The Dark Side (13 page)

“You really want to complain about me not telling you stuff? After what you just pulled?” His voice rumbled dangerously.

I inched backward as his scent overwhelmed me with smoky fury. “I was going to tell you.”

“I gave you a panic button.” He put one hand flat on the marble as if preparing to vault the desk if he had to. “You want to tell me why the fuck you didn’t use it?”

I backed up a little farther but there wasn’t far to go. My legs bumped into the cabinet that held our printer. “Because I wasn’t in danger. And I didn’t want the FBI raiding one of Esteban’s clubs for no good reason.”

“Not in danger?” The rumble in Dan’s voice grew rougher. “You had one of the people who kidnapped and tortured you on the other end of the line and you think you weren’t in danger?”

He was right but I wasn’t going to tell him that. This was my life and I was going to live it my way. Too many people were trying to pull my strings at once. I was about to stage a marionette rebellion. “I was with Marco. In one of Esteban’s clubs. They have pretty good security.”

“What makes you think Esteban’s on your side?”

“Well, he’s trusting me to find out who’s stealing millions of dollars from him, so he kind of has a vested interest in keeping me alive.”

“There are other forensic accountants, you know.”

“He wants the best.” I picked up a pencil from Jase’s neat little desk caddy. The tip was blunt. For a moment it was tempting to just stab myself with it. It would be the perfect end to the day.

Dan’s hand circled his bad wrist, thumb rubbing the scar Tate’s silver chains had left. “Come out from behind there.”

I stayed where I was. If I went to him and let him hold me, I might just give in to the fear hearing Smith’s voice had summoned and burst into tears. I was trying to prove I could handle all of this. I had to be strong. Tears weren’t going to help. “I like it here.”

Dan’s arms tensed and I wondered whether he was going to leap over the desk after all. “Ash, right now I don’t know whether I want to kiss you or kick your ass. If I have to come round and get you, I might just lean toward the latter.”

I wanted to go to him. I made myself stay. Told myself Smith wasn’t going to win. But despite my best intentions, thinking of Smith made me shiver.

“What?” Dan’s eyes sharpened.

“Nothing.”

“You’re shivering.”

“No, I’m not.”

Dan bounded over the desk and pulled me to him. “Come here, you idiot.”

I let his warmth soak through me for a moment. He smelled like damp wool and tired man and the wild tang of wolf edged with anger. His arms tightened around me as I pressed my face against his shoulder, inhaling the scent of safety, and trying to believe I really was safe.

We breathed together for a few minutes, until the tension drained a little out of Dan’s muscles as my fear ebbed away. Not one hundred percent gone but manageable again. Ever since Tate had reemerged, I’d been living with a certain level of fear. I’d gotten used to it.

“I really am okay,” I said.

Dan’s arms pulled me closer for a second. He dropped a kiss on the top of my head and then released me. “What did Smith say?”

“Not much. He warned me to back off.” I eased sideways and picked up the laptop bag again so I could stash it.

He followed me as I walked into my office and started the complicated process of opening my safe.

“Or?”

I put on a fake dramatic voice as I entered the last passcode and the safe swung open. “Or I wouldn’t like the consequences. He’s all talk.” Or so I hoped. The laptop just squeezed in with the other files I had in there. It would be safe enough until we could download the information we’d taken from Infradark but really if I was going to keep getting these ultrasensitive jobs, I needed a bigger safe.

“Ash, these people aren’t the type to mess around. They think that vampires who turn everyone they bite are a good idea, remember?”

That made me shiver again. I covered it up by slamming the safe shut. I wasn’t sure my body could handle another meltdown tonight. Adrenaline overload already had my muscles feeling like I’d been run over by something the size of Marco’s limo. “Well, there hasn’t been a rash of new vampires lately. Particularly not ones complaining about the fact they just got bitten and whoosh, vampire.”

That actually raised a smile. “Whoosh, vampire?”

“You know.” I waved a hand vaguely. I really had no idea what happened when a vampire turned other than it happened at sunrise the day after they were infected. “Instant vampire with none of the normal woo-woo stuff. That means their anti-vaccine doesn’t work. It didn’t work on me.”

