KDBookOnline
Share Us
And maybe it was a couple nights of lost sleep or watching my car’s Viking funeral or just the mere fact that Gage wouldn’t leave me alone, but I tilted my face up to the sky and screamed.
“Cate, it’s just a car,” he said, the smile finally dying.
“‘Just a car’?” I repeated, nearly choking on the words. “Just a car?” I jabbed a finger at the scorched mess. “I spent two years saving up for that car.” The only reason I’d been able to buy it was because the windows didn’t roll down. Some days, I could barely afford the gas. More than once, the insurance had lapsed because money was too tight that month. But it was my car, the closest thing I’d ever had to a ticket out of New Orleans.
And he had let it burn in front of me.
“You can have one of mine,” he said.
I detonated. “I don’t want your car or you or any of this!” I ripped the necklace off and threw it at him. It bounced off his chest and landed on the street.
Some of his glamour slipped, his tattoos shifting as he glowered at me. His jaw tensed, shadows filling his eyes. “We’ve been over this. The bargain cannot be broken, and you are required to wear that to fulfill your end of the bargain. No exceptions.”
“I thought you were some powerful fae prince, but you couldn’t grant Channing’s freedom without stealing mine? Your bargain doesn’t work without some stupid necklace?” I planted my hands on my hips. “I think you’re full of it. I think the Gage family—”
“Be careful what you say about my family in this city.”
“What do you care?”
“I care because I own New Orleans. Because someone is always listening,” he hissed, grabbing me by the shoulders and yanking me closer. “What you say matters—”
“Like that I hate this city almost as much as I hate the family that runs it?”
He winced.
“Or that you prey on—”
“Careful,” he interrupted, the word drawn out low and deadly as he leaned closer, his dark gaze fixed on mine. A shiver raced down my spine but not in fear.
It was a testament to how stressed I was, because all of a sudden what I wanted was for this man to make me forget. Forget my shitty car. Forget my shitty suspension from work. Forget the shitty lies I’d told my brother. Even forget this shitty little bargain. I just wanted to say “fuck it” and give in to the need pulsing between us and forget.
Our eyes met, and for a second I swore I saw understanding, as though he knew exactly what I wanted but would never ask for, before his mouth smashed into mine. The kiss cut off my breath and stole the words from my lips. And then my senses lit up like a live wire and instinct took over.
If I’d thought I’d reacted to him before…
Stupid, fucking, sexy magic.
My body melted into his hard one as Gage claimed my mouth. He tasted like the sweet fire of wine and spice and wild things, and his fingers tightened possessively on my shoulders. Wrong. It was so wrong. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that, but I didn’t care. Not as his hands swept up to cradle my neck and his fingers tangled in my hair. Not as I lost myself to him. Not as the line between my anger and my attraction to him blurred. Until he drew back and pressed his forehead to mine.
“Watch your mouth,” he rumbled.
I balked, pulling a little against his hold, but he didn’t let me go. “Or what?”
“Or I will watch it for you. I might find your little threats and insults amusing—endearing, even—but you will not speak poorly of my city. Don’t test your luck.”
That’s what this was about. His city?
“The city that you’re poisoning with trinity?” I glared at him. “If you cared about New Orleans, you wouldn’t let that shit on its streets, let alone be the one responsible for putting it there.”
“You think you have me figured out, don’t you? I promise you have no clue, princess,” he shot back.
I knew what I’d witnessed at the hospital and what I’d seen on the streets. But it was hard to believe that Gage was responsible. Was he an unbelievably arrogant, selfish ass of a fae? Yes. Definitely. But his worst behavior since we’d met didn’t quite add up to evil, even if I wished that it did. Still, he needed to be held accountable.
“Let me go,” I said through clenched teeth. Or maybe I was just being influenced by the heady combination of his proximity and my hormone-clouded brain. “Stop using your sexy magic.”
His grip loosened in surprise, but he didn’t let go. “Sexy magic?”
“You know what you’re doing, asshole,” I hissed. “Stop using your magic to fuck with me.”