Assassin's Kiss (19 page)

Tessa’s breath whooshed out of her lungs. With every ounce of strength she kept her eyes on her dad and not on Scorpio. “No.”

“Thank the gods,” Hallon muttered. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed. “Orser. Get your men out on perimeter patrol now.” He filled in Orser about the note, but not the actual words. Tessa was sure that would come later.

Then he called one of the senior witches and ordered her to get her group out to inspect every ward in the coven.

Calls done, he rubbed the back of his neck. His gaze landed on Scorpio. “What about you? Did you hear or sense anything amiss last night?”

Scorpio stood in the center of the room, hands clasped behind his back in some kind of stance. “No. If any Vespera or anyone unwelcome had been near, I would have known it.”

“I’m worried that they figured out how to cloak their presence somehow, as well as pierce the wards,” Tessa said.

“A note can’t drop out of thin air,” Kharv grumbled.

“Even if they used an animal familiar?” Scorpio asked.

Hallon scowled. “Animals are more for warnings, and they usually accompany the mage, not go off alone on flights. But we can’t rule anything out, with Vespera getting stronger.”

“How could an animal manage to identify my cabin and drop this exactly in the middle of my path?” Tessa asked, with more sarcasm than she intended.

“No one’s saying that’s what happened, Tess,” Hallon said.

She sighed, her knees suddenly feeling wobbly, and sank into one of the soft cushy chairs. “I know, I just…” she rubbed her temples. “I hate to see any weakness here. Especially when I’m about to leave you.”

Scorpio moved closer to the arm of her chair. “We’ll figure this out, I promise. We need to find out how it happened and make sure it never happens again.”

“Do you have any ideas, demon? Since you have a history of getting into and out of places you aren’t invited?” Hallon’s words were delivered without sarcasm.

Still, they raised a curious new anger in Tessa. “Dad!”

“I’m stating facts, daughter. Why not ask the one who maybe has had to breach wards before?”

Scorpio gave her a small smile. “It’s fine. He’s right about my skills. And I want to solve this as badly as you do.” He turned to Hallon. “But no, I don’t have any good answers. Yes, I had to breach wards, but in my previous and current positions, I had the backing of a spell group to provide amulets to help. Or counterspells, as the minor wards require.”

“Goddamn it.” Hallon scowled out the big front window.

“Would you like me to call my commander to send a group of Watcher guards?” Scorpio asked.

Tessa, Hallon, and Kharv stared at him. Kharv coughed loudly.

Hallon opened his mouth and closed it quickly.

Tessa stared at the huge warrior who had done nothing to fight his time at Bronwy and only strove to help. Now this? She couldn’t speak, struck with the magnitude of the offer. The Watchers owed nothing to the Bronwy witches.

And neither did Scorpio.

“That’s a magnanimous gesture,” Hallon said. “Some would say you’re doing it to lessen your punishment. But I don’t think that’s it.” He paced to the window and stared out at the witches chatting in groups in the main area. “I do believe that you have Bronwy’s best interest at heart. But I must decline.”

“Why?” Tessa stared at her dad as if his body language could give her clues to his reasoning. The Watchers could surely help…yet if they came, would Scorpio go back with them? She sat motionless as realization smacked into her like witchfire.

She didn’t want him to go.

Hallon rubbed the back of his neck, unaware of her surprise epiphany. “I still have half the coven clamoring for your head. If I bring in a group of your colleagues, who are equally formidable predators, it will be seen as an assist to you and your eventual escape.”

Scorpio cleared his throat. “I would never leave—”

“I know. You’ve said it over and over.” Hallon turned to face them, the bright morning light shining in behind him. “But I’m balancing heated emotions here. Your guilt has never been the question. Just what to do about it.”

“I understand.” Scorpio’s face was dispassionate. “The offer remains, should you change your mind.”

“Thank you, Scorpio,” Tessa said softly. Was he pissed at her dad’s refusal? If so, he didn’t show it. She turned to Hallon. “Dad, that actually brings me to a point I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Bringing Watchers here to guard us?” he asked.

“No.” She took a deep breath. “Letting Scorpio call his leader.”

All eyes in the room swung to her, but she was riveted to the golden pull of Scorpio’s. No longer hard and cold, they swirled with surprise and, she guessed, gratitude.

