Free When Passion Lies: A Shadow Keepers Novel by J. K. Beck Page B

“Politely?” she repeated innocently. “I thought you knew me better.”
    His smile was quick and genuine and the ice between them melted just a little. “Thank you for coming.”
    “Oh.” She shifted her weight, his conciliatory tone disarming her. “You’re welcome. I guess I should apologize for killing your snitch. It wasn’t about you.”
    “Even so, it has caused me quite a bit of inconvenience.”
    “Yeah, you said. I’m all broken up about that.”
    Tiberius moved away from the window, circling his desk until he was standing in front of it. He leaned back against it and regarded her. He looked both casual and commanding, something she’d always admired about him, and something that she knew served him well in the world of shadow politics. One minute he could be chatting someone up like his best buddy, the next minute he could lop off his head.
    She looked around the room and then moved to one of the low leather chairs. She sank into it, and then with her eyes on Tiberius, casually kicked her feet up onto the glass coffee table. “So, you got me here. Whatever shall we talk about?”
    “I have a few suggestions. For example, you tell me you’re not working for Lihter, and yet the same day I’m scheduled to meet with a werewolf willing to reveal secrets of Lihter’s inner circle, that werewolf is killed. And at the hand of a woman highly placed in weren circles.”
    “Dammit, Tiberius, I didn’t kill him for Lihter. I don’t give a rat’s ass about Lihter. I killed him because—”
    No
. She closed her mouth. No, she wasn’t going there.
    “Why?”
    “You know what? Forget it. I’ve already told you it has nothing to do with you. And you gave up the right to ask me that when you banished me.” She cringed, wishing she hadn’t said quite so much. Because that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? He’d washed his hands of her when he’d walked away from the safe house, and his indifference had been like a knife in her heart.
    “I never forgot,” he said.
    “Didn’t you? Sure felt like it from my end.”
    “You went to the weren.” His words were flat, harsh. “You joined them.”
    Anger curled within her. “Dammit, Tiberius, I didn’t go to Claudius. I went to
Gunnolf
. I went to a
weren
. One who could teach me how to control the new and exciting tricks and tribulations of my body.” She leaned forward. “And what the hell was I supposed to do? You made it perfectly clear I was no longer one of your people. I guess that made me one of his.” She leaned closer, getting right in his face.
“Weren.”
    A tic in his cheek was the only sign that his composure had been compromised. “Exactly,” he finally said. “You’ve sided with the weren. And therein lies the rub. Because Reinholt had offered himself up as a spy.”
    “Oh, for Christ’s sake. Do you really believe I’d step in as Lihter’s go-to girl? Do you really know me so little?”
    “No,” he said. “I don’t believe it.”
    “Oh.” The swiftness and certainty of his response surprised her. “Well, you’re right.” She stood and movedtoward the window that he’d abandoned earlier. Outside, she could see a faint purple glow at the horizon. Dawn was coming. She frowned. In the back of her mind, she’d known they wouldn’t have time to finish their talk before the morning, but it was only now, standing in his office, that the full ramifications of that reality hit her. Today she’d have to stay in the guest wing. The thought made her shiver with a mixture of nostalgia and, yes, anticipation. Despite everything, she’d missed it here.
    He moved to her side, and she had to focus to concentrate on his words rather than on the awareness of his proximity and the air that hung thick between them. “I may not believe that you’re working with Lihter, but Reinholt is still dead, and my ability to obtain intelligence about the weren community has been severely compromised.”
    “Life is full of