Vengeance (Master's Protege 1)

“Careful about what?”

“Treading into areas you know nothing about.”

I release a breath patiently. “Mr. Master, if I’m going to work with you, it doesn’t make sense for you to hold anything back from me.”

He gives me a sharp, sideways glance before he looks in front of him again. “You’ll help me find my sister. You’ll help me make sure she’s safe and that the idiots she shares living space with haven’t done something brainless like sign her up to be sacrificed to their fucking gods for the summer solstice.”

“They can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s August. Summer solstice is in June.”

I think I actually see little tendrils of smoke come out of his ears.

Easy, Violet. Don’t poke the bear too hard.

“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” He shakes his head as he flicks on his directionals again and takes a left so hard, I swear the tires leave the ground for a fraction of a second, a hard feat considering what this monstrosity weighs. When my stomach settles back to where it should be, I remember to protest.

“I—”

“You think you have it all figured out. I’m an overprotective brother who doesn’t know jack shit about teens and boyfriends and how to relate.”

Well… If the shoe fits…

“What you don’t know is that I goddamn know what it’s like to be the ostracized freak who can’t rely on his parents. I know what it’s like to want to fit in, to find a peer group you can socialize with who’ll value you for who you are, not what you do.”

Oof.

“So yeah, maybe it looks like I don’t have a lot of respect for this witchcraft thing. And maybe I don’t. I value what I can see. What I can hold. What I can touch.”

I nod. It takes me a few seconds to realize I’m clutching at my neck, like he’s a vampire who’s going to bite me. My blood thrums through my veins, hot and visceral, and my skin feels too tight. I have to get control of the situation. He continues.

“I don’t have a lot of use for bullshit. I will find the truth if I have to hunt it into dark valleys and hold it at knife point. Do we understand each other, Miss Price?”

I draw in a breath and release it slowly as I unfold the clothing in my lap. “Perfectly, sir.” I cast a glance around the small interior of his truck. “Now where am I supposed to be getting dressed?”

Chapter 5

Cain

* * *

“Right here. I’m not looking.”

Like fuck I’m not. I notice everything about her, from the way her fingers graze the pulse at her neck, to the wispy ringlets of hair that cling to her temple, still damp from the sudden summer shower that caught us unawares. I’m aware of her delicate scent, clean and fresh yet feminine, like moon-kissed dew. I’m aware that despite her training and level of fitness, of how easily I could hurt her.

I remember the way she felt pinned beneath me, how I held my weight above her so I wouldn’t hurt her, both wrists gathered in my hand.

I remember how I liked it.

“Be quick about it, we’re five minutes out.”

“Not a problem.”

She unfolds the tank, then wriggles it through the collar. Holding my T-shirt over her like a tent, she shimmies and wriggles and huffs into the clothes. If I wasn’t so pissed and ready to kill, I’d find it amusing. Less than a minute later, she tosses the wet tee on the dash. I glance at her. She’s dressed, and the clothes don’t fit her well, but they’ll stay on her for now. Next, she pulls the socks and boots on.

“We’ll arrive in two minutes. We’ll question everyone who’s there and get all the details we can. What languages do you speak, Miss Price?”

“I’m fluent in French, Italian, German, and Japanese. I can get by in Portuguese and Russian, though don’t ask me to write either.”

She’s being modest. She also knows passable Greek and Hindi as well.

I’m fucking hard just listening to her list some of her many talents.

“Noted. We’ll get into why I hired you later, but for now I want you to know that I needed a woman on my team. There are places a petite woman like you can fit a lot more easily than a man like me or many on my team, and your skill set will also come in handy.”

She nods.

“When you’re proficient with a gun, you’ll conceal and carry.”

“Don’t I need a license?”

“I’ll take care of it. For now, if we get into a dangerous place, you’ll use the skills you already have, but only at my command. You do not, under any circumstances, act without my permission.”

“I thought we were just going to investigate.”

“We are. I like to be prepared. Lesson one, Miss Price. Investigations can turn sour, and easily.”