Gifted Thief (Highland Magic #1)(18)

He still didn’t bloody move. This was like talking to a brick wall. I stepped up once more. I was getting closer. And he was still a freaking statue.

‘I’m Sidhe, you know,’ I said casually, hating myself for bringing up my heritage. What the hell. I was leaving town anyway. ‘You want to know who my father was? Gale. From Clan Adair. He was a mean wanker with more power in his pinkie than you could ever even dream of.’ So I’d been told. I flicked a cold smile up at the statue. ‘Clan Adair might not be around any more but I’ve got his power. I am his daughter.’

He didn’t so much as flinch. My words might be tough but I didn’t have a single thing with which to back them up. I tossed back my hair. ‘So get your boss on the blower and tell him to back the hell off. If he does, he’ll get his money. But if it’s not money he’s really after, then tell me what he wants and I might just let you go.’

In a world of ridiculous notions, that was about the silliest thing I could have come up with. I was a third of this guy’s size. But I was banking on the fact that it was so ridiculous, it might actually work. Unfortunately I was wrong.

The huge man wheezed again. He started to move down towards me, one step then another. I ignored the tremble in my knees and held my ground. It was all I had. If I ever got out of this, though, I was going to wring Taylor’s neck.

The reek of cloves got stronger. I peered at his face but it was still shadowed. I lifted up the corner of my mouth in a rueful smile. ‘You’re going to be sorry if you come any closer,’ I told him.

I’d barely finished my sentence when he reached out with one huge hand and grabbed the front of my T-shirt, hauling me off my feet. Quashing my terror, I began to mumble incoherent nonsense. I screwed my eyes shut. ‘Qaleghqa'mo' jIQuch! LwlIj jachjaj’ I ignored my legs dangling helplessly in the air and waved my arms around as if I were about to cast a spell. Then I opened one eye and peeked.

His face was still shrouded in darkness but I could make out the scar that Taylor had mentioned. It was clearly an old wound but it was an angry red colour, cutting a jagged line from one side of his face to the other. His nose was large and bulbous but his eyes were nothing more than shaded chasms of black. Uh oh.

He cleared his throat. ‘Since when do the Sidhe know Klingon?’ he grunted in a deep voice.

I winced. So much for that. Without further warning, he thrust his free hand in a tight fist at the side of my head. For a brief second I felt a burst of pain and tiny lights danced in front of my eyes. Then the world slid into darkness.

*

When I came to, I was completely disorientated. I thought I was back in my own bed and had dreamed up the entire thing, until I tried to sit up and felt the pain in my head where he’d struck me. I raised my hand and gingerly touched my temple. It throbbed and was tender but I didn’t appear to have suffered any lasting damage. Then it occurred to me that the brute of an enforcer might still be around and I leapt to my feet.

I was back in Taylor’s living room, lying on his sofa with my head propped up on a cushion – which made no sense whatsoever. Of the monster man there was no sign.

‘Hello?’ I called out cautiously. There was no response. I cast a wary glance upwards to the ceiling. Had he gone back upstairs? The crack seemed to have grown, threading its way out across the white surface. I stared at it and made a decision. Whether my attacker was there or not, I was done. It was time to get the hell out of Dodge.

I half ran and half stumbled out of the door, almost colliding with the warm, familiar figure of Brochan.

‘Hey!’ he said, catching my arm. ‘What gives? I came round to see if Taylor was alright and I saw his door.’ He pointed at the semi-destroyed frame. ‘I’m going to guess that wasn’t you.’

‘We need to get out of here,’ I told him. ‘Now.’

I filled him in on the details as we half walked, half ran back to my flat. Brochan listened, his face expressionless. When I was done, he stared at me with an intensity that I rarely saw. ‘You should leave, Integrity. This is Taylor’s problem. Not yours.’

‘Taylor’s problems are my problems. And vice-versa.’

He shook his head. ‘You can’t spend the rest of your life beholden to him.’

‘If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know what I would have done.’

‘You’ve paid him back tenfold.’

I straightened my spine. ‘And I’ll continue to pay him back.’

Brochan sucked air in through his teeth. ‘It sounds to me like you’re in over your head.’

‘And that’s the fun part,’ I said lightly, punching his arm. ‘Besides,’ I joked, ‘I live for danger.’