A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 17
“You’ve got some upstairs. Meet me back down here in five.”
Crap. He was serious. While I got that I couldn’t sleep, spending the wee hours of the morning trying to throw a wolf around was hardly better. I still all but ran out of the room, dressing quickly and returning.
The door was open, and as I approached it, it was to the sounds of Jace grunting, the noise just as manly as it should be. It forced me to immediately juxtapose it with Velos. Even if you gave the Engelos a broadsword and set him against an entire army of men, I doubted the refined creature would ever make a guttural noise like that.
Velos was too… Velos. And as I walked in, yanking down my exercise top so it sat against my plump hips better, I realized what I’d already known. Jace was every inch of Jace. And if you didn’t understand that statement, don’t worry. My eyes did.
He’d thrown a top back on, but honestly, that left less up to the imagination. The thin, stretchy material clung to his sweaty arms. He’d spent the last five minutes throwing himself around. From the dents in the crash mats, that was literal.
While he didn’t look tired, I knew from experience the werewolf could hurtle around faster than a bullet. He nodded at me, a flop of his fringe falling across his rumpled brow. “We’ll leave it at an hour or so.”
“Sure,” I said, squeezing my top lip between my teeth. “An hour of training at 2 AM in the morning after a large omelet. I can’t think of anything that could go wrong.”
“If there’s one rule I live by, it’s seize the day.”
And the night, my mind added. I wondered when he ever slept. The flash in his eyes confirmed if he did get shuteye, it would never be for long. He never seemed to switch off. A problem, because he was now fully concentrating on me.
Grunting at me to remove my shoes, he invited me into the middle of the crash mats. Immediately sinking onto his haunches, he took up a defensive position reminiscent of karate. “This is called the horse pose. It balances your weight better, making it harder for an opponent to push you over.”
“Unless that opponent is a shifter. Or a vampire. Or a long-legged, powerful witch.”
“Never think of excuses. Always work on yourself.”
The almost charming interaction we’d had over the omelet was gone. Jace had returned to full wolf mode. With an edge. I could pretend he was angry at me. I was starting to learn the wolf was way more complicated than that. He might snap at people, but it was only because he was treating himself worse on the inside.
“You know any basic self-defense?” he rumbled.
The Alpha probably thought I’d say no. But I nodded. “I can reverse a grip. As long as the grip isn’t too big,” I added, staring at Jace’s hands. I hadn’t noticed them before, or at least the comparative size. They were enormous, as you’d expect for someone with a frame like his. In comparison, mine were petite.
With one key difference. My grip could strip magic.
Which got me thinking about the fact somebody had bought that skill. Who would do that and why? Did they intend to deploy me on people in Mythos City or squirrel me away and take me to some other part of the country?
“You’re distracted. Come here and show me what you can do.” He strode over to me and immediately grabbed my wrist.
Pushing against him and angling my thumb down between his thumb and the rest of his grip, I yanked with all my might. Predictably, while it unsettled his grip slightly, I couldn’t wrench my hand free. I immediately gave up. The writing was on the wall, after all. “Well, that proves what I already knew,” I grunted. “I can’t reverse shifter grips.”
“It’s a good start, but you’re not pushing hard enough.”
“I don’t want to break my hand against yours.”
“When you try to get free of an attacker, it’s about keeping yourself safe, not about protecting some part of your body.”
Brutal statement. Did he want me to chew off my thumb next time?
Now, he came around from behind me, wrapping his powerful arms in tightly. His breath cutting across my cheek, he grabbed my hand from this direction instead. What, with his better height, it was much easier for him to pin me against his chest.
And for one heart-stopping second, my damn brain got the wrong idea. It forgot all thoughts about Virginia, this screwed-up city, and the fact I was sold. 150 percent of me focused on the rugged scent of the Alpha right over my shoulder.
“Reverse the grip,” he said after a lengthy pause, likely waiting for me to remind myself why we were here in the first place.
