Saffron (8 page)

They don’t know what has happened. None of them do.

Her voice sounded in his mind. Intimate and personal. Kenric glanced at Saffron, sharply stepping away from her touch. She raised her chin.

“Good call, Boss. We finally hit the natural gas. Kade will be pleased,” Shade said cheerfully.

“And before the deadline,” Flare added.

Kenric didn’t know what to say. They continued to talk about getting a call that something was wrong, then all of them heading out here to see what had happened, and Kenric figuring it out and leading them to the natural gas they had been after.

“Those maps were way off. I wonder why?” Flare mused.

“They were probably done by someone who didn’t know what they were doing
,
” Shade said.

Kenric stiffened. They didn’t seem to have any idea of what they had discovered earlier. Of anything.

No, they do not. It is best to keep that knowledge to ourselves.

Kenric ignored her and walked away with the men. Much later, when they returned to the compound, there was a celebratory atmosphere. He stood with Shade and Flare, watching Saffron as she talked with some of the other men. They were too far away for him to hear what was said. None of them knew what had happened earlier. How close they had come to disaster. He did. The memory was burned in his mind. He raised his beer to his lips. Saffron said something and left. Kenric put down his bottle and followed.

In the hall, he spotted her heading towards the exit. He moved after her. Outside, he didn’t see her. Instinct made him go left, and moments later he stood behind her. She stood barefoot in the same spot she had the first time she’d sneaked away from the compound. The moon cast her in an ethereal glow, making her beauty radiate even more. The gown she wore left her shoulders bare. The dress flowed around her figure as if raised by some unseen power. Her firm thighs and long legs seemed more delectable than usual. The silhouette of her body made his cock hard. Furious, he strode up to her.

“I should have known the words of a human—about being accepting—would be false.” Saffron sounded cold.

“Don’t pull the martyr shit on me. What the hell are you?” he demanded
.

She faced him, raising her head back. Grace, power and arrogance seemed to fill every molecule of her being.

“A goddess.”

Chapter Six

Kenric blinked then blinked again as he ran her words over in his mind.
A goddess. Really?
Sure, that whole thing with the lion, flower and snake had been weird, but he could reasonably chalk that up to the fumes.

Couldn’t he?

Saffron turned so that her entire body faced him completely. She seemed to glow. Her eyes were what hit him hardest. They were no longer the dark brown pools he’d willingly have drowned in. No. These were liquid, golden fire.

In that second, he realised that he was in more than a bit over his head. She moved towards him, her feet not even touching the ground. When she halted before him, her scent engulfed him, even stronger than before. The waxing moon only added to the aura around her. Golden sprinkled with moonbeams.

“A goddess?” he asked, hearing his own disbelief.

Her lashes lowered briefly before lifting. They looked like they’d been covered in diamond dust.

“Qetesh,” she replied, her expression impersonal, as was her tone.

He had no idea who that was but nodded anyway. “Egyptian, I suppose?”

“Yes.”

I’m officially going insane.

No, you know what you are seeing and hearing to be true.

That familiar and intimate feminine voice he’d heard after she’d saved Shade and Flare slipped through his mind. The anger returned.

“This is what you’ve been keeping from me,” he growled.

“It’s not exactly something I go around telling people.”

“So, you’re a goddess who protects the earth,” he said more for himself than as a question. She seemed to take it that way for she didn’t speak. “What did you do to Frank?”

“He has been banished.” Flames flicked in her eyes.

“Banished, like…to what, inside a rock?”

“You have heard of the Greek stories of Tartarus?”

“Yes, of course.”

“That is the kindergarten version of what I sentenced Frank and his men to.” There was such frost in her words it made him almost step back.

“And Shade and Flare?” he asked.

Their lives had almost been lost and it was his fault. This was why he always had them separated, so that if something happened it wouldn’t be to both of them. However, Saffron had had him so confused he’d not paid enough attention to the schedule. And that ate at him. Bitterly
.
Forcing that under control, he focused on actually making it through the conversation.

