From Sanctum With Love (Masters and Mercenaries Book 10) (47 page)

Kori looked out of the car window and frowned. “This isn’t home, Case. Are you taking me to work? Because I kind of thought the office would be closed for the day.”

It wasn’t day anymore. They’d spent the entire morning and afternoon at the hospital, getting looked over and then talking to police. Sarah had required two stitches on her neck, but mostly she’d been a terribly lucky girl. She was all right with the singular exception of her heart. Kori was afraid that was broken. Jared had sent her a text apologizing and asking her not to contact him again.

That was when Sarah finally cried.

“I was told to bring you to Sanctum, Kori,” Case said. “And you know I always do as I’m told.”

Why was she here? Well, deep down she knew why she was here. Kai wanted to talk to her and apparently they were doing it on neutral ground. She knew she needed to talk to him, knew it had to happen soon, but she’d promised her friend. “I need to pack a bag for Sarah and get to the hotel. We’re all staying with Mia tonight.”

Somehow after everything they’d been through it was easy to forgive Mia.

It was easy to forgive Kai, too. She just wasn’t sure it was going to be easy to be honest with him about what she wanted.

She wanted him and only him for the rest of her life. She wanted to throw away all her inhibitions and love him and let herself be. She’d fought for so long to not be the girl she’d been with Morgan that she had to ask herself who she’d become. Becoming anti-Morgan was only another form of denying herself. What did she want?

Kori wanted Kai and she wanted to write. She was simply afraid to reach out and grasp them.

“I’ll pack for Sarah and take it over,” Case explained. “I want to talk to her anyway. I don’t know that she’ll feel safe in her house again. I’ve talked to some of her friends and they’re willing to put her up until she’s ready to make a decision. We’re all here for her.”

She might not have had a knife to her throat, but she’d still been a little traumatized. “You know I was there, too.”

“Ah, but your Master will handle you, sweet thing,” Case said with a wink. “Go on now. You don’t want to piss that one off more than you already have. I think you’ll find Sanctum is closed for the night, so you’ll have the place all to yourself.”

She stared at the building she knew so well. “I thought I was safe here.”

“You were. You are. You’re as safe as you can be, but Kori, nothing’s truly safe. That’s an illusion. I tell myself that every day. When I get pissed and angry because Theo died on an op, I tell myself he could have died while driving. He could have died when it didn’t matter. Instead he died trying to help take down something horrible. It was a good death. Nothing is guaranteed, Kori. I know that now.”

Kai could die tomorrow. He could have died earlier today. Jared had taken a step back and put a wall between himself and what he wanted. Shouldn’t she be brave if Kai was?

She placed her purse on her shoulder and slid out of the cab of the truck, her heart starting to beat. What was waiting for her in there? Would Kai have rethought everything after what happened earlier today? “Maybe you should take me home and let me get my own car. I’ll come back. I swear.”

Case reached across the cab and pulled the door shut. He drove off with a squeal of his tires.

“Well, you could have just said no.” Kori turned back to the doors that led to the lobby.

Luckily Case had given her his key card. He was a giver. She strode to the door because she wasn’t going to be the coward who ran away again. There was a note taped there.

Welcome, Kori. I’m waiting for you in the conference room. Please join me.

So they were going to be civil. Her heart sank a little. It was all right. It was better this way. They could talk and figure out how this was going to work from now on because she knew one thing. She wasn’t leaving again. She was going to help Serena with her script and she was going to find her place here. She wasn’t leaving this crazy family now that she’d found it. She pulled the note off the door and slid her key card across the reader.

There was the sound of a click as the door opened. Kori walked inside, the door closing behind her.

It was so quiet. She never came to Sanctum by herself. Even when the music wasn’t going, there was always the sound of people laughing and the bar being restocked or one of the dungeon monitors checking the equipment.

Not today. Today it was utterly silent. And a little dark.

She took a deep breath, telling herself everything was fine. Kai was here somewhere. “Hello?”

She took another step inside, turning toward the hall that led to the conference room. It was used for staff meetings and sometimes the MT crew met here. She’d never been inside before.

“Kai? What’s up with the silent treatment?” She was starting to get nervous.

Which was probably exactly what the bastard wanted.

Mind games. He was playing mind games with her. She strode to the conference room and opened it. Nothing. It was completely dark and there was no sign anyone had been there at all.

