by Kimber White
I finally had a chance to catch my breath enough to sit upright. It was then I noticed I wasn’t the only thing Leo dumped into the backseat.
The red diamond had slipped off the seat and onto the floor. I picked it up, still impressed by the sheer weight of the thing. It glittered in my hands, catching the sunlight through the window. I had a brief moment of terror as I wondered if there really was something about it that had caused what happened to Alonzo.
It made no sense. None of it. How could Alonzo die so quickly? And from what? Then...what happened after. It wasn’t normal. I knew of no spells that could do that. Not that I was an expert, but I’d seen enough.
Leo was going close to ninety. He handled the car like a NASCAR driver, taking curves and passing slower vehicles with skill and ease. My stomach rolled and for a moment, I thought I might be sick.
I put the diamond on the seat beside me and tried to keep my focus locked on the blue sky.
Leo stayed silent, focused as he headed east toward Detroit. He seemed to know exactly where we were going. Somehow I knew if I asked him, I’d get no response. Leo Kalenkov was in full-on Wolfguard mode. It made me feel equal parts safe and freaked all at once. Everything I knew, everything that felt normal for me had been turned inside out in the span of ten days. In some detached part of my brain, I knew I hadn’t really come up for air from any of it.
Leo took an exit ramp, careening through the steep curve of the circle. The stone slid off the seat and onto the floor again. I clutched the back of Leo’s headrest to keep from tumbling over just like the diamond.
We went for another ten minutes. The distinct smell of the river and oil refineries heralded Detroit as much as the Ambassador Bridge and Tiger Stadium did.
Leo took us down a side street and we ended up in a run-down neighborhood with formerly gorgeous homes likely built before the Second World War.
He pulled into the cracked driveway of a three-story brick house.
“Wait here,” he cautioned. I resisted the urge to ask him exactly where the hell he expected me to go.
Leo punched a code into the panel by the garage door. The door lifted. Leo pulled in and shut the thing behind us. “Come on,” he said. “Bring that hunk of rock with you. We need to get out of sight.”
I fished for the diamond. Clutching it to my chest, I followed Leo out of side door of the detached garage. We entered the house from the back, enclosed porch.
The inside of the house didn’t match the exterior at all. The roof was aged and sagging in one corner. The garage needed a coat of paint. The driveway sagged in the middle. But inside, the house looked as if it had been completely remodeled within the last couple of years.
We walked into the kitchen. I ran my hand along the gleaming, white quartz countertops. It had a double-sized farm sink, brushed chrome fixtures and a chevron-patterned backsplash that could have been the reveal scene of any home improvement show on cable.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Detroit,” he answered in a gruff tone.
“Obviously,” I said. “I mean this house.”
Leo turned to me. His color had returned. Those sapphire eyes of his glinted as he raked them over me. I felt a rising heat from my core, spreading outward to my fingertips. There was something about feeling that intense, singular focus from him that made it hard to catch my breath.
“Safehouse,” he said. “Wolfguard has dozens, hundreds all over the country. I designated this one for this job. Didn’t think I’d need it though.”
My knees started to feel a little weak. My adrenaline faded. I made my way to a stool at the kitchen island. I set the diamond in the center of it.
“Good thinking,” I said. Then, I buried my face in my hands. “It’s gone.”
“It’s right here,” he said, picking up the diamond.
“No,” I said. “My grandfather’s shop. It’s gone. That smoke...what was that?”
Leo took the stool opposite me. He gathered my hands in his. I almost jerked them away. The searing heat between us when his skin touched mine made it hard to think.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I don’t understand what happened. Do you?”
Leo sighed. “I have a pretty good idea. And it’s why I dragged you out of there so fast.”
“Was it toxic? That smoke? It didn’t smell like real smoke. It was more like...mustard gas or something.”
“That’s probably closer to what it was. But that was from a spell. I’d know that smell a mile away.”
“Alonzo’s no wizard, I told you that. He doesn’t have that kind of power. And trust me, no coven in their right mind would have willingly let him borrow theirs.”
“Meg,” he said. “Alonzo probably had no idea what was going to happen to him. I mean, if he’s been working with your family for as long as you say, I’m guessing he knows how to steer clear of the darker elements.”
“He does. I told you. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Someone got to him,” he said.
“What, you mean bribed him?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I’d bet a year’s pay the wrong element found out he was headed to your shop. They knew what he was sent to look at.”
“Alonzo would never take a bribe. I’m telling you. He was loyal. I trusted him.”
“Meg,” Leo said. “I need to talk to someone at my firm. We need to try and sort this all out. But, Alonzo Fry was boobytrapped.”
“You said that before,” I said. “What do you mean?”
“That little fire he tried to throw in the vault, that was a decoy. It’s not what he was sent there to do.”
“You think he was sent to steal this?” I picked up the diamond.
“No,” he said. “I think he was sent there to die.”
My heart turned to ash. Once again, I couldn’t breathe.
“Boobytrapped,” Leo said. “If I hadn’t been there, that gas would have killed you. They made your friend Alonzo into a human bomb. I have no doubt whoever did it meant to swarm into the shop and take the diamond while you both lay dead on the ground.”