“What about them?”

“You saved them.”

A laconic lift of a shoulder. “They are important to you.”

“But not to you?”

Another shrug. “They are humans. I have no use for them, one way or the other.”

Either she was the most callous person who lived or she spoke the truth about who she was. “But you act like you like them.”

“They are nice enough.”

But she could be just fine without them in her life. While the words weren’t spoken, he knew she meant it.

Raking a hand through his shaggy, dirty blond hair, he tried to figure out how to handle this. He was pissed off, and yet something about the way she stood there made him wonder if she wasn’t just waiting for his condemnation. Especially after what she’d said when he’d first approached.

“Well, thank you for that, at least.”

She gave a regal inclination of her head.

“What about me?” he asked, all the while damning the devil on his shoulder who prompted him do so.

Her eyes shone brighter with golden liquid as she raked him up and down with her gaze. “You?”

“Yeah, me, Doc. What about me?” he prowled closer to her, loving how the pulse along the side of her neck kicked up a few notches and she swallowed rapidly.

Then she changed, composed herself, and stared down her nose at him. An impressive feat, considering she was inches shorter than he was. “You lied about accepting me.”

“Oh no,” he growled. “You don’t get to throw that out here. I still don’t know what or who the hell you are. I didn’t
lie
to you, Saffron…Qetesh…whatever the hell your name is. You know all there is to know about me, but all the while you kept this from me.” He lowered his head until their noses were almost touching.

“You should have trusted me,” she said.

Narrowing his gaze, he held her own. “And
you
should have trusted
me
.” With a snarl, he backed away, pivoted while muttering to himself, and whipped back around as an ugly thought occurred to him.

“What about Kade?” he asked, furious to think that his boss would know something like this about her while she hadn’t shared with him.

“What about him?”

“Don’t fucking play with me, Doc. Does he know about this…this side of you?”

“No.”

Kenric couldn’t explain the relief that swarmed through him at that single word.

“Why?” he demanded.

“Why would I tell him?”

“No, why didn’t you tell
me
?”

She stared solemnly at his face before she shrugged. “Because, when I first arrived, I wasn’t sure if I was going to kill you or not.”

Ice poured over him and he fought the shiver that raced up his spine. She’d said that as if she was talking about the weather, or what she just ate for dinner. Nothing about her right now was the woman whom he’d told he loved, and who’d said the same thing back to him.

Clenching his jaw, he nodded. “I see.” He wanted to roar his anger to the heavens but kept the fury locked away. “So, are you done here, then?”

“I have done what I came to do.”

If he’d seen a sliver of the woman he’d fallen in love with maybe his heart wouldn’t hurt so much. But he didn’t. This one was so distant and it made him want to gnash his teeth at her.

“Good. Safe journey,” he said and walked away.

Every fibre of his being screamed out for him to return to her, but he ignored it and continued on his way. He heard her muttering about humans under her breath but still didn’t stop.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to kill you or not.
Her words ran in a continuous loop through his head.

Back at camp, he waved off Shade’s questioning look and ducked into his room.
Shit!
The place still smelt like her and it made him want her even more. With a muttered curse, he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder then headed back out.

“Where are you going?” Flare asked.

“Patrol. There are guys out there who deserve to be here at the celebration.”

He walked away before Flare could comment again. Tossing his bag in the Jeep, he swung in and drove away in a flurry of dust and spinning tyres. Kenric drove to the farthest outpost and sent the ones there back to camp.

In the back of the Jeep, he swung one leg as it hung over the open tailgate. His guns were in their holsters and he had a rifle across his lap. The radio at his side was very low. He sighed and continued to sweep the area with his gaze. The moon was too bright to use an infrared camera, so that and the computer were stowed.

Sitting there, he had memories of patrol in the Middle East. There were vast differences, but also some similarities. Both places were deadly and if you dropped your guard at any moment it could very well be your last. But they were also beautiful. A slight smile lifted his lips as he gazed around the untamed land of Somalia.

