Chapter Six

 

 

"This won't work, you know," Reive said in an infuriatingly calm voice.

"What part of 'right to remain silent' do you not understand? Shut up back there."

Reive was in the back of Ben's car, still securely handcuffed as far as Ben could tell. So far he'd made no attempt to escape. Ben would have been less nervous if Reive had actually tried to escape, or shown any anxiety about being arrested at all. He'd been as calm as if the whole thing was his idea.

"All I have to do is call my clan's attorney. I'll be out in hours."

"Those are hours you won't be threatening her, so I'll call it a win." Ben glanced at him in the rear-view mirror, but Reive didn't seem to be squirming or trying to work on the cuffs. "Are you the only one, or did they send others?"

"I thought I was supposed to remain silent," Reive said, another tiny smile flickering at the corner of his mouth. "In order not to incriminate myself."

"Your lawyer's not here. Piss me off enough, and I'll pull this car over and make you answer my questions."

"Really? You want it to come to a physical fight? You know who'd win, right?"

"You might change your mind if I'm pushed into a corner," Ben said between his teeth.

"Oh really? What are you, anyway?" Reive leaned forward. "You know about us, so you're no ordinary human. I'd be able to tell if you were a dragon. Are you some kind of shifter?"

"None of your business."

"Hmph." Reive leaned back again. "You want me to answer your questions, but you won't answer mine? Tell you what, a question for a question. You tell me what you are and why you care what happens to that girl, and I'll tell you if I'm the only dragon on her trail."

"Sounds like you're getting the better end of that deal," Ben said tightly.

"Straight swap, then. A question for a question. What are you, detective?"

"I'm a panther shifter," Ben said. "Your turn. How many assassins did your clan send?"

"Just me. One is enough." Reive laughed softly. "A cat, are you? How appropriate. The cat, sent to protect the girl who loves cats."

A cold shiver went through Ben; his hands tightened on the steering wheel. "How long have you been watching her, bastard? How much do you know about her?"

"Is that your next question?"

"The thing I really need to know is why you're after her. She's only a human. She doesn't even know about your kind."

"If that's what you think," Reive said, "then she's lying to you."

Ben pulled up in front of the police station with a sharp jab to the brakes, jolting both of them forward in their seats. "She's not lying."

"You sure of that?"

Ben had to forcibly hold back his panther, pacing and furious at the slight to their mate. "What makes you say that?"

"No more free answers, kitty cat," Reive said, leaning back. "This is dragon business. Just let us take care of it. You can't beat me in a fight; you know that. Panther versus dragon? Don't make me laugh. If you stand aside and let me have the girl, my clan won't hold a grudge."

Ben's panther vibrated with rage, making his hands shake as he manhandled Reive out of the car, not very gently. "You won't lay a finger on her. You won't come near her. If you so much as look at her—"

"You'll do what, detective? Kill me? Oh, you do have it bad, don't you?"

"You don't know the half of it," Ben growled, propelling him into the police station.

Reive continued to be docile and cooperative during the booking process—suspiciously so, one might think, but Ben knew from dealing with his father that dragons usually were polite and cooperative ... right up to the point where they decided they'd been pushed too far, and that was when things got ugly.

But the biggest taboo in dragon culture, as with shifters, was breaking the veil of secrecy that kept them all safe. Ben was about as confident as he could be that Reive wouldn't try to shift in the middle of a police station, and so far it seemed he was right. Reive observed with curiosity as he was fingerprinted, and gave his name to the booking officer as Reive Corcoran, spelling it with fastidious precision.

"I'm allowed a phone call, correct?" he asked. "On television, one can make a phone call. I'd very much like to call my lawyer."

Ben couldn't come up with a good pretext for stopping him. Reive was right, his lawyer would have him out in hours. But at least this way, he and Tessa would get a head start.

His father would have laughed at him for trying to solve his problems using human law, human technology. They can't protect us, the voice of his father whispered in his head. We are not like them. We solve our own problems, our way.

Yeah, maybe that's true, Ben thought as he strode out of the station after arranging a few days' personal leave. But apparently dragons are powerless to solve Tessa's problems because of their stupid honor. So I'm just going to have to use a little bit of human-style ingenuity to keep her safe.

