“Hey mate, you can’t leave your car in the middle of the road like that. It’s blocking others from passing—”
He turned to face the burly human male who had come up to him to have a go. “I’ll park my car wherever I fucking like. This is my island.” He felt his eyes flash, and the human backed off, his hands in the air.
Blade took long strides until he reached the river crossing control center, intending to speak to the guys there. One of them, obviously in charge, recognized him. “Is everything all right, Blade?”
“I’m looking for someone. Alyssa.”
“Alyssa?”
“Slim woman. Five foot three. Hair highlighted blond.”
The guy shrugged. “A lot of women meet that description.”
“She was wearing faded jeans and a black tee shirt. Red pumps. And she carried a rucksack.” And it hit him that even when he had been agitated about her presence at the villa, his eyes had gathered every detail, locking the information away in his head. Green eyes with a speckle of gold. A beauty spot to the left of her nose. A thin fringe as if she’d starting cutting it and then thought better of it. Nails bitten short. A laugh that tinkled…and scars. Gods, the scars… “Have you seen her?”
“Yes. She crossed the river around an hour ago.”
He returned to his car and started it up. The clubbers might be pissed that he’d blocked their vehicles from passing, but they had the sense to move out of his way so he could board the ferry. He entered the section of the ferry that was like a mini car park and waited, impatient. When the hell would it depart? Just as he was considering jumping into the river and swimming across, there was movement. Thank fuck.
On the other side, he got out of his car long enough to check the group of homeless people who hung out near the crossing. No, not there. He went into the surrounding cafes and motels, threatening proprietors for no reason, but nobody had seen her. So he got back into his car and then drove around for hours, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He didn’t even have her damn phone number or any idea of where she lived. When he came to a seedy area full of drug dealers and prostitutes, he left his car and searched the alleys, hookers paying him no attention as they sucked client’s cocks or had sex with them against piss-ridden walls. His chest clenched at the thought that he might find her here. But no, it was as if she had disappeared.
He brought Drake’s number up on his mobile. Usually, he avoided the mobster, but he would do what it took to know if she was safe. “Hi, demon.” The other guy didn’t hide his surprise at the phone call. Considering it was close to 3 in the morning, it was even more of an anomaly.
“Just calling to check if you’d found that girl you were after…”
“Alyssa? Haven’t found her, but James’ men are still searching all over the place. Have you seen her?”
“No. Just thought I’d find out if there’d been any progress.”
“Was there any other reason you called?”
“No.”
That was followed by a short silence. “You called at this time to check if I’d found some random girl you apparently don’t even know?”
“Just being vigilant. Keeping to my part of the deal.”
“Whatever you say, demon. Good night.”
Relief coursed through his veins. Wherever she was, at least she wasn’t in any immediate danger. She didn’t have anyone else to turn to for help, which meant she might return to the villa.
The best thing he could do was wait it out. If she didn’t turn up, he’d have to figure out how to get to her before James did.
ONE NIGHT IN THE ALLEY had made that bloody apartment she shared with Daisy seem like paradise. Even going back to James might have been safer than spending the night in this piss-ridden place. She woke up to find that her few remaining dollars and mobile had been swiped from her rucksack, leaving a few coins in the pocket of her jeans. How had she been stupid enough to fall asleep?
A warm evening had quickly turned cold, and she’d sat tucked away in a dark corner for hours, hoping that none of the drug addicts passing by would notice her. Some random had tried to force himself on her, and she’d kneed him in the groin before running off with her rucksack. She wiped her eyes and then stood from her crouched position, every damn muscle in her body aching. She walked around for hours, going nowhere, not knowing what the hell she would do. Every person who turned to look at her made her jump as she wondered if they were connected to James. Would the next person to notice her be the one to turn her in?
Her stomach burned with hunger. She needed to make money, fast, and there was only one place she could go—Eclipse. The only place in Manhattan where James wouldn’t dare create a ruckus. But could she take the risk? Her stomach rumbled again, pushing her to return to the club. She had just enough coins to get her over the river, and once she had crossed, there was no choice but to go ahead. She loitered outside Oasis’ gate, out of sight of the security guards. Her best bet was to pick up someone before they entered the club.
She walked along the wall until she came to an alley. That guy approaching…he was worth a shot. Balding, with a beard that cried out for a cut, and a paunch that defied his fitted shirt and hung over jeans bought off a rack. She should have pulled on that red dress, but it was too late now. Maybe for the next customer…as he came closer, his eyes traveled over her, his interest obvious. When she smiled, he glanced around him, as if he couldn’t believe the gesture was for him. Yes, he was perfect.
He looked like he might walk past her, though. “Hey, big man. Fancy some fun?” Again, he looked confused, as if he couldn’t believe her question was directed at him. “Yes. I’m talking to you. In the mood for playing?” When he looked as if he might walk away, she dropped the subtlety. “I’ll fuck you for money.”
His face relaxed, as if it all suddenly made sense. “How much?”
“Fifty dollars.” Less than she’d usually charge, but she didn’t want to take the risk of him walking away because of the price. When he hesitated, “Forty. Just for you. Because I want to fuck you.”
