The Demon Within (A PeaceKeeper Novel Book 1)(21)

She'd played a good game, but he wasn't done yet. All he had to do was catch the culprit, and he would be back on top again. One big win, and the team would see their mistake and put him back in charge.

Henry paced the cement floor. Sweat stung his eyes as he racked his brain for a solution. Nothing inside the warehouse would help him get ahead. He slipped outside, the wind doing little to cool his blood. He increased his stride, quickly turning the corner.

And tripped over some idiot too stupid to get out of his way.

"Hey, watch where you're going, asshole!" A blonde woman who couldn't be more than five feet tall, slim but curvy, so a man knew what to do with her, glared at him from where he knocked her on her ass next to her yellow mustang.

Her brilliant blue eyes zeroed in on him like lasers, knocking his thought process all to hell.

"I didn't see you there." He bent to help her rise. A breeze caught her hair and swung the long blonde strands toward him, carrying to him the scent of strawberries. All his pent up anger funneled into pure lust without a single touch.                       
       
           



       

"Obviously." The blonde scrambled to her feet on her own with another glare at him and hefted the tire iron she held. "Kind of hard to miss me and a whole frickin car."

Only Caly ever made him feel like such an ass. Other woman had always adored him. Her lack of response raised his suspicion. He looked at the flat tire she was trying to change and saw that debris from the earlier fight had indeed spilled over onto the road.

The woman fitted the tire iron to the wheel and heaved. To no effect. "Here, let me."

"I got it."

"So I see." Henry smirked and crossed his arms, enjoying the way her ass bounced as she wrestled with the bolts.

In reply, he got a glare. "Perv. This isn't a peep show." The petite woman stood and pursed her lips as she got a good look at him.

Henry smiled at her predicament.

In response, she thrust the iron at him. "The least you could do is change my tire for the look you stole."

Henry snorted, not lifting a finger. "Honey, I'm not sure that little look was worth it."

Her eyes heated with a hint of wrath. She put one hand on her hip, accentuating those breasts. "What do you want?"

"Dinner."

When she hesitated, he narrowed his eyes a little. No woman turned down a free meal, especially with him.

As if sensing his thoughts, humor lightened her eyes. "Agreed, but you pay for the meal and change my tire." Her fine hair shimmered in the light at her nod and her red lips curved into a beautiful smile as if she was the one that caught him. It took no little imagination to know what a mouth like hers could do to a man's body.

"I'm Henry." He reached for the tire iron and missed it when she leaned over to sit on the spare tire and he got a clear look down her shirt. She took that moment to look up at him from under dark lashes, a knowing look in her eyes. Heat burned his face, and he felt like an untried boy caught with his hands down his pants.

"Felicia."

The tire was changed in under fifteen minutes. When he stood, he was surprised to see the team leave the building. Not wanting the others to see him with Felicia, he slammed the trunk shut and hustled her around the car, doing his best to cram her into the passenger side.

"Hey, hands off, buster." She twisted out of his hold, shoving her hands against his chest hard enough to knock him against the side of the car. Red nails scored down the front of his chest so deep he sucked in a breath. "If anyone gets to be a little rough, it's me."

Something about her tweaked his radar despite her distracting touch. He couldn't help wonder if she knew something about what happened earlier tonight.

No one randomly came down this street. Henry relaxed and flashed a smile at her that had been known to get women all hot and bothered. "You never said what you were doing here."

She lost her smile, and her nails dug in a little farther. "Neither did you."

Henry grabbed her wrist but didn't push it away. "I live here."

Her nails retracted a little, but she didn't pull away from his hold on her. "I heard about the attack on the police scanner. I've been tracking these types of incidents throughout the city. They stole something of mine, and I'm determined to get it back."

"Alone? Do you know how dangerous-"

"They're demons. I know." She nodded to the van where the rest of the crew stood. "Just as I know he's one as well."

