by Stormy Glenn
“That sounds more like you, especially when it comes to Althea and Jules.” Stavros chuckled, once again sounding like his normal amused self. “All right, I’ll get these statues purchased and out to you right away. We’ll make sure that garden is ready for them in time.”
Althea and Jules had influenced not only Nikos but many of the people he knew, simply by being the kind and gentle people that they were. People that Nikos considered friends knew how much the older couple meant to him. People he did business with didn’t even know about them, but when he explained that they were his adopted family, they never said a word.
“I really appreciate this, Stavros. And mum is the word. We don’t want Althea finding out before Jules gets a chance to pop the question.”
“You got it, Nikos.”
Nikos hung up and handed the phone back to Sahm. “Stavros has found two statues that he’s sending our way. Neither of them are Yannis, but I want them anyway.” His stern look dared Sahm to argue with him.
The man didn’t say a word.
“Anything else?”
Sahm shook his head.
“Okay. I have a conference call with Cyber Cinetics in ten minutes.” Nikos picked up a notepad he had sitting on his desk and held it out to Sahm. “Can you track down these leads for me? I don’t know how long this conference call is going to take.”
“I’d be happy to, sir.” Sahm took the notepad and started to turn when his eyes fell on the tray of uneaten food sitting on the corner of Nikos’s desk. He gestured at it with the pad of paper in his hand. “You’d better eat that before Mama sees it. She’s already pissed at you for not eating dinner last night. She won’t be happy to learn you didn’t eat your lunch either. She doesn’t like you skipping meals and you know it.”
“I’m not hungry, Sahm.” He hadn’t been hungry for days. His appetite seemed to have dried up right along with his hope that he would ever find Yannis. It had been days and days and there still was no sign of the man.
That did not inspire an appetite.
Sahm made a tisking noise as he shook his head. “You’re going to have to start eating here pretty soon, Nikos, even if it’s just to keep your strength up. You’ve already lost a few pounds that you really couldn’t afford to lose. Mama’s going to have a coronary if you lose any more.”
“I’ll get to it after my conference call,” Nikos said as he walked around and sat down behind his desk. He had a stack of notes to go over before his conference call, and if he didn’t get to it, he wouldn’t know what he needed to know before the business call.
“See that you do or I’ll report you to Mama.”
Nikos flipped Sahm off. He heard him laugh as he walked out of the room. Nikos chuckled himself. Sahm was so not intimidated by him, not like most of the people in his life. That was kind of refreshing.
It was also a pain in the ass because Nikos knew Sahm would follow through on his threat and tattle to Althea if he didn’t eat. Nikos eyed the sandwich then turned away when his stomach rolled and threatened to rebel.
Nikos flipped open his notes and started studying them. He would rather be looking for Yannis right now, but life went on around him whether he liked it or not. And the one sure way to get what he wanted in his search for Yannis, when he wanted it, meant having money. And the only way to have money was to continue to conduct business.
After looking through his notes for awhile, Nikos found himself gazing out the window with no idea how long he had been staring out the large paned glass. It was still light out, which mean that wherever Yannis was, he was still in stone form. He wouldn’t turn human again until the sun set.
Nikos wondered if his skin had continued to transform or if it went back to stone gray. If he was walking around at night, how was he hiding his wings and tail from humans, not to mention his horns?
Was he safe?
Was he getting enough to eat?
Had he found somewhere else to roost during the daylight hours?
Had he found another Beloved?
Nikos swallowed past the lump in his throat that that thought provoked. He brushed his fingers over his eyes, pressing them against the bridge of his nose. The last two weeks without Yannis had shown Nikos what a huge mistake he had made in running him off. His life felt like a void without the unique man.
It didn’t seem to matter anymore that Yannis wasn’t human, or that Nikos had no idea exactly what he was. He just knew that Yannis wasn’t there by his side calling him Beloved and trying to protect him from everything.
No, Yannis was lost out in the cold harsh human world somewhere, and it was all Nikos’s fault.
Nikos jumped when his laptop dinged. He quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve then turned toward his laptop screen. Plastering a smile on his face that he didn’t feel, he tapped the video conference button and waited for the machine to connect.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Nikos Papadakos.”
“Thank you for allowing us to speak with you today, Mr. Papadakos,” one of the men said. Nikos assumed the man had been chosen as the spokesman of the group of five men that sat around an oblong table in a room halfway around the world from where Nikos was located. “My name is Desmond Drakus. I am the CEO of Cyber Cinetics. I’d like to introduce my associates before we get started.”
Nikos nodded his agreement then waited while each of the other men was introduced. By the time the introductions were made, Nikos realized he was actually talking to the entire board of directors of Cyber Cinetics. He just didn’t understand why. The company was not that bad off financially.
Why did they want to be bought out?
“Your company is financially stable. Why do you need me to buy you out? And why would you come to me instead of placing your company on the market to the general public?”
Nikos began to get a niggle at the back of his neck as he watched Drakus glance cautiously toward the other men in the room with him.
There was something off about all of this.
“Gentlemen, you do understand what it is that I do, correct?”