It's all I've got.

 

***

 

"I'm so sorry," Tessa told her boss on the phone. "It's my mother, she's had a fall—we think she'll be all right, but I have to go out of town for a couple of days."

Inwardly she writhed with guilt. She never even told little white lies, normally. And the worst part was how understanding her boss was about it. As the shelter's adoption coordinator and office manager, she was one of their only paid employees. It might mean having to close the shelter to new adoptions for a little while.

And they were short on volunteers right now, too, she reflected as she hastily updated her records in the hope that the shelter could run smoothly without her for a few days. Normally she took up the slack when their animal-care volunteers were late or absent. The adult cats would be all right for a day or two with dry food and automatic waterers, but the kittens ...

They'd probably be okay physically, but they had been trapped as ferals, and they were doing so well at learning to trust and depend on humans. She'd worked so hard on it. Running off and leaving them felt like abandonment.

There was a soft-sided carrier in the shelter's supplies ...

A few minutes later, she was locking the door, with the softly mewing carrier sitting by her feet, a bag of kitten food and other supplies beside it. She'd canceled the next few days' adoption appointments and made the shelter as idiot-proof as it could be for her absence.

"Tessa!"

Melody ran across the street from the bookstore. She'd tied her dark hair up in a bun, as she usually did when she was working; that, combined with her gray cardigan, made her look even more like a stereotypical librarian than usual.

"Are you leaving town?" Melody whispered fiercely as soon as she was close enough. "You believe me now, right?"

"I'm not coming in to work for the next couple of days. Ben is keeping me company."

Melody opened her mouth.

"No stupid innuendos," Tessa said quickly. "We're just friends."

"I think you're a lot more than that," Melody said, and to Tessa's irritation, her friend winked at her.

"Good grief, I know he's your brother, but knock off the matchmaking for one freaking—Oh, hold on a minute—"

In the carrier at Tessa's feet, the kittens' wailing had increased in volume. Their little claws scrabbled on the fabric. Tessa moved the carrier behind her, and they settled down somewhat.

"It's weird that cats hate you so much, when they love Ben," she remarked. Melody looked uncomfortable, and Tessa frowned at her. "Wait a minute. If Ben is—are you—"

"Can we not have this conversation on a public streetcorner?" Melody hissed, looking around wildly as if she expected a whole crowd of eavesdroppers. In reality, there wasn't anybody nearby.

"Are you a panther too?"

"No!" Melody said. "Keep your voice down!"

"Is this why you never talk about your family?"

"What exactly has Ben told you?" Melody asked. "About his—about our parents."

"Not much. We've only known each other for a couple of hours."

Melody looked relieved. "Good. Look, just ... be careful, okay? I trust Ben to keep you safe, but you're still in a lot of danger."

"Ben's a cop," Tessa said. "I'm sure he knows a lot about keeping people safe."

"I know." Melody hesitated before giving her friend a quick hug. Tessa, surprised, hugged her back. Neither of the women were really the hugging sort, under usual circumstances.

"Call me and let me know you're okay," Melody said into her ear. "I'm so sorry I can't help more."

"I don't expect you to. You've helped a lot already, hooking me up with Ben." In more ways than one, she couldn't help thinking as she let her friend go.

"I know, but—"

A car pulled up to the sidewalk beside them. Tessa's first instinct was a flinch of fear, and she noticed Melody move subtly in front of her, which was touching even if Melody was about as threatening as a pillow. But it was just Ben's car, an unmarked, ordinary-looking sedan. With no handcuffed assassin in the back of it this time, Tessa was relieved to note.

Ben got out wearing sunglasses, which was hot enough to make Tessa's knees go a little weak. Then he pushed the sunglasses up on his head and her knees stayed weak, so maybe it was just Ben.

"Ready to go?" he asked her.

She nodded and picked up the carrier, which squalled in protest.

"Um," Ben said, "that's ..."

"I can't leave them alone at the shelter without me," Tessa said quickly, reaching with her other hand for the bag of kitten supplies. "They're very unobtrusive, you'll never even know they're there—"

The carrier helpfully provided a soundtrack of MewmewmewmewMWAAAAUUULLL—!

