Page 48 of Immortal Unveiled

Leila nodded. “And very sorry that she shot you.”

Manus tried not to be too obvious that this was a relief to him though it was. Kim regretting her actions meant there was hope. Hope that she would listen to him now, and that she would forgive the lies he’d dished up.

“Where are they holding her?”

Ryder motioned to the door. “Aiden and Pearce are in one of the offices with her. I’ll bring you to them.”

~ ~ ~

Kim huffed in frustration. Pearce and Aiden had told her shit about what was going on. Instead, they’d been interrogating her for over an hour. As if she were a criminal! Asking her the same questions over and over again. Why she’d followed Manus. Whether she’d told anybody that she would be following him. Truth be told, right now she wished she’d called her friend Jennifer and told her about her plan of following Manus, at least then somebody would be looking for her.

Question after question Aiden and Pearce bombarded her with. They were particularly interested in the gun she’d used to shoot Manus. The gun she’d taken from her mother’s bedroom. She answered truthfully; still, they didn’t appear to be satisfied.

And whenever she asked questions of her own, they were stonewalling her.

They told her nothing about the two vampires she’d encountered, the demons she’d heard them talk about, or about Leila’s claim that Manus wasn’t human. Their answers were always the same.

“We’ll get to that later.”

“When?” she asked.

“When we can confirm your story with Manus. Once he wakes,” Aiden said.

She shivered at the words. Did he mean if? “But Manus already told you who I am.”

“Your identity is not in question,” Pearce interrupted and tapped on a manila file folder in front of him. “We know who you are. What we don’t know is if you’re compromised.”

“Compromised?” She furrowed her forehead, not understanding. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Pearce leaned closer. “Don’t you think it’s a little odd that a woman like you managed to follow Manus without him noticing and jumped into a portal right after him? As if you knew what to expect. We find that a little suspicious, don’t we, Aiden?”

Aiden nodded. “Pretty fearless of somebody who claims she suspected Manus of being the bad guy.”

Kim pounded her fist on the table. “I’ve been an investigative journalist for several years. That’s what I do. I follow bad guys. I investigate shit!”

“Well, not here, you don’t,” Pearce said.

“Yeah, and exactly where is here?” she snapped.

“That’s not for you to know,” Aiden said.

Kim scooted back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, if you don’t tell me anything, then I’m done talking too. I want to see Manus.”

“We decide when you’re gonna see him,” Aiden said, sounding very protective of his friend.

“Actually, I’m the one to decide that.”

Kim whirled around in her chair to look at the person who’d spoken: Manus. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. A bandage covered his bicep, but he looked better. Color was back in his face, and his eyes appeared clear and alert.

She shot up from her chair, happy to see that he was well, that he’d survived the ordeal. She was ready to throw herself into his arms when she stopped herself, freezing in mid-motion. This was the man she’d suspected of lying to her, of breaking into the storage unit, of killing her mother. This was the man she’d shot because she wanted answers. She couldn’t just forget all that. Besides, he’d suffered because of her. How could he forget that?

“Manus,” she choked out.

Manus nodded. “Kim.” His voice sounded tight. Well, she couldn’t blame him. He was pissed. And rightly so.

“What’s going on here?” he asked, but he wasn’t looking at her. He glared at Pearce and Aiden.

“Just doing our job,” Aiden said.