Tempted by Darkness (12 page)

She knew her mouth had to have dropped open,
but holy shit they had totally blindsided her. Trev chuckled,
“Damn, sorta wish we’d videotaped this, I don’t think Kit is going
to believe us when we tell her that we rendered her best friend
speechless.” Libby tried to glare at him, but the truth of his
words were too much and she couldn’t hold back her laugh.

“True that. And I’m going to deny it happened
too—it’s a matter of pride.” Libby paused and took a deep breath as
she looked between the two men that looked to much alike it was
almost spooky at times. “Damn, I am completely floored. A lab?
Really? Do you really have any idea how much that would cost? And
I’m not even going to ask how you’ve gotten access to the results
of my research or who has interpreted them so you’d know there are
big implications for shifters. A fact I’m not disputing—I’m just
surprised you know it, that’s all.”

Jameson leaned forward, “We’ve already
started building a state of the art medical facility. We’re pulling
Angie back from the medical center—for a lot of reasons. My brother
and I had already been planning to ask her to make the change
before her kidnapping, but that showed us just how vulnerable our
pack members are when they are away from the estate.” Libby watched
Jameson’s eyes soften as he looked at her intently—studying her
closely, and she found herself fighting the urge to fidget under
his scrutiny. “She was also working herself to death, much like
another brilliant, young woman I know.”
Ouch. That hit way too
close to home.
He gave her such a pointed look that she found
herself swallowing and looking down at her lap. “We need her
expertise and she needs to be here. I’m not saying she was entirely
thrilled with our plan, but she seems to be warming up to the idea.
We’d like the two of you to work together on ways to improve the
quality of our healthcare. The number of shifters has seen a rather
dramatic decrease in the past decade. We’d like to see that trend
reversed.”

Jameson slid an envelope over to her, “This
is a written offer. Take it with you and open it when you have the
time to give it thoughtful consideration.” Libby was still
struggling to wrap her mind around this turn of events, but she
followed their lead and stood when they both got to their feet.
Both men extended their hands and she shook them without even
realizing what was happening because her mind was spinning with the
possibilities. Jameson laughed and tilted his head toward the door,
“Charlie and Dirk are pacing outside the door and I don’t want to
keep you here all evening discussing the details. After you’ve had
a chance to review the offer, give us a call and we’ll answer any
questions you might have.” When she took the envelope, clutching it
so tightly the edges crinkled in protest, Jameson smiled and added,
“And Libby, I think you’ll find that we’re pretty eager to make
this work.” He nodded toward the envelope letting her know the
offer was going to be difficult to pass up.

This time it was Trev who spoke up, “And,
we’re expecting you to have questions so don’t hesitate to call
with those. And Libby, all things are negotiable—never forget
that.” Suddenly she wasn’t sure they were speaking exclusively
about the offer. After all, she knew they were members of Dark
Knights and she’d learned enough about the lifestyle to understand
all the implications of pre-scene negotiations. Libby wasn’t a
fool, she knew full well Trev had deliberately left the comment
open-ended. She also knew they were going to make the deal so sweet
she wasn’t going to be able to say no. The only problem was, could
she work for two men she knew full well were Dominants? She wasn’t
a shifter so she wouldn’t be subject to their Alpha nonsense, but
they’d still be her employers and that would mean she’d have to
make some allowances for their bossiness.

She smiled as she made her way to the door,
“Well, you’ve given me a lot to consider,” and waving the envelope,
she added, “and I’m sure this is going to be quite interesting as
well. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. I need to put the
final touches on my presentation, and then I’ll be flying to San
Diego in in a couple of weeks for the conference, but I’ll touch
base with you before I leave.” She shook both men’s hands again and
shook her head at how lost her hand looked in their grip. “If Kit
is available, I’d love to say hi before I leave. And if my
godchildren aren’t busy terrorizing their nanny, I’d like to see
them as well.”

Both men laughed out loud, “Kit will be back
momentarily, I believe she’s been out working with Ruby in the
small lab we built for her. The last time she and her granny
destroyed the kitchen, we decided it was cheaper to build a
separate facility complete with a great fire extinguishing system.
It was less costly than our repeated repairs to the kitchen and it
keeps the staff from wanting to strangle our mate.” Jameson had
tried to make light of the situation, but Libby knew Kit had done
some significant damage on more than one occasion. She’d also seen
pictures of the facility they’d built for Kit to use while learning
all her hocus-pocus tricks and the set-up was something to behold.
Hell, Kit had been a disaster in the kitchen even without the added
risks associated with learning magical spells, Libby didn’t even
want to think about how much more dangerous she’d been now.

Trev grinned down at her and continued, “As
for the
treacherous two
, as most of the pack refers to our
children, I’m sure they’d be thrilled to see you. Just don’t let
them levitate you, they’ve mastered take-offs but not
landings.”

Fuck me. Is he serious? Guess I should be
grateful for the warning.

Kit walked gingerly down the long hallway,
trying to make her way quietly past her mate’s office when she
noticed Charlie and Dirk pacing just outside the door. Sighing to
herself, Kit knew that could only mean one thing, her pint-sized
pal, Libby, was inside. She’d known Jameson planned to offer Libby
a position after her big project ended, but she hadn’t realized
they’d planned to so this soon.
Damn, nobody ever tells me
anything.
When Charlie looked up at her, Kit saw panic move
over his face as he froze, “Shit, are you okay? You look sort
of…well, worse for wear. What the hell happened? Do our Alphas know
you’ve been injured?”