“Sorry,” I stammered. I planted my hand down hard and tried to yank against his thumb. A thankless task. So I pushed forward from the hips, angling back into him. The idea, of course, was to leverage my far more powerful upper body to try to break his grip. But again it didn’t work. I ended up kind of grinding myself against him. Blinking ferociously, I grunted, “Sorry. You know this can’t work.”
“Your problem is you don’t follow through. I’m not holding you that hard. You’re a little flustered.”
A little, ha?
He let me go again. Then he grabbed me from the front, this time with an easy-to-break grip. Guess he was feeling sorry for me. While I could reverse the grip, he used a far worse weapon on me. Locking those soulful eyes on mine, he didn’t blink once. And this close, I saw the different colors visible in his complex irises. Who knew that many colors filled them? You’d have to get this close and look up for as long as I was—
Long before he could prompt me, I yanked down as hard as I could, twisting to the side and angling my shoulder into him. I broke his grip and almost high-fived the air.
A grin snatched my cheeks, but it didn’t make it to my eyes. I sniffed. “You barely used any power on me, did you?”
“I’m a full wolf.”
“I know. Which is kind of making me wonder whether there’s a point to this.”
“There is. You have no idea who you’re going to come across, what state they’re in, and how much you need to do to momentarily overpower them. While it might seem that self-defense is useless in this world, it’s not if it can buy you a couple of seconds.”
He meant me specifically, and he watched me intently.
Rather than stare at his eyes, I watched the way the attention changed the rest of his face, stiffening his cheeks but relaxing his brow. I’d never had someone look at me with that much… attention. That wasn’t the right word. The focus was intense, collected, smart.
It forced a memory to rise. That witch from the meeting had promised Jace always got what he wanted. Pity he’d never wanted me.
He would however need me to focus. And for the next sweaty hour, he forced me to.
Though it was hard, I made my brain stop obsessing over the fact this was a super-hot Alpha, and started picking up what he was teaching me. Because he was right. I never knew what fight would come down to a simple reverse grip. My opponents might have more magic. They might have more resources. If I was lucky and played my cards right, I’d always have one way to defeat them. And if I learned to throw my body around better, it’d be easier to deploy my primary weapon.
And speaking of that. If this hour-long training session proved anything, it was the fact Jace was completely immune to my touch. Maybe he wanted to check that, too, because he seemed to spend as much time as possible around my shoulders or holding onto my wrists. It was never hard enough to hurt me, but there was always a firm enough grip to simulate an attack. No matter what happened or how irate I got, I never hurt him.
When the session was over, I was ready to roll into bed. Any fleeting thoughts of insomnia had completely disappeared, replaced by dragging feet and weariness.
Jace walked me out of the training area and up the stairs then stopped in front of my room. For the stupidest, most automatic second, I almost invited him in. I squeezed my lips shut before they could mutinously say a word. Then I turned as I picked up a call tone from his office.
“Who’s calling you at this time of night? You should be sound asleep.”
“But I’m not. I’m working,” he corrected.
I had to wince. Yep. He should be asleep, but instead he was catering to me, the pathetic idiot who couldn’t hope to look after herself. Jace didn’t seem to care. “Sleep well,” he said, turning on his foot.
“Not sure if there’s any point to it. I have to get up in an hour.”
“I’ll let you sleep in.”
“But are you going to sleep?” My eyes locked on his back, ignoring the muscles visible through his sweaty T-shirt. They were there. I could let them distract me. But the far deeper fact of the real Jace lay beneath. I’d gone from thinking he was a kind of two-dimensional, comical evil genius to realizing he was one of the most complicated men I’d ever met.
“If I stopped working,” he said, his voice bottoming low but not in a growl, “people die.”
With that cold, direct statement, he was gone, and I shuffled back to bed.
Chapter 15
I woke to sunlight well and truly streaming in through the crack in my curtains. After several bleary-eyed blinks, I recognized they weren’t my own. This wasn’t my apartment….
