Page 3 of Guarded By the Krampus

“Aceon!” he snapped.

I shook my head and moved to stand closer to her. There was something about her that felt magnetic to me—I couldn’t pull my eyes away from her. “Look, either she’s my next job and you get paid, or I’m on vacation and going freelancing,” I told him.

“Hmm,” she said, then waved her phone my direction. I had no idea what it was telling her—or how—but my chest puffed out just in case. “I do think you’ll do.”

Somehow I managed to look over at Royce, and watched him shake his head, before narrowing his eyes. “Whatever this is—if we don’t sign official contracts—you’ll be off the books, Ace. You know the MSA can’t be seen rushing into things.”

I didn’t have even a moment of hesitation. “Understood,” I said, then looked to Satin, walking around her for the door. She trailed after me with her phone, but I got a glimpse of the screen—it really was just a heat reading, like someone might have with night-vision goggles, and it was probably vibrating the information over to her. “Shall we?” I asked, waiting till she was closer before opening the door.

“Lets,” she agreed, reaching under her arm to snap her cane back out. It seemed like a practiced move, one she’d done a million times.

“Make sure you bring him back in one piece!” Serena shouted after us, and I heard Sylas give a dark laugh.

CHAPTER TWO

I only barely fit in her driver’s Escalade, with my head tucked low so my horns didn’t ruin the upholstery. Maybe that was why Ellum had sawed off his horns, so he could fit into the van with all his kids easier.

We were still crowded, because of my size, but I didn’t mind—it meant that she was forced to ride slightly up against me, her knee against mine, and mine was two and a half times as wide as hers was. I fought not to concentrate on that small place where we touched, and keep my mind on business.

“So, what’s the gig? You got a stalker I need to dissuade?” I asked, clenching a meaningful hand.

“I wish my life were that simple. I’m being targeted by international assassins.”

I blinked. “How many?”

“How interesting that you would ask that, first, instead of why.”

“I’m a man of action,” I said, and then realized I should introduce myself properly. “I’m Aceon,” then I decided to addwhatI was, since she couldn’t see. “I’m a satyr.”

She gave me another one of her small, subtle smiles. “Well that explains why you smell a bit like a barn.”

“It’s my aftershave. Barn Fresh, for Men.”

That made her eyebrows rise precipitously above her blindfold, and she laughed aloud, before putting a hand to her chest like her reaction had surprised her.

And while it was true, I could perhaps never completely hide what it was I was,shesmelled like the snow outside. Clean and fresh, with maybe just a hint of ozone, like a coming storm.

I reached forward to tap the back of the driver’s seat, and gave him my address.

“Why’re you doing that?” Satin asked, sitting up straighter, suddenly concerned.

“We need to take a detour by my place, so I can gear up.”

“Miss?” the driver asked, searching for confirmation of the change.

Satin appeared taken aback. “Yes—I guess so—certainly,” she agreed, and the driver wheeled the car around.

We rode in silence, and I figured if Satin wanted to tell me more about the job she would, but maybe she didn’t want her driver getting involved. Instead of looking out the window though, she kept her face straight ahead, which made sense seeing as she was blind. I kept my eye on our passing surroundings, but I couldn’t help but notice she was perfect in profile, and her ear, showcased beneath the blindfold’s tie, was delicate and shell-like.

She seemed to know that I was trying not to gawk. “I lost my sight when I was five,” she said. “My father was a diplomat. There was a riot at the embassy. The magnesium flares they used to disperse the crowd burned too bright. I was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

I was surprised by how matter-of-fact she sounded. “That’s?—”

“Unfortunate,” she interrupted. “But it’s not the worst thing to happen to me.”

“Who the fuck was using magnesium for civilian crowd dispersal?”

Her lips curved up faintly, but it wasn’t a smile. “The kind of people who don’t worry about collateral damage.” She tilted her head back slightly, almost like she was remembering something distant. “Or maybe the kind of people who only think consequences are for other people.”

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