Karma Patrol (38 page)

She couldn’t think of any good response. Eventually, the need to come up with one was eliminated; with a last smile, the Bookkeeper disappeared through a side door, pulling it shut behind him, and she was left alone in the sitting room.

Jade waited a few more minutes in case he returned, but she remained alone. When it became clear that his departure had indeed been a final dismissal, she left the way she’d come in, noticing as she passed the desk that the secretary was also gone. She glanced down at the phone in her hand, hesitating in the doorway, but after a moment’s pause she shoved the phone into her bag and headed back out into the sunshine. She’d gotten what she’d wanted, although she still thought leaving her on the Slate was a terrible idea, and there was no use standing around in the Bookkeeper’s house when no one there seemed to be interested in arguing the point with her.

As she headed down the front steps of the brownstone, a gust of cold wind blew her curls into wild disarray, and the chill helped to clear her head. Whatever happened with the Powers and Destiny Division and all the rest of it, at least she still had her soulmate and her karmic ability. She even had the promotion she’d always dreamed of, the job that would finally let her focus her talents where they could do the most good. If she was very lucky, the Powers would decide that keeping her on the Slate was too much of a risk, and they would leave her in peace with her soulmate.

The thought of Luke made her realize how much time had passed since she’d left the apartment, and she headed down Central Park West without a backward glance. If she hurried, she might make it home before Luke woke up.

Despite Jade’s best efforts, including a shortcut through a community garden, Luke was already awake when she got back. She pushed the front door shut and leaned briefly against it, taking a moment to appreciate how gorgeous he was with tousled hair and a sleepy smile.

“Where’d you go?” he asked around a yawn, pushing himself up to a sitting position.

Jade came over to sit beside him, slipping under the sheets that pooled around his waist. He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in to rest her head against his bare chest, and she sighed in relief. She knew it was the effect of the soulmate bond, the automatic sense of safety and contentment she felt when she was in his arms, but all she cared about was how right it felt.

“The Bookkeeper’s office.”

“Did you give him hell for letting you get kidnapped by that psycho?”

She choked on a laugh. “Something like that,” she agreed, pulling back just far enough to meet his gaze. “Luke, I need you to promise me something.”

The distress in her tone was audible, and Luke reached out to cradle her cheek in his palm. “Whatever you need, babe,” he said automatically. “What’s wrong? What did he say to you?”

She took a deep breath. “He told me that the prophet was right. All of the crazy stuff he said—well, some of it anyway. It’s true.”

“I didn’t hear all of what he said,” Luke replied slowly. “I was only out in the hallway for the very end. You’re going to have to catch me up.”

“He said I’m in line to become one of the Powers That Be, which would basically put me in charge of the entire world.”

He let that sink in for a few seconds and then shrugged. “Good.”

“Good?” she echoed, perplexed. “How is that good?”

“Hey, somebody has to run the world, right? And whoever’s running it now isn’t doing such a bang-up job. You’re smart and organized and extremely bossy, and you already think you know better than everyone else. You’ll do fine.”

She stared at him, unable to believe his calm reaction to the bomb she’d just dropped on him. He met her gaze evenly and held it until the tension became too much and a giggle escaped her. Before she knew it, she was laughing in earnest, flopping down onto the pillows as all of her nervous tension bubbled over.

Luke lay down beside her, smiling to himself as the worry left her expression. It tore at his heart to see her upset. If he told her that, she would say it was a result of their status as soulmates, an emotional tie put into place by those same Powers to ensure that the two of them would eventually fall in love. A week ago, he would have found the idea of some sort of faceless cosmic power pulling the strings to force him into a relationship with anyone offensive, and he would have fought against the feelings on principle. Today, he found he simply didn’t care. He’d never known anyone like Jade before. He’d never had anyone who loved him the way she did, and he’d never felt for anyone what he felt for her. It didn’t matter whether it was true love or destiny or just desperate gratitude for her presence in his life. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he would do whatever he had to in order to keep her safe and happy.

When she managed to get herself under control again, wiping tears of mirth off of her cheeks, he leaned in to press a kiss against the crown of her head. She snuggled into him, her arm around his torso and her head on his chest as he breathed in the floral scent of her shampoo.

“He told me our future,” Jade murmured, taking his hand and interlacing their fingers. “It all depends on you, Luke. Things…” She hesitated, squeezing his hand. “Things would turn out very differently if I lost you.”

