Night Calls - Nyx Slaughter Book 1 (22 page)

“I am sure it doesn’t help that
both men in this situation have had more time to come to terms with
what could happen,” he says with a laugh.

“That is a little unfair, but I
learned long ago my life was never going to be fair. So far, the
cards I have been dealt aren’t insurmountable,” I reply.

“No, from what I have heard you
have come out pretty good in the scheme of things. The others are
coming, do you think I could maybe sneak a good-bye kiss before
they get here?” he asks and looks down hopefully.

“Sebastian will feel it, right?” I
ask. He nods and I smile. “Good, my knee still hurts.”

I reach up and wrap my arms around
his shoulders and on tiptoe, I press my lips to his. We don’t go
full on tongue, but it is really sweet and a couple times I feel
him licking my lips. It is not the same as when me and Sebastian
have kissed recently, but it is really nice.

He lifts his head and smiles down
at me. “Just so you know, in the future you don’t get to punish
Sebastian by kissing me. That is just mean and I don’t want you to
reverse the players and you to use him against me.”

I separate from him and lean
against the car next to him. “I won’t. Next time I will just attack
him while he is sleeping. Have a safe trip back and I will try to
stay out of trouble long enough for you to finish your
business.”

“Thanks, I may call in a couple
days to just check in,” he says with a grin before he gets in the
car. He waves and then drives away while I make my way over to the
Suburban.

“Knee still giving you some grief?”
Sebastian whispers as I take inventory and switch out the sword I
was carrying on my back for a machete.

“Now why would you think that?” I
ask trying to answer without being stopped by a lie.

“We both know why. It is nice to
see, or should I say feel, you guys getting along,” he responds
laughing.

“He asked for a good-bye kiss and I
was feeling nice enough to oblige him. We both admitted we didn't
feel anything towards each other, so for now, you are currently the
only love of my life,” I say.

“I know that won't always be the
case, but I get the honor of being the first, so I will be happy.
Try not to get into too much trouble the rest of the night,” he
says kissing my forehead and then disappearing.

I close up the back of the Suburban
and take my seat in front. Marcus sits beside me and Jonas takes
the back. We make our way back to my building without a word. The
guys settle in the waiting area and I venture to my office. The
computer is still on, so I bring up my document creation software
and go to work. I jump around on the Internet to make sure I am not
missing anything from my wording and call it good.

Having that ready to print out was
my goal for returning tonight. Since I still have plenty of time, I
start searching for ideas of anything I am missing to start this
new business venture. My biggest issue I am coming up with is what
I would do if I go after someone that doesn't deserve to die. Like
if someone stole something, I would go retrieve the item, but what
do you do with the thief?

The Collective have a system of
trials for a person, but they really only deal with killers. I will
have to talk to Sebastian and Alex and see if they have any ideas
on a system for crime and punishment. In the meantime, let's hope
that any purse snatchers are dealt with by other means.

I shut the computer down, not
really having anything else to do tonight. I stand and stretch,
popping my neck as I go. If I was still with the Collective, I
would probably be on a job right now. I really hope business picks
up because just sitting around is going to get boring
fast.

“So guys, you ready to head back to
the penthouse? I guess if you guys wanted to take in a show we
could stop next door,” I say joining Marcus and Jonas.

“I like to watch my porn in the
privacy of my own room, so if it is all the same to you guys, I
vote to head home,” Jonas says.

“I am fine with that decision. I am
pretty sure it is Beginner’s Night anyway and that usually puts me
to sleep,” Marcus says standing up.

I turn out the lights and then lock
the door as we exit. It's pretty cool outside tonight and feels
like it may rain soon. I actually love the rain. I don't really
know why, it just makes me happy. I turn around after locking the
door and hear a whistling heading our way. I am sure it is just
because I spent so much time tonight practicing, but I can tell
that is a bullet hurdling itself in our direction. If you shoot
enough of them, you get the sense for the noise they make even if
you don't have super hearing.

Oddly enough, I also know it isn't
aimed at me. I quickly move to push Jonas out of the way just
before it reaches him and hear the glass shatter behind me. I feel
a small sting in my shoulder and guess some of the glass shrapnel
hit me.

“Hey that was my new window!” I
yell and take off in the direction of where the shot was fired
figuring Marcus can make sure Jonas is okay.

My speed is still cheetah slow, but
does seem to have improved. It takes no time for me to catch up to
a man running in the opposite direction with a sniper rifle in his
hand. Not exactly the look of an innocent man. I tackle him to the
ground and throw the rifle from us.

“Just what do you think you are
doing?” I ask pulling him up by his shirt, so we are facing one
another. He looks very young to me and really needs to hit the gym
more. For a male werewolf, he is really small. In the dark, I
cannot really make out his features other than light skin and a
skinny nose to match the rest of his body.

“Oh crap, you were hit. I was
supposed to kill at least one of the guards. You weren't supposed
to be injured,” he says going pale while he looks at my shoulder. I
glance down and don't really see anything with the dark shirt and
limited lighting.

“Who wanted my guards killed?” I
ask. “Why shoot at them and not me. I would think I am the much
bigger threat here.”

“I would agree, but the orders are
you live. Anyone that kills you now forfeits their own lives,” the
man mumbles.

“Whose orders?” I ask just before I
hear a sickening snap and watch as he crumbles to the ground. In
his place, Sebastian is standing with a very angry look on his
face. “Hey, I was still questioning him.”