He nodded, his voice gruff. “Where?”
She glanced at the alley he’d just emerged from. “In there.”
After him, she needed just one more customer, and she’d do whatever it took to make the cash she needed to cover food and the cost of a motel room—it didn’t matter how cheap it was, nothing could be dodgier than the alley where she’d spent the night.
BLADE HAD WAITED AT HIS villa all day, in case she returned. He hadn’t slept all night and woke up with one thought screaming inside his mind. How the hell was he supposed to find her? He had no phone number or any idea where she lived. Lived? She lived nowhere now, did she? Which meant she spent last night with a client or on the street. That thought nearly summoned the goddamn rage.
When Ethen sent a message asking where the hell he was, Blade replied saying he planned to work from the villa. He then spent the day torturing himself, trying to think of where she might be, and forcing away images of her in trouble. She would come back to the villa, wouldn’t she? Where else would she go?
When the sun set, he was still waiting for her by the pool, unable to understand his own madness.
Drake…that mobster would know more about her. Knowing she was safe was worth the risk of the other guy getting suspicious. But as Blade reached for his mobile, a call came through from Junaid. It was something to do with Alyssa; it had to be. He immediately answered, doing away with the usual niceties. “What’s happened?”
“Your friend’s back. Alyssa.”
She was all right? Thank fuck… “At Oasis?”
“Yes. I haven’t approached her yet, but she’s with a customer in one of those alleys.” Junaid gave him the location. “You want me to talk to her?”
“No. I’ll go myself.” Blade left the club through the nearest side entrance. A few minutes later, and he was at the part of the wall that led to the alley. As he entered the dark area, two shadows showed up against the s
treet lamp, and his senses picked up Alyssa’s scent. And the guy who wanted to fuck her was aroused as hell. One of the man’s hands was on her breast and the other at the waistband of her jeans. “What the fuck!” he roared.
They both turned to look at him, and the bastard narrowed his eyes. “If you want a go, wait your turn. I’m fucking her first.”
Something inside Blade erupted. His horns elongated and skin changed hue, taking on a red color. The fucking rage…it was taking him. He had to control it…couldn’t let his demon come forward before a human, but his mind wasn’t strong enough to hold it back. Not today. Alyssa had enough sense to step away until her feet touched the rucksack she had with her when she came to ask him for help. As for the man…Blade lifted him by the neck with just one hand and held him up against the wall. “You never come to this side of the river again. Do you fucking understand?”
The man managed to nod as his face turned blue. When Blade released him, he coughed as he desperately snatched for breath, his hands at his throat. One more look at Blade and then he ran away, pissing his pants. Literally.
He now turned to Alyssa. Seeing her safe brought relief, but knowing what she’d been about to do pissed him off no end. “How dare you?” He leaned against the wall, willing his rage to retreat. “How dare you let him touch you?”
“Who are you to ask that after washing your hands of me?” Her voice was colder than he’d ever heard it, but it shouldn’t have bothered him the way it did. “You didn’t like that man touching me? What did you think that dear old friend of yours was going to do?”
“James is no friend of mine.”
“Well, you bloody like him enough to put my life in danger.”
His skin had returned to its usual color. He stepped away from the wall, done with all this damn arguing. “I didn’t ask you to come to Manhattan and work for James.”
She paused. “You’re right. But I didn’t expect you to back off from helping me, either. Was that stupid of me?”
It wasn’t a question he could answer. He wished he could make her see that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to help her. He had no other option. Damn, if he had the choice, he would never have reported those girls to James in the first place. But by trying to keep the mob boss happy, he’d done something his morals didn’t agree with, pissing off those close to him at the same time. Junaid followed his orders, but the lion shifter’s behavior had changed, as if Blade had…lost respect in his eyes.
He was caught in the middle of one shit scenario after another, when all he’d done was try to reach a solution that worked for as many beings as possible. Maybe he couldn’t do anything for the other girls, but perhaps he could help Alyssa? But how? All he knew was that after seeing her with another man’s hands all over her, witnessing for himself what she went through every night, he was loath to send her back to that world. But there was nowhere he could hide her, either. Keeping her at the villa was too risky...
Alyssa opened her mouth to speak again, but before any words came out, her eyes rolled in the back of her head as she stumbled to the side. When her legs gave way, he reached out to catch her before she made contact with the ground. She’d fainted? Nothing had better happen to her. That was the only thought that rushed through his head as he picked her up and held her against his body. He ran all the way along the wall to the rear of Eclipse and kicked open the gate. The security guards didn’t say a word as he carried her across the garden and through his villa gate. For once, he didn’t give a damn about anyone seeing them together. He took her into the second bedroom, the one with the window that looked out into the private garden at the side of the villa. After placing her on the bed, he picked up his phone and called Junaid. “I need a doctor.”
“A doctor?” The shifter was bound to be confused. For centuries, non-humans had relied on healers and sorcery, and not only because they had a better understanding of supernatural bodies. Human doctors would have immediately exposed their kind.
