Page 40 of Azrael

“Tel Aviv?”

“I have confirmation she’s there.”

“How did you --” She stopped herself, then squared her shoulders.“No, I don’t need to know how you got the information.When are we going to get her?”

I took a long drink of water, then set the glass down with deliberate care.“I’m going day after tomorrow.You’re staying here.”

Her back stiffened.“The hell I am.”

“You asked for my help.This is how it works.”

“She’s my mother.”

“And that’s exactly why you can’t be anywhere near this operation.”I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table.“Your uncle has armed men at his beck and call.We have photographs of him with your mother, getting off a private jet and into a car.But he’s in bed with some bad men.I can’t risk you going.”

Zara flinched but didn’t look away.“I need to be there.I need to see her.”

“You will.After I get her out.”I pushed my plate away, appetite gone.“Listen carefully, Zara.I promise I’ll bring her home safely.But that’s only going to happen if I can focus entirely on the job without worrying about keeping you safe too.”

She stood suddenly, plates clattering as she gathered them with jerky movements.“Then why can’t I come with you?I could wait somewhere safe, away from the action.I could help when you get her out -- she might be scared, confused.She’d recognize me.”

I shook my head, my jaw tight.“Not happening.”

“I’m not some delicate flower, Azrael.I can handle myself.”

“This isn’t about whether or not you’re tough enough.”I rose to my feet, towering over her.“Your presence will jeopardize the mission.Period.These men -- they’ll use anything they can against me.If they see you, if they even suspect you’re connected to me or to your mother, they’ll grab you too.And then I’d have to split my focus.”

She turned away, but not before I caught the shimmer of tears in her eyes.She began aggressively washing dishes, her back rigid.

“Zara.”My voice softened despite myself.“I understand wanting to be there.But this is what I do.The club is sending some of our best men with me.We’ll get her out.”

“And what if something goes wrong?”she asked, still not looking at me.“What if this is my only chance to see her again, and I miss it because I’m sitting here, waiting like a good little girl?”

I crossed the kitchen in three strides and gently turned her to face me, my hands on her shoulders.The contact sent an unwelcome spark of heat through my palms.“Nothing’s going to go wrong.But if it does, it won’t be because I was distracted trying to protect you too.”

She looked up at me, those blue eyes swimming with tears she refused to let fall.This close, I could smell her shampoo -- something floral that had no business in my house but somehow seemed right on her.Her lips parted slightly, and for one insane moment, I thought about lowering my head to taste them.

Instead, I stepped back, dropping my hands from her shoulders.“I’ll need to meet with the club tomorrow to work out the details.After that, I’ll tell you everything I know about where she’s been and what to expect when she comes home, or as much as Charming says I can.”

Zara took a deep breath, then nodded once.“Fine.But I want regular updates.And I want to know exactly who’s going with you.”She hesitated, then added quietly, “I may not know everyone yet, but I’ll feel better having names.I need to know you’ll come back too.”

Something twisted in my gut.No one had worried about whether I’d come back from a job in… hell, maybe ever.The club expected results, not feelings.

“I always come back,” I said, my voice rougher than I intended.“It’s kind of my specialty.”

She gave me a tremulous smile that hit me like a punch to the solar plexus.“Good.Because when you bring my mother home, I’m going to need you to explain to her why I’ve been staying in your house and am now considered your woman.”

I almost smiled at that.Almost.“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to know her daughter’s been shacking up with a forty-year-old biker nicknamed after the Angel of Death.”

“Thirty-nine,” she corrected, the ghost of mischief crossing her face.“And she’ll be grateful to the man who saved her, no matter what his name is.”She finished drying her hands and moved closer, resting her palm briefly against my chest.“Thank you, Azrael.For finding her.”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak with her hand burning an imprint through my shirt.After a moment, she withdrew it and turned back to finish the dishes.

I retreated to the living room, then to the hallway, needing space to think.Less than two days to plan the extraction, to figure out how to keep both Mazida and myself alive so we could come back to this woman who’d somehow carved out a place in my solitary life in less than a week.

I stood in the hallway with my back against the wall, the house quiet except for the occasional clink of dishes as Zara finished cleaning up.My phone had buzzed twice in the last hour -- messages from Samurai and Phantom letting me know they’d be there if I needed them.Good men.But even with them at my back, the mission would be dangerous.The kind where not everyone comes home.And that knowledge had me on edge, especially with Zara under my roof, her scent lingering in every room.

The dim light from the living room cast long shadows down the corridor.I’d never bothered replacing the hallway fixture when it burned out months ago.Never saw the point.Now the darkness felt appropriate -- a physical manifestation of the shadows I lived in, the ones I was about to drag Mazida Quadir out of, the ones I wanted to keep Zara from ever knowing.

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