God's Eye (45 page)

When her stomach quit turning, she stood and grabbed the hem of her jacket, straightening it. She reached up to her desk for the bottle of water she had set near the edge, and after rinsing her mouth out turned to face Allistair, half expecting to find him gone.

But he remained right where she had left him.

In two steps she was at the right distance, and her arm swung up fast and hard and smacked him across the cheek, the crack surely loud enough to be heard several doors down.

But, of course, no one heard it. Even Lisa, right beyond the door, made no motion to come in and stop this.

Allistair had let her slap him. She knew that, knew that he’d allowed her the hit that had made his human head snap back.

Her hand throbbed and she must have made a motion to that effect, because he reached out to grab her fingers, splaying them out to look at her red palm.

Katharine would have pulled her hand back, but again she couldn’t–his grip was simply too strong. This time she didn’t fight it, just braced for what came next. But, though her palm practically sizzled when he pressed his hand to it, when he lifted his skin from hers, the redness was gone.

She would have doubted she had even hit him if it weren’t for red welt on his face in the exact shape of her hand. His voice was low. “I’m sorry.”

She threw out the one thing that she hoped would hurt him the most and certainly more than any hit she could deliver. “Zachary showed me a kingdom. People were happy there, and they had what they wanted and what they needed. Are you telling me that he lied?”

“No, he didn’t. He can give you that.”

Her body quivered with frustration that she tried to keep at bay. She was on the very edge of tears and trying so hard to hold them in. “Then why would–”

“You saw them, Katharine, the others who weren’t allowed in. The Kingdom isn’t for everyone.”

“It’s for those who choose it! Why can’t I choose it too?” This time when she yanked her hand away, he let her have it back.

His voice was nearly a growl when he answered. “Is that what you really want? A world of haves and have-nots? Why would you have to choose anything?” He flung his arms wide. “You already have that here!”

She was nearly yelling and she had lost the battle with the tears now streaming down her face. "It doesn’t matter. Why did you show me this?

Why?"

“You had to see what this firm does. What the ramifications are. How far-reaching and how big they can be.”

“I already knew! You bastard! I knew!” She turned away from him and began crying in earnest. But barely a moment later she turned and faced him again, this time with renewed anger. She was yelling in a way she never had before in her life, full of fury and pain. “I also know that you can watch me any time you want. Even when I don’t know you are doing it! And I hate it.”

He flinched at that but let her keep going.

“So the one time it would be useful to have you watching, you fuck it up!”

He winced again.

“You asshole! You should have known! I already resigned!”

She turned away and cried even harder for a moment before she got herself together. She could sense him right behind her, and she could tell he was considering putting his arms around her.

He was smart not to. She might have snapped his hand off at the wrist if he had tried.

“Katharine.” His voice was soft, as though he were trying to soothe her. “Katharine.”

“Go away.”

“I did know you resigned. You still had to see.” She heard his sigh, then those same stupid words. “I’m sorry.”

This time when she turned around, he was gone.

That evening, Katharine had told Margot about what Allistair had shown her, but she hadn’t given all the details, hadn’t said how he’d made her cry. Or that she’d slapped him, and he’d healed her hand. But not his own cheek.

Was that because he didn’t care about his face? Because he didn’t feel it at all? Or maybe because he wanted her to see what she’d done? In truth, she’d been proud of the mark she’d left on him. But she didn’t tell Margot that.

She told Margot only the basics of her encounter with Allistair and that she’d handed in her resignation and, because of Allistair, had left before her father had seen it. Not that he’d called. There was every possibility that he had put the folder aside intending to leave it until morning.

To add to her discontent, the magics store was out of binding tape. Katharine had read over the spell herself and wasn’t sure that she really needed binding tape per se. But the guy behind the counter said that it was infused with herbs and salts and was particularly effective. If there was anything she and Margot needed, it was for the spell to be particularly effective. He told them the store expected another shipment in four days.

Katharine hoped she had that long.

Without a spell to cast, she and Margot had done their best to let it go for the evening. So they had watched TV, talked, and drank a glass of wine each, and then finally Katharine headed for home and crawled into her own bed.

Sadly, she was becoming accustomed to waking in the middle of the night to a sound or an odd feeling. It no longer startled her as it had in the beginning. So when she sat up and just knew there was something else in the room with her, she decided to take a good look at it.

A stunningly large leopard paced back and forth in her room, its shoulders rolling as it slunk back and forth with an unearthly grace. Every now and then, blue eyes flicked in her direction and made contact. But the cat continued its walk from one side of her room to the other, cutting her off from leaving the bedroom. She couldn’t get to the door, or even her desk or phone, without crossing its path. So she waited.

For a long time she watched the creature, and it watched her. Still it made no move other than to walk one way and turn and go back the other. In a short while, she grew bored of the tireless pacing and she dozed as it continued its walk. Katharine didn’t know how long she was asleep, but it happened more than once that she opened her eyes to find the cat still there before drifting back off to sleep.

She wasn’t sure what the creature was doing there. Was it keeping an eye on her, afraid she’d do something? Was it watching out for her, afraid something would happen to her? She couldn’t tell; she watched it for long, dull periods, but it
couldn’t
have been long; nothing had changed. Even after several cycles of sleeping and waking there was no evidence of light coming from outside. For what seemed an eternity, nothing happened.

Then, in an instant, the atmosphere changed.

