by Maya Daniels
“Alex, of course, of course.” The males shake hands, slapping each other’s shoulders like old friends. I wish I know more about what is going on in the human world. “This is Ms. Robins; her charities are helping the Red Cross by providing shelters for orphans in many countries.” Astara doesn’t skip a beat as she places her hand in Alex’s, offering him a broad smile. He lifts her knuckles to his lips, the light gleaming on his hair.
“Ms. Atkins is a geneticist I had the pleasure of meeting this evening.” The governor’s voice muffles in the background when Alex’s gaze snaps to mine.
The magic in my chest uncoils at the intent look in his eyes, poking its head out and stretching my skin. I bite the inside of my cheek, careful not to draw blood. No way any glamour can cover up the scent of it to someone like Alexius. Both of us are frozen while waiting to see what reaction the other has. My ears are buzzing from the rushing of my blood. Can he see who I am? Does he know?
“Oh, it seems we lost the other lady.” The governor breaks our staring match.
“Ms. Atkins’s assistant must’ve gone to get us some drinks,” Astara lies smoothly, not losing her smile.
Taking advantage of the break Astara gives me, I do my best to gather myself. Come on Franky, you can do this, I chant to myself, seeing that Myst is nowhere to be seen. I wish we can trade places.
“The speech will start soon.” The governor throws an arm at a table positioned at the front. “Would you care to join me? A few people couldn’t make it tonight, and I’ll be a shame for me to sit there all alone.”
“Of course.” Astara folds her arm under his and they walk away, leaving me with asshole.
Well, this should be fun.
12
“Shall we?” Alex cocks an elbow at me. It takes everything I have not to break it.
“Lead the way.” I grin at him while keeping my limbs to myself.
“Very well.” Chuckling, he tucks his hands in the pockets of his pants. “Have we met before, Ms. Atkins?” The way he says the name is enough for me to know he can tell it’s bullshit.
“I don’t think so.” We walk next to each other, weaving through tables.
“You are correct.” At my raised eyebrow, he gives me a cocky smile. “I would remember meeting such a stunning woman.”
“I bet you make it a job to remember those.” I want to slap myself for sounding snide.
“It would be a shame not to.” His smile doesn’t slip. He is too experienced at this verbal bullshit. I’m more of an all-hands-on-deck girl. Scratching his eyes out is a good example.
“So what do you do?” It doesn’t escape my notice that he leads me across from Astara and the governor, pulling a chair out and waiting for me to take a seat. “What brings you here tonight?”
“I own a private network of blood banks across the world.” Taking the chair next to mine, he twists his upper body and lanes one elbow on the back of it. “We help the Red Cross when they have a shortage of a blood type, placenta, or whatever they may need.”
My mind is already spinning from the implications of it. If what he says is true, what are Alexius and Roberti capable of when they have access to human blood like that? There is so much I don’t know, but now is neither the time nor the place to start digging into it.
“You can place your purse on the table.” He looks pointedly at the clutch I’m twisting between my hands in my lap. “I promise not to peek in it.” He winks.
Like fuck I’m going to leave my blades out of my hand with a shark like him sitting next to me. I might be reluctant to do anything stupid with so many humans around, but I have no delusion that he doesn’t feel the same. He will slaughter everyone here without blinking an eye.
“It’s a habit.” Leaning away from him, I cross my legs at the knee pointing the thin heel of my shoe at his shin. If he even twitches a muscle, I’m going to stab him with it to the bone. “To have something to do with my hands,” I explain, slightly relaxing my shoulders.
It doesn’t go unnoticed.
Alexius pulls out his phone, his fingers flying over the screen before tucking it back into his pocket. A woman walks up on the raised platform in front of us and I see it’s the same lady wrapped in furs who was talking to Alex. She gives me the stink eye, glaring for a second before smoothing her features and plastering a wide smile on her face. Alexius doesn’t seem to notice, his eyes boring into the side of my face like a gun pointed at my temples. I sit still while the woman talks, her voice droning on about stuff I neither hear, nor care about. A flash of platinum gets my attention. To the side of the platform I notice Myst, our eyes connecting for a second before hers flick to the ceiling, then she’s gone. Alexius still hasn’t looked away from me, so I lift my arm and rub the back of my neck. Rolling my head as if I’m trying to release the tension—which isn’t far from the truth in any case—I tilt my face up and scan everything above me.
