She broke off our kisses and gave a long sigh. “I understand,” she whispered with regret. “Trust no one within the Guild until Blanchet stops gunning for my head.”
I quirked a brow. “Promise me, DeLuna. Or I’ll have to hide you away for your own safety.” Visions of her tied up and helpless in my snow-surrounded fortress danced across my mind, and my hard dick twitched with excitement.
She clicked her tongue with an edge of frustration but gave a small nod. It was good enough.
As much as it pained me to do, the moment she fell asleep some hours later—exhausted and thoroughly fucked into unconsciousness—I dressed and left the hotel room. She was more than capable of protecting herself; she’d proven that much. And I had something important to attend to.
Whistling a happy tune, floating on the residue of incredible sex endorphins, I strode through the hotel parking deck to my dodgy white panel van. I could still taste my goddess on my lips as I opened the back of the van and peered down at my captive—bound, gagged, and bleeding in the otherwise vacant van.
“Sorry, Bryan,” I told my guest. “That took longer than anticipated. Are we ready to talk? No? Never mind, we’ll get there.” I shot him a wink, then slammed the door closed again before climbing into the driver’s seat.
I couldn’t think of a better way to end an incredible night than stripping the skin from Bryan’s fingers. Not to make him talk, but to punish him for touching what was mine.
Utter perfection.
9
The bed beside me was cold and empty when I woke some hours after Leon fucked me into unconsciousness. Disappointment settled over me like a cold blanket as I opened my eyes and looked around. Because Leon wasn’t just in the shower, he was gone. Just like I knew he would be.
Blood splattered the wallpaper in several places, and there was a sizable stain on the carpet where Bryan had lain after Leon knocked him out, but I was alone. Hell, the safety chain was even on the door—I’d need Leon to teach me that one.
“Ouch,” I groaned as I sat up. Every inch of my body ached, and my head pounded so hard I could hear my own heartbeat. “Fucking hell.”
Gritting my teeth, I dragged my beat up ass out of bed and through to the bathroom where Leon had left my medical kit. Oh yeah, I looked worse than I felt, and that was saying a lot. My neck was the worst of it, with dark purple bruising surrounding the angry red welt of the garotte wire. Then there were the fingerprints higher up, closer to my chin. I didn’t mind those so much.
Carefully, I dabbed bruise balm onto my various marks, rubbing it into the discoloration and assessing everything that’d happened in the last twelve hours.
Of all of it, including Bryan the executioner and Leon’s stern warnings to trust no one, the thing bothering me the most was the necklace. The mysterious Guild key that Hermes had given me. How did Kai get it? And why? Did he know it was a Guild symbol?
Ugh, now I was thinking about Kai again. It sure as hell didn’t help that my pussy was still swollen and sore from all the sex with Leon last night… Every part of my body was way too fucking sensitive for intrusive thoughts about him.
Once I had all my wounds touched up as well as I could manage, I put on a thick layer of makeup to hide the bruises on my face—thanks, Bryan, you asshole—then packed my bags back up.
My phone pinged with a new message before I left the hotel room, and I smiled when I saw who’d sent it.
6279: Stay safe, mon cœur. I’ll come back to you soon.
I swallowed hard, trying desperately to smack some sense into the butterflies who just lost their goddamn minds inside my belly at the endearment Leon had used. It was no use, they were too far gone.
3982: Is that a promise or a threat, Bunny?
6279: Both. Don’t forget you’re mine now.
That message was quickly followed by a picture message that took me a minute to decipher. When I worked it out, though, I gave a sharp gasp. That motherfucker…
3982: Are those Bryan’s fingers all cut off?! I thought you had killed him!! What the fuck, Marx?!
His response came after a short pause.
6279: I have now. We needed to chat first. And now you know what I’ll do to Ares if he touches you again, mon cœur.
Dread and apprehension rolled through me. Kai had said something awfully similar, back on the island. That he would kill even his own team if they touched me… so I could imagine what he might do to Leon. Then again, that had all been an act. A ruse to win me over. One that had damn near worked too.
