A DANGEROUS BARGAIN (The Sentinel Demons) (18 page)

“You were bitter. I understood,” Kristoff answered wisely. “You might try my patience sometimes, but the investment of my time was completely worth it. You’re a good Sentinel, Zach, and a loyal friend. You’ve served well. It’s time for you to be happy.”

“Kat doesn’t want me to go after the human captives in the demon realm or to say anything to anyone. I’m a Sentinel. My duty is to rescue those people,” Zach grumbled. “We argued and she finally left. She said I was being completely unreasonable and if I wanted to go on a suicidal mission, she didn’t want to watch me kill myself.”

Kristoff tossed back a mouthful of Scotch before asking, “And were you?”

Zach frowned as his eyes rose to Kristoff’s face with a questioning look. “Was I what?”

“Were you unreasonable? Did you listen to her? I don’t think Kat is the type of woman to just fly off the handle for no reason. And she’s right. We don’t have the power right now to be able to rescue those humans. You just don’t want to admit it,” Kristoff replied, leaning back in his chair and continuing to stare at Zach with a dry look. “Do you really want to alert your brothers so you can all go off on a suicide mission? It won’t help those women. There is no way to remove them. They’re under a bargain with an Evil. Their rescue will take planning and power.”

Zach swallowed hard, the reality of the situation finally beating him over the head with a sledgehammer. “So they’ll continue to suffer? We’ll never be able to get them out?” he asked in a husky voice.

“Not exactly. I think we will be able to help them, but not right now,” Kristoff answer cagily.

Zach raised a brow, wondering what his king wasn’t sharing with him. “So why do you think that it might be possible in the future if it isn’t right now?”

His leader’s eyes shifted, no longer looking at Zach, and he sighed heavily. “Do you trust me, Zach?”

“Yes,” he answered immediately. Kristoff had never once, in two centuries, given Zach a reason
not
to trust him. In fact, he was heavily in his debt.

“Then let it go for now. There are some things that I can’t share because I don’t know the whole situation myself. I only know that the opportunity will present itself for us to be able to rescue those women. I know it makes you edgy and restless not to go, but it would be certain death for you, Hunter, and Drew. Trust that as soon as we can accomplish the mission, it will be done.”

“Kat was right. I should have listened to her,” Zach mumbled, cringing as he remembered the angry and hurt look on Kat’s face as she had left that morning. “She doesn’t usually get angry. Not really.”

“She’s afraid. Her fear for you made her angry because she couldn’t reach you,” Kristoff said philosophically. “Maybe you need to learn to be a little more flexible. Compromise. Think about what you have to lose before you act like an idiot,” Kristoff suggested. “Try talking to her instead of giving her ultimatums.”

“I’m not sure she’ll talk to me.” Zach wavered between the desire to go and claim his woman and the need to see her happy.

“Don’t start,” Kristoff warned. “I know you think you aren’t worthy of her, but there has never been a woman more perfect for you, and you deserve her. If being with you wasn’t her ultimate happiness, she wouldn’t be your
radiant.
She loves you. Don’t blow this, Zach. She needs you every bit as much as you need her. Kat hasn’t had an easy life. You can change that for her, give her back the love she gives so unselfishly to everyone else.”

Even as Kristoff uttered the words, Zach knew he wanted to love Kat that way, give her everything she needed, protect her from anyone and everything that could hurt her. He already did love her that way…but he hadn’t told her. He hadn’t been fair to her earlier, and he had wounded her.
God, that hurt.
He had thrown away a miracle because of his own stubbornness. “I need to see her.” But he was beyond need, his urge more like desperation. “I hope to hell she’ll forgive me.”

“She will,” Kristoff answered smugly. “Charm her.”

Zach scowled. “I don’t exactly feel like Prince Charming when I’m around her. She makes me crazy. I feel more like the big, bad wolf that wants to gobble her up,” he rumbled, his thoughts wandering to their intimate lovemaking the night before, an experience that had been one of the most extraordinary moments of his life. “Will it get easier for me with her?” Zach asked, his deep voice betraying a trace of vulnerability.

