“I’ll make a note to bring marshmallows.”
“You never know when you’ll need a snack.” He grinned—the more subtle kind that actually flashed with true humor rather than vindictive cynicism like his regular smirks.
I couldn’t help grinning back, until his comment about fire traps sank in. “So, we’re for real trying to break into my lockbox.”
“Yes.”
“And Tutu is keeping her security system on, so she’s not making this any easier on us.”
“No.”
I paused. “Killian…of the quarterly reviews that she’s hired teams to try and break in…how many of them have succeeded?”
Killian checked his wristwatch. “Maybe a dozen.”
“At this location?” I asked. A dozen still wasn’t great odds considering Tutu’s had been around in my grandparents’ time. But the Drake Family was powerful.
“No, nationwide,” Killian said.
“What?” My stomach plummeted to my toes. “How are we going to get to my lockbox if the test has only failed twelve times ever?”
“Getting to your lockbox alone won’t work,” Killian warned. “We have to successfully take something and leave. If her security team catches up with us, they’ll take it back.”
“How wonderful. I should have spent my mornings looking over the wizard registration paperwork,” I grumbled. “Might as well prepare for the inevitable.”
Killian raised an eyebrow at me. “Your lack of faith in the Drake Family’s ability to break laws is upsetting.”
I scrunched my eyes shut and rubbed my forehead. I needed to make some serious headway on my magic over the next few days so I could help as much as possible. Maybe we needed to visit the Paragon again so I could get another book to look at?
“It will be fine, Hazel,” Killian said. “It’s a challenge.”
I shot him a look. “This might be fun and games for you, but I need my signet ring.”
“You missed my point.” Killian nodded to the vampires—who were performing all sorts of impossible athletic feats as they climbed the walls. “I train them so they can be ready for a fight to the death at any moment. They are the deadliest vampires in the area. For them, this will only be a challenge.”
Slowly, I nodded. “You’re right. They are capable.” I hesitated. “I’m just afraid to hope that something will actually go right at this point.”
“It will,” Killian promised. “We will make it right.”
We stood in silence for a few moments, until Killian added, “And I never said Tutu was the only favor I called in.”
Ah, well, that explained a lot. But it also raised more questions in my mind. The top of the list still being…why?
Why was Killian going through such effort to help me?
I watched Josh shoot at a moving target while he clung to the rock wall. (No one could ever say the Drake vampires weren’t enthusiastic.)
“I appreciate the help.” I slowly said. “But is this really okay?”
Killian sucked on his blood pouch. “You aren’t referring to the rock climbing.”
“No. I’m talking about getting hired to break into Tutu’s so I can grab my lockbox.” I scratched my nose as I watched Rupert scale the wall with the speed of a monkey. “You’re putting multiple Drake vampires at stake. And I don’t think you’re getting anything out of it.” I watched Killian out of the corner of my eye, trying to judge his expression.
He shrugged. “It’s good training for them—and it’s a challenge they haven’t experienced before.”
His expression was too…harmless. Killian Drake was one of the most cunning and vicious beings in the Midwest. There was no way he was doing this because it was a good training exercise. “That can’t be the real reason why you’re doing this,” I said. “Do you plan to snatch something while we’re there?”
Killian snorted. “I may push for political power, but even I know when discretion is the better option. No, Tutu will gut me if she were to find anything besides contents from your lockbox missing. Dragon shifters are possessive—it’s why her company was fast to take off. Everyone knew they could trust her to guard their valuables once they were put under her care.”
This was a believable—and likely—answer.
But it made me want to scratch my head even more. “So what are you getting out of this?”
Killian finished his blood pouch and tossed it in a nearby trashcan. “You doubt I would go through all of this just for your sake?” His eyes smoldered with more hints of red than usual as he leaned in. “Don’t you think I care?”
Bless my soul—I hoped he didn’t. Care, that is.
His gaze was almost magnetic, and with him this close to me—with his arm touching mine—I couldn’t miss how attractive he was, and how dangerous he could be to me.
And, no, I wasn’t referring to the way he could probably kill me with a single blow.
