The Dark Side (12 page)

The phone went dead and I snarled in frustration.

“I’m calling Dan.”Jase was already hitting the button on his phone.

I grabbed it and hit the screen to disconnect the call. “Don’t.”

“He needs to know. He needs to know now.”

Anger and menace roiled off Jase and I almost moved back. But I forced myself to stay still. “I’ll tell him.”

“When?” He reached for the phone, tugging it toward him.

I held on. Vamp versus wolf. A pretty even match though Jase was bigger than me. A muscle bulged in his jaw as he gritted his teeth and I held on tighter.

“When we leave,” I snarled. “We don’t need a busload of agents descending on this place. It’s hardly going to keep what we’re doing a secret.”

Jase looked like he didn’t much care about keeping Esteban happy. Niko, lounging against the desk, looked relieved for a brief moment then slipped back into his default ‘I’m gorgeous’ half-smile. Marco was doing a pretty good imitation of a statue again. I tried to match his level of casual. Which was probably pointless in a room full of three vampires who could hear exactly how fast my heart was pounding.

“What did Smith want?” Jase’s grip let up a little but he obviously wasn’t going to let the subject slide.

“He wanted me to—” I realized Dan’s displeasure would only be increased if I gave away details about an investigation in progress to outsiders and stopped talking. Maybe Marco and Niko had heard both sides of the conversation anyway, given vamp hearing but I would take that risk over being the one who actually gave them anything that might hint at the real situation with the anti-vaccines. I didn’t know how much Dan had told Marco about what Tate had been up to but I knew for sure he wouldn’t want Esteban to know any of it. I yanked the phone out of Jase’s grip. “Let’s talk about this later.”

“You’ll be talking about this with Dan later.”

“Then I’ll tell you after that.”

Jase frowned, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. His face went kind of blank, as though whatever made him Jase wasn’t behind his eyes anymore.

It was actually kind of spooky. “Jase?” He didn’t respond, just kept staring at me. My head buzzed suddenly—an unpleasant sensation like static—and suspicion bloomed.

“Jase, what the hell are you doing?” It better not be what I thought it might be. I shoved him, rocking him back a few steps. “Jason!”

He winced and blinked, expression flowing back onto his face in a way that was only slightly less spooky than the blankness.

“Tell me you weren’t just doing what I think you were doing.”

He rubbed his chest, avoiding my gaze. “What do you think I was doing?”

“Trying to read my mind.” Okay, now that I was saying it loud, it sounded kind of stupid. But I knew telepathy worked for werewolves and vampires had all sorts of psychic powers wolves couldn’t even begin to imagine. Marco’s interest in Jase wasn’t because of his pretty red hair. I stared at Jase, hoping I was being dumb and that my best friend hadn’t just tried the mental equivalent of mugging me.

A faint hint of pink hit his cheeks. Pretty red hair goes with pale skin and easy blushing—even if you’re a vampire.

Fuck. I was right. My stomach heaved again and I had to sit down. “You were really trying to read my mind?” Jase knew how I felt about mental control. He knew Tate had thralled me. “How could you?” I whispered.

“I was—”

His guilty tone only confirmed it. I snarled at him, as a bitter taste rose in my mouth. My best friend had just betrayed me. “Do not even try to make excuses.” I whipped my head around and nailed Marco with a glare. “You taught him how to do this?”

Marco shrugged. “Jason shows promise.”

“Promise? What the hell does that mean?” How many more vamp tricks did Jason have in his bag? Was this even the first time he’d tried? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This was worse even than Esteban’s sexual lure. That at least was mostly physical.

This was my mind. My privacy.

I’d vowed never to let someone into my head uninvited again. I’d let Tate in under duress and Marco only to get rid of Tate’s influence. The telepathy I shared with the pack in wolf form was different. They never knew what I was thinking—well, apart from the fact most werewolves were pretty darn good with body language—they only heard what I wanted them to hear. “I said, what the hell does that mean?” I repeated when Marco didn’t answer me.

“He has certain abilities.”

Okay, so Marco wasn’t going to tell me what the hell was going on. But I was sure as hell going to make Jason tell me. Just as soon as we left. Which was going to be now. I was done for the night.

