CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Standing in the recessed doorway of a fancy-schmansy scarf and accessories shop, I spun my knife in one hand and my newly acquired Attalosean pain-stick in the other. No eyes could spot me even if the streets weren’t abandoned for the night. I was hidden, deep in the shadows and well away from the iridescent glow of the city’s luminescent field.
The first of Tham’s attackers had been child’s play—a disappointment actually. A quick this-is-for-Tham-you-fucker and a long smooth stroke to give him a Columbian necktie and I was off to a good start. The bastard hadn’t even had the balls to take it like a man, whimpering and snotting as he asphyxiated in a back alley. Pathetic. Apparently, he only had stones when jumping an innocent man surrounded by three other thugs.
The door opened at the bath house across the alley and a male stumbled out in the swath of light. The place was a seedy slap-and-tickle joint and a favorite amongst the Strati soldiers during off duty hours. Ydorus had tracked the other two soldiers to this brothel just after dusk and they had yet to depart. Smart boys.
The guy in the doorway stepped out of the harsh backlight and into the full glow of the moon. He was not my target.
I let the minutes tick by, snacking my way through the stash of candy Terran had nabbed me this afternoon, one lollipop at a time. Mmm cherry. Spinning the orb of saccharine bliss, I watched that door, waiting for the burst of adrenaline to kick in when my targets decided to put away their cocks and show their ugly faces.
More time passed and the warm wind turned chilly. I tucked the baton into the back of my leathers and patted my too-light vest. Gods, I missed my weapons. Savage had made me those blades and I missed each of them like lost children. I pictured the dozens and dozens of weapons hanging on the wall of my battle class back at the castle: daggers, flails, morning stars, rapiers, shurikens, axes, picks, and sickles. My heart gave a quick pit-a-pat at the thought.
Three more lives to claim and I’d be free to focus on how to get Coal and me home. Surely Zo or Castian could help my family find me. If they want to find me.
I shook my head. They might think I’m being selfish and went AWOL to blow off steam, but when I don’t show for my own party and they learn what happened to Tham . . .
My heart ached. Surely Zophia had told them by now. I rubbed my fingers across the soft, embroidered choker. Apt name—choker—because it choked the breath out of me to wear it. Gods, I miss you, hotness.
I knew exactly what Tham would say if he was standing beside me. His sultry, suede voice came into my mind and I bathed in its familiar warmth. You have one minute to wallow in the delicious misery of what you cannot change, sweeting. Embrace it annnnd proceed.
Well, I’d been leaning here listening to the slap of eager flesh for the better part of two hours, so I was pretty much done wallowing. I was ready to get to work. The door opened again, and as if called by my thoughts my two soldiers stepped out of their playhouse and started down the alleyway.
Perfect. A threesome they’ll never forget.
The grey sky of morning was lightening, the red line of dawn edging the horizon like a freshly slit throat. The Right of Vengeance dictated that the three lives I’d expired tonight were mine to take and aside from having the kills sanctioned by the Seelie Court, everything was solid. I doubted very much that the courts would come into play, but even if they did, I didn’t care. Justice had been served and I’d take the lumps rather than giving up Zophia’s assistance.
After blowing a kiss to the heavens, I slipped in the back gate of Rowan’s mansion and headed for the ornate double doors. It felt good to right the world a bit and nothing got the blood pumping like skulking around in the dark killing bad guys. I’d saved the best ‘till last, though. Tasso would learn about the demise of his three accomplices and understand it for the message it was.
You’re next, asshole.
As long as Terran, Coal, and I stayed out of sight today, I’d be in business for another round of fuck-you-and-the-Queen-too come nightfall. It was fast becoming my favorite pastime. I looked to the sky again.
Red sky in morning, Tasso take warning.
“You’re in a good mood.”
I whirled toward the barrier wall, my blade aimed at the shadows. My eyes had penetrated the darkness all night and were tired but focused. I blinked against the burn and traced the silhouette sitting under the canopy of the outdoor lounge.
Rowan.