Damn it, she’d forgotten all about cleaning
up before returning to the house. Hell, who was she kidding, she
hadn’t really been thinking clearly and now that she thought about
it, she really didn’t even remember making her way back to the
house. Looking down at her clothing, she winced at the rips and
tears that were highlighted by the black soot.
And what the
heck? Who knew buttons would actually melt into the fabric of a
shirt?
“Well, there was a small explosion, and,” she didn’t get
to finish her sentence when the ornately carved wooden door behind
Charlie slammed open and a very annoyed Jameson stormed out of the
office to stand in front of her with Trev right on his heels.
Oh
yippee, two pissed off mates for the price of one. Goddess I really
don’t need this right now.

“Explosion? Explain.” Jameson was in full
Alpha-mode and Kit couldn’t hold back her involuntary flinch at his
harsh tone. Good Goddess she was in for it now. Neither of her
mates understood that magic was like anything else—just because you
had natural ability, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a learning curve
involved. She’d tried to point out that professional athletes
learned and then practiced skills for years before they achieved
greatness, but the argument had fallen on deaf ears so she’d given
up trying to make the point.

Kit looked from Jameson to Trev and back
again before taking a deep breath, “Well, I’m trying to learn how
to modulate the amount of dark energy I put out. And well…it seems
blenders are apparently particularly sensitive to that sort of
thing.” She could have sworn she saw the corners of Jameson’s lips
twitch but it was gone so quickly she wasn’t sure. As always a
small crowd was quickly gathering around them to see what sort of
trouble she’d stirred up this time, and none of them tried to hold
back their laughter.
I swear there is some sort of network alert
that goes out calling all voyeurs. And if I find a video on YouTube
again someone is going to find themselves turned into fucking
frog—no there is no imagination in that, I’ll have to come up with
something out of the ordinary—something truly—

“Baby? Are you all right?” The concern in
Trev’s voice was unmistakable and it pulled her back to the
moment.

“Yes, I’m fine. Sticky, but fine.”
Mostly.
The truth was her ego was probably more damaged than
anything else, but she didn’t feel particularly obligated to share
that little tidbit. And Braden’s hysterical laughter when she and
her granny had emerged from the lab hadn’t helped either. Damn, she
was going to talk to Angie about him—that kid had entirely too much
free time if he could be hanging around waiting for her to mess up.
Sighing to herself, Kit had to admit it wasn’t like he’d had to
wait long, but she still thought she should be able to blow up a
blender without it being front-page news with the whole pack. In
her peripheral vision she saw Tristan slip a folded bill to his
brother.
Great. Now they were placing bets on me. Just fucking
fairy dancing in the dark dandy.

“Kitten, where is Ruby? Is she alright?”
Jameson failed miserably to keep the amusement out of his voice and
Kit really wanted to give him a big slap right upside his head.

“She’s just dandy.”
Because she is far
more experienced and dropped a cone of protection over herself at
the first hint of trouble. Did she bother to help me? Oh hell no.
And the claim that experience is the best teacher was a lame damned
excuse if there ever was one.
“She’s in the kitchen trying to
wrangle another blender from your staff. Seems she’d become a big
smoothie fan all of the sudden.”
Probably another thing I need
to talk to Angie about. If she’s going to teach Granny Good Witch
all that health food bullshit, she should be the one slurping up
that green goop, not me.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to
go take a shower.”
And guzzle a bottle of something with a
really high percentage of alcohol before I collapse into
bed.

As Kit started to weave through the growing
crowd, she spotted Libby standing between Charlie and Dirk. Each of
the man had a hand on one her friend’s shoulders holding her back
and for the first time she could remember, Kit was actually
grateful to be spared one of Libby’s rib-crushing hugs. She was
still covered in whatever green goo her granny had been mixing up
in that damned blender and the scent of burned hair was scorching
her sense of smell—damn she hoped she hadn’t burned off her
eyebrows again. Glancing behind her she frowned, damn it, she’d
left green footprints all the way down the hallway.

The cuts she’d gotten from the flying debris
were already healing, thanks to the accelerated healing rate of a
shifter, but there was still blood on the surface of her skin and
spots where it had dripped onto her clothing. She hadn’t looked in
the mirror, but she knew her red hair was probably sticking out in
a hundred different directions leaving her looking like she’d
survived a tornado—which wasn’t that far from the truth.

She saw Libby start to speak, but Kit just
shook her head and mouthed
later
. Libby didn’t look pleased,
but she finally nodded her assent. As far as Kit was concerned,
Libby Wells’ biggest gift was her ability to spread joy to those
around her but right now Kit just wanted to wallow in the pity
party she had planned. Kit had never met anyone who could claim
immunity when it came to the little dynamo who was Libby Wells’
charm, and when her friend actually got her hands on you, the
effect was almost electric. But right now all Kit could think about
was making her way upstairs and soaking in a warm bath and drinking
a glass or three of wine until her sense of humor returned, because
looking at the smirks surrounding her, she couldn’t for the life of
her see what everyone around her found so damned amusing.

Kit startled at the realization that holding
back her temper was taking all her focus and that was something
that had never happened to her before. Then she remembered Devin’s
words of warning, that even dabbling in dark magic could have
unintended consequences, including unsettled and volatile emotions.
She’d laughed it off at the time, but now she felt trepidation
moving through her. The last thing she ever wanted to do was to
accidentally hurt anyone who wasn’t a threat to the safety of those
she loved. But for just a split second her mind had gone to a very
dark place when she’d let the wash of anger move over her and that
scared her—a lot.