My thumb caresses the script up his forearm. “And the writing.” I glance up at him. “What does it say?”
“It’s an Italian proverb. Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.”
I close my hand over the words, and it is as if they burn my palm. “In death we’re all equal.”
Surprise flickers in his eyes at my understanding of the meaning, but he’s no more surprised than I am. “Yes,” he confirms softly. “In death we are all equal.”
“Why that proverb?”
“It’s a reminder to us that no one, no matter how powerful, is better than The Underground.”
I reach for his other arm, and trace the image of a bird with bright blue extended wings etched across his wrist. “A hawk?”
“Right again.”
“Why a hawk, Kayden?” I ask, wanting, needing, to understand this man.
“It’s symbolic of me being a protector. I’m the leader of this division of The Underground, thus the protector of those reporting to me.”
“Like you’re protecting me.”
His eyes burn through me, and there is a swell of response in me that borders on longing. “Yes,” he agrees, a velvety quality to his voice. “Like I’m protecting you.”
I am seduced by this man, easily able to forget the questions in my mind, but I do not allow myself more oblivion to add to what is in my mind. “What kinds of things does The Underground find?”
“Whatever the client wants. It could be a car. A painting. A computer file, in Matteo’s case.”
“Do you break the law?”
There is a slight clench to his jaw, but his reply is instant. “Everything we do is not simple.”
The absence of denial is confirmation, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. “What did you find for the man who gave you the car?”
“His ex-wife, who ran off with his money.”
My throat thickens. “You found a person?”
“Yes,” he confirms, his expression unreadable. “I found a person.” Kayden covers my hand where it rests on his arm. “Just like I found you so no one else could. And no one else will. No amount of money will change that.”
I think of the car. “A million dollars is a lot of money.”
“I already have a lot of money.”
“What about the other members of The Underground?”
“The only ones who know about you are my inner circle; they won’t betray us. Besides, it would take a lot more than a million dollars to get the attention of any one of them.”
“What if it’s a lot more?”
“You’re safe. You have my word.” He releases me abruptly and steps back, and I can almost feel that wall slam between us again. “Let’s go inside.”
I frown, not sure what just happened, but then, this is my life, and what’s new? I want to ask, but one look at the steely set of his jaw and I decide better. I’ll figure him out inside. I walk toward the door, curious about his home, about him, this man who is my reluctant hero. I’m aware of him following me, and once I am at my destination, he is there too. My hand closes on the knob, but before I can turn it, he reaches around me, his hand covering mine, his warmth stealing the slight chill of the garage. “When I said you were safe,” he says softly, a hint of wickedness in his voice, “I meant from everyone but me.”
And somehow I know he’s testing me, asking for my trust when, for whatever reason, he doesn’t believe he deserves it. He doesn’t know what I know. Right, wrong, or dangerous, I already trust him. He steps back from me, and I don’t look back. I open the door and enter a corridor where a winding stone stairwell awaits me and start up the path that leads to both the king’s and the wolf’s domain. And with nothing but the clothes on my back and the purse he bought me, I am truly at his mercy.
ten
A wave of nerves settles deep in my belly and radiates lower and lower with each concrete step, and I really have no clue why. Oh yeah. I have a wolf at my back. A really sexy, rather cranky wolf, who I’m apparently about to be living with. In other words, he really does have me at his mercy, as he’s unapologetically made clear. So why am I not afraid of him? Nervous, yes. Afraid? No. Kayden does not scare me, and unlike last night, when I ran, I don’t seem to fear my lack of fear anymore. In fact, as I reach the top of the stairs and a huge dungeon-style dark wooden door greets me, my nerves are quickly replaced with the excitement of seeing the castle.