That wasn’t strictly true. Because Dan had bitten me at the same time I’d received Tate’s blood, none of the doctors had any idea whether I’d changed because of the anti-vaccine or my own vaccines failing as part of normal odds or something else altogether. The anti-vaccine could work perfectly for all we knew.

“I’m still increasing your protection,” Dan said.

My jaw clenched. “Define increasing?” In the first few weeks after I’d killed Tate, Dan and I had had agents watching our house and following us everywhere. But when it seemed that there wasn’t going to be any immediate retaliation by whoever the hell Tate was working with—or for—other than Dr. Smith, I’d been able to convince Dan to ease everything back.

I knew that the Taskforce kept an eye on my house and maybe even on me but I no longer saw them or had de facto bodyguards accompanying me to the office and the grocery store. I preferred life without an audience and besides the privacy issue, being surrounded by Taskforce agents on protection detail just made it harder for me to move on from what had happened. It’s hard to forget with a constant reminder following you around.

“You have people watching over you now. It doesn’t interfere with your life.”

“Yes, but you’re not talking about just watching, are you?” I said.

Dan looked wary. “No,” he admitted. “Now that Smith has resurfaced, I want you to have a detail again.”

A fresh batch of fear landed in my stomach with a thud. And it brought a side order of frustration with it. The combination made my stomach hurt. Was my life ever going to get back to normal? I didn’t want it to be the same as it had been before Tate. After all, it couldn’t be the same. I was a werewolf now. But I wanted to live without looking over my shoulder every second. Without weird-ass supernaturals playing games with me and Old Ones using me as pawns. Was that really so much to ask?

But apparently the universe wasn’t quite done with screwing around with me just yet. And it was hard to argue with Dan. Tate’s cronies had kidnapped me once. They’d taken my aunt and Dan too. I had no desire to let them get their hands on me again. “I can’t take a protection detail into Esteban’s clubs,” I pointed out. Dan’s expression turned grim and I held up a hand. “No, you don’t get to tell me to give up Esteban’s case. If I have to live with a protection detail, you have to live with me getting rid of my debt to Marco. The detail will have to wait outside. I’ll take the panic button.”

Dan’s lips compressed but then he nodded. “All right. Though I’m going to speak to Marco and see if there are any of his people who can go with you to the clubs as well. You need more than just Jase if Smith tries something.”

I couldn’t argue with that. And other than Jase and the few vampires I’d met at the Taskforce, I wasn’t friendly enough with any other vampire to ask for help. And it wasn’t exactly the sort of favor I’d want to ask one of my clients. I didn’t want any of them knowing what I was getting mixed up in again. It had taken some pretty swift talking to soothe tempers after I’d had to go AWOL for awhile after being changed by Dan and then again after Tate.

“Deal,” I said. “I don’t like it but okay.”

Dan looked relieved as he sat on the edge of my desk. “My job is to keep you safe. You don’t have to like it. I don’t like it either. But I will keep you safe.”

I really, really, hoped he was right about that.

* * *

I woke up the next morning, my stomach still churning and my nerves pulsing with adrenaline. The strange mix of fear and anger powered my racing heart. Giving into the fear wasn’t going to get me anywhere so I chose to go with mad. Mad enough to need to burn off some of it if I was going to be able to function. If I went to the office in this mood I was going to end up fighting with Jase again. I hadn’t forgiven him for the crap he’d tried to pull but I didn’t want any more tension right now. I could go out back to the home gym I’d set up but lifting weights and pounding a heavy bag wasn’t what I was in the mood for. So I decided to go to Hagan’s.

Until I stepped out my front door and found Andy Ramirez and Esme on my porch, dressed in his-and-hers versions of blend-into-the-background gray suits. I knew a protection detail when I saw one. Damn. I’d forgotten I’d agreed to this. Dan had wasted no time getting things organized.

“How long have you two been here?” I asked.

Andy held up a hand. “We were trying to work out who got to tell you. Dan said you were okay with a detail but Esme was skeptical. I voted for rock paper scissors but Essie here is scared I’ll beat her.”

Esme’s lip curled. “In your dreams. And I told you not to call me that. We just got here,” she added to me. “We’re the day shift.”

Day shift? “There’s been someone out here all night?” Dan had been even faster than I’d thought.

