Page 20 of Destined to Fight

Kelly sat, placing her head in her hands. She felt done with the night, with everything.

Kade put a bottle of water in front of her. “Drink.”

“I’ll take it with us. I’m fine right now.”

“Ye need to drink water. Yer body is under quite a bit of stress right now.”

“You think so?”

“Aye, I do.”

“That’s called sarcasm, Kade. You’re not familiar?” It was hard to keep the bitterness from her tone.

Kade turned to look at her, two bags of blood in his hand, “Oh aye, I’m familiar with it. I was just ignoring it. Ye can’y push me away, Kelly, not with anger and definitely not with physical strength.”

“And what would you do if you were in my shoes, Kade? On top of all the revelations of the past twenty-four hours, now I’ve seen a woman’s head cut from her body, and I’m leaving the country with two men I barely know. I want to say no, but if I do, I’m stuck here with people chasing me, and I’m obviously in way over my head. Can you at least tell me where we’re—” she stopped, realizing something. “Shit, I don’t even have a passport. I can’t go with you. They won’t let me go anywhere outside the US.”

“I’ll take care of it. Dinnae worry about that.”

“How will you take care of that? I’m positive they won’t let me get on an international flight, with or without your special mind-control shit.”

“We are taking a private jet, and yer documents will be complete by the time we land. Ye have my word.”

Kelly found herself in shock. Only criminals got documents like passports in hours. “I’m realizing I should have asked one very important question before. Who in the hell are you? You’ve told me about Arcane and vampires and all that other shit, but you haven’t told me a thing about you. You have an awful lot of money and access to things only criminals can get. If you’re a drug lord, I’m out.”

Fabian laughed from the door and she turned to him, glaring. “What’s so funny?”

He shook his head slightly. “Kade as a drug lord. I am trying to picture it in my mind.”

“Yer a lot of help, Fabian.”

Fabian just shrugged.

“I’m nae a drug lord or a criminal. I’m the Jarl of the North American jurisdiction of the Council.”

“The what?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Jarl—leader, in simple terms.” He kept a straight face, showing no emotion.

Fabian spoke then. “Kade’s money has been earned honestly, and he holds a very high position with the Council. One that his father held before him. He is not great with words or gestures, but he is trustworthy and has only your best interests at heart.”

“Well, aren’t ye just full of compliments tonight?” Kade asked him.

“To be sure.” Fabian bowed jokingly.

Kade waved him off and went back to packing things from the fridge in a cooler.

“So that’s it, then? You’re some bigwig with the Council, and that’s why you have money and connections?” There had to be more to his story, she thought.

“The money and connections come from time and family. The Council does not offer me anything but duty and headaches.”

“Are your family drug lords, then?”

Kade laughed. “Ye seem hell-bent on connecting me with crime. Do I look the type? Nae, none of my family are criminals, and to be very clear, neither they nor I are involved in anything illegal. Can we talk more on the plane? We need to get moving. It’s not a secret that I stay here.”

What other option did she have? “Sure.”

He nodded at her, closing the fridge and the cooler. “Right then, bring yer water. Let’s go.”

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