“You and I are going to talk,” I said, turning back to Jase. “So pack all this up.”

“You’re leaving?” Niko said.

“Yes,” I snapped.

“You are overreacting,
cara
,” Marco said mildly. He moved from the chair he’d been lounging in to the desk I was using alittle too quickly and I flinched.

Which made me madder and I surged to my feet, locking eyes with Marco. “Oh really? Anyone read your mind lately? Against your will?”

Jase flinched. I glared at him then turned my attention back to Marco. Keep your eyes on the biggest threat in the room. Jase had powers but he was no Old One.

Yet.

“Jason, why don’t you go find Ashley a cab?” Marco said smoothly.

Hesitation, then resignation, flowed across Jase’s face. He put down the cable he’d been winding and went to the door. Niko trailed behind him after a glare from Marco.

“Where do you get off ordering my employee around?” I snapped as I slammed my laptop shut.

“I am head of his lineage, I have as much right as you to order him around.”

“I don’t order him around.”

“Don’t you?” Marco looked politely disbelieving. “Then why does the idea of Jason coming into his powers upset you so?”

“It upsets me,” I said, trying to stay calm, “because he tried to read my fucking mind. That’s a violation.”

“He cannot always help himself at the moment.”

“You mean he wasn’t trying to find out what Smith had said to me? Oops, sorry, just tripped and let my telepathy get away from me?”

Marco smiled suddenly, his deep green eyes lighting with humor. It was a disconcerting reminder that he was, in his way, attractive as Niko. More attractive really, because he didn’t have Niko’s smug self-satisfaction. But I wasn’t going to let GQ charm sidetrack me.

“Why can’t you leave him alone?” I shoved the laptop into its case and started piling everything else in the pockets. Cables. Mouse. Portable drive. Sanity. In some ways this was all Marco’s fault. If he’d just left Jase alone I’d still have a best friend I could trust. I yanked the zipper on the case closed with enough force to tear the metal tab free. I tossed it to the floor.

“That would not be wise.”

“Why not?”

The humor faded. “
Cara
, there are some things I do not need to discuss with you. In fact, I would remind you that I am here to help you as a kindness. I do not owe
you
anything.”

“I didn’t ask you to come,” I snapped then sucked in a breath as the degree of aggression in my tone suddenly sank in. I was alone with an Old One. An Old One who’d just pointed out that I still owed him a debt. And I was yelling at him.

Unease cut through my anger like ice water.
Way to go, Keenan.

I took another breath and picked up the laptop case. “I’m sorry, Lord Marco. That was rude.”

“You are upset. But believe me, Jason was not trying to hurt you. Also, he was right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You need to talk to your wolf about what happened here. Tell him his instincts were correct.”

I hate it when people are right about something when I’m pissed off. So I didn’t answer, just headed down to the club, wondering how much Marco had overhead of Smith’s phone call. The crowd had picked up so that the smell of fresh sweat and too many five dollar aftershaves mingled with the stale beer-and-Marlboro smell.

I started to head for the door then spotted Jase at the bar.

Talking to Niko.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something in the angle of their heads or the just-a-fraction-too-close way they were standing made my stomach churn all over again. Surely Jase wasn’t going to make things even worse by being stupid enough to fall for someone as blatantly bad news as Niko?

I pushed through the crowd and shoved in between them. “I thought Marco asked you to get a cab?”

Jase stared down at me. “I rang for one. It’ll be a couple of minutes.”

“Great, we can wait outside.” I grabbed his arm and yanked. “Say goodnight, Niko.”

Niko curled one corner of his mouth at me. “Goodnight, Ms. Keenan. Au revoir, Jason.”

Yeah, well, there’d be no meeting again between these two if I had anything to do with it. I kept my fingers firmly around the expensive wool of Jase’s jacket and headed for the exit.

* * *

It would’ve taken a chainsaw to cut through the furious silence in the cab. Probably self-preservation on Jase’s part. On my part it was rage choking my throat.

I still couldn’t believe Jase had tried to read my mind. Each time I pictured the weird expression on his face and the odd sensation in my head, fury boiled through me. I dug my fingers into the upholstery, the fabric shredding beneath my nails like Kleenex. I was going to have to tip the cabdriver like crazy.

