Savage Redemption

chapter 4



While Rafferty’s phone call dragged on, Conlan debated whether to continue his interrogation of the prisoner or if he should wait for the vampire to return. Then Kat shifted on the hospital bed, the movement causing the neckline of her thin cotton gown to pull down far enough on one side to reveal the top edge of her bandage as well as the small butterfly tattoo on her shoulder.

His thoughts immediately flashed back to when he’d last held Kat in his arms with nothing but a breath of air between them. How she’d sighed with contentment as he’d nuzzled that very spot as a precursor to another bout of lovemaking.

He’d never experienced anything like that night before or since. The scent of her silken skin had driven him to the far edge of his control. He’d struggled to hold back, worried he’d overwhelm her with his chancellor strength. But Kat had demanded everything he’d had to give, burning him up with her sweet kisses and passion. He’d really thought the two of them had shared something special, establishing a foundation they could build a future on. Then by the next morning she’d disappeared, leaving his life in shambles.

As if sensing the direction his thoughts had taken, Kat looked away and immediately tugged her gown back up, hiding both her wound and the reminder from their past. Suddenly, Conlan couldn’t stand there staring into Kat’s turquoise eyes another second.

“I’m going to see what’s going on.”

He walked out into the waiting room in time to see Rafferty disconnect the call. The vampire stared at the phone in his hand and then glanced around the room, as if fighting the urge to heave the offending piece of electronics against the nearest wall.

“Whatever that was all about, it wasn’t the phone’s fault.”

“You’re right.” Rafferty gave up and shoved it back in his pocket. “It’s the fool on the other end of the line I’d like to pound on.”

He turned to face Conlan, his fangs out in full force again, a clear testament to his current mood. “That was Cyrus Eddington, a pain-in-the-ass representative on the Coalition Council. He started off by accusing me of harboring a known criminal on my estate. He followed that with threats of financial sanctions against my clan if I don’t turn the prisoner over to his men immediately. He also claims we have no right to keep her nieces here on the estate.”

Okay, that didn’t make any sense. “How the hell did he find out that Kat was even here?”

Rafferty shrugged. “Eddington refused to say, claiming his source feared retribution if I were to learn his name. The real question is why the councilman is involved at all. By rights, Kat should be turned over to one of Ambrose O’Brien’s chancellors for prosecution.”

And execution. Neither man said it, but both knew that’s what awaited Kat at the hands of the Coalition’s judicial branch.

Conlan paced the length of the room as he tried to make sense of things. “What the hell’s going on here? First mercenaries and now this.”

His boss didn’t look any happier. “Whatever is going on, I don’t have much choice. I’m finally getting the estate back on solid financial footing. If the Coalition hits us with any kind of sanction, it could all collapse. Too many people depend on me to keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables to risk losing it all over a woman I barely know.”

Before Conlan could respond, Rafferty stalked back into Kat’s room. He followed close on his boss’s heels, fighting the urge to throw himself between the vampire and the last person on the planet that he should be wanting to protect.

Obviously Conlan’s highly developed sense of justice hadn’t been beaten out of him completely by Kat’s betrayal or even his years in prison. His fists were clenched and his fangs were in full aggression mode by the time he reached the side of Kat’s bed.

He shouldered Seamus aside, who had positioned himself next to the head of his patient’s bed. But rather than railing at Kat, Rafferty’s tone remained coldly polite, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Miss Karr, that phone call was from Cyrus Eddington. Does his name mean anything to you?”

Kat frowned. “No. Should it?”

Rafferty shrugged. “It would seem so, since he’s very much interested in you for some reason. He’s a high-ranking member of the Coalition Council, and he’s demanding I surrender you and your nieces to him immediately. You’ve obviously made some powerful enemies along the way.”

Conlan still hadn’t made up his mind whether he’d interfere if Rafferty decided to turn Kat over to the councilman, but he’d be damned if he’d stand by and let anyone use those little girls as pawns. Before he could say so, Kat spoke up.

“As I’ve already said, Mr. O’Day, I never meant to cause you any problems. I’m here to seek safe sanctuary for my nieces, nothing more. It’s been my intention all along to turn myself over to the authorities once I knew the girls would be taken care of. I’m done running.”

