“Better. Good. Actually, really good. I feel… incredible…” His voice was stronger, back to its usual velvety richness, and he rolled his shoulders. I lifted my hand away from his back, and from what I could see through the blood, the wound was completely healed. Not even a mark remained; the only evidence that I hadn't imagined it was the blood, which was everywhere. Almost his entire back was slick red, obscuring the tattoos I could see outlines of. Both my hands were coated right up to the elbows, and I could feel my dress sticking to me where I must have been lying in a pool of it.
“Kit,” he said cautiously, rolling over to sit and face me. “What did you do?”
“Huh?” I replied, at a loss for how to explain. “I didn't do anything. I guess maybe you weren't hurt as badly as we thought?”
“Drag?, don't bullshit me. I was dying, and we both knew it. I will ask you again, what did you do?” The way he was looking at me, his eyes wide in his now healthy-looking face, spoke volumes to how freaked out he must have been.
“Kit!” Jonathan called out, saving me further questioning. “We need to go. Dragomir's men are right behind me. If they see all of this…” He trailed off as he came around the car we were crouched behind and saw Vali sitting up, unhurt.
“He's right,” Vali muttered but looked like the words pained him to say. “If you're leaving, now is the time. My men won't take kindly to this… mess…”
Not needing to be told twice, I scrambled to my feet, still wearing the gorgeous Jimmy Choos. Jonathan grabbed one of my blood-covered hands and took off at a run with me clicking behind him.
As I ran, I risked a quick glance backwards. Vali was on his feet, and the stare he gave me felt like it was searing his mark against my soul. I had no doubt this wasn’t the last I would be seeing of Dragomir Valeriu du Romane.
16
Neither Jonathan nor I spoke a word during the entire drive from out of Vali's underground garage all the way to a private airstrip in the desert. In the darkness, I could see the distant lights of a city glowing like a halo over the horizon, and when we pulled to a stop, the sign outside the small air field office told me we were in Nevada. Just outside Las Vegas if all those lights were any indication.
“Kiddo, you want to get cleaned up?” Jonathan asked quietly once we had boarded the Omega Group jet. I gave him a blank look, then looked down at the dried and flaking brown-red all over my skin.
“Go on,” he urged. “The pilot can wait until you're done.”
It sounded like a good idea; I badly needed to clean up. Silently nodding to him, I wove my way down the aisle towards the bathroom, stopping briefly to grab a dress from the narrow closet where both Jonathan and I kept a couple changes of clothes. We both used the company jet often enough that it had become useful to have spares on board.
Once in the small bathroom, I scrubbed my skin until it was raw and couldn't help noticing the similarities of having done this exact same thing only a day earlier. Had it only been a day? It was crazy how much shit could happen in such a short amount of time.
Clean, I rejoined my guardian and buckled my safety belt while he gave a nod to the captain that we were ready to leave.
“Do you want to explain what happened back there?” he finally asked when I said nothing.
I shrugged, still trying to process what had just happened. “Uh, I guess I healed him. Dupree wasn't lying after all.”
Jonathan raised his eyebrows at me with an odd look in his eyes.
“No,” he said quietly. “I guess she wasn't. What impact do you think that will have on him?”
“What do you mean? I saved his life. He's alive and probably thinks he is losing his mind because it's freaking impossible to heal someone from what should have been a fatal bullet wound.” I frowned at Jonathan's intense gaze. What has gotten into him lately?
“Yes, but if Dupree wasn't lying about you being able to heal other people, she may not have been lying about you healing the supernaturals. Do you think Dragomir might have had any supernatural DNA in him? And if so, what impact do you think there might be?” He leaned forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands.
“I…” My jaw flapped. I hadn't even considered that.
“Not to worry. I will place some agents to keep an eye on him. Just in case.” Jonathan clapped his hands on his thighs and sat back. “Get some sleep, kiddo. You look exhausted.”
His suggestion made sense—I was exhausted—but he had just dropped a bomb on me. Had I just turned Vali into some sort of creature, like me? Fuck, he's going to kill me.
Collapsing back in my seat, I stared out the window while the thoughts rolled over and over in my brain. Best case scenario, he was just one hundred percent human and nothing further would happen. That wasn't too much to hope for was it?
We barely spoke for the rest of the flight, not that I really had Jonathan's attention in the first place. He spent almost the entire time on his laptop doing God knows what.
“How did this whole plan come about?” I asked him at one stage when my mind was driving me batshit with questions over whether I had just totally ruined a man's life or not.
“Hmm?” he replied, not even glancing up from his computer.
“The escape plan. How did the whole thing come together? Did you already know Vali? Was him buying me at the auction all part of the plan? Did you realize it was Mr. Grey that was coming after me?” I had so many questions.
He just blinked at me for a moment, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I can't say much; it was part of our agreement. Suffice to say Dragomir was alerted to your disappearance by a mutual acquaintance, and he was in the unique position of being allowed access to more unsavory locations such as the Onyx Auction. Once he had found you and brought you back to Nevada, he made contact and arranged for me to come and collect you.”
“That doesn't tell me anything. Who is the acquaintance? How did he get in contact with you? You're not exactly the easiest person to just look up in the phonebook, you know.” I narrowed my eyes at him. This whole explanation stank. Why was he lying to me? Or maybe not lying, but certainly omitting.
He just shrugged and put his glasses back on, returning to his laptop. Apparently, that was all the explanation I was going to get from him.
“Jonathan,” I snapped. “Seriously? That's it?”
“That's it, kiddo,” he sighed. “Just let it go. You're safe and unharmed, right?” I nodded slowly, but how did he know I hadn't been harmed? He sounded so sure.
“Right, then. Just sit back and take it easy. We are heading back home to New York, and I am sure Lucy will be dying for a call from you when we land.” He gave me a brittle smile that didn't reach his eyes then dismissed me by turning back to his computer again.
On arrival back at our townhouse in Manhattan, he pulled an even stranger move by not even getting out of the car.
“Aren't you coming in?” I frowned, holding the door open after getting out myself.
“No, sorry love, I am needed back at the office. Have to sort out the paperwork for Zebra's death.” He must mean the agent that had died back at Vali's house. My faux-father gave all of his top-tier agents animal related codenames, and some of them were just atrocious. I supposed there were only so many cool-sounding animals out there.