As the hours passed, Kenric thought about what Saffron had told him. “Qetesh,” The word sounded much less graceful off his lips than it had hers. Who the fuck was Qetesh?

She’d been cold when she’d spouted off that crap about humans being accepting a lie, but, beneath that, he’d heard hurt. And that gave him some hope. For what, he wasn’t sure, because, as much as he wanted to go hash things out with her, he had a job to do. And work came first.

So he stayed there, alternating between being furious that she’d come with the intention of possibly killing him and grateful she hadn’t. His eyes were grainy and he was tired when his relief arrived. It was Shade.

“Morning, Boss.”

“Shade,” he said with a nod of his head.

“Everything go okay last night?”

He shrugged. “Yes. Why do you ask? I didn’t radio in for any help.”

“No reason,” he said, his expression smoothing out.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Flare just said he saw Saffron packing a bag. We thought maybe she headed out here.”

She’d left? More of that annoying hurt feeling spread through him. “Nope, she’s not out here. Only company I had last night was the wildlife.”

“Okay. Oh, Kade called and is coming in with the extra guys. He’s arriving at the compound and will get a ride out to this site.”

“Great. Stay sharp, Shade.”
How am I supposed to tell my boss his brother is dead?

A mocking grin filled his friend’s dark face. “Always do, Boss. I always do.”

Kenric waved as he drove off, the morning air helping to revive him. He radioed the site and informed them he was heading back to the compound. Sure enough, there was a ton of hustle and bustle when he parked his Jeep and jumped out, rifle in hand. A helicopter sat off to one side.

Waving at a few men, he strode to the building and pushed in. The cool interior made him sigh in pleasure. Heading to the bathroom, he stopped to splash some water on his face then struck out to find the boss.

Kade had positioned himself in the office Kenric had been in when he’d first met Saffron. Knocking on the door, he waited for the ‘Enter’ before going in. His gaze landed on the man who’d hired him right out of the military.

Kade Grimmel was someone who got others to take notice of him. Tall and fit, he had hard, sharp features. His tanned skin, black hair and vivid green eyes never had a problem attracting women but, as far as Kenric knew, the man rarely dated. He was all about his work.

“Kenric. Come on in here and sit down.”

“Hi, Kade,” he said, making his way to a chair.

“Just in off patrol?”

“Yes.”

“Thought so. Congratulations on getting the pocket. We’re setting up to begin pumping it out.” A flicker of something flashed across his face. “I’m
…
I’m sorry about my brother.”

Kenric sat forward, laying the rifle on the floor beside his foot. “You’re sorry?”

“Yes. I should have known he would try something and when Saffron told me about the map mix-up and the deliberate attempts to harm the crew, I just…I feel horrible.”

“Saffron told you?”

“Yes. She met me here this morning. And she told me that Frank died in a trap of his own making.” Kade ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know what I’ll tell Mom and Dad. They never saw what everyone else did.”

Kade continued but Kenric lost focus. Saffron was here. His skin prickled at the thought of seeing her one more time. Maybe he could convince her to sleep with him while he caught a few Zs.
Wait, I’m still mad at her, right?

“Look, you’re exhausted—why don’t you get some sleep and then we’ll talk some more. I’ve got to get out to the site and check it out myself.”

Kenric nodded, not taking offence. It was just Kade’s way to be short and to the point. “Flare is out there so he can show you around.”

“Excellent.” He stood. “You look like hell. Get some sleep.”

A wry smile crossed his face. “Thanks, man.” Rifle in hand he got to his feet as well. “Where’s Saffron?” he asked
.

Black brows lifted. “I thought you knew. She left on the other chopper when it went back to the airport. She’s off to some other destination.” A clap on his shoulder and Kade was gone, leaving him alone with the news.

In a mixture of disbelief and anger, he stumbled to his room and fell face first on his rack.

Gone. She was gone.

Saffron!