Smoke and Fire (20 page)

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Ryder was at once both happy at what Kinsey had found and anxious at her musings.

“Are you going to tell Con?” Kinsey asked.

Ryder gazed into her violet eyes. From the moment he spotted her four years ago on the streets of Glasgow, he'd had the compelling urge to protect her.

Well, that wasn't his first thought. His first thought had been that he wanted her. On the heels of their gazes clashing, Ryder knew he'd have her. That's when the need to protect her began.

From then on, that emotion only intensified and expanded until it occupied his thoughts constantly. After he left her, Ryder made sure he kept watch over her since he knew better than most just what monsters were out in the world.

Now that Kinsey was once more by his side, he hadn't been able to cap the need to safeguard her. The longer she was on Dreagan and the more information they uncovered, the more he knew she was in serious danger.

“Ryder?” she asked with a furrow of her brow.

He swallowed and began to reach for a donut. Just before his fingers grabbed a pastry, he hesitated. It wasn't the donut he wanted.

It was Kinsey.

He'd been hard since the first night he slept beside her. Leaving her that morning had been nearly impossible.

“Aye,” he finally answered. “I'll tell Con.”

“We'll tell him,” she corrected.

There was movement at the doorway and then a blond head emerged. “Tell me what?”

Before Ryder could speak, Kinsey was talking.

“I found an e-mail with pictures of me and Ryder.”

Con briefly looked at Ryder. “What else?”

Ryder knew how important it was to Kinsey that Con believe she was innocent, so he sat back and allowed her to answer all the questions.

Kinsey's wide violet eyes were trained on Con as she pointed to the monitor. “The e-mail was exchanged between Harriet and another individual.”

“Harriet is the person above your boss, correct?”

Kinsey gave a firm nod, a slight lift to her lips. “Correct. The individual mentions KB.”

To help, Ryder swiped the thread of e-mails from Kinsey's computer to the wall behind Con. Constantine turned to read them.

Kinsey's quick smile she shot toward Ryder made his gut clench. She thought it was enough to absolve her in Con's eyes, but he knew Con would think differently.

The information was certainly going to help, but it wasn't going to clear her altogether.

“Interesting,” Con said as he turned back to face Kinsey. “The pictures confirm it's you they speak of. Otherwise, KB could be anyone.”

Kinsey's lips flattened for a heartbeat. “I know. Ryder and I already spoke about that. The fact is, that e-mail is about me.”

“They got into your flat and computer.”

Ryder leaned back in his chair, his hands laced behind his head. “I already thoroughly checked and cleaned her computer and mobile when she arrived. There was nothing on it.”

“That you found,” Con said.

Ryder held his gaze for a long stretch of silence. Ulrik had gotten something past Ryder once. That wasn't going to happen again. “There was nothing.”

“I'm happy to hear it.” Con then shifted his attention to Kinsey. “This is certainly important. It proves they were watching you for some time. It also shows that these people knew our true natures, and they fully expected you did as well.”

Ryder closed his eyes in frustration. He then sat up, his gaze snapping open. “In all of this, we've assumed that Kinsey was working with those at Kyvor.”

“I'm not,” she stated.

He ignored her and continued. “What if they were hoping she did know something to force her to talk about it?”

“When they learned she knew nothing, then they changed tactics,” Con said with a nod.

Kinsey sat back down and rested an elbow on the table. “To do what?”

“If you didna have information to share, then they were going to put you in the nest with us,” Ryder told her.

Her lips parted as the truth hit her. “So that I would turn to them scared out of my mind and give them what they want. That's why Cecil was so adamant that I remain this morning.”

Con pointed to the e-mails behind him on the wall. “There is more. This isna the first e-mail.”

“Or the last,” Ryder added.

Kinsey puffed out her cheeks before she blew out a breath. She turned her chair to face the table and began typing. “All right, you little buggers,” she said to the screen of e-mails. “Just try and hide from me.”

Ryder rose and followed Con from the room. Con waited in the corridor. “She's innocent.”

“So both of you keep saying.”

“You just saw proof.”

Con merely looked at him. “Did we? How long have you been looking through those e-mails?”

“I've been focused on other things. Kinsey has been sorting through them for the better part of yesterday and today.”

“In all those e-mails, she manages to find one that would clear her? You doona think that's odd?”

“I think she's good at what she does. I think she's been looking through every e-mail. She didna stumble upon this one.”

Con twisted his lips. “Fair enough. So she found the e-mail. With her initials and pictures of the two of you?”

“We'll find the data needed to clear her name for good.”

“And if you doona? Have you thought about that, Ryder?”

It'd crossed his mind a time or two. “I doona need to.”

“Perhaps you should.”

Ryder looked to the doorway. The rows of monitors hid Kinsey from view, but he could hear her talking to herself. “She's no' a part of this.”

“I hope you're right. If you're wrong, then you've given Ulrik everything he needs to tear us apart.”

Ryder watched Con walk away. He was sure of Kinsey.

And yet, he couldn't help but worry. The implications Con mentioned were staggering. Ryder wasn't just putting his own honor on the line. He was putting the entire way of life for everyone at Dreagan in jeopardy.

He strode back into the computer room, walked around the monitors, and grabbed Kinsey's chair. He jerked it back, turning it so she faced him. Then he put his hands on either side of her face and gazed into her violet eyes.

“Ry—” she began.

He kissed her, claiming her lips in a kiss that he'd been dying to give. Her mouth softened beneath his, parting so their tongues met, dancing against each other.

It was heaven. Pure, utter bliss.

Ryder knew he stepped over the boundaries Kinsey had set upon her arrival, but in all honesty, he didn't care. Not at that moment.

Now he needed to feel her, taste her. To remember what it was to have her as his. To know the curve of her cheek, the touch of her hand, the smell of her skin.

