“Yeah.”
Alarm bells went off in her head. This guy must be a nutcase to be so chill about this. She didn’t need that shit in her life, either. Her hands were full enough between attempting to live a full life, trying to break this damned curse, and also dodging the creeper following her lately. She didn’t need a nutjob added to her mess. Figures, the one time she meets an interesting guy, he’d turn out to be a whacko who believed in magic and carried a concealed weapon.
She was the pot to his kettle, but whatever.
Bishop pulled out his cell and dialed without looking down. His eyes scanned the street and she couldn’t tell if it made her feel protected or more paranoid. They stood there in the middle of the city block and she wished she’d worn something a little warmer. Tilly was chilled to the bone now. As if reading her mind, Bishop held his phone in one hand and shrugged out of his leather jacket and wrapped it around her while he said into the phone, “Yeah, it’s me. We gotta situation. Tilly’s in trouble and someone’s been in her place.”
A rock settled into her gut when she heard Bishop talk to whoever was on the other end of the line. He stopped scanning the crowd and glanced at her, “Yeah, I got her with me. I’m bringing her home.” His jaw clenched and eyes narrowed on her. It made her feel much smaller than the five-foot-nine she was. “I’m not asking permission, alpha. She’s in trouble. End of fucking story.” He hung up and went to grab her again.
Tilly stepped away from him as panic slammed into her. She didn’t know this guy. Whether he was being sincere about wanting to help her or not didn’t even matter right now. She felt trapped and scared and the fact that he said he wanted to take her home didn’t really ease her fears at all. He could be a serial killer.
A hot as fuck serial killer.
Oh god, she had the worst luck in the world, didn’t she?
Tilly pivoted and took off down the street. She weaved in and out of the crowd, ran across the street, dodging cars, and made a left to head towards the business district. She could call an Uber once she got into a building that had armed guards and get the hell out of town.
Booking it down the alleyway, she skidded to a halt when Bishop stood at the other end.
Holy fucking shit! How the hell did he get there so fast? She backed up, turned and ran in the opposite direction. Hanging a left, she looked behind her, didn’t see anyone, and ducked behind a bus stop. Squatting down behind the bench, something inside the leather jacket she had on jabbed her in the ribs and she reached into the inner pocket and pulled out a— “Holy fucking shit.” It was a big ass knife.
“Matilda Jane,” Bishop’s sudden voice scared the shit out of her. She screamed and swung out with his blade. Bishop leapt back and Tilly realized there were witnesses everywhere. If she asked for help, someone was going to call the cops and one thing might lead to another and then she’d get into really big trouble. The last thing she needed was to get arrested for what she’d done and end up spending the remainder of her life behind bars for committing a crime she thought was necessary. Hiring a thief to steal a priceless artifact would definitely earn her time in the slammer. No one was going to care what her reasons were because no one would believe her.
No one ever did. That was, of course, until now.
Bishop kept a wary eye on her, his gaze shifting between the onlookers, Tilly, and the blade in her hand. “Put the blade down, Tilly.”
“Not on your fucking life.”
“You need to trust me,” Bishop took a step closer to her, “I’m trying to help you.”
“You can’t help me,” she stammered and lowered her weapon. She didn’t want anyone else to see what was in her hand, and she wasn’t going to use the damn thing anyways. Murder was so not going on her rap sheet. Not yet, at least. And there were worse places to go than jail… “Bishop, please, I don’t want to get—”
“You don’t know me, so I don’t expect you to trust me, but I do expect you to fucking listen. You’re in danger and I get that you’re scared and you want to do this whole fight or flight thing. Were you lying when you said you were cursed?”
“N-n-no.”
“I believe you. Now, I need you to believe me when I say I’m only trying to help. I know people. People who can maybe help you. I just need you to trust me.”
“I don’t know you, Bishop. You’re just some guy I met at a concert.”
