Hint of Danger, page 15
part #1 of Undercover Magic Series
Lina gave what she hoped was a confident smile. “I think I have something he wants.”
“Really?” Quinn whispered, her eyes darting to a place just over Lina’s shoulder. “Well, now’s your chance to find out. He’s coming this way.”
Chapter Nineteen
Lina
Lina tried not to make it obvious as she glanced over her shoulder, but all pretense was lost as the man they’d been waiting for strode across the room.
There was no mistaking him, even though she’d only had the barest sketch of a description from Finley, who’d never personally met the black-market auctioneer. But, unless Finley was a master illusionist like Nord, she didn’t think he’d have done the man justice even if he had.
Davis Crombie moved with a dark grace that had the voice of reason in her head screaming at her to run. He was of an average height, with a dancer’s build, all lean, sinewy muscles. His black hair hung past his cheekbones, offering only the briefest glimpse of stormy-gray eyes fringed with thick black lashes. What she could make out of his face was sharp, angular lines. His long perfectly straight nose over his full, pouty lips.
“Careful, doll. I think you’re drooling.”
Quinn’s laughter-tinged voice made her face flame, and Lina spun back around.
“I mean . . . I’d heard stories, but . . . I was not prepared.”
“Few are when they meet the fae princeling the first time. You picked a hell of a man to land, dearest.”
Lina was having second, third, and fourth thoughts about her plan. But then . . . that was nothing new. Life was fleeting; there wasn’t time enough for regrets. She might fail, but she had to try.
“You seem to know a thing or two about the man. Any suggestions on getting an audience?”
Quinn pursed her lips. “He’s a collector of pretty, expensive things. It stands to reason all you need do is catch his eye.”
Luck must be on her side then because that was about what she’d been hoping for.
“Shouldn’t be too difficult, right?” Lina asked with a nervous laugh.
“Here,” Quinn said, switching places with her. “This way he has a better chance of spotting you.”
This time when Lina let her eyes wander to their host, she let them linger, not bothering to disguise her interest. He was just as handsome upon a second inspection, although there was something terrifying about the cold, dispassionate expression he wore. One of his bodyguards leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Crombie’s face did not change, but Lina could have sworn she heard the distant clap of thunder when he shook his head.
She shivered.
The slight movement caught his attention. Suddenly, Lina found herself pinned by a pair of unyielding gray eyes.
To her right, Lina could see Nord and Finley moving in. She wasn’t surprised they were trying to intercept him. If she’d realized exactly what kind of man they were dealing with, she might not have been so gung-ho about going off on her own. There was intimidating, and then there was Crombie. It was hard to fully comprehend that kind of intensity without experiencing it firsthand.
But then if he really did deal in the trading of supernatural beings and not just objects . . . he’d have to be a bit of a monster.
Unfortunately for all of them, this monster only had eyes for her.
Lina watched as Finley opened his mouth.
Crombie dismissed him with no more than the flick of his hand. With a whispered order, his three bodyguards shifted back as he switched direction to head straight for her.
Lina hoped the panicked-rabbit feeling that had taken hold wasn’t broadcasted on her face. Not knowing what else to do, she picked up her drink and took a healthy gulp.
Quinn let out a snort of surprise before doing the same. “I’ll drink in solidarity. You might as well finish that. I’m willing to bet you’re going to need it.”
“You’re probably right,” Lina managed, her throat growing tight with nerves.
She could just make out Nord and Finley’s faces, both lined with worry, as Crombie reached her. The magnetic force of presence she’d sensed from halfway across the room magnified tenfold now that she was the center of its focus.
Lina took Quinn’s advice and finished her drink. She hoped her death grip on the glass at least hid the tremor in her hands, knowing it did nothing to help reinforce the air of confidence she’d intended to portray.
“Would you like another?” Crombie asked, his voice a sensual caress that was at complete odds with the hard cast of his face.
“I probably shouldn’t,” she answered honestly.
For some reason, that seemed to amuse him. “I find that making any decision based on whether I should or should not do something is an absolute waste of time.” Snapping his fingers, he managed to request another round without saying a word or even acknowledging the bartender that rushed to follow the silent order.
Lina swallowed as he leaned closer, his gray eyes sparkling with a playful challenge she didn’t anticipate could stem from one with such a dangerous aura.
“The only factor that should ever be taken into consideration is how much you’ll enjoy yourself.”
She knew her cheeks were flushed, she could feel the warmth crawling across her skin, but she didn’t know whether to blame the drink or the man.
“I do believe I’ve shocked you,” he whispered in genuine surprise as one of his long fingers reached out to brush her cheek. Instead of Nord’s fiery touch, which always seared her with its heat, this felt like a cube of ice being dragged across her skin. “How can a temptress be such an innocent?”
Come on, Lina. You can do this. Don’t just stand here. Nord and Fin are counting on you. Do what you came over here to do.
“I’m hardly innocent,” she said, willing herself to hold his gaze.
