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“It doesn’t matter,” she gritted out several moments later. “It really doesn’t. It just…hurts, that’s all.”
Wounds did, and this was a wound just like her leaving him was. Neither had done it with intention to hurt the other, but that hadn’t stopped the pain.
“Iamsorry, Kitten. I should never have allowed it to go that far. I was angry, lonely, and hurt. Not an honorable combination, I’m afraid.”
She opened her eyes, forcing a smile.
“Again, I didn’t find out about that watch until weeks after you left it. I’m not saying I would have run off with you had I seen it sooner, but Iwouldhave pressed that button, Bones. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself.”
A smile ghosted across his lips. “I’ve never been able to stop myself when it comes to you, either, Kitten.”And I never will.“But, we really do need to leave now.”
“On foot?” she asked with hope in her voice.
Bones snorted as he tied the two largest rips in his trousers together. Now, they wouldn’t fall off, at least.
“No. The faster way.”
Her mouth turned down, but she accepted his coat and put it on. She’d be warmer that way, and also, now her pale skin wouldn’t be a beacon against the night sky.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you can fly. I can think of more than a few times back in Ohio where that would have saved me a lot on gas money,” she muttered.
“As if you’d have been so blasé. Remember how you reacted to all the other ways I wasn’t like a human back then?”
“True,” she said after a pause. Then, “Let me guess-you can also leap tall buildings in a single bound?”
He laughed as he pulled her against him. “We’ll try that tomorrow night.”
“What about him?” she said with a nod at Ellis’s body. “We’re just leaving him there?”
“I’m sure your boss will send your blokes to take care of him once his body is discovered. He’s their problem now. Our problem is finding out who hired the late Ellis Pierson.”
Bones whisked them into the air as he said it. Cat’s arms tightened around him. As he went higher, her legs tangled in his, too. Soon, she was clutching him so tightly, he could have let her go and done an aerial barrel roll without her dropping.
“You don’t ever crash, do you?” she shouted above the wind.
Bones only laughed. “Not lately.”
24
Bones set them down behind the house he was renting. He’d selected it for many reasons, one of which was the thick trees that sheltered it from prying eyes even though it was located at the back of a normal subdivision. Now, Bones was glad to have it because Cat also needed a place to hide. Hotels were too public to be safe, and she couldn’t go home. Someone who wanted her dead knew where she lived.
Cat’s face didn’t regain color until she was inside the two-story structure, although Bones didn’t think that had to do with the attempt on her life. She’d obviously hated flying more than she hated riding on his motorcycle.
“Do you think Ian’s behind the hit?” she asked as she followed Bones into the kitchen.
He’d thought about that on the way over. “Not a chance. Ian wants you alive so he can add you to his collection of rarities. He can’t do that if your head’s in pieces.”
She touched the gash on her forehead as if by reflex. It had stopped bleeding, but it was an angry red slash near her temple. Bones grabbed a knife from the countertop and cut his palm, intending to heal it, when she stopped him.
“Don’t. I want it there for now.”
He set the knife down. By the time he touched her face, his palm had already healed.
“How did you know to knock me out of the way?” she asked, covering his hand with hers.
He fought a shudder at the memory. “I heard the shot. He didn’t use a silencer.”
If he would have, Cat would be dead. If Bones hadn’t trained his senses for centuries to seek out danger even when he was focused on other things, she’d be dead. If he’d moved a fraction slower, she’d be dead. So many reasons why she shouldn’t be here with him now…
