Page 60 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Cece

I nodded ever so slightly and got busy measuring up the coffee and pouring it into the filter. My chest inflated. Kai loved me, auras and crazy and all. How lucky could I be?

“What’s going on here?” the merc demanded. “Why are you two trading googly eyes?”

“None of your fucking business.” I sideswept the asshole with a glower, looking away from his revolting aura.

It wasn’t as if I wanted to study his disgusting energy, but I’d been desperate to figure out if he was telling us the truth, especially about Li tracking him to us.

So, I’d summoned his aura. The vision that had answered my call came slowly, sluggishly, casing the merc with a poop-brown frame.

It generated a flat hiss that sounded like a snake’s warning.

The merc’s aura looked as stagnant as a putrid pond, and as thick and crusty as coagulated blood.

It was as if the man was already dead.

The mere sight of it gave me the shivers.

Nausea squeezed my stomach, pain stabbed behind my eyes, and dread coiled in my chest. This didn’t surprise me.

This poor excuse for a human was a psychopath and a murderer.

If Dr. Lopez was correct, his dark energy was associated with negative emotions, blockages, violence, and selfishness.

It had taken me a few moments to figure out how to glean something useful from such a static vision. Once I did, I came up with a plan. I’d asked a couple of questions about things I knew about him, if only to test for changes in the merc’s energy field.

When he confirmed I’d hurt him, speckles of lighter brown flashed against the darker background. When I asked him about the murdered woman and he lied to my face, obsidian fissures fractured his aura like cracks in dry mud.

I caught on quickly.

Kai was an excellent interrogator. The way he phrased his questions helped me establish how Levine’s pattern of truth and lies manifested in his aura.

The merc’s energy spoke for him, giving us an advantage.

It struck me that Kai had never doubted me.

Not once did he question my assessments.

He’d rolled with me as if he trusted my insights, the same insights I’d had so much trouble embracing myself.

He sat straight on the chair, wearing only his board shorts and the bandage I’d placed over his wound, and yet he channeled his royal ancestors, looking regal and strong.

Hard lines etched his handsome face, and the steely stare he beamed on the merc projected the quiet strength and fierceness that had knocked me off my feet.

I’d tended to Kai’s wound. I understood the damage.

Despite the meds, he had to be in pain. He looked exhausted after having to fight the beast who’d tried to murder him.

With a start, I realized Kai hadn’t had anything to drink or eat since he’d returned to the boat.

The IV had kept him hydrated, but he must be starving, not to mention he needed his strength.

I’d always left those jobs that required “caring” and “giving” to my sisters, but since he’d fetched me from the lighthouse, he’d looked after me—body, heart, and soul. It was my turn to care for him.

Keeping my eye on the merc and my attention on Kai’s interrogation, I took charge of the galley.

I set the pan on the stove, turned on the burner, and moving aside the loaded syringe that Kai had left on the kitchen counter, dropped the halves of an English muffin in the toaster.

After retrieving the egg carton from the fridge, I cracked the shells, whipped their contents into a bowl, and added some salt and pepper.

A chunk of butter sizzled on the skillet when I dropped it in. I hesitated before I poured in the contents of the bowl, wishing that Nix or Affie were here. They were the chefs in the family. I was notoriously useless in the kitchen, but surely I could fry some eggs for Kai.

“If you can’t give me a physical description of Li, then the deal is dead,” Kai was saying to Levine. “Unless you can tell me something I don’t know about your fucker-in-chief, like, for example, where does he operate out of?”

“London.” The merc sang like the proverbial canary for Kai. “He operates a consortium under the name Lions Consolidated Group.”

Jackpot .

Brown speckles glinted in the merc’s static aura. Kai glanced at me. I confirmed with a chin dip. Levine was telling the truth. I was pretty sure this was information that Tracker Team could mine to locate Li Xao and his associates.

Outstanding job, Kai.

As I poured the coffees, he asked Levine, “How do you know this?”

“Li promoted an old friend, the fellow who recruited me into the NWO, to be one of his bodyguards,” Levine explained while I plated the scrambled eggs. “We go back a while. Whenever he calls to chat, his signal pings in London, near Piccadilly Circus.”

“You did your own reconnaissance?” Kai asked.

“I’m not stupid,” Levine bit out. “When I signed up, I wanted to make sure I knew where the boss was, you know, in case I had to take a complaint to the complaint department.”

“Right.” Kai considered that morsel of information, then turned to me.

“He’s not lying,” I chirped, buttering a muffin, frankly surprised I hadn’t burned it to a crisp.

“What is she?” Levine frowned and eyed me with slack lips. “A truth detector? A witch?”

“Witch, rich, bitch.” I grabbed a plate, a fork, and a napkin in one hand and a steaming mug in the other. “If it rhymes, it fits.”

“Jack,” Kai spat the name as if it were poisonous. “I’m the one asking the questions here. Why does Li want to kill the Astor sisters?”

“No clue,” the merc said.

“See? Not helpful.” Balancing my little load, I crossed the cabin. “We should feed his tiny dick to the fish.”

“It’s one of her recurrent fantasies,” Kai told Levine, a threat if I’d ever heard one. “She could very well realize it today.”

Levine’s eyes darted to me, betraying a glint of uncertainty.

I cackled for effect and handed the plate and mug to Kai. He accepted them from me, but I didn’t miss the astonishment that flashed in his eyes.

He looked up from the plate and at me. “ You made me breakfast?”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t kill you,” I muttered before I returned to the galley and gave an order. “Eat.”

