“No.” He pushed his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, and grabbed her wrists firmly. “I
care, little one. Stop this. There’ll be plenty of time for this another day. Get your mind back on track and finish telling me about this meeting.”
“Have you told Austin whatever you’ve surmised about me?” she asked, pulling back enough to meet his eyes, on fire, drowning in desire.
He pulled his lips to the side, that smirk so devilish. “Amazing. I’m almost compelled to answer.
You’re strong. You need to get a handle on this facet of your magic, Natasha. It would work so much better that way.”
“What magic? What are you talking about, my energy?”
“Yes, your energy, to put it incredibly simply.” He held her hands tightly so that she couldn’t reach for him. Couldn’t continue undressing him and escape into his body for a while. Dive headfirst into this incredible feeling between them that didn’t make any sense—stronger than it had ever been with anyone, even though half the time he drove her nuts—but she didn’t care to analyze that with the danger mounting around them all. She just needed a distraction right now, and he’d do.
“No,” he finally said, answering her question but also responding to their mutual desire in that moment. “And that’s all I’ll say for now.”
My reasons are my own, he’d said outside his quarters . It clearly applied here, too. He just kept collecting those secrets.
Before she could yank her hands away in irritation, he captured her lips again, this kiss long and languid. Their fervor cooled within it, though, the aching from a moment ago subsiding into the glorious hum of energy and desire and…something else. Something that was growing like a weed.
Spreading through her like a plague. Something she didn’t want to think about anymore.
“Fine.” She shoved him away and stood, needing air. Needing a moment. Needing a freaking lobotomy. “Back to work.”
He let out a long, slow, shaky breath.
It was her turn to grin. At least she’d had an effect on him.
“Assuming it is Momar’s people…” he said, finding a seat on the bench again before adjusting himself.
“Okay.” She poured herself a glass of water. She needed to refocus here. She shook herself out.
Damn him for making her feel this way. “Well, if it’s his people, and we show up for those guns, they’re not going to leave one person alive to tell the tale. Not like we do. They’ll take anyone who might give them information and kill everyone else.”
“And their version of getting information?”
“Will make whatever you did to that mage pale by comparison. It won’t just be magic or head games, it’ll be tools, and by the end, we will beg to be killed. Some of us won’t get that luxury, though.”
“Someone like you?”
“Specifically someone like me, yes. And if Jessie went, especially someone like her. With Momar, it isn’t just death staring us in the face—it’s so much worse.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
Niamh
THE RUMBLE MADE the ground tremor. Glasses danced on the bar top. A moment later, the door to the bar exploded into the space, cleanly ripped off its hinges, and slammed into tables, spilling glasses onto the floor and driving people to the ground.
Austin Steele walked in like vengeance incarnate, his rage flooding the four walls of this posh establishment where the pack social elite, such as they were, hung out. Wrath had come calling.
His eyes were on fire as he stopped just inside the doorway, the glow from the street highlighting wisps of smoke or fog all around him. Or maybe that was Niamh’s imagination, because his rage was such a potent thing, it should be visible. His gaze swept the bar, and half the people in there pissed themselves with fright while pretending this was their big moment. They’d drawn together after Indigo patched them up, probably figuring there was power in numbers. They’d reassured themselves they could take Austin Steele as a team, having collectively forgotten that his mate, a dimwitted vampire, and a magic-less mage had beaten them up and left them for garden gnomes just a handful of hours before.
That right there was enough to make you question their intelligence.
Broken Sue walked in behind Austin Steele and branched off to the side, followed by a line of shifters, all of them clearly displaying that they would not help. Trailing at the end was Indigo, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her loose jeans and her glasses pushed high on her nose. They were all there for damage control.
Jessie walked in last, her expression annoyed, of all things, her demeanor impatient.
She glanced at the door, which was lying on a broken table, before glancing around. Then she sent a sparkling bit of magic back to the open doorway, locking them in. Niamh wondered if the shifters knew that. They’d certainly heard about her doing it before when she’d met the two ladies’ challenge.
“I hear you went after my mate,” Austin Steele said in a growl, his presence seeming larger than life. “Shot arrows into her and dropped her from the sky. The goal? You intended to beat her within an inch of her life…to get at me.” He put his arms out wide. “Well, here I am. Invitation accepted.”
“You’re not welcome—” James started, but Austin Steele was already moving, not bothering to shift to his polar bear form.
He raced across the bar, knocking tables out of the way, and grabbed James by the neck before he could even flinch. Austin Steele hefted the shifter with one hand before swinging him back down and
bashing him against the ground. His head gave a sickening thunk. Austin Steele lifted him, leaving blood behind before doing it again, following that move up with punch after punch, breaking his face.
With a roar, Austin Steele stood with the shifter, lifted him high, and then slammed his middle down across his knee.
“Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph,” Niamh whispered, sitting in the far corner of the bar so she’d be plenty out of the way but get to see everything.
“He’ll need healing before he dies,” Austin Steele said, throwing the limp body against the magical wall. “Make the pain last as long as possible. I didn’t take as long with him as I really should’ve.”
“Lay him out,” Jessie said to the shifters immediately. “All his bones need to be mostly in line for healing. Hurry. He doesn’t look too good.”
“He deserved it,” Indigo said, slouching as she walked slowly over to him. Niamh agreed wholeheartedly. “Are we sure these guys are worth our energy? They started it.”
Jessie, crouched next to him, said, “Aren’t healers supposed to want to fix everyone?”
“I’m not God,” the other woman responded. “God decides who lives or dies, not me. Healing is a job like any other. Sometimes I don’t want to go to work.”
Jessie let out an exasperated sound. “Well, go to work for Austin’s sake, because it’ll reflect poorly on him if he kills any of these people. Plus, we need them against Momar.”