Mercy Burns

I followed the line of his gaze and saw the boat he was talking about. It was large and long, and had at least three decks. It also looked damn expensive. But I saw something else, as well. Or rather, someone else.

Angus.

His sea-colored head was visible for only a few moments, before he ducked down into the lower decks, but I had no doubt it was him.

“Our quarry is on the boat,” I said softly.

“Good.” Damon flexed his arms, reminding me of a fighter getting ready for the next bout. “You go straight to the boat. I’ll board via the rear of the yacht in the next berth. Between the two of us, we should be able to prevent an escape.”

“He’s a sea dragon. He won’t need to escape. He can just call the sea and drown us.”

He gave me a cool, calm smile that sent a chill racing down my spine. Death had reentered the building.

“Even the canniest sea dragon isn’t faster than a bullet.”

Goose bumps joined the chill. “And just when does a dragon need a gun?”

“Since I became a muerte.” He shrugged, and it was a surprisingly eloquent movement. “Burning is not a pleasant way to die, and I’d rather a quick kill before I burn.”

“So Death does have a soft side?”

“There’s nothing soft about mercy.” He smiled suddenly, and it was like sunshine breaking through rain: brief but glorious. “Although, if we’re talking about you, I suspect you have lots of lovely soft spots.”

“Which you’re never going to uncover unless you work on that attitude of yours.”

His smile faded. “I can’t change the attitude of a lifetime in a matter of minutes, no matter how much I might want to kiss you again. You ready?”

I nodded, too struck by the knowledge that he did want to kiss me again to say anything intelligent. We walked on. That, at least, I could manage—although part of me wanted to dance.

There were locked gates between us and the boats, but it didn’t take much of an effort on Damon’s part to get past. We slipped inside and parted ways—he moving into the first slip area and me stepping on board the Heron.

The minute I set foot on the boat, Angus’s familiar voice said, “Is that you, Mikey?”

I saw Damon leap across to the stern, then said, “I’m afraid not, Angus.”

“Jesus, girl, what the fuck are you doing here?” He appeared in the main cabin area, then just as quickly disappeared as a black-haired blur grabbed him and pushed him back down.

I scrambled along the railing and into the upper cabin. Damon stood behind Angus, one arm wrapped around the sea dragon’s neck and holding a silver gun to his head with the other.

He glanced up as I entered, and with a slight movement of his head motioned me toward the plush leather couch that half wrapped around a teak coffee table. I slipped the backpack off, dumping it on the floor and out of the way before sitting down on the end of the couch, avoiding the large window.

Damon’s attention returned to Angus. “I’ll put a bullet in your brain the minute the sea does anything untoward.”

The other man held up his hands. “No trouble, I promise.”

Damon released his grip on Angus’s neck and pushed him unceremoniously onto the smaller couch opposite mine. Angus looked at me somewhat reproachfully. “There was no need for this, lass.”

I snorted softly. “I trusted you the first time, and ended up drugged and held captive by psychos. Why wouldn’t we show a little more caution this time around?”

“Because if I’d meant you any real harm, I would have ensured you got a full dose of the drug. You wouldn’t be free now if I’d done that.”

I couldn’t sense a lie in his words, and yet I couldn’t help retorting, “Why even dose me at all if you wanted to ensure I’d escape?”

“Because I needed you to be out of it when I carried you in. These boys aren’t fools, and neither am I. I’m not about to risk my neck needlessly.”

“And this is supposed to make me grateful? Those men burned down my apartment.”

“At least you weren’t in it, and you could have been. They don’t care who they hurt in order to protect themselves.” He hesitated, then glanced up at the man standing so watchfully behind him. “I saw what they did to you. I wanted no part of that when it came to the lass.”

“Then why get involved in Mercy’s kidnapping at all?” Damon asked, the tension emanating from his body reminding me of a rattlesnake ready to strike. “Why stay here, when you could so easily disappear into the sea and never be seen again?”

“Because they have Coral.” Angus’s voice was an odd mix of anger and defeat.

“Who is?”

“My mate. They’re holding her hostage against my good behavior.” He hesitated, glancing at me with a grimace. “And they’ll kill us all the moment they’re sure there’s no widespread interest in the cleansed towns.”

My sudden smile felt brittle. “So the real truth is that you eased up on the drug dosage to save your own skin rather than mine.”

“Well, yes. But I didn’t want anyone else to suffer the same fate as your friend, either.”

Something inside me went still. Cold. “So you did set us up that night.”

He hesitated. “I had no choice. Not with Coral being held hostage. But I did call the cops and report the accident as soon as I knew that’s what they intended.”

“Which would have been useless if they’d both been dead,” Damon pointed out, voice harsh.

“I know.” Angus glanced at me. “I’m sorry, lass.”

The apology was sincere enough, but something inside me remained cold. He’d basically signed Rainey’s death warrant by setting us up like that, and even if he had done it to save the life of his lover and himself, it was something I could never forgive.

“So why didn’t they just kill you both the minute they ran Rainey and me off the road?” I asked, voice sounding amazingly calm considering part of me really did want to jump up and hit him. Repeatedly. “And why the hell didn’t they check that we were both dead?”

“Have you any idea how far that car fell? You really shouldn’t have survived.” He studied me for a second, as if contemplating how the hell I actually had. “Of course, they realized a little later that they had no idea how many other people you might have told about the towns. Given they’d made me your original point of contact, they released me to see if any other fish would take the bait.”

“And that fish was me again.”

“Yeah. You should have just walked away when you had the chance.”

I flicked a somewhat dark glance Damon’s way. “People keep telling me that. So why didn’t they kill me the second time?”

“Oh, they intended to. They just decided to do it right this time, and question you first.”

Which is why he’d made such a point of saying when we’d met in the bar that these men weren’t going to be scared of one lone draman. If I’d answered any other way, if I’d mentioned there wasn’t anyone else, then I might now be a dead and lost soul, just like Rainey.

“But how could you be so sure that I’d come out of the drug quickly enough to escape?” I asked. “I’m draman. A drug meant for dragons could do anything to us.”

“It was a human drug, and most of them don’t affect dragons. Draman are, of course, half human, so it does affect you, though to a lesser degree. But I still only gave you half a dose to be sure.”

“You couldn’t have been sure I’d escape the cell.”

“No, but I figured you’d wake the muerte, and that he’d work something out.” Angus glanced at the gun, still pointed in his direction. “They’re tricky bastards, these muerte.”

Damon’s smile was cold. “What makes you think those men are any different from me?”

“Oh, I have no illusions about the men I’m working with. It’s part of the reason I changed boats.”

“You’re still in the same general area. If they want to kill you, changing location won’t stop them.”