Midnight Ash (A Blushing Death Novel) (6 page)

“Alex and I had intended to confront the board in Lebensblut New York offices, force them to come up with a compromise we could all live with,” he said, turning from me. He strode back behind his desk.

“I’d hoped we could stop this before it started. Make amends somehow. Tithe something that would convince them to leave us in peace.” He looked to Alex. “Now I’m afraid we’re too late. We’ll make an appeal to those loyal to us but Dahlia needs to be protected.”

I was quiet for a long moment as all this information sank in. That woman had scared the shit out of me but I’d fight with my last breath to protect them if she came for us. I was pretty sure that’s what scared Patrick too.

“Okay. I’ll need protection,” I said, accepting the situation for what it was. I knew I wasn’t talking him out of it so why argue.

Patrick couldn’t hide the wide-eyed surprised expression as he leaned back in his office chair and tented his long fingers at his full lips.

I smiled at him, all innocence and sugarplums, but my heart was thundering in my chest. I didn’t like being babysat but I also couldn’t get around it. I fisted my hands at my sides, digging my nails into the flesh of my palms. Pain. Pain might actually keep me from snarling at the lot of them.

Hearty laughter from behind me filled the large room, a rambunctious sound that crackled around the edges like a vinyl record under the needle of an old record player. I turned. Dean, the Pack’s Gaoh, had a bright smile on his face and his warm olive-green eyes twinkled with mirth.

What’s so damned funny?

“Is something amusing, Dean?” Patrick asked in a chiding, annoyed tone. He sat behind his desk the picture of cool with the exception of his ramrod straight posture and the tight clench of his jaw.

“You said she was unpredictable,” Dean huffed through strangled laughter. I watched as Patrick bristled against Dean’s laughter but didn’t seem angry by the remark.

Patrick had needed my help to save the Pack’s Gaoh when Ethan had planned to murder him and take over the city. That’s how Patrick and I had met. I wasn’t sure Dean knew how close he’d come to the end or that I’d had a hand in saving him.

“Anyway,” I said, overly dramatic. “Let’s talk about what the set up’ll be and when this meeting will take place.”

That’s me, straight to the business.
Yeah, right
. I was so angry, my toes curled in my boots. They were just lucky I hadn’t shot anyone yet. It could still happen. The night was young yet.

“Well,” Alex said.

“Kurt and Jackson can take the day shifts.” She nodded at Kurt, ignoring Jackson as if he didn’t even exist. The two werewolves clustered around Dean, flanking him on either side.

“And Nova and Alex will take the night shifts,” Patrick finished in a cold, clear tone. “And as for the meeting . . .” He paused. “You, my dear, are not going.” I didn’t argue. That was a conversation for later when we were alone. When I could yell at him and not feel guilty about it. See, I was learning and could be a grown-up, most of the time.

The Gaoh’s eyes bore into me as if he wanted to see what my insides looked like. My stomach fluttered under his olive-green gaze. I didn’t like the uneasy feeling I had in his presence or how he evaluated me at every turn.

Patrick glared around the room and finally fixed his gaze on the Gaoh whose attention was focused too intently on me.

“Are we in agreement?” Patrick asked as he curled his lip up in a small snarl.

What the hell was that all about?

“Agreed,” Dean answered, shifting his gaze from me.

As everyone filed out, I leaned up against the wall and waited. Dean and Danny moved up closer, taking seats on the black velvet sofa to the left of Patrick’s desk.

The door closed behind me and a weight lifted from my shoulders. There had been too many people I didn’t trust in that room. Too many I didn’t know. Thinning out the crowd made me feel just a little bit better.

“What are you holding back?” Patrick asked.

I plopped down hard on the sofa opposite Dean and Danny, flinging all my weight down on the cushions. Danny and the Gaoh whispered amongst themselves as I collected my thoughts. I had to answer Patrick’s question but a cold chill ran up my spine at the thought of her in my head. In the blink of an eye, I was back in that hall, the soft glow of candlelight, the smell of rotten flowers, tallow and blood filled my nose as fear bubbled in the pit of my stomach.