“Yes. Plus the perimeter guys.”

Muscles the length of my spine tightened, the familiar claustrophobic sense of being watched settling over me. All this because of one stupid phone call. I took a deep breath through my nose. I’d agreed to this. This was how I stayed safe. So I needed to suck it up. “Sorry you drew the short straw. I’m sure you have better things to do.”

Neither of them looked like they disagreed with me. But neither of them replied. Agents on the job didn’t generally complain about their orders.

“There’s a team meeting later this morning,” Andy said. “Dan asked us to tell you.”

“I have something I need to do first.” I couldn’t quite keep the sharpness from my tone. “He’ll just have to cope without us.”

Esme started to protest. I shook my head.

“No arguing. If you want to protect me, fine. But you go where I go.”

The disapproving silence as we walked to their car nearly made my ears ring.

* * *

“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” Tommy Hagan said as I stomped through his door. He flashed me a smile that revealed the dimple in his cheek, eyes twinkling. “What brings you here, Ash, darlin’?”

I ignored his flirting. Half-Virginian, half-Irish, Tommy oozed charm like the rest of us breathed. His southern drawl combined with the dark hair and Newman blue eyes he’d inherited from his father, slayed women in the aisles. I wasn’t in the mood to be slain. “I need to shoot something.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Who was dumb enough to piss you off?”

That made me smile. Tommy was the one who’d taught me to shoot when I’d decided that if I was going to take on supernatural clients, I needed to be able to protect myself.

“Thomas, the number of people dumb enough to piss me off these days never ceases to amaze me.” I pulled out my membership card and slapped it down on the counter.

“Got any pictures?” He picked up the card and swiped it through the reader. “I can project them up on the targets and you can shoot their sorry behinds.”

His eyes twinkled and I knew I’d made the right decision to come here. Tommy always cheered me up. Something about a cute guy treating you like a goddess even if you were only a friend was good for the female ego.

“No pictures. But thanks for the offer.”

“And your friends?” He cocked an eyebrow as he handed me my card back.

“Can you give Esme a guest pass? Agent Ramirez—” I jerked my chin toward Andy “—will be staying out here.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Esme said.

“Why not? You and I will be inside and armed. So it makes sense to have someone out here to stop anyone getting inside in the first place.”

Esme scowled then turned her ice-queen expression on Tommy. “Are there any other entrances or exits?”

“Just the service door out back.”

She looked torn. I knew I was putting her in a difficult position. I knew a little about how protectees should behave from my previous stint with a detail and I hadn’t given them a chance to check out our destination at all but right now I just couldn’t bring myself to care too much.

“I’m on it,” Andy said, pulling out his phone.

“Get the perimeter guys to check it out,” Esme warned. “You stay here.”

He rolled his eyes at her as he backed away a little, talking low and fast into the cell.

“You got some ID, darlin’?” Tommy said as Esme watched Andy.

She turned and slapped her badge onto the desk. “Will that do? And the name is Agent Watson.”

Tommy grinned unrepentantly. “Sure thing, Agent Watson. The FBI isn’t playing fair though, hiring sweet things like you.”

Esme’s hands flexed briefly. If she’d been in cat form, Tommy’s face might’ve wound up slightly less pretty. “Trust me, I’m not so sweet. Some might even say I have claws.” The last word was almost a hiss and Tommy’s eyes widened just a little.

“We’ll need about an hour of range time,” I said. “Put it on my account.” I tried not to smile as Tommy kept a wary eye on Esme as he tapped in her details. It wasn’t often I saw him knocked off his stride by a woman. Of course, he didn’t usually date shifters. Just humans. Like I’d been.

We’d had a very brief–two weeks kind of brief–fling way back when Dan and I were over and I was in strict no-one-gets-my-heart-mode. Given that that was the way Tommy ran all his relationships, it had suited both of us until he got bored and I realized I’d rather keep his friendship than have him scratch my itches.

The computer finally beeped a clearance for Esme and Tommy passed her ID back. “You want to use your gun, Ash? Or try something different? I’ve got some new toys.”

What Tommy didn’t know about guns probably wasn’t worth knowing. I’d always thought that was the reason he hadn’t hooked up with someone permanently—his heart belonged to cold steel and gunpowder.