Authors: Nicola R. White
“Is there something we can help you with, Agent Graves?” Rachel asked coolly when the silence stretched on. “Or is it FBI policy to follow and harass innocent people?” She bared her teeth in a fake smile that was more poison than polite.
Whoa, girl
. Rachel getting confrontational with an authority figure? That was a total Alex move. The whole world really had gone crazy.
Unperturbed by Rachel’s attitude, Graves put his hands in his pockets and looked up at the night sky, giving every appearance of a man out for a stroll. “Just doing my job. I saw lights out here on the field as I was driving by and thought I ought to check it out. You know, do my part to keep the peace and order while I’m in town.”
“So why the sneaking?” I asked.
“I figured you might be a bunch of kids out here getting drunk, maybe tearing up the field. Thought I’d scare a little sense into you, so I parked on the street and walked down.”
His story seemed plausible and I breathed in, tasting the air to test its veracity. The night was filled with the scent and taste of summer, alive with the smell of lilacs growing wild along the roadside, with none of the bitterness I’d scented at the Stardust Motel.
Graves was telling the truth. It really was a coincidence that he’d happened by.
But now we had to get rid of him.
“I’m not surprised to see you and Ms. Walker out here,” he said to Rachel, “since you’re such enthusiasts of alternative fitness.” He turned to Jackson. “But I’ll admit I’m surprised to see you out here. I would think a man of your…talents would have other interests.”
“Alternative fitness?” Alex asked.
“Naked yoga,” I supplied, hoping she’d shut up and play along.
Thankfully, she got the hint. “Oh, yeah. Naked yoga. We love it. Can’t get enough.”
Nora snorted with nervous, barely suppressed laughter.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jackson stepped closer to the agent with fists clenched.
“Just surprised to find you out here with the ladies, like I said,” Graves replied. “A man with your background doesn’t usually go in for yoga and girls’ night. It’s been a couple years since you got out of the SEALs—maybe you’re getting a little restless, missing the action. Hawthorne must seem pretty slow compared to some places you’ve been.” He paused. “Things you’ve done.”
“After the places I’ve been, I like slow.” Jackson’s voice grated, carrying a warning Graves didn’t take.
“Some men find a quiet life hard to go back to. They start fights, get into trouble.” Graves shoved his hands into his pockets, faking a casual stance even as his aura spiked. “Is that what happened to Clinton Miller?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Graves laid his cards on the table now, done playing. “I think maybe Miller started something at the bar that night and you finished it. And I think Ms. Katsaros is covering for you.”
For obvious reasons, I was less than thrilled Graves was on the case, but I hadn’t had a problem with him personally until now. After all, he was just doing his job. But implying that Jackson might have killed Clinton Miller because he couldn’t handle life in the real world? That, I had a problem with. Jackson might have been an insensitive, stubborn jerk, but he was also the toughest, most resilient person I’d ever met. He’d gone through one of the most grueling military training programs in the world, served on active duty, and come home only to find that his niece was in danger and he had to work with an actual, honest-to-God Fury to protect her. And he’d done it without flinching.
Nora and I both opened our mouths to tell Graves exactly what we thought of his insinuations, but Rachel beat us to it.
“Let me tell you something, Special Agent Graves.” She pronounced his name like she was describing a parasite. “You might get off on intimidating witnesses, but we don’t have to stand here and listen to you accuse innocent people of things they didn’t do. So if you don’t want a complaint made about you to the Bureau, I suggest you get back on your high horse and go back to the city.”
She looked at him like he was something a stray cat had dug up out of Mrs. Hadley’s garden, and I was half afraid she would actually poke him in the chest like an angry schoolmarm.
“Geez, Rach,” Alex muttered, “don’t go so easy on him next time.”
Graves didn’t seem worried by Rachel’s threat, but I did take note of another spike in his heat signature.
Very
interesting. I couldn’t tell whether he was offended or impressed by Rachel’s assertiveness, but she definitely affected him.