My heart skips a beat when I catch a glimpse of something white. The ceiling looks like a decoration on a cake, wide bends of red fabric the same color of my dress looping from the center to the corners of the room. I know I don’t imagine someone moving up there. The blood is icing in my veins. Did Alexius bring hunters with him expecting trouble because he is being careful or is he onto us? I’ve been so uptight the entire day that a sense of calm washes over me at the idea I can stop pretending I’m something I’m not.
“Allow me.” Murmuring under his breath, he pushes my hand away and replaces it with his own.
My whole body revolts the second his skin touches mine.
Instead of yanking away from him, I grind my teeth and reach for his emotions. If I am hoping to figure out whether he knows who we are or not, I’m disappointed. All I get from him is curiosity and confusion. Good, that means we are both confused. Everyone is paying close attention to what the woman is saying, an occasional round of applause thrown out for good measure. It gives me time to look around the room, staring at every shadow and corner. By the time I’m done, I know we will not be leaving this place the same way we walk in. So far, a handful of hunters are positioned strategically around the room and ceiling. I look at Astara across the table and she turns to me with a smile. It doesn’t reach her eyes. Myst must’ve warned her as well.
I shift in my seat.
“Better?” Alex’s voice is deeper and has a sharper edge to it.
“Much.” Flicking his hand off my neck, I’m about to slide out of his reach but the trailing of his fingers down my spine freezes my movement.
Bile rises at the back of my throat.
“I have a feeling this is not the first time we’ve crossed paths, Ms. Atkins.” He speaks under his breath, leaning so close to me I can feel his breath on my skin. “I have very good instincts, and I know you are hiding something.”
My heart punches my ribs painfully, giving him the satisfaction of hearing it loud and clear. His chompers are too close to my neck for me to react like I normally would, which would be to punch him in the throat. Or stab one of my daggers through his eye. Wiggling my hips, I press the thin heel of my shoe to his leg, gliding it up his shin in what I’m praying to all the fates is a seductive manner and not what I really want to do, which is stab him with it.
Knowing who we are or not, I need to lure him out of here before shit hits the fan. All my instincts are on high alert, reacting to his predatory nature. Even if the glamour is holding, he still knows something is off. With the hunters not being subtle around us, no one stands a chance of surviving tonight, least of all the humans. Fuck, Fenrir is going to kill me for this. I can’t hold back the groan when that thought pops in my head.
It works to my advantage.
Alex makes a noise deep in his throat, his palm pressing firmly on the skin of my back. His other hand reaches for my thigh, moving slowly up my leg, his fingers squeezing my flesh. Think, Franky, fucking think! I scream inside my head. Steeling myself, I lean into him and tilt my face so our cheeks brush together.
�
��Let’s get out of here.” I sound breathless because adrenaline from the impending fight courses through me. My lips graze his ear and he shivers.
He yanks me out of the chair so fast I fall into his chest. Fast as lightning, not giving a damn who is watching him, he grabs the chair that is going to topple over and make a loud noise in the somewhat-silent space. Alex wraps his arm around my waist and practically drags me out of the room. I don’t care what he does as long as we leave and the rest of his entourage follows. My chest is rising and falling fast, my hand crushing the clutch in my grip. The closed doors are my focus while he moves us towards them like a male on a mission. Heads turn to follow our progress, and I don’t miss the pause from the woman on the stage.
Alex throws the doors open, swinging trough them like a fury. My fingers fumble with the clutch so I can get to my daggers. His arm is like a metal vise around my waist, the fabric of his tux scraping over the bare skin on my back. The doors are closed with a kick of his foot, and before I can even formulate a thought about how to kill the asshole, he flings me against it, his mouth crushing mine in the same breath.
