Theo put the phone down on the coffee table.
“So glad to hear you survived the reminder this morning,” Saul said, his voice nasally over the line. “You know what happens when you don’t check in.”
“Where’s my da?” she returned, trying desperately to ignore the tension suddenly choking the room.
Saul chuckled. “You’ll see him soon. But I needed to see what you’re up to now. Your GPS puts you at Theo Reese’s apartment in New York. I knew you’d do anything for a job, but Theo Reese?”
Theo’s body somehow hardened around her. Only her training kept her voice from shaking. “Did you send the attack squad last night?” What was she dealing with here?
Saul sighed. “Yes. You’ve been so difficult to work with about the Benjamin file, so I thought we’d just take it.”
“I don’t have it with me, you moron.” She shook her head. Saul really was an idiot. “More than that, you created the situation I’m in right now. Theo was angry I took the file you wanted, he defended me from your goons, and now he’s threatening to keep me under lock and key until he gets it back. I told you he’d be a problem.” She gave the man in question a hard look.
He merely lifted an eyebrow.
The line crackled. “Where is Theo now?” Saul asked.
“In the shower, Saul,” she answered, forcing boredom into her voice.
“Well now, I knew you were a loose bitch,” Saul snapped.
Theo growled low, and she shoved him in the stomach. The man had to be quiet, damn it. “Just because I turned you down, Saul, doesn’t mean I like to go to bed lonely.” She couldn’t help get the dig in.
Pain flared along her ankle, and she cried out.
Theo vibrated, reaching for the anklet, determination hardening his jaw.
She quietly slapped him away. The poison entered her bloodstream, just a small dose, and her limbs went numb. Her head lolled. “That the best you’ve got?”
Saul laughed. “Oh, you and I are going to have some fun together once you give me that file. I’ll let your father go, but you and I aren’t finished. Got it?”
“You and I never got started, remember?” She wasn’t going to let the asshole have any illusions. “I said no.”
“That was before you’d worn a planekite anklet for years,” he said slowly. “If you want that off, you’ll do whatever I tell you to do, or we both know it’s going to kill you. The long-term effects can’t be healthy. My guess? You’ll need to mate to regain your strength.”
What a complete bastard. She was going to kill him, and she was going to enjoy seeing him bleed first. “Planekite is preferable to you, asshole.” She waited for the blast to her ankle, but one didn’t come.
“I’m offering to mate you and take off the ankle bracelet,” he said easily. “I’m a shifter, you’re a witch, and we would make powerful offspring. It might be your only chance at survival.”
Bile rose in her throat. “One of us is going to die before that happens. I hope it’s you.” She meant every word. In fact, if she was going to die, so was he. For ten years she’d practiced fighting with a knife, just in case.
“Keep up your strength. You need to be free of Reese by tomorrow night to make it to our meeting spot,” Saul snapped.
She eyed Theo. “Not a problem. He’s strong but not the sharpest tool in the shed.”
He lifted his chin, his lip quirking.
The phone went dead.
She breathed out, her body aching from the planekite.
“Where’s the meet?” Theo asked.
She leaned her cheek against his chest. Just for the moment to regain her strength.
Theo tucked her close, his chin rubbing her forehead. “How did he get the band on you, darlin’?”
Sleepy. She was so damn sleepy. The planekite worked against her organs, making them fight hard just to do their jobs. “Attack squad of twelve. I gave a good fight, but…” She’d ended up with the ankle bracelet from hell.
