by Sharon Kay
She drew her knees in close to her chest. “Why did you grab me? And I still don’t understand how we got here.”
He let out a slow breath, gauging how much to reveal. “We got here through a portal. It’s a method of travel.”
“For who?” She turned an increduous stare on him.
He studied her face for any tells that she was lying. “You were running straight for it. Are you saying you didn’t know what it was?”
“I was running to get away from those men. And I saw you and the other guys fighting. I couldn’t turn around because the others were behind me. I thought I could pass all of you by. I don’t know. And I saw…” She paused as if searching for the right words. “It looked like a mirage, the kind you see above the street on hot days. Like wavering air. I didn’t think it was anything. Just, you know, air. What else would it be?” Her voice took on a defeated edge.
“A portal takes you through time and space in seconds. They have destinations, chosen by whoever opens them.” Rhys measured his words. Gods, she looked so lost.
She gaped at him like she didn’t know whether to cry or hit him. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she whispered.
If she had been a regular human, who’d accidentally ran into the middle of his fight, he’d let her go her own way and think it was simply human men fighting. Gangs, or whatever. But if she wasn’t fully human, and carried a predator’s blood in her veins, she should know as soon as possible. Though given her reactions so far, a crash course might not be the best idea. He rubbed a hand over his hair, sensing he had a small window to say the right words and start to build a possible, though fragile, trust. “Sounds like tonight has been a lot to take in. Let’s back up. I’m Rhys.”
“Rhys…” She said his name slowly, as if testing it out, repeating his pronunciation of Reece.
“Yup.”
“Rhys what?”
“MacLeod.” He gave the name he used on Earth whenever dealing with humans necessitated one, though most of Torth’s creatures only used one name. “You?”
“Enza De Luca.”
“Enza? That’s not too common.”
“It’s short for Vincenza.”
He nodded, putting the name with the dark hair and eyes. “Italian.”
She gave him a bravely withering look. “Not too hard to figure that one out.”
Touche. “It’s a nice name.”
“Thanks. Well, Rhys, this has been fun, but I want to go home.” She brushed some grass off her knees, her tone confident. But the still-rapid beating of her heart betrayed her trepidation.
“My friend is on his way. He’ll take us back to the city.”
“Your friend?” Her eyebrows shot up. “You think I’m going to get in a car with two strange men and hope I get home in one piece? After everything else that happened tonight?” She shook her head and extended her hand. “Let me call my mom, please.”
“Sorry, no can do.” He tried to look disappointed. “Phone battery died.” It hadn’t, but her panic would surely return if she saw his phone, with its Demonish symbols and apps.
She made an angry, frustrated noise. “Well, I’m not going with you.”
“Suit yourself.” He stretched one leg out on the grass. “You can hang out here all night, then start walking in the morning.”
“I’ll find a guard station or a building. There must be one around here. Somewhere.”
“You could. But did you know this place is over fifteen hundred acres?”
She swallowed.
“You’ll be walking for a long time.”
Her eyes watered. He could see her resolve faltering and, hell, he didn’t want to see her cry. The niggling knowledge crept back to his mind, that she really had no idea what was going on. A predatory demon wouldn’t be scared of being in a wooded area on Earth, especially one with no bears or wolves.
She folded her arms. “That was an asshole thing to say. And why did you follow me here? You never answered my question.”
“Enza,” he began. “I need you to listen very closely.”
“Okay.” Wariness laced her tone.
“There are creatures in our world, in our city, who aren’t human.” He left it at that, let it sink in.
“What?” Big brown eyes widened, then narrowed as a myriad of emotion flickered across their depths. Surprise, disbelief, fear. “I-I don’t understand.”
“The things in that alley weren’t human. They opened the portal and watched you run into it. That’s why I grabbed you. Best case scenario, they’ve already forgotten you. Worst case? You just landed on their radar.”
CHAPTER 4
OH GOD. OH NO. What the hell was he talking about?