I sheathed my blade and turned back toward the door. It was best not to meet his gaze head on. My body hummed with adrenaline and the way that man pegged me with those seductive hazels, I might just pin him down and ride him rough, right here—right on his back patio. Yup, there was something about fighting that triggered my sex drive.
“I’m a big girl, Doc,” I said, pleased that my voice was tight. “No need to wait up.”
Releasing the handle on the door I strode through the back vestibule and into the living room beyond. The room was even more impressive tonight. With the familiar urge to live large after a battle zinging in my veins, everything came into focus—each smell, sound and sight more delicious, exciting and vibrant than the night before.
A soft snore rose from the oversized sofa facing the fireplace. Terran had obviously been waiting up for me too. Sound asleep, he sprawled on the couch, a bottle of what looked like Scotch and a long/tall sitting on the teak coffee table in front of him.
“Guard 11, turn in for the night. All is well.” I squeezed his arm and smiled when his unfocused gaze met mine.
“What timess-it?” he asked, palm-scrubbing his face.
“Almost five-thirty.”
I helped sit and spotted a small sewing box at the bottom of the bookshelf. After a quick look inside, I hooked my arm through the handle and got Terran to his feet. As an afterthought, I leaned back and grabbed the neck of the liquor bottle and we headed upstairs.
“You crash in my room with Coal, okay? I’m messy and I don’t want him seeing me like this and freaking out.”
We climbed the stairs, slow and steady, headed past the naked statue and continued to my room. When I cracked the door open, the light revealed Coal on the bed. Curled up in a little ball like a puppy in a basket, he was out cold. I rubbed my chest as my heart fluttered. Could you fall hopelessly in love in just a few days? Yes. Yes, you could.
“Terran, I’m probably going to sleep late but, with what went down tonight, I don’t want either one of you to step out of this house tomorrow, got it?” I watched him shuffling toward the bed, stomping his downed pants with his boots, trying to pull them off.
Terran mumbled some garbled gibberish and I laughed. Setting my contraband in the hall, I steered him to the bed and sat him back. After undoing his boots and setting them on the floor I pulled his legs free from his pants and settled him under the duvet.
“Terran tell me what I said.”
“You’re sleeping in.”
“And?”
He yawned wide as he whispered. “Coal and I are inside until you say otherwise.”
“Sweet dreams, boys.” I eased out the door and stepped across the hall.
Terran’s room was smaller than mine, but it had an ensuite bathroom and that was all that mattered. I lifted the bottle of amber liquid I’d commandeered from downstairs and brought it to my lips. I coughed after the first swig but didn’t let that slow me down. Not Scotch, but it would do the trick.
The slow burn that worked its way down to my belly was hollow and unsatisfying. Gods, what a night. Tracking those men down for Tham went a long way in restoring my sense of self, but it hadn’t changed anything.
Tham was still dead.
I sucked back another long swallow and cleared my throat. Tomorrow would be better. I had big plans for Constable Tasso. Big. Big plans.
When I’d banked a large deposit in my alcohol-buzz account, I decided that looking in the mirror could no longer be avoided. With my free hand, I snagged the sewing box on the way to the loo and sucked back some more liquid relief. I’d seen Cowboy and my other Talon brothers Martha Stewart themselves, but this was a first for me. No Jade to patch me up tonight.
I washed my hands and arms and reached for one of the two hand towels sitting on the counter. Jonash had taken the time to fold and sculpt the towels into little terry dolphins and for some reason, I hated to kill the poor buggers.
Ironic after all the slaughter I’d just finished.
After drying my hands on my shirt, I peeled my bloody leathers down my thighs and tossed them and my shirt into a heap in the corner. Then I set up shop on the wide marble counter. Flipping open the padded lid of the box, I poked around: needles of various sizes, thread of various colors and tiny scissors.
Cooleroo.
Another hit of anesthetic and a few sloshes over my pointy little tools and I started the grueling process of trying to thread the eye of the needle. I bit my lip and snorted. I should have taken care of this before I numbed up. I made another pass at the cock-sucking little hole and laughed out loud. Who the hell thought this was a good idea?
