He gave me a funny look, but I held his stare, wondering if he was planning to come to my rescue. Rightfully, since he was responsible for bringing me here to be consumed by the lioness sizing me up.
She momentarily shifted her attention to Hawk. “Is that what he told you? Well, I can assure you no one can take the place of his mother.”
Hawk seemed a little uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I’m being rude.” She suddenly stood up and headed for the kitchen.
Hawk waited for her to disappear through the doorway and then looked at me. “Don’t mention anything that could reflect her age. It makes her crazy.”
“Crazy? Why?”
“She’s sensitive about it. Trust me, Morgan, I have to live with her.”
“Actually, you don’t.”
With a cutting board in her hands, she came back into the living room and set it on the coffee table. “Charcuterie?” The board was covered with cheeses, fruits, and several kinds of cured meats, and there was a small bowl turned upside down in the center of the board.
“Thank you,” I said, deciding to start the conversation over. “It looks delicious.”
Hawk broke the ice and dug in, topping a cracker with a slice of prosciutto and an olive before tossing it in his mouth. I’d turned into a real carnivore since sporting my fangs, but I decided to stick with a piece of cheese and a fig.
“Don’t be shy. Have a little meat.” Selene lifted the bowl and revealed several slices of dark red meat—raw meat.
I dropped the fig and nearly spit the cheese out of my mouth. The sight of the fresh blood pooling on the board ignited the instincts I’d worked so hard to get under control.
Hawk put his hand on my thigh and squeezed it gently. It was only animal blood, wasn’t it? Despite that, my heartbeat sped up to the point where I thought I was going to be sick, and the sounds in the room started to fade. Through it all, Selene sat across from me with a look of anticipation on her face.
Scared to move too fast, I slowly turned to look at him. He gave me a slight smile and held my eyes while the sensation began to peak, testing me thoroughly. I grabbed his hand and waited to see if I’d pass whatever test she’d just given me or if I’d lunge across the table at her. In the end, I won. The cravings grew weaker until they finally disappeared, and the muted room returned to normal.
I stood up and looked at the bloody meat without the slightest desire to stuff it in my mouth. “I think it’s time for me to leave.” Not wanting to make Hawk choose between us—at least not tonight—I headed for the door. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough, what with all the games and darkness in the room. Not to mention all the dead birds lining the shelves, staring at me with their beady little eyes as I rushed past them.
When I stepped outside, I took a deep breath and fought the urge to go back in there and let her know what I thought about her games. I also resisted the urge to give my boyfriend a piece of my mind. Instead, I decided to go home and sleep on it.
Hawk came out after me, but I was already heading down the sidewalk. “Where are you going, Morgan?”
“To catch a cab.” I kept walking toward the park without looking back. “I’m not going to catch one here at the dark end of Hell Road,” I muttered. Actually, I intended to travel back to the penthouse as soon as I walked off some of my anger.
He came after me and grabbed my arm. Out of instinct, I whipped around and nearly sent a ball of energy at him. “Damn it, Hawk, don’t grab me like that!” I calmed down and glared at him when he got an amused look on his face. “I could have hurt you.”
“Take it easy, Morgan.”
His callous attitude astounded me. “What just happened back there? Your ‘roommate’ started baiting me the second she walked in the room.”
“I should have warned you about her. Selene is… eccentric. She’s also very protective of me.”
I snickered. “Yeah, I bet she is.”
“What does that mean?”
“I think her interest in you is a little different than you think. And why the hell did you tell her about my family?”
He looked like a boyfriend who was about to get his ass handed to him. “I didn’t. I just told her you’re a Winterborne. Christ, Morgan, everyone in our world knows what your clan does.”
“Okay, you’re right about the clan’s hunting reputation, but how did she know I’m a vampire?” He didn’t have an answer for that. “She isn’t eccentric, Hawk. She was trying to provoke me. Why else would she have offered me a pile of bloody meat? And God only knows what kind of meat it was. She knew exactly what she was doing.” I shook my head. “Twice your age, my ass.”
“At least.”
Did I have to hit him over the head to make him see? “My God, Hawk. Are you blind? Selene can’t be much older than me. Thirty at most. I think she’s in love with you. Or she just wants to sleep with you.”
“Morgan, what are you talking about? Selene is in her fifties. She might even be older than that.”
I was speechless. How could we be looking at the same woman and see two totally different people? I was beginning to wonder which one of us was seeing the real Selene. “How did you say your mother knew her?”
By the look on his face, I could tell he was starting to get irritated. But he considered my question for a few seconds before his expression went blank. He glanced back at the house and then stared down at the sidewalk for a few seconds.
“Hawk? You don’t know, do you?”
He finally looked up at me and slowly shook his head. “Go home, Morgan. I have to take care of something.”
The look in his eyes was making me nervous. “Why don’t you come with me? We can talk about it and try to put the pieces together.”
After a moment of considering it, he inhaled sharply. “It’s okay. I not going to do anything stupid. I just need to work through a few things. I’ll call you in the morning.”