Henry turned and saw her nod at Ruman. Of course. He was an idiot. It made perfect sense. It galled him that he hadn't made the connection himself.

Caly was consorting with a demon.

That's why his group had been attacked while hers survived without a scratch. The creature probably gave the order.

She and Oscar were always fifty steps ahead. This time he would be. But he needed proof to convince the others. He could take the guy out, but Caly was one of his few equals on the team. She'd cut him down even before the dust settled. No, he'd strategize … just like she wanted him to.

"Come, you and I have a lot to discuss." Henry released her wrist and opened the car door for her. "Let's get dinner. You can tell me how you're able to see demons."

The chit's arm shot out when he would've shut the door. "And you will tell me what happened here tonight."

Plans swirled in his mind, and he smiled, relishing the prospect of exposing Caly. She would finally get what she had coming to her, and he would get his team back.

* * *

"I need to know what happened in that warehouse. Opinions, anyone?" Back at the farm, Caly and the troops sat in the too-quiet kitchen. The coffee was generously distributed, the snacks rested uneaten. Well, by everyone except for Kelly. If they were there, she'd eat them.                       
       
           



       

Knowing her people were safe eased off some of the weight of the elephant that had taken up residence on her chest. When no one answered, she looked across the room.

Ruman stood with his arms crossed, his body propped against the door jamb, gazing down at the floor as if bored. Silent and brooding, he hadn't spoke to her or said boo to anyone for that matter, since they'd left the warehouse.

The way he shut her out left her cold. That's why she didn't date. She didn't need the added stress of someone else's mood swings on top of everything else. And they said females had PMS.

Caly brushed aside the small hurt at his withdrawal, quickly labeling it as annoyance. He knew something, and he wasn't sharing. She touched the handle of her knife for reassurance then set down the ceramic cup. "This attack was similar to the temple. Kamikaze. They seemed to be searching for something and didn't care if there were casualties."

"Blood."

Ruman's one word scattered her thoughts like ash. Flashes of the temple walls winged through her mind. "Why?"

Suspicious danced in her mind. Unwilling for the others to know why until she pinned it down, Caly kept her gaze on Ruman's eyes. Eyes so dark that not even a speck of light pierced their depths. Dark enough to hide his secrets.

"I don't know." He gave a negligible shrug like the answer didn't matter.

Caly straightened away from the counter, and strode around the table, struggling to hold onto her temper. He knew something, and he would damn well tell them. "Why the blood?" She shook her head. "What's in the blood?"

Tightlipped, Ruman met her gaze squarely and kept stubbornly quiet.

"Why our group? Why were we lured to the temple? Why was the compound attacked?" The control she used to keep her anger in check fractured. She poked at his chest, aiming to gain any kind of response from him. Some sort of emotion. He was shutting her out, and damned if she'd let him. He had no right. "Who are they searching for that they'd risk exposure?"

Lightning fast, he caught her hand and dragged her close. "I don't know. I don't care." He lowered his head, his breath hot on her face. The smell of licorice enveloped her, sharpening her hunger. "My job is to protect you, nothing else."

Stunned at his blunt disclosure, Caly jerked her attention from the curve of his lips to his eyes. The callousness of his words stole what little warmth she had left. Whatever he saw in her expression caused his own to darken. With a curse, he dropped her hand, stepped back and disappeared in the darkness before she could form a reply.

"That went well." Kelly's comeback jolted her into action.

"Get back here, buster. We're not finished." Caly tore after him, her boots thumping on the warped wooden floors. How dare he start a fight then think he could simply walk away. Her eyes reluctantly adjusted to the sudden absence of light. Near the front door, she cocked her head and waited for a sound to expose his location.

Nothing.

"Damn." Ruman was a demon. She couldn't forget that fact, no matter how much her body said otherwise. The bastard was still around, she could sense him.

Teeth clenched, Caly unbuckled her sheath and palmed the knife, her fingers falling easily within the worn grooves. She held the blade flat along her forearm.