Deliberately, Riley left the lights off and ignored the male.
“What are you doing with my sister?” Noah Sen-Grayson asked.
“I'm her date,” Riley drawled, taking great pleasure in annoying him. After the last few dismal hours, he’d take his fun where he could.
“I know your kind. Worked with some in a few instances. I’ve heard of you, you own Satire’s in The Quarter.”
“Now that you’ve satisfied your curiosity; let’s get one thing clear. I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think of me. All that matters is Saia’s safety.”
“Then we are in accord.” Noah rose from the armchair and flicked on the recessed lights.
Riley blinked. The sheer brightness damn near blinded his sensitive eyes. The bastard had done that for his own shits and kicks. Anger and frustration rolled through him, but a confrontation with Saia’s brother was the last thing he wanted. He thought of the damage he’d already done to her, a kick in the balls would hurt less.
“Does she know what you are?”
Riley dropped into the vacated armchair. Nailed the male a mocking stare. “She does.”
Noah’s mouth thinned, then he heaved a deep breath and appeared to plug his rancor. “About the Caligo after Saia…”
So Edward had already alerted Noah about Trevor. Good. He wanted Saia to have the extra protection when he left tomorrow. “Bastard’s mine. I will find and end him.”
“Let me make this clear—” Noah pinned him with those frozen blue orbs. He’d never seen a human with such lifeless eyes. “It seems my sister dragged you into this, and we both know why. Piers is a bloody prig. I’d boot him out myself if he were after her inheritance.”
Riley leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs. “If you care about your sister, you’ll kick him out now regardless.”
“He is a family friend, an old one, who realized too late he’d missed his chance. He’s no threat.” Then those blue eyes became deadly. “But you, on the other hand, are. Anything happens to my sister, I will hunt you down and make you wish you’d never left your world.” The male stared at him a second longer. “And keep your hands off her. She’s not one of your bar-whores.”
With that final warning, Noah walked out.
Bar-whores? Riley scowled at the closed door. Since Saia came into his life, no one else interested him. No one. Just her.
***
Saia lay in bed and stared at the undraped window, listening to the rustling rain. The door opened. She turned sharply, her heart pounding in her ears. At the feminine figure silhouetted in the doorway, she tamped down the shard of pain. Why would he come?
“Liz?”
“Yes, it’s me, love.” Liz, dressed in a long black skirt, deep blue roll-neck top, and boots, crossed to the bed.
“What are you doing here?” It hurt to speak. Her voice too scratchy from withheld tears.
“I changed my mind last minute.” Liz sat down beside her. “I thought I’d pop in and let you know I'm here.”
Saia squeezed her eyes tight, and needing the comfort of loving arms around her, put her head on Liz’s lap.
“What’s wrong, hun?” Liz stroked her hair.
A raspy sigh escaped. “Just when you think, maybe, just maybe you have a chance at happiness, it turns around and kicks you in the teeth.”
“Saia, it’s not like you to give up so easily. Where’s that fighting spirit I’ve always been proud of?”
“I think you passed it in the hallway, on the floor,” she muttered. “Liz…?”
“Yes, hun?” she heard the smile in Liz’s voice. It was better than pity. “You made the right decision, being alone.”
Liz’s stroking hand stilled. “Saia, honey, you have to fight harder for what you want. Trust me, barriers can be destroyed, mountains scaled.”
“Not this one, Liz. Not this one…” Saia murmured, tracing the embroidered flower on the duvet cover. “I liked him from the moment we met because he’s so different. Then he kissed me. I felt like I’d been struck by lightning—everything inside me lit up as if we’d touched each other’s souls. For a moment, I thought he felt the connection—felt the same way, too. He didn't.” A broken laugh escaped her. “He didn't, Liz. I'm just another one of the floozies who throw themselves at him.”
“Then talk to him, hun.”
“And say what?” She cast Liz a weary look before turning away. “He made it plain he doesn’t want me, says I'm too much work. He sees me as some bored, silly little rich girl with mommy issues and too much time on her hands, visiting bars, looking for a thrill.”