“I had a dream.” I leaned back against the couch, crossing my arms over my chest. Alex picked at her nails as if she was bored and none of it mattered. Dean and Danny, on the opposite sofa, continued their conversation with little regard for what I had to say. “That smell,” I said, looking up at the ceiling as I spoke. It was easier if I didn’t look at them, maybe then they wouldn’t notice how scared I actually was. “It was in my dream.”

Patrick’s entire posture froze, back rigid, jaw tight and eyes fixed on me. Alex’s eyes lifted from her nails to meet mine. She didn’t stop picking. Her slight upward gaze was the only indication that I’d said something important. She was always cool and not prone to overreaction, especially where I was concerned, unlike Patrick. I valued that more than she knew. It helped me keep my cool when everyone else around me was freaking the fuck out.

“What else?” Patrick asked.

“I was in a large hall with jewel-toned drapes covering the walls, a frescoed ceiling, and a checker patterned floor.” I didn’t want to relive it. “I stood in front of a petite Asian woman dressed in one of those outfits that are like a karate
gue
but not.”

Patrick rose and came around his desk. He stood beside the sofa I sat on, peering down at me. His face was blank but his broad shoulders were tight and the pulse along his jaw jumped in quick time with my heart. Concern rippled off of him in sharp bursts, caressing my skin like a chilly winter wind.

“A tiger, larger than normal. He came up to about here,” I said, sliding my hand against my bicep. “He walked from behind somewhere, I don’t know where. It stepped up beside her and sat down. And here’s where it gets weird,” I said, as if it wasn’t weird enough already. Patrick and Alex eyed each other. They looked worried. “There was a werewolf beside me, a huge one.” Both Patrick and Alex’s gazes shot up, focusing on me in surprise.

Danny smiled as if he had finally caught the animal he’d chased through the woods. The Gaoh’s eyes were blank but I didn’t trust it. He watched me too closely, scrutinized me too thoroughly. I could feel his gaze rake over me like hot coals but I couldn’t read him and that made me nervous. I wanted to know what was going through his head, what wheels were turning behind those intelligent eyes.

“It wasn’t you,” I said matter-of-factly, bursting Danny’s bubble.

The smile faded from his face and his mood changed, becoming cloudy and morose again. I seemed to constantly disappoint him and I didn’t know how to stop. Dean tilted his gaze to the floor between his feet and his eyes closed. He didn’t look happy.

“Did she say anything to you?” Alex asked, still picking at her fingernails.

“Not a lot. Just the usual, you know,
I’ll kill you, blah blah blah
, that kinda nonsense. Then, she disappeared into a weird blue smoke and I woke up.” I tried to make light of it, like it didn’t bother me. I was a badass, after all. I had to keep up appearances, even if it did scare the shit out of me.

“
Middonaitoshoo Asshu
,” Patrick whispered the name like a swear word as he stared off beyond us into a distance and through the walls.

“
Gesundheit
,” Danny said, rolling his eyes and chuckling at his own joke. He was the only one amused.

The Gaoh sat silent, watching everyone’s reactions. Watching me. Waiting.

“Shut up, you stupid mutt,” Alex snapped and hopped off the desk, catching all our attention. She strutted over to him with malice and fear in her gait. She turned on her heels and glanced up at Patrick. “Do you really think so?” She sounded frightened, like a little girl, as she sat down next to me. I’d never heard that tone in her voice and it scared me more than anything else as her confidence melted away.

Patrick nodded.

“Explain.” Dean’s voice and tone were firm, an order in a room filled with beings that didn’t answer to him. He didn’t seem to care, watching Patrick with a blank expression as he waited. His eyes darted to me and away too quick for anyone else to notice.

“
Middonaitoshoo Asshu
, the woman Dahlia saw in her dream is Midnight Ash,” Alex answered, putting her hand on top of mine in a comforting gesture that made my pulse race with terror.
What the hell is going on?
Alex never touched me. She wasn’t the touchy feely type.

“So, she’s Midnight Ash. What’s that mean?” I asked.

“Tell her,” Patrick commanded. The fierce tone in his voice sent shivers up my spine and warmth through my lower body, tightening it into hot knots of need.

