She had to get away from Jericho. Cara felt in her mortal bones how badly he could hurt her; what he had just done was merely a small taste of it. He had rejected her for another woman. Her pride stung, and she simply wanted to go home to her mother. Her mother would protect her and make sure no overbearing man would dare treat her daughter in such a manner.
“I would if I could, but you know I can’t. It’s not your time. Besides, you know that, if I took you, it wouldn’t be home that I would have to take you to.”
Cara nodded. Suddenly, fear filled her gorgeous face. “You’re not here to …?” She glanced in fear at Jericho.
An evil smile curled Grimm’s lips at her look. “Nope, not him, either. I’m on a layover you might say. I have a little time and thought I would find something to amuse myself with.”
Cara felt sorry for this amusement. Grimm would be like a tiger amusing itself with a small mouse, tormenting it to death. Death and Grimm were always a foregone conclusion.
Jericho sat stiffly next to the man Cara had called Grimm. He wanted answers, and this man looked like anything but a loony. Perhaps Cara wasn’t mentally ill, just part of a scam with this stranger.
As if the man could read his thoughts, he turned to give Jericho his full attention.
“My little friend has been remiss in her introductions. Allow me. I am Grimm, and you are Jericho Hawk.”
When Jericho stared into the man’s black eyes, he felt as if his soul literally shrunk back inside himself, hiding. Jericho tried to shrug the analogy away yet was unable. The man put out a coldness that actually made you shiver.
Jericho didn’t look away. He had faced and survived worse monsters than this man. The problem was that Jericho inexplicably was beginning to believe that this Grimm was no ordinary man. It was hard to miss the reactions of the other patrons when everyone was staring at your table.
“I hope you have been taking good care of her.” Threats glittered in the dark gaze staring at him. Grimm’s eyes then looked at Cara’s bandaged hands and darkened further.
Cara jumped in quickly. “It was my fault; I wasn’t careful.”
“You must be more careful, Cara. If anything happened to you, my anger would not be pleasant.” Grimm turned once again to Jericho, making sure the other man got his message.
Jericho had dealt with enough of the man’s threats.
“I’m glad you’re here.” He smirked to himself at Grimm’s surprised look. Jericho was sure it didn’t happen often. “You can take Cara off my hands and see that she is taken care of. After all, you two are obviously close.” Innuendo heavily laced his voice, leaving no doubt at what he thought their true relationship was. Jericho really didn’t care if they were fucking, though.
He’d had enough. He tried to push the man so he could slide out of the booth and leave the two alone while he waited for Tammy in his truck until she got off work. Suddenly, however, he fell back in his seat, and Grimm hadn’t even moved.
Fury emitted from the man’s expression. Jericho no longer felt the coldness the man put out; instead, red-hot heat surged from his body.
“Grimm!” Jericho dimly heard Cara’s scream, but he was unable to look away from the deadly black eyes.
Visions exploded within his skull. Cara standing on a balcony, staring into a dark sky. He experienced the loneliness and sadness she felt. Her standing in a corner, watching a party of individuals. Many of the women were dressed in flowing gowns and the men dressed as warriors.
Instantly, Jericho knew who each person was as if he had known them for years, and he realized he was reading Cara’s mind at the moment of the party: envy of the other women’s obvious sexuality, painfully shy when an immortal dared to talk to her under her mother’s watchful glare. Cara hid a deep-rooted fear that she would never be able to match the greatness of her mother and aunt.
Then everything in his mind dimmed as if he was in a dark tunnel. He heard women’s screams of terror and felt choking fear for her sisters’ safety. Flashes of light allowed Jericho to see Cara struggle to watch the doorways her sisters went through before she allowed herself to find an exit, putting her own life at risk.
Jericho was stunned when he felt the seat once again beneath him. He didn’t know how the man had done it, but he knew he could no longer argue against Cara’s story. He hadseenit all. She was what she had said. Someone had tried to kill her, and they had almost succeeded. Now she was left stripped of her powers.
“What did you do?” Cara questioned anxiously, well aware of Grimm’s powers.
“Took away his doubts. He now knows that you speak the truth.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. You could be punished.”
Grimm shrugged. “Who would dare punish me?”
Cara knew he was right. He could take a mortal or immortal soul with a touch, and it was a power he exerted with effortless ease.
“Why?”
“I owed you one.”
Cara understood what he was saying. Often, they had argued over souls. She had felt circumstances should have been taken into account when determining a soul’s destination, whereas Grimm had not. He had only been interested in the end result. Cara had believed a single transgression regretted and mourned shouldn’t lead to Grimm, yet he more often than not had won, and she had lost numerous souls to him.