My body goes still as I let his tongue plunder my mouth, his hand groping my ass for way too long of a moment. His reaction stuns me, and by the time I snap out of it, my red dress is bunched at my hips and Alex is grinding his thick erection on me like he’s a dog humping my leg. Since the hallway is empty I allow myself a second of insanity to actually pull my face away from his and laugh.
Eyes burning like coal, his lust sears my face. Thumping my head back on the door, I laugh harder. This is freaking insane. I was worried he knew something was up and would kill the humans, but the asshole was just horny and wanted a piece of ass. Well color me surprised. I feel sorry for his mate. At least the bitch deserves scum like him for getting so many people killed.
Five hunters materialize behind him. All humor leaves me in a rush. That’s when I notice his thumb rubbing at my wrist. My entire body goes cold.
“You taste delicious, Francesca. It’s funny how you thought your little glamour would fool me.” His hips thrust harder against my thigh. The fact that he doesn’t know Astara and Myst are here tells me the glamour fooled him plenty, but I don’t tell him that. “I’ll make sure to tell Zoltan you enjoyed every second that my tongue was inside your mouth.” I stand stunned while he runs the tip of his nose along the side of my face. “I’ll tell him about all the whimpering noises you make when I had you pinned against a door.”
Our eyes lock and rage blasts my insides when I see the gloating on his face. The fucker wanted me to think he wasn’t aware of who I was, and he succeeded. I only hope that Astara and Myst will have enough time to notice I’m gone for too long and follow us. There is no way I can fight my way out of this against Alexius and five hunters.
“I have a better idea.” Grinning like the jerk that he is, he gives me a pat on the nose. “How about we tell him together?”
A flash of platinum catches my eye for a second behind the hunters. My fingers stop groping for the blades in my clutch. It might be stupid or a death sentence, but his gloating actually gives me an idea, and if that is Myst behind us, we might still get what we came for. Regardless of how he knows I’m wearing glamour, this actually may not be a bad situation, but only if Fenrir and Leo follow us and Astara realizes something is wrong. There are too many ifs, but still not a bad idea given the clusterfuck going on.
My clutch hits the floor, releasing a hollow thump on the tiles.
The grin stretches wider on Alexius’s face.
He yanks the wig off my head and throws it to the side. Obviously, he doesn’t give a shit who sees it. My own hair unravels, falling down my shoulders like a blanket. He watches my face for a long time, the red lipstick smudged on his lips like Joker’s smile. I have a feeling he is not going to wipe his face until Zoltan lays eyes him. A pang pierces my chest at the thought of seeing Zoltan again.
“Let’s go.” Grabbing me by the arm, he jerks me away from the door.
I let him.
Striding through the long hall, he exits the building like a man that owns this world. Arrogance has been a downfall of many greater men. I can’t wait to see the downfall of this one. With a bruising grip, he drags me towards a black car similar to the one we used to get here. It’s so quiet outside, like the city itself is holding its breath in wait of what will happen next. I can feel probing eyes on the back of my head. Keeping my face down, I hide it with my hair. Fenrir is watching and he will follow. I have to believe that.
“Get inside,” Alex snaps in disgust, throwing me inside the car.
I giggle, sprawling ungracefully on the leather seat before I lift myself and lean my back on the opposite door. He glares at me when he folds in half to follow me inside, slamming the door closed as soon as he takes his seat. The car lurches forward, sliding between other vehicles passing on the street. A pissed-off driver honks long and loud before the sound grows distant behind us.
“This turned out better than I expected,” he tells me conversationally.
You have no idea, I think to myself, keeping my mouth shut.
13
“We have a tail.” The glass panel slides down just enough so we can hear the driver speak.
“Lose it.” Alex is scowling at me.
