Kate Daniels 02 - Magic Burns

throat. My pulse raced and I swallowed, reminding myself that it was over. Back then, when I was drowning, Crest offered me a straw, and I almost dragged him under with me. He deserved to be happy. Without me.
    â€œI’ll ask,” I said.
    She exhaled. “Thank you.”
    â€œI don’t know if I can convince Curran. Your lord and I have a tendency to infuriate each other.” And every time we met, something of mine got broken. My ribs, my roof, my hammer…
    She didn’t hear the last part. “I know we can. Thank you so much. We’re so grateful.”
    â€œIncoming,” Maxine’s voice warned in my mind.
    A familiar lanky figure appeared in the doorway of my office. About five ten, he wore pale jeans and a light T-shirt. His brownish hair was cropped very short. He had a fresh, clean-cut face and velvet brown eyes framed in embarrassingly long eyelashes. If it wasn’t for the promise of a masculine square jaw, he would be bordering on “pretty.” On the plus side, if he ever had to fight through a room full of adolescent girls, he only needed to blink a couple of times, and they would all faint.
    But his prettiness and smoky eyes were misleading. Derek was a killer. He’d seen more suffering in his eighteen years than some people packed into half a century and it had sharpened him to a razor’s edge. I hadn’t seen him since Red Point, when my big mouth managed to get him sworn to protect me with a blood oath. Curran had since released him from his oath, but a pledge sealed in blood didn’t just go away. Its aftereffects lingered. That had been the first and last time I would ever screw with the Pack’s hierarchy.
    â€œKate, hello.” Derek said mildly. “Myong? What are you doing here?”
    Myong jumped off her chair and cringed. Her shoulders hunched, as though she were expecting a punch, her head drooped, and her knees bent. She looked down on the floor. Had she been in her animal form, I’m pretty sure she would have peed herself.
    Alrighty then, I guess we knew who stood higher in the Pack’s chain of command.
    â€œYou don’t have to answer him,” I said. “Information disclosed to a representative of the Order is confidential unless subpoenaed by a court of law.”
    She just stood there, watching the floor. It was too much for me.
    â€œYou may go,” I said.
    She fled the office. A second later the door leading to the landing clicked closed behind her. I bet she was running down the stairs to the outside. Hopefully, she wouldn’t break her legs in those stilettos. Her bones might take a whole two weeks to heal.
    â€œMay I come in?” Derek asked.
    I pointed to one of the two client chairs. “Why is Myong scared of you?”
    He sat and shrugged. “I can only guess.”
    â€œDo.”
    â€œI work for Curran directly now. She’s probably afraid I’ll snitch, because I think I know why she was here.”
    â€œWill you?”
    He shrugged again. “It’s her own affair. Unless she starts plotting some harm to the Pack, I’m not interested. Coming here wasn’t her idea anyway. She’s very passive.”
    â€œOh?”
    He nodded. “That asshole made her do it. I always said he was a slimebag.”
    â€œYour opinion is duly noted.” Thank you, boy wonder, for the editorial on my “almost could have been” boyfriend. What would I do without the moral compass of a teenage werewolf?
    â€œWhy didn’t he come himself? Shouldn’t he be here saying, ‘Hey, I know it didn’t work out between us, but I need your help?’ His ego’s so big, he sent his fiancée to beg his former girlfriend to arrange his wedding. How weak is that?”
    Pretty weak. “Not another word.”
    Derek sat up a little straighter. Yellow rolled across his eyes and vanished. That wasn’t normal.
    I pulled Slayer from its sheath and ran my finger along its length. The opaque, almost white metal of the saber nipped at me with faint magic teeth. Definitely a flare. Shapeshifters had trouble controlling their emotions during the flare. Great, just great. Perhaps Curran could be emotionally detached about this wedding problem? Ha! Who was I kidding?
    â€œYou look good,” I told Derek.
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œYou never come to visit me, though. Are you in trouble?”
    â€œNo. Is the room secure?”
    â€œYou’re