Page 43 of Wraith (Deviant Assassin #1)

Kiera

I slowly wake, my tongue thick in my mouth. My thoughts are as slow as molasses in winter, not unlike waking up after surgery. If I were in a padded chair in a brightly lit dentist office, the thick sludge of ick I’m trapped in would make sense.

Where the fuck am I?

An explosion flashes through my confused mind, and I pull myself out of the cloying miasma as an unknown urgency rides me hard. Something blew up. At. My. House.

I force myself to slow my breathing, to think.

I remember now, the prep building in the back of the property is rubble.

The heat from the explosion still lingers, like a ghost of chaos on my skin.

The air smells like burned wood and ash, and it’s hard to tell if the heat is from the destruction or from the rage boiling inside me.

Blade squats down in front of the ridiculously comfortable couch I’m sprawled on, bringing us face to face. Eyes dark, his lips curl into that infuriating, smug smile.

“You’re dead,” he says, his voice low and sharp. “You’re welcome.”

My knuckles ache from the tension in my fists. I want to hit him. I want to bust that grin right off his face.

“What the fuck does that mean?” I demand, ignoring the pounding in my head, ignoring everything but the burning need for answers.

“It means though you don’t deserve it, I saved your life.”

“Saved me from what? From whom?” I glance up at the high ceiling that seems to have come straight out of an architecture magazine.

My search continues through the rest of the room…

and decorated straight from a home interior mag.

When my attention returns to my kidnapper, a tick starts up in his eye, as if he heard my thoughts.

When he doesn’t answer, I break the uncomfortable silence, so I don’t poke him in his stupid fucking green eyes.

Or maybe so I don’t get lost in them. “Where are we?”

He scowls, his jaw tightening. “As if you don’t know.

Drop the act.” His voice drips with disbelief.

“Honey, we’re home.” He stands, arms spreading to encompass the room, a creepy smile spreads from ear to ear as if we’re in a fifties television show and he’s playing the perfect husband to my role as perfect wife.

He’d pull it off except for the anger—hurt—glinting darkly in his eyes, “The one I bought for us before you cheated on me and blew our marriage up.”

I jerk into a sitting position, staring at him in disbelief, breath catching in my throat. Home? Our home?

Cheated? On him! What has he been smoking while off doing fuck knows what?

All I’ve been able to focus on for years was escaping the wreckage he left behind—escaping the weight and pain of his abandonment—escaping him . But here I am, fighting feelings for Blade that have never faded, no matter how hard I tried to make them disappear like he did.

Wait… the place he bought for us?

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Cheated on you? That never fucking happened! What house are you even talking about, psycho?”

Blade steps closer, eyes blazing. “Special Agent Wilder, ring a bell? And what about eight years ago? Who did you cheat on me with then?” he says, the twitch intensifies.

Memories flood me—all the times he beat the shit out of Rick, eye twitching the entire time and for hours after.

I can’t dwell in the past, though faced with his inexplicable rage.

“I gave up everything for you, Kiera. Everything.” he screams. “And now you can’t even admit you fucked everything up? Just threw everything we had away?”

“Me?” I bite out and take a step toward him, pulse pounding in my ears.

The taste of ash clings to the back of my throat.

“You blew up my preparation building, Blade! That’s the place I seek redemption, where I—” My voice cracks, fury rolling through me like an inferno.

I clench my teeth, muscles locking up, swallowing hard around the rawness in my throat.

“Where I prepare the dead. You torched my life. My work . My… Boo.” The word slips from my mouth before I even thought it, and panic hits me full force.

Boo, who’s supposed to be safe in that place.

The thought of him trapped in that destruction turns my stomach.

“What about Boo? And the twins. What happened to the twins?”

Blade’s eyes flicker for a moment with a shadow of realization and is that guilt?

“Felix has Boo. And the twins are safe. I made sure of it.”

Yeah, definitely guilt. “Why do you look guilty?” I say, my thigh muscle bunching with the effort to hold back a quick kick to his chin. Knocking him out would be satisfying as hell, but isn’t as important as figuring out what the shit is going on.

“Guilt?” He spits. “No guilt here. More like stress over having to save your ungrateful ass.”

“How do you know Fi has Boo, Blade?”

“Felix knew the mess you’d made of your fucking life, Kiera. He agreed to help me fix things for you.”

He strides over to a mini bar on the other side of the room and pours a bourbon. “You’ve been running around playing assassin and stupidly fucking FBI Agents.”

He downs his drink in one go and I stand there, stunned.

My throat closes with fear, mouth working, but nothing comes out. He glares at me while I process what he just said.

Once I’m able to speak again, all I can manage is a lame, “What? How do you…”

Blade’s eyebrows raise, and his lips curl with anger. “Because I was called in to stop your unsanctioned hits! To kill Wraith!”

I freeze so completely the wave of shock sends me falling back onto the couch.

It’s too much to take in. Blade knows I’m an assassin.

He wasn’t using Wraith as an old endearment.

It was stupid to think he’d use the pet name he gave me.

So, what does that make him if he was ‘called in’ to take me out?

I run a hand through my hair, and glare at him in defiance, because really, what else can I do when my universe is slipping into a fresh level of confusing hell?

Focus, Kiera. Information is power. Get answers, then get the hell out of this mess.

