Chapter Twenty-Two
Even as I shouted, Braxen picked up the bag and tossed it over Kaleo's head. It sailed through the door as he opened it, the harmony almost beautiful. With Braxen's extraordinary strength, the bag coasted over parked cars, into the street, and would have kept going if it hadn't hit a van parked across the street and bounced, exploding in mid-air. Kaleo stumbled to a stop, then was blasted backward. My windows blew inward, people screamed, including me, and I fell to the floor, thrown there not by the bomb, but by Braxen, who covered me with his body, hunching around me like a turtle's shell.
I stared up at Braxen in shock as smoke and debris shot over his head. He grunted as glass sliced him, but didn't move an inch. He stayed bent over me, a living shield, allowing nothing to touch me, not a single shard of glass. And I stared into his eyes the whole time, seeing the orca within them. Family, romance, and protection. He was all of those things to me and more. My killer whale.
It was an insane thing to do, but I couldn't stop myself. As my ears rang and smoke billowed into the gallery, as people screamed and cried, as the world went to hell around us, I took Braxen's face in my hands and kissed him.
Braxen made a soft, happy sound, his muscles relaxing as he sank into our kiss. Eternity rolled between us. Magic. Destiny. If I had met Braxen first, he wouldn't have walked away. I knew it in my heart. He would have insisted that his packmates accept me and deal with my baggage, even if it was a god. Braxen would fight Hermes if he had to. The knowledge was both terrifying and stirring. I wanted to stand with him. Beside him. Face anything we had to together. But Hermes . . . my mischievous Coyote. He had done so much for me.
The Coyote and the Orca. Who would win? The Orca had certainly won my heart. Yup, I was his. Completely in love in less than 48 hours. Was it magic? The better question was; did I care? And the answer was; no. But the bigger question was; who would win if Hermes refused to let me go? That, I wasn't so certain about.
“Lora!” someone shrieked.
I jerked back and stared at Braxen. “Holy shit. Oh, Gods! Are you all right?” My hand slid back, over his head, and hit a piece of glass that was lodged there. In his head! “Oh, fuck!” I yanked it out. “Brax, oh, Gods!”
“I'm fine,” Braxen said as he helped me up. He shook himself like a wet dog and glass fell in a tinkling rain, glittering in the light of fires burning in the street. “Check on your employees.”
Braxen stalked away through the smoke looking like a god again. I had to remind myself that he was only the son of a god. That made him a demigod at best. Could a demigod defeat a god if love were on his side?
I shook myself free of my dark musings and called out, “Elaine!” Then immediately coughed out the smoke I'd inhaled and tried again, “Simon!”
“We're over here,” Simon said.
I fanned away the smoke and peered around the shop. “Is there anyone who needs help? Is anyone hurt?”
“We're okay,” Elaine said.
Simon was with a woman who was curled into a ball, weeping. He patted her back. “We're all right. It's over. You're all right.” He started coughing.
“Outside!” I said. “We need to get out and find some fresh air.”
I helped Simon get the woman to her feet as Elaine stumbled out to the street. We followed her into a war zone. Smoke was still wafting up from a hole in the street. Parked cars, a few on fire, were angled onto the sidewalks, shop windows gone, and people were on the ground, moaning and bleeding. Some weren't moving.
“Oh, Gods,” I whispered as I left the woman leaning against my building. “Braxen!”
There was no sign of him or Kaleo. Oh, fuck. Kaleo. What in the world was going on? Was Kaleo one of Michael's minions? But no, he tried to warn me. He said they forced him. How had they forced him to bring a bomb into my gallery? I turned to look at the gallery. The windows were gone, and the art was probably damaged, but the building was intact. Insurance would take care of the repairs and cover the art. I wasn't worried about it. I was, however, worried about my employees and the neighborhood. If Braxen hadn't acted so quickly and been so strong and dextrous, the building could have come down and the ones to either side of us may have been affected too.
“I should have listened to Rune,” I whispered.
