God's Eye (6 page)

Katharine accepted the beast that had been in her room. She accepted the creatures that wandered through her space and disappeared from the world. She accepted that Zachary had simply landed in her lap–a man perfect for her needs who also drew her out and lit sparks in the best of her. She told herself she only had a hard time dealing with all of it at once.

Luckily, the door to her father’s office swung open just then, snapping her back from her thoughts. Toran Light emerged, gray hair as impeccably groomed as the smile he pushed to his face when he spotted Katharine on the leather couch. “Miss Katharine.”

She smiled back at him, her grin genuine even though his was tight. He had called her Miss Katharine since she was two. Something subtle in his demeanor gave a cue that he was bothered. “Uncle Toran.”

His hug was firm and solid, and he spoke as he always had–directly into her ear. “You help your Daddy out now. We need you on this.”

“Absolutely.” The personal communication and trust he extended to her were more than her own parents had given her. Always had been. Maybe he knew it and maybe he didn’t, but encouragement from him worked like a charm. Every time.

She went into her father’s office, previous anger dissolved and gone, ready to face whatever challenge he set before her. Seating herself into a firm leather wing chair, she faced the man with the same hazel eyes she had inherited. His hair had been a thick, deep brown and was now liberally shot through with wire the color of steel. It aged him, but only added to his authority. He leaned back in his chair, not bothering to stand. His greeting was as impersonal as the rest. “Katharine.” And the simmering anger came right back. Two could play at that game. Even as she wondered where the meanness came from, she spoke, as coolly as he had. “Daddy.”

He didn’t notice the icy endearment, and pushed a short stack of papers across the desk to her. “We have a problem. We are missing funds.”

She almost blurted that she was in research, but then again, maybe she wasn’t anymore. There was a very fine male sitting in her office right now already up to speed on how to do most of her work. She didn’t know whether it bothered her more that he was so attractive–though she couldn’t say why–or that he was so fast in taking over her spot. She pushed her thoughts and her impatience aside. And waited.

“Toran and I have worked on it as much as we can. We’ve chased paper and followed leads for a few weeks now. This is what we have.” He pointed at the papers. “We suspect the payroll department is responsible for the disappearances–they have the greatest access and we have satisfactorily ruled out all other departments. If the culprit isn’t in payroll, then they’re working through that division.”

Picking up the papers and leafing through them, Katharine nodded.

Her father continued dispensing information, and she listened while she looked at what he’d handed her. “You worked with all but a few of the newer payroll people. You hired a handful of the employees when you were in HR before that. And everyone here knows that you move around the company frequently. Being my daughter may be a hindrance, but the rest is a great advantage. They likely won’t tell you all their secrets, but no one will be suspicious if you start checking records or pulling files. We have a prime suspect as well.”

That made her head pop up, and for a brief second she met her father’s eyes.

“Mary Wayne. She seems to be living above her means and is the only one in the department doing so.”

Katharine started and her brain turned over her father’s suspicion. She had hired Mary. Had liked the woman. Mary’s background and references had been impeccable. That this must be a mistake was Katharine’s immediate gut reaction. Then again, people changed.

“Get to work on this. We need it shut down as fast as possible. Use your assistant–he hasn’t been with the company long enough to be the culprit.”

With a final nod to her father, Katharine organized the papers and, tucking them under her arm, left the office. She had said only one word during the whole exchange. Sharon waved to her as she left but didn’t say anything, and for the first time it occurred to Katharine that Sharon usually expected her to leave her father’s office tense and preoccupied.

For thirty-two years, her life had progressed as expected. In a matter of weeks, great cracks and questions had appeared at the foundation of all she knew. But she had limited experience handling real questions, so Katharine did what she was good at and pushed it all aside. She had a thief to catch.

•  •  •

Zachary saw Katharine emerge from her father’s office, but she didn’t see him. He sat behind the veil, watching. Waiting. Making sure things didn’t go horribly awry for her.

There was so much she did. So much she accomplished. He needed to show her the path to her own soul. She was so devoid of knowledge of herself, but he could set her free. She could join and do the work she was meant for. See all the things he could give her.

She walked down the hallway away from him, but he could detect no change in her from a week ago. Nothing that said she belonged to someone, even though he knew she had feelings for him. That was something that couldn’t be helped. When one of his kind incorporated, while people could see and accept the brethren as human, there was usually still some tiny tip, some clue, that was picked up on. People flocked to Zachary’s kind like moths to flame, wanting to be near something they barely sensed. There was little he could do about it. Her attraction to him was as natural as the doormen going out of their way, the clerks at the grocery being nice for the first time all day, the hostess in the restaurant having feelings for him.

He didn’t return the emotions. He couldn’t–he was a higher being. He could enjoy the interaction, empathize and placate the ones with feelings, but he couldn’t be attracted to them the same way they were to him. Katharine included. Having sex with her had been a necessary evil. Zachary needed her bound to him. He needed her to listen and hear what he told her. Allistair would destroy everything if he got to her first, if he tied Katharine more tightly to him, if he swayed her away from what she was capable of becoming. So Zachary had been forced to move first, to protect what she could become.

His thoughts had wandered, his attention lapsed, and as he turned to follow Katharine he mistakenly ran into an employee. Mary Wayne. She was delivering the paystubs for the division chairs as well as for the payroll department. It was poor form for payroll to hand themselves their own checks, so it fell to Sharon to hand the payroll clerks the checks they had approved for themselves.

Zachary had taken one step when Mary had passed through him. That was an error.

He’d had contact with Mary off and on for several weeks, yet she was becoming a problem. Zachary decided something needed to be done. But as she passed through him, she stopped and shuddered as though she felt a chill.