“Why the fuck are you involved in Umber’s dealings?”

“You already know all this, Kiera.” He says dismissively, dropping his gaze to the bourbon decanter. Another pour, another large swallow of the amber liquid. “I left you a detailed letter, a house and a shit ton of money. And you ignored it all!”

“Bullshit. You did?—”

I can’t even finish my question as he grips his empty bourbon tumbler and throws it across the room at the fireplace. The tinkle of broken glass pieces lingers as we glare at each other.

“ I work for Umber as their most lethal assassin. You … I have no idea who the hell you work for.” He deflates with those last words, his tall, muscled body falling in on itself. “Umber isn’t stupid. I faked your death, but I’m not sure it was enough.”

I’m drowning in my anger, confusion, and disbelief as my pulse pounds in my ears like the bass drum at a heavy metal concert.

“Faked my…” the words burn like the bile rising in my throat. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Blade’s shoulders slump, his eyes haunted. For a moment, I see a flicker of the man I once loved–vulnerable, raw. But it’s gone in an instant, replaced by a hardness I don’t recognize.

“The explosion,” he says, his voice low and gravelly. “You died in it. It’s the best way to save you from Umber.”

I laugh, but it’s a hollow sound, devoid of humor. “Protect me? From the organization I’ve been working for all this time?”

Blade’s eyes widen, disbelief etched across his features. “You’ve been… working for Umber ?”

The room spins drunkenly, and I’m thankful I’m still laying down.

None of this adds up. How could a misunderstanding this huge happen?

“ You didn’t leave me with a lot of fucking choice, asshole. What else was I supposed to do since you abandoned me?”

He lifts a hand, and for a moment I think he’s going to reach for my cheek like he used to, but he drags it through his hair instead.

“As I already told you, I left you a letter, Kiera.” He glares at me, but there’s something deeper in his eyes—something close to pain—his voice thickens with emotion.

“I left you everything. I did this for you,” he growls, but his words sound hollow now.

“For us. You’re going to have to run for the rest of your life.

And I’m the only person you know who can make that happen.

The only one who can keep you safe. Which means I’m going to have to run forever too, dammit! ”

Blade looks away, jaw clenched, and suddenly it clicks for me. He didn’t just torch my life. He torched his, too. Everything he built, whatever that is. Everything he believed in—gone up in flames because of this insane plan. And somehow, I’m wrapped up in whatever drove him to do it.

I scoff, the weight of everything pressing on my chest, the tension in my body turning sharper.

“No, you did it for you . I almost told Wild I’m Wraith. I almost told him the truth to protect you. But now? Now I’m glad I didn’t. The twins, they’re still trying to figure out how they fit into my family. You burned it all to the ground!”

Blade flinches, just barely, but it’s enough. For the first time, I see doubt in him. And it makes me sick—I don’t know what’s going on, and apparently, he’s not so sure either.

What a fucking mess. A mess that started because he left me and has only gotten worse since he walked back into my life.

He pulls out his phone, turning away from me as his thumb flicks across the screen. He releases a long sigh, then presses the phone to his ear.

“Felix,” he says sharply. “Get the twins. Send them to Tristan.”

The breath I’d been holding rushes out. Crue and Cassius. My boys. My mind reels, trying to catch up with the gravity of it all.

“Felix is in on this, too?”

That’s why he looked guilty earlier! Bastards!

Blade’s voice hardens, as if he knows exactly what’s going through my mind. “You’ll keep them safe, Felix. Use the encrypted tablet I gave you. Tristan’s contact info is there. He’ll be ready for them.”

“Who the fuck is Tristan?”

Blade ends the call with Felix and, ignoring me, and calls someone else. His voice shifts when he speaks to him, quieter but laced with urgency as he taps the screen and another man’s voice echoes in the room.

“Tristan.”

“Shadow, are you ready?”

“Yeah. The boys are coming to you.”

“I’ve already got them enrolled, and their room assignments set up. I’ll make sure they have everything they need for both school and their dorm.”

“Thank you. I owe you my life.”

“I’m sure I’ll be calling that marker in soon enough, asshole.”

“Fuck off with that shit.” Blade sighs, then says, “Take care of them. Like your life depends on it, Tris. They mean the world to my wife. While you’re at it. Get them trained. I expect them to be able to kick my ass when we see them again.”

My heart skips a beat as I realize what Blade’s asking. He’s not just sending the boys away; he’s sending them to learn to survive. To train for a world they shouldn’t have to know. A life like ours.

There’s a pause, and I just barely hear Tristan’s low response. “I’ll keep them safe for you, Blade. I’ll make sure they know how to take care of themselves, no matter what comes at them.”

Blade’s jaw tightens, his voice rough as he answers. “Good. I could never handle seeing them live like we did…” His voice drops even lower. “… like Kiera did.”

My breath hitches, my thoughts spiraling. The boys. Tristan. Blade isn’t just protecting me.

He lowers the phone, his gaze flicking back to me. “Tristan will take care of them. They’ll be safe. But this? This is the only choice you left them, Kiera, when you brought them into your fucked up life. You better remember that.”

My hands tremble at my sides as I stare at him, at the man I thought I knew—the man who, despite everything, I once thought I could save.

But now? Now I’m not so sure who’s doing the saving anymore.