Dead to Rights (Supernatural Security Force Book 4) Read online

  Lie.

  “Starla gave me my first assignment today,” I said.

  No answer.

  “But you already knew that.”

  Again, silence.

  Ugh.

  “You’re trying to keep me away from the investigation. From Raguel. Aren’t you?”

  “He’s dangerous.”

  “That’s why he needs to be stopped.”

  “That’s what I plan to do.”

  I scowled, watching in angry silence as he finished bandaging the wound. When he was done, he stepped back.

  I looked up.

  Our eyes met.

  And just like that, I forgot why I’d been angry at all.

  My belly jumped. And something in my heart lurched sideways until it began to ache. What the hell was wrong with me? My ovaries I could understand but chest pains?

  This was getting out of hand.

  “You look good,” I said and then immediately realized the double meaning. “Healed, I mean. You look healed.”

  “I’m much better.”

  Something in his voice made me pause. The words made sense, but his tone suggested there was more going on than just an immortal surviving a fatal blow.

  “What Jax did,” I began, unsure how to even finish it. “He crossed the line.”

  “He did what he thought was necessary to save you.”

  My eyes narrowed. “You don’t sound nearly pissed enough considering you were nearly ripped apart.”

  “I can’t blame him for putting your life before mine. I would have done the same.”

  I scowled. “Well, then maybe you two should hook up.”

  “Gem.” His voice raked over the raw and exposed parts of me I hadn’t meant to open.

  My chest tightened against my racing heart.

  “Is this the part where you remind me we can’t ever be together because it would kill me?” I asked.

  His expression darkened, but the intensity surrounding us like some kind of supernatural lust bubble only intensified.

  “It would kill you,” he said.

  But he hadn’t moved away.

  I leaned forward, bracing myself for the sudden retreat I knew was coming. But he didn’t back off.

  His arms snaked out, hands reaching for me as he pulled me close. His mouth crashed against my own, and I reeled from the shock and then from the way his kiss completely tore down my walls. I rose onto my toes, fully willing to accept whatever cosmic consequences there’d be for a kiss like this one.

  It wasn’t just lust either.

  This was something else.

  The tightening of my chest, the swell of emotion rising into every nerve inside me. The tingling of my hands and the aching of my mouth as he kissed me. The yearning for more even as he pressed his hard body against my own.

  His fingers slipped underneath my shirt, cupping my breast and then expertly flicking the fabric of my bra aside. He squeezed my nipple, and I nearly exploded.

  “Don’t stop,” I said through the fog that permeated my brain.

  Adrik’s hips ground against my own.

  I felt for the button on his pants.

  His hands reached around, cupping my ass and drawing me closer. Rocking into him, I moaned as his hardness pressed against my heated center.

  A crash sounded, and we broke apart, my chest heaving and my eyes blurred with the crushing need to keep this going.

  If he decided to walk out now, I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t launch myself at him. Maybe grab an ankle and be dragged along the floor in an attempt to bring him back.

  But he only glanced down at the lamp we’d knocked off the desk. Small bits of the broken bulb littered the floor.

  “Whoops,” I said, still dazed.

  To my shock, Adrik grinned.

  Instead of backing away, he leaned in again. This time brushing his nose along my cheekbone. His arms encircled me, and he trailed feathery kisses along my earlobe.

  “They don’t call me the Archangel of Death for nothing,” he whispered.

  I laughed, but the sound cut short, and my eyes widened. I pulled back to look at him. “Did you just make a joke?”

  “I make jokes,” he said, deadly serious again. “Sometimes.”

  “When was the last time?”

  “Hmm. Nineteen forty-four?”

  “Is that all? Well, don’t get too carried away. Speaking of which, and not that I’m complaining, but to what do I owe this particular lip-lock? I thought you said we should refrain from any physical activities that might result in my demise.”

  “I did say that,” he agreed. “But then I saw you with Selaphiel. When she almost—”

  He broke off, and I nodded. “I get that. Kind of like when Jax took a chunk out of your throat. I thought maybe you wouldn’t wake up. And then, when you didn’t call.”

