"Which one is he?" he asked.
"I don't know." Dania felt her frustration rising. "I wasn't looking when he was announced. I don't know him by sight."
"Okay," Rhett said. "If I'm going to go catch my contact, I need to go do that. Do you still want to come with me? Or—"
"I want to see what this asshole can do," Dania said, and the low simmer of rage building in her belly added heat to her words.
"Right," Rhett said. "In that case, why don't you head back to Jake. You'll have a better view. This is the last match for the night, so I'll catch up with you afterwards and let you know what I find out."
Dania nodded absently and took a step down the path. Out of nowhere, Rhett's fingers twined through hers and he pulled her gently to a stop.
"Hey," he said as she turned to look up at him. "I—you really did a fantastic job tonight. I…had fun."
Dania's eyebrows went up and she snorted softly. Rhett grinned and shrugged.
"I mean, yeah, maybe being decapitated by lioness bite wasn't exactly the highlight of the evening," Rhett said. "But…I did have fun otherwise. We should—"
"Have a rematch?" Dania asked, her tone dry. Rhett's grin grew.
"Well, that too, definitely. But maybe we could do something else, too? Like dinner or something?"
Dania swallowed hard. "Detective," she said softly. "Are you trying to ask me out?"
"Trying?" Rhett said. "I thought I did a pretty good job of it."
Dania pressed her lips together to keep from smiling…mostly. "You did alright," she said. "And I'm flattered, really."
"But?" he asked, his smile fading.
"But…I've got Jake. And we're in the middle of this whole thing with the traffickers. I can't think about anything else until I know he's safe."
"That's what I'm saying, Dani. I want to keep you safe. You and Jake."
"And Amari and Joe and Kendra?" Dania let a note of challenge slip into her tone.
"They seem all right at the Night Haven. You aren't responsible for everyone, you know."
"No," she said. "I'm not. Just those I let in to my family." Dania blew out her breath on a frustrated sigh. "Look," she said. "I'm going to be brutally honest here. I do like you, Rhett. And you came through in a big way with that Doc card of yours for Kendra the other night. I can tell you're one of the good guys, truly. And, of course you're ridiculously hot, but I just can't—"
"You think I'm ridiculously hot?" he asked, his grin growing.
Dania ground her teeth together and spared a small wish that she could claw her words back into her mouth…
Ah, fuck it.
"Don't pretend you don't know how you look," she said, glaring up at him. "Or the effect it has on straight women and gay men everywhere. But it doesn't matter how hot you are. I just can't get involved with you right now!"
"Because of Jake?"
"Because of Jake and—" she cut herself off, caught between honesty and hurtfulness.
"And what?"
"Berto," she whispered. "You say you want to keep us safe. But did you keep Berto safe?"
Anger darkened Rhett's face. He abruptly let go of her hand, closing his fist like her skin had burned him. "You don't know the full situation there, Dani," Rhett said. "I'm not to blame for Berto's death."
"I know that my best friend is dead," she said, and she let her tone be more conciliatory. "And I know he wasn't totally up front with me, and I know he was into some shady shit. But the letter he sent me after his death said he'd secretly loved me for years and I'm more than a little fucked up about it, all right? So, maybe you're not to blame, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't right now."
Rhett stared at her for a long moment, his blue eyes unreadable as they searched her face.
"Aaaand ladies and gentlemen, what an unexpected turn! Clayton Knight has played the Bull of Isis! The last creature he's destroyed is being reborn to serve him!"
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The announcer's voice ricocheted through Dania, pulling her from the depths of Rhett's stare and recalling her to the present moment with a shiver.
"I'm going to go," she said. "If this is the last match, I need to get Jake and get moving before the crowds all try to leave. But please, call me if you find out something useful, okay?"
"I will," Rhett said. "And Dani—"
"I'll do the same," she said quickly. "I gotta go, Rhett. Thanks for the match."
With that, she turned and half-ran down the path the way they'd come, nearly stumbling in her haste to get out of that tense, uncomfortable situation.
I'm right. I know I'm right. Letting him take me out would just be asking for trouble of the worst possible kind. I can't get involved with him. I can't. I absolutely cannot.
Dania blinked rapidly, refusing to let the burn in her eyes manifest into tears. She stumbled again and almost missed the turn leading back around the arena to where Jake waited. She forced herself to slow down, to walk, to breathe deep and even and calm down.
Or to look calm, at least. It would have to do.
***
"Knight is working with a Shadow and Life deck," Jake said as Dania approached and dropped down to sit on the grass next to him. "His opponent had an Undead deck, which sucked for him, since Knight's Life attacks just reversed everything. His shadow creatures looked quite a bit different from mine. His are mostly animal themed."
"But it's not a Beast deck?" Dania asked.
"Not exactly. The creatures just had animal heads."
"Oh. Interesting. Egyptian-themed, maybe? I heard the announcer say something about Isis."
