by Dannika Dark
I smiled and rose to my feet. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“Why do I suspect Novis does not pay you a salary the equivalent of this car’s value?”
“Um…”
“Yes?”
I grimaced a little. “I asked Novis for an advance on my salary. In about four months, I’ll be getting my paycheck again. But the car is yours, free and clear.”
He ran his hands over his shaved head and made a low sound.
“Please don’t take it back,” I begged. “Not unless you hate it.”
My lip quivered and I stared off to the right. He meant so much to me, and this was the only way I could think of that would impress him. I would be mortified if I had to drive the car back to the lot.
“Learner, if one tear falls from your lashes to this floor, I’ll make you mop the entire garage. I accept your gift, with honor.”
I laughed and blinked the mist away from my eyes. As much as I wanted to throw my arms around him, Justus would only stiffen and back away. “Well, she’s all yours. The keys are in the car if you want to take her for a spin.”
“Would you join me?”
“I can’t right now. I’m going with Logan to pick up Finn, plus I know you have something already planned with Simon. Finn’s not going to stay with Lucian anymore. They’re still going to tutor together, but I think Finn’s having issues sleeping there. Lucian is an insomniac and he’s not giving Finn the privacy his wolf needs. Leo can’t take him right now because he said he’s working on an important case and will be traveling a lot.”
“Yes, that is correct,” Justus confirmed.
“Finn wanted to stay with Logan again. I think he looks up to him more than the others. Anyhow, we’re going to head out and pick him up. Do you want me to bring you home a cake? I know you don’t really care for those, so I thought the car was a better choice.”
Justus strolled toward the Porsche. “And will you be away… all evening?”
Well, that was a little personal.
“I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to have sex with Logan tonight.”
I watched the back of his neck burn scarlet and I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
“Why don’t you polish the smudges off the hood of my Porsche and then you can make up your mind.”
Damn. He’d noticed.
“You can take me for a spin in it tomorrow, even though your driving scares the crap out of me. Simon said he’s taking you out on the town for your birthday, so you two have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Chapter 3
I drove Logan back to the dealership to pick up his car and then we headed to Lucian’s apartment in separate vehicles. I glanced in my rearview mirror at Christian trailing behind on his motorbike, struggling to avoid the patches of ice left on the road from the last snowstorm. I couldn’t wait for summer. In fact, I was thinking about planting some flowers on our property to brighten it up.
Lucian lived downtown in a high-rise apartment building similar to the one Simon resided in. I patiently waited in the empty lobby while Logan went to help Finn carry his bags. When the elevator doors parted, I sprang to my feet from the red leather chair, my eyes wide.
“What on earth are you wearing?” I exclaimed.
Finn’s elfin smile was pure mischief. His skinny black jeans were low-rise and too tight, not to mention a size too long. Normally he wore khakis, preppy shorts, or oversized sweatshirts. Finnegan was a handsome fellow with innocent hazel eyes and wavy brown hair. He looked like any other kid coming out of college, except this young man had been to hell and back. He dragged an oversized laundry bag behind him and paused at my reaction to his jeans.
Logan walked by and leaned in to whisper privately, “It’s a Shifter thing. He took something with Lucian’s scent to remember him by.”
“And he wants to smell Lucian’s crotch?” I murmured.
Logan’s eyes brightened. He covered his smile with a fist and glanced over his shoulder at Finn. “Separation anxiety, perhaps. Little Wolf only wore my sneakers for a week.”
I rushed at Finn and wrapped my arms around him, nuzzling against his shaggy hair. He was always embarrassed that his ears stuck out a little, so he kept his hair long enough to cover them.
“Feels like I haven’t seen you in forever,” I said. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to stay with Logan.”
Finn sniffed out a laugh and I stepped back. His eyes dropped to the ground and his lips remained pressed into a smile. “He’s coolio. At least he gives my wolf some space.”
Logan grabbed the bulky sack from Finn and tossed it over his shoulder. “I’ll go put these in the car and pull around front. It took forever to find a parking space, so give me a few extra minutes. Silver, I’ll drive you back to your car. You two wait here.”
“He’s not kidding,” I said. “I had to park in the south forty. I think I’ll ride with you guys and pick up my car tomorrow.”
I strolled to the front doors with Finn and leaned against the cold glass. Finn pulled a red yo-yo out of his pocket and showed me a few tricks.
“You two getting married?” he asked, winding up the string.
“Well, we made a verbal agreement between us, but you know we can’t make it legal.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t have a ceremony.”
I hugged my arms. “I guess.”
“There are no laws that say you can’t have one,” he said. “The laws only point out the rights you are and aren’t entitled to. You know that, right?”
The glossy yo-yo swung around and settled on the floor, then rolled forward before he snapped it back up.
“Have you thought about going to school?”
Finn snorted. “School is for humans. We don’t have Breed school. Professions are learned either on the job or through training, but I’ve heard of private tutors.”
“And?”
He shrugged, tucking the yo-yo in his pocket. “You need money for that.”
“Logan would—”
“Feels weird taking his money, you know?” Finn turned to look at the street. “I’ll read whatever books they give me, and that’s just as good as any class where someone drills their personal beliefs and values in my head. There are still assholes out there who think owning a Shifter is okay. You know that?”
