BROKEN BLADE (15 page)

That’s when the fear came back. I was ready for it.

Marcus wasn’t. And it didn’t even matter much right then that she wasn’t afraid of him. Damn it, the poor girl. Poor Marcus. Poor both of them. What in the hell was going on? Her fear spiked harder and harder and it was worse, because she wasn’t just afraid…she was hurting. I could feel it clawing at me, swarming in the air all around us and it hurt. Just sitting there hurt.

If it was that hard on me, I knew it had to be hell on Marcus.

But it was even harder on her, and his anger wasn’t helping.

As she stuttered the words out, I could feel him getting angrier and it was almost too much for me to take, sitting there with my back to him as she explained. “My father,” she whispered. “He knows now. I was trying to leave…I just…” Her voice tripped, hesitated and I watched as tears flooded her eyes, saw as the pain danced across her face. “I told him I needed to leave for a while and I think he knew something was going on. He yelled at me and didn’t want me to leave. I was going to go to my room and just hide, but something about his eyes, the way he was watching me, it scared me. And I knew if I went in my room, I’d never get out.”

Trapped…nobody is coming for you
…

Shoving those memories away, I squeezed her hands again, tighter and tighter until she looked at me. “You aren’t there. Remember, no matter what, you aren’t there, okay?”

A growl, low and wild, drifted through the room, and I tugged on her hands, forcing her focus back to me.

She nodded. It made it that much easier for me to remember
I
wasn’t there, either. I’d gotten out. So had she.

“He hit me when I said no. He hit me so hard, I hit the wall and our neighbors…they were worried. He’s never been that angry before and I think they thought somebody was breaking in.”

“Let’s hear it for concerned neighbors,” I said, forcing myself to smile at her when she paused. “Keep going.”

Behind me, Marcus growled again and I felt the punch of tension as his anger crawled and whipped across my skin. Shooting a look over my shoulder, I looked for him, but the closer person was Damon. He was no more than a few feet away. Standing guard, some part of me realized absently. Standing there…watching over me.
Nobody hurts you, Kit…

Too bad it hadn’t worked out that way. I made myself meet his eyes. “Calm him down, Damon.”

Something not quite human stared back at me but he only nodded and then he turned away. Clara, the poor girl, was going to break my heart. She was rocking a little now, staring off at something none of us could see. I don’t think she was even aware of Marcus. “He wanted to hit me again, but they were at the door,” she whispered . “One of them is on the school board and Dad had this idea about me teaching once I got out of college.” She gave me a ghost of a smile, the kind a teenager might give another close to them in age. “Teaching, you know? I’m no teacher. He tells me that I had to go with him and tell them everything was okay. I had to help him
diffuse
the situation I’d created. And I told him no. I told him I wouldn’t help, and I told him that things had to stop. He just stared at me and then he said,
If you leave me, I don’t have a daughter.
Just like that. Just like that I’m an orphan.”

Just like that…

Something about the tone of her voice made it clear that the man wouldn’t be one who’d change his mind. But I didn’t want to point out to her that maybe she was better off without him if he was the kind of man who’d raise his hand to his daughter. It hadn’t been the first time. I could see that in her eyes.

No. Now wasn’t the time. Not the time at all. She was getting ready to step into an entirely different world and her road here had already been bumpy.

“Just like that,” I agreed softly, stroking my hand down her arm. “But you got away from a man who beat you because you did something as human as fall for a nice-looking kid. You got knocked up—it’s going to be rough, but it’s not the end of the world, right?”

Blood leaped to her cheeks and she looked down.

I touched her chin and forced her to look back at me. “These people here won’t harm you. They won’t harm your child. They’d sooner cut off their arms than hurt a kid. I’ve seen how they are with the little ones. You, your child, you’ll be safe there. You can go from a place where you were mistreated to a place where you’ll be cared for…” Then I slid Marcus a look. “Maybe even have a chance at something more. You can make your own choices and nobody will demonize you for this. It’s not the life you’d set out to live…but it’s not a bad one, either.”

