deal was? You don’t go out alone. You did. I can report this to the council and have you removed from this case.”
She got in the car and powered down the passenger window. “This had nothing to do with Hiro, and I don’t like threats.”
Didn’t she get it? It didn’t matter what she thought. They were stuck together. “Then stop acting like a petulant child and giving me something to threaten you with.”
* * * *
Michaela laid her hands carefully on the steering wheel, the right at two o’clock and the left at ten, before she leaned over to address Cormac through the open window. She wanted her hands fixed on something to prevent her from getting out and throttling him.
“I fail to understand how continuing my commitment to Ivy makes me more petulant than the man yelling at a car in the middle of the street.”
She could almost hear Cormac grind his teeth as he got in the car and slammed the door.
When he huffily crossed his arms over his chest, she laughed out loud.
He glanced over, a small reluctant smile quirking his lips. “Not funny. You broke the rules.” His eyes widened as if he just realized what he’d said. “You broke the rules.”
“Not that big a deal.”
Now he faced her with a huge grin. “Wait until I tell the Council this. They probably won’t even believe me. Michaela Chui, stickler extraordinaire, sneaking out of her room in the middle of the night like she’s trying to beat curfew.”
“Look, I really—”
He didn’t even pause. “Do you even feel guilty? I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Michaela focused on driving until he finally stopped. “I don’t know that the Council needs to hear about this,” she said.
“Oh, I think they do.” Now Cormac sounded serious, and when Michaela checked his expression out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was frowning slightly. “The Council assigned you a Watcher for a reason. Your protection. I can’t protect you if you’re sneaking around. I’d be derelict in my duty.”
Did he think she was so stupid? “Please. Don’t make my car a den of lies. We both know that your offer had nothing to do with me. You want something.”
“Maybe I want you to be safe.”
“Maybe I’ve managed to do that myself for a half-millennia and have a pretty good handle on it.” Now she was getting a little pissed. Her own protection had been the same excuse her parents had used when they brokered her first marriage to a doddering old man. By the time they’d married her the third time, she’d realized she’d had enough of people protecting her. Whenever someone decided to protect her for her own good, they usually had a stake in the result, one of more benefit to them than her. She’d learned the lesson early and learned it hard.
“My reason doesn’t matter,” Cormac said with delight. “What matters now is that we have a situation where you have a secret you don’t want me to tell.”
“Blackmail?”
“Think of it more like a negotiation for mutual benefit.”
“What do you want?”
“An apology,” he said softly. “I want you to say you were wrong and I was right.”
“The hell with that.”
“Fine.” He spoke with an air of extreme unconcern. “We’ll chat with Madden in the morning.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
They said nothing to each other for the rest of the ride but by the time she pulled into her parking spot, the car was filled with words left unsaid, mostly hers. She wanted to point out—God, that she didn’t need a Watcher and that he was an asshole and how dare he treat her like some stupid underling and she didn’t owe him an apology and he should screw right off.
The problem was, as her temper cooled, she knew she couldn’t.
She didn’t like his motives but Cormac had acted correctly and was well within his rights to report her. She had broken the rules and left him behind. She was going to have to apologize. Not to avert the threat, but because she was in the wrong and owed it to him.
Goddamn it.
Michaela did not enjoy apologizing. Best to get this over with.
Cormac had already cracked open the door when she held up a hand.
“I apologize,” she said.
“For what?”
“That you felt I shouldn’t have left without you. Even for Ivy.”
Now he turned back and Michaela dropped her eyes. “Look at me.”
The power in his voice forced her eyes up. “What?”
“That’s a shite apology and you know it. I want you to say I was right.”
“I…you.” It was difficult to concentrate. Cormac leaned towards her, his tall body twisting until she was almost suffocated by his closeness and even then wanted him closer.
What? No, she didn’t.
“Say you won’t leave again.”
She shook her head. She’d experienced vampire compulsions before and this was similar, though far more intense. With a quick motion, she opened the car door and let the cool night air flow in, restoring her equilibrium.
He might be her Watcher, but he wasn’t her controller.
He got out of the car and came around to her side while she sat thinking, then opened the door and held out his hand.
Slowly, she pulled the keys out of the ignition with trembling fingers and brushed him away as she got out of the car.
A mocking voice came from behind her as she walked to the elevator door.
“Apology accepted.”
Chapter 8
Cormac watched Michaela shut the bedroom door behind her. He was fairly certain she wouldn’t leave without him again…but not completely sure.
Now he sighed and regarded the couch. Since it was a little too short for him to sleep comfortably, there was only one thing to do. He pulled the pillows and thick duvet from his bedroom and settled down in front of her door. There was no way Michaela would get around him again.
He had only himself to blame. He should have kept a better eye on her. She resented his role as Watcher, but he’d thought her slavish adherence to orders meant she would play by the rules. That she hadn’t done so intrigued him. There was more to Michaela than he’d thought.
The apartment was peaceful despite the annoying little blue security light beaming on the balcony. She didn’t need the rest of the beeps and bells. He was here to protect her now.
He paused. That’s not what he was here for. This was a problem. Like all fey, he possessed a protective streak and as a caintir, it was almost impossible to combat. Kiana herself had warned him about it during one of their first training sessions. “The dolma wants all,” she’d said, her amber eyes wise. “Look at a fallen tree overgrown with vines.”
He’d laughed. “I’m a vine?”
She’d remained serious. “Yes. Your connection to the dolma means you will always have to fight a poisonous possessiveness. Otherwise, you too will choke the life out of what you love.”
Since he only loved Yetting Forest and his sister, and was now in exile, that hadn’t been a problem for him. Michaela had roused those latent, primal emotions and made it clear that she expected him to mind his own business.
Not an easy ask.
Michaela