Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

drag-out fight. Her face was a mess. A cut above her right eye dripped blood, while another one across her chin did the same. Bruises blackened both her cheeks, further marring her pretty, delicate features, and she had one arm wrapped around her middle, as though a couple of her ribs were broken.
    My heart twisted at the damage that had been done to her, at the pain she was suffering. But I also knew that Bria had gotten off easy. Because she was still here with me, instead of being delivered into Mab’s fiery hands.
    “So what did he say?” Finn asked.
    “One of these men talked?” Roslyn asked in a disbelieving tone. “Before he died?”
    I shook my head. “Not them. There was one more who ran when things got bloody, but I chased him down. Asfor what he said, it was nothing good. Mab’s put out a five-million-dollar bounty on the Spider’s head.”
    Finn let out a low whistle.
    “Oh, the news gets better. The sum goes up to ten million if someone manages to hog-tie me and dump me at Mab’s feet—alive.”
    “Ten million dollars?” Xavier rumbled. The giant was still bent over one of the bodies on the pavement. “No wonder things have been so crazy around here. Every bounty hunter east of the Mississippi would come to Ashland for that kind of money.”
    I nodded at the dead dwarves. “Apparently, they’re already here.”
    Nobody said anything.
    “But there’s more, isn’t there?” Bria asked. “Something you aren’t telling us. Something to do with me. Because these men tonight? They wanted
me
, not you, Gin. So tell us the rest of it.”
    Bria and I might not have the closest of relationships, but she was starting to pick up on things about me. Like the fact that I would keep secrets if I thought it would protect the people I loved. I didn’t know whether to be happy or annoyed with her insight. But there was no getting around her question, not with Finn, Roslyn, and Xavier eyeing me too, wondering what was going on.
    I stared at Bria. “Apparently, Mab has realized our familial connection—or at least suspects it—because she’s put a bounty on your head as well. One million dollars. The only catch is that you have to be brought in alive. With me, she’ll take whatever she can get.”
    Bria looked at me, her blue eyes dark and thoughtful.“She wants to use me as bait. To lure you out into the open so she can kill us both.”
    I shrugged. “That would be my guess. But it’s not going to happen. I’m not going to
let
it happen. I promise you that, baby sister.”
    Anger tightened her battered features. “I don’t need you to protect me, Gin. I’m a cop and an Ice elemental, remember? I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now. I can handle a few bounty hunters.”
    I snorted. “This is more than a few bounty hunters. This is every toothless old geezer with a shotgun in the back of his pickup coming to Ashland gunning for us. Me, they haven’t got much of a shot at, since I’m so good at being a ghost. But everybody in town knows your name, rank, and serial number, especially since the incident at the train yard right before Christmas. I’m just surprised it took them this long to get up enough gumption to come after a cop.”
    Bria shifted on the bumper of the SUV. Her bloody lips clamped down, like she was afraid that if she opened them she’d spill her guts about something she wasn’t supposed to.
    My eyes narrowed. “This is the first time that someone’s tried to kidnap you, right? Because I know you would have told me if something like this had happened before.”
    For a moment, I thought that she wasn’t going to answer me. But my cold, accusing gaze weighed down on her, cracking her resolve.
    Bria sighed. “There was a guy two days ago when I was getting coffee over at the Cake Walk. He pulled a gunon me as I came out of the restaurant, forced me into a nearby alley, and told me that he was going to take me for a ride.”
    “What happened?”
    Bria shrugged. “I waited until I was sure that there was no one else around who could get hurt, then threw my coffee in the bastard’s face and took away his gun. While he was screaming from the pain and the second-degree burns, I cuffed his ass and hauled him down to the station. End of story.”
    Finn gave my sister a warm, admiring look. “Nice takedown, detective. Even if you should have found another way to do it. Don’t you know that you never, ever waste a cup of coffee like that?”
    Bria’s brows