koala bear’s, rose and fell with each breath as he dozed.
The pair was so fucking cute, he couldn’t really form the words to describe what the sight did to him. All he knew was it tightened his chest with an emotion he wasn’t ready to name. To see this creature, formerly scared and snapping at everyone, lying there so trusting and content, was a measure of her goodness. The bright light that no one was able to resist.
Including himself.
Turning her head, she spotted him standing on the porch and waved him over. “You can come closer. Just don’t make any sudden moves.”
That seemed to be true of the woman as well as Chup. Wisely, he didn’t say so. “Okay. Walking slowly.” He made his way over to where they lay and crouched. The creature hadn’t moved. “Now what?”
“Nothing. He’ll notice you soon enough and we’ll see what happens.”
“That’s reassuring.” He eyed Chup warily.
“Don’t tell me the big bad werewolf is afraid of this little guy,” she teased.
“Shifter, not werewolf. A werewolf is that half-man thing from a B horror movie. And that ‘little guy’ can chew my face off. Have you seen those teeth?”
“Pardon me,
“Then I’ll have to be sure not to startle him again, won’t I? Remember, he got me once before.” He frowned at her hands, which bore red scratches and a few bite marks. “You aren’t wearing your gloves.”
“I don’t need them anymore.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“Trust me.”
Oddly, he did. After Beryl, he thought he’d never willingly trust anything out of a woman’s mouth again, but Kira was not Beryl. The two women couldn’t be more different. “I do trust you.”
That made her smile, and his groin tightened. Damn, he couldn’t get enough of her.
“When do we leave?” she asked, interrupting his lustful thoughts.
“Three hours. We’re supposed to meet the team at the hangar.” That awful, strange emotion rose up again to nearly strangle him. He wanted to order her to stay here, but knew how well that would go over. “I wish you weren’t going tonight, baby. Please reconsider.”
“And miss the chance to give my old boss the finger?” When he didn’t laugh, she sobered. “Seriously, if there’s the slightest possibility that I might be able to help, I have to go. But I promise to try and stay out of the action.”
“I don’t like it, but I guess I have no choice,” he said, taking her hand. The odd feeling in his chest persisted. Was this love? He’d never been in love before, only thought he had been. Whatever he was feeling, he now understood that what he’d known was a pale imitation of the real deal.
For some reason, he wanted to tell her all of it. The whole sordid truth about his relationship with Beryl and what it had cost him. What it had cost the entire team.
Just then, a low growl of warning stalled his confession. Chup was awake, eyeing their linked hands and leaning out to sniff him in suspicion. Recalling his last tango with the imp a few days before Kira came to the compound, he kept still and let the creature check him out.
Sitting up carefully, Kira took the gremlin and set him on the grass between them. “Chup-Chup, Jax is a friend. He won’t hurt you.” Gently, she stroked the fur between his batlike ears. “See? Friend.”
Chup wasn’t convinced. On his hind legs, he toddled closer to Jax, nose working, still not getting too close. The growling stopped, but neither did he make the content chupping noise Jax wanted to hear.
Letting go of Kira’s hand, Jax held his out to the creature, hoping he didn’t lose a chunk of flesh for his trouble. “Good boy,” he crooned. “Aren’t you cute? Remember me? I’m not so scary, honest. I only eat bad little gremlins who bite, and only when I’m really hungry. Friends?”
Chup looked back at Kira as though seeking reassurance, so she made encouraging noises, urging him forward without pushing too much. Emboldened, the small critter turned his attention back to Jax and closed the remaining distance, sniffing all over his hand. The stubby whiskers tickled but he didn’t dare jerk away.
Then, to his amazement, Chup began to rub his head against Jax’s fingers like a cat wanting a good scratch. He complied, lavishing attention on both ears, the broad face, under the chin. And there it was—the noise of happy contentment. Chup crawled right up into his lap and closed his big brown eyes in obvious ecstasy as Jax continued to scratch.
“Well! Looks like you’ve got a new friend,” Kira declared with a grin. “He won’t let you out of his sight now.”
“That might make it hard to leave for the op. Think I can use ‘I have to babysit the gremlin’ as an excuse not to go?” he joked.
“Hmm, somehow I doubt Nick will accept that.” Reaching out, she stroked Chup’s fur. “I’ll have to ask Mac if she’ll watch him while we’re gone. I hate the thought of putting him back in that cell.”
“Me, too. It could undermine the trust you’ve worked to gain, especially since he hates being locked in there.” He paused. “What about Belial? Have you made any headway with him?”
“I’m not sure,” she said thoughtfully. “He’s really hard to read, so full of bullshit I don’t know if even
“True. So what’s your gut feeling as an Empath—can he be trusted? Will he be able to fit in here?”
She bit her lip, uncertainty clouding her blue eyes. “Eventually, yes, I believe he’ll get there. I sense a basic goodness in him that’s well hidden underneath the layers of self-hatred and anger, and I don’t buy his ‘Look at me —I’m such a manwhore’ act for a second.”
He nodded. “Okay. I trust your judgment. But whether it’s an act or not, I don’t pretend not to hate the hell out of knowing he puts the moves on you every time you get close. It makes me want to rip his heart out. Just so you know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Eyes twinkling again, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. “You’re so sexy when you’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous! Well, I am, but you’ll have to admit I’m handling it. I’m here, for example, rather than busting down the snake’s cell door and chopping off his smarmy head.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Good thing, or you’d never even make it to first base with me, buddy. I don’t do homicidal lovers.”
“Duly noted.” He couldn’t resist the opening. “What kinds of lovers have you had in the past?”
“None who were violent! I did date one guy who was really pushy. Wanted me to do as he said, monitored how much time I spent with friends as opposed to him, had to comment on everything I bought for myself. Always found something wrong with what I cooked for dinner. Stuff like that.”
Jax snorted. “I’ll bet he didn’t last long.”
“Just about a New York minute. Honestly, I haven’t had too many boyfriends, or even second dates for that matter.” She had no idea how happy that made him as she studied him curiously. “What about you? I can’t imagine you’ve had too many dry spells in the female department.”
“You’d be surprised,” he murmured. “I don’t let people in easily, and the one time I did before you ended in disaster.”
There. Now he was committed. If she hated him afterward, so be it.
“What happened?”
“The ambush I told you about, the one six months ago?” She nodded and somehow he found the courage to reveal the truth. “It was my fault. I’d fallen head over heels for Beryl, or thought I had. Looking back I can see that I was blinded by lust, pretty much thinking only with my cock.”
Kira let the comment pass, expression serious, and guessed, “She betrayed you.”
“In the worst way possible.” God, he didn’t want to talk about this. “We’d been seeing each other a few weeks when she revealed that she knew what I was. She had some special abilities of her own, which is how she claimed to have figured me out. I didn’t question it. I was just relieved not to have to lie about myself.”
“Had she known about you all along, before you met?”
