Murder Game (GhostWalkers, #7)(32)

“So already there’s a pattern. We have two studs and two weapons. Let’s for argument’s sake say these are nicknames. Don’t most military men in Special Forces get bizarre nicknames?”

His mouth tightened. She was burying his friends with her quick deductions.

She flicked him a gaze under the fringe of long lashes. “I’m going the military route because you’re going in that direction. We have a stud on both teams. We can assume the weapon is the team leader. The two left are probably followers. So who is really running the game?”

“I don’t understand.”

She shrugged. “Someone is running the game. You have another player. Or referee. These men are highly competitive. They’re thrill seekers. They want action. I need to see the rest of the game pieces and I need to hear about the other murders.” She took a breath and let it out. “I’m going with you.”

Kadan shook his head, his gut tightening. There it was. Complete capitulation. She was hooked. She would come with him voluntarily. “No.” His voice was firm. “No way. I told you I’m going to tell them you can’t do this anymore.”

She waved her hand in the air. “I appreciate it, and I don’t want to do it all over again, but I’m not going to be able to let this go. This killer, the ‘stallion,’ he’s going to kill again. If not with his team, on his own. He may already be doing so. In fact, I’d bet that he is. He’ll start with prostitutes, women who are very vulnerable. He needs the power and control. He’s got to be stopped, Kadan, and if none of your friends can do what I do, how are you going to track him? The killings are too random.”

Kadan closed his eyes and looked away from her. “Damn it. Just damn it.” Because he should walk away, leave her in peace, but he wasn’t going to. And not because he needed to save the lives of his friends. Not because he needed to save lives of innocent people. He was going to put her through hell because he was a selfish bastard and he wasn’t willing to give her up. He didn’t like knowing that about himself, but there it was.





CHAPTER 6


They began fighting the moment they entered the house where Kadan had set up headquarters. Tansy was going to call her parents whether Kadan liked it or not. And he didn’t like it. She tossed her head, her eyes flashing defiance.

“You can bark out orders all you like, big man, but I’m not under your command. I’m not exactly an amateur at this business, and I don’t fall under the category of your underling, so get over that notion as well. Just who do you think you are, anyway?”

Kadan stepped close to her, purposely invading her personal space, inhaling her cinnamon scent, challenging her idea of what equality was. “I’m the only man who is ever going to lie with you at night and hold you close and keep you safe. I’m the only man who is going to make love to you anywhere, anytime, any way we both need or want it. More importantly, Tansy, I’m the man who is going to kill anyone who threatens you. So you can damn well listen to me.”

She blinked at him, opened her mouth and closed it again, looking confused and entirely too seductive and bewildered for him to resist. Kadan leaned his head down and took possession of that soft, trembling mouth. Kissing her felt so damned good. He wanted to get lost in her, to just have the world disappear so he could spend his life skin-to-skin, kissing her.

“You know how to take the wind out of a woman’s sails,” she said accusingly, when she could talk again. “What am I supposed to say to that?”

“Nothing. Just kiss me again.”

Tansy turned her mouth up to his. This time he pulled her close, his hand at the nape of her neck, holding her still while he took a long exploration, savoring her cinnamon flavor. “You are never supposed to argue with me.” He rested his forehead against hers, looking into her strangely colored eyes.

She laughed softly. “I hate to burst your bubble, here, buddy, but all the kisses in the world are not going to stop me from letting my parents know where I am, who I’m with, and what I’m going to do. I don’t hide things from them.”

Kadan jerked away from her, pacing across the room. “I can’t trust them. That’s the truth whether you want to believe it or not. Until I clear them, I have to treat them like the enemy.”

“My parents? Enemies? What do you think they’re going to do? Contact the killers and say we’re on to them?”

He spun around and gripped her shoulders hard. “I think they’ll call Dr. Peter Whitney and inform him what you’re doing.”

Tansy tried to pull away from him, horror blossoming on her face, but he held her with his enormous strength, refusing to allow her to move away from his solid warmth. He gave her a little shake. “Did you hear me, Tansy? Did you understand what I said? What I meant? I’m the man who kills anyone who threatens you.”

She swallowed hard and shook her head. “Not my parents. They would never betray me. Never. I don’t care what you think, they wouldn’t do that.”

“Why would they choose a damaged child, Tansy, when they were wealthy enough to buy perfection? Any adoption agency would have given them whatever they wanted right down to the color of hair and eyes. Why you? When they got you, you probably couldn’t stand their touch, or even using their utensils to eat with. Come on. You have a brain. Use it here. Figure out what the hell was going on back then. They took you to a doctor you clearly didn’t want to see, and in spite of your tears and pleas, they left you alone with him.”