Page 3 of To Curse A Knight

“Not anymore. You’re moving into my condo tonight. Kellan’s going to outfit you with a tracker, and you’re going to tell us everything you have planned. No surprises. No bullshit.”

I whipped my head around. No. He was not living in her space. Fuck that.

“We’re going to kill him,” I growled. “I’m not letting him live with—“

“You’re not letting me do anything,” my little Killer shot back, her blue eyes flashing with dangerous defiance. “This is the plan, Kellan.”

Brat.

I blew out an angry breath of frustration, but knew I was stuck. Aside from killing him, I couldn’t think of a solution that covered our bases more than this one. For now.

I was now responsible for two men I really want nothing to do with. Fantastic.

She sauntered over to her surprised captive, her lithe body gracefully moving between three of us helpless to escape her orbit. A wicked glint lit her eyes.

“Looks like you're ours now, little Lucky.”

“Idon’t like this plan at all, Killer.”

Kellan’s glower was as familiar to me as my own reflection in a mirror. A foreboding presence, he stood in the doorway of Aaron’s warehouse. We’d just collected our weapons, returning indoors to formulate some semblance of a plan before we stepped back outside and left this terrible memory of an evening behind.

“Big surprise, Viking.” I rolled my eyes at his overbearing, broodish facade. “But I’m not killing him tonight, and you two are in enough trouble.”

Raising an eyebrow, I pointedly looked down my nose at the two men in front of me. Lauchlan currently stoodoutside, handcuffed to Kellan’s passenger seat, despite my explicit instructions he was to come home with me. I’d agreed to one night of interrogation, but Kellan was to bring him back to me in the morning—preferably in one piece.

I didn’t have high hopes. The cartel King made a show of smashing Lucky’s head against the door frame as he shoved him into the vehicle like he was a wanted felon.

The truth, really.

Lucky’s admission had come as a surprise, but in a way, also completely expected. Lauchlan had already proven himself to be a cunning opponent, and learning I wasn’t the sole focus of his attention validated my previous thoughts. He was smarter than he let on, leading a shell game with the practiced slight of hand of a talented magician.

Now, though, I had far larger concerns than an intriguing game of cat-and-mouse with a sexy con man. That he’d tracked and followed me here might have been another element of our veiled competition, but he’d chosen the wrong night to up the ante.

So now, he’d be under lock and key with… me. I wasn’t looking forward to having another person in my space, but that would be a future-Hillary problem. It hadn’t slipped my attention there’d been no mention of his alleged profession—he was still keeping his identity a secret. I was curious if a little one-on-one ‘attention’ could make him crack. I looked forward to finding out.

First, we had to deal with Aaron.

I shifted my ire to the badly beaten man in front of me. Even covered in blood and bruises, he radiated the calm poise of a self-assured man. He stood tall and proud, arms wrapped around his chest in disapproval, but after he had first voiced his suggestion of burning Lauchlan alive, he’d remained quiet. Observant. Waiting.

“Your suicidal tendencies aside”—I glared poison-dipped daggers at my frustrating dark knight, but he didn’t give me so much as a twitch in return—“we’re going to have to get you somewhere safe. And my condo is now taken.” I dipped my head toward the door to emphasize the point.

“I will not need to retreat yet.” He casually wiped the stream of blood from a reopened cut on his lip into the sleeve of his destroyed white dress shirt. “I have a few days, yes?”

“Barely,” Kellan responded, the exasperation in his tone barely overshadowing his concern. “Antonio didn’t give me a timeline, but he is not a patient man. He’ll expect this to be done this week.”

“Okay.” I nodded my head. “A few days is good. You’re going to need a lot of makeup, but a public appearance over the next day or two would be a good thing. It will make your retreat from public life a little more believable.”

Aaron cocked his head and a subtle grimace of pain flitted across his features. “How do you propose,Mi Reina?”

“I have a safe house about an hour out of town.” My gaze landed on the Viking’s icy stare. “Kellan—do you have connections we can use? With your—other—organization?”

I hesitantly searched his eyes, not about to give up his most guarded secret, but hoping it would have some use against Antonio’s vendetta against the Rodriguez family. If he wanted to massacre Aaron’s parents and extended family, I’d stand back and let natural selection have its vengeance, but I wouldn’t let a single hair on Aaron’s head be touched going forward.

Aaron didn’t know about Kellan’s FBI employment; I was sure of it. The only reason I knew was I’d been involved in Winter’s family drama years ago. At every party or social interaction, like Jediah’s, Kellan represented the Carlos Cartel and the Carlos Cartel only.

The blond God shook his head, clumped strands of bloodied dreads swaying around his face.

“I’m about to have a turf war on my hands. If I bring him into a safe house, I can’t guarantee that they won’t try to use him as a pawn to bring in his parents. Antonio’s still off the table—barely—but Veronica and Vicente would be a huge win for them.”

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