Dead Ink(Karma Series Book 4)(4)

"How long ago did she die?" Angus asked.

"She says she was recruited a week ago," Lars explained. Everyone was  staring at Faith, and he was grateful since it made his interest look  normal. He had a hard time not looking at her. There was something about  her, even as big a mess as she was, that kept drawing his eyes back.

He saw her lip tremble. If the scared and helpless look was an act, she  was damned good at it. Didn't mean she was an innocent, though. And what  pissed him off more was how it seemed to affect him. He'd never been  accused of being soft but goddamn if he didn't feel some protective  instincts bubbling up in him.

As if sensing his thoughts, he watched as she seemed to mentally take a  hold of herself. Her feet dropped down to the floor and she straightened  in her chair. She crossed her arms and seemed to suddenly project an  air of Go ahead, do your worst. You're not breaking me.

He wanted to smile and go pat her on the back. He didn't, but he wanted to.

Cutty broke from the group and crossed the room to where Faith sat. He  bent down to eye level with her and asked, "Did he tell you what he  wanted you to do for him?"

Bic, Angus and Fate decided to join him and went over to her as well.  Lars begrudgingly followed them, that protective thing forced his feet  to move when he would've preferred to have nothing more to do with the  situation. He stopped several feet short and slightly detached from  where they gathered around her.

He crossed his arms and leaned a shoulder against the wall as he watched  the situation unfold. She looked at Cutty and shook her head, then  tipped her chin up, hanging on to the bravado. The more scared she got,  the larger her eyes looked. Great, he was feeling bad for the enemy.  Next, he'd be lying there with his arms wide open for her knife while he  slept.                       
       
           



       

"How did you find this place?" Fate asked, getting a little closer to  her and not bothering to kneel or make himself less intimidating.

She tilted her head back and met his stare unwaveringly. "It was written  down on a piece of paper I found on his desk," Faith said, but Lars,  who had the best senses in the group by a long shot, could hear a slight  tremble in her voice.

She was on overload. Even if Malokin had trained her for this, she was  reaching her limit of what she could handle. He found himself hoping she  wouldn't break, all while telling himself he was not going to get  involved.

"And he just let you wander through his things at will?" Fate leaned  over her, purposely using his larger size against her and invading her  space, forcing her to lean as far back as she could. "We're supposed to  believe that? Malokin, the man who wants you, isn't in the habit of  recruiting nice little innocents. He chooses people rotten to the core.  Why should we believe a word from your lying mouth?"

Her eyes darted to Lars, as if she somehow knew there was a tiny part of  him that could be an ally. He forced himself to look away. Even  stranger to him was that he had to grip the bench next to him to stop  himself from doing exactly that. What was it about her that strummed  some long-forgotten chord in him? This little petite thing was  dangerous.

When he looked back at her again, she immediately met his gaze. Anger at  what he was feeling shot through him and he wanted to scream at her to  stop looking at him like he was supposed to be helping her. He didn't  know her. What gave her the right to expect help from him?

But damn if he didn't want to swoop in and tell the guys-who he'd called  for help-to get the hell away from her. He broke eye contact and turned  his back on her. He should walk out of the shop and let them handle  her. He tried to shake off the protective urges he was feeling, which  seemed as instinctual as breathing, and moved away from the group. He  got as far as the back door but then stalled.

"What else did you so conveniently find, besides all of our names and  locations?" Fate pressed, and Lars could hear the lethal edge in his  voice. Did he really have to say it like that? Fate really could be a  bastard.

"That was all," she answered, stammering halfway. It was too much. Fate  was going to break her and it killed Lars. If her story was true, it was  too much for anyone to take in all at once. The fact that she was  holding up this well was a miracle.

"You came here because Malokin sent you. Admit it," Fate pushed.

"No. That's not it. I didn't want to stay with him, and I didn't know where else to go."

"You decided to come with no prodding from him?" Fate's voice was harsh,  leaving no question he was suspicious of her story. "Tell us the truth  now and it'll go a lot easier on you than if we have to drag it out of  you."

Lars' hand reached for the backdoor and then he cracked. He turned back  around, took a couple of steps towards the group and saw her. Her eyes  were glossy, as she wrung her hands in her lap, and it utterly undid  him. "Fate. Back off," Lars said from where he stood, farther away.

All heads swiveled to look at him. Lars had been with these guys long  enough to not need words to read Fate's expression. Fate threw him a,  you wanted me to handle it, don't criticize how I decide to do it look.

Lars shot back a silent, I don't care what I said. I don't like how  you're going about things. Then, with a tilt of his head, he motioned  everyone back to the opposite side of the room again.

Fate got to him first. "What the fuck? We aren't going to know if she's  playing stupid if I can't press her a bit. Do you want to have to  escalate things?"

Angus, Bic and Cutty were surprisingly silent.

Lars positioned himself with his back to Faith, placing him in between  her and the guys. "Do any of you want to escalate things?" Lars asked,  daring them to say yes and making it clear they'd have to get through  him to do it.

"I know what she looks like," Fate said, shifting modes from aggravation  to acting like Lars was losing his grip on things. "But she might be  working for Malokin."

Lars suddenly realized how far he'd just taken the situation in order to  protect some chick who might be evil to the core. He'd placed himself  in a manner where he would bodily protect her if necessary. Fate was  right but still, he couldn't allow normal procedure in this  circumstance. He wasn't ready to do what that entailed to a tiny female  who looked scared out of her wits.

"This isn't going down like normal," Lars said to them.                       
       
           



       

Fate huffed. "Hell, I'm not allowed to even talk harshly to her, so yeah, I kinda ruled out the other measures."

Angus was the first to address the problem that left them with. "If none  of us have the stomach to beat her up for the truth," Angus looked at  Lars as he added, "Or even speak in harsh tones, what do we do with  her?"

They all looked at each other, and Cutty added his two cents. "We can't  let her loose if she's with him, and if she's not, she'll end up dead.  Look at her. She's a wreck. I mean, she's trying to hold it together but  she really does look like she spent the last week in the woods."

When Lars had first seen her, he'd thought what a poor choice Malokin  had made for an assassin. Looking at how he was reacting, and the cracks  he could see starting in Angus and Cutty, he was rethinking his  position. Maybe she was the perfect choice, especially to exploit him.  And it was the exact reason for what he said next. "I can't keep her  here."

"Why?" Bic asked.

"My place is one large room. It's not conducive to company." And he  needed to get her the hell away from him, preferably to Cutty's. Cutty  had kneeled down when he'd spoken to her to make her feel more  comfortable. Cutty's place would be safe.

"You have plenty of company," Bic said.

"Company that I fuck. Not a good idea for her. Fate has a wannabe serial  killer living with him, so he's out." He turned to Cutty. "What about  your place?" he asked, as though it hadn't always been his first choice.

Cutty looked at her and Lars saw the softening. Yes, it had to be Cutty's place.

Cutty shrugged. "I can take her home."

"You can put her in the guest room I crash in sometimes," Lars added.

"I'm glad you've got this worked out," Cutty said and shot him a look  that told him he realized he'd just walked into what Lars had wanted  from the start. "What about during the day? I can't be with her all the  time. Do we leave her alone?"

"Bring her here during the day," Lars said before he could stop himself.  It was a good call, though. No one should be with her all the time.  Breaking it up was the best idea.