“If any of them survived,” she offered grimly as they both stepped to the center of the tiny room. “Seems anyone we came in contact with last night is dead.” Her chin lifted a bit, determination gleaming in her eyes. “Except us. We survived. And I promise you, I plan to stay very much alive today.” Her voice drew strength, thickened with resolve. “I can do this. I will get that book.”
Pride filled him at her brave words despite his desire to protect her. She was openly facing the death and violence of the night before, and willing to charge forward. He’d seen her fight to save her friends a year before, when they’d only just met. He’d known grown men, soldiers, who would shudder under such circumstances.
“I believe you,” he said. “But that doesn’t make me any more comfortable with this.”
Sudden awareness of the small space, the nearness, swirled between them. He told himself to back away, told himself to put space between them. But he was frozen, mesmerized, taken back by the spunk and determination of a woman touched by so much pain. She had no idea how strong she was, how amazing. How beautiful. How alluring. Crap. He needed out of here before he did something they would both regret. Like kiss her painted red lips.
He grabbed her hand and started walking. She gasped, no doubt as surprised at his actions as he was. Or maybe she felt the sizzle that he did with the touch. The hair on the back of his neck lifted.
Yanking open the front door, he dropped her hand like a hot rock. “The sooner we get out of this tiny apartment, the better.” He motioned her forward, and remotely, as he did so, he noticed the unfamiliar sensation of the bracelets on his arms tightening.
Kresley cast him a quick, tentative look, and darted forward, taking the short flight of stairs to the street level. He was quick on her heels, ever intent on exiting before her and checking things out. The quicker, the better. He wanted her. His body was on fire. His groin tight.
At the exterior door, she turned without warning and smacked into him, her hands going to his chest. Any bit of willpower he possessed fled. He snapped. His gaze brushed those red lips a moment before his mouth closed down on hers. Full abandonment followed. He lost himself completely in her. Buried his tongue in the sweet recesses of her mouth and kissed her as if he had never tasted a woman before. She whimpered into his mouth, clinging to him with those soft curves in a way that only made him hotter, harder. A door creaked on a level above. Somehow, he heard; somehow it drew him back to reality. He pulled his mouth from hers, pressed his forehead to hers, inhaled a breath and grabbed her hand, pulling her out the door a second before they would have been discovered.
She immediately withdrew her hand and started walking, weaving in and out of the crowd. Lucan settled into step beside her, grabbing her arm so they wouldn’t get separated. She didn’t look at him, and as much as he wanted to focus on her, to talk to her, his awareness had to be to their surroundings. Watching to see if they were followed.
They walked several blocks, and her unease engulfed him, pressed on his nerve endings, demanded notice. He wished to soothe her, yet knowing the kiss had created her discomfort did nothing to stop his wish for another. She’d taste like sugar, and melted like chocolate. He wanted her more than he ever remembered wanting a woman. He’d be getting a hotel room with a sleeper couch. Most definitely.
The Beast inside him wanted to claim Kresley – the problem was, so did the man. And Lord help him, when she was near, it was hard to remember why that was such a bad idea.
***
They stopped at a store and bought a disposable cell phone for Lucan, and he programmed the number in her phone. A few blocks later, they were almost to the Moore offices when Kresley felt her senses tingling with warning. She stopped walking, and Lucan paused beside her. “What is it?”
Menace was the word that came to mind a moment before a name formed. Nick. She looked up at Lucan, and she had no doubt that the angst charging her nerve endings showed in her face. “I think Cullen’s head of security is nearby. If he sees us together and knows who you are, this is over."
Lucan didn’t ask how she knew, didn’t hesitate or question, and she appreciated that immensely. Discreetly, he motioned to a busy bakery, and they tracked a quick path inside, weaving to the back, inside the crowd.
She followed Lucan to the back corner, and into the hallway outside the restrooms. He turned to her, hands on her arms, and stared down at her with worry written all over his face. “Buy some breakfast to go, and exit like nothing is wrong. I’ll go out the back but follow you. I’ll make sure you get inside safely. If you don’t call me fifteen minutes after you go into that building, Kresley, I’m coming in after you.”
Her stomach fluttered wildly at the possible outcomes of returning to that building today. She wasn’t about to complain about his vow of rescue. “Okay. Yes.” Once she was up in that high-rise, escape wouldn’t come easy. And not without the risk of hurting innocents.
