Chapter 8

Trigger warning.


Kelsie had never seen Nathaniel in her office. He owned the company and had no reason to show up so unexpectedly on this floor. Yet again, he magically knew that I was in the building.
Nathaniel mentioned the other day that he was going to start dating again and I lied, saying I was fine with that. This news sort of broke me, but after Dad, I didn't really care anymore. He was a grown man, so he could do what he wanted.
"Julia, can we talk?"
It was a question, but even if I said no he would drag me away anyway. Kelsie was moving her eyes back and forth, baffled. Nathaniel looked freaking awesome in his black suit and red tie, creating a stream of unexpected desire between my breasts.
I cleared my throat, ignoring the tingling that started in my toes. We were friends, not lovers, but I knew my feelings for him hadn’t magically disappeared. We were still madly in love with each other.
I sighed. "I guess so."
"Boss, I need her back, so don’t keep her too long," Kelsie muttered, probably sensing that I didn't want to talk to him. She didn't care that he could get rid of her any time; she was just straight to the point.
“Don't worry, Kelsie. I’ll get her back to you in no time," he assured her with that sexy smooth voice of his.
I lifted myself off the chair and stepped outside, tensing the muscles in my pelvis, fighting with lust that all of a sudden crawled down to my core.
"Sorry I didn't pick up your calls yesterday. I was busy," I lied, avoiding his eyes. Even after so long, my mind kept slamming those memories back to me, memories of us together in this building, in the elevator, and my own apartment. It was difficult to be around him, knowing what happened between us after two years of dating.
"Obviously you didn't want to listen to me and went ahead meeting that creepy ex-boyfriend of yours, didn't you?"
Why was he asking the question if he already knew the answer? I finally looked at him and my pulse skyrocketed, melting the ground beneath my feet.
"What do you want me to say? Jasper isn’t an angel. I knew only scumbags like him could get me to the white which," I answered. "And I was right."
He folded his arms together closing the distance between us.
"So, you’re telling me he knows how to find the white witch and he’s willing to take you there?" he asked in a mocking tone of voice.
"No, but he knows someone who can take me to her."
“He's lying to you. Why are you so blind? I told you that I can help you, but you need to give me a bit more time. He wants to crawl his way back into your life, using manipulation and deceit, and you’re believing everything he says."
“It's Gordon Lancaster. He holds the information about the white witch."
The words floated out of my mouth before I could stop them. All my life I suffered because I couldn’t keep certain things to myself. Now I wanted to bite my tongue, knowing that I shouldn't have said anything to Nathaniel, who was now staring at me completely frozen. The tension rose, prickling my skin. Before I could take another breath to tell him that I knew what I was doing, he brought me close, cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. Desire, thick and intimidating, shot right through me, smothering me with his incredible scent of love. He tasted better than I remembered, and the pulverising passion clouded my brain for a moment. Nathaniel tricked my brain, his tongue slid over my teeth, his hands moved down my waist and I was paralysed by my own weakness. His kiss turned hungry, desperate, shifting from rough to sensual. I squeezed my thighs together tighter, as his tongue plundered inside my mouth, tangling with mine. Nathaniel made a growling sound in the back of his throat, moving his mouth down to my neck and I melted.
When his kissing ended, my eyes were still closed. My magic was in control, but the pumping desire didn’t stop moving all over my body.
"Why the hell did you kiss me? We’re just friends, and friends don’t kiss like that," I said, doing everything I could not to throw myself at him again. What was bloody wrong with me? Hooking up with Nathaniel wouldn't bring my dad back. He was just a distraction.
With a sharp intake of breath, he pressed his finger to my mouth, silencing me.
"I had to see if you still want me as much as I want you. It turns out that I was right. Your rejection doesn’t bother me; I’ll keep waiting for you," he said in this low husky voice, moving his face close to mine. "Forget about your ex. I’ll get info out of Gordon one way or another. Just give me two weeks."
"Desire has nothing to do with what happened between us. We don’t work well together. We tried for two years and we ended up hurting too many people and couldn’t fix it," I said, angry that he kept playing with my feelings. "Let me do this my way."
"I won't let you kill yourself. Seven months ago, you fell into Lancaster’s hands and nearly died."
"That was then. Now in around a month’s time I'm going to lose my dad. Jasper’s close to Gordon; he won't let anything happen to me," I insisted, as if I really believed myself. Nausea hit me once I brought up those memories from the blackout I’d had. I didn’t want to think about what Gordon would have done to me if we hadn’t been interrupted by shifters in his neighbourhood. I had never in my life been so scared.
Nathaniel slammed his fist into the wall, his fangs descended. "Stop being so delusional. Fuck! Lancaster doesn’t work like you and me. He’s a vicious killer."
He didn’t scare me but made it much more difficult for me to say no.
"I don’t want to wait. Jasper will take me to Gordon."
"Fuck no, over my dead body. Forget it, this is too dangerous." He scowled. Lucky enough, my phone started ringing. I showed the screen to Nathaniel.
"I need to take this; it’s Dannika, Dad’s subordinate," I said and then answered it, feeling a little relieved that this conversation was interrupted.
"Hello."
