Lost Paradise (29 page)

I was feeling odder by the minute. “When you
were angry…was it because you knew what he was doing?”

“I checked her for weapons before she went
inside. I knew what she was there for,” Lash hissed angrily. “It
wasn’t right—”

“Why do you care how he treats me?” I said,
my eyes narrowing. “You didn’t seem to care about how he treated
Catherine. What’s it to you?”

Lash gave me a long look. I held his gaze as
long as I could, then looked down.

“Because you are having his child,” he said
finally. “You are risking your life, Sar, to do this for him. Dev
made you promises. Promises should be kept, or never spoken at
all.”

“That’s pretty profound of you—” I began
sarcastically.

“But he does love you, Sar,” Lash continued,
talking over me. “Don’t use this as an excuse to shut him out of
your life forever. Give him another chance to make things right
between you when you’re ready. That’s all I’m asking.”

“I can’t do that,” I replied. “I had enough
trouble trusting him the first time around. I don’t think I can
ever trust him enough to be in a relationship with him again. All I
can think of is he and Catherine in bed together.”

“You know he doesn’t love her,” Lash hissed
insistently. “He never let her sleep beside him. I have never seen
him let anyone sleep with him, save you. Not even in the same room.
Not in all the years I’ve known him.”

Well, at least that part had been true. “So
what? That doesn’t give me a lot of comfort.”

Lash regarded me silently for a moment, and
then ate more of his sushi. I finished mine, and sat back,
wondering if I should leave.

“Are you still hungry?” he hissed suddenly.
“Do you want some of mine?”

He did have some avocado he wasn’t going to
eat. “If you don’t mind.”

“Please,” he said. “Let me know if you want
more.”

I was tempted briefly to say I always wanted
more, but decided that was way too inappropriate even for me. We
weren’t that close, even if my imagined retort had been pretty
funny. “Thanks.”

Together, we finished up the last of his
platter. When the bill came, Lash took it.

“I am paying half,” I insisted
stubbornly.

He ignored me, giving the waiter a solid
black credit card. “You are not paying,” Lash hissed with
authority. “I asked you and I am the man.”

I rolled my eyes.
Another male
chauvinist
. “Thanks for lunch then.”

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Lash hissed.
“It’s a beautiful day. We have another hour until Danny sends out
the trackers.”

I couldn’t help cracking a smile. “Sure,
that’s—”

Suddenly, it registered I’d heard my name in
the hum of the people around us. I looked up with horror and saw
Theo and Terian following a waiter to the table next to ours. They
were smiling; their meetings must have gone well. I had a split
second to think regretfully that this was going to ruin their
day.

“Tears, you are going to love this stuff. Sar
got me to try it, and it’s wonderful—”

“Raw fish?” Terian said with disdain. “Can’t
we go and get Chinese food instead?”

“C’mon,” Theo encouraged, laughing. “Where’s
your sense of—”

Everything happened at once.

Theo’s blue eyes found Lash and me and held
fast, the blue lightening and shifting to yellow. He went for his
gun, but Terian grabbed hold of his arm. Theo shook him off with a
growl, and kept coming. Lash was already on his feet, his whip
unclipped, the thick coil in his hand. His other hand held his
knife.

“Get away from her—”

“Stop it!” I said shrilly, causing the nearby
patrons to dash for cover, screaming.

“Theo, not in the restaurant!” Terian
shouted.

Lash alone said nothing, just waited for Theo
with eager menace.

I had to stop this. Lash would hurt him, if
not kill him. I reached over quickly, my hand closing on Lash’s
arm, and teleported us both outside near his truck.

“We’re going to have to wait for another day
to walk,” I said anxiously. “Go, before he gets out here.”

“I am not afraid of that cat, Sar,” Lash
hissed angrily. He uncoiled his whip and faced the restaurant
entrance, his knife still in his hand. “Just stay out of the
way.”

“You are not hurting him!” I yelled angrily.
“No one needs to fight.”

Theo burst through the door and headed toward
us. “Yes, we do,” he said furiously, his words difficult to
understand because his fangs had grown. He brandished a long
survival knife. “Get away from her, you scarred son of a
bitch!”

Lash got in front of me and braced himself.
“Do you need another lesson on which of us is better with a blade?”
he hissed. “I’ve given you quite a few over the years. But I think
you need reminding.”