“You know I was almost brutally murdered today, you massive ass,” she said as the door closed. “So what’s with the horror movie treatment?”

She was beginning to have a suspicion.

“You know I am a sadist, my love.” His deep voice made her shriek. It seemed to come from behind, but when she turned he wasn’t there.

That was when she felt it. She felt something drop overhead and then her whole body constricted as the rope was pulled tight.

He’d lassoed her? She stumbled back as he tugged on the rope and before she knew it, she was being turned to face him.

Kai was staring her way like he was going to eat her alive. “I wasn’t really trying to scare you. I thought if you saw me with a lasso in hand you might have run. It’s been a while since I roped a sub. I wanted to make sure I did it right.”

“Are you treating me like a cow?” She didn’t think so, but she wanted to push him a little, too.

He tugged on the rope, drawing her closer. “No, you’re a pretty filly I want to ride. And now I’ve roped you and you’re mine. I have to make sure you’re ready for that first ride. I think you’ll like that. Won’t you, baby? By the time I’m done roping and wrangling you, you’ll spread those pretty legs for your Master and beg for a cock.”

“What the hell is going on, Kai?” She struggled a bit as she realized things weren’t going according to plan.

“You ran from me,” he said, his tone a harsh growl. He wound the rope around her torso, tying her tight. “I’m going to make certain that doesn’t happen again. You can spew any filth you want out of that pretty mouth of yours. I mean it, Kori. You can call me every name in the book and receive no punishment at all, but you can’t run. We have to work this out.”

“Normal people talk, Kai.” Talking was exactly what she planned to do with him. They needed to work things out before they even thought about getting physical again. It was the only logical thing to do.

Her body didn’t seem to care about logic. Her body was already heating up, already loving the feel of rope wrapped around her.

“We’re not normal. We’re us and this is how we work it out. This is how we show each other how important the other one is. Because you are, baby. You’re the most important person in the world to me.” He tied off a knot and pulled something out of his pocket. Naturally Kai had more rope. He seemed to have an endless supply hidden on his body. Kai tied this rope around the loops holding her torso. He fashioned a little leash for her. “Come on. I want to show you something. Something I made for you.”

“Kai, this is ridiculous.”

Kai moved in, his gorgeous face all she could see for the moment. “Is it? This is how I show you I love you. I know it’s perverse and likely no one else would understand. The rest of the world can look at me and call me a freak. I only need you. You’re the only one who can hurt me with words, with judgment because you’re the only one whose judgment ever mattered. This is the language of our love. Can’t it simply be? Do we have to question it? Do we have to change it so it fits some mold we didn’t make?”

Her whole body softened because he was getting to her. Would it be rational to sit down and have a conversation? Yes. But that wouldn’t be intimate. He was asking her for intimacy and she couldn’t turn him down. No matter what he’d done. “No. This is our language.”

This was their love and no one else got to control it.

Yes. She was in control. She’d learned that here in Sanctum. What she gave or kept for herself was her choice, but sometimes it was all right to give it up. Kai wasn’t Morgan. Not even close and the Kori she’d become wasn’t going to turn back into that needy girl who’d given up so much of herself that she’d had to flee to find it again.

This Kori stayed and fought and this Kori was going to find her faith. Erin had told her that if she could easily leave then Kai wasn’t the one.

She couldn’t leave because Kai seemed intent on tying her up. He was definitely the one for her.

Kori let him lead her up the stairs.

Up ahead she saw that Kai had rigged a play space for what looked like some serious suspension play. They didn’t screw around at Sanctum. There were hard points in the ceiling along with suspension rings that could handle the full weight of even the biggest subs. Whatever Kai was about to do would likely be memorable.

Underneath the rig was a cushy mat, set there to ensure even if something went wrong, she wouldn’t be hurt. The mat covered a lot of space and there was a sheet over a portion of it. She could guess that was where Kai had placed his toys. Ah, the mind fuck. She wouldn’t know what was happening, couldn’t tell how he would hurt her before it happened. Yes, that got her motor running.

Kai stopped in the center of the scene space, his eyes on her. “You ran this morning. You ran last night. I think you intended to quit today and not see me again. Come here. I’ll get you out of that. I was only trying to make a point, but it seems you would rather talk.”