Approval flashed in his eyes. “Listen to what your instincts are telling you,” he told her. “If you sense you need to leave, leave. Don’t be a hero.” He winked at her. “Leave that to me.”
She smiled. Barely. There was too much on the line, the danger thick in the air, warning her to be cautious. Lucan surprised her and kissed her forehead. Her stomach fluttered, and this time not from nerves. From an unfamiliar emotion she didn’t have time to analyze because Lucan was headed to the exit door.
“Be safe,” she whispered, not waiting for his departure, urgency pressing her to act.
Kresley rushed into the main bakery area, and amidst the cluster of people waiting at the counter, searched the glass display with feigned interest. A breeze brushed through the open double doors of the bakery, the smell of pastries and sweets lifting in the air. As if on cue, her stomach rumbled with the delicious smell, reminding her she hadn’t eaten in more than a day. Maybe eating wasn’t such a bad idea.
She decided she’d celebrate living through the next thirty minutes, if she, indeed, did live through the next thirty minutes, with three chocolate éclairs and a coffee. Because her skin crawled with the knowledge that Nick was still near.
After paying for her order, she accepted her bag and headed for the street, her heart pounding so hard, she thought it might burst from her chest. She made it all of two steps from the door when the reason for that mad patter appeared. Nick stepped in front of her.
She sucked in a breath, and somehow slid a nonchalant expression onto her face complete with a fake smile. “Morning.” She raised her coffee and motioned to the bakery. “Just grabbing some breakfast on my way in.” Someone bumped into her, and she welcomed the reminder of how busy the street was, how safety came in numbers.
He stared at her with coal black eyes, eyes that seemed to spiral into a black abyss. “I didn't think you’d come back.”
“Oh,” she laughed, nervous. “If you mean the library thing.” She flushed. “I admit it’s embarrassing. I do let my love for books get the best of me sometimes.”
“I have a few obsessions of my own,” he said dryly. “Maybe one day soon I’ll tell you about them.” An evil smile slid onto his lips. “Enjoy your breakfast.” He stepped aside and left her clear to walk.
Kresley didn’t hesitate. She started forward, double-stepping in her high heels as fast as she could. All the while, her mind raced. Had he let her go now just to call his thugs to capture her the minute she walked into the building? Or was his dismissal a sign he was suspicious, but didn’t know for sure she was trouble? As easily as she read malevolence in Nick, she found his intent toward her impermeable. Apparently, her developing senses didn’t do so well when she was in the fight-or-flight mode that coming face to face with Nick had created.
She finished the walk to the office, barely remembering the crossed street or the two-block path. When she stood in front of the building, she tilted her chin upward and stared at the rows and rows of glass windows.
In a matter of seconds, she would either be confronted
by Nick’s security team or she'd be sitting at her desk eating éclairs. She’d never wanted an éclair quite so badly in her life.
***
More of his rebel wolves were presumed dead, missing after following the Firestarter and her lover home the night before. That was exactly why moments before, Nick had been furious, ready to shake the little Firestarter on sight. But now, . . . now, he found himself rather amused, quite intrigued.
Nick watched her race toward the office, her curvy hips swaying with delicious results. Hot body. Pretty face. Hordes of courage or she wouldn’t be back today. Good thing, too. Now that he’d decided to put her talents to use, her position near Cullen would prove invaluable.
His gaze traveled her long, slender legs a moment before she disappeared into the crowd. Nick inhaled, thinking about those long legs wrapped around his waist, his cock thickening with arousal. Damn, he could get off on a woman like that. He was going to have to have a good taste of that woman before this was over, a nice little reward. And perhaps he’d make her lover, the Hunter, watch as he made her cry out in pleasure. A sardonic smile slid onto his lips. Yes. He quite liked that idea. Her lover, the Hunter, tortured by his woman’s pleasure with another man –- a better one – a wolf, the pack leader. And he would be leader. As soon as the little firestarter witch brought him that ring. Her compliance would come quickly, no doubt, once she saw what he had in store for her precious lover, the Hunter.
Things were about to get interesting.
Chapter Twelve
So far, so good. She was at work, and the process of getting here had been uneventful– excluding the confrontation with Nick.