She looked the vampire straight in the eye, something few men had the guts to do. “You have a reputation of being a man of your word. I’d be awfully disappointed if you were to go back on your promise to allow Maggie and Rose to remain here.”

Conlan wanted to shake some sense into her. It was never smart to challenge a vampire, especially one as aggressive as Rafferty. At least his boss didn’t immediately go on the attack.

“Don’t presume to question my honor, Miss Karr.” Rafferty leaned in closer. “You’ll find that I don’t push easily, nor do I respond well to threats from anyone. Not even a member of the Council, like Cyrus Eddington.”

Conlan edged closer, ready to step between the vampire and Kat. Rafferty shot him a brief look, making it clear that he’d noticed and hadn’t liked it one bit. Rather than push the issue, Conlan held his ground but didn’t say anything.

Rafferty picked up where he’d left off. “I told him that you’d been badly injured in the attack and would need several days to recuperate from your wounds before you could travel. I also informed him that we’d already processed the paperwork absorbing the girls into my clan.” He paused. “If he wants to question the legality of the adoption, he’ll have to wait until the Council is back in full session next spring. By then, one way or the other, your situation will have been resolved.”

Then he glanced toward Seamus. “I’m assuming you’ll have no qualms about backdating the necessary forms. I want them completed and filed before morning.”

Seamus nodded. “I’ve already started filling them out. All I’ll need is the name of the family who’ll be adopting the girls.”

Rafferty considered the matter for all of two seconds before answering. “Under the circumstances, I think it’s best if I claim them as my wards for now, so use my name. I don’t want anyone else mixed up in this mess. We can transfer permanent custody later when the dust settles.”

As the doctor left the room, Kat slumped back in obvious relief. “Thank you, and I apologize for doubting you. I’ve been on the run for so long now that I can’t remember what it’s like to trust someone.”

Okay, that seriously pissed Conlan off. If she’d trusted him three years ago, none of this would’ve happened. Hell, he’d done everything he could to protect her, risking his reputation, his career, even his life. He wasn’t the one who’d broken that trust. That had been all her. No matter how she’d spent the past three years, it couldn’t have been much worse than the time he’d spent in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. The only thing he’d been guilty of was believing Kat’s lies.

But that was then, and this was now. He’d do his job and do it right this time.

Speaking of which...it was time to mend fences with Rafferty. He should’ve known that the vampire wouldn’t let anyone force his hand.

“If it’s all right with you, boss, I’ll call Ambrose O’Brien and make him aware of the situation. I’m sure he’ll want to know about the councilman’s interest in Kat’s case.”

Rafferty clapped Conlan on the shoulder a little harder than necessary, but it still signaled that all was forgiven. “Do that. Keep me posted on how he wants to handle the situation. I’ll be in with Seamus taking care of the necessary paperwork.”

Rafferty turned his attention back to Kat. “Miss Karr, I suggest you get some rest. I might have bought you a few days, but that’s all. You’ll need all your strength when you leave here. Won’t she, Conlan?”

With that cryptic remark, he walked out.

Conlan stared at the empty doorway. Okay, what was that all about? What difference did it make if Kat was back to full strength, when they both knew all that was waiting for her was an execution order? Not for the first time, he wondered if they’d done her any favors by saving her life.

Rather than think about all the things he couldn’t change, Conlan dragged a chair over next to the bed. Then he pulled out the small notebook he kept in his shirt pocket and prepared to take notes.

“Okay, Kat, start talking, and don’t stop until you’ve told me everything. Start with what got you arrested in the first place, continue past the point where you snuck out of my bed and keep going right up until yesterday, when I found you bleeding in the dirt.”

She’d already let her eyes drift shut. When she spoke, she sounded tired beyond belief. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want the details, Conlan? Knowing them won’t change anything—not what happened three years ago and not what the final outcome will be.”

“I still want to know. You owe me that much after—”

Damn, he didn’t want to go there, not with her. Some debts could never be repaid. Her death, however justified in the eyes of the law, wouldn’t give him back the two years of his life that had been stolen.

