‘If you’re so proud of what you’re doing, why are you hiding?’ he asked. ‘Why a covert operation?’
‘It makes us more effective.’
‘You
seriously
think doing this will help anyone?’
‘What alternative is there? People have a right to live without fear. Humans forced to live here because their own kind have turned their back on them. Humans in Lowtown and Blackthorn should feel safe – those who have no choice but to be there at least.’
‘So you’re taking out the key players because that’ll help?’
‘We’re bringing down the underworld and restoring human control.’
He laughed from an uncomfortable place in his gut at the naivety and ignorance of her belief. ‘The third-species underworld is the only thing holding this place together. Do you not see that? Do have
no
idea how it works here? And who would step into their place instead? The cons that roam the streets here?’
‘I
know
what the likes of Caleb Dehain are capable of.’
‘Exactly – and so does anyone in Blackthorn and Lowtown who thinks about overstepping the mark. This place is ruled hard and mercilessly because that’s what is required. Mainly to keep in line the dregs your authorities deem aren’t fit to share the same air as them. This was supposed to be
our
space, not a dumping ground for your unwanted. Do you seriously think this place will be better if you put your kind in charge? Are you really that arrogant? We have a balance here, a balance we have fought to maintain, so who the fuck do you think you are, coming in here and trying to unsettle it?’
Her gaze dropped to the table, but she soon glared back at him.
But she knew he was right. He could see it in her eyes. Hear it in her lack of argument.
He leaned back in his chair, his arms folded again. ‘Was I on your hit list? Was I next?’
‘Lycans weren’t on our radar.’
‘Why? What makes us so different, in your eyes?’
‘I never said you were.’
‘But you see differentiation even within the third species, right? What gives you the right to pass judgement on us? To make decisions about who lives and who dies? You’re no better than the authorities who have failed you, and you can’t even see it.’
‘We’re nothing like them. They’re about money and power and–’
‘And what are
you
about if not power? How do you justify
your
actions?’
‘We cannot let the vampires rule.’
‘And this is how you go about it?’
‘We have to do something.’
‘So you invade our district, our homes.’
‘It’s a carefully targeted operation.’
‘Full of judgemental bigots. Excuse me if I’m not bowled over in admiration and reassurance. Where does it stop, Phia? Where will you draw the line? Because the way I see it, anything that is a risk to the vampires is a risk to my pack. One third species, all third species.’
Her eyes flared. ‘That’s not how it is.’
‘So
you
say. But do what’s left of your so-called Alliance agree?’ He looked across at Dan. ‘You’re quiet. Where do
you
stand?’
He could sense the hairs on the back of the human’s neck bristling as their eyes locked. Dan didn’t quite have Phia’s edge of defiance, nor the balls to look him in the eyes and say what he thought. In fact, Dan caved relatively quickly. Clearly his reputation
did
precede him.
‘Never mind where anyone stands or stood,’ Phia said, recapturing his attention. ‘Let’s face facts here – whatever has happened, and despite what you know now, you still need me.’
He raised his eyebrows slightly. ‘Is that right?’
‘I’m still alive and he’s still alive,’ she said, indicating towards Dan. ‘That’s proof enough for me. Whatever your plan is, I’m still a part of it. Just as the minute you took me from those ruins, you became involved in whatever I’m involved in. You
and
your pack. I might have failed to protect mine,’ she declared. ‘But you’d better hope you can do a better job with yours.’
She’d echoed his very thoughts, not least now he’d seen the extent of whatever her Alliance had become embroiled in.
‘We were paid to take the hit on the Dehains,’ she added, out of the blue.
Her companion’s eyes flared in disapproval at her disclosure, only giving weight to the truth of her words.
Words that escalated the complication of the situation to a whole new level.
‘They were on our list, but not for a long while,’ she explained. ‘They were our crescendo along with Kane Malloy. But they got jolted forward.’
‘So much for vigilantism.’
‘It was a one-off.’
‘Paid by who?’
‘We don’t know. What we do know is they’re wealthy, powerful, don’t like getting their hands dirty and they don’t give a fuck about your so-called Blackthorn code. And it seems they’re responsible for wanting The Alliance silenced so that word doesn’t get back to Caleb, just as I’m guessing they’ll want you silenced if they find out you have me. You’ve got another player in town, Jask. And I’m certain it’s in
both
our interests to find out who.’
Her gaze didn’t flinch, which was as impressive as her decision to negotiate. In fact, every decision she’d made since he’d stepped out of the shadows had been
smart. Petulant though she still was, this was a whole other side of Phia – the side to Phia that he needed for his own cause. And, as much as he resented finding yet another appealing trait in her, this new attitude was most definitely topping the list of reasons to like her.
