He stopped.
Oh my God, I thought.
Not only had I been soundly fucked by one murdering son of a bitch today, but two.
"Come alone," he said, and before the meaning of his words had even really registered, his fist smashed into my jaw.
I was unconscious before my head hit the desk.
Chapter Twelve
I was awoken by the sensation of ice pressing against my jaw. It wasn't helping the ache in my face much, but at least it meant there was someone present who cared enough to try.
The sunshiny scent that teased my nostril told me it was Kade, but the musky scents that were entwined within his also said that he wasn't alone. As did the murmur of conversation.
Kye wasn't here. His scent still was, but the heated, tingly awareness that always hit when he was close was absent.
He'd obviously run.
Part of me hoped he ran far and fast, because then I wouldn't have to deal with him.
But the other part—the part so angry about being so completely fooled and used—wanted the chance to confront him.
To get her own back.
To ask why.
The surface under my hips was soft, not the hard wood of the desk, and the slide of material against my skin told me I was no longer almost naked.
I opened my eyes. Kade was kneeling down in front of me, holding the ice pack to my decidedly tender jaw. Behind him, Cole and Dusty were examining Starke's remains.
"The cavalry arrives," I commented, wincing as the mere act of speaking had pain flickering along my jaw. Not that it would actually stop me. I flicked my tongue across the left side—one lose tooth and several others feeling as bruised as my jaw. "But it arrives too late, as usual."
"Well, you will get yourself into situations where the cavalry has no option but to arrive late," Cole commented. "Next time, give us a little warning and we'll be on time."
"I'll try and remember that," I said wryly, and pushed upright. Aside from the sore jaw, I was actually feeling pretty good. But then, good sex and multiple orgasms tended to do that to you. "How did you know that I needed help?"
It wasn't as if I'd actually called for it.
"We didn't." Kade removed the ice-pack and sat back on his heels. "When the com-link went dead again—this time mid sentence—Jack feared the worst and sent us scurrying."
Meaning Kye had not only been wearing a deadener similar to what he'd placed on me, but that it had a fairly decent range. The com-link connection had been severed long before he'd kicked his way into the room.
And that was a scary thought, because it had huge ramifications for the Directorate. It could become deadly when it came to on-street personnel. "Who hit you?" Kade added.
"Kye." I hesitated, a mix of anger and hurt and confusion rolling through me. Part of me—the wolf part, no doubt—still couldn't accept the fact that my soul mate was one of our killers. Where the hell did that leave me? What options did I have? If he didn't have a kill order on him already, he soon would. Because I couldn't—and wouldn't—conceal the truth. And yet if they killed him, they'd very likely kill me. "He wasn't here when you arrived?"
"No." He eyed me closely, his expression concerned. As an empath, he'd be feeling every bit of the twisted, tortured emotions currently running riot through me. "Why would he be here?"
"Because he's one half of our beheading team, and he came here to warn his client that the Directorate knew several of his identities." Of course, Kye himself had given us one of those identities, and I had to wonder why.
"Oh, fuck," Cole said. Obviously, Kade had been sharing the news about just who my soul mate was. "What the hell are you going to do?"
I glanced over Kade's broad shoulders at him. His expression was one of horror. He might not be a werewolf, but he was familiar with the werewolf culture and understood exactly what it meant. "I don't know."
Kade expression was decidedly confused. "Why is this a bad thing? He's a cold blooded killer—you've said that yourself multiple times. So we take him out and he's gone from your life forever. Which is what you wanted, isn't it?"
"He's her soul mate, Kade," Cole said, as if that explained it all. And it did—for those in the know.
But Kade obviously didn't understand the full impact of the bond. "The soul mate bond is unbreakable," I explained. "If one half dies, the other generally follows."
His frown deepened. "Ben didn't."
Ben was big, black wolf I'd met while investigating a case a few months ago. We'd become firm friends since then, and though he'd made continuous efforts to seduce me, it could never have amounted to anything more than sexual gratification. Ben's soul mate had died long before I'd met him and he, in his own words, existed. Nothing more, nothing less.
"That's rare. I don't want to take the chance." Not given the way fate liked playing her games with my life.
"So," Kade said. "We can't kill him. What about just capturing the bastard, beating him up, then throwing him in a nice dark cell somewhere to rot?"
"I don't know if Jack will go for that." Or rather, I wasn't sure that the council—higher or lower—would let him go for that option. "But it's certainly a solution that appeals to the animal side of me."
Kade raised an eyebrow. "Animal? Or betrayed lover?"
"They're one and the same," I muttered. "And before we can talk about beating him up and tossing away the key, we need to find him."
"The signal from the tracer is erratic. Given the bug placed on you, we suspect he's got others in his possession and that they're interfering with the signal," Jack said into my ear. "But we're in the process of trying to boost it. I've ordered a lock-down on all the airports, so he won't get out that way."
"There are plenty of private airfields, and he has the money to use them."
"Private planes still have to register their flight details, or they're forced down. And once the problems with the tracer have been sorted, it won't matter."
I didn't think it would matter anyway, because Kye wouldn't do the obvious. His mind just didn't work that way.
"Do you want us to come back to the office or wait here?"
"Not here," Cole muttered, voice disparaging but amusement evident in his brief glance. "We do not need the crime scene disturbed any more than necessary."
"Come back," Jack agreed. "If we get a location in the mean time, we'll let you both know."
"Okay." I pushed to my feet. Kade rose with me, his fingers under my elbow. Not really supporting but ready to steady me if I actually needed it. "Looks like you got your wish, Cole."
"Sometimes, fate does take pity on me," he murmured.
I couldn't help wishing that fate would take pity on me occasionally. "Hey, I want my silver knife back when you finish with it, too."
Cole raised an eyebrow. "What silver knife?"
"The one I left sticking in Starke's back when I stabbed him. "
"There was no such knife when we arrived."
"Then the bastard's taken it."
"I gather we're talking about Kye?" Kade said.
I nodded. "It was a gift from Quinn, and had some unusual properties. I don't want to lose it."
"Then we'll retrieve it before we pummel the shit out of him," Kade said cheerfully. "Don't you wish all problems were that easily fixed?"
I certainly did. I hooked my arm through his, and let him escort me outside. I didn't feel like driving, so I climbed into the passenger seat of Kade's car.
"Thanks for dressing me," I said, once we were on the road.
He gave me an odd sort of look. "I didn't. You were fully dressed when we arrived."