Mo gave a worried shake of her head. “Sorry, Danny, I’m with the idiot on this one. You need physical backup.”
I gritted my teeth in anger, hating that they were teaming up against me. “I only need your connections in tracking down the man pulling the strings on this. That’s it. Once I deal with him, my name will be cleared and everything can go back to normal.”
Mo didn’t look convinced, and Kai… fucking hell, I already knew I wasn’t escaping that easily. Not tonight, and probably not ever.
“Well… consider it a two for one,” Mo said with forced brightness. “You can access our contacts and get a big, dumb hunk to watch your back twenty-four seven. What a bargain!” She punched her brother in the shoulder, and he barely even twitched.
I shook my head, searching for another great reason to decline. But really, all I had to offer was no, I can’t be trusted alone with Kai because I’m pretty sure I’m still a little infatuated and am scared of that getting worse if we fuck. Which we will. And then Leon will cut Kai’s fingers off, and he has such pretty, talented fingers; it’d be a shame to waste them like that.
Out loud, all I managed was, “No thanks.”
Kai smirked like he could read my mind. “You scared to be alone with me, Siren?”
“Um?” Mo gave a small wave. “What am I? A side table?”
“You need to go back to the team,” Kai told her with a small shrug. “Debrief and let them know that delicious Danny DeLuna will be helping on our vendetta.”
Curiosity sparked. What was their vendetta? And how could I help?
“So… should I bring them out here?” Mo asked, frowning around at the abandoned town.
“No,” Kai barked at the same time as I shook my head. “No, I don’t want them anywhere near Danny just yet.”
I scoffed. “The feeling is mutual, though I’d love a rematch with Sam now that I’m not pretending to be a weak, helpless victim.” I flexed my fist, the leather of my fingerless gloves creaking while I pictured beating the snot out of Sam. Regardless of how heartbroken he was at losing Mauricio, he still tried to kill a woman who wasn’t fighting back. That spoke volumes for his character, and I was more than happy to dish out some karma.
“Okay…” Mo gave me a narrow-eyed look. “On the one hand, that sounds like a mess we don’t need to deal with right now, but on the other…”
I grinned. I knew I liked her for a reason.
“The answer is no,” Kai snarled, pissed off as hell.
Moana rolled her eyes. “Okay, I got the message. You’re insecure and worried Danny will flirt with Jae again. Got it. What about you two?”
Kai glowered so hard I imagined I could see a little steam coming from his ears. His extreme jealousy issues were not exactly news, though.
“I’m going wherever my siren goes,” he told me with utter conviction. “She’s never getting out of my sight again.”
Mo and I exchanged a look, and she barked a sharp laugh. “Good luck with that one, champ.” She clapped her brother on the back, then headed for the driver’s side door of her car. “Call me if you need a break from his moody bullshit, Danny-girl.”
I already needed a break. “Hold up,” I snapped before she closed her car door. “You still owe me, Mo. This does not even the score between us.”
She wrinkled her nose, then gave a nod. “Understood.” Without any further discussion, she pulled her door closed and took off into the night, leaving me alone in the middle of fucking nowhere with the first man to truly get under my skin. Like a splinter. A splinter with a body straight off Mount Olympus and a dick that could make Aphrodite gasp.
“So,” he said, breaking the tense silence. “Where to?”
“Hell, apparently,” I muttered, throwing my hands up and stalking away from him. I’d left my rental car just two blocks away, and Kai followed me like a huge shadow the whole way. Neither one of us attempted conversation, and I was glad for it. We weren’t friends, and it was about damn time he worked out that this was business and nothing more.
We only drove five minutes before the silence evidently got the better of Kai, though.
“So, how’s Stanley doing?” he asked, his gaze heavy on me as I drove. “I hope you’ve been taking better care of him than the state I found him in. Poor guy was dehydrated as hell.”
I ground my molars together and told myself I still needed Kai. I couldn’t kill him just yet.
“That was a dirty move,” I told him in a low mutter. “Sneaky, underhanded bullshit, right there. How’d you even find my home?” That was a question that’d been bugging me since realizing Stanley was gone. I was so careful covering my tracks. Ten years I’d lived there, and no one had ever found me, other than those I trusted. Even Leon hadn’t found me there… as far as I knew.
Kai wasn’t even slightly apologetic. “It got your attention, didn’t it?”
I rolled my eyes and said nothing. Shithead was trying to get a rise out of me.
“Who did you hire to steal him back, anyway?” he asked curiously, shifting in the passenger seat so he was facing me better. Suddenly the car was way too small. “It was a flawless theft.”
I scoffed. “Of course it was. I told him exactly where to find you. Can you shut the hell up now? I have a headache, and you’re making it worse.” That wasn’t a lie, my head was thumping.
“Have you taken any painkillers for your bruises?” he prompted, ignoring my request for him to shut up.
Frustrated, annoyed, and crazy worked up with sexual tension, I just shot him a withering glance and kept driving in silence. Of course I hadn’t taken painkillers. Dumb ass.
Kai just continued watching me like a sexy hawk as I completed the security protocols to access my Hestia safe house, then followed me inside when I opened the front door. When the door closed behind him, the lock electronically shutting and echoing through the space, I swallowed heavily.
This was such a bad idea.
“What are you thinking right now, kaikohuru iti?” he asked in a deep rumble, standing at my back with his hands resting gently on my shoulders. “Are you remembering how good we can be together? How relaxing and peaceful that week was on my island, without anyone trying to kill you?”
“Actually, I was thinking about whether Leon would be awake if I called him right now,” I retorted, stepping away from his touch and making my way through to the bedroom that I’d left my luggage in earlier. I needed to strip out of my weapons and take some aspirin for my head.
Kai followed, unsurprisingly. “You haven’t killed that motherfucker yet?” he asked with a decidedly violent thread in his voice. “Do you even know what he is?”
I gave a long sigh, unclipping my shoulder holsters and shrugging out of them with a slight wince. My neck hurt. “Yeah, Kai, I’m well aware. He’s an executioner. How’d you know that?” I turned to frown at him where he stood in the bedroom doorway, but he was staring back at me with a puzzled expression.
“What?” I snapped. “You thought I wouldn’t work it out?” In fairness, I wouldn’t have if he didn’t put a knife to my throat.
Kai gave a slow head shake, then flashed a brittle smile. “I guess not.”
He was holding something back, but I was in no mood for silly games. “Whatever. There’s a spare room across the hall, it’s all yours.” I planted a hand in the middle of his chest and shoved him out into the hall. As soon as the doorway was clear, I slammed the door shut and twisted the lock.
Releasing a heavy sigh, I rested my forehead against the door and tried to desperately gather my wits back around me. My whole body felt off balance, like I’d been on a carousel since the moment I met Kai, and now I couldn’t stop the spinning.
No footsteps sounded on the other side of the door, and I just knew he was still standing right there. So it didn’t shock me when he spoke again.
“You think it’s that easy to push me away, Siren? I just got you back, and I won’t lose you again. That’s both a threat and a promise. You’ve been mine since the moment our paths crossed, and you damn well know it.”
A deep shudder ran through my body, and I retreated back to the bed, flopping down on my back. Mine. Mine. That word was getting tossed around in reference to me a whole lot lately… I couldn’t help but wonder how either Kai or Leon would react when they realized that I was no one’s but my own.
No man owned me. I was my own woman, and that’d never change, no matter how hot I found the charade.
14