“Just to let him know that he’s
alive
,” Tessa went on, pulling her gaze away from Scorpio’s and turning to Hallon. “And that he’s okay. I mean, not free to go but, you know, not harmed. You would want someone to do the same for any of your guards, if the roles were reversed.”

Hallon eyed his daughter as if unsure whether he should be pissed or pleased at her hard bargaining.

“And,” Tessa sat up straighter, “Scorpio has a younger brother and sister. The ones he protected when he worked for Dalamos. They, at least, should know he’s alive.”

“You make good points, daughter.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I’ll allow it. But it happens here and now. And it doesn’t leave this building.” He stared hard at Kharv and Scorpio. “If this gets out, rumors will spread. The last thing I need is some crazy panic that a contingent of Watchers is on the way to take Scorpio back home, by force if necessary.”

Kharv and Scorpio both nodded.

Hallon handed Scorpio his own phone. “Here. Reassure your leader and loved ones.”

Scorpio took the phone and strode to the door of Hallon’s conference room. Pausing in the doorway, he turned and arched a brow at the chief mage.

Hallon shrugged. “Go ahead.”

Scorpio gave a nod to Hallon and then to Tessa before ducking into Hallon’s office and closing the door.

C
HAPTER
17

H
OLY SHIT.

S
CORPIO HAD NEVER
expected Tessa to go to bat for him like that. He closed Hallon’s office door with a quiet snick and leaned on it.

She more than trusted him, for her to badger her dad to let him make a call. She was looking out for him. And she had no reason to.

Hell. Her softening nature tempered the fire of rage incited by Damien’s note. That goddamn piece-of-shit note. He wanted to crush it, set it on fire, erase anything that had to do with the powerful rival leader. But to his dismay, it contained a disturbing hint.

A scent. One which he needed to keep to himself until he had more information. But the white paper envelope had carried the unique perk of peppermint…a fragrance he knew to come from only one member of the Bronwy coven.

Zeebi.

The scent, combined with her odd, abrupt disappearance on the metal gathering outing, had his skin prickling in warning. But he had to proceed with care. He was still the outsider, and Zeebi was Tessa’s best friend. Shit.

Another smell had clung to the envelope, and especially the folded paper inside. Cedar mixed with a touch of sulfur and smoke. Damien? Or a messenger?

He palmed Hallon’s phone. It didn’t have all the tech bells and whistles that Watchers had installed on their phones, but he only required the basics right now. He dialed the main HQ number and waited.

Ana, the elven receptionist, picked up on the second ring. “Hello, you’ve reached the headqu—”

“Ana, it’s Scorpio.”

“Scorpio!” Her voice jumped an octave and he bet anyone walking by her stopped dead in their tracks. Ana was the picture of cool professionalism under pressure. She
never
raised her voice. “Scorpio, oh my gods. Where are you? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I need you to patch me through to Arawn.”

“Of course. I will. It’s just, we’ve been so worried about you. You’ve been gone two weeks.”

He stared out a window at the lush trees bordering Hallon’s back yard. “I know. Hey, I need you to do one thing for me after you transfer me.”

“Sure. Anything.”

“Tell Kira and Raff I’m fine, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Of course. Stay safe. It’s not the same here without you. No one will sit in your seat in the briefing room.”

He snorted. “It’s just a chair.”

“The rest of the inner circle has been worried, though not all of them will admit it. So the chair…it’s a symbol of you, I guess.”

A symbol.
He grinned, touched by the respect of the fighters who had become his second family. “If that makes them feel better. But you can tell them I’ll be back, so don’t wreck it.”

“Okay.” Her voice was warm with relief. “Hold on while I get Arawn.”

The line clicked and silence filled the room as he waited. His colleagues, the inner circle Watchers, were used to the toughest assignments and were no strangers to losing people. But with him…they’d been in limbo. Not knowing if he was alive or dead, not able to mourn or reach out to him.

Score one for Tessa. He was so used to keeping his emotions shoved into a box, he didn’t always think of the nuances of wishing and longing.

“Scorpio.” Arawn’s voice growled over the phone.

“Sir.”

“Goddamn, it’s good to hear you’re alive.”

“It’s good to be alive.”

“Where the fuck did you end up after those spell blasts?”

“Bronwy.”