“What happened to synchronicity?” He took another step closer to her and kept his arms up where she could see them. He looked so calm, so confident, it was… confusing her. “If you’re speaking the truth and you’re cursed to die, what have you got to lose?” He swallowed and she saw his throat bob up and down. “You’re going to die when you’re meant to die. Trust me, Sweetness, I know this for a fact. And if you come with me, maybe we can help you find a way to lift your curse and cheat death for a while longer.”
“Or maybe I go with you and you kill me.” Suddenly, synchronicity felt a lot like doom. “He sent you didn’t he?” Oh god, how could she have been so fucking blind and dumb? “You… you’re working with that creeper. You’ve both been following me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Tilly.”
Oh yes he did. He had to. It all made perfect sense now – the timing of her meeting Bishop coincided with her stealing the book and that creeper guy following her all around keeping an eye on her. Holy shit, Bishop was a bounty hunter. It made perfect sense now. He was heavily armed, alert and cautious, and—
Oh god, he’d been sent to kill her. Distract her. He came into her house, saw the book, confirmed it with his boss, and was sent back to kill her. Dread damn near crippled her now.
Bishop took another step closer, “Tilly, I’m not who you think I am.”
“Fuck you,” she growled and took off. He screamed her name and she was so focused on escaping that she didn’t see the car turning just as she ran across the street.
The last thing she saw was the creeper standing on the opposite side of the street and then she felt her body slam into something hard and it was lights out.
Chapter 15
Bishop paced up and down the hallway. The scent of ammonia and sickness clung to his sinuses and the bright fluorescent lights drove him fucking crazy. They’d taken Tilly into surgery and no one had come back out to give him an update yet. In the meantime, he called Valor.
It was no surprise when Bishop saw his alpha come down the hallway looking like a harbinger of death dressed in all black with a heavy coat and a scowl. “What news have ye got?”
“Nothing,” Bishop backed up until he hit a wall and slid down on his ass. “Fuck, Val, this was all my fault.”
“Did ye hit her with the car?”
“No.”
“Then how do ye think it’s your fault?”
Bishop ran his hands angrily through his hair and stared at the dingy linoleum floor. “She tried to run from me. I chased her and tried to get her to stop, but,” he sighed heavily, “she ran out into oncoming traffic and stumbled… I couldn’t catch her in time. This car took the turn and almost creamed her. It was like slow motion and full-speed all at the same time. I tried to ghost, wrap my body around her, but she still went down even with me as a buffer.”
Valor kneeled down and forced Bishop to look at him. “Ye did well by her then. Had ye not softened the blow, she might be dead.”
Bishop laughed cruelly, “Oh god, Valor. This gets worse and more complicated.”
During the next half hour, he told his alpha everything Tilly said to him: The curse on her family, the fact that no woman had lived past her twenty-eighth birthday, that someone broke into Tilly’s house and that she refused to call the cops about it. Valor listened patiently and asked minimal questions.
One really didn’t get chance to say much once Bishop got going on something and he was talking a mile a minute right now. It was part nerves and part habit.
Once he finished talking, a man in scrubs came out and said, “Matil
da Jane’s doing just fine. She’s got a bump on her head, a broken arm and some scrapes and bruises, but all in all she’s lucky. We’re going to keep her overnight for observation and we’ve set her arm. You can go in and see her now if you’d like.”
Bishop damn near barreled into the room he was directed to. Laying in a bed looking pathetically adorable was a blonde angel with a cast. Her hair was a wreck, mascara smudged and she was too pale for his liking. The minute he entered her room, Bishop second guessed himself.
They locked gazes and she looked fucking terrified. God damn, he never wanted her to look at him like that. Before he could say a word, Valor stepped in behind him. “Matilda Jane,” Valor purred, “I’m Valor.” In true Val style, he didn’t swagger so much as glide into the room and was the calm to Bishop’s chaos. “I’m so sorry for what happened.”
The monitors beeped fast because her heart rate accelerated and made the machines go crazy.
