Ecstasy Unveiled(69)

She shut him up with a kiss. It was just a peck, but it was enough to derail his thoughts and wreck his emotions. His sister had nearly killed her, but here she was, smiling warmly and kissing him and being just way too good to be true.

“Took a page from your book,” she said, as she straightened. “It’s an interesting maneuver, kissing someone to shut them up or calm them down.” She paused. “I think I like it.”

A weird possessive instinct made his gut burn, and he wanted to tell her not to use that particular trick with anyone else. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at her. “Something’s off here. Sin wouldn’t stand for being shut out. She’d have found a way in here.”

“She’s not raising a stink… because I swore to release you myself.”

All kinds of red flags went up. “Why? So you can take me home and chain me to your bed again?”

She flushed, and damn it, he felt things below his waist start to stir because as much as it bit dick to be chained up, there were worse things than being chained to Idess’s bed. Better her bed than a hospital one.

“Not unless you force me to.”

“So you’re saying you’re just going to let me run around loose? Aren’t you worried about your precious Kynan?”

“I am,” she admitted. “But this hospital is a very dangerous place for you to be.”

“Ah… it’s a hospital.”

“Full of brothers who want you dead.”

Okay, so he knew they wouldn’t be happy with his plan to kill their buddy, but dead? “If that were true, why did they save me?”

“Eidolon is the one who wants to keep you alive. He thinks that if you’re contained, the other two will be placated enough to not kill you.”

“But you don’t believe that?”

She let out a long breath, as though dragging it out would put off whatever she was clearly reluctant to say. “I saw murder in Shade’s eyes.”

“I can handle Shade,” he said. “But why are you willing to take a chance on releasing me?”

“Because I think it’s time we started working together. Started trusting each other.”

He laughed, but quickly sobered. “Good God, you’re serious.”

She nodded. “I have to protect Kynan, but I also have to protect you. It’s clear that someone is trying to mess with my Primori. You and your sister are the keys. You help me get to the bottom of it, Kynan lives, and your brothers won’t be a threat to you anymore. We’re all winners.”

Sure, it made sense to combine resources, but it also shoved them together when the last thing he needed was to be distracted by her. Because he doubted they’d find the contract holder, which meant he’d have to kill Kynan, and the closer he got to Idess, the harder that would be.

But if her plan worked, big if, Idess would earn her wings and Sin would live. And so would Kynan, the rat bastard.

“Okay, so what do you need from me, right this minute, to get these shackles off?”

“I need you to take me to your master.”

“No can do. Unless you’re branded, you can’t get past the guards and into the den.” Lore could kill the guards, but he wasn’t about to risk Deth’s wrath until Sin was safe. “Which means that the only way to get to Detharu is through the Guild, and trust me, you do not want to do that.”

She drifted closer to him, and in painfully slow motion, she covered his slave-mark with her hand. Her touch was like a punch to the soul, and he had to clench his teeth and his fists to keep from trembling. “Why not?”

It was a full thirty seconds before he could answer without sounding as if he’d lost his testicles in an industrial accident. “Because they won’t tell you anything. It doesn’t matter how much you pay them or what you threaten them with. The only way they’d reveal something like that is if you made it very worthwhile, and even then… I wouldn’t trust the information they give you. Assassins have a reputation for keeping secrets. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be in business.”

Though she lost a little color in her face, she managed a smile. “Well, then, I guess I’ll give them something worthwhile. We’re going, and you’re going to take me.” He would have protested, but she unsnapped the cuff on his left wrist, and he’d promise to take her all the way to Mars if she’d release the other arm, too. “Oh, and you might have mentioned your little death glitch.”

“Death glitch?”

She gestured to his right arm, which was wrapped in thick layers of gauze and tape from his fingertips to his shoulder. “You know, how you could possibly kill me with a touch.”