Page 10 of Fake Fae-Ancée

I was probably inattentive for a moment, my brain drained of blood and running on mere instinct. Kai might have lost her powers, but she had skills. She was a P.A.S.H. agent, after all.

She twisted her body, slipped out of my grip and we broke apart.

Her head came at me like a cannonball. Collided with my forehead. A white chisel of pain shot up my nose, splitting my mind in half. Groaning, I stumbled backwards.

Next thing I knew, hissing fire hit my face. I screamed out, my eyes turned into burning raisins, my nose was on fire from the inside, and whatever she had sprayed in my face raced down my throat like liquid fire.

"I said let," — Kai's voice came from close by — "me," — a painful kick to my nether regions whipcracked through my body, numbing pain knocking the air from my lungs, — "go!"

I went down with a grunt, blind to the world. There was only the sound of her bare feet on the carpeted floor hurriedly moving away.

Kai

An icy gusthit my face when I found myself in front of a massive skyscraper, somewhere on the edge of downtown. The posh end, of course. Things couldn’t get fancier for our former prince of Douchebagistan, could they? The concierge in the glitzy lobby had just given me a scandalized look as I’d marched barefoot out of the elevator.

Now, the street in front of me was busy with traffic, cars honking, passersby hurrying by as I stepped outside from the luxurious entryway, the winds chasing through skyscraper city doing nothing to cool the red hot rage blazing through me like kerosine in a furnace.

That pompous bastard!

How dare he kiss me? How dare he still be married to me? Was he lucky that I had only given him a headbutt and a charge of bear repellant spray instead of kicking him right out of the window on the — I looked up at the building — thirtieth floor!

The ride I had called just stopped on the curb right in front of me. I hopped into the car and gave the driver directions.

I just sank back into the seat when my phone buzzed. A snarl escaped me as Kalinin's name popped up on the display. I blocked the call so vehemently I almost sprained my index finger.

That bastard! Which part of leave me alone didn't he understand? Hadn't I been clear enough? What else did he need? A restraining order?

Still fuming, I sank in the seat, scrolling on my display.

What the hell? Why had the entire world been trying to call and text me last night? Gabe, Claudio, Charly… also the head office, the switchboard, my partner Tiny…

"Where are you? Call me back!"

"Honey, where are you? We’re worried."

"Answer your damn phone! I’m serious!"

"Kai, you better report in asap. Chief’s going ballistic."

"Where the hell are you??"

Apparently everyone I’d ever known had tried to reach me. All that was missing was a call from Aunt Gytha — although we weren’t exactly on speaking terms since she'd kicked me out the day I volunteered to the EDF. But whatever was going on here, it was bound to be Kalinin's fault. And what was it with that damn ring I couldn’t get off of my finger?! I shook my hand once, twice, then stared at the rose-gold band on my finger, vowing to turn that bastard into confetti the next chance I got.

Scroll, scroll, scroll… Twenty-seven missed calls from the chief alone. I got the chills. If your boss tries to call you twenty-freakin’-seven times, you're neck-deep in trouble. However, I reckoned it better to test the waters first, before jumping right in to face the old alligator. I flipped to the next message and called Tiny back. The line beeped just once before my partner answered.

"Kai? Oh, thank fuck!!"

"What the hell, Tiny?"

"Everyone thinks you're dead or something."

Tiny was a Half-Giant and my longtime partner at P.A.S.H. We had run countless missions, arrested just as many Breachers. I could rely on him blindly, and it took a lot to rattle him. The obvious relief in his voice made me perk up in alarm.

"What's going on?"

"Don't know. I'm sick in bed. Nobody's telling me nuthin’," he huffed. "Just that you kind of disappeared and everyone’s losing their shit about it. I'm s’pposed to tell ya to report to the chief immediately, in case you’d call. That’s all I know."

I rolled my eyes.

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