Page 23 of Wild Fire

He showered quickly and only pulled on the pair of faded Levi’s before moving into the kitchen. It wasn’t long before she smelled both bacon and sausage being cooked. Her tummy grumbled, reminding her she’d had a busy night. She thought about getting up and finding something to pull on, but Warrick beat her to the punch as he came back to the bed with an enormous tray, heaped with waffles, meats, butter, warmed maple syrup, orange juice and coffee.

She took the mug of coffee from the tray. “Mine,” she mimicked, making him laugh.

“Then you understand the concept.”

“How did you manage this?”

“As I said, each of our safe houses contains well-stocked pantries and freezers. Waffles are easy to make, and I prefer them to pancakes.”

“Me too—crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. These look wonderful and the whole thing smells divine.”

She’d thought to put some distance between them but couldn’t find the will to do so. Flinging back the covers next to her, she scooched over. “Join me?”

He grinned. He was absolutely devastating when he grinned. His angular face had two of the cutest dimples in his cheeks and they belied the stark lines of his face in the most charming way.

He handed her the tray before sliding in next to her, fluffing the pillows and pulling her close, ensuring the tray was set up properly and Dani was comfortable.

“Want to tell me about the nightmare?”

“Not really…”

“Too bad. Do it anyway. I need to know who to kill.”

She laughed and then realized he was only partially joking. “Okay, you do remember that I’m a cop, right? You can’t just go out and kill anyone who harms me.”

“Want to bet?”

“Okay, you can, but I don’t want you to. That’s revenge, not justice, and I’ve spent my entire career in pursuit of justice.”

“How’s that working for you? Besides, revenge is a whole lot easier to get.”

“But not nearly as satisfying.”

“I don’t know. I’ve always found it incredibly satisfying to have the blood of my enemies on my hands and know they will never rise again to harm someone I care for. Make no mistake, Dani, you are someone I care for.”

She wasn’t sure if she was more shocked by his admission that he had and would kill, or that he had feelings for her. Given that she had no fear of him killing her—or even harming her—the feelings part was a whole lot scarier.

“The cult I’ve been chasing—they kind of know who I am. Well, not me specifically until last night, but I was undercover with them for a while. So, they know a woman who, if they can put two and two together, they’ll know was me. The fact that I rescued you will only piss them off even more.”

“What happened, Dani?”

He wasn’t going to let it drop. “They knew me by another name. I was working vice and had made myself out to be a new girl in town with no family, friends, or ties to the community…”

“In other words, just the kind of girl that would attract a slaver…”

“You really hate them,” she said realizing the fire that burned within him had more to it than just cults dabbling in human trafficking.

“I do,” he said with a nod. “Not so much these slavers as I was able to free the two drakaina they had snatched up, but all slavers.”

“You lost someone you care about to them.” Not a question. A statement of fact.

“Not these slavers in particular, but my youngest sister a long, long time ago. By the time I knew she’d been taken, there was no trace of her anywhere. We knew they’d taken her north to a land of ice and darkness. She died there.”

Dani wrapped her arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Warrick. I can’t imagine how terrible that must have been for you.”

“What did they do to you?”

“To me personally, not much, but there was a couple that lost a daughter to them. They came with several bodyguards who were not prepared for what they would see or the firepower they would be up against. They found one of the houses where they kept the girls when they first took them. I don’t know what they were thinking. More than half of the people they brought with them, turned on them.” She felt the chill that always accompanied her telling this tale descend like a shroud. “They strung the husband up, and then dragged his wife from the van where she was waiting. They made him watch while they gang-raped her and then slit her throat. I managed to get away and grab the daughter and another girl and get them out.”

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