Shattered Spirits (23 page)

“On your knees.”

The man pursed his lips, his gaze sliding over Ryan, then his lips curled back in a sneer. “You’re not a snake.”

Ryan widened his stance. “On your knees.”

“No.” The man leapt at him.

Ryan pulled the trigger. The shot shattered the quiet of the subdivision. Blond Beard gasped and pressed a hand to his chest, but continued to barrel forward. With his free hand, he slammed his palm against Ryan’s gun.

The weapon ripped from Ryan’s hand and smashed into the wall beside him. Flecks of brick shot into the air, stinging his face. The force was stronger than anything he’d ever experienced. How the hell was the man still moving? He’d shot him square in the chest.

Blond Beard grabbed for the front of Ryan’s jacket. He twisted out of the way, but the man snagged his shoulder and yanked, tossing him into the backyard.

He crashed into the packed snow. Cold bit his face and neck. His chest burned. So did his cheek. He couldn’t tell if the ice had sliced it open or not. He shoved up to his feet, but Blond Beard pounced, hammering a fist into Ryan’s chest.

More pain exploded within him. Something cracked. He’d never encountered someone so strong before, and would have never guessed the man would have that kind of strength, given his slight stature and the gunshot wound. He should be hurting more than Ryan.

Blond Beard swung at Ryan’s head. He ducked, sending spikes of pain shooting through his chest, and rammed his fist into the man’s kidney. It felt like hitting a brick wall. Blond Beard grunted, twisted, and wrenched Ryan’s arm up. His shoulder popped and pain sliced through it.

Ryan ground his teeth against the agony, fighting the darkness swarming the edge of his vision. He clawed at Blond Beard’s hands, but couldn’t break his grip.

Cold air swept over him with a whoosh. The man growled, wrapped an arm across Ryan’s neck, and spun around.

The dark-haired man from Andy’s house, Diablo, stood on the edge of the patio, his sidearm in his hand, hanging at his side. Ryan couldn’t figure out how Diablo had gotten into the yard so fast. He’d gone in the opposite direction at the wrecker’s yard.

“I’ll kill him, snake.”

Diablo shrugged. “Go ahead.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ryan gasped.

The man tightened his arm around Ryan’s neck.

Ryan tensed to ram his elbow into the man’s gut. Diablo jerked his gun up and fired.

The man’s head snapped back and his grip on Ryan loosened. Ryan leapt away. The man staggered, but didn’t drop. Instead, he straightened and ran his thumb over a red welt on his forehead.

“Want to try again, snake?” he said. “Your bullets don’t bother me.”

Ryan’s brain stuttered. What the hell?

Diablo snorted. “I can think of other things that will hurt.”

The air around Ryan gusted, blowing up snow from the ground, and Diablo vanished. With a whoosh, he reappeared in front of the man. Diablo seized the man’s coat, and with another whoosh, they both disappeared.

Ryan pressed a hand to his side and stared at the spot where they’d just been. Every breath was agony, but every thought hurt more. He couldn’t figure out what had just happened. He must have blacked out or something… twice. People didn’t just disappear. That wasn’t possible.

* * *

One of the Clean Team’s many SUVs pulled to the curb beside Capri, and Swipe stormed out. “I thought I said to get rid of the human.”

Capri yanked the mage to his feet and pushed him toward the vehicle. “I took your suggestion into consideration.”

“So why is he still around?”

She shoved the mage into the back seat and wrenched around to face Swipe. “Because I have uses for the human, and I’m still the team leader. You want the job, take it from me.”

Swipe hissed and leapt at her. She shot him in the gut. He staggered, and she grabbed the front of his coat and slammed him beside the SUV’s open back door. The mage yelped but stayed in his seat.

“Still the leader.” She pressed her gun to Swipe’s heart. The shot wouldn’t kill him, but it would hurt a lot more than a gut-shot.

“What’s wrong with you?” Swipe growled, his eyes hard.

“I’ve got the human under control.”

“It doesn’t look like it to me.”

He was right. She didn’t have anything under control. But there was no way she was going to admit that. “Look closer.”

The air whooshed around them and Diablo gated in beside her. He raised a sculpted eyebrow in question.