The wolf came through the doorway with a speed that defied gravity. Powerful jaws grabbed at the back leg of the leopard and sent it sprawling.

Blue eyes snapped around and in them Katharine saw that this was what it had been waiting for.

The leopard wrenched itself to the side, the wolf’s teeth tearing the flesh from its leg. As the cat stood and faced the dog, the wound healed while she watched, flesh knit to flesh, leaving no marks on the animal. The only evidence that she had seen something real was a few drops of blood slowly darkening on her carpet.

A low growl from the black wolf shook the room, and Katharine pulled her feet up to her chest while she watched in horrified fascination, too terrified to move. An answering yowl came from the cat, and they circled each other slowly.

The cat lunged and missed. The wolf tried too. But neither made contact.

This time when the wolf went for the cat, he latched his jaw onto the back leg again, sacrificing his cover as he did it. The leopard turned its head, mouth gaping wide to reveal razor-sharp fangs. Howling as it bit, the cat cut a large gash in the wolf’s side. But regardless of the damage he suffered, the dog’s teeth didn’t unlock; he kept the leg firmly in his grip. And as the cat thrashed, the wolf slowly backed away from the bed, dragging the howling leopard from her room.

Small red spots and smears appeared on the carpet as evidence of their passing.

Petrified but unable to sit still, Katharine stood and leaned over to examine the stains.

She was watching as a red smear turned to black when a horrific scream pierced the air just beyond the open doorway. Her head snapped up and she felt pulled to the sound as a second howl answered the first. Afraid, but too curious to do otherwise, she padded toward the living room, where the noises were getting louder and more discordant. They changed from yells of pain and surprise to the deeper primal sounds of anger and violence.

When she reached the doorway she saw that the creatures were no longer leopard and wolf. Trapped by the physical confines of her living room, two beasts fought for domination. Long claws took chunks out of each other in swift and sharp motions, arms sailing quickly through the air and dealing what should have been deadly blows. Even with the damage each sustained, their screams seemed to indicate rage rather than pain, and Katharine’s ears hurt from the shrieking.

She slunk backward, cowering behind the edge of the door frame, occasionally peeking around to see what was happening–as though a mere wall of backer board and wood molding could keep her safe from the beasts fighting on the other side.

She watched as flesh was flayed open and then stitched itself right back together. It was almost as though the claws passed through warm butter rather than sinew and bone.

With her fingers in her ears, she huddled and cringed and waited. She fought off tears and gulped for breath and tried to keep herself together. She curled herself further and further into a ball, trying to be unnoticeable.

Katharine remembered nothing further when she woke in the morning, aside from a vague recollection of a warm man carrying her to her bed. The fight had gone on–and must have even ended–without her.

•  •  •

Zachary waited on her couch, his left ankle crossed over his right knee in a purely male pose. He had a glass of ice water in his hand, but he didn’t drink it.

She was waking. She’d still be a few minutes after that. The bedroom had a private entrance to the bath and she would use that. She wouldn’t come out and see him here until she’d probably brushed her teeth and her hair. Zachary wasn’t quite sure what exactly she did in the morning, but he knew what humans in general did. Allistair would know exactly what Katharine’s normal routine was, but that was because he liked to watch her, to linger on the other side while she did pointless little daily rituals. It didn’t matter. Zachary didn’t need the specifics; she’d be out in a few minutes.

Katharine lurched to a halt when she came through the door and spotted him there. But she didn’t say anything.

She stood barefoot amid the spots of blood he and Allistair had left the night before in what was a truly stupid show of ego. That was all it had been. Neither had won. Both had walked away, injured but intact. And Katharine now had more reason to fear them both. Showing their true faces gained them no ground with her.

In silk pajamas she stood tall, staring at him.

He waited for her to ask about the Kingdom, to ask about the fight. Even the blood that likely wouldn’t come out of her carpet. Ever. But she did none of this.

He reached out to her, pulled her to him with waves of trust that she would feel.

Though she clearly did sense them–she frowned and took a step backward as though she’d been tipped and needed to right herself–the waves didn’t do what they were supposed to. The trust didn’t embed itself in her.

He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to see beyond the human realm. The question was, could he alter his eyes enough to see what he needed–without her seeing that he’d changed them? Zachary tried.

Though his vision was not the same in this hybrid form as it was in his true form, he managed to see some of what she had done. Finally, he spoke. “You have cast protection spells.”

She nodded at him in reply but didn’t come any closer than the doorway. If she took just a step forward, she would see the soot pile from where he had come in. Maybe it was best if she wasn’t reminded of how he got here, so he didn’t pull her toward him. He needed her. And she needed him. He would work within that.

He continued. “It’s good that you’re doing these spells. They work–just a little.”

She nodded at him, hazel eyes trying to look through him, trying to figure out which one he was.

“They aren’t enough, Katie. You have to see that.”

She nodded again. “He got in last night.”

He saw that she was going to speak before he heard the words. “You both did.”

“I had to. Katie, I can’t protect you much longer.”

“No. You can’t.” She crossed her arms, and he realized he wasn’t going to make the connection they had shared before. Scared of everything, she had shut them both out. But she was strong and stoic in the face of her fear. She didn’t budge, didn’t cry because of last night. Zachary admired that; Katharine would be a great addition to the Kingdom. She would be able to share her story with others, the story of how he had protected her. The story of the great joy she had found with those who had been chosen, and who had chosen. She was looking him in the eyes now.