Shit, shit, shit.
“What?” Enza whispered. “How…on their radar?” She scooted back on the grass, even though Rhys hadn’t moved. He scared the crap out of her. She didn’t know if he was on drugs or delusional. Maybe he had escaped from a mental health hospital. But what were her options? His stoic demeanor raised a hundred red flags. He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. No ranting, no overly excited gleam in his eye. That meant either he fully believed in fairy tales, or he needed medication. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know how much attention they paid to you. But they planned to come here. Not sure why, but they intended to use that thing for themselves. Then you came along.”
“What were they?” She remembered him maybe saying elves—elves? Like, the kind who help at Christmas? —but if she was going to be on someone’s radar, she needed to know who.
“The ones that opened the portal were elves. Specifically, dark elves.”
“There’s different kinds?” Enza asked, despite thinking she better not, that she really didn’t want to know how far his ideas went.
“Yes. Those are the meaner ones.” His deep voice was utterly serious.
“Um, okay.” Just play along. “Elves. So, what else? Vampires? Werewolves?”
He nodded. “Yes. And others.”
She studied him. Even sitting down, he looked dangerous. She doubted he worked in an office. He was built like one of those Las Vegas fighters. Or maybe a hit man. “But you knew what they were?”
“Yep.”
“Is that why you intervened?” Why would he intentionally tangle with…elves?
High above, an owl hooted as Rhys sat motionless. She thought maybe he wasn’t going to answer. Then he let out a breath and nodded. “Yeah. My buddy and I-we keep an eye out for that shit.”
“Like on TV?” She scrunched her nose. “The X-Files and other shows with all kinds of mythical creatures?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Not really. That’s TV magic for ya.” He rubbed the back of his neck and, even in the dark, she caught the uncomfortable frown on his lips.
“How did you learn? Are you in a special secret branch of the military? Or CIA?” Questions bubbled forth as curiousity started a slow take-down of her fear. If he were crazy, he would probably enjoy talking about himself. Narcissists and delusional, paranoid people loved to have a captive audience.
“It’s a long story. Too long to get into now. Brenin should be here soon.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but he silenced her with a piercing look.
“The important thing is that you’re safe. I get that tonight was scary or freaky or whatever. Going into a portal for the first time can be terrifying.”
She grimaced. “That’s an understatement.”
“So, all things considered, you did fine. No injuries from the alley or the landing here. We’ll get you home and…” He tilted his head like he had more to say. Lots more. “And be careful at night. You don’t know what’s out there.”
“Got it.” She tugged at a blade of grass and studied him. He wasn’t acting like he planned to harm her. God knew he could have already. With his physique and close-cropped hair, he was good-looking in a military sort of way. Maybe he was in the armed forces. His attitude radiated protection�
�different from how he was at first, when he’d been almost accusatory. It wasn’t a stretch to believe he led the kind of lifestyle that required him to beat the crap out of people.
Or out of elves and vampires?
The things he said sounded outlandish. But if she were honest, she’d always held a secret curiousity about that stuff. Not to the point of fully believing it was real, but enough to entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, there was a valid reason behind myths and the things science couldn’t explain.
She rubbed her temple. Shit, maybe this was all a dream and she’d wake up in her own bed, in her tiny apartment, with Meena calling her early in the morning to tell her the chocolate croissants were kick-ass. A girl could hope. Though she’d lost her phone. Maybe that was a dream too.
The roar of an engine cut into the calm air. Headlights pierced the night like lasers, illuminating the path for a huge black SUV. It pulled up on an access road and stopped close to where they sat.
“That’s our ride.” Rhys stood and offered her a hand up.
She eyed it, but took it. His hand was surprisingly smooth and warm. Standing next to him, she realized just how tall he was, towering over her height of five foot five.
“You okay?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice.
No. She nodded and released his hand, feeling silly. She was definitely not okay. But she didn’t want to talk about it.