“Is that so?” Crombie’s lips twitched as his head tilted ever so slightly to the side, sending inky strands of hair falling over his forehead. His eyes were locked onto hers, staring so intently it was as if he were attempting to suss out her secrets by sight alone. The silence hung between them, and his lips curled into a predatory smile. “I’m not sure I believe that, Miss . . .”
“Jones,” she supplied. “But you can call me Lina.”
“Lina,” he repeated, taking one of her hands and holding it up to his lips. “But I do love a riddle,” he added, his lips moving against her flesh before he pressed a lingering kiss to the back of her hand.
“I fear you’ll be disappointed,” she rasped in a throaty voice she didn’t recognize.
He continued to study her, his eyes slowly dropping to her mouth. “No . . . for the first time in a long while, I don’t believe I will.”
Before she could rebuff yet another skillfully delivered line, Lina’s vision blurred. Unlike the last few times, this was not a simple flickering at the edge of her periphery. It was a full-scale assault, making the entire room dip and sway like a ship at sea. Sharp pain began to prick behind her eyes as faces began to swim in and out of focus.
She swallowed back a scream as men with fangs and demonic-looking wings replaced the classically handsome faces of the bartenders. And they weren’t the only ones that had changed. There were women with serpentine features and forked tongues standing at the bar. Goblin-like creatures replaced a couple sitting on one of the couches. Crombie’s understated, suit-clad bodyguards were now towering figures with mottled gray skin and black, pupilless eyes.
Cool beads of sweat began to drip down her back as her brain struggled to process what she was seeing. Crombie’s icy fingers circled her upper arm, and Lina gave a violent flinch before recognition set in. He still looked exactly the same. That, along with the firm touch anchoring her, helped the room snap back into focus.
“Lina?”
“These drinks are a lot stronger than I’m used to. The alcohol must have gone straight to my head,” she said, trying to laugh the episode off.
“Perhaps some water, then,” Crombie murmured, his eyes narrowing shrewdly. Lina doubted he was buying her excuse, but he seemed willing to go along with it.
Knowing that Nord and Finley wouldn’t have missed the incident from where they were standing, she risked a glance at them. Her Guardian’s eyes were trained on her, a vein pulsing visibly in his forehead. His eyes were swirling with power, his teeth bared in a feral snarl. He looked seconds away from snapping entirely. The only thing that seemed to be keeping him in place was Finley’s hand clamped on the back of his neck and whatever words he was furiously whispering in his ear.
Lina made a gesture with her hand, trying to tell them she was fine, and they should stay put. Nord gave a single shake of his head. Lina repeated the movement, more forcefully this time. Nord shrugged Finley off and crossed his arms. His message was clear. One more slip like that and he was pulling her out, appearances be damned.
Clearing her throat, Lina took a thankful sip of the water that had been set by her elbow.
“So now that I’ve completely embarrassed myself, it’s your turn,” Lina said, trying her best at a coy smile although her heart was still racing.
“You want me to embarrass myself?” Crombie asked, mirroring her posture and leaning against the bar.
“It’s only fair.”
Claiming the drink he’d ordered for her, he took a sip, never breaking eye contact as he swallowed and set the glass back down. “Just one problem.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to give a shit about what other people think to be embarrassed.”
From anyone else, she might have expected a sexy smirk or some other hint that it was a crock of BS, but he spoke with such matter-of-fact simplicity that she knew he was being completely honest. Crombie truly didn’t care.
The blunt honesty did nothing to diminish the apprehension coursing through her veins. If anything, the admission only reinforced the need to proceed with caution.
“Must be nice,” she said, meaning it.
He lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. “It has its perks.”
“Such as?”
“I’m more interested in learning about you.”
“There’s not much to tell,” she said, internally snickering at the irony of the comment. She was telling the truth, but he’d think she was just playing games. It was time to use his interest in her to their benefit. She just needed to figure out how to steer the conversation in that direction.
Crombie’s fingers were brushing a few fallen strands of hair over her still flushed skin before she so much as tracked the movement. After tucking them behind her ear, he extended the caress, fingers lingering on her jaw as he leaned closer.
“Allow me to be the judge of that.”
Scrambling for a way to place them back on even footing, Lina rested a hand against his chest and leaned back. “Now why should I spill my secrets if you refuse to do the same?”
“Who said I refused?” he asked, one side of his mouth curving up.
Now they were getting somewhere.
Lina raised a brow. “Are we really going to play the verbal equivalent of ‘you show me yours; I’ll show you mine’?”
“You tell me.” For a man who was supposed to be running this event, Crombie seemed like he had nothing but time on his hands.
Lina knew if she could get Crombie alone, Nord and Finley would follow, and then they’d be able to proceed with their interrogation without any of the other guests becoming any the wiser. Flutters of excitement exploded in her belly as she realized she might just pull this off after all.
“Here? In front of all these people?” she asked, fiddling with her water glass.
His eyes flared with interest. “That’s easily remedied.”
Lina suppressed a whoop of victory. Not wanting to appear too eager, she drained her water, and then very deliberately reached for the mostly full cocktail Crombie had claimed as his own. Eyes never leaving his, she finished that drink as well and set the heavy crystal glass back on the bar.