It wasn’t helped by knowing that beneath the disclosure was her acknowledgement, her acceptance, that she was now vulnerable. That she needed him. Not only was it perfect in getting her to do what he wanted; more to the point, it was potentially binding them on a whole other level.
‘Are you bartering for your life, Phia?’
‘The same someone who wants me dead could also be a risk to you. And I’m your perfect honeytrap to find out who that is. So yes, I am bartering. If you want me to do what
you
want, you help me get the answers
I
want. Help me take this player out and then I’ll help you.’
‘What?’ Daniel said under his breath, unable to conceal the shock.
‘I was taken off the street by a vampire called Marid,’ Phia added, ignoring him. ‘He sold me on. We track him down and find out if he knows where the money came from. Failing that, we find out who those two vampires were who collected me and we find out from them. We’ll trace it back to the source somehow. We’ll kill whoever destroyed The Alliance and
then
I do what you want. It’s the only deal I’m offering you.’
He folded his arms, making her wait for his response. ‘So, basically, you’re asking for my help.’
She frowned, betraying her umbrage at the new dynamic between them, let alone that he was toying with her over it. But still she managed to keep herself contained, adding to his admiration of her new self-control. ‘I’m not stupid. I know I’m not going to get any answers out there alone.’
‘You want me to help with your vengeance tirade.’
‘I want justice. You understand that, right? Better than most.’
He looked down at the table, traced his fingers over the dented surface. ‘And what makes you think I’m not a part of taking your Alliance down?’ He looked back up at her, liking the startled look in her eyes. ‘What makes you so sure you weren’t taken back to the compound for that very reason?’
Chapter Twenty-Three
S
ophia’s heart jolted.
Jask didn’t flinch. His eyes gave nothing away.
Her ears thrummed in the silence of the room. She felt Daniel stiffen beside her.
Jask leaned forward, looked deep in her eyes. ‘In fact, how do you know it wasn’t
me
that paid you to kill the Dehains?’
‘Because we were hired by a vampire.’
If Dan was right. If Abby had been telling the truth. Her stomach wrenched, every iota of her being hoping they had been – and not just because her newfound plan had just imploded if not. But because she couldn’t accept that Jask would be so cruel as to have played her like that.
He raised his eyebrows slightly. ‘Is that right?’
She nodded, uncertain if she should have made the further disclosure. ‘So I know you’re screwing with me.’
His smile was fleeting. ‘But you
don’t
know, do you, Phia? You run around here with your judgements and your principles and your fully loaded gun and you have no idea what you’re up against.’
Her stomach was so tight it was painful. She didn’t bother to try and take deep breaths to calm her racing pulse. ‘I’m up against someone who has destroyed my pack and will inevitably come after yours. We need to team up, Jask.’
He knew she was holding up her hands – not in surrender, but in an attempt to strengthen her resources. She could only hope Jask was a smart enough leader to at least consider it.
More than that, she hoped he’d look for a reason
not
to kill her.
‘Can I talk to you, Phia?’ Daniel asked, his tone anything but a request. His eyes flared with warning, a look that grated more than she knew it should have – like being berated by a parent in front of new friends.
‘Open forum,’ Jask remarked, giving Phia’s permission on her behalf – a move that evoked a disgruntled glare in his direction.
‘In private,’ Daniel said.
Jask exhaled tersely. ‘And would you like waiter service as well?’
‘Five minutes,’ Daniel said. ‘That’s all.’
‘We need five minutes too,’ Corbin cut in, his eyes equally grave as they locked on Jask’s. ‘Don’t you think?’
Jask glanced from Daniel back to Phia again. He stood and headed across to the coffee table. He searched through the contents of the open box before returning with a couple of rolls of plaster tape. He threw one to Corbin, kept another for himself. He moved in behind Sophia and eased her arms behind her back.
‘Is that really necessary?’ she asked, but knew it was futile protesting physically. ‘I’m not stupid enough to do anything.’
‘I’ve seen you in action, remember?’ he said dangerously close to her ear. ‘So forgive me for not trusting a word you say.’
‘Likewise,’ she said, wincing as he wrapped the tape around her wrists, securing them to the spindles at the back of the chair.
Corbin did the same with Daniel.
‘Five minutes,’ Jask said, before leaving the room to head down the hallway, Corbin close behind him.
‘Teaming up with Jask Tao?’ Daniel hissed as soon as they were out of sight. ‘What the
fuck
?’
‘I don’t have much choice, do I? Weren’t you the one who said I don’t stand a chance of getting answers out there?’
‘What happened to you being able to handle this alone? Jask Tao turns up and you surrender your war cry?’
