Chapter Twenty-two
Hamel gently laid Walog’s head on the floor then stepped back. His brain was in a whirl from all that had happened in the previous five minutes. He needed to prioritize. His mate came first. He turned to see Melinda staring at Walog’s body. Her eyes snapped to his. She backed away from him, fear in her eyes and in the air.
He raised his hands in supplication. “Melinda, please—”
“No.” She snatched up a glass flask and wrapped her hand around the narrow neck. “Don’t come any closer. I’ll cut you with—” She banged the bottom of the flask against the countertop—not too hard, just to break off the end to have a jagged edge. When it didn’t break, she did it again, harder. When it still refused to bust, she lifted it over her head, yelling, “Break, goddammit! Now that I want it to break, it won’t!”
Hamel, using his supernatural speed, came up behind her to grab the flask and save her from hurting herself. From what he’d seen, Murphy’s Law applied to her more than others. He set the flask on the countertop, then wrapped his hands around her waist and placed her on the cabinet. He snaked his way between her knees.
“Woman, will you calm down for just one second?” His exasperation showed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this way. Maybe never. Great, she could drive him over the edge in minutes. That should make for an interesting life. He wrapped both her hands in one of his and laid them on her lap.
The back of his hand rested against the crease between her legs. The heat coming from that area was intense. The yoga pants she wore outlined everything quite nicely. A matching heat built in him. He’d been so close to her, watching her, for days, and not able to so much as hold her. His defenses were breaking down.
Now that the thief had been caught, this was over and he would seduce his little mate and take her with him. How could she resist someone like him?
But first he needed to call Kintu and get him to join them so she would chill out. After doing so and putting his phone back into his pocket, he focused on her.
“Okay, I know you have questions. Start asking.”
She was taken aback for some reason. Her words stumbled and stuttered before she got a full sentence out. “You can’t just demand I ask questions. I have questions.” And those sentences didn’t make much sense. She shook her head. “You know what I mean. H-how, I mean, y-you, and that.” Her eyes went to where the demon’s aura had hovered over Walog’s body before disappearing.
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Shit, where did that come from? He’d never called anyone that. Her disapproval shined clearly on her face.
“Do not call me ‘darling,’ ‘sweetheart,’ or ‘honey’ or I will turn you into a eunuch before you can even think to cover your balls.”
His body involuntarily cringed away, mainly his mid-section. “Warning noted,” he said.
“Now let go of me and back away. I’m not going to do anything but wait for Mr. Kintu to get here.” He released her hands regrettably and stepped back. His cat was scratching and telling him to get back in there. It was the closest they’d been since the all-over body scratch earlier.
At least Melinda didn’t smell afraid, probably just confused. How much should he tell her? His cover was probably blown. Maybe it was better that way. He could get closer to her then. But that was sorta against policy, to screw your assignment. But she was his mate. That had to be different, right?
“Who are you really, Dr. Hamel? And if you say you’re a doctor, you’re well on your way to being a ‘sweetheart.’”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to her. “My name is Parish Hamel. I’m not a doctor, but a national security operative. I was sent here to protect you and the work you’re doing.”
“Protect me? Why? We just discovered the ESP virus a little over a week ago. How could you have known about it?”
He walked to the counter and hopped up to sit next to her. Really close. She frowned, but didn’t say anything. “I don’t get details like that, Melinda. I’m told to go, and I go. But I want you to know this assignment is more than a job to me. You’re more important than that. I want to get to know you better.”
“Know me better?” Unease floated in the air. “Why?”
“Because you’ve captivated me and I can’t stop thinking about you.”
She gave him a look of disbelief. “Right. And now you’ve completed your mission and want to just start seeing me and going on dates and stuff?”
“Yeah. I want to spend some time with you. Hang out at the beach, walk around town and see how much trouble we can cause.”
She laughed. “I think trouble follows you. That’s all I’ve had since you’ve been here.” Her smile slipped a bit. “National security, huh? CIA, Homeland, Navy SEALs?”
She would get down to the nitty-gritty. “Our initials aren’t well known. Let’s just say we’re a federal agency, sanctioned by the president. Will that work?”
Melinda leaned back and looked him over. He wondered what was going through that beautiful head of hers. She smelled so good. He shouldn’t be sitting this close to her. Desire had burned low for several days and was ready to burst into a huge flame. He scooted his thigh over to touch hers. She noticed, but didn’t move away. That was a good sign.
Fuck, how he wanted her. To make that dream they’d both been in a reality. To touch her and kiss her and make her his. He wanted no more lies or half-truths between them. Her scent called to his animal. They both wanted to mate with her. He struggled every second to not walk up to her and take her lips, press his body to her soft curves and finally have that skin-on-skin contact he craved.
“I guess that’ll work. You haven’t killed me or run off with the virus, so what can I say? I guess you’re not the bad guy like I thought.” She eyed him. “Maybe.” The edge of her lip curved up. His heart flip-flopped. She was playing along, willing to let him get close.
“You could say that you’d like to go out with me this weekend. That’d be nice. Since I’m visiting and all. Show me around town?” Technically, he knew just about everything there was to know about the area, down to the closest fault lines. Part of his job was knowing the territory before going in. But he wanted to see it through her eyes.
Her laugh tinkled in his mind. “We’ll see, big boy. Right now, I’ve got a lot to take care of. Starting with a dead janitor. Or whatever he was. Why were his eyes red?”
Boy, that was a good one. How did he answer that without her thinking he was loony? He heard noises in the hallway outside. Kintu walked through the door with a couple guards. Hamel pointed to Walog’s body. Kintu gave orders to take the body to large cold storage and looked around the room.
“Let’s go to my office,” he said. “There’re some things I need to tell you that you probably won’t like.”