Page 32 of A Rhapsody of Ravens and Revenge

He held out his hand to Evie and she put her hand in his tentatively. And then he pulled her to her feet.

“You going to be okay?” he asked. “You look nervous.”

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’ll just be glad when this is over.”

“Evie,” he said. He couldn’t seem to look away. She was so beautiful. “When this is over…”

“Yes?” she asked.

“I think we have some things to talk about when this is over.”

“Cal,” she whispered.

Before he could help himself he leaned in and kissed her, pulling her into his arms and wishing he didn’t have to let her go. He pulled away and then gave her another kiss on her forehead.

“Don’t take any chances,” he said, warning her. “I know you can protect yourself. But let Eden do her job.”

“We’ll be fine,” she said. “Just get him and finish the job so you can get back and we can have that conversation. I was thinking maybe we could have it at a place where Atticus or my father can’t interrupt us. I wouldn’t mind disappearing for a while.”

“I think I can manage that,” he said, and kissed her again.

He went to meet Nate at the door and pulled up the center cushion of the couch along the way, grabbing the extra weapon hidden there along with another magazine.

“Hit the panic button on your phone if you need us,” Cal said.

And then they were gone.

Chapter Eleven

“So she’s the one, huh?” Nate asked.

The windshield wipers were working overtime and the edges of the streets were full of water, so it spewed up the side of the SUV as they sped down the road. Visibility wasn’t great, and Nate slammed on his brakes at the last second when he realized the stoplight was red.

“She’s always been the one,” Cal said. “Things were just complicated.”

“I figured as much,” Nate said quietly. “You know we all knew something went down on that mission in Russia. Atticus did a little digging when you went a little nuts and cut your comm units. It didn’t take him long to put the pieces together that Evie was the Black Lily and who we were looking for.”

Cal blew out a breath, trying to release the tightness in his chest. “Why didn’t anyone ever say anything?”

“To protect you and Evie,” Nate said. “And to keep Lockwood from finding out. I don’t think he would have handled it well, and it seemed like you had everything well in hand. I think Lockwood would have seen it as a betrayal and how he responded might have set her on a darker path. You did the right thing for her, Cal.”

“Yeah, well it hasn’t always felt like it. And she hasn’t always thought so.”

“She was just a kid,” Nate said. “But I see the way she looks at you. Whatever happened between y’all in Russia has been forgiven.”

“Now I just have to convince Atticus to give her a job. And if he knows the truth about her that might not be an easy task.”

“Probably easier than you think,” Nate said. “Atticus has been keeping tabs on her all these years just like you have. He knows her skills, and you know how he is. He’d hire her in a heartbeat just to keep her from going to the competition.”

“Evie called Atticus a black ops matchmaker,” Cal said. “I’m starting to think she might be right because you know I’m going to have to marry her. And it was Atticus that forced me to take this assignment.”

“Please let me hear you call him that to his face,” Nate said, laughing. “No mission could be more exciting than his reaction.”

Evie shuffled the cards and then dealt another round. It made things a lot more interesting when both players cheated. And cheated well.

Eden’s phone rang and she answered automatically. “Locke,” she said.

“This is Agent James again. Agent Locke and Cruz just arrived and reassigned us to the house. We’re to be your backup. Our ETA is about two minutes. He said you’ll need to let us in through the gate.”

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