  I stopped.

  His expression softened. “Gem, the way I feel about you...”

  My breath caught, but I told myself it was the effects of our kiss. The Nephilim magic.

  “Go on,” I prompted. “As long as it’s good feelings, I mean. Otherwise, maybe send an email or something.”

  He met my eyes, and his hand smoothed my hair. In his gaze was every bit of the tension and yearning and heart-fluttering I’d felt since the moment we’d met. All of it reflected back at me. All of it on display. Finally.

  “I came here to rid this world of monsters, and instead, what I found was a warrior capable of making them our friends. You surprise me. Challenge me. Entertain me,” he added, lips twitching.

  “You forgot frustrate you and piss you off.”

  I wasn’t trying to ruin the mood, but my mouth had other ideas, clearly. The ache in my chest bloomed into something sharper.

  “Your humor is your shield, but I see you—the you that’s behind your humor.”

  I stared at him, surprised. “That’s observant.”

  “Your fear is understandable. You’ve lost a lot. But you are safe with me.”

  I pressed my lips together, unable to meet his eyes. Slowly, I withdrew my arms from where I’d wound them around his neck.

  “I do hide my fear behind jokes,” I admitted. “But only because I can’t afford to give my heart to someone who’ll break it. When my father died and Z basically ghosted me, it pretty much ripped my heart into pieces. That kind of loss stays with a person, you know? So I can’t just let people in anymore. Not until I know they won’t burn me.”

  “I won’t,” he said solemnly.

  “No, not on purpose. I can see that. But…”

  He frowned. “My power.”

  “How can we be together if we can’t make out without possibly exploding me?”

  He stared back at me, eyes hard with the determination I could feel rolling off him in waves. “You’re my heart, Gemini Hawkins. For us, I will find a way.”

  I nodded, hoping like hell his words proved true. “And in the meantime?”

  “Since the moment we met at The Monster Ball, you’re mine. You’ve always been mine. And you’ll always be mine.”

  “Does Jax McGuire know that?” I joked.

  Okay, sort of joked. Mostly, I just wanted to see if Adrik intended to keep walking away from me anytime Jax looked at us with murder in his eyes.

  “Trust me, he’s always known,” Adrik said quietly. His eyes burned with a heat that suggested he knew more about that than he let on.

  I frowned. “What do you—?”

  “Knock, knock.” I looked over to see Milo pushing his way into the room. He spotted my scowl and added, “Sorry to interrupt. I felt a Nephilim surge, and as a caring friend, I just need to make sure Gem hasn’t had a death orgasm.” He grinned at me. “Glad to see you’re still kicking.”

  “Kicking your ass,” I said sharply.

  But Milo was, as always, unruffled by my threats. I swear they only made him more cheery.

  “Wolfrick said you’d uncovered something about the demons Raguel is making,” Milo said to Adrik. “I figured we might as well chat about that. If you two are done with your PG-13 lovers’ moment.”

  “You have no shame,” I said.

  “Absolutely none.”

  I looked at Adrik. “Please just explode me.”

  He offered the hint of a smile and then stepped back. “Milo’s right. We need to talk.”

  I glared at Milo. “I don’t care if this new information saves the world. You owe me one seriously epic clam-jam consolation prize.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Behind Milo, Wolfrick poked his head in. He looked at Adrik. “We tell them?”

  “Yes,” Adrik said. “Come in.”

  “Where’s Fiona?” I asked.

  “She’s cooking. Something about trying to get Tony to eat something besides his Sharpie,” Milo said.

  I wasn’t ready to address whatever weirdness had transpired between me and Fiona earlier, so I nodded and turned back to Adrik. “What’s this about?”

  “I met with a contact who confirmed a theory yesterday,” Adrik said.

  “What theory?” I asked.

  “Remember the list you were asked to retrieve at the Monster Ball?”

