Born of Fire by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

don’t sleep well without her nearby.”
    Her sister smiled warmly. “Thank you. You’re the best sister ever.”
    “Don’t let Kasen hear that or she’ll punch you.”
    Tessa laughed.
    A nurse walked in. “It’s time for her vitals. Will you please wait outside?”
    Shahara led the way.
    As Thad opened the door for her, his hand brushed against her shoulder. She immediately shied away.
    “I’m sorry,” he mumbled in a sheepish apology.
    Embarrassed herself by the action, Shahara put two arms’ length between them. “It’s all right.”
    They stood on opposite sides of the hallway for several awkward minutes before Thad spoke again. “So where did you get the money?”
    She watched as a group of doctors and nurses conferred down the hallway and tried to imagine Syn with his lethal air in such a refined group, wearing their scrubs.
    It just somehow didn’t work in her mind.
    “Caillen paid them off.”
    “No, not the loaners. For the hospital. Caillen told me he didn’t have the money for both.”
    Frowning, she turned her full attention to him. “They haven’t been paid yet.” She was still waiting for payment from Merjack.
    “That’s not what they told me. I tried to pay part of it when I arrived, but the clerk told me the balance was paid in full.”
    Now that didn’t make sense. “They must have made a mistake.”
    He shrugged. “Maybe. Since I wasn’t family, she wouldn’t tell me anything more than that.”
    Could Caillen have come up with the money and just not had time to tell her?
    Excusing herself from Thad, she went to check.
    To her relief, the line inside the spartan business office was short and she only had to wait five minutes before a pinched-faced clerk motioned her forward.
    Shahara stepped up to the waist-high counter.
    The woman looked bored and irritable as if she’d been here way too long and wanted to go home. “Patient name?”
    “Tessa Dagan.”
    She typed it in. “And how may I help you?”
    “I need to know how much we owe.”
    “And you are?”
    “Seax Shahara Dagan. I’m the one responsible for the bill.”
    The woman huffed as if annoyed with Shahara’s presence. “I’ve already gone through this with a man. Can’t you people understand? The account is paid. You don’t owe any money.”
    Shahara stared at the billing clerk in disbelief. It couldn’t be. “That can’t be right. Please. Check again.”
    The woman turned her computer screen to face Shahara. “You can see for yourself. Tessa Dagan’s account was paid in full three days ago by Sheridan Belask. He also left an open balance in the event we needed more for her treatments, and gave her and her family credit for the cafeteria and hospital store should you need something.”
    Shahara blanched. Sheridan Belask?
    Syn?
    The man whose location she’d turned in to the Ritadarion officials had paid for her sister’s treatment?
    Suddenly the light gray walls around her seemed a little too close, a little too bright. She felt as if someone had just delivered a debilitating blow to her stomach.
    How could Syn have done such a thing after she’d gone after him?
    Why
would he have done this?
    It didn’t make sense. No one would do such a thing. Kindness was not in people’s natures. Ever.
    Especially not someone with Syn’s brutal past.
    No, he must have wanted something from her. Something more than just her oath. That was it. That made sense.
    It was a good thing she’d made her pact with Merjack because C.I. Syn would have eventually come to her for repayment. Without a doubt.
    Wouldn’t he?
    “Thank you.” She turned and left the office.
    But what if she was wrong?
    You’re not wrong. He raped and murdered that poor girl in cold blood—you saw what her father said.
Her fellow tracers wouldn’t be terrified of him without just cause.
    And her own interaction with him had proven just how cold and dangerous a person he was.
    No one would ever do a good deed without expecting payment for it.