“Having problems?”
Oh shit. I swallowed hard and took a breath, whipping my inner vixen back into her cage. I was nearly naked, rather drunk and completely jazzed . . . a trifecta of bad decision-making, waiting to happen. I cast the most casual glance I could manage into the mirror and snorted when I met his penetrating gaze. “Nice shiner.”
He raised his fingers and probed his eye where I clocked him earlier.
I sighed as the hot pink thread avoided that stupid little hole for the eleventeenth time. “Shit, this looks so easy when Iadon does it.”
Rowan set his medical bag down. “Let me help.”
I pulled my hands back. “Are you going to be a dick?”
He raised a beautiful brow. “I’m not planning on it, but I make no promises.”
After considering my options, I offered him my needle and thread. He waved them away, grabbing a dolphin hand towel sculpture and shaking the life outta the poor thing.
Murderer.
When Flipper had been thoroughly doused and squeezed out, Rowan took a knee beside me and twisted my hips so he was getting an up-close-and-personal with my ass cheeks.
“I, uh . . . bastard number three got a lucky stick when I was dancing with his friend.”
“I see that.” He stroked the warm cloth down the indent of my hip and butt. “Got you pretty good. Were you really going to sew this up with pink quilting thread?”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, Gutterman’s good shit, right?”
Avoiding his stupid smile, I distracted myself by fishing around in the little box. “Was your mom handy with all this happy homemaker stuff?”
Rowan focused on the wide gash running about five inches down the outside of my hip and curving across my backside. “She was. Quilting and needlepoint were her favorite, but she could sew just about anything.” He pulled the handle of his doctor bag and set the thing on the floor by my feet.
“So, you get it from her?”
“What’s that?” He tapped a small syringe and clear fluid squirted into the air.
“The flare for stitching things. I’d like to keep the scar as small as possible.”
Rowan met my gaze in the mirror, his smirk far too sexy. “I’ll do my best. Little stick now while I freeze this.”
“You’ve been a pain in my ass since I met you. Why stop now?”
Rowan poked me a couple times, probing and prodding my flesh. As he waited for the freezing to take hold, his eyes took a slow and steady inventory of the rest of me. He traced the outline of the giant red-tailed hawk tattooed on my opposite hip. “This is nice.”
“Jade, and I got them when we were accepted into the Talon.” His gaze continued a slow, heated sex-ploration of my valleys and curves. “It’s not polite to stare, Doc.”
He smiled, his eyes lit with a flirtatious light. “You got your fill when I was at the forge the other night. Only seems fair I get the same opportunity.”
I thought about that. Man, the way the glow of the fire glistened off the sweat on his skin, his thick muscular arms and shoulders tapering down to those slender hips. I bit back a moan as my nipples hardened against the silky leopard print of my bra and warmth started to spread from my core.
He was focusing on me, gauging his effect on me. This was soooo not good. If he didn’t start sewing me up soon I was liable to turn just a little and—
“Did you feel that?”
I swallowed and opened my eyes. “Sorry, what?”
Rowan chuckled and cupped the globe of my ass in the palm of his hand. “I asked if you could feel this. I’m guessing the freezing is working.”
“Seems so.”
“Bend over the counter a bit so I . . . uh, yeah. Yeah that’s good. Just. Like. That.”
I bit back a growl and focused on not thinking about my derriere being propped in front of him in my next-to-nothing panties, not thinking about his calloused fingers caressing my body just inches from where I wanted him to be. The urge to drink hit me hard. I tipped the bottle back and let it burn a happy trail down my throat.
“Did you get your revenge?” Rowan’s voice was husky and rough. “On the ones who killed your . . . Tham?”
“Three of the four.” I hissed as he dug into a particularly tender spot. “And he wasn’t my Tham any more than he was Galan’s or Jade’s or Aust’s. We were friends, not dating.”