“I just have one more question before I go,” he said easily.
“Oh? What’s that?” Rachel fisted her hands on her hips. Graves reached out for the stopwatch hanging on its nylon cord around her neck, and a barely perceptible shudder went through her when his fingers brushed her bare skin.
His voice hardened, losing its easy affability. “How’d a full-time waitress with no athletic training just manage to run fast enough to qualify for the Olympics? And why is she doing it out here in the dark where no one can see?”
I swallowed hard.
“That’s two questions,” Ruby piped up, saving me from having to answer him.
Rachel snatched the watch out of Graves’s hand and hit reset before he could get another look at it. “You’re mistaken.” She shoved the watch in her pocket and crossed her arms. “Tara hasn’t broken any records. Not tonight, or ever.”
“She’s right,” I confirmed. “I’m really not much of an athlete. Ask anyone. Hell, check my high school transcript—I nearly failed PE.”
Graves tucked his hands into his pockets again and rocked on his heels. “Looked pretty fast to me.” He shrugged and turned to go. “It does make a man wonder, I’ll tell you that.”
He walked away into the night and his voice carried on the warm air when he spoke again. “I’ll be watching you, Byrne. You too, Ms. Walker. See you around.”
He is stronger than I imagined
, Alecto whispered.
He discounts Priest’s story completely.
Frustrated, I walked away from the group. What the sweet hell was the point of being a Fury if my powers didn’t even work? I could hardly figure out who was after me if I was locked in a jail cell somewhere. Anger rose in me and I slipped farther away, putting some distance between me and the others. I needed a minute before I would be fit company again.
Jackson followed me. “Tara.” I kept walking and he grabbed my elbow. “We need to talk about this. Graves isn’t going to stop digging for something he can use against us.”
I wrenched my arm away. “Just leave me alone. I don’t have anything to say to you right now.”
“Fine, so just listen.” I kept walking, not inclined to be ordered around. He cursed and came after me. “Look, I’m sorry about before, all right? This is bigger than both of us, and I shouldn’t have—” he broke off, searching for the right words.
“Shouldn’t have what?” I turned on him. “Fucked me and then told me I wasn’t good enough for you? Would you want to see Nora or Ruby treated the way you treated me? Or do I deserve less respect for some reason?”
Jackson looked away. “You’re right.”
I stopped mid-tirade. “What?”
He swallowed hard. “I said…you’re right.” His accent had thickened and he wouldn’t look at me. Was he…embarrassed about the things he’d said to me? Or maybe the things we’d done together?
If so, it would be a first. I had yet to see Jackson Byrne admit he’d been wrong about anything.
“I was no gentleman.” He finally met my eyes. “And I’m sorry. Even if this is just a physical thing between us, I shouldn’t have brushed you off that way. I should have treated you with more respect.”
I sighed. It wasn’t a declaration of true love, but it was something, and we did need to work together if we were going to keep Ruby safe.
“What brought on this change of heart?” I asked, ignoring the ache in my chest.
“We need to get past this thing between us. There’s some stalker out to get you, someone’s apparently been after Ruby for years, and now we’ve got the FBI after us, too.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Can we just…I don’t know, call a truce or something?”
Damn it. I was in no mood to be reasonable, but I had to agree. There was a lot more at stake than my wounded pride.
“Truce,” I agreed grudgingly, turning my gaze up to the sky. The constellations overhead were both timeless and familiar, and the pinpoints of light comforted me. I saw a flash of something that felt like memory—another night sky, though the constellations looked different from any I had ever seen—and I knew it could only have been a gift from Alecto. A memory she’d chosen to share with me. Smiling at her generosity, I turned my attention back to Jackson.
When I did, I was hit hard by the flare of physical attraction that always simmered between us.
Damn it, Alecto
, I thought at the Fury.
Is this really necessary right now?
I’d thought we were moving past this whole manipulation of my physical responses thing.