“Yes, sir,” Drakus replied as he glanced back toward Nikos. “You buy companies having financial difficulties, reorganize them, and then resell them for a profit.”
“Then why come to me?”
“We don’t wish to sell our business outright, Mr. Papadakos. But we have a business proposition we’d like to discuss with you.”
Nikos almost disconnected the video conference on the spot. He was not in the mood to deal with someone that wanted to go into business with him. That was not what he did. He liked buying failing businesses out but only because then he didn’t have to deal with someone who wanted to coddle the business they started.
Nikos didn’t coddle.
He reorganized, often firing people and hiring new ones. He revamped, changing operational procedures and implementing his own. He sent companies in directions they might not have gone before.
And he never bought out a company he couldn’t make a profit on. Did that make him an asshole? Probably. But he never bought a company that wasn’t already up for sale. He didn’t go after companies where the owner didn’t want to sell.
“Gentlemen, this has been an enlightening conversation, however—”
“Please hear us out, Mr. Papadakos,” Drakus said. “I believe we can be of benefit to each other.”
“Look, I don’t wish to be rude but—”
“He’s not human, Mr. Papadakos, not yet. But given enough time and blood, he will be, and then he will be unstoppable.”
Nikos stilled. He didn’t even breathe. “Excuse me?”
Drakus’s hand slammed down on the long wooden table, his face pinching in anger. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with, Mr. Papadakos. He needs blood to survive, and the more of it that he ingests, the stronger he becomes. If he consumes enough blood, he’ll be able to be awake in the daylight, and then he’ll be unstoppable.”
Nikos prayed with all of his might that
his face didn’t show the shock he was feeling. He had learned a long time ago that if he didn’t know what someone else was talking about or he didn’t want them to know he knew, play dumb.
“What are you talking about?”
“The gargoyle, damn it!” Drakus shouted. “The creature that appeared before you several nights ago.”
So, that was what Yannis was…a gargoyle.
It actually kind of made sense if Nikos considered how Yannis said he turned to stone during the day. He was just curious how the people from Cyber Cinetics knew about Yannis or how they knew that Nikos knew about Yannis.
“We know you found one in the middle of the road, Mr. Papadakos. And you took him home with you. We don’t normally approach people that have had contact with the creatures, but considering how your parents died and your lifelong fight to eradicate these creatures, we felt that it was safe to discuss this matter with you.”
“How do you know about my parents?” Nikos asked carefully, again, trying to make his face a stone mask of indifference. If these people ever discovered how terrified he was at that very moment, he’d never get any information out of them.
“We belong to an organization called the Brotherhood. We’ve been around since before the dawn of time, just as these creatures have been. The Brotherhood was created by a group of humans when the Gods of Olympus started putting these creatures on earth to control us. Only by working in secret have we been able to find them and destroy them.”
Nikos’s hands clenched on his lap, out of view of the camera. “Again, how do you know about my parents?”
“Your parents were members of the Brotherhood.”
Chapter 5
Yannis settled on the edge of a pitched roof not far from the balcony that led to Nikos’s bedroom. He tucked his wings in around his naked body to ward off the cold chill in the air and then waited for Nikos to appear.
As it was nighttime, Nikos should be headed to bed soon. Yannis wanted to gaze upon his Beloved, to see his handsome face. He missed Nikos, missed his touch, his smell, the lyrical way that he laughed when something struck him as funny.
He just plain missed Nikos.
Even if he never got to hear that perfect little laugh again, he needed to at least look upon his Beloved. The draw to be near Nikos was overwhelming. The farther away from him that Yannis flew, the more his heart ached. He knew now that he had to stay near Nikos if he wanted to retain his sanity.
After visiting the place of his birth and the ruins of the temple he had been assigned to watch over, and praying to his Gods, Yannis had come to the conclusion that he didn’t fit into this world. It was no wonder that the Gods had left humanity to its own devices.
Humans were frightful.
They seemed more concerned with being better than everyone else, making more money, having more things, more, more, more. They didn’t seem to realize the miracle of the world around them.
The only place that Yannis felt safe was near Nikos, so that was where he was at. He knew Nikos feared him, and that one thing alone would keep him from revealing himself to the man. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t stay and protect Nikos. The world his Beloved lived in was not a safe one. Nikos needed Yannis whether he knew it or not.
Yannis perked up when he saw Nikos’s bedroom light go on. He leaned back into the shadows cast by the roof eaves and watched as Nikos walked out onto his balcony. Nikos walked right over to the banister and leaned his hands on it, his eyes looking out over the darkness.
Yannis wondered if Nikos was looking for him, or was he just watching the shadows? Did he even care that Yannis was gone? Had life simply gone on for the man as if they never met, or did Nikos feel the deep aching hole in his heart where his Beloved should have been?
When Nikos pushed away from the railing and started back toward his bedroom, Yannis reached a hand out, ready to call out to his Beloved. He stopped himself just in time, reminding himself that Nikos thought him a monster.
He needed to keep his distance and watch over Nikos from afar.
