Very Much Alive (7 page)

“She?” Kir’s tension eased a bit. From the way Logan was standing, however, the revelation that Jordan’s adversary had been female hadn’t alleviated any of
his
anger.

“The other woman, in this case. The dickhead husband just stood there and laughed.” She said the words absently, like what had happened was no big deal.

“Who was he?” Unless you knew Logan really well, you’d think the question was casual. Logan’s expression was one Kir had seen before, and it did not bode well for whoever Jordan had been tailing. Considering he wasn’t happy with the unknown man either, he was not inclined to enlighten her.

Jordan didn’t know Logan well enough to figure out that he was supremely pissed off. “Just a bozo who doesn’t know how to keep it zipped in his pants.”

Logan’s head tilted. “You know, if you tell me who it is, I can visit a little something special on him.” Kir could see the fire dance in Logan’s eyes, quickly doused by the other man’s will.

Someone is in for an interesting time.
He had no doubt that Logan would find out who the man was and make his life…interesting, whether she told them who it was or not. He relaxed, knowing the man and his mistress would pay for laying hands on their woman.

Wait. When was that decided?

She grinned. “Like what, an STD?”

“Nah. Odds are he’ll get that anyway.” Logan waved off Jordan’s nod of agreement. “I mean something along the lines of dead fish in his curtain rods.”

Jordan’s grin melted away. “Huh?”

“Just tell your client that when she files for divorce she should let him have the curtains, complete with rods.” His expression was devilish. “Trust me.”

“I’ve heard of that before. Something about sewing dead prawns into the bottoms of the curtains, and when the fish rotted, the cheating couple was forced to move due to the smell. Only they took the curtains with them.” She leaned against the dinette and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s some kind of urban legend, isn’t it?”

Logan nodded. “And it makes a hell of a stench, too.”

She stared at him. “Are you telling me it
isn’t
an urban legend?”

“I am telling you no such thing.”

Her expression of disbelief was almost as amusing as Logan’s attempt at innocence. “Why don’t I believe you?”

Logan chuckled as he took her arm and led her to the chaise. “Do we know now what we need to pick up tomorrow at the video store?”

Jordan was still frowning at him, but allowed him to lead her to the chaise. She seemed startled when Logan took a seat on the chaise next to her, draping his arm casually along the edge behind her. “Yes, I know exactly what we need tomorrow.”

Her face was suspicious again. Kir took a seat on the ottoman across from her, his knees brushing hers. He did his best to look harmless, but he wasn’t certain if he managed it or not.

“Good. Work’s over, right?”

Kir saw the expression on Logan’s face and knew he was about to make some sort of move on Jordan. “I think we’re done for the evening, yes.”

Jordan clapped her hands, making both Kir and Logan jump. He’d been lost in a vision of the two of them seducing her. “Good! Then I’ll head home and meet you guys nice and early.” She tried to stand, only to find Logan’s hand on her shoulder. The confusion on her face forced Kir to hide the smile threatening to get away from him.

“How about a movie?” Kir gave Jordan his best “I’m harmless, you can trust me” look.

“What movie?” From her expression she wasn’t buying it. She still looked suspicious.

“What would you like to watch?”

“Your door shutting behind me as I head home for the night.”

“I’m not sure we have that one.”

Jordan rolled her eyes and got to her feet. “Seriously, if we’re going to get to work in the morning, I need to head out.” She looked down at her watch and groaned. “Damn, it’s later than I thought.”

“Then stay here for the night.” Kir stood, checking out the clock on the entertainment center and grimaced.
Midnight. Not sure I want her driving home this late, especially if Grimm catches wind of us meeting.

Jordan started hunting around for the small carry-on luggage she called a purse. “No, thanks. It’s really late, and I need my sleep, something I don’t think I’ll get if I stay here.”

“You got that right.”

Kir kicked Logan’s ankle as discreetly as he could, glad that Jordan’s distraction kept her from hearing the other man’s muttered words. “Then do us a favor?”

“What?”

“Let us walk you to your car, and call us once you’re home.”

“Why?”

“To make sure you get home safely.”