Terian came up beside Theo, his eyes red,
blackness boiling out of him. “Stop this!”

I got between Lash and them. “Yes, stop. Lash
is leaving,” I said, glaring at Theo. “We just had lunch.”

“Why?” Theo growled. “You missing something
you’re not getting?”

Terian clapped his hand over Theo’s mouth,
flushing faintly.

I gave Theo a look of death, then turned back
to Lash, resisting the urge to tell him to leave with me. “Please
go.”

Lash looked at me, and then back at Theo,
obviously dying to wipe the parking lot with him. Instead he
resheathed his knife, coiled up his whip, and clipped it back on
his belt. “Be seeing you,” he hissed politely, then his eyes came
back to me.

Theo started for Lash again, and Terian
grabbed hold of him.

Lash gave me a twisted smile, then got in his
truck, opening the window. “Bye, Sar.”

“Thank you for lunch,” I said politely,
resting my hand on his open window. “And for bringing me my stuff.
Be safe going back.”

“Thank you for coming to lunch with me,” Lash
said politely, his flat eyes holding mine.

Then he put his hand on mine, caressing
gently, his tone shifting to insinuating. “I was glad you
came.”

My shock hit me like a slab of ice in July:
Lash was trying to raise The Lust.

Theo let out a crystal-shattering roar. “Get
your fucking hand off—!”

I took my eyes off Lash for a moment, turning
to Theo. Lash used the opportunity to cup my head with his hand and
yank me forward, his lips banging into mine. My lips parted in a
gasp and he used that, too, his tongue sliding in to lick me
playfully, a soft hiss of pleasure escaping.

For a moment, I lost myself in the kiss,
remembering how good he’d been. Then reality crashed down and I
pushed back from him. “What are you

doing—?”

Lash pulled back in surprise, blinking.

Terian yanked me away, pulling me off my feet
and out of the way as Theo’s fist came right past my head to smash
into Lash’s face, knocking him back into the truck.

“Don’t ever fucking touch her again!” Theo
screamed, leaning in the truck window. He grabbed at Lash with
clawed hands, trying to drag him out of the truck to beat the shit
out of him.

There was a harsh click. Theo went still,
then slowly leaned back out of the window, Lash’s gun against his
temple.

“You shoot him, Lash, and you’re dead!”
Terian growled, a ball of blue fire appearing in his hand. “I’ll
cinder you.”

Lash’s expression was livid as he wiped at
the blood running down his face with his sleeve. “You fucking cat.
You had to come in right then. You couldn’t have waited another few
minutes, picked a different fucking restaurant?”

Theo growled at him softly. When Lash didn’t
shoot, he growled louder.

Lash licked his welling blood off his cut
lip. “I always let you live and what’s it gotten me? Why don’t you
challenge me for real, Theo, so I can just kill you? Let’s end this
bullshit once and for all.”

He was going to kill Theo.
“Lash,
please don’t.”

His eyes cut to me, looking at him in
revulsion, and he eased the hammer up, then took the gun off Theo’s
forehead.

“As if she would let you have her again!”
Theo shouted. “But you’re just like your master. You don’t care if
she wants you, you know she doesn’t! You would never have gotten
near her otherwise, and you know it! You were going to try to force
her today after lunch, when you were alone with her, weren’t you? I
think you planned the first time it happened, just to fuck with me!
Hell you probably put those bears up to grabbing her, for the same
reason—”

That wasn’t true, none of it. I’d been the
one who’d gone after Lash. He’d done everything he could to avoid
my advances. He’d never have forced me, never. But instead of
standing up for him, I looked at the ground, ashamed.

Lash’s eyes slid off Theo to me, then back to
Theo. “Don’t disrespect her, Cat.”

“Stay away from her,” Theo finished. “You
come to Danial’s again, and I’ll kill you.”

“And I’ll help him,” Terian added. “Get out
of here, Lash. Now.”

Lash’s eyes came back to me. “I’ll let Dev
know that The Lust is done with,” Lash hissed, “Good-bye, Sar.” He
started his truck, put his gun down, and drove off in a squeal of
tires.

Theo swore again, still furious. “Son of a
bitch!”

Was he angry for the kiss, or because Lash
had gotten the drop on him yet again? I was disgusted, either way.
“I’ll be at the house.”