“And he will live, so you can
finish the job. I couldn't let the wrong he committed stand
unpunished. When he wakes up I will give him back to you, for now
someone will be along to pick him up. We need to get that shoulder
looked at. I have a feeling the bullet is still inside you and
judging by the target it is silver.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,
right? Silver doesn't even hurt Alex,” I remind him.

“True, but we don't know enough
about your make up to be sure it won't affect you. Let's go get it
removed. The pain has dulled to a sting, but I wouldn’t mind being
without it.”

“I didn’t feel a thing and still
don’t. Why are you in pain?” I ask.

“Because as soon as I felt it, I
decided to keep it all to myself. I might have given Alex a little,
but I didn’t know the situation and I thought you would be more
level headed without the pain,” he replies touching his shoulder in
the spot of my wound.

“You can do that? Just take my
pain. That is really weird. Why am I feeling woozy?” I ask suddenly
swaying a little.

“Blood loss, my love. Here let me
carry you,” he says swooping over as I start to
collapse.

“You may have the pain, but I am
definitely getting the effects. Why can’t I just heal like you
guys?”

“Other than your father, I doubt
anyone knows that answer. For now, just rest and we will get the
bullet out and stop the bleeding. You will be as good as new in no
time.”

Not really wanting to, but having
no strength to fight it, I pass out.

Chapter 23

Power makes the world go round

“How soon before we can get some
answers from Aaron?” I hear a voice ask when I finally wake
up.

“No one is really sure what rock he
has crawled under. We have sent scouts out with the message and
hope to find him soon,” someone answers.

“We need to know what we can
expect. I don’t know that he will have the answers, but he may have
some idea of where to start looking. At least she doesn’t heal in
human speed. After we got the bullet out the wound closed up pretty
quickly,” the first voice that I now remember is Sebastian
replies.

“She would have been pissed, if she
had to lie around for more than a day recovering,” Alex tells
him.

“She is a little pissed to find you
are still in town. I thought we said good-bye already. Am I really
that irresistible?” I ask finally opening my eyes. Thankfully, I
find that I am not in a hospital, but in my bed.

“Well, if she could have kept her
promise about not getting hurt, I wouldn’t have had to have the
pilot turn the jet around the second we landed. I wasn’t gone even
three hours and you got shot,” he scolds me.

“Hey, I didn’t make any promises. I
said I would try,” I defend. “Anyway, it was just a little scratch;
you could have called to verify that.”

“I was too curious to see what you
got yourself into, that I couldn’t not come.”

“Has my prisoner recovered?” I ask.
“I want to find out who has it in for my guards.”

“That neck is probably going to
take some time to heal. Usually when your head spins around a
couple times, most of the bones are broken,” Sebastian informs me.
“I was kind enough to spin his head to face the right way and not
let it start healing backwards.”

“Next time, find a wall to punch.
Someone is trying to kill my guards and I want to know
who.”

“I am sure he is just a Collective
operative. He seemed pretty green, so I imagine he hasn’t been in
the business very long,” Sebastian says.

“Yeah he about peed himself when he
saw that I had been shot. Is Jonas okay? I pushed him and then ran
after the twerp. I didn’t check to see if he has been
hit.”

“He only had minor cuts from the
glass shards falling on him. They healed almost immediately,” Alex
reports.

“The bullet though would have
killed me,” Jonas says from probably the living area. The dark
curtains are drawn, so I cannot really tell. “Thank you for pushing
me out of the way. I didn’t even hear it coming.”

“I am glad you are still alive
Jonas. It means I still have time to get you to like me. I was so
shocked at the time that it wasn’t aimed at me that I am surprised
I had the ability to push you away. I talked with the shooter long
enough to know they wanted me rid of my guards, but if I hadn’t, I
would be asking who you pissed off with that shitty attitude of
yours.”

The curtain moves slightly and he
peeks his head in. I about faint from the sight of a smile crossing
his face. “Let’s just say, I may not despise you as much as I did
when we first met.” He closes the curtain and goes back to whatever
he was doing.

“I knew I could wear you down,” I
reply returning the smile even though he cannot see. “So, how soon
before I can go survey the damage. I cannot believe my new window
was broken. I loved that window.”

“You have been out for three hours
recovering. It is already past dawn, but we had some wolves replace
the window and clean up the glass. A new sign will be put on later
today,” Sebastian says.

“Wait a minute, if I had a bullet
still in me, why did the glass break? That doesn’t make
sense.”

The guys glance at each other
before Alex speaks up. “There were two bullets, different calibers
and different trajectories. We think the one that hit the glass was
from the man you caught straight across from your location. The
other one came from the right and was probably fired after the
first one and we are afraid that it hit its target.”

“So someone does want me dead,” I
say oddly excited by the fact.

“Or they wanted to check to see how
silver treated you. We checked the area out, but didn’t pick up a
recent scent strong enough for us to lock in on,” Sebastian
states.

“If people are out there shooting
at me, then I don’t feel so bad about having the guards. Not that I
want them taking bullets for me, but it is nice to have a reason
for them to be around.”

“You are a very strange person, Nyx
Slaughter,” Alex says.

“I imagine you will learn to live
with that fact. It isn’t something I can really change,” I respond
shrugging. “So it is daytime, I am supposed to be suffering from a
lethal bullet wound and Alex is supposed to be out of town running
from assassins, what do you say about us walking down Main Street
together, so I can verify that nothing is out of place at my
office?”

“Other than we should have probably
checked for mental damage, I think it sounds fun,” Sebby
replies.

“Good,” I say throwing off my sheet
to see that I am in nothing but my underwear. Since my chest is so
small, I don’t own any bras, so it is totally open for anyone to
see.