Yannis followed Nikos’s movements as the man walked back into his bedroom and headed for the bathroom. The light flipped on and Nikos disappeared from sight. Yannis started to grow antsy as he waited for Nikos to appear again. When he finally did, Nikos was wearing pajama pants low on his hips and rubbing a towel over his wet mocha-brown hair.
Yannis growled low in his throat when he saw how low Nikos’s pajama bottoms hung on his slim hips. There was a little more thinness in Nikos’s torso as well, deep circles under his eyes. It was obvious that Nikos wasn’t taking proper care of himself.
Nikos walked over and sat on the side of the bed. His hands clenched in the towel as they dropped to his lap. His bangs fell forward as he bowed his head and stared down at his hands. He seemed to be thinking about something, thinking very hard.
Yannis couldn’t help but wonder if it was him. He hoped it was, but he also hoped it wasn’t. It seemed like any thoughts Nikos had about him weren’t good ones, and Yannis didn’t want his Beloved to think bad of him. It was almost better that Nikos not think of him at all.
A fist clenched around his heart when Nikos wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. Yannis tensed as he watched tears spill down Nikos’s cheeks. His muscles bunched as he tried to control his need to go down and comfort his Beloved. Nikos didn’t cry huge, body racking sobs, just tears that fell silently down his pale, too-thin face.
His Beloved was crying.
That was not the way it should be. Nikos was supposed to be happy, laughing, smiling. He was not supposed to cry. Yannis had gone away to make Nikos happy, to keep the man from having to deal with the fact that his mate was a monster.
Yannis needed to know who to kill.
His wings swept out to his sides as he launched himself off of the roof he had settled on. He silently glided down to the balcony, a mere whisper on the breeze. He landed with an almost silent thud and walked toward the matching set of side by side doors that led into Nikos’s bedchambers.
“Why do you cry, Beloved?” he asked from the doorway, not daring to enter the room.
“Yannis?” Nikos’s head snapped up, his cerulean-blue eyes searching the darkness outside the doorway until they landed on him. “Yannis,” Nikos whispered, his voice low and broken. “You came back.”
Humiliation and hurt combined to make a dangerous mixture, one Yannis could barely fight. “My apologies, Belov—” Yannis stopped, reminding himself that Nikos didn’t want to be his Beloved. “My apologies, Nikos. I merely meant to ensure that you were unharmed. I will not encroach on your privacy again.”
Yannis started to back out onto the stone balcony, intent on flying away from the torment being this close to his Beloved caused him when he felt a warm hand on his arm, stopping him.
“Release me, Nikos.” Even the simplest of touches from Nikos were pure agony.
Nikos’s face drained of color at Yannis’s deep aggressive growl, turning ashen white. He quickly lifted his hand and stepped back. “I’m sorry, Yannis.”
Yannis took another step backward, then another and another until he could feel the night breeze brush against his wings.
“Please, don’t leave,” Nikos pleaded as he took a step forward, matching Yannis step for step. “I’ve been searching everywhere for you.”
Nikos’s statement caught Yannis’s attention enough that he stopped backing away. His head cocked to one side as he tried to find reason behind Nikos’s words. “Why would you be searching for me?” Yannis questioned nervously.
“I thought…”
Guilt squeezed his heart when Nikos’s eyes clouded and filled with such sadness that Yannis felt his throat burn with withheld tears. There was something very lost in Nikos’s eyes before he glanced away and stepped back, clenching his hands into fists as if he needed to do something to keep from reaching out to Yannis.
“My apologies again, Yannis,” Nikos replied evenly, although his words were strained. “I
was merely worried for your safety. I can see that you have things well in hand. I’ll call off the search immediately.”
There was darkness to Nikos’s cerulean-blue eyes as he turned away that set every one of Yannis’s instincts on edge. When Nikos walked back into his room, Yannis followed but just to the edge of the doorway. He didn’t step inside the room.
Curiosity and confusion both held a place in his mind as he watched Nikos walk over to his phone and pick it up, dialing before holding the device to his ear.
“Sahm, I want the search for Yannis called off.” Ashen skin pulled taut over his prominent cheekbones as he nodded. “No, that won’t be necessary.” Nikos glanced over at Yannis as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “Because I said it won’t.”
Yannis followed the graceful movement, wishing he could run his own fingers through the collar-length mocha-brown strands. He ached to touch Nikos, to see the man come apart in his arms like he had before.
He just knew he couldn’t. He didn’t have that right.
“Just do it, Sahm!”
Yannis jumped when Nikos slammed the phone down. Nikos’s expression was taut with strain when he turned toward Yannis, his fingers clenched so tight that the tendons in his neck stood out.
“Before you leave, you need to be aware that there is a group of people out there looking for you called the Brotherhood. They know you are here, that I found you. I believe that they are very dangerous. It would most likely be in your best interest to avoid them if you can.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Nikos’s eyes turned to liquid pools of deep blue before he looked away. “I’m sure you won’t believe me, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Yannis felt his long, ink-black hair pull over his shoulder as he tilted his head. “I thought I was a monster?”
Nikos laughed nervously as he pushed his fingers through his hair once more, turning away from Yannis to walk to the window. “I’ve come to realize that there are a lot of monsters in this world, some human, some not so human.”