He leaned back in the chair, feigning a calm he certainly didn’t feel. “Rafferty has given you what you came here for. Now we need to know who might be coming after us for helping you.”

Kat remained still, her eyes closed, with only her rapid pulse and shallow breathing giving her away. The dark circles under her eyes gave her a bruised look but did nothing to diminish her beauty. Despite the passage of time, he hated that he still remembered the silky softness of her hair and the taste of her kisses. Those memories belonged to his past, but he wouldn’t have a future until they dealt with the present. He’d give her a little time to gather her thoughts before pressuring her any more. But one way or another, he was going to finally get some answers.

* * *

He wasn’t going to let it go. She’d known three years ago that Conlan O’Shea had been born with a double dose of stubbornness, and that obviously hadn’t changed. It was part of what had made him so good at his job as a Coalition chancellor assigned to investigate violent crimes. Once he’d caught a scent, Conlan was hardwired to follow the trail to hell and back if that was what it took to find the truth. Coupled with a streak of honor that couldn’t be bent, broken or borrowed, he’d been a force to reckon with.

Conlan had taken pride in doing his job well, and she’d stolen that away from him. The truth wouldn’t change things, but maybe it would help him heal.

“You read my file.”

It was a statement, not a question. The first time they’d met, he’d been pouring over the details of her case as she’d shuffled into the interview room. Shackled and cuffed, she’d been too busy concentrating on not falling on her face to take much note of him at first. He was just another in a long line of people who had the power of life and death over her. Up until that point, nothing she’d said had swayed their opinions at all. There’d been no reason to think Conlan would be any different. The sooner they got the interview over, the sooner the nightmare would end.

Permanently.

That attitude had lasted until he’d closed the folder and stared at her from across that narrow table. She could still remember her irrational belief that he might see past the words on the page to the truth. Her truth. Her innocence.

They would have both been better off if he’d simply signed off on her case and let her rot in prison until she was executed. Instead, he’d given her that most dangerous of gifts: hope.

And here he was again, still waiting for her to explain where it had all gone wrong. Fine. But where to begin?

She opened her eyes, careful to keep them trained on the ceiling above her bed. “Nothing’s changed, Conlan. No matter what they said, I didn’t firebomb my lab. I also didn’t kill anyone. The information in the file was accurate as far as it went. It was the court’s interpretation of those facts that was the problem.”

The jerk actually laughed, even though there was little actual humor in the sound. “If we let every felon out of jail who claimed that was true, the prisons would be empty.”

Okay, enough was enough. “Look, Conlan, we both know you’re not going to believe anything I tell you, so go away and leave me alone. Wake me up when the Coalition chancellor comes for me. I wouldn’t want to sleep through my execution.”

She turned on her side to face away from him and those icy eyes that still saw more than she wanted him to, like the tears trickling down her cheeks. A few seconds later, she heard the scrape of his chair as he stood up and walked out.

* * *

Cyrus Eddington’s jaw ached from clenching his teeth. That phone call with Rafferty hadn’t gone at all well. Like every damn vampire Cyrus had ever met, Rafferty didn’t care about anything other than his own agenda. Of course, thanks to a lifetime measured in centuries, a vampire could afford to wait out the competition. As a human, Cyrus had far more limited time to accomplish his goals.

Where had he gone wrong? He’d started off the call with every intention of being civil and reasonable, making a polite request for the release of the woman to his custody. Coalition business, nothing personal.

That had worked for all of thirty seconds before Rafferty had gone on the offensive, demanding to know why Cyrus had any interest in the woman at all. Not that it was any of the vampire’s business, and in the end that’s what Cyrus had told him. Egotistical jerk. Even the threat of a formal complaint against Rafferty’s clan hadn’t fazed the fanged bastard.

All things considered, the call had been a mistake.

He poured himself a big glass of scotch and chugged half of it. How dare that low-life vamp question a member of the Coalition Council’s reasons for doing anything! As far as he was concerned, Rafferty was nothing but an ex-con upstart.