“You're damn straight, you should have listened to me,” Rune growled.
“Rune!” I spun and launched myself into his arms.
“Lora,” Rune whispered as he clutched me. “Fuck. I was frantic when Brax called.”
“Where is he?” I pulled back to look around us as a siren came in the distance, steadily getting louder.
“Taking care of the bomber.”
“He's not going to hurt Kaleo, is he?”
“Kaleo?” Rune snarled. “You know the man?”
“Rune, he warned us. Tried to get us out. He said they forced him to do this.”
He grunted. “Braxen will get the truth out of him.”
“Rune!”
“Look around, Lomasi!” Rune growled. “This is Michael's doing. His Host.”
“Host?”
“That's what his people call themselves. The Host. They're behind this. They've targeted you because they know you're our weakness.”
“Weakness?”
“I don't mean it like that.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “As we told you, you'll make us stronger, give us something to live for. But because of that, hurting you would destroy us. We have to protect you, Lora. Please, let us protect you.”
“But you don't have to hurt innocent people to do that.”
“I told you, Braxen will get the truth out of this Kaleo. He will determine if the guy is innocent or not.”
“Rune.”
But then sirens came and police cars pulled up along with a firetruck. Well, they stopped down the street, but then they came running over. Most of the firefighters drew a hose over to the burning cars, but many firefighters were also paramedics, so some of them split off and headed for the injured. Then an ambulance arrived and a bunch of EMTs came running around the cars to help. So much activity, happening so quickly, all while I just stood there with Rune.
“I need to get you out of here,” Rune said.
“I can't leave. The police will want to speak to me. Plus, I have to make sure my employees are all right, and then I'll have to secure the gallery.”
Rune grimaced, his stare sweeping the area. “More of them could be lurking around. I'd be surprised if they're not.”
“Then stay close, but I have to do this, Rune. It could look bad if I fled the scene. Besides, I doubt they're going to pull anything with these many police officers here.”
“All right. Let's wait with your employees.”
Simon and Elaine gave Rune wide-eyed looks as he came up with me, but they were too shell-shocked to question why he was there and was Braxen gone. Shit. Braxen.
“Please, don't mention that Braxen was here,” I said to them.
“Why not?” Elaine demanded.
“He's my bodyguard, and he ran off after Mr. Chang.”
“Right. Your bodyguard.” Elaine looked from me to Rune and back.
“Then tell that to the cops,” Simon said, oblivious.
“I don't know what Braxen will do to Mr. Chang when he finds him.” I gave them a dark look.
They exchanged worried glances.
“I was here,” Rune said with a growl. “I was the one who threw the bomb into the street. Understand?”
They nodded.
“Thank you,” I said. “Hold on, where's that customer?”
“She's over there, talking to the police.” Simon waved to the right.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Do you know if she saw Braxen?”
They shrugged.
“If she did, we'll act as if she's confused,” Rune said. “We look alike anyway.”
“Yeah, you kinda do,” Elaine said. “Are you two related?” Her wide eyes jerked back to me in silent question.
“I'll explain later,” I said.
She nodded rapidly.
And then the police found us. Turned out, the woman didn't remember much at all. She'd been too busy cowering. But Rune answered all the officer's questions calmly and with such detail that I knew Brax had thoroughly briefed him. As he spoke, I kept thinking about Braxen. How he had protected me. That kiss. I wondered where he was and what he was doing. And if Kaleo would survive it. Poor Kaleo.
“Ma'am, are you all right?” the policeman asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Just shaken.”
“Thank goodness your boyfriend reacted so quickly.” The man grimaced. “I mean, you didn't do anyone out here any favors.” He glanced around before leaning in to whisper, “But you did what you had to do to save yourselves, and you probably saved the block as well. A blast like that could have taken down the building. And when one of these buildings comes down, it can have a domino effect. Plus, we're talking plumbing, electrical, sewage, even gas. It could have been . . .” He shook his head, then shook Rune's hand. “You're a hero.”
“Honestly, I wasn't thinking. I just reacted,” Rune said.
