Page 109 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions

“You killed Dominique.”

I winced, looking away from him.

“Eyes on me, Little Owl,” Master Mal ordered, like we were back atSnow Chains.

My eyes snapped back to him automatically, and I lifted my chin. “She threatened you, Sir.”

His nod was stiff. “So your statement that you’re done killing comes with conditions. Good to know.”

Jason sighed, long and frustrated. “I’m bored. Can I kill himnow?”

“No!” I shouted, immediately putting my back to Master Mal and turning towards Jason. I spread my arms wide, trying to block his line of sight to anywhere on Master Mal Jason might consider to be a target. “We made a deal,” I reminded Jason. “You can’t kill him!”

Jason glared at me for a heartbeat before letting out an irritated grunt. “Fine, Hols. Talk to him, fuck him, kill him yourself. I don’t give a damn.” He shifted himself back on the bed to lay down. The man even fluffed the pillow before closing his eyes. “Wake me if he tries to arrest you.”

I swallowed hard, but also felt relieved. Jason might actually go to sleep, despite the potential threat in the room. In his way, he was giving me a chance to figure out what I wanted to do by taking himself out of the present equation.

Carefully, I turned on the bed to face Master Mal again.

Confusion clouded his features as he watched Jason’s resting form. “Is he actually going to sleep right now?”

I shrugged. “Good chance. We just drove down through Canada.”

A snort escaped him as he rested his head back against the wall. “No wonder I beat you here. I took a four-hour plane ride two days ago.”

“Alone?” I couldn’t help but question. We didn’t see anything suspicious outside that could indicate an ambush.

Master Mal studied me for a long moment before admitting, “Yes. I came alone. Suspended, remember? I believe someone stole four people in my custody from a safe house. Brass wasn’t too happy about that one, Little Owl.”

Guilt squeezed my heart, and I made a face. “Sorry about that.”

“How did you know which safe house? Did you break into my home computer?”

I shook my head quickly. “No, never, Sir! I swear, I was with you foryou, not for your job.”

Something flashed across his face. It’s too quick to identify, but instinct told me it was surprise. “Then how did you know?”

“Jason,” I told him, gesturing behind me. “He’s…resourceful, and fucks a lot of random people. Sometimes they unknowingly give him information.”

Master Mal’s eyes flicked to Jason again. “Him? He’s an even bigger asshole than I am. How could he possibly get people to tell him things? He’s not exactly charismatic.”

I shrugged. “He can be when he needs something.” I could still see the disbelief on his face.

“What deal did you make for my life?”

I flinched, not sure how to explain that. “It’s not important, Sir.”

“But he wanted to kill me? Because I was fucking you?”

Slowly, I shook my head. “Because I was falling for you.”

Master Mal stared at me, unmoved by my confession. “I see.”

My heart couldn’t take much more of this stilted conversation. Especially not after he’d basically just ignored my declaration. “Sir, why are you here?”

He looked back at me. “You don’t get to just run away from me, Little Owl.”

I had no idea what to say to that. He stood up off of the wall, coming closer. Just before he reached the bed, he tucked the gun into the back of his dark jeans. He knelt down in front of me, but he was so tall that we were now nearly the same height. It made me think of the times he lifted me and I was just slightly taller than him.