Page 263 of Duty and Desire

Raine Maxwell looked over at him. “We had a deal. I get you the location of Petersen, and you get me all information possible on the Seven. Benny will give you information.” He looked over. “Shit. The woman’s scent is all over you. Did you take advantage of her after the fight earlier?”

“No,” Noah snapped. “I wouldn’t do that, and anyway, you interrupted before things got interesting.” Not true. The taste of her, the feel of her, would be with him forever. Whether he liked it or not. Considering he was about to go fight a dangerous soldier who’d killed more than his fair share of enemies, he didn’t like it one bit. His entire body ached and pulsed. Even his hand burned.

He paused. The world narrowed in focus. In slow motion, his mind already rejecting reality, he turned his right hand over and looked at his pulsing palm.

Raine barked out a laugh. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

Noah couldn’t speak. A black marking of a jagged S surrounded by fierce Celtic lines covered his entire palm. The marking of the Siosal family. The one that only appeared on a demon or hybrid’s hand when he’d met his mate. When he’d touched his mate. “Damn it.”

Raine turned onto the Interstate. “I felt a connection between you two, but seriously, dude? The mating brand?”

Noah tried to drum up anger and punch the asshole, but he just couldn’t clear the fog in his head. He’d been with more women than he could count, and he knew this one was special, knew she called to him in a way that was different. But the mating mark? They’d just met, for goodness sake. The overwhelming possessiveness and protectiveness he was feeling for her was partially because of the danger that seemed to be stalking her. Right? “You have any demon in you?” he muttered.

“Yeah. Enough,” Raine confirmed. “I’ll probably have a mating mark. In a thousand years or so. But I’m mostly vampire, which you already knew.”

Yeah. Immortals might have mixed blood, but they usually were mainly one species or the other. The guy looked all vampire and no demon.

Raine jerked the wheel around a downed tree branch. “You didn’t mark her, did you?”

“No.” Noah couldn’t stop looking at the brand. Just because it had appeared didn’t mean he had to use it. Sometimes they disappeared if not used. But Abby was enhanced, and she could mate an immortal. The idea of anybody else with her made his other hand close into a fist.Mine. Damn it. He shook his head. Once thing at a time. “How did you find Petersen? I’ve been looking for months and only found his interests in the factories outside of town a couple of weeks ago.”

“Have good connections. Tracked him down to LA a couple of days ago, and followed the trail to his factory here. He chartered a helicopter and should be landing in a few minutes.”

Noah frowned, his blood starting to thrum for a different reason. Revenge. While Clyde hadn’t been his blood brother, he’d been close enough. His death would be avenged, and Noah was the one to do it. “Why now?”

Raine flashed a smile. “There might’ve been a problem at the factory. A slight explosion.”

Noah leaned back. “I didn’t ask you to do that.” Man, he hated owing the vampire.

Raine shrugged. “I’ve struggled finding out more about the Seven, and I’ve been paid well. So this matters.”

Well, hell. Noah made a mental note to call Benny. He needed more information to make this square. “I’ll get you the info, but the Seven has the backing of the Realm. You know that, right?”

Street lights cut hard across the planes of Raine’s face. “I know everything looks good on the surface, but the Realm isn’t in a hundred percent. They’re investigating the Seven as fiercely as are other organizations across the world. If the Realm decides the Seven are too big a threat, King Kayrs won’t hesitate to end them. Well, most of them. He probably won’t kill his nephews. Maybe.” He glanced toward Noah as he pulled into the industrial side of town. “Why didn’t you draw Petersen here?”

“It was in the plans, but I was still tracking down which factory he owns,” Noah admitted. “Who are your connections, anyway?” It took him a minute, it really did. “Wait a second. Only the Realm has resources that could work so quickly. You’re working with the Realm?”

“Hell, no,” Raine muttered. “But I have a buddy who works for the Realm, and he owed me a favor. Quid pro quo across the board, my new friend.”

Friend? Hardly. But it was nice to have backup in case he died. “If something happens to me, look out for Abby, will you? Her ex is a piece of work, and I haven’t decided what to do.”

“Sure,” Raine said easily. “I like the human. She’s sweet.”

She definitely was sweet. Sexy, too. The branding on Noah’s hand pulsed with the need to implant on her flesh. Turning her immortal had definite appeal, too. Then she wouldn’t be in so much danger from the mere humans. “Thanks,” Noah said. “Don’t mate her. In fact, shouldn’t you be splitting town now that Ivar is gone?”

“I need the information from you before knowing what to do next,” Raine affirmed. “Besides, I thought I might need to dog you a bit. You know. Blow up your townhouse if you don’t come through.”

Noah nodded. “Yeah, I get that. But I’ll come through, I promise. And double check that Abby is nowhere around in case you decide to blow something up.” He picked a piece of string off his jeans. “Also, I’ll reciprocate and blow something of yours up at some point, if you do.”

“Copy that,” Raine said, pulling the truck to the side of the road. “My intel shows that Petersen’s factory is the third one down that long lane. He’s supposedly manufacturing new grenades that blow by the right radio frequency.”

Noah looked around the dark night. His shoulders stiffened, and his focus narrowed. Time to fight and kill. “Which one is the demoness’s?”

Raine shrugged. “Dunno. There are about twenty different facilities in this direction, and some a ways past that. It’s an industrial complex that feeds all of the small towns around here, and even a couple of the bigger cities. Who the hell knows what Tabitha is into? I try to stay away from her family. They’re nuts, you know.”

“I’ve heard,” Noah said. But he owed the demoness a solid for so easily offering Abby a job when she needed it. He should probably find out more about Tabitha. Maybe even get her pictures out of that bank so she could blow town if she wanted. If he survived the fight with Petersen, which he would. Memories of Clyde, fighting next to him, ran though his mind. He’d been a good male. A strong fighter and a solid friend. Nobody deserved to die by a knife to the back before a sword through the neck. He growled.

“You armed?” Raine asked.