The anger on his face was palpable, putting a mottle of red on his cheeks that made me notice he had a few tiny freckles. He tucked his hands in the pockets of his dark blue jacket and sniffed, twitching his nose as a lady rushed in. A blast of cold air followed behind her and she jogged to the elevator with two plastic sacks and went upstairs.
“There’s Logan,” I said. “Come on.”
I hooked my arm around Finn’s and he lowered his eyes to the ground when we stepped outside.
Christian appeared before us, his black trench coat flapping in the wind as he stood between the street and us.
“Get back inside,” he said in clipped words, his Irish accent so dark and sinister it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your puppy’s jeans are going to get him arrested by the fashion police. Do you want to have this conversation now? Get inside the fecking building.”
I backed up and we hurried into the lobby. Logan stepped out of the car and approached Christian. I was a bundle of nerves—if this was an attack, we couldn’t risk doing anything in daylight that would expose us to humans.
Logan’s eyes scanned the street, his nostrils flaring to pick up emotional scents. I watched impatiently while Christian stood with his arms folded, staring at his dirty black shoes. He was using his Vampire hearing to filter through sounds—he must have heard something that caused alarm.
“Finn, maybe you should go back up to Lucian’s apartment,” I whispered.
“He’s not home. You want me to sit up there by myself while you guys are attacked? No, thanks.”
“Finn…”
When his eyes met mine
, I actually blinked.
“I can take care of myself,” he said in a voice I rarely heard. In that moment, I felt the power of an alpha wolf in his words like a current. Nero had whipped him into submission and a lifetime of slavery had reinforced that mind-set to such a point, I feared Finn would never become the man he was born to be.
When I looked outside, Logan and Christian were gone.
“Where did they go?”
My heart thumped wildly and I glanced at the empty lobby behind us. Suddenly, being inside didn’t feel so safe.
“Lookie what we got here,” a voice cut in from a hallway on the other side of the room. A man about my height with wavy black hair and a thin mustache rubbed his hands together. I could feel his Mage energy and he wasn’t doing anything to conceal it.
“Do I know you?” I asked the man.
He puckered his lips and made a kissing sound. Finn stepped in front of me, holding his arm out. “What’s your business?”
The door violently crashed in and Christian stumbled into the room, slightly hunched over and staring between all of us.
I glared over my shoulder as he stepped on broken glass. “You couldn’t just walk in like a normal person?”
“Woo-hoo! We got ourselves a party!” the man chanted, doing a jig and clapping his hands once. He opened his jacket and revealed weapons, one of which included a stake. “Afraid you’re not who I’m looking for, Vamp. But if you want to play Pin the Tail on the Bloodsucker, we can do that later.”
Christian stood upright with an apathetic expression. “You can either deal with me now, or we can have a friendly conversation later on while I’m feeding your bowels to the sharks.”
“There’s no ocean in Cognito,” the man pointed out.
Christian strolled forward, scratching his short beard. “Aye. You’re a bright little battery, aren’t you? Well for your information, I have a season pass to the aquarium.”
The man coughed into his hand and cleared his throat. “Why don’t you go fuck off for a little while so I can do my job?”
“You’re not touching her,” Finn said in a caged voice.
The Mage snorted, stretching out his arms and wiggling his fingers. “You got that right.”
A rush of adrenaline entered my veins and I flashed to my left and then several feet in front of Finn. “You lay a hand on Finn and I’ll—”
“You’ll what?”
Christian glanced at me expectantly.
“I’ll make a necklace out of your teeth.”
A burst of dark laughter flew out of Christian’s mouth and he bent over, holding his knees. “Jaysus wept. You call that a threat? Just look at his teeth; they look like barnacles. They’re practically falling out of his mouth.”
“Will you shut up?” I hissed.
“Are you langered?” he said with a straight face, implying I was drunk. “I think you need to stop watching Hannibal Lecter movies and take a few lessons in the school of Poe.”
“Look who’s talking! You wanted to take him to the zoo and feed him to a whale.”
Christian tipped his head to the side and stood up straight. “A shark is not a whale. For your information, lass, a shark has about three hundred teeth in multiple rows around their mouth,” he said, pointing to his face. “They’re sharp and sink deep into your flesh. Their black eyes roll into the back of their head when they get hold of their prey.”
“Sounds a lot like you. Do they also get a boner?”
The man looked between us. “Are you two married or something? Why don’t you both shut the fuck up?”
Christian gave him a mechanical smile. “One more word and I’ll drain you.”
I flashed at the Mage and punched him in the face. Before he could grab hold of me, I leapt out of reach. Finn’s expression darkened and I knew he was moments away from shifting.
“I got it, Finn. Don’t worry,” I reassured him.
The Mage touched his cheek and flashed at me, getting a grip on my neck. I performed a maneuver Justus had taught me to twist my body around and elbow him in the back. Before I could complete the move, Christian knocked the Mage to the ground and pinned his wrists.
“Quite the collection you have in there,” Christian said, looking at the weapons strapped inside the lining of the man’s open jacket.
