Page 46 of Seducing Hope (The Hope Legacy)

Jed laughs.“Hell, yes! Sign me up for some of her.”

Barney interrupts before I strangle Jed.“She’s bleeding.”

Examining her, I spot the blood seeping from a wound on her thigh, camouflaged in the deep red of her leather pants. I reach out to touch her leg, but she knocks my arm out of the way.

“It’s a flesh wound,” she snaps, not a hint of pain in her voice. She must still be riding the adrenaline from the fight. “Have you lost your ability to speak, or is it beyond your intellect to answer a simple question?”

My mouth twitches. “Dinner?”

She frowns. “The main meal of the day, often taken between late afternoon and early evening. Your point?”

Gods, this woman never says what I expect. “We will discuss this over dinner.”

She rolls her eyes. “Cam’s Heaven Diner, two blocks east. If you’re not there in ten minutes, I leave, and my team is coming. I don’t care if your goons come or not.”

Jed crosses his arms. “Babe, who are you calling a goon? We saved you.”

She blinks at him, as if he hasn’t been important enough to notice until now. “You helped.” She waves her hand, gesturing to the gruesome scene. “And you guys can clean up.”

Duncan chuckles, and she points at him. “It’s still your turn next time.”

Spinning on her heel, she marches down the alley and lifts her sweater over her head, revealing a loose tank top. I watch her perfect hips sway down the alley. Turning back, I find all my men looking, too. I can’t blame them.

We wait until Natia and her team have left before speaking.

“So, there’s definitely more than meets the eye with Natia,” Nathan points out. “She didn’t bat an eye dealing with demons. She’s part of the supernatural world.”

I nod and ask Jed and Leo, “Do you know why the Renevates attacked them?”

Leo turns to me. “No, but the demon was telling the truth—she was their main target. They kept zoning in on her. Given she came to investigate Mary’s murder and was talking with the local detective, it would seem logical Khalkaroth sent them, which means she isn’t working for him. She held her own; she’s a damn good fighter, elegant and graceful, but strong. She knows how to immobilize and interrogate. She doesn’t work for a security firm, unless she’s protecting the president.” His voice holds respect, difficult to gain from Leo; she must have truly impressed him.

Jed grins. “She’s flexible… I couldn’t keep up with the angles her legs were achieving, but I have a few ideas—”

I snap my hand around his throat. “You won’t touch her. Do you understand?” He winks at me.

Before this turns into a fight, Zac brings us back to our mission. “What now?”

I release Jed, who’s still grinning at me. “We meet on her terms, let her think she has the upper hand. I am going to persuade her we should work together. It will be easier to find out what she’s up to. Jed, you have the best skills to infiltrate her group, so you’ll be working with her directly. I warn you—touch her, and you will lose your hand.”

My men gape at me, shocked. I’ve never been possessive over a woman before. I don’t explain, mainly because I can’t. I don’t understand this need to dominate and possess her.

Barney glances at the demon Natia tortured. “She seemed genuinely confused when the demon mentioned releasing the last evil. Either she’s an excellent actress, or she’s clueless. What are you going to tell her about our mission? The Jar? Pan?”

“As little as possible. We will see what she has figured out so far and feed her enough information to keep up the pretense of a working relationship. She can give us information we wouldn’t have otherwise known.”

Barney scratches his head, grazing his cropped hair. He almost looks comical when he does it. “What information?”

“She has a relationship with the detective that we do not. She will be privy to the conversations not in the reports.”

Nathan looks around the garden, surveying the destruction. “Have you noticed she doesn’t lie?”

“She does. She’s just good at it,” Zac answers.

Nathan puts his hands in his pockets and frowns. “No, she doesn’t, Zac. I admit she’s clever at deflecting questions, but she doesn’t lie. I can’t decide if it’s part of her personality… or something more.”

Leo frowns. “Like what?”

“There are some beings that can’t lie,” Nathan answers slowly.

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