.
“It’s none of Payne’s business!” That now familiar protective rage settled in my heart. Meg was mine. I would keep her safe, hidden, I wanted no other shifters anywhere near her.
“She’ll drive you mad if you don’t mate with her,” Milo said. “You know what Uncle Andre’s always told us. Hell, you’ve seen it. The longer you stay with her and don’t...you know...you’re going to turn into a horny, overprotective rage beast. Leo, you need to let me or someone else spot you on this one.”
“No!” I put my hands on Milo’s shoulders and drove him backward. He recovered quickly and rounded on me.
His punch landed right across my nose, breaking it. I saw stars for a second and pain shot through me.
I spit blood, then put two fingers on the bridge of my nose. It made a crunching sound as I popped it back in place. It would only hurt for a moment. Within the hour, the tiny bone would heal on its own. But, it was enough to refocus my attention. Damn Milo for knowing precisely what to do.