She forced back the denial that sprang to her lips. She wanted his ropes around her, but she remained still as he quickly got her out of the bindings. “I wouldn’t have run away. I needed time last night. Do you want to explain what you were doing?”

“I was tagging Mia’s phone for Case,” he said, his voice short. He laid the rope down. “He needed to look into her background and it was what he and the crew decided to do. They wanted to be able to listen in on her conversations with her brother. Now we’ve discovered it wasn’t necessary at all and Big Tag is dealing with her brother directly.”

That didn’t run counter to anything she’d heard. “All right. Did you or did you not ask me to come out with you last night for the sole purpose of using me to get Mia’s phone.”

“I did. I would never have wanted to go to a nightclub with you. I would have greatly preferred going home and watching TV and spending time with you in bed.”

“Did you manipulate me into bringing Sarah out even knowing that she would likely get hurt?”

His jaw tightened. “Yes.”

“Did you sleep with me so I could be your cover?”

“Absolutely not. I slept with you because I finally got to. I finally had you in a place where you let me into your bed, where you allowed me to play with you. The two have nothing to do with one another except timing.”

“I have a hard time understanding why you wouldn’t come to me and ask me, Kai. I would have helped you. Even though she was my friend, I would have helped you do anything you needed.”

“I was asked not to talk about it.”

That simply didn’t make sense to her. “By Case?”

“By Big Tag.”

“So your loyalty to Big Tag is more important than our relationship?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to that question.

Kai groaned in obvious frustration. “I don’t understand why that’s your conclusion. He’s my friend. I didn’t think for a second you would get hurt. Why can’t I do a job for a friend and leave you out of it?”

“You didn’t leave me out of it, Kai. You dragged me into the middle of it. From what I can tell, you and the Taggarts dragged everyone into it. Tell me you didn’t know your brother was under investigation.”

“I can’t,” he admitted. “I did know.”

None of this made sense to her. “You let a potential serial killer into this club. Big Tag let it happen. How am I supposed to feel safe here again? He killed women like me and Sarah.”

His eyes were tight as he continued to stare straight at her. “Yes. But I knew it wasn’t Jared and I stayed close to you. I never meant to hurt you. I wouldn’t do that.”

And neither would the Taggarts. It was so confusing. Only this morning she’d gotten a hearty lecture on how she and Sarah were supposed to stay safe at Erin’s house until everything got sorted out. These men were protective. So why the hell would they put everyone at risk?

“I can see all the questions you want to ask,” he said quietly. “I can’t tell you.”

“Because you promised Ian Taggart you wouldn’t.”

“Yes. I love you, Kori, but I can’t stop being me. Ian told me earlier today that I could tell you if it would make a difference between keeping you and losing you. I’m standing in front of you. I’m offering you everything I have. Will answering that one question make you love me again?”

She shook her head. “No. It won’t.”

His face fell. “All right then.”

“Kai, I never stopped loving you. Not once. I got worried and anxious and about a million old fears hit me at once.” She had made her decision and it was so much easier than she’d thought it would be. It was logic and faith. Kai wouldn’t hurt her. Therefore if Kai had done something to put her in harm’s way, it had to be for the greater good. There had to be meaning. What that meaning was didn’t matter. A sense of peace came over her because she let that fear fly away. She didn’t need it anymore. “I don’t want to know. There’s only one question that matters. Do you love me?”

“I love you more than you can imagine.”

She either believed him or she didn’t. He couldn’t open his soul and let her read what was written there. She stared at him for a moment because maybe she could. A little. Before the last week she’d never looked past how beautiful he was, how stunning his eyes were to stare into. Kori took a step up. Kai remained still as she brought her fingertips up and brushed along his jawline. He hadn’t slept. She would bet on it. He hadn’t shaved either. He’d likely gone straight from the police station to here. There was weariness in those green eyes of his, but there was something else, too. She was there, reflected in them. She’d spent the first part of her life defining herself by how other people saw her. And then she’d rejected it utterly. She’d pulled into herself and the pendulum had swung so no one really mattered. She could say she loved her friends and it was true, but she didn’t love herself until the moment she realized not only was Kai the one…she was his one, too. She was the one who could pull him out of his shell, who could tease and torture him with pranks and affection. If she walked away from Kai, he would be alone. She would be alone.