As he headed back down the sidewalk toward the house, my unease grew. Hawk was smart, and I knew he wouldn’t do anything rash, but it wasn’t him I was worried about.
Chapter 20
Most of the night I tossed and turned, thinking about Hawk in that dreary house with Selene. I had no idea what she was, but I didn’t doubt her ability to hurt him. She must have been using some kind of magic to conceal her true age, which meant she was probably a witch. But it hadn’t worked on me, and she knew it.
I sat straight up in bed as it hit me. “That sneaky bitch.” That’s why she’d provoked me. She knew the second I walked into her house that I could see past her glamour or whatever spell she was using.
Noticing the time, I hopped out of bed to find my phone. It was almost ten thirty. I hadn’t slept this late since college. My phone was on the kitchen counter, and there were two missed calls from Hawk. His message said he was fine and he wanted me to call him after Cabot’s party that evening. Not willing to wait that long, I tried to call him back immediately, but his phone went straight to voice mail. So did my second call. He was probably avoiding me, so I figured I’d give him some space. In the meantime, I had the entire day to kill. Being the weekend, it was the perfect time to go down to the auction house to pick up some of my things and see what Cabot had been up to since I left.
I threw on a pair of sweatpants, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and called Edward. Fifteen minutes later, I was in the lobby talking to Jakob. “I don’t suppose you’re invited to Cabot’s party this evening?”
“I believe it’s clan only.”
“You’re as much clan as any of us. It would be nice to have more than just Michael there to keep me sane tonight.”
He chuckled. “I sympathize.”
Edward pulled up a minute later and walked around the car to wait for me.
“Wish me luck. I’m going down to Winterborne’s to get some of my things.”
Jakob raised a brow. “I thought you planned to go back to work when this is all over with?”
His eyes grew wide. “I wouldn’t want to be him tonight if he has.”
I walked outside and climbed in the car. “How’s our prisoner today?” I asked Edward.
“Still breathing,” he said as he pulled away from the curb and headed up Central Park West. “But that’s on a minute-by-minute basis. As soon as he’s outlived his usefulness, I’ll get rid of him personally.”
“Do you believe him?”
“You mean about the island?” He snickered and looked back at the road. “I think you scared the living hell out of him when you threatened to scramble his brain. Katherine would have been proud. And yes, I believe him. North Brother Island is the perfect place for a bunch of rats to hide.”
The bitterness in his voice reminded me that my driver was a seasoned hunter with more motive than any of us to destroy the Caspian dynasty. But after what Ryker had done to me and my mother, I was a close second. Now all we had to do was make a plan to go after them on that island, and since Samuel had announced that I was the new leader of the New York chapter of the Order, it was time to call a meeting to discuss it. “We need to put together a plan.”
He nodded once. “Just say the word.”
“I’ll talk to Samuel tonight. We can set up a meeting for tomorrow.” I wanted to tell him about Hawk and Mia living there for several months, but I needed to make sure Hawk was okay with that first. He’d be a valuable asset to the Order if he was willing to help us maneuver the island and its decaying buildings. But old ghosts have a way of spooking even the strongest, and I would never ask him to go back there unless he wanted to. Samuel and Edward, on the other hand, might think that the greater good trumped Hawk’s fears and try to pressure him into it.
Winterborne’s came into view, and I got a little nervous when I thought about walking in there and possibly running into my replacement. I was sure Cabot hadn’t mentioned that I was coming back eventually, but since the parking lot was full, indicating that a Sunday auction was taking place, it was likely I’d get the chance to break the news to my replacement personally.
“Ms. Winterborne.” The security guard stood up when I approached the desk. “It’s good to see you. Are you here for the auction?”
“It’s good to see you too, Pete. I’m just here to get some things from my office.” When he refused to meet my eyes, I asked, “Is everything okay?”
He hemmed and hawed for a minute, looking around his desk to avoid eye contact with me. “Mr. Winterborne has instructed us not to let you up to the corporate offices.” When he finally looked at me, I could see the conflict in his eyes. “I’m sorry. Just following orders.”
Irked by the gall of Cabot to think he could push me out of my own company, I muttered a few choice words under my breath. Technically, he could bar me from getting into that elevator, being interim CEO, but I’d already made it clear to him that as queen of the clan, I outranked him. I was coming back to the auction house eventually, and he was going to get an earful tonight at his own party.
I stepped closer to the desk and looked Pete in the eye. “I know you’re just doing your job, but I am going up to my office.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Winterborne. I can’t afford to lose my job.”
Clearly Winterborne’s devoted security guard wasn’t going to let me upstairs without some form of convincing. It would have been so easy to knock him out with a heavy dose of vibrations, but I didn’t want to hurt an innocent man for simply doing his job or cause a scene if someone saw it. Especially when there was a much easier way.
“I understand.” I pointed to the door down the hall. “Am I at least allowed to peek inside the auction room?”
He seemed relieved and gave me a sly look. “Mr. Winterborne didn’t say anything about not letting you attend auctions.”
