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Instead, I stood and endured in silence while Irina healed my broken cheekbone. Her expression gave away nothing of her thoughts. Not even slightly. If I was carved of ice, she was made of rock. No, brick. Brick walls could be torn down and left in ruins. She deserved that for working with Asshole.
By the time she stepped toward Ben, all my pain was gone. Another henchman handed me clothes to put on. Track pants and a t-shirt, both too big, but still, clothes.
Ben glared at Irina in disgust when she stepped toward him. He looked like he’d prefer to be in pain than have her touch him.
Now I could frown again, I did just that, sternly.
He gritted his teeth and stood his ground while she healed him of his scratches and scrapes.
The expression of absolute disdain on her face while she did it suggested she remembered him too. For some reason, that bothered me.
Jealousy is an irrational emotion, so I decided on protectiveness instead. Under the circumstances, it made a lot of sense anyway. We were all each other had right now. Us, and what dignity we had left.
I dressed quickly. If I wore pyjamas, they might look like this. Loose and comfortable. I felt around inside a pocket and found a hair tie. They were someone else’s clothes then. Irina’s perhaps? Whatever, clothes were clothes.
I pulled my hair up and fastened it back out of the way. In the window of the SUV, I caught a glimpse of my reflection. I looked less like big, bad Ivory and more like Elodie, the woman I spent the last nine years putting behind me. My birth name; Jake was the only one who called me that. With the exception of Alistair Dagen, when he was trying to be an even bigger asshole than usual.
I could have been this woman I saw in the glass, had life not turned out differently. Suburban wife and mother— Oh fuck, who was I kidding, that would never have been me. I was always destined to shake things up, to make waves. It was in my nature.
In that vein, I smiled sweetly and said, "No shoes?"
"You're only getting clothes so you don't mess up my plane," Dagen said, his voice a low snarl. "I don't want you to cream the leather."
The suggestion I might be turned on by him in any way was both laughable and disgusting. At another time I’d make a comment about Ben being hot enough to do that for me, or even one of his goons. I didn't want to draw any further attention to Ben. Nor did I want to give anyone else any ideas.
Instead, I just made a gagging sound and stayed still while two goons reattached themselves to my arms.
I caught sight of Ben, who was now dressed and looking better for having been healed. He wore a tight fitting black t-shirt which was drawn firmly over his muscular chest, and light grey track pants.
If Asshole chose that outfit to distract me, he almost succeeded. I didn't choose bodyguards for their looks—in fact, Jake vetted most of them—but there was a reason I had a past history with the guy that went beyond trust and into lust. Dark hair, brown eyes and only a smattering of tattoos here and there, he was the definition of tall, dark and smokin' hot.
And yeah, those track pants clearly gave away the other reason for the attraction. He had a cock like a racehorse, but without the excessive speed.
"Get them on the plane," Dagen snapped. "And find Jake Blakesley. Take him to our destination." He frowned at me, then at Ben, as if we were somehow to blame for Jake not being here.
Then I understood. He assumed Jake would be in the Cobra with me. That was a logical assumption. We were usually together, or not far from each other. If he took us both, it would effectively cut the head off the organisation. Of course, there were others who could step up to take our place, but all of that would take time and planning. And maybe some bloodshed.
Thank the gods Jake and I weren't together tonight. He would have battened down all the proverbial hatches by now, and been on high alert for anything suspicious. Not that he wasn't always cautious, but he wouldn't be caught unawares, like I was.
I could kick myself for that, but fuck it. A girl should be able to drive around her own city without getting attacked by a rival. Or anyone else for that matter.
The goons pushed me toward the plane. I considered resisting. Even without shifting, I had the self defence skills to take on two of them. It was the twenty or so others which were the problem. Add to that the fact Dagen was all too happy to break my bones. There was no guarantee he'd keep telling his pet witch to heal them.
Head high, I climbed the steps and into the plane. They shoved me into a seat at the front, and arrayed themselves beside and around me.
More goons shoved Ben up the steps and toward the back of the plane. We exchanged a quick look before he trudged past, looking pissed off, but resigned.
I knew it was too much to ask that we be allowed to sit together, but to make it worse, Dagen slipped into the seat directly behind me. As if the stink wasn't bad enough. Shame to ruin a perfectly good plane with the smell of black wolf.
Fortunately, it was offset by the scent of two white wolves.
Make that three. I forced my expression to remain neutral when Hutton stepped inside the plane. I hadn't seen him outside, so either he just arrived, or he was behind the tinted windows of a car.
His nostrils flared, but he didn't even glance my way. He kept going past and headed to the rear of the aircraft.
I barely gave him more than a flick of my eyes before my gaze slid away. I knew Jake didn't trust him, but we'd sent him to work for Dagen to find out what he was up to. That was still his job, as far as I was concerned. If he wasn't on our side, I'd find out soon enough. If he was, then he could report back to Jake, whether or not I made it out of here in one piece. Hopefully he was smarter than to try to rescue me, or anything stupid like that. All that would do was blow his cover and get him killed.
I might betheIvory but this whole thing was bigger than me. People's lives depended on Ivory Claw. Their livelihoods too. I hadn't spent years building it up only for my own benefit. I mean, that didn't hurt, but that wasn't my sole motivation.
