Page 36 of The Boss
“I thought if you never received a Brand it would be useless pain to hold,” she said. “A ghost that would haunt you without giving you anything you could use.”
“Now I can use it,” he said. “Now it isn’t a ghost.” He looked back toward the bedroom. He could see the faint line of her through the doorway, turned toward the space he’d left, hand on his pillow. The lion pulsed once, awarm answer. “Is there anything else you plan to admit before the day gets busy?”
Letty’s laugh was short and sad. “You sound like your father when he thought he had me at a disadvantage.”
“I’m not my father.”
“No,” she said, and he heard pride under the word. “You’re not.” She drew breath. “Listen to me carefully. If the lion is on your hand, then there’s a woman whose skin will burn where yours touches. There’s a vow that will take you apart and build you again. The Dantes will want to see you and judge you. The Severins will want to use you or break you. Keep your circle tight. Trust your brothers and sisters. Keep your temper.”
“My temper keeps me alive.”
“It keeps you alive until it doesn’t.”
He let that one land. “What about Marco?”
“Don’t chase a ghost while a living threat watches you,” shesaid.
“You think the threat is close.”
“I think you already know that,” she said. “The way you asked about my divorce. You’re not calling me to gossip, Leif. You’re calling me because you’re deciding which enemy tohandle first, and you wanted to know if your mother is still one of them.”
He closed his eyes and let the truth of that strip him clean. “Are you?”
“No,” she said. “I’m yours.”
He nodded once to the empty room. “Then give me one thing I can test.”
“You want a fact.”
“Yes.”
“There’s a private chapel on the old Dante land that is never listed on a tour,” Letty said. “There’s a book in a stone niche behind the altar. It holds names and dates that weren’t meant for lawyers. It will tell you where the Brand crossed bloodlines before and what price was paid. If that book is gone, then the person you fear already knows you exist.”
The gradual rise of a smile came, one that had nothing to do with pleasure. “That will do.”
“Leif,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not trusting you with what you were strong enough to hold.”
He let the apology touch him. He didn’t know what to do with it, so he did nothing. “I have to wake a woman and tell her we’re safe for now,” he said. “Then I have to call Cade.”
“Tell Elise I love her.”
“You can tell her yourself later.” He glanced again toward the bedroom. “I’ll call you after I speak to Cade.”
“I’ll be here,” she said. “And Leif… be careful how you carry your new truth. Alion is a promise and a target.”
“I know.”
He ended the call and stood for a moment in the quiet. The sun had cleared the rim of the buildings and laid a blade of light across the floor. The room smelled faintly of sex and clean cotton and coffee from the machine that had started on its timer. He flexed his hand and the Brand answered with that steady, answeringheat.
He pocketed the phone and went back to the bedroom. Mariah stirred when the mattress dipped, eyes blinking open, mouth soft from sleep. He bent and kissed her forehead because if he kissed her mouth he wouldn’tstop anytime soon.
“Trouble?” she whispered.
“Only the kind I was born for.” He brushed her hair back. “Go back to sleep for another hour. Then we hunt.”