I covered my mouth with my hand. It was too much. It was the end of the world.
If Leo hadn’t been there…
I met Leo’s stare. That aching heat was still there. No matter what else was true, I knew he was right. He had just risked his life to save mine.
“The shop,” I said. “You think they’re there right now?”
“I do,” I said. “I think they were waiting somewhere close. We weren’t followed here though. I’m sure of that.”
It was all spinning out of control. My grandfather. Alonzo. Now the shop. Gone. All gone. As I sat at that counter, the truth slowly seeped into my bones. It gutted me. As Leo held my hand, I realized my old life had melted away before my eyes. All I had left now was this priceless red diamond, and the protection of a man I barely knew.
Chapter Ten
Leo
It took a few hours of pacing, two shots of whiskey, and another promise from me, but Meg finally went to sleep. I set her up in the master bedroom at the top of the stairs. From there, I could keep an eye on her. Or at least an ear. Her rhythmic heartbeat echoed inside my own chest.
I wanted her. God. I wanted her. When everything around me felt wild, uncertain, Meg was like a cosmic tether. She grounded me. She made my purpose clear. But I also knew how dangerous that could be for both of us.
Someone or something had been willing to kill her today to get at this diamond. For now, I kept it on the coffee table in front of me. I could have taken the bedroom just below her, but I didn’t want to be even that far from her. I knew I might never be able to leave her side again. It had nothing to do with this cursed rock.
I picked it up anyway, letting the low light of the moon from the window catch it. I was no expert, but the thing was flawless. Clear. The deepest red, I could also see shades of purple and black as I turned it.
“What ar
e you?” I whispered. What I said to Meg had been the truth. Alonzo Fry had been sent on a suicide mission. He’d been used as a mule. The gas he gave off after he died was unlike anything I’d ever encountered. If I hadn’t been there, Meg wouldn’t have lasted a full minute in that building.
A more profound, darker truth burned through me. When she sent me back for the diamond, it almost killed me too.
I felt the fire...real fire...in my lungs as I headed back toward that vault. My legs gave out. My throat closed. Whatever was in the stuff, it was powerful enough to bring down a full-blooded wolf shifter.
Until I touched the stone.
I ran my fingers over its hard edges. The minute I had picked the thing up and clutched it to my chest, my lungs cleared. My vision returned. I felt invincible. It was as if the diamond had a power of its own and it transferred to me as I held it.
Except, that was impossible. There was no such thing as a shifter power booster like that. Not even witch’s magic had that effect.
I set the stone down. There in the quiet, I knew I had one thing left to do.
I called Payne. As Meg slept soundly down the hall, I walked to the back porch and pulled out my phone.
When Payne answered, my voice left me. A different instinct poured through me.
Mine. Meg was mine. Rational or not, I didn’t want even Payne knowing what she was to me. I wanted to hide her away from the rest of the world and keep her safe.
“Leo,” Payne said. “I’ve been worried. I got a call about an incident at Meg’s shop. You’ve broken protocol. Again.”
“Sorry about that,” I said. “Something happened with Fry.”
“Why don’t I think I’m going to like this?” Payne said.
“He’s dead,” I said. I filled Payne in on the details then my theory about the boobytrap spell.
“Dammit,” Payne said. “There is someone dark behind this then.”
“Well, we already knew that. If the rumors are true, this diamond really is cursed.”
“You have any sense of that?” Payne asked. “You having trouble controlling our wolf around it?”
“None,” I said. “It’s uh...sort of the opposite. If anything I feel stronger when I’m holding it.”
“Then don’t,” Payne said. “Until we know exactly what we have there, better not mess with it.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I’ll tell you what though, I think we can’t let any kind of sale go through. Not until we know what this thing really is.”
“Agreed,” Payne said. “If you’re right on what it does to you, we can’t let it fall into the wrong hands. I’ve seen too many dark shifters do too much harm with borrowed power. I won’t facilitate it.”
I didn’t know all the details, but I knew Payne was involved in a rebellion against a dominant Tyrannous Alpha a few years back. The guy had taken over all shifter packs in Kentucky and tried to make minions out of them. Payne had been instrumental in putting the guy and his top lieutenants down, but not before he’d spent some time being forced to do some of the asshole’s bidding himself.
“I’m at the Detroit house. It’s quiet here. Nobody followed me.”
“Good,” Payne said. “Sit tight then. Let me think. I want to see if I can find someone we trust to come out and have a look at that stone.”
I bristled. I trusted Payne, but he was talking about subcontractors now
“And I want to send you some backup,” he said.
“No!” I barked, startled with the ferocity as my heart rebelled. I didn’t want any other shifter getting close to Meg.
“No,” I said. “The fewer shifters we have around this rock, the better. At least that’s what my instinct is telling me. I need you to trust me a little bit longer. I can keep Meg safer alone.”
“Meg’s not your job,” Payne said. “You were hired to ensure nothing bad happened to that diamond. It’s the job. Not her.”
I went still as the stone. If I uttered a word, Payne would hear something in my voice. He would know. He would have to. He had his own fated mate after all, his wife Lena.
