Chapter One #2
The corner of my mouth lifted. Then lowered as I took in Deagan’s pale face and cracked lips. “Is he dangerous?”
“He is weak.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I would not have brought him if I thought your life was at risk.”
Probably true. I was the last Rain. Most of the paranormal world believed my life was linked to the existence of the Null. “What about the staff? What about Christian and Astrid and—”
“Look who deigned to show up.”
Jared’s gaze shot behind me, and I turned to watch Nora stride toward us, her heeled boots clapping against the cement now that she’d left the lobby’s thin, carpeted floor.
“Nora.” Jared’s voice came alive when he said her name. The way his eyes took her in, the way he stepped toward her… His desire was almost tangible. I envied it, envied them.
I do want you, Blake had said in the cabin in the woods. It’s a problem.
A huge damn problem and one I’d attempted to solve by shutting him down when I’d last seen him.
I’d pushed him away before then. Each time was more difficult than the last, but after the mountain?
I was trying to convince myself those kisses hadn’t meant anything, that I’d only initiated them to keep him human and sane, and that anything he felt for me was just a fleeting infatuation.
And anything I felt for him? It had to be the same. I couldn’t notice the similarity between the way Blake looked at me on the mountainside and how Jared looked at Nora now. I was a Rain, a human, and Blake was an agent of one of the most powerful alphas on the planet.
An alpha who would kill him if we had anything more than a businesslike relationship.
I pushed Blake’s image from my mind and focused on Jared, who suddenly stopped his approach three steps away from Nora.
“Did you plan to ditch Deagan and run?” Nora’s voice was as icy as the look she speared him with. That was… unexpected.
“No,” Jared said.
Nora crossed her arms. The posture wasn’t defensive.
It was confident and condemning, a warning that Jared obviously didn’t get, but I was beginning to.
Days ago, he’d left The Rain to save my ass, and he’d been fighting for control of the compound ever since.
As far as I knew, he hadn’t called Nora.
She likely felt ignored, which was something werewolves, especially the more dominant ones, didn’t tolerate.
It was also something Nora would never admit to.
Jared stood unmoving another moment before he reached for a towel folded on the wire shelving beside the now quiet dryer. He wiped the blood from his face, from his hands, then he tossed the red-stained towel into one of the industrial-sized washers.
“You are angry,” he said.
Not angry—hurt—an emotion Nora concealed by taking an aggressive step toward him. “Why would I be angry?”
Because Jared came to The Rain for Deagan, not for her.
“I do not know.”
I grimaced. Deagan really needed to wake up. He was going to miss Mr. High and Mighty getting his ass handed to him.
If we’d been outside the Null, Nora’s eyes would have been ringed in a sharp, lethal gold. “Better get back to your vampires then.”
“They are not yet my vampires.” His head tilted slightly. “They are why you are angry?”
“I am not angry.” She bit out each word. “I am enlightened.”
Jared grabbed her arm as she turned away. I watched Nora’s right hand, waiting for it to form a fist to slam into Jared’s too often blank face.
“I will lose the compound if I remain gone too long,” he said.
Her fingers curled inward.
“I have not called,” he continued, his voice deepening, darkening, “because I would rather be here with you than be away. I want to stay, Nora.” His grip on her arm loosened, and his hand slid down to hers.
“If I do, if I have you beneath me tonight, I will not leave before sunrise. My enemies will strike while I am with you, and neither you nor my people will be safe outside The Rain.” He stepped closer.
“I do not want you to be imprisoned in the Null. I want you at my side. I want you in my bed.”
Well, hell. I was wrong. He wasn’t going to get his ass handed to him.
His words were perfect. Passionate. When he wrapped his arms around her waist, Nora didn’t resist. She initiated the kiss, and their hunger and yearning hit me as if we were standing outside the Null, their magic pulsating and tangible.
I turned away to focus on Deagan instead of the hollow ache in my stomach, which was there because I’d chosen to maintain The Rain’s neutrality, to focus on making it the oasis it should be. And I wouldn’t give Lehr a reason to kill Blake.
“Help me get Deagan to a room,” I said. Maybe I was a bitch to interrupt Nora and Jared’s moment, but I needed to finish my conversation with Garion. I couldn’t leave Deagan here, and I couldn’t carry him on my own.
When Jared and Nora finally ended their kiss, he cupped the nape of her neck and pressed his forehead to hers. Another moment passed before he drew in a breath and stepped away. By the time he looked at me, his normal, dispassionate expression had returned.
“I must ask for another favor.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope.
The small white rectangle might as well have been a weapon. Nothing good ever came from them, not the bills I could barely pay or the magically sealed treaty Canyon had handed me. Envelopes were my nemesis, and I could think of only one reason Jared would be holding one now.
“What,” I demanded, my voice as quiet as a sharpened sword, “the hell is that?”