“I had it, Christian.”
He glanced up at me. “To be sure, lass. But what kind of guard would I be if I weren’t guarding you?”
The Mage lifted his legs and managed to kick Christian in the back of the head.
“Mommy!” a little girl cried out from an open elevator to our left. She was a little thing, maybe three years old, clutching a stuffed bunny. “Mommy?”
Finn rushed over and took the girl by the hand. “Stay very still,” he said in a powerful voice that gave me chills. There was authority in his tone that made you want to submit. She obediently looked up at him with expressive blue eyes and a small pout on her face.
The Mage kicked Christian again.
“Stop doing that, you dolt. Now, who sent you?” Christian leaned in close and the man’s eyes glazed over as he was charmed by Christian’s spell.
“Nero.”
“Why?”
“To take out the wolf.”
“Bastard,” I whispered.
Arms gripped my shoulders and I whirled around, seconds from throwing my energy into Logan. He held my wrist and looked down at me with concern brimming in his eyes.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded.
“There was another one outside, but he’s taken care of.”
That gave me the shivers because I knew what Logan meant. “Did you call the cleaners?”
“I hid the body and they’re on their way. Did you get any information from him?” Logan asked Christian. His eyes darted briefly at Finn and the little human child with brown pigtails.
“Nero sent him,” I said. “Who else would pull this kind of stunt?”
“Could have been Tarek’s family,” Logan muttered under his breath. “It seems our enemies are coming at us from all directions.”
The third time the Mage kicked Christian was the last. Christian leaned in and murmured darkly, “I told you not to do that, you fecking cocktail.”
Then his mouth was around the man’s throat. The Mage struggled at first, but his limbs weakened and then he grew still. Christian slowly stretched out his body on top of him and moaned, drinking deeply. The Mage’s eyes fluttered and finally closed. His skin blanched and Christian gently twisted his head more to the right.
Finn had lifted the little girl into his arms and was distracting her by pointing at a picture of horses on the wall.
“Christian, you can’t do that in here.”
I could rebuke him all I wanted for his behavior, but Christian was uncouth and did what he pleased, whenever he pleased.
I heard the smacking sound of his lips unlatching their hold. He slowly licked the man’s neck with a long stroke of his tongue, healing the puncture wound. Not a drop of blood spilled.
“Who’s to know? They’ll think he passed out from hunger on his way to the pizza shop.” Christian licked the corner of his mouth and stood up. “Wasn’t really in the mood for Italian today, but I never turn down a free meal.”
“Are there any cameras in here?” Logan asked, scoping out the room.
Christian stood up and grabbed the Mage by the hand, dragging him toward the men’s room. “Be right back. Someone has to go to the toilet.”
Logan clasped my trembling hands, his eyes brimming with concern. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“He was after Finn. I thought Nero would have been satisfied with taking out Knox, but he’s just waiting until we let our guard down.”
Logan’s mouth formed a grim line. “He couldn’t have known you would be here. Otherwise he wouldn’t have sent an incompetent fool.”
“Unless he wanted me to watch.”
“Nero’s the kind of man wh
o calculates his attacks. These were amateurs. Lucian has a routine schedule and Nero knew when Finn would be left alone.”
“Emma!” a shrill voice cried. A frantic woman who looked to be in her late thirties flew out of the elevator with her arms outstretched. Some of her stringy wet hair dangled from the white towel wrapped around her head. Her flowery, satin robe clung to her wet body. She snatched her daughter away from Finn and hugged her tight. “Emma, you had Mommy so worried. I told you to stay in your room and play while I took a shower.”
“I wanted to go zoom on that,” the little girl said, pointing at the elevator.
The mother skeptically glared at Finn, who folded his arms and stepped back, lowering his eyes.
“We kept an eye on her,” I said. “We were trying to find an attendant.”
A blast of cold air blew in from the demolished door and the woman quietly got inside the elevator, eyeing us as if we were a gang of criminals.
“We need to get out of here,” Logan said. “Walk with us, Little Wolf. Stick to me like glue and we’ll head back to my apartment. I’ll call Leo. HALO took the hit on Knox personal and they’ll want to know Nero isn’t backing down.”
“What about Christian?” I asked.
A toilet flushed and my guard stepped out of the restroom, brushing air off his shoulder. “Shotgun.”
“You can’t call shotgun in my boyfriend’s car.”
Christian unwrapped a piece of butterscotch and tucked the noisy wrapper in his pocket. “I believe I just did,” he said, waltzing over broken glass and out the front door.
I narrowed my eyes and before I knew it, Logan lifted me straight up. I stared down at his face and frowned. “I’m perfectly capable of walking, Mr. Cross. I seem to have these two limbs dangling from my torso that work amazingly well.”
“Wrap your legs around me, female,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
I got those little butterflies as I looked into his eyes and ran my finger over the tiny laugh line near the corner of his mouth. Obediently, I slowly lifted my thighs and locked my ankles behind him. Logan savored physical contact and created every opportunity he could to touch me. Maybe I felt silly with my long legs wrapped around a dangerous-looking man, but I quickly decided what other people thought about us didn’t matter.
