“Get Jim reassigned and get people on him,” Kieran went on. “I don’t want him trying to take this further. If he does, or even breathes a word of it to anyone, get rid of him for good.”

My mouth dropped open.

“The records?” an intense guy asked, standing beside Kieran now.

“Amend them with old data but a slightly improved magical score and post them. Don’t dally. I don’t want to give anyone a reason to look more closely. Make sure the distraction is up and running by the time you post the info. Put the originals on my private network. No one is to see those, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir,” the man said, and a growing unease gnawed at my gut.

I wanted to pull the ejection cord. I wanted to pack all this in, go home, and crawl under a rock. I didn’t know what was going on, but the implications had turned my blood cold.

“Get it set up,” Kieran said, starting back toward where the mountebank had exited. “Keep me informed of when she goes to that pub. I want to know the moment she sets out.”

“Yes, sir.”

I watched him go, followed by his groupies, thinking through the names I’d contact in the neighborhood. Hopefully most of them hadn’t yet allowed their boredom whisk them away across the Line. I only tended to check in when I needed something, and that was a rarity reserved for desperate matters only.

I wondered if a few of them would like to stalk the stalkers, heading back to their homes and haunting them. No one enjoyed being haunted.

Bing.

The breath caught in my throat and everything in me froze solid.

It was a text message. I hadn’t turned off my ringer.

Kieran stopped abruptly, followed by his groupies. As one, they turned in my direction, too slowly. Predators ready to prowl.

Bing.

This couldn’t be happening!

I couldn’t see eyes from this distance, just faces tuned in to the sound’s location.

I knew the very instant Kieran recognized me.

It was the same moment a wide smile flashed across his striking face.

32

Alexis

“Get out,” he ordered his guys in a low, growling voice. An excited voice. The predator had spotted his prey.

“Shit turds.” Heart suddenly rampaging, I burst forward and down the steps. He was across a sea of obstacles in a single moment. If I ran like hell, I had a chance to get to the door.

Then what?

I had no idea.

“Where does she think she’s going?” I heard.

“Get out!” Kieran demanded.

No witnesses.

“Batshit and tiaras.” I took the steps two at a time, catching one wrong near the end and pitching forward. I turned it into a roll, going a little sideways but stopping before I slammed into an obstacle beam.

I was up and running in a flash, not superhuman, but fast enough. I dodged behind an obstacle and quickly scanned for another way out. Nothing but wall.

Metal tinkled, and from the corner of my eye I saw a rope swing out from behind scaffolding. Nobody came into view.

Bing.

“Shut up, you bastard.” I saw more steps leading up to another platform, this one higher, but no outlet that I could see. I couldn’t chance going all the way up there to find a door. Besides, that wall probably signified the end of the gym. I’d have to cut across at some point.

Maybe I could lure him over to this side while I cut across the other?

He can move at superhuman speeds, you dumb shit. That won’t work.

My inner dialogue was not very kind when faced with stupid ideas.

Feet pounded on a hard surface before the sound abruptly ceased. I looked around wildly.

The course looked clear. Nothing moved in my line of sight.

A hard thump sounded, followed by two more.

I paused where I was, breath coming quickly and heart pounding in my ears. That sound had been in front of me, in the middle of the two paths. But where?

I stalked to the side, near a large obstacle, my feet edging toward the side of the walkway. I scanned all I could from my position leaning over the sparkling water. Nothing. No large bodies and no sound. He was waiting for me to go by.

So maybe I had to go across instead.

This is stupid.

Yes, it is, inner asshole. But I have no other choice.

Each obstacle looked harder to navigate than the one before it, but finally I found something that looked like some sort of balance exercise. A collection of round balls dotted an expanse of water. Going lengthwise would be a true challenge. Going across would only require courage and surefootedness.

Amendment: this is really stupid.

I annoyed even myself at times.

Gritting my teeth, I prepared to tempt fate and cut across. But suddenly an idea clicked on the light bulb above my head.

I turned back the way I’d come. There had to be a door at the end. Why else would there be a viewing platform on this side?

Much better idea.

I took a moment to turn off the ringer on my phone before I jogged as slowly as I could while remaining silent. A light squeak behind me sounded like shoes on a slippery surface. Then pounding, like someone trying to get out of an obstacle.

Oh shit!

I put on a burst of speed, no longer trying for quiet, just trying to get out of there before he could clear the obstacle. I passed the stairs to the viewing area I’d been on, not even sparing them a glance. All my focus was on getting to that theoretical door at the end.

A shape swung from God knew where and dropped twenty feet directly in front of me. Kieran bent with the impact, and straightened slowly, his eyes shimmering with lust and malice.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck. Oh fuck.” I pivoted on a dime and was jumping before I’d thought it through.

I grabbed a blue rope midair, my momentum swinging me over the water. But there was nothing on the other side to grab. I swung back, chancing a jaw-clenching glance behind me.

He stalked up the walkway slowly, that devilish smile lingering on his handsome face.

“Crap, crap, fuck, crap,” I muttered, looking around wildly. The rope was losing its swing. Soon I’d be hanging over the water. I needed to jump. But to what?

“There aren’t many people who can sneak up on me, Alexis,” he said, his voice thick with eager anticipation. “Those who get caught trying…are punished. How should I punish you? It is in my power to do so. You’re on magical soil now. You’re in my house, and you must play by my rules.”

“Fuckety crap.” I tried for more swing, but my hands were losing their grip and the rope wasn’t complying. I strained to the side, reaching for one of the pegs in a sideboard with a bunch of holes, barely wrapping my fingers around it. The wood came out of the hole, and I swung the other way. “What the…”

“I’m almost disappointed I caught you. You were angry, weren’t you, hearing my plans? A girl like you would rebel against something like that. I wonder what you would’ve done to retaliate. I can’t say I don’t deserve it, but I can’t say I’m sorry, either.”

I braced myself to launch off the rope.

“No!” he shouted, his teasing tone gone in an instant. “You’ll hurt—”

One of my hands gave out before I had the momentum right. I hardly flew forward at all, but my body somersaulted. I smacked the water with the side of my face, my mouth open to scream, and my hands and legs spread out like a frog.

Bone-chilling water assaulted my mouth and pushed up into my nose. Cold rushed up over my head and body. My buoyancy slowed me and I paddled wildly up to the surface, already shaking from the plunge in temperature.

A hand grabbed my arm, and I struck out, catching Kieran’s stomach with my foot. He only tightened his grip. It wasn’t the reaction I’d been going for.

I crested the surface and gulped for air. Water sloshed into my mouth, antagonizing a cough already in progress. I sputtered hoarsely. The primal fear of drowning clawed at me, and I struggled to get away from him. To swim and keep from going under.

“I have you.” He yanked me, turning me as he did so.

He trapped my back to his chest before two sure strokes moved us to the side of the pool. I might as well have been a baby for how easily he pulled me from the water, laid me out along the side, and knelt over me.