Rocketing up into a seated position, I grunted, “Jace,” way too loudly.
Clapping a hand over my mouth, I hoped he hadn’t heard. The overprotective wolf would drop any task to reach me if I screamed his name. But thankfully, either the walls were thick with magic, or he wasn’t on this level.
Slapping my cheeks lightly, I turned to see my phone read: 10 o’clock. “Holy crap,” I hissed. “You’ve well and truly overslept.”
Jace had said he’d let me sleep in. This was a full six hours after I was meant to wake. It felt good not to have that tired, hungover headache from yesterday. What about my sister? I’d wasted precious time.
Dressing quickly in roughly the same getup from yesterday, I charged out of the room and down the stairs. Voices were in the common area. Kelsey stood with her back to the roaring fire, her arms crossed, probably in preparation for a verbal attack. As soon as she saw me, she narrowed her eyes. The smart wolf said nothing, though. Because Jace wasn’t too far away. He emerged from the training area. Again he was covered in sweat.
I blinked at him. “You trained in the middle of the night.”
“I train every morning before work. I had to wait for you,” he added. “I take it you slept?”
I wanted to peevishly tell him he should’ve woken me up. If he had, I would’ve been a walking zombie. Instead, grabbing the back of my neck, I nodded firmly. “Yeah. Like a baby. I suppose babies don’t need midnight omelets and self-defense classes to get to sleep, though.”
“Then I suppose you’re not a baby.” It was just a comment. Something about his tone made my stomach knot, though.
Running my fingers through my hair, I stopped when I realized his eyes tracked my every move. It was likely nothing. The wolf was genetically predisposed to protect his pack, right? Maybe there was something slightly more.
His gaze lingered. “You need to eat.” The tone in his voice changed.
I didn’t care that all eyes were on me. The slightest prideful smile crumpled my lips. “Should I make double the food?”
“If you feel the need,” he said in a light tone that was entirely not Jace.
Feeling pretty pleased with my cooking skills, I marched into the kitchen. No longer a dead woman walking, I purposefully grabbed the right ingredients from the fridge and cupboard.
Then I gave the kitchen a complete once-over. There was literally every possible ingredient. You could feed a whole army from here – or a president. Not only was it massive, they had all the best gear. While it would’ve been fabulous to make myself a three-course meal for brunch, I resisted the urge. I’d already had eggs, so I settled for some delicious smoky paprika sardines on toast. It would’ve been nice to make the bread, but a girl can’t get everything she wants.
Proving that wolves were a heck of a lot like their doggy cousins, the second I started frying the fish, Jace appeared in the doorway. He’d already showered and changed his clothes, dressing back in one of his usual suits. It fit him perfectly, and the slightly off-black gray color matched the look in his eyes. He might be hungry, but it was clear he had work to do.
Letting the fish fry a second too long, I cursed and dragged my metal spatula over the pan with a harsh squeak. “Sorry. But what’s with that look? You’re eager to head to Karen’s office today, aren’t you?”
“I’ve already sent some people ahead.”
My heart thrummed in my ears. “And?” Cold fingers froze before I plucked up the pan and removed the fish.
“Nothing yet. We still need to check the records room and go fastidiously through every employee.”
“You don’t honestly think that my sister could’ve offered some service to people who were hiding their powers, right?”
“It’s just a thought. And she may have only offered it to people she truly trusted.”
“Be really honest with me.” I plated the fish, dumped the salad on it, and met Jace’s eyes. “What kind of trouble could she be in?”
Stupid question. She was already in the worst trouble of her life. Somebody had bought and sold her.
“Until we know why she was hiding people’s powers, it’s impossible to say.”
“But it is illegal.”
“Not until we know why she did it, right?” It was such a strange question for the usually by-the-book werewolf. If last night had proved anything, it was that he was obsessed with the law.