The driver’s door opened and Enza’s jaw dropped. She knew she was staring but couldn’t look away from the man who emerged, looking like a carbon copy of a Hollywood actor who’d recently portrayed Thor and graced gossip magazine covers. She fought to close her mouth. “You…you’re friends with…”
“This is Brenin,” Rhys said. “Sometimes he gets mistaken for some other dude, but we ignore that shit.”
“Hi,” Brenin said. Just as tall as Rhys, his long blond hair skimmed bulging biceps and his eyes twinkled in the light from the headlights.
“Hi. I’m Enza,” she said, trying not to sound breathless and wondering if all his friends were this big.
“Arboretum, huh?” Brenin bounced an amused glance to the tree tops. “Ready to go back home?”
“Yes. Are you sure it’s not out of the way?” She moved around the front of the car toward the passenger door. Even though she said earlier that she wouldn’t get in the car with two strange men, she would take her chances. Rhys was right, this place was huge, and she had no idea how to get out of it. She didn’t want to be here alone all night.
And something about Rhys put her at ease. She couldn’t explain it. She opened the door and stepped onto the running board, grateful some engineer had thought to include them on those big vehicles.
Rhys slid into the driver’s seat. “Not out of the way at all. We live downtown.”
“You guys live together?” she asked, unable to resist touching the buttery black leather of her seat. The dashboard lit up with all kinds of buttons and displays. Onboard navigation glowed softly, and the screen for the sound system looked like a sleek tablet.
“Yeah. I’m the best roommate.” Brenin snickered.
Rhys shot a glare to the rearview.
“Where?” Enza asked.
“East Elm. Between State and Lake Shore.” Rhys steered them onto a main road and headed toward the expressway.
“Oh.” Enza couldn’t keep the surprise out of that tiny syllable. Rhys lived in the Gold Coast neighborhood, where some of Chicago’s most expensive homes stood proudly on super clean streets. Hunting supernatural bad guys must pay very, very well. That would explain the fancy car. “You’re right. That’s not out of the way.”
They took the on-ramp and were soon driving east to the city. In the back seat, Brenin cracked his neck. Enza turned to him, remembering that if she and Rhys had left the alley, he’d been alone with the guys he was fighting. “We went into that um, portal… Did you get hurt back there?” she asked.
He winked. “Never better.”
She nodded, not wanting to know what happened to the other guys. Elves. Did Brenin zap them somewhere, or… What did they do with elves they beat up? No. She squeezed her eyes shut. Not going there.
Enza snuck a peek at Rhys. He looked so normal. Why did it feel like her world had turned upside down?
He shot her a glance—a smile and a question mixed in one disarmingly attractive stare. Oh boy. This night was getting to her head. She needed to say something to fill the quiet. “So, what do you do? Besides, um…” She moved her hand in a circle in the air, unsure what to call keeping an eye on evil non-human things. “This?”
“Computer coding.” He shifted lanes to the far left.
“Oh, wow,” she said. “That’s cool. Technology hates me.”
Rhys cracked a wide grin. “Ones and zeroes can’t hate anyone. They can’t feel emotion. That’s a fact.”
“Yeah, well several facts came into question tonight,” she muttered.
“Hey.” He took one hand off the wheel and she swore he was about to rest it on her leg. But he stopped, letting it hover for half a second before setting it on the center console. “Sorry. You know, it’s really just another language.”
“Pfft. One I’ll never speak.” She gazed at the mix of trees and squat office buildings flying by the window. “Everything electronic breaks around me. Apps glitch. My browsers quit, and my files don’t want to save. That’s why I went to culinary school.”
“Ah. Makes sense.”
“What makes sense?” She frowned.
“You kinda smell like a bakery.”
She gave a half laugh. “Oh. I work in one. Actually a bakery and a coffee shop. I make the pastries, so I’m mostly in the back. I can brew basic drinks, but you’re in trouble if you ask me for a non-fat hazelnut macchiato with three pumps caramel and a drizzle of chocolate sauce, upside down with extra whip.”
