Page 63 of Sublime Target

He started to fall.

Jerik had half a mind to let Garner lose balance and slip off the bridge, down a vast height to the hard pavement below. He could even give the idiot a little shove to get him on his way…

But he’d promised Clarissa, and he didn’t want her first impression of him to be that of a ruthless killer.

Well, he was like that sometimes, and she probably knew that about him, but he wanted to prove himself to her.

He wanted to prove that he could show restraint; that he listened to her.

So he wrapped his gloved fingers around Garner’s slender forearm and gripped it so tightly the human wouldn’t have a chance in the Nine Hells of falling. He turned and strode back down the bridge, dragging the terrified, screaming Garner with him.

Until they reached the open window, where he pulled Garner through, hauling him as if he were a sack of vegetables. The human kicked and screamed, but Jerik was far too strong for him.

He threw him back into his very own office, onto the hard, polished floor.

He stalked forward as Garner attempted to scramble away.

He tripped him.

The human fell to the floor, gasping and spluttering.

Jerik leaned in and gripped his shoulder, turning him around until he was sitting on his ass, looking up.

Then he let some of his anger loose, grabbing the long strip of material that extended from Garner’s neck. He yanked the human toward him, watching dispassionately as his pale brown skin turned a curious shade of red.

Thoughtless bastard. How could you put her in such danger without a care in the Universe?

“Y-you can’t do this,” Garner hissed, his eyes bulging with outrage. “It’s my fucking land.”

“We were about to offer you a fair deal, but you had to go and mess it up. You made your choice. Now deal with the consequences.” Jerik shook his head in disbelief. How could this pathetic human hold so much power and influence in this world? He was deceitful, and the moment he was faced with an adversary stronger than himself, he’d tried to run. This wasn’t about Garner’s precious land, anyway. That was inconsequential, a convenient fact Jerik had used to get closer to her. “You might have paid for her to show you respect, but that doesn’t mean you own her. If you do anything to harm her again, if you use your position to inconvenience her in any way… if you cause her even the slightest discomfort, I will come back for you, and I will make you suffer. Do you understand, human?”

“W-what are you talking about?”

Did this human still not understand?

“She’s under my protection now.” Jerik raised his gun and pressed the tip against Cooper Garner’s forehead. “That is all you need to know.”

His anger was incandescent. The thought of any harm coming to her made him insane. He could so easily revert to the old ways and eliminate this human right here and now…

But then something cool and soft came to rest on the back of his neck—her hand.

And he froze.

She touched the part of him that wasn’t encased in impenetrable armor. The feeling of her bare skin against his…

It sent a frisson of electric energy through him.

How had she snuck up on him? Nobody could do that to him.

Maybe he’d been so consumed with anger that he hadn’t noticed her.

Or maybe she was one of the very few beings in the Universe he could feel completely comfortable with, to the point where he sensed zero threat whatsoever.

Wary as she was of him, she disarmed him completely and utterly.

“Jerik, that’s enough. Please,” she murmured, her voice low and luscious; a soothing wave washing over him. “I’m really quite all right. You can let him go. I’ll deal with this. He’s my employer, after all.”

Jerik rankled at the fact that she could refer to him that way—as if he still held power over her.

---