"Probably," Amari put in; she had her phone out, and snapped a quick selfie before flipping her screen and leaning forward to show Jake and Dania the web encyclopedia page she'd pulled up. "Isis is a goddess associated with darkness, nature and rebirth."
"Which makes sense for a deck originally gifted to a pregnant woman," Dania said, reaching out to wrap her arm around Jake and hug him tightly for just a second. He looked up at her quizzically, his eyes asking if everything was okay. Dania just smiled and let him go.
She didn't want to get into it. Preferably ever.
"Interesting that he'd show up here and battle with a stolen deck, though," Amari said, bringing Dania's attention back to the matter at hand. "That's bold AF."
"He probably thinks he killed her," Dania said, her words bitter. "She wouldn't have lasted much longer without medical attention. And even if she did survive, it's clear that he doesn't consider her any kind of threat."
"I am, though."
Jake's low, angry words held a dark, growling edge. Dania snapped her gaze down to him.
"Jake," she said warningly. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm not sure," he said, and then looked sidelong up at Dania. "But I bet he could lead us to the traffickers."
"What do you mean?"
"He just won." Jake pointed skyward as the announcer's voice filled the air with the official announcement of Clayton Knight's victory. "Amari said it, he's bold and after a win, he'll be feeling himself. We could follow him out of here and he'd never notice."
"Jake—" Dania started to argue, but cut herself off when the phone in her pocket buzzed.
She pulled it out and tapped the notification of a new text.
#
Detective Walker: Got a solid lead. Taking it to the department. It's enough to get us a warrant. Thanks for your help.
Me: Care to share with the class?
Detective Walker: Can't. Violation of procedure. You were right, you've already been put in too much risk. Take Jake and go home, Dani. You shouldn't have any more trouble.
Detective Walker: I said I'd keep you safe. I meant it.
"Fuck. That. Noise." Dania ground the words out through clenched teeth. Next to her, Jake snapped his head up.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his spine stiffening.
"Nothing," Dania said. She shoved her phone back into her cargo pocket and pushed up to her feet, scanning the area. "There's our boy," she said a moment later. She reached down to give Jake a hand up, and pointed down the slope where Clayton Knight was busy exiting the Red Corner tent with his arms raised triumphantly over his head.
"All right, calm down," Jake muttered as Knight reached out and grabbed a drink from a passing server's tray and downed it in one motion. "That serving card was obviously bringing that to someone else."
"He's giving serious narc vibes," Amari said as she stood up on the other side of Machairi, who had silently stood when Jake had. Dania looked sharply over at the young woman.
"You think he's working for the cops?" she asked.
"Huh? No, why, did the hot detective say something?"
"No! You just called him a narc." Dania pushed away the thought of Rhett as "the hot detective".
"Yeah, a narc. Narcissist. Thinks it's all about him all day every day. He fits every criteria posted by this psychologist influencer I follow."
"I don't think that's—" Dania shook her head and let it go. "Whatever. Here's the deal, Jake. It's late, we're tired and we need to rest and plan. But…I agree, I think we should follow narc-boy Clayton from a safe distance and see if we can figure out who he's working with. Then we head back to the Haven to sleep."
"You mean it?" Jake said, a bright grin nearly as feral as Machairi's spreading slowly across his face. "Really?"
"Yeah, kid. It's a good idea, especially since Sergeant Walker's cutting us out of the loop." Dania hadn't really meant to say that last part aloud.
Jake scrunched up his face and rolled his eyes. "I don't like that guy," he said. "That's a dick move."
"It's probably the right move, for a cop. But it doesn't help us figure out how to stop these assholes from tracking us down. We can't hide in the Haven forever, and there may be others they're targeting. I'll pass along any info we get to him, just because it's the right thing to do… but I'm not going to sit back and let someone else be responsible for keeping us safe, Jake. That's my job."
"Our job," Jake said. "We keep each other safe."
"For real, for real," Amari put in. "We're all family now."
Dania nodded. "Okay, so, let's head up toward the exit, but keep an eye on Knight."
"Why don't I go now," Amari said. "I'll grab my bike and post up where I can see the competitor's exit. That way if he heads to another parking lot or gets picked up, I can let you know."
"Nice," Jake said, smiling at her approvingly.
"Yeah," Dani said. "That is nice. I wouldn't have thought of that."
"I read a lot of spy novels," Amari said with a grin. "Grandpa has a ton of them. Robert Ludlum is his favorite. Okay, I'm out. Text me when he's on his way to the door."
"See ya, Amari." Jake said.
"Stay safe," Dania added.
"Hunt well," Machairi put in gravely.
Amari laughed and waved at them, and then joined the general crowd flowing up toward the exits. Within a few minutes, she'd blended in and disappeared from view.
"All right, Clayton Knight, you narcissistic asshole," Dania muttered as she turned back to see him downing yet another drink. "Let's see just where you're headed tonight."
Books 1 and 2 are now available in KU, and Please check it out and tell him I sent you!
Also, here's a fun project that dropped today!