As Valor came over to the side of the bed, her whole body stiffened. Beep-beep-beep-beepbeepbeep!
“Shhh,” Valor placed a hand over hers. Beepbeepbeep-beep-beep…beep…beep.
Tilly’s gaze flicked from Bishop to Valor and she slapped on the same expression Bishop had seen a couple other times on her already. It was one that looked resolved and ready. Bishop would eventually call it her fuck it face…
“Go ahead,” Tilly rounded her shoulders and her eyes turned glassy with unshed tears. “I acted alone, just so you know. And…” tucking her disheveled hair behind her ear she bristled, “you can tell Marco I said he’s a first class asshole.” She stuck up her middle finger and waited for one of them to make a move.
Valor’s eyebrows popped up and he and Bishop exchanged a look before he said, “Lass, I’ve no idea who the hell this Marco is, but if I see him, I’ll give him your message.”
She deflated a little. “Then who sent you?”
“No one, lass.” Valor pulled a chair closer and sat in it. He tried to look less threatening, but it was tough. Valor was a big guy who oozed danger and seduction, threats and power. Seeing him be gentle and soft like this was a rarity.
Tilly’s gaze sailed to Bishop, “I don’t understand. You came to kill me, right? For taking the book?”
Bishop and Valor didn’t exchange a look this time. There was no need. They were both treading softly here. Christ on a cracker, the woman nearly got herself killed running from him once already, Bishop really didn’t want a repeat.
“No one sent us, Tilly. We were just at the right place at the right time.” He risked getting a little closer and was sure to keep his hands where she could see them. “I meant what I said. I’m not what you think I am, and I may know someone who can help you.”
“But we will need something in return,” Valor interjected.
A nurse stepped into the room to check Tilly and everyone stayed quiet and still until she left. “What… do you want?” Tilly whispered. “Money? You’ve got it. Name your price.”
Valor leaned in and rested his arms on his knees. “We need that book ye have. And,” he raised a hand to silence her rejection, “I’ll give it back. Hell, ye can stay and watch me use it if ye like. I doona care, as long as I get to see what’s in that book.”
Bishop stayed quiet and watched the exchange between the two of them. Tilly looked positively terrified and Valor was doing his best to be calm and persuasive.
“How do you know about the book if Marco didn’t send you?”
Her posture shifted. Bishop suspected she was going to try to bolt out of the bed and he smoothly walked over to block the door. “I told him about it, Tilly. I saw it at your apartment, remember?”
She gulped, then nodded. “Why do you want the book?”
“I just want to see if it has something in it that can help me.” Valor answered honestly. “Someone verra dear to us has gone missing and we need to get them back.”
“So go to the cops and fill out a missing person’s report.”
“I canna do that. For the same reasons ye didna go to the cops when your apartment was broken into.”
Tilly looked over at Bishop again. “They’ll have taken the book,” she whispered. “I know they’ve taken it back.”
Valor’s smile was dark and confident, “Then all you have to do is tell us where you got it so we can retrieve it.”
“No,” Bishop growled, “You’ll put her in danger doing that, Val. They’ll think she took it a second time and come back for her again.”
Tilly confirmed it with a nervous nod. “If they found me once, they’ll do it again.”
Valor waved off their concerns and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll take care of it, you doona have to worry.”
“I…” Tilly’s brow furrowed, “I think I hit my head a little too hard. None of this can be making sense like it is.”
“Synchronicity,” Bishop whispered. “Tilly, there’s a reason we met.”
She rolled her eyes, “Dude, this is not some cheesy movie where the stars align and the girl gets everything in the end. I’m a dead woman. Regardless of what you think you can offer me, I’m dead. And so is my sister.” She started crying. Hard.
Bishop came closer to comfort her, but Valor beat him to it. The fucker.
“Shhhh,” Valor cooed as he leaned into her. He’d slid off his chair and sat on the edge of her bed. “Look at me, lass,” he tilted her chin up so they could look at each other. “Whether ye tell us where that book is or not, we’ll still help ye.”
