“Why Seattle? Why in the world is Apollo hitting the streets here?” She pressed on, already getting answers but needing more.
“Test ground.” He shrugged. “Seriously. To see how the drug works on the street. It has also given them, whoever they are, time to weaponize it. There’s a decent witch population here, as well, so they might be test subjects and not know it. Soon it’ll be unleashed on my streets in Dublin. I have to stop it before then.”
“Where did Simone live before Seattle?” Lex asked, wondering if he’d lie.
“Why?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Tell me the truth.”
His expression didn’t change, but he waited a moment before answering. Thinking it out? Figuring that she’d be able to track Simone anyway? “New York. For about twenty years, Simone lived in New York.”
The truth. Interesting. Because he wanted to be truthful, or because that was a fact easily discovered? “Doing what?”
“Whatever she wanted to do.” Kellach shrugged. “Many of the Nine members live around the world. They have conference calls and get together a few times during the year—just like most companies.”
Time for a bombshell. “How long did she date Trevan Demidov?”
Kell stilled. Slowly, his head lifted.
She fought every instinct in her body not to step back or drop into a fighting stance. She held her ground and kept his gaze. “Kell?”
“What do you know about Demidov?” he rumbled.
She shrugged. “Not enough. Tell me more.”
He slowly shook his head and stretched to his feet. “’Tis time you and I came to an understanding. You might not like it right now, or in the near future, but someday, I hope you’ll see my reasoning.”
Oh, she so didn’t like where this was going. “I have no problem shooting you.”
He sighed. “Alexandra, just hear me out. Apollo wasn’t created as a money-making drug or for humans. It was tested on humans but was created to hurt witches, which soon will include you.”
“I am not turning into a witch.”
“Of course not. You can’t change into another species, but you can become immortal as a mate, and as a witch mate, you’ll be susceptible to the mineral.”
Fair enough, and a concern for a different day. “Who is Demidov and what’s Simone’s connection to him?”
“Why?”
Stalemate. They faced each other, holding tight to facts, neither giving an inch.
“Tell me, or I’m out of here,” she said.
He lifted one eyebrow. “I don’t respond well to ultimatums. You might want to rethink your approach.” The inherent threat in the words poked her temper.
“Fine.” She settled her stance. “Either tell me about Demidov, or be prepared for another arrest. You’re hindering my investigation.”
“I’m about to hinder your freedom.”
Damn wrong thing to say.
“I will arrest you.”
“Try it.”
She blinked.
Thus far, Kellach had been rather gentle with her, but his implacable expression hinted that the predator she’d sensed beneath his soft touch and kind treatment had tired of lurking.
“I do not appreciate your visiting your father in the correctional facility all alone.”
“We’re about to have one huge-assed fight,” she murmured.
“I get that.” Not one six-foot-five inch of him was backing down.
For the first time, she realized how much he’d held back. How much he’d tempered his nature last week. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not who I thought?” she asked, curiosity filling her head, and warning filling her heart.
“I’ve showed you who I am, but I’d hoped to ease you into being the mate of an enforcer.” His hands hung loosely at his sides, and his pose remained relaxed, but the power of him still overwhelmed the atmosphere of the room.
The very essence of Kellach sped up her breath and flushed heat through her. He not only ruled the atmosphere, he changed it with the sense of male. “What? There’s a special handshake I haven’t learned yet?”
“Funny.” He didn’t appear amused. “For my people, a mate can be either the greatest weakness or the greatest strength.”
She’d never been either for anybody. “That’s unfortunate.”
“How so?” he asked, his voice lowering.
“Too much pressure on both parties,” she said levelly.
He slipped his hands into his pockets. “Too much trust, you mean.” He cocked his head to the side. “You’ve never trusted anybody that much, have you?”
“Sure.”
“Not a man.” No judgment, only thoughtful contemplation rode his tone.
The spit in her mouth dried up. “Sure, I have. I trust Bernie that much.”
“Do you, now?” Kell trapped her gaze and kept it. “Did you tell him about me being a witch who’d mated you?”
“Of course not,” she snapped.
“Why not? If you trusted him, you would’ve told him the entire story—opened yourself up to ridicule possibly.” Kell’s voice gentled.