A low whistle echoed. “That’s a thousand miles away. There’s a witch coven there, right?”

“Yep. I landed on the rocks in their river. I sustained broken ribs and a slashed femoral artery, but I’m healed.”

“You need a pick up? Someone will be there in under an hour.”

“No. I can’t leave yet.”

A pause laden with tempered surprise. No one questioned Arawn. “What do you mean, can’t leave?”

Scorpio let out a sigh. “This is a long complicated story but…my mate is here.”

“What. The. Fuck.” Arawn’s words were clipped and shocked. “You weren’t involved with anyone.”

“True. But I knew as soon as I got near her.” Scorpio rubbed the back of his neck. “Trust me, it was the last thing I expected.”

“Okaaay,” Arawn drawled. “Shit. I guess, congratulations are in order?”

“Ehh, not yet. She’s ah, not totally on board with the idea.”

Pacing footsteps echoed through the line. “Ironically, I know exactly what you mean. I also know you can’t change who your mate is. No matter what.”

“I don’t want to change her.” A surge of pride swelled in Scorpio’s heart. “She’s pretty kick-ass.”

“So you’re bringing her back here?”

“Not yet. She’s engaged to the rival coven leader.”

Arawn let out a string of vivid curses. “This gets better and better. What the fuck else? Spill it all.”

Scorpio summed up Vespera’s actions, Damien’s arrangement with Tessa, and also that Bronwy had thrown him in a cell for killing Pennar.

“Holy gods, man.” Arawn blew out a breath. “You barely talk, you don’t do drama, and all of a sudden, you’ve landed in a witch version of a bad soap opera.”

“Yeah. Pretty fucked up. But I’m not leaving until I make things right.”

“Fine. You’re lucky, things aren’t too nuts right now and I can spare you. You straighten out your shit. But I want you to call in more often.”

“I will, if I can. I’m using the chief mage’s phone right—” A scraping sound outside made him freeze.

“Scorpio?” Arawn asked.

“Hang on.” Scorpio crept silently to the south wall of Hallon’s office, which was an exterior wall intersecting with the west wall. They formed the corner of Hallon’s home. And each had two windows.

Scorpio pressed against the south wall, creeping closer to the window. He rotated his body slowly, craning his neck to look outside.

The bushes under the other window shook as if recently disturbed. He glanced to the tree line behind Hallon’s house in time to see a flash of blond hair melt into the greenery.

“Motherfucker,” he growled.

“Talk to me,” Arawn said.

“Add a new problem to the list. I have a bad feeling we have a spy in the midst of the coven.”

“You want back up?”

“No. I already offered it to the chief. He declined, seeing as half the population still wants me dead. They don’t want my friends here. Afraid the Watchers will bust me out or some shit.”

Arawn snorted. “You can do that yourself.”

“I know. But I won’t.” He would do nothing to hinder the progress he was making with Tessa and with the coven. Maybe some of the members wouldn’t ever like him, but that was okay. He didn’t need to be Mr. Popular. He just needed his mate to love him, and to free her people from their oppression. “I gotta go.”

“Call soon.” A click, and the line went quiet.

Scorpio set the phone down on the wooden conference table and strode to the window. He pushed it open and stuck his head out, taking a deep breath of sweet woodsy air. Below him, the trembling bush had stopped its frantic swaying.

But the unmistakable bite of peppermint lingered, as clearly as if its owner had left a trail of breadcrumbs.

Fuck. This was bad. So very bad. Zeebi was working with Vespera? Why in the fucking hell would she?

Then again, he didn’t know her, really. He didn’t know any of them.

He blew out a breath and closed the window. This situation required proof beyond a scent trail. The witches, with their weak senses, couldn’t verify it and wouldn’t believe him. No, he needed to observe Zeebi closely, and then catch her red-handed. And have a second pair of eyes to witness the whole fucked up mess.

Tessa would be devastated.

With heavy steps, Scorpio walked back out into Hallon’s living room and handed the chief his phone. “Thank you. My commander was very glad to hear I’m alive.”

“And I suppose he expects you back immediately?” Hallon raised a brow.

“No.” Scorpio stood in the stance he used with Arawn, hands clasped behind his back. It conveyed respect, and he wanted to put Hallon at ease. “I can stay.”