Page 43 of Nexus

“You’re kidding,” I said incredulously. He stared ahead without responding, which meant he was serious. I opened the glovebox, spied a white envelope and took it out. “How much money is in here?” I asked, thumbing through the bills.

“That’s irrelevant,” he said stiffly. “You’re entitled to one thousand dollars and not a penny more.”

“How high would you have gone?” I asked, kicking myself for not asking for more.

He slid a look at me before returning his attention to the road.

I counted out a thousand bucks, then put the envelope back in the glovebox. Shoving the cash into my wallet, I now wouldn’t need to visit my fence in a hurry. “It was nice doing business with you, Ruen,” I said.

“Just stick to your end of the deal,” he said sourly.

“I will,” I vowed, already feeling nostalgic that I couldn’t remind him about licking me clean. It would be a very bad idea to break deals with supernatural creatures. It usually ended in death for the one who’d broken their end of the bargain. They took their vows seriously, especially the ancient creatures who’d been around back when honor had meant something. “Your car smells nice,” I said to change the topic. “I can’t smell crap at all now. Did the cleaners use lemon scented disinfectant?”

“How can you tell?” he said sarcastically. “Could it be the overwhelming smell of lemons that gave it away?”

“Sheesh, I guess you got out of the wrong side of your coffin tonight,” I joked. He was usually in a crappy mood, but he was even worse this time.

Ruen hunched his shoulders and tried to ignore me. We reached Drake’s building a couple of minutes later. Parking in his usual spot, we took the elevator up to Lord Gilden’s office.

The dragon was standing at a window next to the French doors, staring out at the city he probably thought belonged to him. He’d been in charge of the supernatural community ever since the city had been a tiny village. It had grown into a thriving metropolis and his wealth had grown along with it.

Drake turned to face us and I saw he was wearing a red tie with his charcoal gray suit. “Twinsies!” I declared, pointing at his tie, then at my shirt. “Great minds think alike.”

He smiled slightly, then gestured for us to take a seat. “Ruen informed me you delivered justice to the wererat who beheaded the human,” the dragon lord said.

“Yep. Blood sprayed all over me when I slit his throat,” I said and slid a sly look at my assistant. Ruen shrank down into his seat and refused to look at me.

“I see,” Lord Gilden said gravely, eyeing his minion in slight disapproval, as if he somehow knew Ruen had momentarily lost his ability to think. “He also told me you ran into a pack of weregators and killed one of them. It was wise to run from them. You could both have been killed if they’d swarmed over you.”

That reminded me of what had happened after I’d killed the target. “It was pretty gross to see the rats turning into cannibals. I know rats will eat anything, but I didn’t expect them to chow down on one of their own like that.”

“Hunger will drive even the most rational beings to sink to unthinkable depths,” he said, staring at the vampire rather than me.

Ruen slid further down his chair, trying to make himself invisible and failing miserably.

“Neither of us were hurt, apart from our dignity,” I said to break the tension. “We had to blast through a wall of crap that was three feet high. It wasn’t pretty, but we made it out alive.”

A grimace passed over Drake’s gorgeous face at the image I’d just described. “I believe the gators might have been responsible for the deaths of your predecessors.”

“Yeah, I figured they’d eaten the werewolves,” I agreed. “They seem to think they own Sector G and attack anyone who encroaches on their territory. The rats tried to hide behind piles of excrement, but they were discovered in the end.”

“I’ll send Hugh, Theo, Zahir and Yareli to eradicate them,” he decided. We all knew Felicity and Otis would be too slow and fragile to take on the gigantic monsters.

“Ruen and I will be glad to help them out, if they need us,” I offered, knowing full well my partner wouldn’t be able to lift a finger to assist us.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lord Gilden said. “Ruen mentioned a rumor you asked him about,” he said in a tone that was slightly too casual.

“What rumor might that be?” I knew exactly what he was talking about and instantly became nervous. Just the fact that he was bringing it up made me uneasy. He never chatted with me about inconsequential things. I reported in, he reluctantly paid me, then I left. That had been our ritual for the past four months.

“You said you overheard someone talking about an axis-gate and a conspiracy in the nine realms to attack Nexus,” Drake said, now watching me intently.

“What about it?” I kept my tone as casual as his and my expression bland.

“I want to know who you heard that rumor from.”

“I can’t remember,” I said with a shrug.

“Was it a shifter, a vampire, or something else? Did you see who they were talking to?”