Sin of Fury (19 page)

Flames seemed to surround
him, holding him still with pain and the promise of hell.
Soft hands...
His face,
covered, almost drenched with the heat-filled droplets that held
pain, twisted with a grimace as he struggled to turn to the
caressing hand.

The touch robbed him of his
breath. The pain, intense and burning, ceased.
An angel...
His mind reeled at the
thought. What was an angel, so innocent and pure and
bright
, doing with him?
He was the carrier of the devil, blackness filled his heart, his
very
soul
— was
God taking mercy on him, something that he had been robbed of for
what seemed like an eternity?

“
Talon...” Her voice was
like bells. Magical. Ethereal.
Enchanting
. He sought the for the
woman who held the power of such a pure and angelic voice, but the
pain that shot through him held him immobile. He jerked, panic
causing his face to tighten even worse as his body started to
convulse.

“
Please, you need to get
up. I’ll help you, but please... Talon,
get up
.” Why was she so angry? he
thought brokenly, desperation tinting his expression. What had he
done to make her so furious with him? He flinched away from her
mentally, fearful that she would strike him. He wished he could see
her face... why couldn’t he?

His hands fisted, fury
replacing the panic that held him so obsessed with him. He could
not even see her. Was he not good enough to be graced the view of
an angel? He roared, wrapping his hands around his neck. “Let
me
go,”
he
shouted, no longer possessed with thoughts of her innocence. If she
wished to hide from him, then so be it. But it would not be without
a fight — he
would
find the angel, and she would be
his
.

His roar had Jamie jerking back. The
man’s muscles...they bulged. Her eyes widened as his body surged in
her direction, territorial rage covering her face even though his
eyes were closed. The pain that he expressed killed her, yet the
fear that she felt as his hand came closer to her erased any
sympathy that she might have felt — or at least most of
it.

She retreated somewhat. His face was
contorted, rough growls slipping past his tense lips. His hand,
clawed and reached, came dangerously close to her thigh. She
swallowed, trying to put aside her fear. He had only tried to kill
her, she thought, staring at him. Just a minute ago he had been
ready to tear her apart, but that didn’t mean anything...did it?
Jamie shuddered, then slowly reached out her hand, placing it over
his.

At the delicate, fearful touch, Talon
froze. She stared at him hard as his face changed, became
impossibly soft. Jamie started to frown, inching closer to him,
relaxing only minimally. She almost peed herself when his other
hand came down on top of hers. Slowly, oh-so slowly, it trailed up
her arm until it got to the inside of her elbow. Her heart pounded
in her chest, mind reeling.

The fear seemed to have left her.
Something about his touch... Her heart went out to him. Whatever
had been happening earlier had alarmed her, but surely there was
another reason other than his hate for her to have caused
it...

His fingers, as light as feathers and
as worshipping as a priest, slid up to her shoulder and
then...farther. Jamie was helpless to lean into his touch as his
hand came to her hair. He threaded his large hand into the thick
mass and something came from his chest. She was shocked when she
realized it was a....purr. A smile lifted her lips, a blush tinting
her cheeks as he continued to touch her hair, moving his hand and
rubbing her hair between his fingers. The soft tug was lulling,
almost as good as it would have been had he been talking with that
deep, tantalizing voice of his.

Her body shuddered as she brought
herself closer to him, so distracted by his touch that she didn’t
notice the man getting unsteadily to his feet behind her. Her mind
was calm, guard down. She didn’t see Talon’s eyes flip open, nor
did she see Lyne raise his claw-tipped fingers, murder in his
furious eyes as he stood above her.

Everything happened so fast, Jamie
didn’t realize that Talon had stopped touching her and was now on
his feet. hands around Lyne’s neck. A pained roar shot through the
room, and she realized it was the collar. Reality snapped back into
place quickly, horrifyingly. Jamie jumped to her feet and went to
the collar, not worried about Lyne, but the collar itself. It was
bringing Talon pain, and as she realized this was their chance to
escape, her mind snapped to only one train of thought:

Help Talon. Take the
collar. Kill Lyne.

Pain engulfed her, hands almost
sizzling as they latched onto the collar. Talon cried out, his hold
loosening on Lyne. Jamie whimpered with him, watching as Lyne’s
hand came around to grab onto her hair. At that moment, her hands
grasped the collar and she yanked.

Lyne screamed with fury. Talon snarled
with triumph. Jamie screamed as pain flashed through her. The
collar burned her hands, now detached from Talon’s throat. If it
had been so easy, why hadn’t he done it himself... She didn’t
finish her thought as her scream resounded from her throat. It was
so glaringly hot against her skin it seemed to blaze, her pain
filling the room with a bright, illuminating light.

And then Lyne yanked. The
collar fell from her hands, so tightly clenched that they
couldn’t
have let go of
the torture device, and Jamie was pulled to him. She let out an
agonized cry, curling her hands and following him, helpless with
his hold on her hair.

She tried to meet Talon’s eyes, tried
to plead with him. “Talon, please...”

“
Cease your talking,
woman!” Lyne screeched, his hand fisting in her hair.

Talon was deathly silent. She couldn’t
see his face; tears were blurring her vision and she could barely
speak with all of the torment that was wracking her body and hands.
Nothing could have lessened it, she thought, and nothing could
match it.

She let out a whimper, believing that
Talon would leave her with him.

“
You have ruined
everything!
I cannot control him
anymore,”
he shouted in her ear, the
agonizing anger showing like a lighthouse in his voice. She
flinched, fear flashing through her like a heated wave.

