a Touch of Revenge (Romantic Mystery - book 6): The Everly Gray Adventures by L.j. Charles Page A

together.” The desperation in Cait’s voice grated along my nerves.
    Pierce nodded, then seemed to shrink into a normal-sized person. “Do you need protection, Cait?” It was the same tone he used with me right after Mitch was killed. Gentle. Protective.
    “No. I…” She shuffled tight against a brick building. “I’ll be fine. There are places I can go if I need to.” Cait dismissed Pierce with a shrug, and turned to me. “It’s you who’s in danger, El.”
    Her fear bit into me. Connor hadn’t hired Mitch to protect me, then.
    “From?” The demand in Pierce’s voice was tight as strung steel.
    “My mother. Fion Connor.”
    Another surge of adrenaline hit my muscles with the need to fight, to slam my fist into something hard and unforgiving, something I could crush with determination and my bare hands. My body shook with need. “She’s here? Nearby?”
    Pierce dropped a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Why is El in danger, Cait?”
    He sounded calm, reasonable. It pissed me off, and I shrugged out from under his hold. “ I’m not in danger, but Fion Connor is at the top of my hit list.”
    Cait’s eyes went blank, and then her chin dipped to her chest. “I-I’m sorry. She’s my mother, but she’s not…right.”
    “Look at me, Cait.” Pierce used his command voice, and Cait responded like a well-trained soldier, staring right at him.
    She lifted her arms, let them drop. “This morning I found…I broke into…she was acting so strange, mumbling about red hair, poison, and demons. I couldn’t help but think of you, El… Oh, gosh. I didn’t mean you’re a demon. It was the red hair, and—”
    I waved her apology away. “I understand. Go on.” It hadn’t come as a complete surprise that Connor was evil, but letting go of the idea my mom had set up a scheme to protect me was tough. The fantasy died hard, leaving a bitter ache in my heart.
    Cait sucked in a breath. “Anyway, I picked the lock on a door in her study, one she’d never, ever let me get near…she’s always threatened me with severe bodily harm if I tried. Once, when I was about six, I made the mistake of attempting to get in when I needed a sticking plaster and couldn’t find her anywhere. I’d scraped my knee pretty bad.”
    Cait’s breathing was labored, and it must have worried Pierce because he patted her arm. She calmed down under his magic touch. I could relate.
    “When she heard me rattle the knob, she threw the door open, bashed into me, and knocked me flat on my back. I landed on the floor so hard I couldn’t breathe. It scared me bad. Then she spanked me so hard I couldn’t sit for a couple days. I never went near her study again, much less anywhere within touching distance of that door.”
    Pierce hadn’t stopped scanning the area while Cait talked, and now he signaled her deeper into the doorway. “Connor usually hang around after you’ve had a fight?” His words scraped the air with cold fury.
    “Yes. She stalks me if she thinks I’m planning to stay away from home.”
    Pierce nodded.
    I was terrified for Cait, and my curiosity and patience were on a razor edge waiting to hear the rest of her story. “Is it safe to move her to our room?” I asked Pierce.
    He didn’t bother with an answer, just stripped off his hoodie and handed it to Cait. “Put this on, pull the hood up. I’m big so it’ll cover most of you. I’m going to wrap my left arm around you, and I want you to lean near me, like we’re lovers.”
    Cait’s eyes dilated, but she cuddled into Pierce’s hoodie and moved to his left side without a word.
    “Other side of Cait, Everly.” He nodded at me, acknowledging that I’d already covered my telltale red hair under my hood. “She’ll be on your right, so leave enough room to pull your Boker.”
    I turned my hand over, showing him the blade I had at the ready. He grinned. “We’re going to move at a normal pace, stop for a minute to look in that window across the street. You know