She seemed to think about that for a moment before nodding. “All right.”

Logan got out the door first, making sure it was safe before going to the elevator.

This left Kir to enjoy the view of the two best asses in the world walking right in front of him.

He was glad to see Jordan drove a sensible sedan, though it was an older model than he liked. Logan assisted her into her car, every inch the gentleman, shutting her door for her and watching carefully as she started her car.

She waved good-bye as she pulled out of the parking garage, confusion still lighting her features but a smile dragging at her lips.

Logan walked over to Kir, his arm going around Kir’s waist and pulling him back to the elevator. Kir smiled. “That went well.”

Logan snorted. “It didn’t go
that
well. She’s not upstairs.”

Kir smiled. “Patience, love.”

Logan pulled Kir into the elevator and pressed the button for their floor. “Patience is a virtue, and you know I’m not very virtuous.”

“I noticed something you didn’t.”

“What?”

“Her scent.”

The elevator began to rise, along with Logan’s grin. “Ahh. Damp, was she?”

Kir looked over at his lover, not surprised to see that Logan’s cock was a hard ridge behind his jeans.

Sometimes it paid to be a fertility god. It allowed you to notice all sorts of things others might wish you couldn’t. “Very.”

Logan took his hand, holding it against his thigh as they watched the numbers rise. His thumb absently stroked Kir’s palm, soothing him. His smile was smug. “Good.”

Logan watched the sassy sway of Jordan’s ass as they got out of Kir’s Mustang. They were headed to a computer store on Market Street Jordan frequented. She wanted to pick up a video camera with some sort of YouTube specific software, or hardware, or whatever. He wasn’t quite sure what the hell that was supposed to mean, but he figured she did, and that was good enough for him. And Kir had nodded like he knew what she was talking about, so as far as he was concerned it was all good. The two of them had chattered like happy little techno-geeks the entire ride over while Logan amused himself by shooting imaginary bullets at every pigeon, blackbird and crow he could see.

Kir glanced back at Logan with a frown. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

Logan rolled his eyes. Kir was such a worrier sometimes. It drove him nuts. Kir and Jordan might have the technology down pat, but when it came to the magic part…that was the part where Logan shined. Kir should know better than to worry about
that
part.

“Yes,” Jordan answered, confidence seeping from every pore as she stepped aside. Logan pushed her seat forward so he could get out of the Cracker-Jack box Kir called a car. “Follow me, boys.”

“With pleasure,” he purred.

She looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at him, but he could still see the uncertainty in her.

He noticed Kir’s attention was also focused on Jordan’s ass and stifled a smile. Since they’d decided to claim the luscious Jordan for their own neither one had kept their interest to themselves. Jordan was acting a little confused by all of the attention. She’d better get used to it. She was going to be on the receiving end of a
lot
of attention, if they had their way.

The thought of Kir, Jordan, chocolate sauce and tongue baths was probably what kept him from noticing the large blue sedan that pulled up alongside them.

Jordan bellowed “Down!” as she pushed him hard enough to knock him on his ass. It was his first clue that something was seriously wrong. A sound like a firecracker pierced the afternoon air. Jordan grunted in pain, and Logan literally saw red.

Kir landed on top of him, sandwiching Jordan between them. The blue sedan sped off, pedestrians shrieking and diving for cover. Kir rolled off him and immediately took Jordan into his arms. Logan stood, ready to chase down the blue sedan and have a little “chat” with the driver.

“Jordan!”

Something in Kir’s deepened, panicked voice stopped him from chasing down the blue sedan. He looked at the woman cradled in Kir’s arms, and his heart stopped. He knelt down beside Kir, instinctively placing himself between them and the street.

She’d been shot. Blood seeped from a wound in her right shoulder. Her eyes were glazed in pain as she looked up at him. Her features were determined as she grabbed a hold of Logan’s shirt and pulled him close, hissing through clenched teeth, “He was aiming for
you
.” Her eyes went to Kir. “Get him the fuck outta here.”