Marcus, Clara and Conley were the first to leave.

As they all piled into the car, I had to swallow the nerves crowding my throat.

Damon slumped on the couch, his chin resting on his chest and for all the world, he looked like a man who had no desire to leave.

As the sound of the engine faded, I crossed my arms over my chest and forced myself to face him. “Job’s done,” I said tightly.

His lashes lifted. “She never paid you.”

“It wasn’t about the money.” Hell, the fifty bucks she’d offered didn’t even cover the gas from Wolf Haven and that wasn’t the point.

A little stunned, I turned away but before I could stare out, I caught Justin looking at me. His green eyes glinted in the dying light and I saw the knowledge there.

He knew.

Maybe Damon hadn’t quite made the connection there and that was understandable. He hadn’t been there when I’d first dragged my sorry ass out into the world of the living all those years ago, so he might not understand how hard this was.

Swallowing the knot that threatened to choke me, I whispered softly, “I saw it through.”

“You did.”

The tension mounted in my office until we could have sliced through it with a knife. I didn’t hear the sound behind me so much as I just knew he was moving. Slowly, I turned around just in time to see Damon uncoiling and rising to his feet. His gaze all but bored into me. Like a blade, it sliced me open and laid me bare and I was helpless to stop it.

But then, as I saw him slipping a hand into his pocket, whatever had held me frozen evaporated. “If you pull any money out of your pocket, I’m going to tell Justin to burn your ass,” I snapped.

Something flashed in his eyes. “Can’t handle me on your own anymore, kitten?” he asked, his voice low and soft. All too intimate. It brought back memories that were better off tucked in the back of my mind.

I couldn’t be dwelling on those parts of me right now.

Holding his gaze levelly, I summoned up a cocky smile. It felt fake on my face, stretching my lips unnaturally. But I did it, damn it. I stared at him with a smile and I kept that awful, hideous smile on my face as I replied, “Oh, it’s got nothing to do with handling you, honey. It has to do with the fact it’s always fun to watch a cat dancing around trying to avoid getting his feet singed.”

As far as quips went, it was a damned miserable one and I knew it.

Damon knew it, too, but he didn’t say anything.

Instead, he just looked at me for another minute and then a faint smile curled his lips. He crossed the floor and stopped, just inches away. I held my breath as he dipped his head.

Against my ear, he murmured, “I’ll be waiting.”

He didn’t say or do anything else, just headed for the door.

I didn’t breathe as it shut behind him.

Didn’t let myself breathe until I thought my lungs might explode.

One minute ticked by.

Then another.

I hiccupped a little.

Justin touched my shoulder. I swung at his hand and stumbled away. But when I fell against my desk, blinded by the tears, he wasn’t so easily deterred.

As the storm hit me, I ended up pressed against his chest and all but starving for oxygen.

Justin had been the one to help me put the pieces of me together all those years ago.

Maybe it was fitting that he was there when I fell apart again.

Part Two

ReMade

Chapter Eleven

Now what?

I stood in the driveway of my home, staring at the door.

Why was every damn thing a battle?

Justin had offered to come home with me. I’d told him no. I knew better. If I let myself lean on him too much, take comfort in him too much, I’d end up using him.

And then I’d keep on using him.

It was even an appealing thought, I had to be honest. Just standing there, I found myself thinking about calling him.

I couldn’t deny that I was absolutely terrified of being alone. Justin knew how to get past all the barriers I had inside me, including the terror that now gripped me in a cold, sweaty fist.

I could call him; he’d come. I wouldn’t have to be alone. He’d stay the night. On the couch if I asked him to. In my bed, if I wanted.

Comfort sex might even make me feel a little better, once I got past the sweaty panic. Comfort sex had gotten me through some rough things before—
comfort
sex had been the only thing that had made me appreciate sex, really. Justin had been my lover and healer, all in one, for the first few months. It wasn’t until later that we moved past that into just
lover
territory.

But I wasn’t going to do it.