Capri turned from Swipe to face Diablo. He was alone.

“Where is your mage?” And why was Diablo gating around like humans couldn’t notice him?

“I’ve got the mages contained.”

Swipe growled, stormed back to the driver’s side of the SUV, and got in. Diablo grabbed her arm and tugged her a few feet away, out of casual earshot. “You need to take care of your human.”

“Excuse me?” Just great. Everyone had seen Miller and everyone thought it was their business to tell her how to handle hers.

“He’s seen too much. Do your thing.” And by
thing
he meant wipe Miller’s mind.

“What did you do?” Damned cavalier drake, not caring who his lack of discretion hurt.

“The mage was bulletproof with enhanced strength. The most expedient solution was to gate him into confinement.”

“You gated in front of Mil—a human? I should report you.”

Diablo leaned close, but there was nothing sensual about the action. It was all menace. “I figured you’d rather wipe the human’s mind than go to his funeral.” Who was this drake? Diablo didn’t care if a human died. At least he never had before. “If you don’t want to take care of things, I’ll be forced to make his family pick out his coffin.”

Mother, no. She grabbed his jacket, and pressed her gun to his shoulder. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“The law is the law.” He leaned into her firearm, as if daring her to shoot. The shot would hurt, but again, the damned thing wouldn’t kill him—although she wasn’t sure how fast he healed. If she was lucky, the wound, and the accompanying agony, would last minutes instead of seconds.

“Do your job, or I’ll do mine,” he said.

Damned fucking Asar Nergal. She shoved him back and holstered her gun. “So you screw up, the humans pay, and I have to clean up the mess. Just great. It’s always the way.”

“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me who screwed up first. You have until dawn to deal with him.” He grabbed her arm and the disorienting twist of his rare, rapid, free-gating ability swept around her.

Blackness swallowed the street where she’d grabbed her mage. Her stomach heaved and the sense of the world tilting flooded her. Then the darkness receded. Her foot hit asphalt, her knees buckled, but she managed to keep standing. She now stood on a brightly lit suburban road. The streetlights shimmered in the snow and ice lying across postage-stamp sized lawns. Houses in various stages of construction lined the road.

Diablo pointed down the walk of a fully finished house. “Your human is back there.”

“He’s not
my
human.”

Diablo flashed a hint of teeth. “Of course he isn’t.”

With a whoosh, he gated away.

Capri followed the path to the back of the house, keeping her footsteps quiet, uncertain of what she was going to walk in on.

Ryan sat on a crate beside a pile of unlaid patio stones. He pressed his arm to his side as if it hurt to breathe and his expression kept sliding from confusion to disbelief to blank then stunned.

She wanted to roar, go back to Diablo, and rip his thoughtless head off. He didn’t care about anyone but himself. Humans were nothing to him, toys he discarded once they no longer suited him. If she could gate without an anchor, she’d return to the SUV and shoot him.

Except he wouldn’t be there anymore. He would have taken the mage and returned to the Dragon Court. The only one left at the SUV would be Swipe. And while she could shoot him to vent her frustration, that wouldn’t help the situation. Swipe had told her to lose Miller—whether his reasons were to protect Ryan or not was beside the point. If she’d just listened to Swipe, she wouldn’t be in this mess. Ryan wouldn’t be in this mess.

She stepped into the yard, purposefully crunching ice so he’d hear her.

His head shot up, his gaze searching the darkness. All confusion was gone. In its place was determination, wariness, surety. This was the man she admired. So much like Eric and yet so different. She could almost believe she’d mistaken the confusion for something else, something innocent. But that was fooling herself. Even if his mind didn’t break at the impossible, dragon law demanded she wipe his memories or kill him. The kindness was the memory wipe.

She subvocalized her power word. Lightning snapped through her head. She swallowed back a gasp. A thread of magic flickered to life then slipped away.

If she was going to do this right, she’d need time. Ryan had already resisted her compulsion. If she didn’t want to completely wipe his mind and turn him into a blathering idiot, she needed a place to relax and concentrate.

His gaze found hers in the darkness. “Hey.”

“Hey.” More pain lanced through her head. What she really needed was a few days, but Diablo wasn’t a drake to forget his words, particularly when it came to humans. He’d said she had until dawn. “You okay?”