“Midnight Ash is not just an assassin, she’s a ninja. THE ninja, actually. She’s the only woman the Takeda Daimyo’s ever chosen to lead them. Dahlia, you of all people know how ruthless she must be for a group of men more than five hundred years old to choose her to lead them,” Alex said.

I did. That was the problem. I understood all too well what it took to be accepted in a man’s world, especially a male world with ideals straight from the Dark Ages. The preternatural world was more dangerous. All they understood was death, violence, and blood. Only the strongest survived. No, that wasn’t right, only the most brutal survived. There was no avoiding the pain to come, no way to distance me from them as Patrick had hoped.

I was fucked.

I sat on my couch,
trying
very hard to relax after work, already annoyed. I’d only been home thirty damned minutes.

I’d had round-the-clock surveillance for two whole days. They were
not
moving about my house like they weren’t there. Men are messy, inconsiderate, and a downright nuisances. I lost track of how many times I’d fallen into the toilet. Someone, not me, had left the seat up. I’d picked up a small army’s worth of food wrappers, plus they’d dirtied all my dishes and refused to run the dishwasher.

On top of everything else, Jackson was an asshole. Not very diplomatic but there it was. I wanted to punch that smirk off his face every time I saw him. He lounged on my couch with his hand on his crotch, scratching, as he leered at me. He curled his lip in an expression he probably intended to be seductive but my stomach churned. It didn’t matter how many disgusted, repulsed, or downright repugnant looks I gave him either. He believed that I and every other woman on the planet couldn’t resist his animal magnetism.

It wasn’t that hard to resist.

Kurt tensed in the doorway between the dining room and the living room with a Chinese takeout box and a pair of chopsticks frozen in his hands. A piece of General Tso’s chicken suspended halfway to his lips. He dropped the take-out box and the General Tso’s on the floor, splattering a sticky brown mess all over my hardwood.
Perfect, something else to clean up.

Kurt stalked into the living room, growling as his eyes narrowed on the front door. Jackson, who was paying more attention to his crotch than his responsibilities on guard duty, finally noticed Kurt’s reaction. He jumped to his feet and shoved Kurt out of the way with one brutal hand to the shoulder. Kurt’s bulky body slammed into my built-in bookcases, shaking the volumes on the shelves and dislodging my order as a book jumped from the shelf. I breathed deep, centering myself. Jackson had to be first. Like I said . . .
asshole
.

I peeked out the front picture window and rolled my eyes. Jade’s Grand Turismo Maseratti was parked on the street in front of the house. I strolled over to Kurt and gripped his forearm with a quick shake of my head. “Easy, boy,” I grumbled.

He nodded and relaxed. He shouldn’t trust me, not yet anyway. But he stood down like a good little soldier.

Jackson growled at the door, a soft rumble in the back of his throat. It sounded more like a purr but I wasn’t about to call him out. I didn’t want to deal with the shit storm that would invariably come with it. I kept my mouth shut.

I jerked the door open. Jade stood on the other side, her knuckles raised and a surprised look widening her soft green eyes.

“You have to stop doing stuff like that,” she huffed with sarcasm thick in tone. She breezed by me, over the threshold and into the house. “It’s weird.” Her footsteps stopped abruptly just inside the door behind me. Jade had her own sixth sense. She could spot an unattached male at twenty paces. I closed the door with a heavy breath and pressed my forehead to the oak. The door was cool, the winter wind seeping into the pores of the grain. She hadn’t met my new friends yet. Yippee!

“So, what’s up?” I asked as I turned and faced everyone with what I assumed was a passable smile.

Jade stood motionless with her mouth gaping open, her eyes wide, fixated on Jackson.

Perfect.
That’s all I need.

I cleared my throat. Jade snapped out of her attractive-man-in-the-room daze, looking almost sheepish. I had no idea she could even be embarrassed.

“I have some computer equipment that needs to come in,” she said as she turned a bashful, uncharacteristic look toward Jackson. “Do you think you could help the driver carry it in?” she asked him. Her tone was too damsel-in-distress for my tastes. I, however, hadn’t seen Jackson or Kurt move that fast in two days. She wasn’t even directing her magical female
Jedi Knight
Powers at Kurt.

Maybe this is a skill I need to develop.
I shook my head.
Nope, I couldn’t live with myself.