Which was a good thing, I guess. With all that inherent power and his powerful wolf pack, if he weren’t rule-bound, he’d be a complete dictator.
He met my gaze. “I hope the last couple of days have taught you that the magical world isn’t what you thought.”
I knew where he was going with this. He wanted to prove that his side of things wasn’t all bad. “Oh, don’t worry,” the retort still ripped out of my lips. “You’ve proved to me I knew absolutely nothing about the real Mythos City. Nor what it wants to do with me.” Briefly, I looked down at my plate. My stomach rumbled. But I found it hard to pick up my fork.
Jace didn’t. Nor did he find it difficult to reach over, open my hand, and place it neatly in my palm. Then he tore through his meal, his concentrated silence proving he loved it. Not everyone likes sardines. The inherent oily, salty nature bothers a lot of people. The red-blooded werewolf wasn’t one of them. He practically smacked his lips between every mouthful. His clear pleasure in his food brought a smile to my mouth, and I tucked in.
We ate in an oddly enjoyable silence. There are few sounds nicer than someone enjoying your home cooking. But nothing good lasts forever.
When Jace was done, someone rushed in, pulled him aside, and had a hurried conversation with him. Halfway through soaking a chunk of bread through the last of my sauce, I paused. I might have a great sense of smell. My hearing wasn’t perfect. I couldn’t even discern a muttered word. But Jace walked in like a storm cloud. “Finish up,” he grunted.
“What happened?” Dumping my knife and fork with a clatter, I launched to my feet.
“Somebody tried to firebomb your sister’s firm. We put it out. But that doesn’t change the fact that they tried to get rid of evidence.”
Oh my God. I raced to his side. We left the compound immediately.
I was over the fact that it was stupid to drive such short distances around the city, considering the compound was centrally located. It thankfully took barely five minutes to roll up right in front of my sister’s premises.
The fire service was there. They’d already put out the blaze. There was only minor damage to the front façade and the door. Someone had kicked it in, and it was easy enough to walk over the broken glass and steel.
Physically easy. Emotionally hard. It hammered home how much my life had changed completely. Even if I found Karen, she might never be able to return to her old existence.
Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten such a hearty meal. My stomach flipped with the smell in the air.
Fortunately, Jace had learned his lesson from last night. He remained right by my side. I could barely walk away several steps without his eyes drilling into the back of my head. “Always keep close,” he snarled.
I nodded and didn’t pay as much attention as I should.
Mind elsewhere, I stared at a place that had once been my sanctuary. It might not have been as fancy as some of the bigger law firms, but the lobby was welcoming, with plenty of overflowing Kentia palms, happy modernist art, and comfy couches. Now, smoke clung to everything, and the carpet was soggy from the sprinklers.
I walked straight over to the front desk counter, though of course Barney wasn’t there. My fingers dully tapped out a tune on the polished melamine surface.
Jace had a conversation with someone and soon walked over. “You know this place.”
“Do I? I’m starting to learn my sister had way more secrets than I thought.”
“It’s only an assumption that she knew about Lisa. We’ve already checked both of their offices. We found nothing.”
“You were unlikely to find anything in Karen’s office. Her enemies already trashed it. Didn’t you mention something about the filing area downstairs?”
He nodded silently, then led the way. I should’ve been the one at the forefront. I felt responsible for this place, linked to it. It wasn’t exactly my home, but it was close. Now Jace’s wolves traipsed through it, their heavy footfalls splashing on the now thoroughly ruined carpet.
We didn’t ride the elevator downstairs, taking the single-file staircase instead. We reached the basement, which was also inundated with water. I guess the fire suppression system had really kicked in.
A frown marked my lips. “It’s a serious mess down here.”
“Some of the fire made it this far down.”
“I guess all the files will be ruined, then.”
Sticking only 20 centimeters behind me, we reached the filing room door. Leaning against it, knowing from experience the handle always stuck, I shoved. We walked in.
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