And Logan slipped from being a little bit in love to being all the way. No one,
no one
, had ever taken pain meant for him. No one had
ever
gotten in between him and danger. No one had ever tried to protect him, or bled for him. No one had cared enough.

No one but Kir.

He saw the look on Kir’s face, knew Kir felt the same damn way. That overprotective streak of Kir’s was now fully engaged at the sight of the woman they’d claimed bleeding on the sidewalk. Kir was beyond furious as he cradled her to him, wincing in sympathy as she hissed.

An enraged Kir was a scary thing.

Kir stood, growling as Jordan gasped in pain, and ran for the car. He put her in the backseat, cursing the tiny sports car, while Logan dug in Kir’s pocket for his keys.

“Jefferson’s closest.” Kir’s voice had deepened. The pupils of his eyes turned white, storm clouds beginning to edge out the sunny blue. Logan reached into the glove compartment and handed Kir his mirrored shades, hiding his inhuman eyes from sight, then pulled on his own shades. Thunder sounded as grey clouds rapidly began to roll in over the city.

“Right.” He waited long enough for Kir to close the passenger side door before taking off like a bat out of hell for Jefferson University Hospital.

They pulled up outside the emergency room entrance just as the rain started. Kir ran inside and managed to get a gurney for Jordan. It had taken a slight shift in the paperwork to get her seen first, but at this point he’d have been willing to blow on trumpets until she got taken care of, let alone a measly flexing of his powers. She was taken in, immediately assessed and moved straight into a curtained-off area, where a physician began prepping her for surgery.

“Excuse me; is either of you gentlemen related to the victim?”

Logan took his gaze off the curtains where Jordan was being prepped to look down at the nurse standing next to him. Her grey-streaked, no-nonsense bun was twisted, her brown eyes sympathetic as she clutched a clipboard to her chest.

“She’s my wife.”

He felt Kir start as the words slipped out of his mouth. He flexed his powers again to adjust all of Jordan’s paperwork from
Grey
to
Saeter
. It wasn’t enough to change her insurance and license; he’d changed
all
of her legal paperwork. The larger change took less energy and concentration. While he was at it he filed a marriage license with the state, just because…well, because. It soothed the beast inside him that needed to claim her firmly as his.

For a prankster god, it was a piece of cake.

The woman looked relieved. “I need you to sign the surgical release forms, please.”

He signed everything she shoved at him, determined to see to it that his woman got the care she needed.

He looked over at Kir, who was staring at the curtained off area, a fierce frown covering his face. The thunder was louder now; the rain was coming down harder. The street was almost invisible out the window of the surgical waiting room.

Make that
our
woman.
Lightning arced across the sky, confirming his thought.

He stood there, clenching and unclenching his hands as he heard the doctor give the order to have Jordan wheeled to surgery. He was having a hard time controlling the raging fires within him. Someone, some
stranger
, was going to be cutting into her flesh, removing a bullet meant for him, and it was driving him crazy. The knowledge that he could have lost someone else he loved burned like acid in his gut. Memory flashed behind his eyes of his sons, Nari and Narfi, one dead by the other’s hand. Nari lost to madness for all time as he killed his brother; Narfi’s entrails enchanted to hold down a god and used to bind Loki to the mountain.

Strong arms wrapped around him and held tight while inside he raged against the memories, both past and present.

“How come she gets to be
your
wife?” Kir grumbled.

Logan felt some of his anger drain away as Kir stroked his back.

“She could be
my
wife, you know.” He felt Kir grin briefly against his neck, but it didn’t fool him. Kir was shaking. The urge to soothe his lover began to overtake the rage and pain inside him. “After all, she likes me better.”

Kir sounded like a petulant child, but Logan knew the truth. Blondie was just as upset, and just as furious, as he was. Logan snorted. Shaking his head, he wrapped his arms around Kir, and settled down to wait for the doctors to return.

Jordan woke to nausea and confusion. She blinked, looking up at the bright white light overhead. “Don’t go into the light,” she muttered, surprised when someone snorted next to her.
Logan.
Her brain immediately identified the sound, like she’d heard it hundreds of times before.
Of course, I
have
damn near heard it a hundred times before.