“Yes, a doctor. Alyssa fainted.”
“I’ll get one over soon—”
“Now! You better get one here now, or else—”
“Blade. You’ve got to calm the fuck down. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Now let me off the phone.”
“You’re right.” He inhaled, deep. “Make sure you tell no one else about this…and Junaid? Thank you.”
He ended the call and then sat on the bed, next to Alyssa. Without makeup, her face was even paler, dark shadows under her eyes and her cheeks more sunken than he remembered. He took her hand in his. Her wrist…so frail. She’d had a hell of a shit time, hadn’t she? This is my fault. He’d been a fucking coward…so worried about kicking up trouble that he told her to return to James. Thank God she hadn’t done what he told her to. He was so damn grateful he’d found her again before it was too late.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I sent you away.”
She was…so still. Panic clenched his chest as he waved his finger under her nose. She was breathing, and her heartbeat was steady…but where the fuck was the doctor? He called Junaid’s number again.
“I’m at the door of your villa,” the shifter told him. “Andreas is with me.”
“I’ll come and let you in. Make sure nobody else finds out she’s here.”
“I’ll make sure of it.” He went to the living room to release the glass doors, and Junaid walked in with the doctor behind him. “Where is she?” asked the shifter.
“In the bedroom.” Blade closed the doors behind them, and just to make sure of her safety, he took the spectacled doctor by the scruff of his neck. “You do not breathe a word of this to anyone.”
The doctor put his hands to the side of his head in surrender. “I’m not stupid enough to cross you.” Blade led them into the guest bedroom, where Alyssa was still unconscious. “Go out while I check her,” said the doctor.
“There’s no fucking way I’m leaving this room,” said Blade. “You treat her in front of me.” He would not leave her side until he knew she was all right. The doctor glanced at Junaid, and he shrugged his shoulders before leaving the room.
Blade kept his eyes on Andreas. He resisted the urge to stick his fist in the doctor’s face when he took his sweet time pulling equipment out of his briefcase to check this and that, before stretching open her eyes and mouth.
“She’s not eaten properly for days.”
Days? Why didn’t she mention it to him?
“And she needs medical attention. You should admit her to our clinic, and I’ll hook her up to some liquid nutrition.”
“No way, doctor. You treat her here.”
“She’ll be fine here, too, but it’ll take a bit longer for her to recover.”
That was the way it would have to be, then. There was no way he’d admit her to a hospital, where James might track her down. When Blade led the doctor to the living room to see him out of the villa, Junaid was sat on the sofa. He stood, his eyebrows raised, but he said nothing.
“Thanks for your help,” Blade told him.
“It was nothing.”
“Her rucksack got left in the alley. Could you have it picked up?”
“Of course.”
And then Blade received a call on his mobile from Leke. “Demon? Where the hell are you? We’re supposed to be meeting to discuss the club expansion.”
So they fucking were. And if he started backing out of his responsibilities, his partners would want to know why. He couldn’t risk anyone else finding out about Alyssa being here. “I’m on my way, vampire.”
But he couldn’t leave her alone. He ended the call and then turned to Junaid. “Stay here and look after her. You don’t move from the villa, no matter what.”
The lion shifter nodded. “Don’t worry, Blade. I’ll take care of her.”
Blade would have to organize some other manager to take care of Oasis in the meantime. As he left the villa and crossed the garden to the VIP rooms, he didn’t give a damn about the club expansio
n. James was going to eventually find out about Alyssa being with him, and he had to decide what he would do then. Because he knew one thing for sure. There was no way he was sending her back into danger.
CHAPTER EIGHT
* * *
WHEN ALYSSA WOKE UP, IT was morning, and she was inside silk bed sheets, on top of a king size bed. Was she at James’ place? No, no, no. She stood and ran toward the door, pulling the lock…but it wouldn’t budge. A scream left her mouth, one that went on and on.
When the door opened, dread made her freeze, but it wasn’t James. It was…Blade.
He took her by the shoulders, and she stared at him through her tears, dazed. Am I safe?
“It’s me,” he said, “Alyssa? You’re all right.” He pulled her close, and she sobbed against his chest. It only took his arms around her, and she felt calmer…it finally subsided, that fear that had clung to her for days, clenching at her throat and reminding her that she never knew when the mob boss would get his hands on her. “I’m sorry I sent you away, Alyssa. I went looking for you last night, but I couldn’t find you.” He went looking for her? He cared about her enough to do that? As he rubbed her back and whispered soothing sounds into her ear, she wanted to stay against his strong chest forever, even though it was stupid of her to wish for something that could never be. She was a bloody hooker and he—well, he lived in a different world.
He held her face in his palms and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. When she murmured, wanting more, he stepped back. The next thing she knew, she was lifted in his arms, and he carried her to the bed with purposeful strides before lowering her onto it. When he maneuvered her so she lay down, she placed her arms around his neck, wanting to bring him closer. His eyes widened, red fire flaring around black, but he pulled her arms from his neck.
“You need rest, Alyssa. And food.”
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