“I’ve got this,” I said. “At the moment, Meg owns the diamond, on bailment anyway. The diamond stays with her, and I stay with it. No more cooks in the kitchen. If you can just let me know when you have somebody you trust to take a look at the thing…”
Payne wasn’t happy. But, he had no reason not to trust me. He reluctantly agreed with a warning for me not to do anything too cowboy.
I thanked him and clicked off. Heat rose between my shoulder blades. I didn’t have to turn. I didn’t even have to see to know what was happening.
Meg stood a few feet behind me. My heart raced to join hers. Slowly, I turned to face her.
We kept supplies here. Food. Clothes. Burner phones. She’d changed into a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. It showed all of her delicious curves. My wolf hummed inside of me. I tried not to look, but the outline of her nipples was visible beneath the thin, peach-colored cotton top.
“What did they say?” she asked. She stepped out of the shadows and sat on the edge of the coffee table. The red diamond sparkled beside her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop or anything. I couldn’t sleep. I mean, I could for a minute, but it doesn’t last. And you...uh...you talk loud.”
I moved away from the porch and sat down on the sofa right in front of her. Our knees nearly touched.
“They agreed we’re better off staying here and out of sight for the time being. Payne trusts my judgment. He’ll send some people we trust to clean up your shop.”
Her eyes glistened just as brightly as the diamond. “It’s gone, Leo. All of it. Gone.”
She picked up the diamond and held it out in her open palm. “This is all I have left. My commission from its sale is the only thing I have to my name. And now...once word gets out about what happened to Alonzo, even that’s in question.”
“What else do you know about that rock other than it belonging to some king?” I said.
“I told you everything I know,” she said.
“I think you’re probably underestimating its value,” I said. I wanted to be cautious in what I revealed to her. The simple fact was, until a few days ago, I didn’t know this woman. I had no real idea of who she was connected to. The ones I’d encountered so far were less than scrupulous. Alonzo Fry may not have been a witch or a shifter, but there was evil clinging to him when he walked into that shop. It didn’t matter whether it was newly found or not.
“The question is,” she said, putting the stone down and meeting my eyes, “What do you know about it?”
“Nothing,” I said. It felt like a lie, and from the way Meg stared at me, I believed she thought so too.
“What sense do you get from it?” she asked.
“Sense?” I was treading on quicksand here.
“Leo, it did something to you back there.”
My pulse quickened. It was more than just the nearness of her. I felt her heartbeat, her fear. She felt mine too. We were coming very close to the edge of something. But, neither of us seemed ready to confront it.
Until Meg did.
“You’re different,” she said. “Or at least, I feel different since you got here. Leo, I think I know what it means. I may be human, but you know I’ve been around magic users plenty.”
“I’m not a magic user,” I said. “That is, I have magic, but it’s not something I use at will. It’s just part of me.”
“Your wolf,” she said. She grew bold. She reached out and ran her fingers along my arm. My skin pricked where she touched me. Sweat broke out on my brow. “What’s he like?” she asked. “Your wolf.”
I let a beat pass. Then another.
“Why don’t you tell me?” I said.
She blushed. Her lips parted. “I’ve never seen him.”
“Haven’t you?” I asked. I knew plenty of Alpha wolves who had found their fated mates. They all described the same thing. They just knew who
their mates were the moment they laid eyes on them. In many cases, it happened even before that in their dreams. Had Meg dreamt of me?
She rose. She came to me. I looked up as she stood before me. Meg ran her hands through my hair. Her nipples were inches from my face. They peaked. Her breasts heaved as her breath became erratic.
“He’s red,” she said. “Golden in sunlight. Beautiful. There’s a patch of white here,” she said. She let her fingers trail along my neck then pressed her hand flat against my chest. “And his...your eyes, blue like the ocean. I think I’d be able to see them hundreds of yards away. Piercing. Penetrating.”
My hands went up. I moved them up her thighs, then cradled the curve of her ass. Her tight, perfect ass. More than anything, I wanted to bury my face in the heated junction of her thighs. She would taste like the sweetest nectar.
Her scent. I found it intoxicating.
“You’ve seen me,” I said. I’m not sure if it was a question or a statement.
“Yes,” she gasped. “I didn’t know I knew. How could I already know?”
She pulled away. Fear made her pulse rocket up. She took an unsteady step backward and sat back down on the coffee table.
“I would never hurt you,” I said. “You need to know that. No matter what happens. If it’s a choice between you and that diamond, it’s you I’m here to protect.”
She blinked rapidly. “That’s not what your boss thinks.”
“My boss isn’t here right now,” I said. “And I told you, he trusts my judgment.”
“Leo,” she said. “Back at the shop. When you doubled back and went for the diamond. I asked you to do that. I had no idea how bad it would get inside. But, I felt you. It was almost as if I could see through your eyes. You were in pain. Choking. Maybe even dying. But you went anyway because I begged you. I didn’t mean to put you in danger. It would have gutted me had anything happened to you. It didn’t though. When you took this.” She picked up the diamond again. She ran her fingers over its hard surface and brought it to her breast.
