Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) (34 page)

He bent down to look at the drawer and
frowned.
 
“Huh, this a pretty
powerful ward.”

He stood up and gazed at me, all serious
now.
 
“Did John have magic skills?”

“A few parlour tricks,” I shrugged, glad
that we were off the topic of pet names for each other, “nothing like
this.
 
Not that I knew of anyway.”

He jerked his head in brief
acknowledgement and then crouched down again.
 
His very large hands reached out to the
drawer, then he drew back suddenly, as if scorched.
 
Hah!
 
That would teach him.

“Stand back,” he ordered.

I bristled at the command but did as he
asked.
 
With a look of intense
concentration on his face he pulled back his hand and formed a fist.
 
I wondered if he was seriously going to
try to punch his way through it.
 
That would be completely idiotic.
 
He’d rip his hand off for sure.
 
I took another step back, just in case.

His whole body tensed and then, quick as
lightning, he slammed his fist forward.
 
There was the sound of breaking, splintering wood, and a flash of blue
light.
 
He shook his hand a few
times, and I could see that it was red and beginning to swell, but he grinned
at me like the cat that got the cream and stepped aside with a flourish.
 
You have got to be kidding me.
 
I walked gingerly round and stared down
at the mess of the desk.
 
He’d
actually snapped through the ward, and the fabric of the wood itself, leaving a
hand sized hole.
 
I gaped at him.

He laughed.
 
“Impressed much,
kitten
?”

I became aware that my mouth was hanging
open so I snapped it shut and glared at him, trying vainly not to appear
over-awed.
 
Shit, clearly there was
a good reason why he’d been voted in as the new head Alpha.

“Big deal,” I said, with far more
nonchalance than I was feeling.
 
I
stuck my hand into the destroyed drawer and felt around, noting the remaining
bristle of magic tremble against my touch.
 
There was nothing there apart from what felt like a paper folder.
 
I tugged at it, trying to yank it out,
and cursed when it wouldn’t fit through the gap.

Impatient, I knelt down and pulled out the
drawer, lifting out the folder.
 
It
was unmarked.
 
I raised my eyebrows
at Corrigan and showed him it, then lifted the flap.
 
At that point, the study door was flung
open and Staines and Alex came through.

“What in god’s name was that?” Staines
shouted.

Wow.
 
Talk about being annoyed at missing the party, I thought.

Alex chipped in.
 
“Jeez, I think the whole keep felt that
tremor.
 
What did you do?
 
Break through a…” He stopped and stared
at the desk.
 
“You destroyed a level
five ward?”
 
He looked at me for a
second but I shook my head and pointed over at Corrigan.
 
I supposed that at least I wasn’t only
the one who was seriously impressed at his power.

Concern flitted over Staines’ face.
 
“My Lord Alpha, your hand.”

I realised that Corrigan was still
clutching his hand and felt a sort of grim satisfaction that at the very least
he’d slightly hurt himself.
 

He, however, just growled, “It’s fine.”

Staines pulled out a sleek looking phone
and began to jab at the numbers.
 
“I’ll
call the doctor.”

“No.”
 
Steel laced Corrigan’s voice.
 
“He has better things to be doing right now.
 
Besides, I confess to a sudden curiosity
at what the Cornish alpha was so keen to hide.”
 
He jerked at the folder in my hands.

I looked down and went instantly rigid
when I saw what the visible half of the front sheet displayed.
 
It was my name.
 
Oh fuck.
 
Blood drained from my face.
 
I snapped it shut and just stared at
Corrigan.
 
“
Er…..”
 
He could NOT read this.

Alex suddenly flinched dramatically.
 
“Something’s approaching the front.”

Corrigan’s whole body
stilled.
 
“Shifter?”

“I…uh…can’t tell.”

Staines growled and turned smartly out of
the study.
 
Corrigan looked at me,
eyes narrowed.
 
“You will wait
here.”
 
The bastard was trying to
compel me.
 
So
much for trusting me.

I tried to smile graciously and inclined
my head.
 
“My Lord.”

He stalked out the door.
 
I turned to Alex and breathed
again.
 
“Oh my God.
 
We need to hide this, Alex, now.
 
They’ll be back as soon as they realise
no-one is there.”

“Someone is there,” Alex said, surprising
me.
 
I thought he’d just noticed the
look on my face and cleverly created a diversion. “Human though.
 
Male, I think.”
 
He glanced down at the folder that was
now burning in my hands.
 
“What’s in
it?”

“It’s about me,” I gasped.
 
“It must say about how I’m human.
 
Corrigan can’t read this, Alex, he just
can’t.”

“Okay,” he said.
 
“Damage control.” He took the folder and
pulled out the contents then spun me around and unzipped my backpack, stuffing
the papers inside.
 
He raised his
eyebrows at me as he saw the other contents of the bag.
 
“Silver?”

“I’ll explain later,” I muttered.

Alex pulled a book off the shelf.
 
“Spells for the Uninitiated,” he
read.
 
“This’ll do.
 
Page 107, if I remember rightly.”

“What’s on page 107?” I asked, as I
watched him rip it out and place it inside the folder.

