That was cool, he wasn’t here for honesty—or friendship, for that matter. They weren’t on even territory—for one, she was human, and he was Drakon. That may have been the most important difference. And two, he wasn’t looking for any type of connection because they inevitably led to emotions and those could be destroyed if or when something disastrous happened.
“You need the money, I have it. Take it and do whatever it is you need to do.”
She tilted her head then. “You don’t know what I’m going to do with it? What if I want it to buy a jet and drop a bomb on the city?”
He shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “You’re not a killer and half a million dollars isn’t going to buy you a jet and a bomb. But whatever you need it for must be serious because you risked your life to get it.”
There wasn’t a casual way to tell her that all the time she kept the dagger she was still risking her life, because she hadn’t believed the pawn shop dealer or him when they’d warned her before.
“It’s not for me,” she said and then closed her lips tightly as if she hadn’t meant to tell him that much.
Moving closer to the bed, he stopped just short of being able to sit down next to her. Instead he remained standing across from her, leaving just enough space so that she could either try and grab the dagger and lunge at him, or make a run for the door. He wasn’t sure which one she might attempt at any moment, but he wasn’t afraid that she’d succeed at either, so there was no need to box her in.
“Who’s it for? Do you owe somebody?”
Her head shot up. “I don’t owe anyone! I pay all my debts! I just don’t pay money that I shouldn’t have to pay, and I don’t care who’s asking for it.”
“You’re talking about those enforcers again. Do you remember their names?”
“It’s not important.”
“It is to me.”
She licked her lips slowly and Steele watched her wring her hands and take a deep breath. After a long sigh, she shook her head.
“I take care of the people down here. People who don’t have any other place to go and have been wronged in some way by this government. We’re safe here, when we’ve never known safety before. The money helps to buy food, clothes and supplies that will hopefully get us through the winter.”
Touched, impressed, intrigued. This woman never stopped surprising him. She wasn’t what he’d thought, and she was more than she probably understood, else why would she believe hiding was the answer.
“Why is this your job and why do you think stealing is the only way to achieve this?”
She slid off the bed and stood in front of him. Tilting her head up, she held his gaze.
“Are you giving me the half mil or not? And I want cash deposited into an account. No checks and no payment plans.”
He reached a hand down and pushed back the strands of her hair that were out of place. When his knuckles brushed over the line of her jaw his beast chuffed and pressed against him as if by doing so it, too, could touch her soft skin. He frowned because that had never happened before. Whenever he’d been with a woman he’d pleased himself and moved on, but his beast had never joined in. Thinking back over the past weeks, especially these last seven days, he realized the other part of him had been acutely aware of Ravyn, to the point where Steele thought...no, that wasn’t gonna happen.
“I’ll give you whatever you need to keep you safe. Your terms aren’t a problem,” he said over the tug of war currently taking place inside of him.
“And once you give me the money you’ll be gone? I won’t have to look over my shoulder and see you following me again?”
He opened his mouth, about to tell her yes, then closed it quickly. What if the power of the cursed dagger was what had landed her on the Reaper’s collection list in the first place? Just a while ago he’d been thinking she had two death threats against her, but now he wondered if it was still only one—the Reaper. In which case, providing a substitute soul wouldn’t help, because as long as she kept the dagger she was either under the full moon curse, or still on the Reaper’s list.
And there was still the newer issue of why he couldn’t pick up the dagger. He could have taken it and gotten out of the room before she returned, but something had stopped him. Something stronger than him or his Drakon magick.
“Is there somebody who might not like me hanging around you?” Where had that come from? He didn’t care if she was with someone, he only cared about the dagger...another push and angry scrape from the beast against the man’s skin, answered the question.
She blinked quickly before shaking her head. “What? No. No, I just don’t like being followed.”
“How do you feel about being pleasured?”
“I’m down,” she replied a lot quicker than he’d thought she would.
What the hell was he doing? This wasn’t part of the plan. He had to get that dagger away from her before the next full moon and make sure that doing so would get her off the Reaper’s list permanently.
“You sure? I don’t poach, nor do I play games. When I want something I ask for it, no strings, no tricks.”
“I don’t do this, or rather I haven’t in a long time. So yeah, if we’re doing some type of exchange, you buy the dagger and I’ll have sex with you.”
He appreciated her candor more than she could ever know. It wasn’t easy being who he was and dealing with the things he had to deal with. Straight talk always worked best for him, but in all