I managed to make it all the way into the office before I started yelling. “Don’t you
ever
try that again.”

“Ash—”

“Do
not
‘Ash’ me.” I dumped my purse with a thump on the reception desk and clenched my hands so I wouldn’t pick it up again and hurl it at Jase’s head.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, you just tried to read my
mind
.”

He pulled off his jacket and tossed it toward the coat stand. “If it makes you feel any better, it didn’t work.”

I watched the jacket miss by a few inches. Jase never missed. “No, it doesn’t make me feel any better. I have to be able to trust you, Jason, or this isn’t going to work anymore.”

“You can trust me.” The hurt in his eyes almost made me believe him.

Almost.

“Can I?” Three hours ago I would’ve sworn on a sky-high stack of bibles that Jase would never hurt me. Now I wasn’t so sure. Not when I had no idea what he was actually capable of psychically or while he seemed to be not entirely disinterested in Niko.

Jase tugged at the points of his collar. “I won’t try it again.”

“Unless Marco tells you to.”

“No! Jesus, Ashley, who do you think I am?”

I didn’t know, that was the problem. And if I couldn’t have Jase as the one constant thing in my world, then everything seemed just a little too hard. My eyes started to burn and I blinked. I wasn’t going to cry over this. I was mad. I had a right to be. Jase knew how I felt about this subject. And he’d done what he’d done anyway. “Why should I trust you? You can pick things out of my mind.”

“No, I can’t.”

“Not yet.” I was wearing a groove in the carpet in front of the desk, pacing up and down restlessly.

“I won’t.” He held up his hands in a what-do-I-have-to-do gesture.

I rubbed my forehead. We could go round and round on this for hours but I didn’t have time. I still had to go home and go round and round with Dan about why I hadn’t called him immediately to tell him about Smith. So I changed the subject. “Okay, why don’t we talk about what the hell you were doing downstairs with Niko? I told you to stay away from him.”

Jase scowled, baring his fangs. “I was just talking.”

“That wasn’t talking. That was flirting.”

All expression drained from his face. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“When you start hanging out with the lord of the dark side’s henchman and then suddenly you start losing your mind and trying to read mine, it becomes my business.”

His lips pressed together. “I think I’m going home now.”

“Fine. You do that. I’m late for Dan anyway.”

“Make sure you tell him what happened.” Jase stalked over and picked up his jacket from the floor, scowling at the wrinkled mess. He shook it straight with a vicious snap and tugged it on.

“Yeah because my night’s been just a barrel of laughs so far.”

He ignored me and reached for the door handle. Then stopped and turned back. “If it helps, I’m sorry.”

“About Niko?”

Head shake. “About the mind thing. I just wanted to be able to tell Dan if you didn’t.”

“And that’s supposed to improve my mood about you?”

“It’s meant to be an apology.”

I shrugged as my heart cracked a little. I wanted to forgive him but the anger burned too hot. Not yet. Not while the memories of what Tate had done to me was so fresh. Maybe not for a long time. “Okay. But we’re not done with this.” I looked at my watch. “Now, I have to go yell with someone else for awhile.” I headed for my briefcase. I had to store the information we’d downloaded before I could go to Dan’s.

“Well, actually, no you don’t.”

I swiveled back to Jase. “Excuse me?”

He smiled, more than a little grim satisfaction in the expression. “Dan just stepped out of the elevator. Good night, Ashley.”

I fought the urge to bolt into my office and lock the door as Jase walked out, turning sideways to let Dan come in. Running would be pointless. Dan could burst through a door in a nanosecond if he wanted. The look on his face made me think it wouldn’t even take that long.

So much for keeping anything a secret. “Does this mean my calls are still monitored?” I said, moving behind the reception desk. I didn’t think faux marble would be much protection against Dan either but it still made me feel a little better.

Dan halted on the other side of the desk. He looked rumpled, stubble shadowing his jaw. The darkness echoed the shadows under his eyes. And the fury on his face. “Marco called me. Right after the night team did.” His voice was way too controlled.

“So that’s a yes.”

“Of course your calls are monitored,” he snarled. “The case isn’t closed.”

My hands curled into fists. “Thanks for telling me.”