“Uh-huh?” The surprise in his voice was only surpassed by the disbelief.
“Okay, friends with benefits might be more accurate. He was family though. I loved him like that.”
“Seemed like more.”
I arched a brow. “Well, it wasn’t.”
He worked along in a mind-numbing silence while my head whirled and swirled in an uncoordinated dance. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Highbornes are an affectionate race. Tham was on his Ambar Lenn, his coming-of-age journey to find his place and prove himself a male of worth. He was enjoying himself, tasting the flavors of realm life.” I smiled, thinking about his survey of what kind of woman he liked best. “All the flavors.”
He hooked the curved needle through my skin and pulled again. The dull ache of my flesh tugging together seemed negligible compared to the pain I’d been living with lately.
“What about Rowan?” I asked. “When you first left home to study medicine in the outer rings, you must have been tempted by all the different kinds of women?”
He frowned and pulled the stitch tight. “I wasn’t looking to get laid.”
“It was just a terrible by-product of being a rich, sexy, med-student Noble, I’m sure.”
He turned away, taking an unusually long time to pull the scissors from his bag.
I’d struck a chord and not in a good way. “Sorry. I was teasing.”
He shrugged but didn’t look at me. “It galls me that I squandered that time when I could have been here with my family. It’s pretty hollow to remember, when I know what it cost me.”
“You couldn’t know. And I bet your parents were crazy proud of you the whole time.”
After he cut the end of the thread, he peeled open a package and pulled out a wide gauze pad with sticky edges. With exacting attention to detail, he smoothed it over the wound. His palm lingered as it cupped my ass, setting the protective layer.
I met his stare in the reflection of the mirror, his faint blush bringing on a hot, hard lust from somewhere deep inside me. He cleared his throat. His hand slid to the outside of my hip as he straightened behind me. He had that look again—that panty-combusting, wantonness that I’d seen and had a taste of at Terran’s family home.
“Uh . . . I’m finished here. Let’s get you cleaned up so I can check you over properly.”
“Cleaned up?” I pivoted, but he didn’t step back. As a result, I was pinned between the vanity and a very large, very aroused man. He really was in sublime physical condition. My hands came up and traced where his heavy shoulders sloped down to rock hard pecs. I swallowed. “What are you suggesting, Doc, a sponge bath?”
A devilishly wicked grin spread across his jaw. It caught my breath. His eyes searched mine, his tongue wetting his full bottom lip. He wanted to kiss me. For a moment, his eyes sparkled with it. His hand lifted, a finger traced down my jaw.
When it touched the edge of my velvet choker, the sparkle dimmed. He stepped back as if a few feet would cancel out the sexual tension filling the room. “Do you remember how to start the shower?”
“Why’d you shut down?”
He lifted his fingers and counted off his reasons. “The Queen’s claim on me, Elani’s safety, your impending marriage, my state of dishonor, your grief for Tham, your being drunk . . .” He reached to touch me, then crossed his arms tight against his chest. “There’s more to consider here than how badly I want to seduce you.”
There was a vulnerable wonder in his voice that made me ache. No seduction necessary.
“It’s a bad idea. All around.”
Coward. Even though I knew something of penis-related rejection, and couldn’t argue with what he was saying. I also couldn’t help the sexual frustration. “I’m half-drunk, actually, but I’m also covered in blood and sweat. Frankly, I don’t sleep well when I’m sticky.”
I undid the clasp of my bra and tossed it, then down went the slip of leopard print silk from my hips. “You go make your list of excuses, Doc. And while you’re lying in your big ole bed tonight, rock-hard and you give in and take things into your own hands—and we both know you will—remember that you walked away. And when you’ve got your rhythm and your chest is pumping and heat is radiating like your internal furnace is about to ignite, think about me standing here naked. Remember you didn’t have the stones to take what you want.”
He sucked in a breath and scowled. “Keep the water from wetting your dressing. Focus your ability. I’ll check on you in the morning when you’re sober.”
“Oh, bite me,” I shouted over my shoulder and slammed the shower door.