‘That’s not how it is. I’m making the most of the advantages we’ve got. It’s called being strategic. I’m trying to keep us both alive. He’s going to use me anyway, so we may as well get something out of it.’
‘Use you for what?’
‘I don’t know.’
He frowned. ‘Like hell you don’t.’
‘I don’t.’ He didn’t need to know all her Kane Malloy theories – especially now she wasn’t so convinced herself. ‘But this is the only way I’m going to find out.’
‘I don’t like this. I don’t like any of this.’
Neither did she completely. Not when teaming up with him also meant putting off her call to her sisters. ‘Then what else do you suggest?’
He stared at her then exhaled with impatience as he looked away.
‘Jask is one a hell of a force out there and we both know it,’ Sophia reminded him. ‘I’ve seen those lycans in action. They’re one hell of an ally, Dan. So, loathe as I am to say it, we
do
need him – at least until we know who we’re up against.’
‘So we team up with the third species. Doesn’t that break our entire code? Isn’t that what you went off on one about earlier? A bit hypocritical, isn’t it?’
‘I either let him force me into doing whatever he wants or we strike a deal now and make sure we
all
get something out of it. We owe it to The Alliance, to those we’ve lost, to see this through.’
‘And how do you know he’s
not
a part of this? What makes you so sure he was screwing with you when he said that? He’s right – we know nothing about third-species politics. What if they’ve all teamed up against us? What if they just want the other four? I can’t believe you let that information slip, Phia. Maybe
that’s
the only reason we’re alive right now.’
‘What happened to The Alliance isn’t down to him.’
‘How can you say that with such conviction?’
‘Because I know him.’
Daniel frowned. Something flashed behind his eyes. ‘What
exactly
went on between you two in that compound?’
‘Nothing.’
‘No? I’m not blind, Phia. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. The way you look at him. The way he handled you back there. I heard the banter in the shaft. The rest of us may as well not have been there.’
She broke from the accusation of his glare, but his words burrowed deep. She didn’t think Jask looked at her in any particular way. No way she’d seen, at least. The prospect of it made her insides flit. ‘You’re talking stupid.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Is that right? You both sitting there, staring into each other’s eyes, a hundred silent messages passing between you. Come on, Phia.’
Heat flushed to her cheeks, her stomach flipping. She kept eye contact fleeting. ‘I never knew you were so poetic, Dan.’
‘And I never knew you were so gullible. It seems his charm really is quite the killer. I expected more from you. Have you slept with him?’
It was her turn to exhale with impatience as she looked at the wall. The use of
gullible
was too insulting, too plausible for her not to take a moment before forcing herself to look back at him. ‘I’m playing the game,’ she said, as much to convince herself as him.
‘With Jask Tao? You’re making a big mistake, Phia,’ he said, disappointment in his eyes. ‘I’m your friend and that’s one lake you don’t want to be dipping your toe into. Those lingering looks, the snatched smiles – you’re already wading too deep.’
‘And I’ll go as deep as I need to in order to see this through,’ she said quietly. ‘Because I
am
doing this.’
* * *
‘You’re not seriously considering this,’ Corbin said. ‘We don’t have time.’
Jask folded his arms and leaned back against the kitchen counter. ‘I need her on side, remember, not digging her heels in.’
‘Then call her bluff – turn up the heat on her boyfriend in there.’
‘It won’t work. You’ve seen her in action. She’s just not the type to cut her nose off to spite her face; she’d kill herself just to make me suffer – especially if she thinks she’s lost. And now we know there’s definitely another player in town, we need her even more.’
‘A player who’s already going to be asking questions about what happened to their henchmen, let alone their missing hostage. Someone who has potentially dared to go up against Caleb. Is that someone you’re sure we should be taking on? And if it is a vampire, you know we could be seen as taking sides here. You know what that could evoke. And going out there with her is only going to draw attention to the fact we have her.’
‘And what if it wasn’t a vampire who paid them, Corbin? What if we were right in the beginning – only it’s not the witches being used by the TSCD but The Alliance? What if they’re using them as a scapegoat just as we were, only to get to Caleb this time instead of Kane? And knowing what another court case could do to them, they’re destroying the evidence this time.’
Corbin looked across his shoulder at the boarded-up window before staring back at Jask. ‘And what about us keeping ourselves to ourselves? It isn’t our priority. Caleb Dehain is more than capable of looking after himself.’
‘If this is the TSCD fucking with this district again, we need to know. We all need to know. This is just as much about protecting each other’s backs to protect our own. And there’s only one way that’s going to happen.’