  “The master list of all supernaturals? Of course. Kristoff was going to sell it to the highest bidder before we jacked him for it.”

  “Wait, you told me about this,” Milo said. “The chip would have outed every supernatural creature to the humans. Not just that we exist but a detailed list of each supe and their creature.”

  “Yes, the agency was worried the list would be leaked publicly or given to the human government, but I think the intended buyer would have done something else with it,” Adrik said.

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Because I’ve confirmed Raguel was the bidder.”

  “Whoa,” Milo said.

  “What made you even go looking?” I asked.

  “The artwork on Tony’s wall,” Adrik said. “One of the names he scrawled was Kristoff’s.”

  “Hot damn,” Milo said. “He’s giving us answers as best he can.”

  “I think so. Take a look.”

  Adrik turned to the far wall, which had been collaged in what I’d affectionately labeled “conspiracy theorist décor” after my last visit. Even then, it had been covered in photos, news clippings, and thread connecting them all together like some sort of criminal profiler’s investigation wall. Now that I gave it my attention, I noticed several new additions had been made since I’d been here last. The main one of which was a printed list that, from here, just looked like a lot of nonsensical data.

  “This is the list from the chip,” I said, wandering closer to the printout taped to the wall at the center of it all.

  “Shit,” Milo said, brushing my shoulder as he stood beside me. “Look, Lester Harper. Miranda Kinrade—she was one of our professors at the Tiff.”

  “Benjamin Hoffler. Anita Ray.” I read some of the other names aloud.

  Milo glanced at me. “Do we know them?”

  “From the news,” I said sadly. “They’re dead. Killed in raids or during various crimes they supposedly committed.” I looked back at Adrik in surprise. “This is the same list Faith retrieved for Starla. All the ‘fall guys’ used in the demon cover-up.”

  “And then some,” Milo said, unfolding the paper to reveal a much longer list separated by some sort of coding I didn’t understand.

  “This is merely a section of the master list,” Adrik said. “As you said, the chip holds the identity of every supe and their creature description. But this file was separated by a code that caught my attention.”

  “What are these stats?” Milo asked, pointing to the data listed in the columns beside the names.

  “A rating system designed to tell us how powerful each name on this list really is,” Adrik said.

  “How the hell does that work?” Milo asked.

  “Well, I think Raguel has used it to determine not only the supernaturals that would make a good fall guy for his crimes but also the ones who would make good candidates for his experiments.”

  “Shit,” I said, spotting Tony’s name.

  “Take this one for example.” Adrik pointed farther down the list. “Luca Diablo.”

  I blinked at the familiar name but said nothing as Adrik went on.

  “This number here represents his strength rating. It’s based on lineage. He can trace his werewolf ancestry back almost two hundred years.”

  “And that makes him a more desirable candidate for experimentation?” I asked. I didn’t need him to tell me that’s what he’d be chosen for. No one in their right mind would ever make Luca a fall guy.

  “I think so,” Adrik said. “Every single subject Raguel is hiding in that science wing is on this list—and has a high strength rating.”

  I scanned the list of names again and stopped on another familiar listing. “Desmond Ayers. Shit. He was in training with us at the Tiff before he turned blue during dinner one night and then disappeared.”

  Adrik gave me a long look.

  “I’m afraid to ask,” I said, a sinking feeling weighing me down.

  “Not many of his test subjects have survived,” he said quietly.

  My heart sank.

  “Hold on, I’m missing something here,” Milo said. “I thought you turned the chip over to the SSF the night of the party.”

  “We did,” I said.

  Milo frowned. “So, how has Raguel been using the list if it’s been locked up in the Delta vault since the night of The Monster Ball? Do you think he stole it?” Milo’s eyes widened. He turned to Adrik. “Did you steal it?”

  “The council members and head administrators all have unrestricted access to the vault at any time,” Adrik said.

  “This is why you rejoined the council,” I realized.

  “Part of it was access, yes.”

  “Access Raguel has had all along,” Milo said.