A long silence, then Liz said so softly, Saia was sure she misheard, “I too was hit by lightning once.”
Saia jerked upright, shock cutting through her despair. “You were? Who?”
“Someone I met a long time ago.” Liz slid down the bed. “I was seventeen. My mother had suffered a fatal brain aneurysm in front of me…we were having an argument…” Her mouth tightened, tears misting her steel-blue eyes. “I don’t even recall what it was about. I fell apart after her death. Yes, I blamed myself for what happened. I did everything to forget the guilt, the pain. Alcohol, hard clubbing…at times, I’d awaken in beds of complete strangers, but nothing made me forget. I was on a downward spiral with no return…”
Saia grasped Liz’s hand, offering comfort. “Didn’t Daddy and Mother help you?”
Liz gave her a pained smile. “You cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Being so much younger than Edward, I thought I was a hindrance to him and his family. I ran away. But he didn't give up on me. He found me and dumped my ass in rehab.”
Saia shifted and sat cross-legged on the bed, her gaze fixed on Liz. “What happened?”
Liz’s expression softened. “He stepped into my life. I’d never seen a more beautiful man. Kind and compassionate, he was everything I needed. He made my life right again. And for a while, I was happy…” She took a deep breath. “Then it all fell apart—”
“Oh, Liz, I'm so sorry.” Saia hugged her.
Liz rubbed Saia’s back. “He changed me for the better, for which Edward must have been eternally grateful. But, Saia, hun, ” Liz sat up, “I'm so proud of you. I know your mother is far too conservative and hard. It can't be easy on you. But unlike me, and despite your problems, you held your own, didn't slide like I did.”
A wry laugh escaped her. “It’s not the same, Liz. Mother wants me to marry—” Her eyes widened. “That’s why she’s so insistent, isn’t it? She thinks my liking clubs and dancing will get me into that hardcore lifestyle? For Christ’s sake, I'm twenty-one, not a hurting teen who’d just lost her mother.”
“Much as I hate saying this,” Liz grimaced, “she’s only watching out for you.”
“Yes, take her side. Twenty-nine suitors? Really, Liz?” Snorting, Saia rolled off the bed and stuffed her feet into fluffy slippers. “I need some therapy.”
“Ice cream?” Liz teased.
“What other kind is there?” Saia linked her arm through Liz’s and left the room.
***
After a late night rendezvous with Liz and Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy, Saia had fallen into a fitful sleep. Now she was up way too early. The household was still asleep.
She needed to run, it was the only thing that would help clear her head and hopefully settle her. But Liz’s revelation from last night troubled her. It must have devastated Liz to choose to live a life alone.
After a quick dash into the bathroom, Saia grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and a pale lemon tank top and changed. Besides, the ice cream had now turned to guilt and was already adding another inch to her hips. She braided her hair, slipped her feet into sneakers, and grabbed her gray hoodie. As she tied the jacket around her waist, an eerie sensation slid over her like a noose.
Trouble.
Saia sprinted out of her room and hurried downstairs. Raised voices had her running toward the family room.
“This has nothing to d
o with you,” her mother snapped.
“For godsakes, Jem, she’s twenty-one. Allow her the right to live her own life—”
“You?” Cold laughter. “You are telling me what’s right for my daughter?”
“You can hate me, I can’t change that. But you’re driving her away!” Frustration tightened Liz’s voice.
Saia came to a crashing halt at the doorway, her stomach roiling in anxiety.
Her mother and Liz faced off with each other, like sparring bulls near the fireplace, the coffee table separating them.
Liz, furious and flushed. Her mother, cold and haughty. Even so early in the morning, Mother was dressed for the day in slacks and a sweater.
Wanting to put a stop to this argument, she stepped into the living room, the air thick with anger. “What’s going on?”
“This doesn't concern you.” Jemima kept her lethal gaze on Liz.
At the brush off, Saia stomped closer. “Doesn’t concern me, Mother? I heard you in the hallway. Why am I always the bone of contention between you two? Tell me! I'm so tired of the secrets. Why do you hate Liz, and why does she never visit?”