Setting his plate on his lap and keeping his gun at hand, Kai took a sip of my brew and let out a sigh. “Nice.” He tossed a genuine smile my way. “Excellent coffee, Sorceress.” Without trepidation, he chewed and swallowed a forkful of eggs. “These are delicious. Thanks.”

I blushed like a virgin in a whorehouse, or, more accurately, a kitchen virgin in the galley.

Apparently, I was a compliment hog today.

Who knew praise could go so far to lift a gal’s mood?

They felt like mini orgasms to my ego. Hiding my pleasure, I hunched over my food and hid my blush behind my long bangs. But Kai’s smile?

It was for me, and since his aura made an appearance, I knew it was as sincere as the man.

His life energy sang sweetly in my ears. After studying Levine’s congealed and soul-sucking energy, it was a relief to bask in Kai’s aura’s brilliance, even if it was only for a few seconds.

High on his compliments, I plopped down on one of the galley stools. Sitting sideways, I kept a clear view of the merc and his revolting aura. To think I had to eat while watching the repulsive beast. But I was hungry, and we faced a long night ahead, so I dug in.

I tasted my eggs. Warm goodness slid down my gullet, over-peppered and under-salted, but what the hell. Surprise! Apparently, I could make coffee, fry some eggs, and scare the shit out of a murderous mercenary. Three wins in one day? Hell, I’d take them.

***

Kai

“What about me?” Levine’s stomach growled from a distance. “Don’t I get to eat something?”

“I vote no,” Cece offered instantly through a mouthful. She couldn’t contain her loathing for the man.

“We’ll see.” I tore into my English muffin, grateful to Cece for giving my empty stomach something to work on. “Perhaps if you give us something…”

“I’m not cooking for the fucker,” Cece warned, spearing her eggs with her fork.

“Oh, but you will, my goddess of pain.” He flashed his awful grin. “If you’re as fierce in the bedroom as you are in life, I’m gonna make you my queen.”

“I’d rather fuck a rat,” Cece shot back.

“See what I mean?” He smiled down at his lap.

Hell, Cece’s defiance had an instant effect on the merc. His erection was back, sick bastard that he was.

“You’re gross.” Cece scowled.

I squeezed the bridge of my nose and swallowed my fury. Time to shake things up.

“Focus , Jack ,” I said. “What other types of jobs did you do for Li?”

“We took out people.”

“Politicians?”

“Politicians are cheap and easy to buy. Spies are fun to hunt, and magnates run the world. We took those out. Like her father.”

An irate Cece pointed her fork at the merc. “Did you kill my father?”

“Nah, my stormy princess.” The merc shook his head. “I would’ve gladly done you the favor, but I can’t take credit.”

“Who did it?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But there were rumors among the unit leaders.”

“Rumors?” That was interesting. “What did they say?”

“One guy mentioned he’d ran surveillance for Li on the Astor asshole. Oh, shit,” he grimaced. “No offense, mistress of cruelty.”

“No offense taken,” Cece spat, and she probably meant it.

“What else did your guy say?” I asked.

“He told me it was an inside job.”

Cece’s back snapped into a straight line.

I filed that tidbit away. “Where’s that guy now?”

“He got smoked on a mission, or so I heard.”

“Like you got smoked,” I pointed out.

“Yeah.”

“If you weren’t on the Richard Astor job, then how do you know that Astor House is big-ass and labyrinth-like?”

Levine frowned. “Huh?”

“Your words, not mine.”

“I wasn’t in on the murder job.” He turned his pleading gaze to Cece. “I swear I had nothing to do with that.”

“And yet you described Astor House perfectly,” I pressed.

“I led a unit to search that big-ass mansion in Wyoming.”

“When?”

“Right after someone else offed Richard Astor.”

“How did you get inside?”

“Easy.” The merc shrugged. “We went in through an unlocked backdoor.”

“Security?”

“Someone deactivated the cameras and sensors before we got there.”

I traded glances with Cece. Her murderous expression confirmed she believed the bastard was telling the truth.

“Did you see anyone at the house?” I asked.

“The house was empty.”

“Inside job?”

“That’s what I was told.”

I expected as much. Dagger had not arrived at the scene until two weeks after Richard Astor had passed, and we’d long suspected Li had inside intel.

My boss was not gonna be happy about this, but right now, the sun arched toward the horizon.

I was short of time and in need of answers to two top questions.

I returned my attention to Levine. “Why did you search Astor House?”

“We were looking for a thumb drive.”

“What was on this thumb drive?”

“The hell if I know,” Levine grunted. “I got orders, not explanations.”

“A thumb drive is a tiny object in a big-ass mansion.”

“Li gave me an exact location inside the house.”

“Well?” I rolled my hand in the air.

“The thumb drive was supposed to be in Richard Astor’s office,” the merc said. “Only it wasn’t. We looked every-fucking-where and didn’t find the box that supposedly hid the thumb drive.”

“A box?” Cece asked, furrowing her forehead. “What kind of box?”

“We were told it was a colorful photo box with a family picture, or some shit like it. That it was on the old bastard’s credenza behind his desk and would be easy to find because it was unusual, bright yellow, and decorated with palm trees.”

Cece strangled a sound in her throat. The color leached from her face, and her lips turned into a tight white line. Alarms blared in my head. I’d seen a box just like that aboard Serenity . It currently sat on the windowsill of Cece’s berth.