Kristoff shrugged. “Probably not. But you’ll get used to the feeling,” he answered thoughtfully. “Being a dominant asshole is a Sentinel trait. But you can learn to deal with it.”

Zach stood, suddenly anxious to get to Kat. He needed to see her so badly that he could barely function. “Is she at her sister’s house?”

“She was. When I checked in on her, she was about to head for home. I’m assuming that meant her apartment,” Kristoff replied, not bothering to rise as he looked up at Zach and took another sip of Scotch.

“Thanks,” Zach said gruffly. “I’ll catch you later.”

Kristoff waved him off. “Go find your
radiant.
And try talking to her this time. You might want to just mention the fact that you love her,” he advised sarcastically.

Zach nodded once, determined to let Kat know exactly how he felt, insecurities be damned. He needed her, and he would make her happier than anyone else on earth could, because no one would ever love her as much as he did.

He transported without another word, his thoughts completely fixed on Kat, leaving Kristoff still seated in his den, a half-empty drink in his hand.

“Don’t mind me. I’ll just finish my drink and see myself out,” Kristoff muttered aloud in the empty den as he tipped his glass up with a sly grin on his face.

*****

“Damn it!”

Kat cursed as she entered another wrong total into her expense report that she kept on her relic of a computer. She got up from her wobbly chair that had seen much better days and went to her compact kitchen to get a bottle of water. As she rummaged through her refrigerator, she realized that she needed to clean it out. Everything was spoiled from disuse with her being gone for over a week.

Her week with Zach.

“Get him out of your head, Kat,” she mumbled. “He doesn’t want you. He didn’t even make a protest about you leaving. Did you really think he would?” She grabbed a bottle of water, ignoring the other items that were beyond rescue. She’d take them out to the trash later.

Returning to her computer, she plopped in the chair and shut the system down for the night. She wasn’t accomplishing anything. The chair creaked ominously as she leaned against the loose backrest and opened her water, taking a large swig.

She wanted to go home…to Zach. Okay, she was being stubborn, but she so wasn’t going to help him kill himself. Instinct was already clawing at her to return to him, try to talk to him. But her demon didn’t talk…he demanded, and there was no way she could keep her temper in check when he was contemplating something as idiotic as going back to the demon realm, nor was she going to help him do it.

“This apartment is depressing.” It wasn’t just the shabby atmosphere, it was also the silence.

She had always lived on a tight budget and she was used to the secondhand items and never spending hard-earned cash on anything she could live without. Previously, she had spent the money on Stevie. Now she was trying to save enough cash to go back to school.

The apartment was too empty, too quiet. She missed the sultry, sexy baritone of her Sentinel, and she wondered if he was missing her.

I might be his radiant, and he might want me because of that attraction, but he never said he loved me.

“He’s not yours, idiot. He has no desire for a partnership and he doesn’t respect or listen to you,” she muttered aloud, just to hear her voice break the silence. “He’s a billionaire demon. Why would he want a full-figured, brassy redhead with no accomplishments to her credit except a business that's barely afloat?”

“Perhaps because he adores her.”

Kat jumped as Zach appeared behind her. Her heart started pounding as she stood and turned, her heart in her eyes. He reached for a lock of her hair, letting it slide between his fingers as he continued. “Maybe he loves your bright, shiny hair and lusts after your lush body.” She trembled, as he added in a husky voice as their eyes locked together, “Or maybe it’s because he can’t live without seeing your smile every day.” He let her hair slide out of his hand and slid his arms around her, pulling her flush against his muscular body as he finished with a harsh whisper near her ear, “I actually think he’s just madly in love with you, Kitten.”

She shook her head against his shoulder, her eyes misting with tears. “Please don’t play with me, Zach.”

“I love you, Kat.” He pulled back, his glowing gaze colliding with hers. “I don’t want to live without you. I can't live without you.”

Oh God. Did she dare believe him? She didn’t think she’d survive if he didn’t mean it. Leaving him had ripped her heart from her chest, and she was still bleeding.