“Because this has nothing to do with you.” Her mother’s head whipped around, bobbed hair flying. Her dark eyes blazed with anger. “You can't even make decent choices in your life, just look who you’re with?”
Saia reared back as if she’d been slapped, pain consuming her. And finally realized her mother would never see her as a person with wants and needs, would never give her the compassion, the understanding she yearned for. She hadn’t when she was a little girl, and she certainly wouldn’t now.
She was nothing, just a commodity to be brokered and offered to a rich husband.
“I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment to you, Mother.” She could barely get the words out. Felt like someone had crushed her heart, clubbed away the last hope she clung to. That fantasy that somehow, someway, her mother would love her a little.
If her own mother couldn’t, then how could she expect Riley to? The thought hit her hard.
The dam broke. Tears fell. Saia spun around, only to crash into a hard body. She stumbled back and came face-to-face with the one person she didn't want witnessing her final humiliation.
Dodging him, she raced to the front of the house, threw open the door, and sprinted down the rain-sodden driveway and out onto the street and toward the park. Mist hovered in the early morning air, dimming visibility. It made little difference to her, her tears falling faster.
She ran. Ran until her sides hurt, until the pain became a numb lump in her chest. Ran until she could no longer take another step. Ran as her legs gave way.
She fell to her knees on the wet grass, surrounded by drenched oak trees covered in moss. Sobbing hard, she doubled over, her arms wrapped around her waist.
A pair of Nike’s entered her sight. Only then did she realize she wasn’t alone. The scent of lemongrass, of him drifted to her in the cold breeze.
Riley hunkered beside her in black sweats and a sleeveless gray t-shirt hoodie. His inked biceps flexed as he rested his arm on his thigh. His expression grim, he stared into the mist-covered trees and angled his body, shielding her from the winds picking up. His warmth, his smell taunted her. Christ, why was he here? Did he like seeing her utterly humiliated?
“I-I thought you’d be gone by now.” Her voice cracked. It hurt to speak.
He turned to her. “Saia—”
“Please, just go. I have enough to deal with.”
“No. I can't leave you like this—”
“Whoa!” A harsh laugh ripped from her throat. She glared at him with drenched eyes. Swiped her runny nose with the sleeve of her hoodie. “I'm a complication, remember? Someone you’d need to work at for a quick fuck?”
He exhaled roughly. “About last night—”
“I don’t care, don’t want to talk about it.” She pushed to her feet and took off again. The saturated ground squelching beneath her sneakered feet didn't make escape any easier. Not that she had a chance of outrunning him.
“Dammit, Saia—wait!” He grabbed her arm, hauling her around.
She kicked him hard in the shin, but it didn't move him, only made his grip tighten more. “Leave me alone! Go back to your perfect, tattooed girlfriend and your uncomplicated relationships.”
“Stop running from this. Go back there and demand your answers.”
“Like you care,” she snarled. “I don’t need you to tell me how I should handle this. I'm so sick of people trying to run my life, telling me what I should do. I tried to be the good daughter, met all the men shoved at me, I even dropped my art major because Mother didn't think it was a suitable career for me. I chose business—business!” she cried. “Because it’s safe. But you know what? I don’t give a crap anymore. I might as well become a stripper, more fun that way—maybe then you’ll want me.”
His green eyes flared in anger. “Shut up, Saia—”
“Bugger off—oomph!” Her breath swooshed out of her as his mouth crashed down on hers in a hard, heated kiss, destroying her fragile barriers. His tongue thrust between her lips, and she swayed into him. Her hands tightened on his shirt. He pulled her close and kissed her as if she mattered, as if he cared—no! It was all a lie.
He didn't want her. She started to struggle, and when he wouldn’t let her go, fury erupted like a geyser, sweeping over her misery that he would do this. She kneed him hard in the groin.
“Fuck!” he gasped, cupping himself.
She took off again and slammed full tilt into someone who appeared out of nowhere. The breath knocked out of her.