“Yeah?” He drew their joined hands to his lips, brushing a kiss against her knuckles. “How would they turn out?”

She shook her head, closing her eyes against the threat of a future without Luke. She’d only had him for a few days, but she knew that losing him would break her, and having to face the fact that she was responsible for his death would make it a thousand times worse.

“Don’t leave me,” she whispered. “I’ll never let you go, Luke. I swear, I’ll be anything you want me to be, anything you need. I don’t even care if you never fall in love with me. Just please promise you won’t leave me.”

“Hey.” His voice, tender but firm, shook her out of the brutal anxiety that gripped her, and she looked up at him to find him watching her with a concerned expression. “Jade, I’m not going anywhere. You told me I could have a couple of days to figure out that I’m a lucky bastard and you’re the perfect woman for me, right?”

“I’m pretty sure you’re paraphrasing,” she observed, and he smiled.

“Maybe. It did take me a couple of days, but I finally figured it out. You’re it for me, Jade. I don’t want anyone but you. I don’t care if it’s because some guy picked our names out of a hat and decided to turn us into soulmates, or if we were actually made for each other, or if it’s just that I can’t resist your smile. Whatever he told you that’s got you so freaked out, you don’t have to worry about it because it’s never going to happen. I’m never going to leave you. I love you.”

Her sweet kiss was the only response he needed, but it was overshadowed by the satisfaction radiating from the center of his chest.

Finally
.

He snickered against her lips, kissing his way down to nuzzle the side of her neck as she made an inquiring hum.

“What’s so funny?”

“You didn’t hear that?”

Shh.
The bond’s amusement turned conspiratorial in a heartbeat.
No telling
.

“Hear what?” Jade asked, and he shook his head.

“Nothing.”

Jade was looking at him like he’d lost his mind. He captured her mouth with his again, effectively distracting her as he thought as hard as he could at the bond.

Why not?

It didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure if it was ignoring him or if it just couldn’t hear him unless he spoke out loud, but in order to say the words aloud, he’d have to explain it to Jade. After everything the bond had done for him, he couldn’t bring himself to betray its confidence.

The kiss ended naturally, and Jade caught and held his gaze as he started to pull away.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

He felt a tingle of alarm from the bond and gave her his best reassuring smile.

“I’m sure. It’s been a weird week, that’s all.”

“You have a talent for understatement.” She brushed a kiss against the line of his jaw. The bond’s rising irritation dissolved into quiet approval as she pillowed her head on his chest, closing her eyes and snuggling against him.

“I can’t believe I finally found my Prince Charming,” she sighed, blissfully content, and he chuckled.

“I can’t believe you find me charming.”

“Shush.” She poked him in the ribs with a pointed finger. “Don’t ruin my fairy tale ending. The villain was defeated, the princess was rescued…”

Luke ran his hand though her messy curls, unable to restrain his grin. He’d never envisioned his life having a happy ending, but with Jade in his arms, he was finally starting to believe dreams could come true.

“And they lived happily ever after.”

assume from your presence here that this debacle is finally over?”

Destiny Enforcer Henry Cahill, better known to the cops of Midtown North as SWAT Officer Frank Delaney, nodded to the Director.

“The official story is that Cowden shot the senator and the other politicians because he was a religious extremist. When he spotted Bailey in the crowd taking pictures during the aftermath of the first shooting, he became infatuated with her. The shooting at her building and the one at the police station were to target Jackson, her soulmate, because Cowden saw him as competition. I took Cowden’s phone and his identification from the crime scene, so there’s no chance of the cops hacking into our system or figuring out who he really was.” He hesitated, a note of grudging admiration entering his tone as he added, “Bailey helped sell the cover story without even realizing it. She told the cops that Cowden knew she worked for a local newspaper and wanted her to tell his crazy manifesto to all of New York. That covered us for the classified Destiny Division information that SWAT and the detectives overheard.”

“Don’t start growing fond of her,” the Director of Destiny Division advised his protégé. “We allow the other two divisions to have their token members of the Slate because it’s good for public relations, but Jade Bailey is far too curious to be allowed to survive long enough to be Chosen.”

“We can’t just kill her, sir,” Cahill pointed out. “If either of the other two divisions found out, it would be a PR nightmare.”