“What did you do to me?” She clutched at his arm, her nails drawing blood. “What did you put on me? What kind of chemical?” It hadn’t rinsed off in her earlier shower, and even now, she couldn’t feel anything. What kind of substance reacted with paper towels to cause a fire?
“No chemical,” he said, looking over his shoulder toward the bedroom. “Your suitcase is packed already. Good.”
Her heart hitched.
Chapter Five
This was a complete disaster. Sam took stock of the kitchen, making sure the flames had been extinguished. What had he done to her? How had that brief moment passed this curse to the female? The energy still roiled through him, promising more fire, so he hadn’t gotten rid of the power. He’d only shared it.
Why now and why her?
Her terror thickened the smoky air around them. Reassuring her of his good intentions wasn’t helping, and since she obviously had a brain, nothing he could say would help.
Especially since he was about to kidnap her.
The woman had a decent left cross, but she was dainty at only five ten or eleven. Those curves of hers had filled his arms in a way he’d remember in his dreams, but right now, he had to get her to safety. Or at least to somewhere they could find safety and rid her of this shitty curse he’d passed on to her. He had no choice because he had to get back to covering Garrett’s ass and couldn’t leave her alone to deal with the fire. He could protect her…only if she was close by.
She glared at him.
“Here’s the deal.” He kept his voice low and as soothing as he could, considering his throat was burning again. “We need to leave here, and you have to come with me until we figure this out.”
Her eyes widened and then flared. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Let me go and get out of here. I’ll give you the count of sixty before I call for help.”
He frowned. It was a decent offer—but a stupid one. “If somebody is trying to kidnap you, and you want to reason with them, don’t even mention you are going to call the authorities.” Just being this close to her was having the oddest effect on his blood. For the first time in months, his blood pressure began to calm. To steady. “Lie and say you won’t tell anybody.”
She shoved him as hard as she could, without effect. “Thanks for the tip. Now get out of my house.”
He smiled. Couldn’t help it. “You’re a scrappy little thing.” As well as gorgeous when angry.
She pushed again. “I’m neither scrappy nor little. Get out of my house, Sam. Now.”
“Agreed.” Tension still popped in the air. The fire wasn’t finished unless they took their energy elsewhere. “Do you have everything you need in that suitcase?” he asked.
“No.” She gave up fighting and stood straighter, projecting her next move.
“Kick me and you’ll regret it,” he grumbled.
Her stunning brown eyes widened.
“Suitcase? Ready?” he snapped.
Slowly, she shook her head. “No. I was just trying to find a good place to store extra clothes. I’m not going anywhere. In fact, Homeland Security is expecting me for a late and very secret meeting tonight to discuss your case and all of the explosions. I’m going to be tardy if I don’t leave right now, and then DHS will be looking for me immediately. So go. It’s your only chance.”
Man, her pink lips were full…and enticing. He couldn’t keep a slight grin from tipping his mouth. “For someone who detects lies, you really suck at telling them, sweetheart.” Holding her in place, he yanked his phone from his back pocket and reached for hers on the counter. He pressed speed dial.
“Good evening, Sam,” Nessa McDunphy answered politely, sounding like the powerful leader she’d become even before mating Bear and moving her operations to the Pacific Northwest.
“Hi,” he answered, not using her name just in case. “I need a favor. Dump this phone for me, would you?” He trusted that Nessa could get the number easily. “Everything. Phone calls, messages, and emails if you can get into Honor McDoval’s email account from just this information. She works for DHS, so there are probably safeguards in place.”
“Are you trying to insult me?” Nessa asked.
“No,” Sam said, meaning it. Nessa was a female one never wanted to insult. Ever. “I apologize.”
Thunder rolled outside in both locations.
“That’s better,” Nessa said. “Where are you? Bear said you went for a run, and there’s a heck of a storm coming. I’ll send someone to fetch you.”
“I have a car.” He’d noted one in Honor’s garage, already gassed up, with provisions for a long drive.
Nessa paused. “All right. How about you tell me what’s going on before I do this dive? You know I don’t like going in dark. That always creates more problems than it prevents.” Her mate obviously hadn’t informed her of Sam’s problems yet.
“She’s a woman, Enhanced, and I can’t get her out of my mind,” Sam said. All of it was true, and Nessa, being a romantic, would probably run in the wrong direction with it.
Her slight gasp proved it. “Oh, Sam. You bet I’ll help. I’ve been so worried about you.”
Honor had listened and apparently decided on a course of action. She opened her mouth, no doubt to scream for help. Sam pressed his free hand against her lips, cutting off all sound but being careful not to bruise her. Her eyes widened, and she subsided.
“Thanks,” Sam said, shutting off the call before anything else went wrong. Then he removed his hand. “All right, gorgeous. I’m giving you one chance here. We get your suitcase, take it in a composed manner to your car, and get out of here before anything else blows up. Fight me, and you’ll ride in the trunk. Got it?” He didn’t want to scare her, but he could feel the tension around them ratcheting up again, even though he was calmer than ever.
The atmospheric turmoil was coming from her, and he had to squire her into another environment as soon as possible. It was a lesson he’d learned the hard way. Once he changed the atmosphere in a place, he had to leave or more explosions would occur.
It felt like the same thing was happening with Honor.
She blinked. Once and then again.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Releasing her shoulder, he grabbed her hand and turned for the bedroom. “We have to hurry.”
* * * *
In what seemed like seconds, Honor found herself in the passenger side of her own car, the seat belt strapped securely around her. The suitcase was in the trunk, and the bag of munchies she’d already packed was in the backseat. “This is kidnapping.”