Page 9 of Damien’s Mate

It did. It only took 37 seconds for it to crack the safe. Everything was going perfectly.

Which made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Because nothing ever went perfectly.

Skin prickling with unease, she stepped into the vault. It was more like a closet, about five by six feet, the left side filled with floor to ceiling shelves holding miraculously beautiful things.

She only needed one.

Lila reached out her hand, trying to sense the unmistakable hum of Draken magic.

There!

On the left, about halfway down, in a tray of gold jewelry. A flat ribbon of gold about the size of an eight-inch ruler, engraved with beautiful, intricate designs. She touched it reverently. After all this time, all this effort, it was hard to believe her mission was finally at an end.

The artifact felt solid when she picked it up, but as soon as she bent it, it divided into linked rectangles, like a watchband. Lila wrapped it around her wrist. The two ends snapped together as if magnetized, and it had somehow resized itself to fit her perfectly.

Her father would have disapproved of her wearing it, but for once she didn’t care. She’d given over twenty years to recovering the Calebite Artifacts of Makek-Dur.

Her father had given his life.

Her chest tightened unexpectedly, and tears filled her eyes. She dashed them away—there was no crying on a mission. She couldn’t screw this up—not when she was at the finish line.

Quickly, she scanned the right-hand shelf, which held bundles of cash and a row of ledgers. Rostov had been very clear about which one to take. It wasn’t important to her, but she might as well go ahead and fulfill his mission too.

It was easy to find—a dirty white book, well-worn, with a bullet hole in the front cover. The legend was, this ledger had once saved Victor Salzano’s life during a drive-by shooting.

She was about to stuff it in the canvas bag, when she felt someone in the room behind her.

Dammit. She was right.

Nothing ever went perfectly.

Lila whirled around, her lip lifting in an instinctive snarl. If she had to fight her way out of this, she would. She hadn’t come this far to give up now.

Then she saw who it was.

Damien.

She couldn’t read the expression on his face, but he didn’t have his weapon out. That was maybe a good sign?

“You,” she said. “I knew I shouldn’t have given you that keycard back.”

“And yet you did,” he said. “I guess I should never underestimate the power of hot secret panty-ripping sex.”

So far it was keeping him from turning her in, so he was probably right about that. “It was pretty good,” she conceded.

He gave her a cocky half-smile. “It was awesome, babe.”

No low self-esteem there, clearly. “I don’t suppose it was awesome enough to undermine your loyalty to Salzano, make you forget I was here, and never mention this to anyone?”

He gave a ‘maybe’ shrug. “I could use some more incentive. Tell you what. Give me enough cash to fill that bag, and I’ll break up with Salzano and marry you.”

Cash? Was that all? It was a bargain. “You can have the cash, but I’m not the marrying kind.”

“I’d suck as a husband, anyway. How about the cash, plus I’ll buy you the most expensive dinner you’ve ever had, and a night in a fancy hotel that you’ll never forget.”

Mission, she told herself. You’re on a mission.