Protecting His Witch (Entangled Covet) (Keeper Of The Veil series Book 1) by Zoe Forward

suddenly sobered up. “Shit. That’s why Bryce is always up my ass about you, isn’t it? Are you the one he thinks is her destined?”
    “Look, I may have been with her once a long time ago, but I’m sure as hell not her destined. It’s not like that.” Matt sighed and threw his head against the sofa cushions. “I ran into her last night at that benefit event. I think she’s probably the ‘Katherine’ that Bryce is searching for.”
    Eli clicked the TV onto mute and sat up. “You’re shitting me. I mean, I theorized but…fuck.”
    Matt shook his head. “I’d still like you to do research and see if you can find her here. If you can’t, then she needs an identity to throw the OLM off her trail. She’s in serious danger. Can you set that up? I mean, why not use those MI6 skills for some important hacking?”
    “I can try to put something in play for her tomorrow, if I come up with nothing. It won’t be airtight, given that she’s already on the OLM radar. Can you get a picture of her?”
    “Maybe,” Matt said. He closed his eyes and relived the memory of Kat in the cloakroom.
    Eli chuckled.
    Matt’s fantasy paused. He scowled at a very amused Eli. “What?”
    Eli’s smile didn’t waver. “Deny it all you want, but it looks like the gods have plans for you. Bloody big plans.”
    “The gods can go to hell for all I care.” He was in trouble. Eli was right. He pushed off the sofa. “I’m going out to buy some more beer.”
    …
    Kat pushed her eyes to pass through the rebellious nonfunctional phase fast, not that it worked. Stinging cold wind and spitting ice rain tore into her scrubs. Her knees folded against the too-familiar vertigo, landing her hard on the damp sidewalk. Water soaked through the thin cotton scrubs where her legs hit the concrete. The bus stop sign a few feet away offered five ways to get cheap Broadway tickets. New York. Again. At night.
    She stumbled upright and into a lean against a stone building. After the standard period of disorientation and eye burning, she swiped rain from her eyes and gazed around. Now what?
    An icy gust speared through her soaked scrubs. Full-body shivers racked her to the point her teeth clacked together.
    A large hand snaked around her arm and clamped tight. “Come with me, whore of the devil. Or I’ll kill you,” a man ordered.
    Her heart pounded so hard that she feared she’d have a heart attack.
    The man towered over her. Maniacal hatred shimmered in his dark gaze.
    “What do you want?” she asked. Rape? Mugging? She tugged against his bruising grip. She couldn’t pick up any thoughts from him other than streamlined motivation to kidnap her.
    He laughed low, menacing. “I am the gateway to your salvation.”
    “What do I need saving from?” Keep him talking . At least then she wasn’t being dragged into an alleyway.
    “Shut up, witch.” He wrenched her arms behind her. She heard a plastic zipping sound and then her wrists were secured. Tight. With a rough jerk he forced her to stumble up the slick sidewalk beside him by gripping her bound wrists.
    “Let me go.” Had he seen her sudden appearance and assumed her to be a witch? Or was that some sort of slur? She slammed on the brakes and refused to walk. He raised her bound arms behind her back. The excruciating pain in her shoulders forced her to bend forward and move wherever he wanted. She tripped and lost a shoe.
    He caught her against him before she face-planted onto the wet concrete. “Walk,” he ordered.
    “My shoe…”
    “Fuck the shoe.” With a curse, he thrust her body outward, slamming her into the side of the building. Her head bounced against the stone in a mind-numbing ricochet. Dizziness gave way to excruciating head pain.
    He shook her, activating a vicious mental spin. As he leaned in close she smelled coffee and cigarettes on his breath. He gritted out, “Shut up and move, or I will kill you. They don’t care if I bring you in alive or dead.”
    “Let her