Mary was developing a sense of the other side. Not that she knew it, but she was having minor reactions to things that were happening across the veil. Even though she clearly sensed something, she didn’t see him, or even sense what he was.

He stood and stretched, his wings unfurling to their full length. This body needed to be used when he was in his own form. This was the skin that fit him best, and he’d spent so much time in human form lately that he was in need of his own shape sometimes. His back worked and he felt the motion as his arms, legs and wings pulled in and pushed wide several times. Large as his kind was in comparison to humans, several steps brought him into Katharine’s office.

The wall was no hindrance; it existed solely on her side of the veil, a mortal device that worked only on mortals. Katharine gave no indication of recognizing his presence on any level. Even the time she’d spent with him, some of it humanly intimate, hadn’t made her more aware.

But Allistair paid attention; he looked around as though checking out the office. He sensed Zachary’s presence. Though Allistair’s mortal form limited his perception, it did not entirely block it. Likely it was merely a tickle at the back of the reduced brain he now possessed. But Allistair had waged this battle. He was the one who had come along after Zachary and his lord had chosen Katharine. Had taken what was meant to be a simple offer and turned it into warfare. Allistair was smart to be alert, and he knew that a tickle was likely all the warning he would get that Zachary was nearby.

Not feeling the slightest bit threatened, Zachary laughed, a festive sound that again tipped Allistair’s head. Poor Allistair, he was clearly enamored of Katharine, his human feelings much stronger than they should be. Katharine seemed unaware of all of it. She remained oblivious to the radiation her assistant was giving off. From this side of the veil, it was plain as day what Allistair felt for her. Need and want curled tendrils around him, pulled tight into himself by his own sub-par discipline. Every so often, several escaped his imperfect grasp and reached out for Katharine.

Allistair had always been a failure at this. He wasn’t supposed to be human, but he had an insidious need to slide into them, to feel them. If Zachary had his way, this would be Allistair’s last foray, last assignment, last chance. And so far, it seemed that Allistair would fail this one too, as he had so many others before. Even in this short mortal timeframe, he was already too entangled in Katharine. Zachary was grateful to her for being completely oblivious to the creature who presented himself as her assistant.

But Allistair was another story. The world would be a better place without him in it. He was a disgrace even to his own kind. And Zachary would be glad to help rid the realms of this interloper.

Even now he was standing in Zachary’s way, having risen to his feet and concocted an excuse to look over Katharine’s shoulder. Effectively, he placed his mostly mortal body between Katharine and Zachary, blocking Zachary’s view of her. He could no longer read her feelings through the shield that Allistair provided merely by being what he was.

Zachary growled his frustration as he watched Katharine all but disappear behind the curling tendrils of thought and feeling that Allistair finally allowed himself to wrap around her. The second loss, which bothered Zachary more, was that he was unable to exert any pressure on Katharine with Allistair in the way. He needed to nudge her, to help her get uncoiled from Allistair. But that was an impossibility right now.

He turned away. He would make sure he saw her tonight and then he would undo the damage Allistair was doing now.

Zachary slipped away to wait.

•  •  •

Katharine tried to concentrate on the data retrieval program that Allistair needed help with. She didn’t know why he needed the help; he’d been going along just fine, seeming to never forget anything she told him. Then, suddenly, he popped up from his desk, complaining of problems with the advanced functions of the graph generator.

She could have sworn he’d already produced a chart for her using this program. She was certain she’d shown it to him. But she went through the steps again, patient as a lamb. He was her trainee, so she trained. His performance reflected on her, so she would show him whatever he needed. She was more than aware of his head directly over her right shoulder. Her entire body was reacting to the scent of him–or maybe just the nearness of him.

Heat radiated from his skin. The smell of him called to her, inviting her to lean her head back and test the texture of his crisp shirt. His voice, engaged in the simple task of asking questions, was a siren’s song. He could break into “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” at any time and she would likely just sigh and ask him to sing it again.

Katharine forced her mind back to the task. With effort, she kept her own voice calm and modulated. She pieced together logical strings of words. She walked him through the program and tried not to notice his hand planted on the surface of her desk right beside where her own hand operated the mouse. He didn’t notice that he hadn’t left enough room for her to move it sideways–she had to pick the damn thing up and make short jerky movements to sweep to the right. But Allistair didn’t move his hand.

Not that any of these problems shut down her want.

Katharine told herself it was because of Zachary. He’d turned her on and now she was … well,
on.

The problem was, she was
on
for Allistair. She breathed in his scent, shivered at the heat and sound of his voice at her ear. And nothing else mattered at that moment. Her brain was clouded with this man, right here, right now. She wasn’t lost in a high school fantasy about what would happen after school when she would meet up with her boyfriend. She wanted him now. Her glance slipped sideways without her permission and caught the movement of his mouth.

There was something deep and drowning about him. Something like the pull of quicksand or a vortex that drew the imagination, until you were stuck and there was nothing more you could do.

Her heart beat faster and she wondered if he could pick up on her rising body heat from where he stood. She glanced at his mouth again–it was likely he could sense all her thoughts, he was so close. Katharine considered squirming, but didn’t think she could pull it off. It was too ingrained in her to never show discomfort. She could fake contentment, she could verbally turn unease back on the offender with an underhanded jab, but her mother had drilled into her to never let anyone see that she was anything less than at ease. For a brief moment Katharine almost laughed. Her mother should have played the world poker tour. Her greatest bluff would have been walking away without the other players realizing how crass she thought the whole thing was.

But Katharine was having an increasingly difficult time bluffing Allistair. He leaned and pointed, bringing his body in closer to hers again and again. He asked questions that bordered on repetitive, then immediately jumped to advanced issues that showed he’d already mastered some of the basics. He did it all while forming a cocoon around her that was slowly driving her insane.