"Tessa, we aren't—you can't—" Ben raised his hands and then let them drop. "Fine. Put it in the backseat."

"Thank you," she said quickly, shoving the carrier and supplies into the back of the car before he changed his mind.

Ben shoved his hands in his pockets and gave Melody a look that Tessa couldn't quite interpret. "Not going to offer to come with us?"

"I feel like I'd be more help here, doing research like you suggested."

"Probably," Ben said.

"I'll do that, then. But call me if you need anything. I could be your supply drop."

"I hope we won't be gone long enough to need it, but thanks. I'll be in touch."

Melody hesitated, squeezed Tessa's hand, and then ran back across the street to the bookstore. Ben turned to Tessa.

"Do you have a car, or did you take public transportation to work?"

"I don't own a car. I just take the bus."

"Good. That'll make it easier. Let me know how to get to where you live, so you can pack a bag."

It was starting to feel real now. She clenched her hands to stop them from trembling. "So we really are going out of town?"

"If you're okay with it," Ben said. "I have a place out in the woods. A cabin. It's not in my name. I guess you could call it a sort of bolt hole. There's no way anyone should be able to find us there. You'll be perfectly safe for as long as we like."

The idea of being safe sounded great, but ... "That won't solve anything, though, will it? If they're after me now, they'll still be after me if I go into hiding."

"Yes, but it'll buy us some time." He nodded to the car. "Get in. Let's talk on the way. We're racing a clock; Reive's going to be out of jail as soon as his lawyer can spring him."

Tessa gave him her apartment building's address and clenched her hands in her lap as they drove across town. Ben was calm, at least outwardly, but between his warnings and Melody's, she was starting to see dragons behind every lamppost. The shadow of a building passing over the car made her jump.

"Hey." Ben reached over and closed his hand over hers, comforting and strong. "It's going to be okay. I'll keep you safe. All right?"

"All right," she whispered, lacing her fingers through his.

 

***

 

At her apartment, Ben waited near the door, studying the mark on the doorframe, while she quickly shoved some clothes into a suitcase. "No cats?" he asked.

"It's a no-pets apartment. Believe me," she said, managing a smile, "as soon as I find a place where I can have cats, I'm going to get one. At least one. Maybe two. Maybe twelve." She balled up some bras and underwear, shoving them into her bag. She hesitated over the box of papers from her parents, but decided to leave it. She'd lived without it all her life; she didn't need to carry a few old family photos around with her. "Okay. Let's go."

"That's it? You can take longer, you know. Take whatever you want. There's room in the car."

"I just needed a change of clothes. There's nothing here I care about." She shrugged. "When you grow up in foster care, you get used to traveling light."

She didn't mean it to come out self-pitying. She was just stating facts! But there was an inescapable vestige of an old and deep pain; she could even hear it in her own voice, the echoes of a lonely child who had carried around all her belongings in a plastic garbage bag. She didn't dare look at Ben. Instead she turned away and took a mug from the sink, filling it with water for the cats.

"Anyway," she said shortly, "let's get on the road."

Ben picked up the suitcase without being asked and, at her nod, carried it down to the car for her. While he put it in the trunk, she leaned a knee on the seat beside the cats' carrier and unzipped the top just enough to get a hand inside. There was no built-in water dish and she realized too late that she'd forgotten to bring something from the apartment. "Do you have something back there I can water them with?"

Ben supplied a plastic coffee-can lid, but the cats were far more interested in trying to crawl out over her hand. She gave up, took the water out to prevent it from spilling, and zipped them back in. "How far is it to this cabin of yours?"

"A couple hours' drive. Will they be okay for that long?"

"They'll be fine." The kittens mewled plaintively, making it clear they did not agree. "You don't mind having cats in your cabin, do you? I forgot to ask."

"I don't mind at all. It's quiet out there with just me. I like quiet, but ..." He smiled at her, crinkling his eyes as they got into the car. "Sometimes you can use a little noise."

She had to look away from the warmth of his eyes. "No pets of your own, right?"

"No. Hard to take care of pets with a cop's hours. Or have a social life, really."

"No girlfriend?" she asked, her throat dry at her own boldness.

"No," Ben said, and smiled at her. "Not yet."