He ended the kiss the moment he sensed she was about to pull back. But he didn't release her. Instead, he continued to hold her head between his hands.

“I know you may hate me, and you've every right. But look around, Kins. This is home to us. Dragons and their mates. If you want to hurt me, then hurt me. Doona take the others down as well.”

Her hands came up and grasped his wrists. Then she tugged his hands away firmly and forcibly. “I thought you believed me.”

“I do.” Ryder straightened, his gut twisting with all the doubt and worry. “I staked my word on it just now.”

“Not from what you just said.”

“We've been betrayed before. If you've come to get your revenge, all I ask is that you leave the others out.”

She rolled her eyes and swiveled her chair back to the computers. “You're a real piece of work. Telling me in one breath that you've got my back and believe me, and in the very next spouting drivel about revenge.” She gave a loud, angry snort. “Oh, I wanted to get back at you, but I'm past that.”

“All right.”

“No!” she shouted and turned her head to glare at him. “It's not all right.”

Ryder felt something tighten around his chest, making it difficult to breathe. What had he said wrong? Why was she reacting so? All he wanted her to know was that if she was working with those at Kyvor to leave the others out of it.

He gave a shake of his head, unable to find the logic to connect what he'd done to her emotional outburst.

“Either you believe me or not.” Her eyes shot flames of annoyance and hurt.

“I believe you.”

“Right,” she stated sarcastically. “And don't kiss me again.” She faced the computer, and this time she turned on her music, blaring it loudly.

His smile began slowly. So that's what had gotten her so riled. The kiss.

She hadn't just responded willingly, she'd wanted it as much as he. That must irritate her when she was trying so hard to pretend as if she had no feelings toward him anymore.

Now he knew differently.

Now Ryder was going after her with all he had. The fine line between love and hate had just been crossed with their kiss. It might not have been the words and caresses he'd been dreaming about giving her, but it was a kiss.

He tasted the hunger, the passion. The eagerness.

Ryder resumed his seat, where the smile quickly evaporated as he stared at the screen. Whatever wee bit of elation he'd felt vanished as he looked at the pictures of them together.

He easily piggybacked on Kinsey's hack into Kyvor and went to the e-mail string about Kinsey. He pulled every picture they had of them onto a secure server.

Every moment of his time with Kinsey hadn't just been recorded, it had been shared with a group. It took Ryder longer than he wanted trying to determine who the group receiving the e-mails were, but whoever set it up had gone to great pains to bounce the signal all over the world, creating an e-mail address within an e-mail address within an e-mail address.

It was taking him forever to break through one of the addresses, and every step that brought him closer to discovering the truth left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Why didn't you tell Con that Ulrik might have someone working with him?”

Ryder paused in his typing at the sound of Kinsey's voice. “Because it's a theory.”

“Theories are what break open cases sometimes.”

“I've a million speculations about Ulrik. We doona have the time to chase all of them. He's already ahead of us.”

“Then it's time for you to gain an advantage,” she insisted. “There's no way Ulrik can be running things on his own.”

Ryder ran a hand down his face. “It's no' so simple, Kins. We can no' trust anyone.”

“Especially not humans.”

“I didna say that.”

“You didn't have to. I understand,” she said, her voice laced with ire.

He sighed. “So many want to expose us.”

“And why do you care?” she asked as she threw up her hands. She spun the chair to face him. “You're a bloody Dragon King. You can't be killed by anything other than another Dragon King. Why not show the world who you really are?”

“We did that once. It didna work verra well, if you remember from my story.”

She looked down at her hands, picking at her thumbnail. “You've magic and powers. You can shift. You can fly and breathe fire. Why do you hide from us?”

“Because the alternative is to go to war with your race, and a second war means that one of us will be annihilated.”

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Henry called upon every ounce of his training in order to keep his cool, but nothing worked. He wanted to yell and hit something. Hard.

He stared at a face he knew, but his sister was no longer the same person. MI5 and Ulrik had done their job to perfection. The girl he remembered who always had a dirty joke to tell and who was known for her infectious laughter was gone.

The woman in front of him had been reprogrammed, thoroughly erasing everything that made her special.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Esther said from the chair in the middle of the cavern.

Con used his magic to make the room impossible for Esther to leave without Con beside her. So there was no need to tie her. But Con took it one step further and altered the cavern so it looked like an interrogation room instead of a cave.

Henry raised a brow. “Like what?”

“Like you don't know who I am.”

“I don't.”

She gave him a scathing look. “Do you think it was any different when you went to work for MI5?”

“I know it.” He motioned to her. “You've erased all that you were. I didn't.”

“Ah, dear brother, that's the rub. Because you did. You think you didn't change, but you're wrong.”

Henry wasn't going to get into a debate with her about his life. This was about her. “I did a little digging through my contacts at the agency. You're no longer working for MI5, and haven't been for quite some time.”

In response, she merely looked at him, her expression closed.

It's what he would expect from an agent. Henry clasped his hands behind his back. He wanted to ask specifically about Ulrik, but something held him back.

Henry didn't question his instinct. Though there was no doubt Ulrik was her new commander, Henry wasn't going to give her a name to latch onto. With all Henry knew about Ulrik, the Dragon King had most likely given her another name.

And another name was exactly what they needed. Despite Ryder's skill with computers, Ulrik managed to somehow keep anything from being connected to him.

“Who are you working for?” Henry asked.

Esther crossed one leg over the other. Her coat had been removed. She wore a thick taupe sweater and navy pants. If anyone saw her on the street, they wouldn't look twice at her. Just as Henry was able to blend in, Esther worked that trait as well.

“Do you even know who you work for?”

She smiled slightly. “Of course.”