She glanced back at Dune’s body and shuddered. They almost had been. “How reliable is your illusion?”
“For a few minutes at a time, perfect.”
“But…”
He pulled Dune’s wallet out of his pocket and picked up the cell phone. “I’ve never used it like this. It’s one of those unspoken rules: never impersonate anyone. It’s akin to the Mundanes impersonating an officer. Except that penalty will be nothing compared to my punishment in this case. But either way I’m a dead man, so I’ll make it work.” He met her gaze, and she saw dedication in his eyes. “I’m highly motivated.”
To protect her. She placed her hand on her chest, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat. “I don’t like it. You’re walking into enemy territory.”
He gave her a soft smile. “Someone else I know did that recently. If she can do it, I can.”
“Kade, this is different. They weren’t going to kill me on sight.” She tunneled her fingers through her hair. “The biggest risk I thought I was taking was being disdained, which I was.” She glanced at her brothers. “And having my family find out.”
Kade’s smile was long gone. “But they didn’t disown you. They didn’t hurt you or kill you, even when they thought you’d taken up with me. Family sticks together. They’re loyal.” Unlike the Guard, Kade’s family. “I’m going to get answers. I’m already a rogue agent as far as they’re concerned. Going after Ferro isn’t going to make it any worse.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said, the words out before she could even consider them.
Her brothers started to object, but Kade beat them to it. “No way. You’re a target. Now it is possible that they’ll take you out as soon as you walk in. Stay here.” He met Jessup’s and Ryan’s gazes. “Be ready, in case I don’t come back. Once the Guard targets you, they don’t change their mind. And they won’t care if you or any of your clan gets in the crossfire.” He looked at Dune, then waved his hand. The mangled body disappeared. Kade reached in his pocket for his phone, then stopped and rocked his head back. “It’s such a habit to put on the cover illusion and call for cleanup.” The illusion fell.
“We’ll take care of the body,” Jessup said. “Gators will love it.”
Kade searched for his shoes and put them on. She felt frozen, perhaps as he had when he’d come upon her crying.
He paused in front of her, lifting his hand to her face but dropping it before making contact. “Give me your cell number. I’ll let you know what’s going on.” He programmed it into his phone under the name Astrid. “In case they get hold of my phone. It won’t be an obvious link to you.” He called the number and disconnected. “Now you’ll have mine, in case something comes up.” He started walking away.
She leaned forward, but Jessup closed his hand over her shoulder. “You’re not going with him. Dumb idea.”
She agreed, but still, it was so hard to just let him walk into the gator pit alone. The dappled shadows played over his shoulders and back as he walked into the woods. He paused, turned around. She waited for him to say something—anything. But he turned and continued on.
“They’ll kill him if they know it’s him,” she whispered. Her heart twisted at the thought. She didn’t know what she felt for Kade. She didn’t want to feel anything for him. He was magick and illusion. Deuces were, after all, named for their two-facedness. How much was real?
Well, she’d known him for one full day, had fought him, fought with him, and made glorious love with him. No one had ever felt so right and so wrong all at once. No one had made her hot and aroused and angry and afraid and…no one had made her feel so much. He was a cold killer and a man willing to throw it all away to do the right thing.
And now he was out of sight. What if she never saw him again? She started to move, but Jessup’s grip tightened.
“She’s in love with him,” Ryan said behind her.
“She’s not stupid enough to fall for someone like him,” Jessup said, ever the skeptic. “Not after what Bren did to her.”
She spun around. “Hullo, I’m right here. And Bren didn’t do anything to me.”
Ryan continued to ignore her, talking to Jessup. “She melted when Kade was talking about how crazy he was about her.”
“That was all a lie, to push his sister away,” Jessup said. “Which was admirable, I have to admit.”
“I wasn’t melting,” she said. “I was devastated that he was going to cut ties to her like that. To save her.” But her heart had responded to the words.
Jessup leaned closer to Ryan. “Our Vee isn’t going to let a guy break her heart again. And a man whose whole life has been dedicated to fighting and killing isn’t the right one for her. Besides, he’s probably going to die today.”
16
In a way, Violet knowing the truth was much better than having that heavy rock of a secret in his chest. Kade popped his trunk and pulled out a clean shirt. He did a quick cleanup, treated the cuts, and shrugged into it. Now he could let go of any illusions that he could have her. And he had to face it: after giving in and making love with her, he’d been doing just that, building the illusion of a future. He had to focus on finding out what the hell was going on and making sure she was safe. Later he could pull himself out of the rubble that would be his life and figure out what to do.
Without Violet.
Who’d ignited his magick.
All those beautiful, adventurous Deuce women he’d been with and not one had done that. Not one had reached in and wrapped her long, capable fingers around his heart.