Rhys laughed. “That sounds like a grocery list, not a drink. People order that?”
“Yep.” She shifted her shoulders against the seat, finally relaxing a little. “You’d be surprised at the requests we get.”
“Won’t catch me ordering that. My coffee has to be black, strong, nothing in it except caffeine.”
“Now that, I can do.”
“Yeah?” His voice was surprisingly flirtatious.
“Um.” Oops. She hadn’t meant to flirt. She was just making conversation…right? Wait, maybe this was all in her head. Crap! “I mean, that’s the kind of thing even I could brew, for a customer. Who came into the shop. If I was filling in…up front…”
God, she sounded like an idiot. She swallowed and stared at the white lane dividers flashing by.
“What’s your place called? You never said the name.”
“Java Genie, on Clark Street.”
The highway angled, and the glittering, majestic city skyline came into view. The John Hancock building and the Willis Tower framed the scene, windows lit up in an impressive display, so bright they out-shone the stars. Home.
Enza had always lived in Chicago with her mom, Concetta, moving out of their house in the Little Italy neighborhood a few years ago. Her mom had wanted her to stay, but Enza needed some space and a break from the attempts at match-making with “good Italian boys.” She loved her mother dearly, but the dates never amounted to much and she hadn’t had a serious relationship in years.
She knew her mom didn’t want her to be alone, the way she had been, raising Enza. Her dad had never been in their lives.
“Wicker Park?” Rhys’s deep baritone cut into her thoughts.
“Yeah. Take the next exit.” She eyed the fancy interior of the big car and idly wondered what Rhys would think of her street. It was pretty far from the Gold Coast, literally and visually. Not the nicest street, but not the worst either. The whole neighborhood was slowly growing economically, which made it affordable for her. “Have you lived here long?”
“Couple years.” He rolled his shoulders.
“I’m guessing you guys are p
retty familiar with the neighborhoods?” She half-turned to the back, where Brenin sat absorbed in his phone. Colors from the screen flashed in the dark interior.
He looked up from the screen, eyes glittering. “We know it well.”
The car idled with a low rumble at the exit’s stoplight. Rhys ran a hand over his hair. “It’s good to know where you should and shouldn’t go.”
Questions about what he did bounced around in her head. But just as she was insanely curious, her brain was nearing overload. Tonight had been overwhelming and all she wanted was her bed. Quiet, cozy, and familiar. She just wanted to pull the covers over her head and be glad she was alive.
In a few minutes they reached Wicker Park, and she directed him to her apartment. To her surprise, Rhys got out and met her on the sidewalk. “It’s late. Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“No, thank god.” She fidgeted, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Looks like I’ll be at the phone store, replacing my phone.”
He grimaced. “That sucks.” He eyed her building. “Tell me you’re not on the first floor.”
“No, third.”
“Good. That’s safer.”
“I have three locks. And the door has a code.”
He scowled. “I know tonight was crazy. I want you to be careful where you go, especially at night. No more alleys.”
“Okay.” She appreciated his concern, delivered with sincerity. In the light of the streetlamp, she could see the strong line of his jaw, and full lower lip. Technically, she could say goodbye and be done with him. She had no reason to see him again.
But she wasn’t sure she wanted that. She didn’t understand what he did, but he had brought her home safely. And that fact melted her worry that he was crazy or dangerous. She ground her sneaker toe into the sidewalk as the right kind of parting words escaped her. “So… thanks for the ride home. Good luck with, uh, your work.” What did he even call it? Evil-creature-tracking?
“You too.” He angled his head toward her apartment. “I’ll walk you to the door.”
She nodded and ducked her head in an unsuccessful attempt to hide a grin. Big and protective and, apparently, a genuinely nice guy to boot. His arm brushed hers as they took the one step up to the door. Warmth bloomed in her chest.