“How?”
“Bishop was right when he said he wasn’t what ye think he is.” Valor jerked his head towards the door and Bishop quietly closed the damned thing. He figured he had about three minutes before his claustrophobia started working on his nerves, so he hoped this wouldn’t take that long.
“Wh-what are you guys going to do to me?” beep-beep-beep. Tilly’s blood drained from her face and she gripped the call box, but didn’t hit the button. Bishop couldn’t figure out why she would hesitate, but he was so fucking grateful for it.
“We’re going to make you a believer, lass.” Valor gave the go ahead and Bishop walked over to the wall across from Tilly’s bed. Then he climbed it. Defying gravity, Bishop used his Hell Hound powers and scaled the wall, crawled across the ceiling, and looked down once he was poised right above her.
She didn’t scream like he thought she would.
We’re going to catch hell for this, Bishop thought. It was against the rules to let a human see a Hell Hound use their powers, which was one of the reasons they had their ghost forms. But if Valor was going to break the rules, it was for a good reason.
Two good reasons, actually. Sebastian and Drake.
Leave it to Valor to persuade a freshly wounded, scared to death human woman to get closer to the possibility of finding the twins. Bishop felt torn between pride and protective aggression. He, too, would do anything for his pack. He couldn’t begrudge Valor this opportunity. But damn did it piss him off that Valor was using Tilly like this. It didn’t matter that Valor would stay true to his word and help her, because he was still doing it for other reasons. It wasn’t about Tilly’s life, it was about the twins’ lives.
“Holy fucking shit,” she tilted her head and continued to stare at Bishop, who was still on the ceiling.
He winked and did a flip, landing on the floor again. Straightening up to his full height, the Hound waited with bated breath to see what she would do next. “I told you, I wasn’t what you thought. I didn’t lie to you and I never will.”
“And we will try everything we can to help ye, lass. But I meant what I said about us needing that book. If ye doona have it anymore, then give me the address where ye got it.”
She gulped, her eyes wide as saucers. “What if it’s not there?”
“We’ll help you before we look, to ease your mind about us keeping our end of things.” Bishop tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. God, he hated this.
Valor kept quiet and pulled ou
t his cell phone. Next thing Bishop knew, Valor was talking to Jack, a fellow Hound from another pack. In low tones, he briefly explained the situation and gave vague but important information and asked Jack to come to the hospital. Then he hung up and said, “It’s done. I have our best magic spinner coming here for ye.”
“Oh God,” Tilly panted. “I don’t think any of this can be real.” Her heartrate picked up again.
“Och, we’re real. lass,” Valor’s smile was all teeth and promises. “And ye canna run from us anymore than ye can run from your curse. The only difference is we’re the good guys here.”
“Good?” she asked, “And I’m just supposed to believe you? None of this even makes sense!”
Valor cracked a laugh and it was the first one Bishop had heard from his Alpha in weeks. “Think ye’ve gone down a rabbit hole, eh?” He shook his head, “Och, it’s about to get so much worse, I fear.”
Valor’s laugh was dark, sensual and creepy as fuck given the circumstances. Tilly had dropped the nurse callbox the minute Bishop climbed the wall and crawled across the ceiling like a big bug.
She saw this shit in movies, but never in real life. Tilly would be the first to tell you that it was way fucking scarier in real life. It was also quite fascinating. She knew a thing or two about other beings in this world. Bishop and Valor were certainly other. And they had her surrounded.
She was stuck now. Her time was running out and these two guys offered to help her. It was worth a try, right? If it didn’t work out, oh well. Really, she was a dead woman no matter what.
This was what desperation looked like – A terrified woman in a hospital bed with a raging headache, bed head, a broken arm and a sore ass who was being stared at by two good looking men dressed in all black who could climb on ceilings.
Hard to Find (Hell Hounds Harem Book 4) Page 10