Her lips parted, ready to tell him to lead the way, when her mind fractured.
With a wordless gasp, she pitched forward, no longer able to remain upright as white-hot pain lanced through her skull.
Chapter Twenty
Nord
“If he doesn’t stop fucking touching her, I’m going to rip his arm off and beat him with it,” Nord growled under his breath.
“Now, now. Is that any way to make friends?” Finley chided in an entirely too amused voice.
Nord speared him with a look promising a slow and painful death. “Who needs friends?”
His partner’s eyes glittered with something just as dark and dangerous as what he knew to be in his own. “Careful, Guardian. That sounds a lot like a threat.”
“I don’t do threats.”
“Neither do I.”
Nord huffed out an angry breath and looked back at Lina. He hated everything about this. The fucking clothes. The damned bottom-feeders circling them like a bunch of bloodthirsty sharks. And, more than anything, the fact that the woman he was supposed to protect was standing over there being manhandled by King Bottom-Feeder himself.
“Why are we standing here playing fucking games?” he asked for the dozenth time. “The asshole’s right there. Let’s grab him, get the information we need, and get the fuck out of here.”
“What part of undercover don’t you understand?”
Nord’s chest vibrated like a beast rattling the bars of its cage. “This is bullshit.”
“She’s perfectly safe,” Finley replied, his tone a bit gentler. “We’re right here. Nothing is going to happen to her.”
The words did nothing to soothe Nord’s temper. If anything, it only stoked the flames of his rage higher. He knew better than most how quickly danger could strike. That death could claim its next victim in less time than it takes to draw a breath.
More often than not, he was death’s instrument in those scenarios.
The only reason he’d gone along with Lina’s plan in the first place was because he saw how desperately she wanted to play more than just a supporting role in uncovering the truth about her past.
Each day that passed without her reclaiming her magic, or making progress with her research at the bureau, ate away at her. He knew that she felt like she was failing. Add to that the toll her nightmares took, and it was like watching a ghost being recreated before his eyes. Little by little these perceived failures chipped away at her vibrancy, her hunger for being alive. Even her attempts to ambush him into taking her to bed had dwindled. He’d taken to provoking her just to see a flicker of her natural fire rekindle. He couldn’t bear to watch any more of the woman he’d met at The Monster Ball disappear.
So he caved.
Now, he was stuck fighting against every instinct he had not to storm over to the bar and beat the man bloody who dared to touch her.
Tension knotted his muscles and pulsed in his veins. He could feel the spasm of a muscle ticking in his jaw, and if he ground his teeth together any harder, there wouldn’t be anything but gums left.
“Easy, mate.”
“So help me, Finley, if you tell me to calm down one more time, I will rip your fucking jaw off.”
It wouldn’t be the first time.
Finley wisely kept his mouth shut.
“I’m giving her five more minutes, then we’re going in. I don’t care if we’re undercover or not. If I have to watch him eye fuck her any longer then that, I might start murdering people.”
“Understood.”
Something in his chest loosened enough that Nord was able to draw in a full breath. At least the end of this fucked-up charade was in sight.
It was the worst possible time to let his guard drop.
He watched as Lina finished both her drink and the bottom-feeder’s. Then, without warning, her face drained of color and her eyes rolled back in her head.
The monster within slipped free of its chains, that primal rage overtaking every trace of humanity that he’d clung to.
The world sharpened, a red haze coating his vision.
Nord’s last coherent thought was that at least the motherfucker put his hands out to catch her.
It would be the last thing he ever did.
“Shit. Fuck, Nord,” Finley growled, reaching out for him and grasping his forearm.
Nord broke his hand without hesitation and kept prowling forward.
One of Crombie’s men noticed him. He reached for a weapon, and Nord sprang forward, slamming his fist into and then through the man’s throat. There was a gasp, and then a wet gurgle. His fingers opened and closed around bone, yanking sharply and pulling what had once been the man’s spine out of the gaping hole.
Hot streams of blood sprayed his face, and the muted sounds of screaming reached his ears.
Nord grinned savagely, welcoming the bloodlust. Embracing the violence surging through him.
It was like coming home.
This is who he was.
What he had always been destined to be.
Without faltering, the berserker looked up, staring straight into the eyes of his next victim.
And then he struck.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lina
Pain held her in chains more binding than steel. There was nothing but the sense of being ripped apart at the seams. Agony clawed at her throat. Tears that felt like acid left trails of fire down her cheeks. Muscles spasmed and quaked as if the very cells that made her were imploding. She was coming undone.
It hurt to move. To breathe. To simply exist.
She welcomed the end. She just wanted it to stop. All of it.
Anything to put her out of her misery.
Swirling gray was replaced by blinding white and her eyes flew open, her body obeying a command that was issued without her consent.
It felt like shards of glass were being slowly shoved into her eyes. If she were capable of touching her face, she knew her fingers would come away smeared with blood. She shouldn’t be able to see through the pain, to process and catalog the images that pushed their way to the surface. But she could.