Cyrus had heard rumors about Rafferty’s enlightened attitudes about how he treated the humans on his estate, not to mention all those mongrel chancellors he’d hired to police the place. Undoubtedly, it was all a ruse to get the poor mortals to work themselves to death for the privilege of making the rich bloodsucker even richer. And everyone knew that chancellors were all vampire-wannabes.

What horrors would an in-depth investigation into the practices on the O’Day estate reveal? After all, Rafferty was populating the place with the culls from other estates and families. There had to be a reason behind him hiring all those disposable people.

Enough about that. Once Cyrus recovered the data that Kat Karr had stolen, there wouldn’t be a vampire or chancellor left who would dare treat Cyrus with the casual disrespect that Rafferty just had.

What was the next logical step? If civility failed, that left a show of strength. Those mercs weren’t busy right now. All they were doing was costing him money, so why not throw them back into the fray?

He reached for the phone and dialed his assistant. On the tenth ring, the call went to voice mail. Damn it, was nothing going to go right today? What was Cyrus paying Richie for if not to be at his beck and call?

“Call me. I stirred up a hornet’s nest when I called Rafferty. However, I did verify that the woman is alive and well on her way to recovery. They’ve either already notified Ambrose O’Brien about her presence on the estate or they will do so shortly. That doesn’t leave us much time. Get your mercs out to Rafferty’s gate and demand Kat’s release, and don’t forget about those mongrel nieces of hers. I want them all in my custody within the next twenty-four hours. I’ve already sent a warrant to your inbox.”

He waited a few seconds to see if his assistant would finally pick up. When that didn’t happen, Cyrus snarled, “I don’t pay you that big salary to talk to your voice mail. Next time I call, you’d better answer.”

Then he disconnected the call and finished off his drink. As he savored the slow burn of some of the

Coalition’s finest scotch, he solidified the next stage of his plan. If the mercs made a big enough show of strength, it was always possible that Rafferty would surrender the woman and those two brats.

Not likely, though, so he wouldn’t count on that happening. Therefore, he’d have to figure out some way to apply pressure on Rafferty. Maybe threatening his credit line with the Coalition would work.

He hoped it didn’t come to that. Although he was on the Council, none of this was actually Coalition business. In fact, if he succeeded in reaching his long-term goals, there wouldn’t be a Council anymore.

He poured himself another glass of scotch and held it up in salute to that glorious day when the whole Coalition came tumbling down.

* * *

When Conlan entered Seamus’s office, Rafferty and the doctor looked up from the clutter of papers spread out over the desk. Neither man looked happy, but then Conlan’s own mood wasn’t exactly all sunshine, either. He climbed over the usual piles of medical journals scattered on the floor to take the one remaining chair. He offered up the cold six-pack he’d brought in with him.

Rafferty twisted the top off a beer and passed it to Seamus before opening one for himself. “How’s the prisoner? Did she provide any useful information about who was after her?”

Conlan took a long pull off his own bottle before answering, hoping to wash the bad taste from his mouth. “No. She knows her luck has run out. I think she feels that nothing is going to change that, no matter what she says or does.”

Hell, he even agreed with her, but it still ticked him off. He’d done his best to keep his voice flat, emotionless, but now both Seamus and Rafferty were frowning at him.

His hand screeched to a halt halfway to his mouth with the beer bottle. “What?”

Rafferty downed half of his beer before answering. “She’s probably right about that, Conlan. I have no idea if she’s innocent, and I’m not sure if I even care.”

Then he gave Conlan a hard look. “What I do know is that Joss will have my ass if I let you get tangled up in Kat’s problems again.”

Conlan snorted and took a swig of his beer before responding.

“Gee, Rafferty, as much as I love the whole idea of watching Joss kick your backside, it won’t come to that. I can handle the situation. I might’ve fallen for that whole innocent act once, but I learned my lesson the hard way three years ago.”

Okay, so who was he trying to convince now? Himself, certainly, but he needed Rafferty to believe he could do his job. Otherwise he’d have to resign as head of security. He’d come to enjoy living on the estate, but he couldn’t stay if Rafferty got it into his head that Conlan wasn’t up to the job.