Leon was different. Not a single inch of me doubted the sincerity of his threat… after all, there was photo evidence of Bryan’s punishment for choking me.
3982: You’re a psychopath, Bunny.
6279: No, I’m a sociopath, mon cœur. I’m your sociopath. Never forget it.
Oh geez. Fuck poetry and flowers, this man knew the way straight into my heart. The butterflies were flapping so hard I wondered if they might put me in cardiac arrest.
To err on the safe side, I didn’t reply. Instead, I put my phone into my pocket and grabbed my bags. It was time to change locations, change cities, and plan my next moves. Just because I couldn’t trust anyone in the Guild, didn’t mean I was going to sit around waiting to be killed.
No way in hell. Emmanuel Blanchet wanted me dead? Then I needed to take him off the game board. But I couldn’t do it alone… not even I rated myself that good.
I needed help. But I couldn’t trust anyone within the Guild, according to Leon. Hell, not even just according to Leon. I knew he was right. Even Jude and Sabine, could I honestly say that, prior to this whole mess with Blanchet, I wouldn’t have put my loyalty to the Guild higher than their safety? I wasn’t sure. And that worried me.
But first, I needed a new safe location. Bryan had found me far too fucking easily. That fact alone was sitting in an uneasy puddle of dread inside me. How had he found me so quickly?
I hated to think it, but it was in my nature to be suspicious. Had Leon leaked my location, just to save me and look like a hero? Or more likely, someone else had been watching me, following me from my meeting with Hermes. That seemed more believable.
“Too careless, DeLuna,” I muttered to myself as I rode the elevator down to the lobby. “Too fucking careless.”
Before leaving the hotel, I flipped up the hood of my black jacket, hiding my distinctive white hair from easy view. If I weren’t so fucking vain, I might’ve cut and colored it to blend into crowds a little easier. I’d reserve that for a last resort… I liked my hair, and this life had already taken enough from me.
Safe location. Where the fuck could I even go that the Guild wouldn’t find me?
I couldn’t ask Jude or Sabine for help, nor could I reach out to any of my other mercenary contacts. But Carlos wasn’t Guild. Nor did he hold any particular love for my employers. He had the resources and connections to not only help me hide, but also track down Blanchet.
“Come on, Carlos,” I whispered as I listened to his ringing tone. I’d already texted the airstrip to let them know I was on my way, but I didn’t know where I was going. I really needed Carlos to answer his fucking phone and throw me a lifeline. “Pick up the fucking phone, Carlos.”
When his voicemail kicked in, I gave a frustrated growl, hung up and immediately called again.
Still no answer.
“Couldn’t think of a worse time for you to go dark, Carlos,” I murmured with a sigh, giving up on calling him. It wasn’t unusual for him to drop off the face of the earth for weeks, even months. But it seemed strange he wouldn’t have said something about it, considering how recently I used our emergency beacon.
Still with no clue where the hell I was going, I took a taxi to the private airfield where Carlos’s jet was hangered. My cloud backup of my phone meant I never lost my contact list—which was useful with how often I lost my phones—so I spent the drive scrolling through my list and debating what the fuck my next move could be.
By the time I boarded my plane, I had narrowed it down to two options.
Either I called in a favor from an acquaintance in Shadow Grove, potentially bringing the gaze of the Circle down on one of the most entertaining criminal underworlds I’d ever seen… Or…
“Shit. This is going to bite me in the ass so hard, I already know it,” I groaned, hovering my thumb over the second option in my contact list.
“Do we have a destination, ma’am?” my pilot, Rene, asked with a blank expression. He was the definition of discretion and was paid handsomely by Carlos to fly the plane and never speak about his work. I’d known him for three years, but now I was side-eyeing everyone. Shit. Would Rene sell me out, given the right incentive?
I had to hope the answer to that was no.
Did I have any other options? Of course I did. But none of them would play out well. Hell, this probably wouldn’t play out well, either, but it seemed like the best I might get.