Which wasn't entirely true.
"That we can prove," the chief muttered. "You know, Steele, I'm only here because Maddix is a friend and I want this cleared up just as much as he does. Otherwise, I'd be trying to find a way to fry your ass, no matter the fact that certain government agencies find you useful."
"That you can prove. And fortunately for me, I have many friends," Nik agreed as he inclined his head mockingly. "And on that note, before I murder this little bastard of Maddix's, I'm leaving."
Fury stiffened Luke's expression as he jumped to his feet and turned to his father.
"I feel sorry for you, Maddix," Nik stated, pitying the man. "Try suspending his allowance for a while. Maybe he'll act like a decent human being rather than the disgrace he's turning out to be."
Nik walked out of the room as Maddix lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. Almost simultaneously Glenda and Luke began raging. It didn't surprise Nik that Glenda was joining in on Luke's side; like the two council members, Glenda and Luke Nelson were making a little happy time between the sheets.
Nik wondered if Maddix was aware of it.
On second thought, Maddix wasn't a stupid man; he probably was.
Leaving the house, Nik walked back to his Harley, swung on, and twisted the key. The engine flared to life with a heavy, deep roar.
Maneuvering out of the wide driveway, he headed for the security gates and what he considered freedom beyond. Hell, he'd prefer to pledge the rest of his life to the Elite Ops than to live like this. Accepting deceit and selfish bickering such as what he'd glimpsed in Maddix Nelson's life.
The man hadn't raised his son with the same values he lived by; that was for damned sure.
But Mikayla had those values.
Where the hell had that thought come from?
Nik felt his enter body tense, tightening involuntarily at the thought of the too-small, too-fragile woman he had held in his arms the past week.
He hadn't been able to get her out of his mind, nor had he been able to keep from watching her. He was spending more time tracking her than he was tracking a killer. And that wasn't even Nik's job. His job was to figure out why she was lying about a man who hadn't, or at least who swore he hadn't, committed murder.
This was turning into a hell of a job, and one that was clearly going to take more time than Nik had anticipated. His commander, Jordan, was already questioning how much longer it could possibly take. The team had already been sent out to the next mission without Nik. That was something that hadn't happened in all the years they had fought together.
It was something that shouldn't be happening now. Except Nik couldn't seem to pull himself away.
The bruises on Mikayla's face were only now beginning to fade a bit. He knew that because he spied on her. As disgusting as it seemed to him, he couldn't help but watch out for her, to check up on her.
Someone much larger, much stronger, had dared to attack her in the darkness. Because of what she had seen or because of what she thought she saw?
Nik knew the surrounding area was divided on the subject of Maddix Nelson committing murder. Many thought he was capable of it. Some thought he was capable, but that in the case of Eddie Foreman he hadn't actually acted. Others thought the idea absurd but were amused by the battle being waged over it.
And at least one night, someone had decided to put a stop to the small woman who had instigated that battle.
A cold, hard knot of rage formed in Nik's stomach at the thought of the harm that could come to her. Something dark and protective welled inside him despite his battle against it.
Hell, he'd lost enough in his life. Did he really need to allow himself to become attached to a woman he knew he could never allow himself to have fully?
He could f**k her. He could take that shining innocence she had saved for so long and mar it with the darkness that lived within his soul, but he couldn't keep her. For a brief moment in time he could let the warmth and light that flowed through him when he touched her fill his soul, but he would have to walk away soon.
His life wasn't his own for two more long years, and even then he couldn't call it his own. There was no chance that once that time was past he could ever live a life even resembling happy.
He'd made enemies. He'd walked a line that no man could walk and expect to find peace later.
He was known in many dark corners of the world as a killer, a purveyor of war and destruction. And he wanted to bring that into the life of a woman who seemed to vibrate with warmth?
And yet how could he walk away?
His jaw ached at the force of his teeth grinding together. His hands flexed deliberately around the handgrips of the motorcycle handlebars as he turned toward town and the shop he knew Mikayla would still be working in.
Creating dreams. That was what she did there.
She created dreams in the form of dresses for both the innocent as well as the jaded. In each stitch of each design that she created herself, she lived her own dreams.
Dreams of romance and adventure, dreams of candlelit nights and passion.
And he knew, in a back room of her own home, she was creating her own dream. The first fragile form of a white gown that she would one day wear as she walked down the aisle herself.
He'd seen it when he had slipped into her home. His fingers had touched the fragile lace of the underskirt she had begun as his eyes had memorized the sketch on the table.
Mikayla was making her wedding gown. A creation of satin and lace, of beads and ivory. A gown she would wear for the man who would claim her heart forever.
Nik couldn't allow himself to be that man.
There was a part of himself that clenched in fury at the thought of any other man claiming that place in her life, though Nik knew it was a place he could never claim himself.
Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.
His job here was to find out why Mikayla Martin was lying about what she had seen.
His opinion was, if she was lying, then she was the best damned liar he had ever laid his eyes on. Or simply a woman he wanted more than he had ever wanted any other woman.
The potential for destruction was only growing.
Mikayla stared at the plate-glass window of her shop, feeling the tears that threatened to flood her eyes.
"LIAR." The word was brilliant crimson. The defacer wouldn't be caught. Mikayla had been through this too many times now to even bother calling her lawyer to once again demand the security tapes from the bank across the street. They always showed the same thing. Whoever used the paint wore a now-familiar black face covering. They had run across the street, painted, and run back while Deirdre and Mikayla were closer to the back of the store.