“I’ll get the story out of her one way or another after she’s had a chance to rest.” He drained his beer. “For now, I’ll go do some hunting online to see if I can figure out the connection between her case and Eddington.”

The vampire stared at him long and hard for several seconds before slowly nodding. “Tread carefully if you go poking around in Cyrus Eddington’s personal files. I don’t know what his connection is to Kat’s case or what happened three years ago, but that guy has powerful allies on the Council. I’d rather not run afoul of them if it can be avoided.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Rafferty started flipping through the stack of papers Seamus had set in front of him. “Have you called Ambrose yet?”

“No, that was next on my agenda after the beer.” He’d needed the jolt of alcohol before hammering that last nail into Kat’s fate, not that he’d admit that to Rafferty.

The vampire scrawled his signature at the bottom of a page. “Hold off on making that call until we get all this paperwork finished and filed. I want to make sure claiming the girls as my wards is registered and legal before we get him involved. I don’t anticipate any problems from Ambrose himself, but we clearly don’t know what other players might have a stake in this game.”

“Just let me know when.”

Conlan snagged another beer on his way out of the office. Rather than returning to Kat’s room, he hung a left turn and walked straight out the front door of the infirmary. He needed to put some space between himself and the rest of the world for a little while. Granted, it came as no surprise that Kat’s reappearance in his life had his emotions running high. But that didn’t account for the sudden urge to punch his boss for describing her situation as a game.

For Kat and her nieces, the stakes were too high for this to be anything but deadly serious. Not for one second did he doubt that both Seamus and Rafferty were doing their damnedest to make sure that Rose and Maggie ended up as permanent members of the O’Day Clan. However, that didn’t mean that someone else might not swoop in and make just as strong a case for their custody. Kat had lost all legal rights under Coalition law when she’d bolted from his custody three years ago. Her desires for her nieces’ future might not be taken into consideration if the custody case came up in front of the wrong judge.

Especially if she were no longer alive to testify.

Son of a bitch, he hated this whole effing situation! No matter how often he told himself that he wouldn’t let himself get ensnared by Kat’s pretty face or her sad story, it was already too late. They had unfinished business, the two of them, and her big-eyed nieces only complicated things.

Speaking of which, a familiar transport was pulling up to the curb. Joss slid out of the driver’s seat and came around to help Maggie and Rose out of the other side. The smaller girl had a bedraggled bouquet of flowers clutched in her hand as she skipped up the path to the infirmary door. Her older sister followed at a slower pace, acting more like a miniature adult than a child.

It made his head hurt to see Rose robbed of her childhood by circumstances beyond her control. Even if Kat got her wish and someone here on the estate adopted the girls, that wouldn’t erase Rose’s memories of the past three years. She was old enough to remember what she’d had and exactly what she’d lost.

Not for the first time, Conlan really missed being a Coalition chancellor, one who meted out justice for the citizens of the North American Coalition. It had been his job to wade through the lies and the bullshit to find the truth. Even when his investigation had substantiated the court’s ruling, he’d taken pride in a job well done and the knowledge that justice was being carried out.

Kat was his one failure. Even before they’d first met over that scarred table in the prison’s interview room, he’d sensed something was wrong about her case, that someone was lying even if Conlan didn’t yet know who or why. The desperation in Kat’s shaking hands and terrified eyes hadn’t swayed his opinion one way or the other.

What had convinced him were the two rumored attempts on her life since she’d been incarcerated. There hadn’t been enough evidence to press charges; it had all boiled down to one prisoner’s word against another’s. However, a prison contact had reluctantly admitted that it had appeared Kat had been the real target both times.

Centuries of fighting between humans and vampires had only ended when the Coalition had established a harsh code of criminal justice that was ruthless in both its intent and its execution. While a chancellor was allowed to take the accused out of prison to assist with an investigation, it was rarely done. Tough sanctions had been built into the law if things went wrong. So if the prisoner escaped, the chancellor paid a heavy price for his lack of judgment. In a case like Kat’s, it could have even meant that Conlan would be executed in her place.

