Strangers of the Night Read online

  “Are we friends now?” he asked finally.

  She smiled. “Yeah. We’re friends.”

  Chapter 13

  There hadn’t been much for Kane to leave behind, which said a lot about his life. There were people who would miss him, but Vadim had assured him someone from the Crew was working on explanations for everyone. It wasn’t like going into the witness protection program or anything. He wouldn’t have to miss going to his mother’s house for Christmas.

  He did need to decide if he was going to stay on and work for this group, though. It seemed like a no-brainer, based on the salary Vadim had offered. The benefits. The work itself didn’t seem much different than what he’d been doing before. Researching cases. Putting pieces together. Proving or disproving things. It was just that now, instead of figuring out who done it, Kane would be tasked with figuring out what done it.

  He’d never been a man to believe in aliens or werewolves, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t ever thought about the possibilities. If anything, he was more likely to accept the existence of what he’d always thought of as monsters and Vadim had called cryptozoological creatures. Chupacabra, Kane thought with a small laugh. Sasquatch.

  Still, he hadn’t yet confirmed he was going to sign on. He wasn’t scared of the danger. He wasn’t worried about not being able to talk about his real work, or living with secrets. No, the only thing holding him back was her.

  Persephone.

  He was so far from understanding all of her, but at least he’d gotten a good look at the background. Vadim had given him access to all the files they had on Collins Creek. The rumors and stories Kane had found on the internet had been only half-true. What had gone on there had been horrifying, from the active use of psychedelic drugs and other tortures in order to create what they thought would be superchildren... It had turned his stomach, but it explained so much about the woman who’d so intrigued him for the past year.

  Kane didn’t like thinking that Persephone had gone to bed with him out of some misguided sense of gratitude, but he knew it was the most likely explanation. She’d been a little distant since then, and because she’d been cleared by the staff doctor in this Crew facility, there had been no real need for him to continue sharing her room when he’d been given his own. He might not know her entirely, but he did know her well enough not to push the offer of his protection.

  He wanted her to want him. He wanted her to need him. He did not want her to feel obligated to him.

  Phoenix had disappeared, no trace, but Persephone didn’t seem worried. She said she could sense that he was still alive, at least. Vadim had said they were tracking him down, trying to find out if he’d been taken to Wyrmwood or had indeed managed to get away.

  There was one set of files Kane had not yet read, and they belonged to Persephone, personally. There were a few dozen documents labeled with her name, but although Vadim had given him permission to view them, it hadn’t felt right. He wanted to ask her if it was okay.

  He didn’t find her in the cafeteria or the rec room, and she didn’t answer her door when he knocked. He went to the library next, a vast room lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves and more books than anyone could ever read in a lifetime. She was curled up in an overstuffed leather chair with a hardbound volume on her lap, her brow furrowed in concentration and the pink tip of her tongue peeking occasionally from between her lips. She was so beautiful it made his heart hurt.

  “Hey,” he said.

  She looked up, her gaze at first wary and then softening when she saw him. “Hey.”

  “Can we talk?”

  She frowned, probably thinking he was going to try to have some big-deal discussion about “them” or something, he thought and almost laughed. Having been on the receiving end of a number of those talks, he understood her trepidation. She put her book aside, though, and sat up.

  “Sure,” she said hesitantly. “Here?”

  “Here’s fine. I just wanted to know if it would be all right with you if I read the files Vadim has on you.”

  Persephone’s strawberry blond brows rose to meet the edges of her hairline. “I guess so?”

  “You knew he had them, right?” Kane lowered his voice out of deference to being in the library.

  “I figured, but I just thought you’d have already looked at them.” Persephone’s lips pursed and her eyes narrowed for a moment before she blinked rapidly and looked away from. Her shoulders lifted and fell, and she cleared her throat before looking back at him with glistening eyes. “I assumed you would have already looked.”

  “I didn’t want to do it without your permission. All of this has been weird. I didn’t want to make it any stranger,” Kane said.

  She got to her feet then, the book forgotten. She had to stand on her tiptoes to get to his mouth, but the soft kiss she brushed over his lips made him smile. She smiled, too. She touched his cheek for a second or so, her gaze searching his, but what she saw inside it didn’t seem to reassure her.

  “Sure. Read the files,” she said. “I’ll be in my room when you’re done.”

  She kissed him again, a little harder this time, and on the corner of his mouth. She pushed past him, her book in hand, and left him in the library. He watched her walk away without looking back. Then he went to one of the computer kiosks and typed in the credentials Vadim had provided for him. In seconds, Persephone’s files were on the screen. He started to read.

  The criminal activities didn’t surprise him. Neither did the sex work. It didn’t bother him, even if it should have because his job had been arresting people who broke the law. None of that seemed to matter now, and besides, with a history like hers, he was surprised she hadn’t turned to worse vices.

  When he learned what she could do, however, he sat back in his seat with a thick feeling of unease in his throat. He’d felt firsthand what it had been like when Phoenix had used his talents to send him out of the motel room, so he could believe everything he’d read in the files was true. He didn’t want to believe it of her, but he knew Persephone had also used her talents on him.

  * * *

  The knock at her door had her heart leaping into her throat, and Persephone considered pretending she hadn’t heard it. That wouldn’t make him go away, though. She opened her door to let Kane step through it, then closed it behind him.

  “It was you—all of them were you,” he said in a low voice. Not looking at her. “For how long?”

  She didn’t try to lie about it. “Almost a year. The first time was at a dance club. I’d gone out with my friend Leila and saw you there. And I...”

  “You what?” His voice deepened, hard. So did his gaze, turning intense and cold, spearing her. “You thought I’d be another mark? You targeted me? Were you disappointed when you found out I don’t have any money or anything to steal?”

  “It wasn’t for that reason,” she told him. “I hadn’t been to bed with anyone for a while and I was... I liked you. I liked the way you look.”

  Kane’s lip curled a little bit. “But why trick me? Then and every time after? It was a dozen times, wasn’t it? My God, was it you every single time?”

  “I have no idea,” Persephone snapped, knowing she had no real right to be irritable with him but feeling defensive, anyway. “I didn’t keep track of all the women you brought home. I’m sure there were more than just me.”

  “Maybe. But at least none of them lied to me.”

  She snorted derision. “They all probably lied to you, Kane.”

  “Not the way you did.” He said the words as though he meant them to sound angry, but they came out rich with disappointment.

  That was worse. Fury she could deflect. Looking into his eyes and knowing that she’d hurt him was a much heavier burden to bear. Persephone swallowed the lump of emotion trying to strangle her.

  “How did y