Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3)(72)

“You don’t need to apologize.” Her choice—it would always be her choice if she wished to kiss him or not. “It’s fine.”

Those green eyes darted over him. “I’m not what you need, Luke.”

“Don’t assume you know what I need.” The words burst from him before he could restrain them.

She backed away from the balcony, swallowing. Color high on her cheeks.

His voice was hoarse as he demanded, “Does it scare you?” This nightmare I can’t control?

“No—never.” There was enough raw honesty in her voice that he was tempted to believe her. She still kept backing toward the balcony doors. “My life is complicated. You are a good man, Luke.”

And the way she said it…“Are you in some sort of trouble?” He’d find a way to help her; Batwing could find some way.

“My life is complicated,” she repeated. “It’s unfair to make promises.”

And before he could find out what that meant, she was gone.



* * *



—

Luke was spoiling for a fight with some of Gotham City’s worst. To do something to stop them.

He knew that the moment he woke up the next day. When he donned his tux for the GCPD event that night. When he arrived and danced his way through the party.

Waiting—for her. The one who could give him the fight he was looking for.

He’d seen her with Tigris. He knew that he could throw everything he was at her and she wouldn’t break. Tonight it ended. No more fooling around, no more letting her edge past him. If she and her two besties showed up tonight, they would find themselves leaving in handcuffs.

Luke tried his best to focus on the job at hand, and not to glance at Holly. Holly, beautiful in seafoam green, who kept looking like she’d approach him all night.

Luke made a point not to get near enough to let her. To always have a dance partner.

He knew he was being a jerk. What Elise would call immature man-baby bullshit, but he didn’t care.

He had bigger things to worry about than kissing his neighbor. Or failing to.

So Luke stood in the crowd, champagne in hand, while Gordon got up on the stage to make a toast. The time for Catwoman, Harley, and Ivy to strike would be now. When everyone was watching and the cameras were rolling.

Yet Gordon, clad in a tux, his auburn hair slicked back for once, got through his speech about the ongoing efforts of the GCPD to build bonds with the people of this city, saluting the men and women in uniform who worked tirelessly to make it a safer place. Some of what he said was bullshit, but most of it was born out of Gordon’s genuine hope and belief that the GCPD could rise above its past and current history and become something better. Gordon paused only once to glance down at his phone, and then he saluted the assembled cops. Luke followed the crowd in lifting a glass to the officers as well.

Luke casually followed the men and women at his table—top city officials—toward where Gordon now stood to the left of the stage, speaking quietly to those gathered. No one noticed Luke standing off to the side as Gordon softly announced, “When I tell you what I’m about to say, I want no signs of panic. You act normal.”

Luke’s blood began to pound.

Gordon went on, “The chemical factory in Otisburg was robbed an hour ago.”

Catwoman wasn’t going to come, Luke realized as Gordon spoke.

She’d taken advantage of every top cop in the city, every resource, being focused here instead. Focused here because—

“Poison Ivy was spotted driving off with a semi full of chemicals.” Shit. Shit. Gordon’s throat bobbed. He said so quietly Luke had to lean in to hear it, “And Harley Quinn just used her extensive knowledge of explosives to blow up another wall of Blackgate Penitentiary. She’s freed key members of the Joker’s gang. His Numbers Two, Three, and Four.”

Luke’s blood went cold.

Gordon said, “We move now. Don’t breathe a word. They need to be recaptured before the press knows.”

Gordon’s people began asking questions as Luke stalked toward the exit.

Holly caught his eye as he passed, her brows rising high. As if she’d spotted Gordon’s little conference—had seen him listening in.

Luke gave her a cold, bored stare in exchange and prowled out.

Fast. He had to act fast.

Because if the Joker’s top three guys were out of jail, then bad, bad things were about to happen.





Luke knew their names, their long, long list of crimes.

Honestly, it might have felt like a joke, taking on three guys named Smiles, Bozo, and Chuckles. But these guys were far from well-meaning clowns.

He soared over the East End, his suit providing readouts of the people below. None matched the known height, weight, and description of the Joker’s top three men.

His heart hammered in his chest, even as he tried to calm it. This rush, right before a fight, before launching himself into the fray. There had been some nights, when he first returned home, when this rush was the only feeling he’d had in days. It had made it easier, back then, to head out into Gotham City’s shadows. To know this adrenaline pumping through him was waiting.

He’d found balance since then. But even now, as his wings caught an updraft and he soared…Yeah, he loved that rush.