I tried to resist my body’s betrayal, but it was impossible. Jackson said my name again, bringing me back to Earth—and oh God, that mouth. I licked my lips, pheromones telling me to lean in and taste him, but I resisted the impulse. It was just a chemical reaction, nothing I couldn’t handle. Besides, we’d agreed we were going to put all that behind us.
At that thought, I pictured Jackson
behind
me, and I dug my fingernails into the skin of my palms to distract myself. That whole train of thought was so, so off-limits.
I know what you’re up to
, I warned Alecto.
So just stop it
.
I was not going to give in to the pheromones again.
You misunderstand
, she answered, amused.
It is not my doing. It is…what is the word? Biology
.
I took a step toward Jackson. When she put it like that—who was I to challenge biology? I only needed one taste to get him out of my system. One…kiss.
I stared at his mouth and knew I was fooling myself. One kiss would never be enough. I took another step. Jackson drew in a shaky breath, and I knew he felt it too and was fighting for control, just like me.
“We agreed we weren’t going to do this,” he said. But he didn’t move away.
I took another step. My body brushed against his, humming with desire, and I flicked off my flashlight, making us invisible to the others. “You’re absolutely right,” I murmured against his mouth. I stood on tiptoe to catch his bottom lip between my teeth. “We are definitely not going to do this.”
He put his hands on my hips and drew me closer, deepening the kiss. I leaned into him and reached up to cup his face in my hands. My whole body tingled and a shiver went through my body.
When I pulled back to catch my breath, I noticed something shining in the distance over his shoulder. A light flashed at the other end of the track.
What was that?
I squinted. “Do you see that?”
“Hmm? See what?” Jackson bent his head toward mine.
“Over there. I thought I saw…” But his mouth on my neck distracted me.
Suddenly, he pulled away to stare in the direction the light had come from. It flashed again and his eyes widened. “That’s a scope.”
“What?” I was still fuzzy from his kiss.
He shoved me away and I hit the ground hard. “What are you—?” I started to say, but he took off at a run toward Ruby.
“Get down!” he shouted at the others. “There’s a shooter!”
Chapter 19
I wasn’t sure if it was the angle of the flashing scope or just intuition, but something told me the shot was aimed at Ruby. I took off at a run, quickly outpacing Jackson, and leaped at her as a short
zip
broke the still night air. I hooked my foot around her ankles, pulling us both to the ground, my heart pounding as I twisted so my body covered the girl. The impact knocked the air out of me and I wheezed, trying to catch my breath. Jackson raced over to us, shielding us with his body, and I rolled off of Ruby so she could breathe.
“Is everyone OK?” Jackson asked after making sure Ruby wasn’t hurt. She was still too stunned from my tackle to cry.
“We’re OK,” Nora answered from where she lay on the ground, but her voice shook with fear. “What should we do?” I could hear the effort it took for her to stay calm for Ruby’s sake.
“Run for the parking lot. Be careful, and stay as low as you can. Don’t use your flashlights and crouch beside the truck when you get there. Tara and I will follow you with Ruby.”
He eased into a crouch and scanned the tree line at the far edge of the track. I did the same, careful not to breathe too deeply. A dull pain throbbed in my side, a sign of the big bruise surely beginning to form. Seeing nothing, Jackson tensed and got ready to move.
“Go!” he ordered, picking Ruby up. We moved quickly, bringing up the rear, and I felt light-headed by the time we reached Nora’s truck. Too much adrenaline. I tried to steady my breathing.
“We need to get out of here,” Jackson said. “Nora, you and Ruby get in the truck and stay down in the foot well. I’ll drive. Alex, Rachel, and Tara—pick a driver. The other two stay down in the backseat and the driver follows me.”
“I’ll drive,” Alex offered.
“No,” I said. “I’ll do it. My reflexes and vision are better than yours.” As I said it, though, my head swam, and I blinked to clear it.