He tried not to shake his head, considering he felt like she had sprayed him in the face with water. A headache roared in, threatening his temples. “Why were you trying to catch a Kurjan?” he asked with as much calmness as he could muster.
She took a deep breath as if the idea of explaining herself was too much right now. “I’m doing my job, Jasper, and you blew it.” She glanced at a thick watch on her wrist. “Though the shifters should be okay by now. They would’ve been able to push out those bullets, and I’m sure the Kurjans are gone.” She chewed on her lip, her gaze darting away as if she’d forgotten his presence in the room. “I’m going to have to pay them double now.”
He reared up, careful to keep his arms loose at his sides so he didn’t lunge over the back of the sofa and grab her. “Excuse me?”
She frowned. “Well, we had the op ready to go, and you screwed it all up. Yeah, I’m going to have to pay them double. I’ll be lucky if I don’t have to pay them triple.”
He chuckled then because there was nothing else hecoulddo. “You’re not going on another mission.” He spoke slowly. Maybe she had a head injury.
“The heck, I’m not. This took me months to put into place.” In her dark jeans and form-fitting leather jacket, she looked svelte, sexy, and a little bit dangerous. He liked that about her. He always had.
“Why are you here?” she asked again. “I sent you blood a month ago. You should be fine.”
“I sent a message to you that we were done playing this cat-and-mouse game.”
Her chin lifted, dare written across her face. “We’re not playing any sort of game. We have an agreement, and you just breached it.”
“I told you I’d come for you one day,” he said smoothly. “Time’s up.”
Chapter Two
Leah instantly changed tactics. “How did you find me, anyway?” She’d kept off his radar for decades, then he suddenly found her in an alley in the middle of the night—right when she was ready to take down one of the worst traffickers in the world?
His smile emphasized the hard line of his jaw. “We tapped into the Kurjans’ new devices.”
Of course they had. Since vampires and Kurjans were male only, they often sought members of other species such as demons or witches—as well as enhanced humans—to mate.
As far as Leah could tell, there weren’t any clear indicators for which humans became enhanced or why, except that the gift ran in families. Some of the lore indicated that enhanced humans were a species all their own. She’d even read once that they were cousins to the witches, who used physics and science to create fire plasma out of air and couldn’t actually turn anybody into a toad.
She’d been incredibly disappointed when she discovered that fact. “How long have you been tapping into the Kurjans’ surveillance equipment?”
He lifted one shoulder, looking nowhere near casual. “Just for a couple of months, after we discovered they had planted devices all around the world. Of course, now they’re using satellites, so it’s much easier to hack. It’s actually the Realm doing the hacking, but I called in a favor.”
Just great. He was calling in favors from the powerful coalition of immortals just to find her. “Why now?” she asked softly.
“Because we just got the technology,” he murmured. “I almost had you a couple of months ago.”
“Your brother almost did.”
She’d been hanging out with her good friend, Ivy, who had mated Jasper’s younger brother eons ago. They’d taken down a human trafficking ring together before Athan caught up with them and took Ivy home. Of course, the woman was head over heels, so it wasn’t like she objected. At all.
Unlike Leah. If anything, she was a little too self-aware. Remaining detached from people took its toll on her, and she knew, she justknew, that if she allowed Jasper to get any closer to her, she’d completely lose her heart. Again. The guy chased brutal werewolves for fun and now had a dangerous immortal enemy who’d use Leah against him? Or him against her? Everyone she once knew had died. She had to keep her distance from Jasper to protect her heart…and both of their lives.
One of the bedroom doors opened, and yet another tall Maxwell male walked out—the one who’d been riding the other motorcycle. “I’m Dax,” he said, stepping on a Lego and cursing. “What the fuck?” He kicked the toys across the marble hallway. “Why doesn’t Benny clean this place?”
“Shouldn’t have taken off your boots,” Jasper retorted, his gaze remaining on Leah.
“I’m Leah,” she said.
Dax leaned down to rub his humongous foot, which was encased in a hole-riddled white sock. “I know. I’ve seen pictures.”
“We’re in the middle of something,” Jasper muttered.
Dax shrugged. “I’m hungry. There’s leftover spaghetti in the fridge.”
If Leah remembered right, Dax was only a year younger than Jasper. They had the same jet-black hair, but while Jasper’s eyes were that odd co-mingling of blue and green, Dax’s were pure green, somehow a lighter hue that looked predatory. She’d heard about him from their grandmother, who had become a friend.They spoke once in a while, and Nia had never turned Leah in. She’d always said that if Jasper couldn’t catch her, he wasn’t worth the effort.
Leah grinned. “Rumor has it you’re always the first through the door.”