I’ll wait
…

Damn him to hell, but I still loved Damon. Even though thinking about him was an ache in my heart, I still loved him and that’s all there was to it. Another reason why comfort sex with anybody was a big, fat
out
.

Morosely, I stared at the front door. Why in the hell was it so hard to think about walking into my
home
?

Because I was alone.

Because night was coming.

Because the first step of any journey was always the hardest, blah-blah-blah and I wasn’t just taking
one
fricking journey, I was taking a hundred of them, and this was the next one.

I had to do it. I had to walk into that place by myself. I had to disengage the wards and reset them the second I was inside. That was the hardest part, I told myself. Once I was inside, once I was behind the wards, I’d be safe. Yeah, the wards could be broken, but it would take a lot of power and time and that time would let me get to the weapons I’d stashed in various places. I hadn’t taken
everything
with me when I’d packed up. I couldn’t…there was a small cache of weapons that was safer
here
than anywhere else, protected by the strongest, most expensive spells I’d been able to purchase from Green Road.

I could feel their power, subtle…so subtle. Wrapping protectively around those dark, dangerous weapons. Yeah, I had enough firepower in there to take down almost anything that might come gunning for me.

Maybe if I’d had one of those weapons with me…

Bile churned its way up my throat.

No maybes. No ifs. It’s already done, Kit
.

Something rolled across my skin, hot, prickling power—

A gasp lodged in my throat and although I did
not
run inside the house, I damn sure moved fast.

Drawing the Desert Eagle, I kept it in my hand, along my thigh where it wasn’t going to be easily seen as I crossed the sidewalk. The sun was still a brilliant glow in the sky and I didn’t
see
anybody, but I damn sure
felt
him.

Who was it?

Didn’t matter. Unfamiliar magic…on my property.

That meant one thing. Not welcome.

I reached the door and slammed my hand against it, letting the ward take me in. By the time I’d managed to disengage all of them, I was shaking. Once I was inside, I was sweating so hard, I’d soaked through my shirt and my breaths came in ragged stops and starts.

But I was inside.

Inside—

The wards—had to engage them
. Once I did that, I’d be safe. I was almost hysterical by the time I managed to do just that and then, boneless, I slid to the floor, clutching the Desert Eagle and trying to keep from hyperventilating. Passing out. Bad. Very. Very. Bad.

I breathed in through my nose. Held it. Blew it out, then did again, forcing the chaos in my head to settle.

When I sucked in another breath, an odd scent teased my senses. Warning sounded in my head and just as slowly, I blew the breath out, took another one.

Evergreen.

For some reason, my house smelled of evergreen…pine. Not that chemical pine scent, either.

But real, honest to God
pine
trees.

I took another breath and pretended to relax, letting my head fall back against the door so I could look around better. The lights were out, but that didn’t matter. My night sight was keen and I could see the darkened room just fine.

And something wasn’t right. A shape in the corner—

I focused, reached out.

There wasn’t a soul alive
inside
the house. But there had been people in there recently. I could scent something familiar. Staring at that odd shape that didn’t belong in my house, I pieced this strange puzzle together.

My heart started to race and I surged to my feet, hitting the panel for the lights. There was no way I was seeing things right.

Immediately, my breath caught, once more.

Over in the corner, dominating almost a third of my small living room, was a Christmas tree. The lights had come on the second I’d hit the light panel and now I could see the soft white glow flickering all around the tree.

On top of the tree was a star—it wasn’t the typical star, though. A laugh that was almost hysterical bubbled out of me as I realized what it was. It had the gleam of pure silver and the eight-tipped throwing star should have looked utterly ridiculous, but I didn’t think I’d ever seen anything more beautiful.

A Christmas tree.

It was the end of January.

But there was a Christmas tree in my house.

I took a step closer, eying the ornaments. Some of them were typical ornaments, but others weren’t. More throwing stars. A set of throwing knives. Something coiled around one of the branches caught my eye. A silver garrote. Exactly like the ones I had woven into my collar and belt.