He was still so quiet... Jamie went
limp, giving up. There was no use trying, she thought, eyes welling
with tears as Lyne took another painful moment to pull on her hair.
The sharp sting almost had her crying out, but she
refused.

Talon let out a growl. Lyne froze,
grip loosening.

Jamie shivered at his next
words. “
You never could
.”

And then he attacked.

The solid metallic door slid closed
with a soft whir. Lights dimmed considerable, and the dark interior
of the room was everything that she admired. Her eyes adjusted and
she stepped into the room, putting her purse on the counter next to
the door.

It was steel, clean and slick in the
light. The soft lights above dimmed even more, almost turning
black. She didn’t mind, and set about tidying up. A visitor of hers
would be showing up soon and she didn’t want to have bad
representation.

Man, her day had been hard. First, it
got leaked that their subject had gotten taken, along with the key
to it all. Whoever had done that had made a very bad mistake. She
had worked so hard to keep it quiet that the mission had been a
slip-up without Lucian knowing, and now that he knew... Her hands
clenched around the bra that she was holding. Now, he would
suspect. He might not have said anything about it, or even told
them to be on the look out, but she knew he was going to be keeping
an eye on them all.

How was she going to get
her job over with if he were watching her every movement? Seducing
him years ago had been no problem, but his attraction for her had
worn off. It still enraged her, after all of these years. Why
couldn’t he want her? She was beautiful, she was young, she had a
body to
die
for...
She snarled.

The man only wanted money. Years of
studying him, working with him, had revealed his mind set. It was
all about the money and always would be. He didn’t let himself get
attached, and seemed to use his goal to push others
away.

She moved to the bathroom, putting her
collection of dirty clothes in the hamper. It was habit, she knew.
She had no real reason for cleaning. It was easier to will the
clothing away, to just replacing them with a thought. It calmed
her, though. Things were meant to be clean, orderly.

It had been drilled into her as a
child, and she wasn’t strong enough to break free of its
hold.

There was a knock on the door, and she
stood up straight. She straightened her hair up while opening the
door for her visitor. It closed behind him the minute her visitor
entered, and she walked into the room. Her suit was still on, the
enforcer badge placed regally on her impressive chest. She threw
her shoulders back as she met his eyes, cocking her hip.

“
My love,” she purred,
coming forward. Her hand settled on his chest with soft grace as
she pressed against him. “How are you feeling this evening? Want
something to drink?”

She wagged her eyebrows at him, her
darkening eyes gazing up at him suggestively. He just shook his
head, pushing her away. Lucian had the darkest hair she had ever
seen. It wasn’t just black, but more. His eyes were bright, though.
Silvery when intense, glittering when angry, those eyes were the
only thing she saw at night. If she let herself, she could get lost
in them.

“
Devlin,” he said curtly,
shrugging out of his jacket. Power radiated from him as he strode
farther into her quarters. She had a house on the outskirts of
town, but it was barely used. She preferred to be close to work,
and Lucian had funded the making of these quarters for his workers.
Unless married, you were required to stay here.

Lucian made it clear that
everyone was vital, and wanted them to be there
right
when he needed them.

It had taken a while, but after he had
sent Levi away, Devlin had convinced him to meet her at her
quarters. It had been a simple request, but the suspicion in them
had been a revelation. He wasn’t going to give into her as he had
so easily years before.

A smile curled her lips, the challenge
he proposed making her smile. He wanted to be distant? Fine. She
would just have to get closer.

She saddled up against him and drew
him to the couch. “I can get you something to drink,” she said,
smiling with her teeth. She flipped her hair over her shoulder,
pushing at his shoulder, and then moving to the attached kitchen.
Devlin bit her lip, almost going to the cupboard to get the pills
they had given her. Except, that wouldn’t do, would it? He would
know.

She filled the cup with tap water,
disappointment washing through her. The things he found out always
ruined her fun. Like that one time, with the coffee
beans...

Lucian took a sip of the water, then
set it down on the table next to the plain black couch. The room
wasn’t lavish in the least. Lights were dim, the mood was calm, and
he looked nice and yummy in those jeans that encased his long
legs... Devlin smiled a Cheshire cat’s smile, sitting next to
him.

“
What did you want to talk
about?” he asked, leaning back into the chair. The deepness of his
voice had her shivering.

Devlin put her hand on his thigh,
slowly rubbing. “Who said I wanted to talk?”

He gave her a hard stare. “I’m really
not in the mood for that. I’ve told you enough — and after today I
really thought you would drop it.” Lucian started to
rise.

She grasped his arm, pulling him down.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” she said, voice thick with sincerity. She
looked up at him with wide eyes, begging him not to
leave.

He sat again, folding his arms over
his chest and letting his head fall back. She stared at him,
watching the long lashes fall against his cheeks, watching his
thick neck move as he tensed and released a breath. Something funny
happened in her chest, but she forced herself to ignore
it.

“
I have some information,”
she said, standing and going over to her dresser. He looked at her
through one eye, aware and dark. She ignored it.

Large and thick, the dresser made a
soft scratching sound as she pulled it open. Inside, there were
cases of weapons, knives, and throwing stars. She didn’t use them
anymore, the age of them had passed long ago. A smile curled her
lip as she returned to him with the thick manila envelope. They
were still her favorite, though.

Lucian looked at the folder, realizing
that she meant the real deal. She swallowed as she handed it to
him, suddenly nervous. Would he be able to tell they were tainted
with lies and danger? Once, someone had given him the wrong papers.
Without even looking at it or the papers, he had fired the tech who
had dared to try and betray them.