Part 12 (1/2)

Now all she could do was wait. Luckily, she was saved by a knock at the door. She wasn't expecting company, and a quick peek through the peephole wasn't any help. She opened the door only as far as the chain allowed.

”Hi, can I help you?”

The woman looked a bit chagrined. ”Okay, I'm betting Laurel didn't get around to calling you. She was supposed to let you know I'd be stopping by. I'm Brenna Nichols. You might have known my father, Judge Nichols.”

That was a name Sasha recognized for sure. ”Yes, of course. I knew him from my father's poker nights. His death rocked the whole organization.”

Brenna's smile drooped a bit. ”So I eventually found out.”

Sasha could've kicked herself. Judge Nichols had been one of her father's good friends, but he had chosen to keep Brenna ignorant of his secret connection to the Paladins.

Sasha closed the door long enough to unfasten the chain. ”Come on in. Can I get you something to drink? Water? Pop? Or I could make coffee.”

”Water sounds good. I try to avoid caffeine when Blake's on duty.” Brenna sank down in the closest chair with a sigh. ”I don't know about you, but I have a hard time relaxing when the guys are on call.”

Sasha pulled two bottled waters from the mini fridge and handed one to Brenna. ”Yeah, I know what you mean. Back in St. Louis, I didn't actually come into contact with many of the Paladins and never visited their headquarters, so the actual fighting was definitely more abstract.”

”Be grateful. Their headquarters down in those caves can be a pretty scary place. Been there, done that, don't want to go back.”

Sasha had heard the stories and grinned. ”You do have a certain reputation back in Missouri.”

”Oh, really?”

Sasha smiled. ”Yeah, the general opinion is that no one should ever risk getting between you and Trahern-and he wasn't the one they said people should be afraid of.”

Brenna grinned, looking pretty proud of herself. ”Blake's worth fighting for.”

Sasha thought back to her brief time with David and had to agree with Brenna's a.s.sessment. Could Sasha have saved him if she'd been there at his side? She'd never know, but it hurt to think it might have been possible.

She realized that Brenna was watching her. ”Sorry, I didn't mean to s.p.a.ce out on you.”

”No problem, but if I had to guess, I'd say maybe you've had some firsthand experience yourself.”

But she also seemed to realize that it wasn't a topic Sasha was ready to talk about, because Brenna immediately changed the subject. Sort of. ”I thought you might need to talk about what happened with Larem down in the tunnels.”

Sasha winced and sat down on the sofa. ”I'd really hoped the whole incident would stay a secret, but that was probably naive. I guess everyone thinks it's my fault he ended up getting hurt so badly.”

”Oh, no. No one blames you for that.” Brenna moved forward on her chair. ”And I didn't hear about it through the rumor mill. Laurel told me because she thought you might like to have another woman to talk to, and she couldn't leave the lab.”

That was a relief, though Sasha knew it would get out eventually. ”That was nice of her. I'm not used to being able to talk about my job.”

Brenna nodded. ”It wasn't until recently that Laurel had any women friends who she could really be honest with for that very reason. Slowly, though, we're building up a nice support group. Besides her and me, there's Lacey, Lusahn, and now Tate Justice. Thank goodness for e-mail. Since all of our men have a tendency to want to smother us, we occasionally rebel and go out on the town together.”

Of course, they were all drawn together by their love for the men in their lives. Sasha's situation was different. Then Larem's handsome face flashed through her mind. She shook it away. He had nothing to do with this. It would be nice if they would include her in some of their girls' nights out, and she said so.

Brenna finished the last of her water. ”The more the merrier, especially when it makes the guys nervous about what we're actually up to. I did have another reason for dropping in on you. Laurel asked me to take you by to see her condo.”

Sasha didn't hesitate. It was the perfect excuse to get out for a while. ”That would be great. Let me get my purse.”

An hour later, they let themselves out of Laurel's condo and locked the dead bolt. Sasha wanted to boogie right there on the sidewalk. The place was perfect. Absolutely perfect. It was big enough if she ever decided to get a roommate, but cozy enough that she wouldn't rattle around inside it by herself.