Before I knew it, my living room was filled with boxes marked with companies I’d never heard of before. Once everything was in the house, Jade turned to me. “We need to set this up—”

I cut her off with a purse of my lips and a subtle shake of my head. Something in my gut tightened at the thought of Jackson knowing about my training room in the basement. Frankly, I didn’t want him to know any of my secrets.

When I’d purchased the house, I’d hired a contractor to separate the open basement and put in a room with a false door. I knew Amblan would be in and out of my house regularly and I didn’t want her to stumble on any of my weapons. I didn’t want to have to explain them.

The door at the end of the wall was disguised by the paneling that popped in and out like an office cabinet, then up into a roller along the ceiling. Behind the false door was a second door with a security keypad entry.

I hid targets, cloth mannequins, my supply of stakes, and a bow in that room. I was pretty good with the bow but it’s only appropriate to carry around a bow and quiver at the Renaissance Fair and . . . never. I had an oscillating spindle sander to grind oak planks into stakes and the arrows into sharp points. I never thought I’d be the girl with power tools.

Call it a hunch but I didn’t want Jackson knowing too much about me. Nova could do the heavy lifting down the stairs when he got here. Nova I trusted.

“We can set it up later, right?” I asked, leading her in the direction I wanted the conversation to go.

“Sure,” she said with a furrowed brow, narrowing her green eyes on me in a silent question. “Why don’t I come back when Danny gets here in a few hours?”

I nodded.

“I guess I’ll grab some dinner,” she said, uncertain.

“Would you like some company, Suga’?” Jackson asked with a cocky smile on his face and a swagger in his step that was predatory and very, very male. Kurt moved toward them. He was quick as he gripped Jackson’s shoulder to stop him.

“Jackson,” he warned. “We’re not off duty yet.”

Jackson glared over his shoulder at the smaller man with disdain in his expression and a sneer on his lips. Kurt dropped his hand and his eyes.

“You’re fine,” he spat out and took Jade’s arm.

I nodded for them to go. I wanted Jackson out of my house and I didn’t care if that endangered me or not.

“It’s all right, Kurt,” I said with the façade of a smile that I knew didn’t reach my eyes. “It’s only an hour or so until dark and everyone gets a little stir crazy. Right?”

He peeked over at me like he didn’t want any part of the decision. He gave me that
I-guess
glance and stood stone still while Jackson and Jade left. Kurt’s eyes never quite left Jade’s retreating form.

The door shut behind them and for the first time in two days, I breathed a small sigh of relief. “I
really
don’t like him,” I said under my breath.

“You’re not alone,” Kurt agreed.

I forgot that Kurt could hear anything I said anywhere in the house. “You want a beer?” I asked. A beer sounded really good to me. He shook his head but followed me into the kitchen anyway. I loaded the dishwasher and turned it on. I pulled out a beer and poured as he sat at the kitchen table and waited for me to join him. “So, Kurt, what do you do?” I didn’t know any of the werewolves that were supposed to be protecting me and I didn’t trust them. That was a problem.

“I’m a computer programmer,” he said, casually leaning back in the kitchen chair. The chair legs looked as if they might snap under his solid weight and I cringed as he rested his ankle on his other knee.

“That would explain the flexibility of schedule then, wouldn’t it?” I grinned as I sat down across from him. “You wouldn’t happen to know what all that equipment was for, would you? Jade said she was bringing some computer stuff over but I never imagined that she’d bring the whole store with her.”

He laughed and so did I.

With Jackson gone, Kurt seemed like a different person. He was comfortable, easygoing, and I was more comfortable around him than I’d been around any of my guards for days.

“It looked like a security system, some monitors and a lot of hardware, but I’d have to pull out the entire thing to get a good idea.”

“Would you mind helping her when she gets back?” I asked with a half apologetic smile. “She’ll need the help and she just ends up yelling at me. I’ve no idea what she’s talking about. I can use a computer but Jade’s on a whole other level.” I tried to sound as pathetic as possible, anything to keep from digging through wires, servers, and monitors.

He smiled at me with a delighted twinkle lighting his eyes and nodded. Things were definitely looking up.

I still had to clean up the General Tso’s though. I liked Kurt but I wanted my house back.