“Easy there, female.” Calloused hands steadied her. She couldn’t make him out in the swirling mist. Just dark hair, pale skin, and black clothes.
“Let her go.” At Riley’s sudden snarl, she froze. His voice was as cold as it had been when he’d killed that Caligo. Fear squeezed her belly. She felt for her ring—no! She’d forgotten it because of the fight between her mother and Liz.
“I mean her no harm.” The malevolent laughter made the little hairs on her nape rise. Panicked, she tried to leap away, but her captor trapped her against him. Something solid, metal-like dug into her back.
“Let her go, Baric. You want me, I'm here.”
“Too late.”
The man’s low, guttural sneer made Saia struggle harder. His bulky arm around her chest squeezed, constricting her diaphragm. “I have a message from an old friend: You want her, save her.”
Save her? What the hell did that mean?
Unable to break his strong grip, Saia rammed her sneakered heel into his shin. He cursed; his hold loosening. She swung around, snatched the weapon attached to his belt and struck hard. The dagger plunged through flesh and slid between his ribs.
“You bitch!” He backhanded her. Pain exploded in her jaw as she fell to the wet ground. The man stumbled backward but didn’t poof like Caligos do. Dread knotted her belly. No, no, no! She’d stabbed a man?
“Run, Saia!” Riley yelled.
She couldn’t move, shock trapping her.
The man lurched. His form wavered like a ghostly hologram. A spine-chilling snarl filled the mist-laden air. He lunged for her, grabbed her wrist, and hauled her clear off the grass and straight into a swirling black vortex opening in the ground.
Chapter 10
Saia hit the rugged ground hard where the man had tossed her, pain jarring through her bones.
The thick, acrid air burned her nose and stung her eyes. She struggled to breathe as she lay there, staring into solid darkness, the noisy banging of her heart against her ribs too loud in her ears.
She scrambled to her knees but could see nothing in the suffocating blackness. The fiend she’d stabbed had pulled her through a misty void and left her here.
What is this place?
A flare lit the distant sky, revealing the entrance to the craggy dugout she was trapped inside.
He’d left her in a cave?
Saia crawled
to the opening, squinted, and tried to make out the surroundings.
Faded purple skies enclosed her. Was it dusk…or night? She inched forward and banged headfirst into something hard. Pain resonated in her skull. Rubbing her forehead, she peered through the gloom, but saw nothing in front of her. A tentative touch revealed the metal smoothness of invisible bars, the only thing that stopped her from tumbling headlong into the dark void below.
Riley, please come and get me.
Whatever anger she’d harbored toward him for rejecting her dissipated.
A cacophony of sounds drifted to her, almost like she was in the center of a hive. Green flames flickered alive, and like dancing snakes, they formed a circle far, far below.
She scrambled back in fear. Stay calm, Saia. Stay calm.
The invisible bars sizzled and vanished. Rough hands grabbed her. A scream ripped free from her, and then she was falling...
***
Riley leaped through the closing portal, and reappeared at the foot of the gloomy, ebony mounts of Stygia.
Flaming green torches suspended on the rock face gave the place some light. But the strong stench of sulfur nailed him straight in the lungs. Hot air hung suspended around him, thick with past pain, fear, and torture.
Whatever was going on here had the small horde in a frenzy. He prayed Saia wasn’t in this shitpit as he frantically scanned for her. She’d run from him because he’d hurt her. Now his worst enemy had her in a place she’d had no idea existed.
Baric would torture her with no remorse just to make Riley pay for whatever crime the fucker thought he’d committed.
A message from an old friend…
What damn friend? He had none here, except Gaelin.
Riley tossed aside the hoodie he’d grabbed off Saia before Baric disappeared with her.
More torches flamed to life from poles buried in the jagged ground. It revealed the worn gray tarps, makeshifts dwellings lining the foot of the mountain. Home to the malcontents of Stygia.
The excited mumblings stopped as he drew closer to the crudely dug out circular arena. The place stank from unwashed bodies.
Their clothes tattered, hair lank and greasy, the malcontents watched him closely.
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