”I'll give Laurel a call later and work out the details. I had my stuff put in one of those storage pods, so I can have it s.h.i.+pped out here with just a phone call.”

Brenna led the way back to her car. ”That was smart of you. I know Laurel will be glad you want to rent the place.”

As the two women headed back to the hotel, they pa.s.sed a man walking along the other side of the street. Something about him caught Sasha's eye. In fact, if she didn't know that Larem was still a patient in Laurel's lab, she would've sworn it was him. She twisted in her seat to look back one last time, but he'd already turned the corner.

Brenna glanced over. ”Someone you know?”

”I thought so for a minute, but I guess not.”

The last thing she wanted to do was admit that she was imagining the Kalith warrior stalking the streets of Seattle. Time to change the subject.

”So tell me, how is your research into the history of the Paladins coming?”

Larem's leg was killing him as he limped his way down the street and cursed the G.o.ds' sense of humor. Couldn't they have made it so that his erratic gift as a healer would at least work better on himself? Yes, his body was repairing itself far faster than a human's would, but it still hurt like h.e.l.l.

Earlier, he'd waited until Laurel was ripping into Lonzo for lying, to sneak out of the lab. His poor roommate should've known better than to try to put something over on the Handler. Laurel had too much experience with Paladins to let him get by with his ruse.

On the other hand, she had no reason to think Larem would be in any great hurry to vacate the place, especially after his near collapse right after Sasha left. Because of his Kalith metabolism, the pain medication she'd given him hadn't lasted nearly long enough. Once it had worn off, all he could think about was getting the h.e.l.l out of the lab and back to his duties at the shelter.

The animals he worked with always soothed his restless spirit. All they needed to make them happy was a gentle touch and acceptance. His hand twitched as he remembered how good it had felt to have Sasha squeeze his hand when she thought he was asleep. Maybe that's why he and the dogs got along. They had that much in common.

He walked through the back door of the clinic, doing his best to shrug off the pain and frustration of the past few days. His furry friends had enough problems of their own without having to pick up on his tension. As soon as he started across the room, several heads turned his way. Most weren't human, but one was. Dr. Isaac smiled and headed straight for him.

He clapped Larem on the shoulder. ”Hey, I was getting pretty concerned about you. Usually if you're going to miss a s.h.i.+ft, you call.”

”I'm sorry to have worried you, Doctor.” Larem opened his locker and slipped on his lab coat. ”I hope my absence didn't cause any problems.”

The vet was frowning when Larem turned back toward him. ”You're limping. What happened? Are you all right?”

”I injured my leg. It just needed a few st.i.tches.” Major surgery, actually, but confessing that would only worry the man. ”It happened right before my s.h.i.+ft yesterday. I'm sore, but otherwise fine.”

”That's good.” Then Dr. Isaac jerked his head toward the cages on the far side of the room. ”Better check in with Chance over there first thing. He's been staring at the door nonstop. I'd even go so far as to say that he's been missing you. If you can convince him to forgive your transgressions, I'd like to check him over.”

Knowing the dog, Larem planned on making a cautious approach. ”He'll no doubt make me pay for keeping him waiting.”

Yeah, he'd have to make up for lost ground with the temperamental dog. At least that would give Larem something else to focus on other than Sasha's dark eyes and halo of fiery hair.

”Hey, Chance, I'm back.”

A quick snarl made it perfectly clear how the dog felt about that. He'd been lying down but immediately lurched to his feet as Larem approached his cage, a growl rumbling deep in his chest. At least he wasn't repeatedly charging against the door of the cage the way he had in the beginning.

Larem dragged a low bench over to the cage and gingerly lowered himself to sit. The position was far from comfortable for his leg, but it beat sitting on the floor. He closed his eyes and turned his focus inward, seeking the warmth and light. His supplies were low, but he was able to pull additional energy from the sunlight streaming in from a skylight.