The car jerks harshly to the left, the handle of the door digging in my ribs. Alexius doesn’t move an inch, and it’s like his ass is glued to the seat. The blaring of the horns and outraged screams of the humans create a background noise to match the frantic beating of my heart. My ankle is smarting because my stupid shoes made me twist my leg wrong when he shoves me inside the car. Grinding my teeth, I stay silent, hoping beyond hope that he will do the same.
I’m not that lucky.
“I assume that useless prick got himself caught?” Alexius asks, his voice betraying the annoyance he feels. “Is the book here or back in Sienna?” He yanks my arm to straighten me when I don’t answer him.
“If you asked Zoltan, he would’ve told you I like it rough like that. It’s not going to work.” I grin crazily at him. Maybe I shouldn’t poke him, but I can’t help it.
My head hits the window hard when he backhands me. My ears ring from it, but thankfully the car is still jerking left and right as we weave through traffic, so his hit doesn’t come as hard as it can.
“We will have plenty of time to see how you like it, Francesca.” Dread claws at my insides from the tone of his voice. “I’ll make sure Zoltan is there to watch.”
“You say the nicest things,” I purr at him, swallowing a mouthful of blood from biting my tongue hard enough to feel it split on the side. “We will make sure your mate is there, too. I can teach her a thing or two, the poor girl.”
My lungs protest at the lack of air when he grabs me by the neck, his fingers digging in my skin. Tears blur my vision, dark spots dancing at the edges of my eyes. I still manage to smile at the anger reddening his face.
“Do not mention my mate.” He snarls in my face.
“She must be a lousy fuck if any female can get you worked up like I did.” With great effort, I choke out the words. Strands of my hair are caught on my lashes, distorting his face even more.
His fingers tighten to a point where I’m about to pass out. It’s really stupid to be unconscious around any of them. I should learn how to keep my mouth shut. At the last moment, he throws me away from him. Gasping, I suck in gulps of air and rub at my chest. It hurts like a bitch to breathe, but the air entering my lungs is the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.
Curling up in my corner, I tuck my head down and pretend to cower just so I don’t do any more stupid things. Like talk for example. No one appreciates my sarcasm, which is kind of sad. In the back of my mind, I’m aware that my train of thoughts is not normal. I should be freaking out or fighting my way out of this damn car, but the idea of being where Zoltan is no matter the circumstances pulls stronger. I know Fenrir will find us. His magic is somehow tied to mi
ne because of the oath. Even if he loses sight of Alexius, he will follow me. I have no doubt about that.
We leave the city behind, the lights diming until the inside is only bathed in the glow from the phone Alexius holds in his hand. A frown lines his forehead as he reads something on it, then his fingers move in a blur to type his response. I watch from the corner of my eye, letting my hair give me the cover to observe him. That same danger from our first meeting wraps as around him like a cloak. They all must have a secret I don’t know about. Otherwise, any human with a bit of self-preservation won’t be comfortable around any of them.
The car slows down and I mush my face on the window to see why we are stopping. Tall iron gates with a small, one man post to the side are closed and look ominous. The lights of the car don’t penetrate the darkness so I can’t see what’s behind them. A hunter walks out of the post approaching the driver’s side with his hand hovering over a dagger as long as my forearm that’s strapped on his hip. Their voices are muffled but he moves back inside his station, and a second later the gates swing open. My eyes connect with the hunter’s soulless ones through the window when we pass him.
A long, winding road leads us to a large mansion with jutting roofs and manicured lawns. The gravel crunches under the wheels of the car when it follows the roundabout driveway with a huge fountain in the middle. A statue of a woman with leathery wings and talons for feet stands on top of two lions whose mouths are open in a roar. Water gushes out of them. A crown made of some sort of bones is sitting on top of her head and the mane of her hair is made to look like the wind is playing with it. Dread chokes me just looking at it.
The car stops and my neck hurts from craning it to stare at the fountain. Something about the image of the woman prickles the back of my mind, causing my magic to swirl in my chest. I forget all about it when I’m yanked out of the car like luggage no one wants to carry.
