Page 54 of Bond of Passion

He didn’t have to wait long.

The whisper-soft click of a lock pick broke the silence in the room. A moment later, the door whispered open, and Ream stepped inside, his heavy boots silent on the carpet.

His eyes flared at the sight of Tavin, but he quickly regained his composure, his expression going flat and cold—the face of an assassin mentally prepared to complete his assignment, no matter how much he might not want to.

“Where is she?” Ream asked softly.

Tavin gestured to the bathroom, and Ream disappeared inside.

Time stretched in cold silence. He knew what Ream saw in there because it kept replaying in Tavin’s head.

Finally, Ream came out of the bathroom, the pity in his orange eyes softening his cold mask of duty.

“That must have been hard.”

Agony clamped around Tavin’s chest like a bear trap with wicked teeth. “You have no idea.”

“You fool!” Ream hissed. “You preached about the dangers of loving someone in this business. You said you’d never fall in love. Now look what you’ve done, Tavin! You broke a contract, killed another assassin, and your life is going to be hell now. Detharu is going to punish you in ways you can’t even imagine. You should have killed her a long time ago. Neethul pussy is never worth—”

Tavin didn’t remember launching himself from the mattress. Rage engulfed him, a firestorm of hate and self-loathing and anger that consumed all rational thought. His fist slammed into Ream’s pale vampire face before he could react.

Their bodies and a spray of blood hit the wall. Tavin got in two more blows and a knee into Ream’s gut. Then Ream recovered enough to nail him with an uppercut that made his ears ring.

With a roar, Tavin drew a blade from the sheath at his hip and slashed, lightning-fast. The dry sound of cut fabric blended with the wet swoosh of a blade cutting through flesh. Ream hissed in pain and cursed as he leaped backward to avoid Tavin’s follow-up stab.

Suddenly, he felt the electric zing of a stun pen in his neck. Every muscle in his body went rigid, the cramp agonizing, and he swore he felt his bones break. He hit the floor like a board and lay helpless as Ream stood over him, blood streaming from his nose and mouth.

“It didn’t have to go this way. If you’d just come with me…” He sighed and shook his head. “It’s out of my hands now.” He dug out his cell phone and punched a few buttons. A second later, he spoke into the device. “I got him. The female is dead. Send pickup and cleaning crews, and let Deth know.”

Tavin should have been terrified. Instead, he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. No matter what Detharu did to him, it could never be worse than what he’d felt when he drove his knife into Gristlen’s gentle heart.