Back then, Conlan had been convinced that Kat wouldn’t survive in prison long enough for him to either clear her name or confirm her conviction. He’d taken her into his personal custody, confident in his ability to keep her safe. What he hadn’t counted on was falling fast and hard in love with her or that the minute he dropped his guard, she’d take off, leaving him to serve out her sentence. Now she was back in his life and screwing with his mind all over again.

The clinic door swung open again. Just as he expected, Joss was headed his way. He’d really hoped she hadn’t spotted him standing in the shadows under the trees, but he should’ve known better. The woman’s instincts were positively uncanny when it came to the people she cared about. He fell into that category, although he’d never quite figured out why.

It wouldn’t do him any good to try to avoid her,

either. She’d track him all night long if that’s what it took to have her say. He surrendered peacefully and stayed where he was.

“Got something on your mind, Joss?”

She moved up beside him, joining him in staring up at the stars. It wasn’t like her to hold back, which meant he wasn’t going to like whatever it was she had to say.

“Joss, just spit it out.”

“I’m your boss, not just your friend.”

Okay, worse and worse. “No arguments on either count.”

She finally turned to face him. “So which one would you rather hear this from?”

He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m guessing I’m not going to like it either way, so let me have it with both barrels.”

“Fine, I will. When it comes to you, Kat is toxic. Poison, in fact.”

Joss’s eyes glittered in the darkness. “As your friend, I want you to stay away from that woman until she’s taken into custody. Rafferty told me about Eddington’s interest in her and that Ambrose still hasn’t been notified. I’ll be taking care of that little chore as soon as I go back inside.”

He didn’t need this from Joss or anyone else. “Damn it, don’t coddle me. I said I’d handle contacting Ambrose, and I will. Rafferty asked me to hold off long enough for him to process the paperwork on Kat’s nieces. When the time comes, I’ll call Ambrose and oversee the transfer of the prisoner to his custody.”

Joss curled her hands into fists. “I wouldn’t think of coddling you, Conlan, but that woman almost killed you three years ago. If Ambrose hadn’t scrambled to call in every favor he could, you could’ve been executed in Kat’s place instead of serving just two years.”

Yeah, and he hated knowing that he’d put his friend in that position. “But I wasn’t, and furthermore—”

Joss stuck her hand in front of his face to shut him up. “I don’t want to hear it, Conlan. We almost lost you—period. We both know you were dying by inches in that cell. Right up until the day of your release, I wasn’t sure whether you’d walk out of that hellhole on your own or if they’d carry you out in a coffin.”

Damn it. Big, tough Joss O’Day was crying. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Joss, I survived. I won’t make the same mistakes again.”

Which wasn’t to say he wouldn’t make a whole bunch of new ones, given the chance.

His friend was definitely wound up tight. “I’m telling you, Conlan, I can’t watch you go through that again. As your employer, I’m ordering you to return to your headquarters and monitor the situation from a distance.”

She sighed heavily. “I’m guessing it will be a close race between Ambrose’s chancellors and Eddington’s men to see which group gets here first. At least this should all be over in the next twenty-four hours.”

She wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. It was even tempting to take the out she was offering him, to go hide in his office on the periphery of the estate. However, while he might not be the same man he was three years ago, he’d like to believe that he wasn’t a coward, either. One way or another, he’d see this through to its resolution.

Time to lay it all on the line.

He dropped his arm back down to his side and stepped back. “Let me do my job, Joss, or accept my resignation. One or the other.”

He hated hurting her like this. The past had been hard on them both. When Conlan had been in prison, she’d come close to losing Rafferty, too, when he’d also been accused of a crime he hadn’t committed. No doubt this was all bringing back a flood of bad memories for her.

She swiped at the tearstains on her cheeks with the back of her hand. “Fine, tough guy. Have it your way, but go contact Ambrose now. Rafferty doesn’t trust whatever Eddington is up to, and neither do I.”

“I will.”

Joss headed back to the clinic, but then she stopped to look back at him. “I hate what this is doing to you, but dragging this out will only make it worse for everybody.”

There was nothing he could say to that. Instead, he waited long enough to finish his beer and then followed Joss back inside.