I smiled and headed across the lobby, slipping down the first hallway next to the main auction room. A few seconds later, I was visualizing a stall in the ladies’ room upstairs, because if someone was in my office, it would be hard to explain my sudden appearance.
It was common for a few employees to work the weekends when we held auctions, but the hallway was deserted when I walked out of the restroom and headed for my office. The door was locked, so I pulled out my keys.
“Morgan?”
I turned around and saw my assistant standing behind me. “Kerry! It’s good to see you!” I hugged her tighter than I probably should have, but it had been weeks, and I was relieved to see a friendly face. “I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long to drop by. You’re probably wondering what’s going on around here.”
“I’m a little confused,” she said, glancing at the keys in my hand. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to get into my office, but my key doesn’t seem to be working.” I’d expected my words to set her at ease, but instead her brow crinkled in confusion. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Cabot told us you quit. He had the lock changed. It’s standard procedure when an executive leaves.”
I gaped at her. “Quit? Cabot told you I quit?” I knew he’d told the employees something when he initially thought he had the power to strip me of my place within the company, but we’d had a come-to-Jesus about all that the night I took back my title and set him and Rebecca straight. Not to mention the incident last week when he’d tried to stop me from coming down here. My uncle was pushing his luck. “I guess he failed to mention that I was coming back.”
“It’s news to me, but I’m glad to hear it.” She let out a long breath and lowered her voice. “Everyone misses you. The new director has been a little difficult to work for.”
So he had hired someone. “I’m sorry to hear that, but I’ll be back soon. I just have some things I have to take care of related to my mother.” That was true. Order business was my mother’s business. “It might be a while, so I wanted to get some personal things from my office. Can you let me in?”
She glanced up and down the hallway before pulling her keys from her pocket. “She’s down at the auction, so please make it quick. If she catches you inside, she’ll fire me.”
“No one’s firing you as long as I own part of this company.”
When she opened the door, I was shocked to see it completely rearranged. There wasn’t a trace of me in the room. “Where are my things?”
She pointed to a box in the corner. “Cabot had most of it packed up and removed a few days after you left. There are a few old files and some mail in the box. He didn’t give it to you?”
“No, he didn’t.” The party was going to be interesting tonight.
I bent down to pick up the small box and heard a set of keys hit the desk.
“How did you get in here?”
I almost dropped it when I turned around to see who had entered. “Well, it is my office,” I said. “I think the more important question is how did you get in here?”
Tara Arden was one of Cabot’s longtime mistresses. I would have called her something more appropriate if his wife wasn’t so deserving of a philandering husband. He’d kept a lot of women over the years, but this one had clearly kept him interested longer than the others and had managed to get an extravagant Upper East Side apartment out of the arrangement. We’d met a few times because she used to work for one of our defunct competitors.
“I was hired when you quit,” she said. “Someone had to clean up this mess of a department.”
I thought Kerry was going to get herself fired after all. But instead of responding to the callous remark, she smiled and deferred that pleasure to me.
“You mean like your stellar performance at… What was the auction house called? The one that recently filed for bankruptcy?”
“Are you suggesting I’m not qualified?”
I set the box on the table and propped my arm on top of it. “That depends
on what he hired you for.”
Her platinum-blond hair barely moved when she swung her head toward Kerry. “You let her in here, didn’t you?”
I showed her my key. She didn’t know the lock had been changed. “I have my own.” I picked up the box again and headed for the door. “I wouldn’t invest too much time in your temporary position or put too much effort into the decor, because I’ll be back soon.”
Kerry walked me to the elevator. “I guess you two know each other?”
“Mm-hmm. Watch your back. And keep running the admin side of things exactly the way you have. I know she hasn’t been doing it. If she gives you any trouble or tries to fire you, call me.” I stopped before stepping into the elevator. “Oh, and I’m promoting you as soon as I return.”
She flushed a little. “I’m just doing my job.”
I looked her in the eye. “Don’t ever refuse something you’ve earned, and you know as well as I do that you’ve earned it.”
On the way down to the lobby, I tried to calm my anger at what Cabot had done behind my back. After everything that had happened and all the warnings, he still thought he could control me. The man was delusional. I couldn’t wait for the party tonight.
Poor Pete looked shaken when I stepped out of the elevator, carrying the remnants of my office.
I held my hand up to silence him as I walked past the desk. “Not a word, Pete. I won’t tell if you don’t.”
I made a few stops and headed back to the penthouse by midafternoon. Plenty of time to relax before getting ready for Cabot’s party, which was starting promptly at eight p.m. The invitation actually said that. The question was, did I ambush him before, during, or after the festivities?
After dropping the box on the table in the foyer, I walked into my room and nearly screamed when I saw someone lying on the bed.
“It’s just me,” Hawk said, sitting straight up.
“You scared the hell out of me!” I settled down and sat on the edge of the mattress. “You look exhausted.” At midday, he should have been home resting. In order to get here when the sun was at its peak, he had to shift. But shifting took a lot of energy, so he rarely took on his hawk form during the day unless it was absolutely necessary.
Savage Sons (House of Winterborne Book 2) Page 17