  My stomach sank. “He didn’t need to steal it,” I realized. “Not when we brought it right to him.”

  “Damn,” Milo said. “He walked right in and made a copy.”

  “Probably while we were busy dealing with Selaphiel,” I added. “But what I don’t get is that some of these names were framed for Selaphiel’s crimes too. Remember Lester?”

  “I think Raguel gave her that name,” Adrik said.

  “You think he was helping her?”

  The moment Milo asked the question, I realized the answer must be yes.

  “It was in his best interest to keep the spotlight on her.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, Raguel knows an awful lot about what went on with Selaphiel.”

  At their questioning looks, I explained, “He found me in the break room earlier.”

  “You were alone with him?” Adrik asked sharply.

  “Relax, he kept his hands to himself. And his power. Mostly.”

  Adrik frowned.

  “What did he want?” Milo asked.

  “To ask me if I’m a shapeshifter.”

  Milo’s eyes widened.

  “Obviously, I didn’t tell him anything,” I added.

  “Why the hell is he asking you that?” Milo demanded.

  “He says someone saw me go all angelic during our showdown with Selaphiel.”

  “Shit, G. That’s not good.”

  “I don’t think he intends on telling anyone,” I said carefully. “Or not yet. He seemed like he wanted me to know he had something on me. Like he’d use it to control me maybe or keep me out of his business.”

  Milo snorted. “Yeah, if he thinks that’s going to happen, he doesn’t know you at all.”

  “You are going to stay out of his business,” Adrik said darkly. “I’m handling it from here.”

  “You can’t shut me out,” I said.

  “It’s dangerous,” he warned. “And I won’t risk you like that. Not now. You’re my weakness. And Raguel knows it. He’ll come for you. Which is why you have to stay back.”

  “You can’t expect me to sit around while he kidnaps supes and turns them into monsters,” I said.

  “He’s too strong for you,” Adrik said.

  “Who’s too strong for you?”

  I looked up to see Fiona standing in the doorway.

  “No one,” I said.

  “You can tell me,” she said, eyeing the list on the wall. “Whatever it is. You can trust me.”

  “We’re just trying to figure out how to stop Raguel from doing to others what he’s done to Tony,” I explained.

  “Tony’s getting stronger every day,” she said. “Maybe he’ll be able to tell us something useful soon.”

  I bit my tongue to keep from pointing out what I’d already said earlier. Tony wasn’t getting better. Fiona was delusional.

  “In fact, I came in to tell you Tony’s awake right now,” she added, looking at me.

  “Is he lucid?” I asked warily.

  “Come see.”

  She stepped back to let us pass.

  I made it halfway down the hall before a roar shook the walls of Tony’s bedroom. Up ahead, the door stood open, and a large, hulking mass of blue flew through the frame, taking chunks of wall and wood with it.

  Tony climbed to his furry, blue feet and looked straight at me with drywall dust raining down around him.

  “Not lucid, then,” I muttered.

  Tony’s eyes had gone bloodshot, and the vein in his neck bulged as his gaze found mine.

  “Tony, it’s me,” I said warily. “Your friend. Gem.”

  “He’s coming,” he roared and then launched himself at me.

  Shit.

  If I moved, Milo was right behind me, and I wasn’t going to let him take the hit. Instead, I braced myself for the tackle.

  At the last second, Wolfrick leaped from his bedroom and smashed into Tony. The two of them crashed into the far wall, going straight through and tumbling into Adrik’s bedroom on the other side.

  Fiona screamed.

  Wolfrick howled.

  Tony roared and smashed his blue fist into Wolfrick’s face.

  Adrik’s movements were casual. But the force behind them was unmistakable. He strode to the fighting beasts and easily lifted Tony into the air. Then, he ducked back through the hole in his wall and into the hall and tossed Tony into the Sharpie-crazed bedroom.

  There was a crash as Tony landed.

  Then a growl that made it clear my blue friend wasn’t going to give up that easily.