‘And what if it’s
her
who’s double-crossing you? We don’t know those deaths were The Alliance. We only have her word for it. How do we know they’re not alive and well and ready to take you out?’
‘I believe her.’
Corbin raised his eyebrows. ‘That unequivocally?’
‘I know when she’s lying. And I know when she’s scared. And she’s scared right now, Corbin. You saw those images. You read what’s happened to the rest of them. She’s screwed and she knows it. If I get the name she’s looking for, I’ll have even more to bargain with.’
The look in Corbin’s eyes was too telling. ‘You care about her, don’t you?’
‘I care about our pack. I care about what goes on in Blackthorn.’
Knowing him too well, Corbin raised his eyebrows. ‘I warned you. I warned you not to let this become personal.’
‘I’m not doing anything to jeopardise us. I can handle this. I can handle her. We’ll get the answers we need and then we’ll get what our pack needs.’
‘Then I’m coming with you.’
‘No. I need you to be my eyes and ears back at the compound. Take Phelan and the others back with you. And Dan. I’ll sort this with Phia alone,’ he said, pulling away.
‘I haven’t seen that for a long time,’ Corbin remarked.
Jask turned to face him. ‘What?’
‘That look in your eyes. The one that’s there when you mention her name.’
‘Do you have a problem with it, Corbin?’
Corbin pulled himself away from the counter. ‘Not if you’re adamant you know what you’re doing,’ he said, stepping past him. He sent him a glimmer of a smile. ‘I just never thought I’d see it again.’
* * *
Daniel looked away, oozing disapproval at her decision despite knowing there was no alternative.
But justify it to herself all she wanted, there was an equally strong underlying reason to make a deal with Jask. A reason evoked by the feelings reignited the moment she’d seen him again.
Because though she hated it more than having to make a deal with him in the first place, she wasn’t ready to let him go. Seeing him again hadn’t just brought shock; it had brought relief. It had brought a strange and alien sense of security, even as his pack had surrounded her.
And as he re-entered the living area, as he stopped on the other side of the table, Corbin beside him, she held her breath in the hope that a fraction of him felt the same way. If not, she knew things were about to become painful and messy.
‘You’ve got yourself a deal,’ he said.
Sophia’s heart leapt, but she forced herself to remain composed as he crossed the room towards her.
‘Smart move, Jask,’ was all she could bring herself to say.
Corbin skirted the table to stop behind Daniel. Taking a knife from his pocket, he sliced through the tape before yanking him up as if he were nothing more than a child.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked, looking first at Corbin then at Jask.
‘He’s going back to the compound with Corbin,’ Jask declared.
‘No way!’ Daniel protested. ‘We come as a team.’
‘Phia and I will handle it alone. Won’t we, Phia?’
As Jask’s gaze burrowed into hers, nerves curdled her stomach. She and Daniel had worked together for months. They trusted each other, were seamless. Being on the streets of Blackthorn alone with Jask was a whole new territory.
‘I want him to cross into Lowtown,’ she insisted.
‘He’s going to the compound. I’m not risking him getting caught. And I’m not arguing about this, Phia.’
She glanced at Daniel – at the concern and despondency in his eyes. He knew as well as she did that arguing was futile. She lowered her gaze.
The next time she looked up, they’d gone.
The silence of the empty apartment, the isolation of being alone with Jask, suddenly seemed oppressive. It wasn’t helped by him remaining stood in front of her, his powerful arms folded as he assessed her.
She shrugged her shoulders to remind him she was still secured to the back of the chair. ‘Whenever you’re ready.’
He pulled out the chair he’d previously been sat in, put his hand on the seat between her legs and tugged her square-on to him as soon as he sat down. ‘Let’s lay down some ground rules first.’
She scanned the length of his finely honed arm, now brushing her shoulder as he clutched the side of the chair.
‘You do as I say, when I say, how I say.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s it?’
‘I mean it, Phia. You present even a hint of being a liability and I call this off and take you back to the compound. Do you understand me?’
‘Naughty step – yeah, yeah, I get it.’
He narrowed his eyes, reminding her how dangerously uncompromising he could be. And also reminding her he was only agreeing to her plan because it made sense, not because he wanted to.
The latter hurt more than she knew it should have.
‘This isn’t a joke, Phia.’
She frowned. ‘Tell me about it.’
He held her gaze for a moment longer before he stood, reminding her of the same strength of presence she’d felt when she’d looked up at him from the floor of the ruins. A presence she was sure would help get the truth out of Marid, let alone the other two vampires they might need to track down.
‘So how long
have
you known,’ she asked, as he stepped behind her, ‘about all of this?’
‘About your involvement with The Alliance? Since Rone decided to tell me the truth rather than go back into containment.’