“Still, thank you on behalf of the city. Those reactions kept this day from being the kind of tragedy that gets monuments erected to it. Can any of you identify the man who brought the bomb?” The policeman looked around at the injured people. “He must be here. If you tossed that bomb out after him, he would have been hit. No way around it.”
Shit. I hadn't thought of what shape Kaleo would be in before Braxen started questioning him.
“I don't see him,” I said as I looked around, making a show of it. But then I saw the blond hair. Streaked blond, not natural. “Hold on. Is that him?”
I stumbled around a car's bent bumper and stared at the back of a man's head. He was lying face-first on the ground. Even as I went to him, an EMT hurried over and rolled the body. And it was a body. Kaleo was dead.
I gasped, both hands going to my mouth, and tears forming in my eyes. Kaleo. He'd been such a nice man. And I knew he had been forced to do this, drawn into this horror simply because he'd visited my gallery. Or maybe because he'd gone on that date with me. Whatever reason he was targeted, it wasn't his fault. He had nothing to do with this.
“Is that him, Ma'am?” the policeman asked as the EMT moved on.
There's no point in trying to revive the dead.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“That's him all right,” Rune added. “Damn. Looks as if he got hit in the chest.”
I stared at the multiple chest wounds, then at Kaleo's face. He was cut up, but still recognizable. Had all his wounds been caused by the bomb or had Braxen made a few? Had Brax killed him? Rune said Braxen had taken Kaleo. But here he was. Hardly any time had passed. There was no way that Brax had gotten Kaleo back to their house, interrogated him, then brought him back here. And how had he dumped Kaleo's body without anyone noticing?
Who am I kidding? In the middle of that chaos, no one would have thought anything of a man carting a bloody body around. Fuck. Brax had killed Kaleo. He killed him and left him here so that it looked as if the bomb had done it.
I felt sick. Turning away from the body, I stumbled a few feet, then retched.
“I'll, uh, leave you to, uh, well, the firefighters will come and speak to you. They'll want to check the building to make sure it's stable.”
“Thank you, officer,” Rune said as his hand went to my back and rubbed. “We'll be fine. “
I spat and caught my breath before straightening. Swiping at my lips with the back of my hand, I stared hard at Rune. He shook his head. I glared.
“He didn't,” Rune whispered. “Those wounds were from the blast, Lora. Brax probably got him a block away and then Kaleo died so he brought him back.”
“Are you sure?”
“We aren't allowed to kill humans. It's Olympian law.”
I blinked. “What?”
“We are guardians, sweetheart. Not murderers. Definitely not assassins. We may deliver a fatal blow by accident while protecting ourselves or someone else, but we will never purposefully kill a human.”
“Oh.” A wave of relief swept through me.
Then Rune added, “Torture, now, that we can do.”
I glared at him, and his lips twitched.
“Are you seriously about to smile right now?” I snapped.
“No.” Rune's expression went somber. “No, of course not.”
“I should tell the police about what Kaleo did. They need to know about the Host.”
He grabbed my arm before I could move. “No, sweetheart. We'll handle the host.”
“But wouldn't it be better if you didn't have to? Having the police and you after them will make things harder on them. And if they get locked up for terrorism, all the better.”
Rune blinked as if the thought of humans helping him had never occurred to him. “Well, uh.” His hand fell away.
“I'm telling them.” I marched over to the same policeman we'd been speaking to, and Rune didn't try to stop me.
The policeman was interviewing Elaine. She looked over at me and cleared her throat.
“Yes, Ma'am?” the officer asked.
“There's something I think you need to know.”
He turned to face me, his expression going interested. “Go on.”
“That man, there, his name is Kaleo Chang. It was the second time he had been in the gallery.”
“Really?” He asked as he wrote things down.
“Yes. I'm sorry, I didn't mention it sooner, but . . .” I waved at my mouth.
“No, of course. I understand. Can you tell me anything more about him?”
“Yes, actually. We went on a date not too long ago.”