“I’ll live.” He sucked in an uneven breath, wincing. A hint of light flickered from his eyes. Mother, how she wished it was real and that he was a drake and possessed magic.

In a way, he did. She no longer saw him as Eric’s doppelgänger, and she still felt something for him. Whatever that something was, it was more than what she’d felt for Eric… maybe not more, just different?

Her heart contracted. And maybe she was fooling herself. What she felt for Ryan
was
more, strange and uncontrolled.

“Any idea how far from the car we are?” The light flickered again, sliding across his cheeks and forehead.

“I’ll call a cab. I think that’ll be easier.” God, her head hurt. Now it felt as if everything about him radiated light.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked. “Do I need to get you to a hospital?”

She snorted, sending a spike of pain through her head. “I should ask the same of you.” But if they went, she’d have to wait to wipe his memories.

“I’ve got bruised ribs. Nothing I haven’t had before, and nothing a doctor will be able to do much about.” His gaze grew unfocused and a hint of his earlier confusion slid across his expression. “What I could use is a drink.”

“I know just the place.” God damn it, she was going to take him home. Not to have her way with him like she wanted, but to erase every last bit of herself from his memory. This hurt so much more than just leaving Eric.

CHAPTER 28

Capri slid her key into her front door. She couldn’t get her heart to stop pounding. Mother of All, she didn’t want to wipe his mind. She wanted the complete opposite. She wanted him to know everything, know what she really was and accept her. But that was impossible. He was already struggling with what Diablo had let him see; knowing the truth would drive him insane.

Ryan shifted behind her, easing closer. His heat, his presence, permeated her senses, as if his aura brushed against hers—an aura he couldn’t have because he wasn’t a dragon. God, she was going crazy with want. The drive here, in his too-small Camaro, had been too much to bear. She’d convinced herself it was the guilt of what she had to do that made her flash from hot to cold and back again. Except it wasn’t what she
had
to do, but what she
wanted
.

She’d been through this before. With Eric.

She couldn’t do it again.

“Having trouble with the lock?” he asked.

How long had she been standing on her front step? “No.”

She turned the key and opened the door. A rush of emotions, guilt, fear, and desire, flooded her. Since Eric, she hadn’t brought anyone home, human or drake. This was her sanctuary. The only place safe and untouched by dragon politics and fleeting human relationships.

And here she was, inviting Ryan in to deal with both in one foul, mind-destroying moment.

He followed her inside, staying close, as if he, too, was magnetically pulled to her. Her pulse stuttered. Which way should she go? Follow her duty or follow her heart?

She turned to him, pulled, drawn, controlled by a force she couldn’t explain, and met his gaze. Pale green irises ringed pupils full and filled with a matching desire. The world fell away and all that remained was Ryan. Her want burned hotter, darker, more than her want had ever been for Eric. She’d thought she’d loved Eric, and while she had, what she’d felt had been light and fleeting. What flooded her now was deep, threatening, consuming. She could lose herself in Ryan and not care. Dragon law be damned. She would defy them all for this man. She would die for him.

“Capri.” He breathed her name.

It shivered over her, fluttering to the center of her being, and a purr trembled deep within her in response.

She froze, an ice sweeping over her.

The purr threatened again. A dragon only purred for her—

No. This was wrong. So wrong. She jerked away from him, heading to the kitchen.

“You wanted a drink?” she forced out as she glanced back at him.

“Yeah.” His gaze said he wanted something else.

God! The purr rumbled again. No, it couldn’t be a purr. She was mistaken. She
had
to be mistaken. Dragons only purred for an inamorator. And she was not, could not, be inamorated.

She pulled out her bottle of Glengoyne and two glasses. The lip of the Scotch bottle rattled against the tumblers as she poured. She fought to make her hands stop shaking but couldn’t.

She had to wipe his memory. It was for the best. Diablo would kill him otherwise. But Mother, she didn’t want him to forget her. She wanted—

Another purr bubbled low in her throat.

God damn it! It was not a purr! She was not that drake, the one destined for a love that could never happen.

“This is one heck of a house. You should have told me the FBI makes way more than a local cop,” he said. “I would have changed jobs.”