Free Tiger Bound by Doranna Durgin Page A

recognizing the brevity that seemed to overtake him at times, and was completely unprepared when he turned upon her a gaze of the purest intent and said with no hesitation at all, “I will keep you safe.”
    And left.
    Katie stood, stunned, staring after him—and for that brief instant, she first believed that he could.
    That he would.
    * * *
    Eduard would have preferred to meet in a private place—a secluded place with no windows, one entrance, and silence around them. Deep night rather than late afternoon.
    But there were few such places in this former timber town, and insisting on such a spot would have given Roger Akins cause to wonder.
    Also, none of those places had this coffee.
    Iced white chocolate latte lingered on Eduard’s tongue. He took a bite of his gooey cinnamon bun and wiped his fingers, gazing out the window at the main street of the town.
    Akins swung through the shop door twenty minutes late, full of swagger and full of himself; more than one gaze flicked from the day-old Phoenix newspaper that had been left spread companionably across the tables.
    But no one bothered to look long. Only the barista, and that particular look wasn’t the least bit fond.
    Akins pulled a chair out opposite Eduard, flipping it around to straddle it with his arms propped over the curving wood back—his elbows sticking out, his knees sticking out, and altogether proclaiming himself worthy of the excess space he took up. He didn’t wait for Eduard to speak, and he made little effort to lower his voice. “I tried, but you didn’t give me enough information.”
    Uncivilized, this man; he’d lacked the Core to mold him. But Eduard wouldn’t mention it. Men such as this weren’t even to guess at the Core’s existence. Nor of the Sentinels, for that matter—for the security of one faction ensured the security of the other. After two thousand years, this man was hardly worth the risk.
    So Eduard tolerated him, and Eduard used him. And, if necessary, Eduard would then have him killed.
    Akins frowned as Eduard sipped his latte. “You’re the one who asked me to come here. Do you want to talk, or what?”
    “Simply being thoughtful,” Eduard said in a mild tone—the one his men had learned to fear. He set the coffee down and flexed his wrist—the one broken, not so long ago, and still barely healed in spite of his ongoing personal restorative workings. Once, Vasilisa would have seen to his healing needs, but he had fled Gausto’s workroom without her, and had since learned of her death at Jet’s hands.
    He hadn’t yet replaced her, not in any of her capacities—but if Katie Maddox was malleable enough, she just might do.
    But that meant that this pathetic, mundane civilian had to come through for him, and Eduard was beginning to have his doubts. “I feel the need to mention, Mr. Akins, how many times you assured me you could delay Miss Maddox for some period of time.”
    Akins had the grace to look disgruntled, but it quickly passed. “I could have, too. She’s a skittery little bitch most of the time—easy enough to push her buttons. But you didn’t mention there’d be a guy with her. I had to improvise.”
    A guy. Of course. The very Sentinel who had foiled Guyrasi. “Nonetheless,” Eduard said, eying Akins’s truculence and deciding the man’s eventual fate on the spot. “There are many ways to create distraction or delay—unless you found that particular man intimidating.”
    Akins took quick and righteous offense. “I could have handled him,” he assured Eduard. “ If that’s what I’d wanted to do.”
    “And yet your failure put me in a difficult situation. I’m afraid our association no longer truly benefits me.”
    “Shit,” Akins said. “Can’t you ever just come right out and say what you mean, instead of dancing around the words? What are you, gay or something?”
    Eduard closed his eyes for a long moment. “Charming,” he said. When he looked at Akins again, it was with a little