“I mean it, Kat. I’m sorry about this morning. You were right. I wasn’t thinking. I was reacting like a Sentinel demon instead of thinking things through completely. You were trying to be my voice of reason and I didn’t listen.” He sighed heavily before continuing, “I realize I’m no prize for you. I can be bossy and highhanded.” He cupped her cheek tenderly and caught a lone tear flowing down her face with his thumb. “But despite all my faults, no one will ever love you as much as I do. I guarantee you that. Stay with me for eternity, Kat. Fight with me if you have to, but don’t run away. My life won’t be worth a shit if you don’t,” he finished, his low voice broken and fierce.

Another tear fell, and Kat trembled as she looked up at Zach. “You never said you loved me. I was afraid for you. I shouldn’t have left. It was cowardly, but I was so afraid.”

“Afraid of me?” he asked, his eyes betraying his sorrow.

“No, afraid
for
you. I didn’t want to see you go on a suicide mission and I was scared of how I felt about you. It frightens me. I’ve never needed someone like this before,” she admitted quietly, ashamed of herself for bolting. “I won’t run away again, but I won’t be silent either when I think you’re being unreasonable,” she warned him.

“I don’t want you to be. I want you exactly as you are,” he agreed readily, his eyes devouring her. Kat melted.

Will I ever get used to the way he looks at me like I’m the only woman on earth for him?

“Get used to it. You are,” he answered as his lips captured hers in a toe-curling, panty-drenching kiss that robbed her of breath and accelerated her heartbeat until it felt like her heart was ready to burst from her chest.

Finally, as he came up for air, he nipped her bottom lip gently and soothed it with his tongue. “Know that if you do run again, I’ll be hot on your trail. I’ve decided that I’m the man who can make you happier than any other,” he informed her arrogantly.

Kat stifled a grin. “Is that so?”

“Yes. I have you for eternity so I’ll have forever to work on it. I figure I’ll get it right eventually.”

Kat sighed and laid her head on his muscular chest, listening for a moment as his heart raced in time with hers. “You already have my heart, demon. I don’t think you could make me any happier than I am right now.”

“Don’t bet on it,” he returned instantly with a growl.

Kat smiled weakly as her tears were absorbed by the soft cotton of his t-shirt. “Take us home, Zach. I need to get naked and horizontal with you.”

“Don’t know if I can wait that long. I think it’s going to be vertical against the nearest wall,” he said huskily.

She laughed with delight as they disappeared. She was leaving the remnants of her old life behind to embark on a new life with the man she loved.

Zach didn’t wait, and when the two of them arrived back in his bedroom, he showed her exactly how much he loved her, and it was indeed…vertical.

One week later, Kristoff sat at Zach’s home, watching Kat as she fussed over Hunter’s ravaged face, giving the Sentinel a stern lecture about following the rules. To his credit, Hunter didn’t growl at her. Instead, he appeared to be listening, even though Kristoff knew it wouldn’t change Hunter’s behavior. He was humoring his new sister-in-law, the woman who had married his brother in a small private ceremony in the courthouse a few hours ago. Zach looked on from the couch, gritting his teeth every time his mate touched his brother, tolerating it, but just barely. Kristoff shouldn’t be amused by Zach’s discomfort, but he couldn’t help himself. He was, after all, unmated and probably always would be. If he hadn’t found his
radiant
by now, she either didn’t exist or she had died before he had discovered her. But along with his amusement, he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of envy. What would it be like to have that sort of connection with a woman?

The frown faded from Zach’s face and Kat quit fussing over Hunter as her nephew burst into the room from the kitchen, heading directly for Zach and clambering into a position beside his new uncle on the couch. It was obvious that Zach adored Stevie, and he smiled broadly now, a grin that Kristoff had never seen before, as he ruffled the boy’s hair affectionately. Hunter crouched beside the boy and spoke to him in a gentle voice, something else Kristoff had never heard before. Kat deposited herself in her new husband’s lap and joined the conversation.