"Julia, listen, I need to see you today. I have some information," she said, short and straight to the point. That’s what I liked about her.
“I'll come to the station after work."
"All right, ask for me at the reception desk."
Then I hung up and looked back at Nathaniel, who was watching me intensely, like he used to after we’d made love, after all those times when he was there for me. Regardless of our feelings for one another, he couldn’t keep me away from what I had to do.
"I need to get that report back to Kelsie. Just give me some space for now and let me do what I have to."
"No. I’ll find a way to get to the white witch and then you won't have to go to Lancaster," he barked back, running his hand through his hair, angry and frustrated that I didn’t want to listen.
"All right, fine," I said, knowing that lying would get him off my back. He approached me again and placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Promise me that you won't meet with Jasper again. Firecracker, I can’t lose you."
"Okay, I promise," I said, lying, just to make him leave me alone. I shouldn't have said anything in the first place. First Nicky, then Kelsie and now Nathaniel. All telling me what to do, but not one of them understood how I felt. Dad was in desperate straits and Jasper had answers.
Our conversation ended shortly after that and I went back to Kelsie’s office. She wasn't at her desk but by the door with her hands crossed over her chest. I only now realised that she must have heard everything and was probably aware of our hot make-out session behind closed doors. This was one of the annoying characteristics of shifters. Their hearing was much better than ordinary humans or other paranormals.
"Funny, how you two are just friends. He’s treating you like his possession, ordering you around," Kelsie snarled.
"I had to tell him what he needed to hear," I said, shrugging it off, as if the lies didn’t make me feel like a coward.
"I don’t think he’ll be very happy when he finds out that you lied," she said. "And your talk about the friendship thing? I'm not buying it."
"Yeah, he kissed me, but I'm standing my ground. We’re too complicated for each other. He doesn’t need to know what I'm doing," I explained, feeling completely drained. "Anyway, be ready to go out tonight. I’m not sitting at home and waiting. I’ll be at your place at eight."
"Okay, I’ll let Michael know," she muttered. "Now let’s get back to work; otherwise Mr. Sexy Arse will kick me out, and that’s possible considering the sort of mood he’s in right now."
We did get back to the report after discussing the situation with the witches and the plan for the evening. Eventually Lucinda arrived and started complaining that she was losing half of her staff. As usual I promised to sort it out sooner rather than later, although the witches who disappeared were taken over by La Caz Pharmaceutical, so there wasn't much I could do other than supply more people.
When I got back to the office later on, there was a queue outside. Paranormals were waiting to be registered. Alexandra, Sara and even Rufus were registering people from early morning, so I tucked straight into work to help out.
It turned out that it was a bad call, because I didn't leave the office until seven o’clock. Shortly after two o’clock, we had so many people that some of them started to fight between themselves over the night shifts. Rufus separated the troublemakers and luckily, we didn’t have to call the police.
I’d promised Dannika earlier on that I’d come by, so I couldn’t skip this meeting with her at the police station.
I arrived around seven thirty, and a lot of officers in the station surrounded me asking how my father was doing. For about half an hour I was talking about the curse and the fact that healers weren’t much help. Finally, after some time I managed to get upstairs to see Dannika in her office.
"You look like shit," she said as soon as she saw me.
"I feel like it. I had a hell of a day and I hope you have good news for me," I said, flopping down in the chair. Dannika had these awesome violet eyes and really black hair, which made her look like she was born somewhere in the Middle East. I had no idea where she was from; I just never had a chance to ask. What mattered the most: Dad trusted her, and she was the best cop in the station.
She locked the door to her office and placed her magic wand on her desk. She was known for her sharp tongue and taking down half of the criminals in London.
"I have been working on this case for days and for once I'm certain that there’s a new coven in the city. Whoever is leading this new group is talking to Lancaster and other gangs. It’s a big deal.”
Now this conversation was getting interesting. New coven and rituals meant that we were getting close to gaining some real information about the witch who hurt Dad and Kate.
"So, do you have any idea why they targeted Dad?"
"No, but many people are talking about necromancy. Those witches are looking for new sources of energy, and other paranormals who are willing to learn from them. They bring the dead back and use the power for their own personal gain."
"So, do you have any suspects?"
"I might, but it’s all speculation at the moment. I'm planning an undercover operation, so make sure you keep your mouth shut and don’t talk to anyone about what I’ve just told you, even with your friends."
"Of course. Don’t worry."
She wrinkled her forehead with effort, staring at me intensely.
"Just don’t do anything stupid. So far, we don’t have any new victims. If this was a hate crime, then I want you off the street at night. That means, not walking anywhere by yourself."
I had to promise Dannika that I would stay at home and wait for news. I hated lying to people who were only looking out for me. She didn’t have any more information about the coven. I thought she might have at least identified the witch who cursed Dad and Kate. The conversation ended shortly after that and I went home.
I called Kelsie and let her know that I was running late. I had three cups of coffee in order to stay focused for the rest of the evening. Luckily enough tomorrow was my day off, so I didn’t have to worry about getting to work early. At home, I took a quick shower, changed and then I was ready for action tonight.
Unfortunately, more problems arose when I left the house. It turned out that I had a tail. And whoever it was didn’t make it very difficult for me to notice him.