Kylo thought of his room, but then that thought led to his king-sized mattress and the things he could be doing on it in less than five minutes if he just let go of his tightly held control.I’m not ready for that yet. I need to process… this shock.“You know about the death house?” he asked instead.
Conrad nodded.
“We’ll go there. We’ll see what you can tell me about the mess your friends left behind, although most of it’s been cleaned and processed. But then one of your kin surprised me once before, so who knows, maybe you will, too. Follow me. We need a jeep.”
Walking around the side of the house, Kylo was conscious of the assassin’s body heat as Conrad caught up, matching him step for step. The scent, tantalizing enough at a distance, was more intense now they were close, and Kylo wanted to groan as every nerve in his body seemed to want to get closer to the confident man.
It wasn’t going to be any easier in the jeep. Kylo climbed into the driver’s seat automatically and then hesitated. “Did you have a problem with me driving? I know the area.”
“It’s good of you to ask.” Conrad seemed to be laughing at him. “I don’t drive. Never bothered to learn, so cab drivers love me.”
Kylo didn’t like the possessive growl his panther made, and as he got them moving, he racked his brains, trying to think of another topic. Anything to distract him from Conrad’s scent and their mingled smells of arousal. “I work in law enforcement,” he blurted, and then wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel. Conrad was Duron’s pick, and probably knew Kylo’s life history before he got on the plane. The Thalassas were thorough like that.
“I can assure you, I only kill on council orders.” There was that amusing lilt in Conrad’s voice again. The man himself was looking out of the window. “It’s ironic. I was thinking on the flight that this would be my last job, and then I met you, and it turns out I was right for reasons I never imagined.”
“What were you told about this job?” The best way to find out how honest his new mate was going to be was to ask him. Kylo could well imagine what the likes of Beaumont and Duron thought of him.
“Only that you were tracking a ghost.” Conrad turned, and even out of the corner of his eye, Kylo was struck by the width of the man’s smile. “You should know, because we’re mates, Duron and I have shared a house since they released us from our training program, along with Ajani, Wyatt, and Ekon. I was also at the Thalassas when Beaumont and Duron returned from Paraguay. Things got messy, so I understand.”
“You could say that.” Kylo focused on the dirt track they were on. “I realize you’ve probably…no.” Kylo stopped himself. “I’m sorry, I can’t make assumptions about what you might consider a level of horror when we’ve only just met. Personally, I’ve never seen so many bloodied bodies in a single place before. It shook me,” he added, quietly knowing Conrad could hear him over the rattle of the jeep exhaust and the sound of the engine.
“Only a psychopath would be immune to the horrors some people inflict on others. There are times when the motives behind those deaths are about pure survival and nothing more.” Conrad, perhaps sensing how dark the conversation was going, chuckled softly. “Duron and Beaumont were recently mated. If their lives were threatened, I can imagine they would fight for their right to live another day, against any threat. I would do the same for you now we’ve met.”
You would?
Kylo didn’t voice his thought. Even as it crossed his brain, his panther was rumbling his agreement. They would fight to the death to save their newly met mate—why didn’t I even consider that Duron and Beaumont might have just been trying to survive?
“The jungle is such a complex place, don’t you think?” Conrad’s voice broke through Kylo’s thoughts. “You see all the plant life pulling and struggling against each other—vines climbing and eventually toppling bigger trees, bushes struggling to find the sunshine they need to survive, blocked as it is by the thick canopy above.”
“You’re a philosopher?” Kylo risked a quick glance at his mate. The jeep was being bounced around, despite him not going fast, but then the only person who’d used the track in months had been Kylo.
“I’m an observationist,” Conrad said matter-of-factly, “and before you tell me that’s not a word, what else would you call someone who spends their time making observations?”
“Nosy? A police detective? A scientist? Someone who hasn’t got anything else to do?” Kylo felt a smile tugging at his lips. Conrad’s lighthearted nature was a direct contrast to Duron’s.
“That’s true.” Conrad shrugged. “I’ve always been fascinated by how organisms move and react to each other. At first glance, everything in nature seems to struggle to survive. And yet, you take that vine there.”
He pointed to a vine working its way up a tree trunk they were passing. “One could say that the vine is struggling to reach the sun, using the tree trunk to reach its goal, that the tree might be struggling under the weight of the vine. And yet, when you think about it, that same tree trunk and vine are both taking a breath, sharing air, enjoying the tranquility of the moment, and providing homes for the insects who enjoy the shade the leaves offer.”
Kylo inhaled slowly and blew out through his mouth. “Please tell me you’re talking about this random shit like vines and tree trunks and nature’s bid for survival because you really want to jump my bones, but don’t want us to get into an accident?”
“Oh, yeah.” Conrad stretched out his long legs, although Kylo noticed he wasn’t overly successful. “My cargo pants have never been this tight before.”
“Well, you’ll be able to get out of the jeep shortly.” Kylo twisted the wheel sharply, taking the turn onto the final stretch towards Devil’s home. “Gotta tell you, there’s nothing sexy where we’re going.”
Conrad didn’t have an answer for that, and Kylo was glad. He needed five minutes just to get his head on straight—to ignore the delicious scent of his mate, which was all he could smell, and focus on why the assassin had come in the first place. He wanted Devil found—Conrad was his best hope.
Pulling the jeep to a stop outside the huge building that was so at odds with the surrounding jungle, Kylo turned off the engine and flicked his hand at the mausoleum. “This is the place. What are your observations telling you now?”
Conrad didn’t make a move to get out of the jeep. Instead, he half turned in his seat, facing Kylo, the weight of his hand hot and firm on Kylo’s shoulder. “Before we go in, I know why you wanted me to come, or rather, why you wanted an assassin to come. The mate angle was unexpected for both of us.”
“Agreed, but you can still do your job, the same as I can.”
Conrad glanced past Kylo at the house and then back, his eyes meeting Kylo’s for the first time. “The mating side of things wasn’t something my friends had considered either, because of it, there’s something you should know. Something I need to be honest about that you can’t tell another living person, ever.”
“About the man known as Devil?”
At Conrad’s nod, Kylo’s stomach was suddenly filled with lead. “Tell me.”