“You dated the bomber?!” His eyebrows shot up.
“One date. And we weren't compatible.”
“Maybe you thought you weren't compatible, but he wanted more.”
“No, that's what I'm trying to tell you. Mr. Chang was a decent man. He was visiting from Hawaii to look into purchasing a restaurant.”
The officer's hand flew over his notebook. “This is great info, Ma'am. This will help immensely.”
“Officer, Mr. Chang was acting strange when he came in today. He had a backpack on, but I didn't think much of it. Then, as he was leaving, he hugged me and whispered that he was sorry. That they made him do it.”
“Who made him do it?” The cop looked up from his notepad eagerly.
“He didn't say. But then he dropped the backpack, and I heard a whirring sound. He didn't activate that bomb. I think it was remotely activated.”
The officer wrote it all down and looked over at Rune. “Why didn't you mention any of this?”
“I didn't hear any of that,” Rune said. “I only heard him shout, 'Run' at her.”
“You could have mentioned that.”
Rune shrugged. “I thought he intended to take down the building and maybe he had a twinge of conscious over killing Lora.”
The officer grunted. “Still, you should have mentioned it.”
“I heard the whirring,” Elaine said. “And I saw him hug Lora. It was the expression on her face that made me pay attention. And then she yelled at us to run outside, but before we could, Rune grabbed the backpack and tossed it through the door.”
The officer blinked. “Well, damn. It sounds as if we have a murder, not a suicide bomber.”
“Yes, Sir,” Simon said. “I saw all that too. And I heard the guy shout to run.”
“He really was a nice man,” I said. “He collected indigenous art to support native people. He was very wealthy.”
“Wealthy you say?” the cop asked. “Now, this is getting even more complicated. This could have been a hostage situation gone bad.”
“But why target us?” Elaine asked.
“Lora was followed a while back,” Rune said. “Could that be related?”
“You were followed, Ma'am?” The officer looked at me.
“Yes,” I said. “The man called me some nasty names, but he didn't attack me.”
“That's called a verbal altercation, Ma'am. It's a type of attack. Did you report it?”
“No. I didn't think much of it. I've been the target of racists before, officer.”
The man blinked as if he couldn't understand why I'd be targeted. Then it registered, and he made an angry sound. For the most part, Seattle was a very open-minded town. Not as open-minded as Portland, but nearly. It was rather nice to see a policeman surprised that there had been a racially motivated attack in his city. That said something about Seattle. Something positive.
“I'm so sorry to hear that, Ma'am. But we can't help you if you don't report things like that. Please, if there's a next time, report it.”
“I will.”
The man sighed. “Do you remember what the guy looked like? The one who said nasty things to you.”
“He was blond,” I said. “Slender, maybe 170.”
The policeman widened his eyes. “Great. Anything else? Anything at all?”
“Oh, I remember him well. He had dark eyes and was young, early twenties. He had on a . . . damn, I can't remember his shirt.”
“That's all right, Ma'am. The clothing doesn't matter after so long. Not unless it was unique.”
“It wasn't,” I said. “Oh, he had a small nose. I remember thinking it was too small for his face.”
“She's an artist,” Rune said to the man's surprised look.
“Really? Do you think you could sketch him?”
I considered it. “Maybe.”
The officer pulled out his card and handed it to me. “If you can, please send it to me. Or if you can't, perhaps you could come to the station and work with a sketch artist. Just call me, and I'll set it up.”
“All right.” I took the card, my hand shaking.
The policeman noticed the shaking and said gently, “We'll do our best to find these people. I can't be sure that the two incidents are connected, but we'll do everything we can to investigate.”
“Thank you,” I murmured.
“Is it all right if we lock up the gallery now?” Rune asked.
“As I said, the firefighters will want to do a walkthrough with you. But then you're free to go.”
“Great. Thank you, Officer.”
“Thank you for all of this information.” He held up his notebook. “I'll be in touch.”
Rune and I went to stand beside my gallery to wait for the firefighters.