House Medeis. I gulped as I forced myself to cling to that thought. I have a duty to House Medeis.
During my somewhat panicked thoughts, Killian pressed in closer so we were now face to face, and he rested one forearm on my shoulder. “Well?”
I patted Killian on the chest the same way I would pat a happy dog’s wriggling rear. “Please. You’ve taught me better than to think that.”
Killian stared at me, then abruptly leaned back and laughed. “Keeping you is almost worth it for the entertainment factor alone.” He shifted so he now rested both of his forearms on my shoulders in what could maybe be loosely interpreted as a slack hug.
“I’m going to take that as you won’t tell me what you’re getting in all of this,” I said.
“It’s the bonding,” Killian said. “It’s important for blending the Drake Family together.”
“Yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “And I’m totally naïve enough that I believe that.”
Killian chuckled. Standing this close to him, I could feel it start in his chest.
I had been hot before—Celestina made me run laps before she tackled the climbing wall—but Killian oozed cool air, making him extra pleasant to stand next to. I was pretty suspicious that Killian knew this, because he was almost too casual in the way he draped his arms over me.
He noticed my narrowed eyes. “What?”
“You can’t fool me,” I declared.
“About what?”
“I don’t know. But you still can’t fool me.”
More rich laughter. “If things don’t work out with House Medeis, perhaps the Drake Family ought to officially adopt you,” Killian purred.
“Is that even possible?”
“You could be our mascot. Or pet.”
“Such a tempting offer.” It was right about then I noticed Gavino, lingering a few feet away and staring at the ceiling in a way that communicated he’d rather be anywhere but here.
Killian didn’t even have to look at him—he kept his half-lidded gaze on me. “What?”
Gavino bowed extra low. “Sorry for interrupting, Your Eminence, but everyone has completed the initial climb, except for Hazel.”
Killian pulled back from me. “Fine. Come on, Wizard. You’re up.”
He strode for the climbing wall, and I dutifully followed—trotting to keep pace with his long legs.
He glanced down at me. “I’m impressed. I thought you’d try to get out of the climb.”
I shrugged. “As long as someone checks all these ropes for me since I don’t have a clue what to do, it will be fine,” I said.
“You’re getting braver—how commendable.”
“Not really. I don’t know why you think this would be such a big deal when you chucked me off the roof of Drake Hall!”
Killian sighed as we stopped short of the wall. “It was only the third floor.”
Before I could protest, Celestina approached us with a smile. “Which part of the wall do you think she should climb, Your Eminence?”
“Hazel is extra cheeky today, so I was thinking the highest portion.” Killian pointed to the one part of the wall that reached the ceiling.
He glanced at me—very obviously looking for a reaction—so I kept my expression flat just on principle.
“Or perhaps you could just yank her up and down like a pinata,” Killian said.
I broke and wrinkled my nose at him. “That’s so mature of you.”
Killian winked, before his expression turned serious as he turned his attention to Celestina. “I wanted your observations on how everyone performed today.”
I tuned out and instead scuffed my running shoe on the gym floor, producing a squeak as my thoughts returned to Killian’s joking earlier.
Yeah, it’d be really bad if he actually cared about me.
Killian cared deeply about things that were important to him. I don’t know if he loved, or was even capable of love, but between his political dabbling and public figure, it was pretty obvious he cared about the Drake Family, and it was equally obvious he’d tear the region apart if someone tried to hurt his people.
If he cared about me like that, vampire or not, there was no way I could hold out against him. And that was where the danger was. Because caring was definitely not the same as loving. And the last thing I needed was to have an unrequited love for Killian Drake.
Chapter Eight
Killian
I sat on the windowsill of the farm house and checked my watch. 4:30 am. I needed to start the drive home soon. I was only an hour and a half away from Drake Hall, but I had to get back before Hazel woke up, or she’d ask more questions.
Questions I didn’t know the answer to.
I studied the sleeping werewolf curled up on a dumpy mattress. It was Alpha Nash—leader of the Flatlands Pack and clearly one of Mason’s newest co-conspirators, although obviously not a very good one.