“Love Spell,” he said, with a great deal
more calm than I felt.
 
“With any
luck, Lord Corrigan will believe that your alpha was just trying to get a bit
of sneaky bed action.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I said flatly.
 
“No-one would ever believe John would
stoop that low.”

He looked at me, quietly.
 
“Do you have a better idea?
 
They’re on their way back.”

“Fuck. No.
 
Give me that,” I snatched it back out of
his hands and shoved it into the folder, just in time to see Corrigan return.

“Your policeman boyfriend is here,” he
sneered.

“Nick?
 
But…”

“Go and get rid of him.”
 
He pulled the folder out of my hands.

I tried to protest weakly but he pushed me
out the door.
 
The weight of the
backpack on my shoulders now felt constricting.
 
Between the silver weapons and the proof
of my true identity, if anyone opened it, it would seal my doom.
 
And perhaps the rest of the pack’s
too.
 
That might work out well for
Corrigan, I thought bleakly.
 
With
no Cornish pack, then there’d probably be no more attacks to worry about and he
could scuttle back to London in his showy limo and forget we’d ever
existed.
 
Oh, this was all so very
very bad.

Nick was already in the hall when I
entered through the study.
 
It was
difficult to concentrate on why he was here with everything else that had just
happened.
 
I tried to put on my game
face.

“Nick.
 
What brings you here?”

He looked around the hall.
 
“There were some reports of loud noises
from this vicinity,” he said slowly.
 
“Had some trouble have you?”

Most of the devastation from before had
been tidied up, but one of the paintings had a great rip right through it and there
were still some shards of glass from one of the lamps in the corner.
 
At least the dead monster had gone.

“Yes, we…er…were having a party,” I
gabbled.
 
“It got a bit out of
hand.
 
Most people are away sleeping
it off.”
 
I tried to smile
disarmingly at him.

He frowned at me.
 
“Apparently it sounded more like a riot,
than a party.”

“Crazy times, Nick, crazy times. Thanks
for coming over to check it all out though.”

“Would you tell me if something was
wrong?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” I lied, looking him straight in the
eyes.
 
I was becoming too good at
this.

“Okay, then.”
 
He paused for a moment.
 
“Do you mind if I have a look around?”

Yes.
 
“Ummm…”

At that moment, Tom, bless him,
appeared.
 
I waved at him
frantically.
 
He looked oddly wary
of me but came over anyway.
 
“Actually, it’s kind of late and we were going to go to bed.”
 
I flung an arm round Tom’s waist and
smiled at Nick apologetically.
 
“How
about tomorrow morning instead?”

His face went cold.
 
“That won’t be necessary,” he said
stiffly.
 
“Call me if you need
anything.”

He walked back outside.
 
I watched him go, feeling sorry for
him.
 
In another world, that might
have worked, but…
 
The oak door
slammed behind him and Corrigan’s voice came from behind me.
 
“That was fast work.”

I realised my arm was still round Tom and
snatched it away, whirling round.
 
Corrigan’s eyes were entirely expressionless - and he was still holding
the folder.
 

“I was just doing what you asked, my
Lord.”

His
gaze flicked to Tom
and then back
to me.
 
“Whatever you say.
 
Better
get some rest.
 
It’s late and we
need everyone rested in case there’s another attack tomorrow.”

“And what if there’s one tonight?”

Corrigan sighed and looked at me
tiredly.
 
“I have watchers all over
the keep.
 
Do not presume to tell me
my job, Miss Mackenzie.”

He walked up the stairs, with Staines
behind him like a faithful dog.

“Do not presume to tell me my job, Miss
Mackenzie, kitten, servant of my own bidding,” I mimicked once he’d gone.
 
“Tosser.”
 
I didn’t think I’d ever seen someone
flick between hot and cold so quickly.

Tom looked across at me.
 
“What the hell is going on, Red?”

“It’s…complicated.” I pulled him in the
direction of the kitchen.
 
“Come on,
let’s get Alex and get a coffee and I’ll tell you.”

Chapter
Twenty Three

The three of us congregated around the now
upright kitchen table.
 
I set the
large copper kettle on the stove to boil and began preparing some coffee,
setting out three mugs.
 
Tom kept
sending sidelong glances to Alex until exasperatedly I hissed that he could
more than be trusted and knew everything that was going on.

“Including…?”
 
The question in Tom’s voice was obvious.

“That she’s human?
 
I’m a mage, dude, I knew within about
0.5 seconds.”

“Alright,
dude
,” Tom sarcastically snapped back.

“
Hey boys, let’s
chill, shall we?” I commented, try to aim for a light tone.
 
It was an unusual day when I was the one
trying to keep the peace.
 
I guessed
that the stress and fear was getting to everyone.

Both of them slumped slightly and looked
guiltily at each other.
 
I continued
on, all business-like.
 
“So what’s
with the funny looks, Tom?”
 
I
really wanted to ask him if he was planning on joining the Brethren but, given
the circumstances, decided that I’d have to leave that topic alone.

He started.
 
‘Eh?”

“After you attacked me this
afternoon,…”