Terian grabbed my arm before I could
teleport. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” I shouted. “Why wouldn’t I
be?”

“What the hell were you doing here with him?”
Theo yelled back.

“Having lunch,” I said sheepishly.
“Talking.”

“Talking about what?”

“He and I’ve had lunch together for weeks
now, whenever I went to Hayden. I like to talk to him.”

“What could you possibly have to talk about?”
Terian said, abhorred. “You have nothing in common besides
Devlin.”

How would you know, Tears?
“Movies.
Books. Music,” I said, counting them off on my fingers. “The
gardens at Hayden. Some of the bigger nursery items that I’d still
needed to buy—”

“Fine,” Theo said gruffly. “What about the
kiss?”

“He never did that before,” I said angrily.
“I can’t believe he—”

“Let’s get out of here,” Terian urged
quietly. “We’ve got an audience.”

There were a few spectators looking at us now
from behind the restaurant windows, their faces pressed to the
glass. Well, more than a few.

“Someone’s called the cops by now.”

“Relax, Tears,” Theo said gruffly. “Danial’s
got it covered. The PD gets paid to look the other way, so long as
no locals get hurt. You should know that, especially after the
attacks last year.”

“He never mentioned it to me—” I started.

“Someone always reports the automatic weapon
fire,” Theo said, rolling his eyes. “It’s less trouble this way,
with the police staying out of it.” He made a face. “It’s either
that or move again.”

Had Danial left Colorado and relocated here
because of trouble with police? It sounded that way. Paying for
ignorance made sense, both in practicality and for why we weren’t
in cuffs right now. The sheriff’s office was five buildings down
from the parking lot, yet no police had arrived.

“C’mon, Sar,” Theo said, grabbing my hand.
“Let’s go home. I’m not hungry anymore for sushi.”

I yanked my hand free. “Then I’ll see you
back there.” He reached for me again, but I evaded him, teleporting
to Danial’s.

* * * *

Hours later, Theo came into the kitchen as I
was finishing up the rest of my sushi.

“I’m sorry if I scared you,” he said. “I saw
him with you and freaked.”

I didn’t answer.

“I told Danial that The Lust was gone,” Theo
went on. “He—”

“Where are the kids?” I asked pointedly.

“In Elle’s room, watching a movie.”

I’d made Elle and Theoron dinner earlier when
I got home. They’d known something was wrong when I didn’t eat with
them. They’d eaten quickly and excused themselves. I’d been so
relieved to have a moment to think by myself I hadn’t checked on
them since pouring myself a small glass of wine. “Good.”

Theo looked at me uneasily. “Lash brought you
that?”

I didn’t answer. I’d had some time to think,
not that it had taken a lot of thought to understand Lash’s
motives. He’d tried to raise The Lust because having Theo watch me
throw myself all over Lash would’ve cut Theo deeper than any blade.
As much as I was relieved that The Lust was finished, I felt
terrible that Lash had used me that way.
You’re a fine one to
talk about disrespecting me, Lash.

“Do you…um, did you want him to—?” Theo said
finally, his words like shattering glass.

“Theo, shut up,” I snapped. “I don’t want to
talk about it.”

“We’re going to talk about it,” Theo
retorted. “I need to know right now. He’s my enemy!”

“I’m pissed at both of you,” I said. “You’re
both jerks; him for trying to start something he had no business
starting, and you, for doing the same.”

“Then why are you eating food he brought
you?”

“He said were children need a lot of protein,
ass,” I snapped. “It wasn’t about him, or me—”

“Bullshit.”

“Your baby, Theo. Not Devlin’s baby, not for
any kicks, just because he was concerned about me.”

“I don’t believe that,” Theo spat. “He hates
me. Why would he care about my child?”

Lash had cared about me, until his hatred got
the better of him. “I’m not sure,” I said honestly. “But I’m eating
this anyway, because it tastes good.”

“Fine; eat it. But I don’t want you seeing
him again. Not for lunch, dinner, or anything else.”

“Don’t worry,” I said heavily. “I won’t be
going to Hayden anytime soon. He won’t be coming here. So that’s
that.”

* * * *

That night, I lay awake a long time, alone in
bed. Theo was putting in some late practice with the werefoxes, and
Danial was above me in the study, on a conference call. I was glad
of that. I wanted some time alone, to think about my next
steps.