Hired Hunter (The Rover 2)

Sweet, but the man missed the point.

“It’s okay. Pain and I are old friends. It’ll pass.”

“I don’t like to see you hurting,” he whispered so softly I barely heard it. “May I try just a healing spell? A simple thing to make you heal faster?”

“It doesn’t involve delving into my brain?”

He shook his head. “I’ll touch your wound and it’ll heal faster.”

I spread my hands and rested them on the chair. “Go for it.”

Nothing on Earth could have prepared me for Fin to sink to his knees in front of me. I didn’t know where to look as he shifted up to place his hands one on either side of my waist. The only thing to do was pray he couldn’t feel how out of control my heartbeat

and breathing had become.

He curled his fingers to the shape of me and fixed his gaze between his hands. “Straighten your spine a bit.”

I shifted in his direction, which caused me to lean forward, my barely existent chest almost in his face. He kept his expression neutral, but each exhale he made was so forceful it fanned up against my chin and collarbone.

A warmth flooded through my middle, like dipping my toes in a hot tub; a little tease of heat, there and gone.

He gracefully shifted to his feet and stood. “How is that?”

I had to swallow the lump in my throat before I could answer. “Better, thank you.”

Honestly, I didn’t know if it was better. Adrenaline languidly flowed through me at the moment, and nothing hurt.

He took his seat again and levelled his crystal gaze to mine, nothing there but friendly neutrality now. “I understand you prefer no one to do any sort of psychic magic for you. If you would allow, I could still be present while you’re sleeping to see if I can intercept the psychic signal. Interrupt it and find the source.”

“Is that possible?”

He lifted one shoulder slightly. “Anything is possible with magic. It’s only the matter of how.”

We’d circled back.

“That’s fine with me, as long as it’s at my place,” I said. As if finally accepting I wasn’t staying, he nodded. “I’ll get the captain.”

It took a second for his security leader to walk in. I had no idea how they communicated. Fin hadn’t called out to him, nor used the telephone. But I had to assume they had some way of talking to one another that I couldn’t see.

The Captain arrived sporting the same menacing swagger and aggression rolled off him in waves.

He nodded to me. “Ms. Salix, nice to see you. I have to admit it surprised me you know the difference between a stalactite and stalagmite.”

“Captain,” I said. “I’m surprised you knew there was a difference.”

Fin cleared his throat. “Arrange a team. I’ll be staying at Zoey’s home while we work on something together.”

“No,” the captain said.

“No?” Fin echoed.

“We can’t properly ensure your safety in that death-trap of an apartment complex she lives in. Not to mention the media exposure if someone sees or hears something. No. You guys can work here.”

I stood. “I’m going to wait in the car.”

The captain didn’t move out of the way and I wasn’t in good enough shape to make him.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’ll let you boys arm wrestle, or thumb war, or whatever it is you guys use to make decisions around here.”