Kresley stepped off the elevator into the executive offices to find Cullen’s office door shut, and Sheila absent, though most likely not far away. Relieved to have a few minutes to gain her composure, Kresley set her coffee and pastries on her desk and settled into her chair, noting the oversized envelope sitting on top, with her name scribbled on the front. Her brow furrowed at the distinctively male texture of the writing.
She stared at it, silence thundering in her ears, uneasiness settling in the pit of her stomach.
The telephone rang and she darn near jumped out of her seat, the unexpected jangling setting her already raw nerves on end. She let out a heavy breath and inwardly shook herself. “Get a grip on yourself,” she murmured to herself before reaching for the receiver and answering the call, “This is Kresley.”
Sheila’s irritated voice delivered a derisive reprimand, “I told you to answer, ‘Cullen Moore’s office.’ ”
Ouch. “Sorry,” Kresley said, offering a quick, rueful apology. “I’ll get it right next time, I promise.”
Sheila’s response was sharp, fast. “Make sure you do, because I will not be in today. Unfortunately, I’ve had a little medical issue that's requiring a two-day hospital stay.”
“Oh no,” Kresley said, “I hope everything is okay."
“It’s fine. Nothing I wish to discuss," Sheila replied. “Mr. Moore has several important meetings today. Anything he needs, make sure he has it. Anticipate his needs. The schedule is in my top desk drawer.”
“Yes. Okay. Top desk drawer.” Sheila started rambling off notes. Kresley grabbed a pen but couldn’t find paper – her expensive corporate desk had everything but the basic fabric of the workplace – something to write on! She pulled open a drawer, then another. Sheila kept talking. Kresley threw her hands in the air and then grabbed the envelope and started writing.
For ten minutes, Sheila continued to ramble until finally she said her goodbyes. Kresley hung up the phone and let out a sigh, exhausted already, feeling every second of a night with no sleep. She sat there a second, hands flat on her desk, and then jerked to attention. Oh no. Lucan.
She scrambled for her purse, fumbling as she tried to unzip it, images of him charging through the front door and coming after her flashed in her mind. In a fairy tale, a big, bold rescue would be sweep-a-girl-off-her-feet hot, but this was definitely not a fairy tale. Although Sheila did the wicked stepmother routine to perfection.
She punched the speed dial number for Lucan, and he answered on the first ring. “Hi,” she said, relief washing through her.
“You’re okay?”
He sounded grumpy. She didn’t remember him being so grumpy the year before. But then, he hadn’t been captive to Demons then either. “Yes,” she assured him, glancing around nervously, expecting someone to appear at any moment; the quiet and inactivity was a bit unnerving.
“Twenty minutes, woman,” Lucan bellowed at her. “You scared the crap out of me. I saw that wolf confront you. I thought he did something to you.”
He was worried, genuinely worried, she realized. That wasn’t something you faked. It wasn’t something born of hormones and mating fire, either. “Just saying good morning in his normal, pleasant way,” she commented dryly. Normal being rude and obnoxious, of course, and she figured Lucan would know that. “Nothing more.”
“That was Nick, wasn’t it? The security guy you mentioned.”
“Right,” she said, discretion her concern. “The bakery was a great idea. I can’t wait to try my éclairs.” In other words, his plan had worked. She’d convinced Nick she’d stopped in for breakfast. “I should run now, so I have time to eat before I get started here."
A frustrated sound filled the phone. “I hate this more than you know. I don’t want you to be there.”
She swallowed hard at the emotion in his voice, at the tremor that climbed through the phone line and into her body. But what could she say? Anyone could be listening. “I’ll call you later.”
“Call me by lunchtime and check in, or else—"
“I’m not sure I can do lunch,” she finished for him. “But I’ll call you and let you know.”
“You better,” he said. “And be careful. Don’t take unnecessary risks.”
“That goes for you, too,” she said and hesitated, trying to think how to really get the urgency of her point across and came up with, “Please.”
Silence crackled on the line and then a sudden burst of low, sexy male laughter. “Please?” he asked incredulously. “I kind of like that.” His voice lowered, took on a sensual note. “I think I’d like to hear it again.”
Was he flirting with her? The flutter of awareness spreading through her body certainly said yes. She wanted Lucan, wanted him so very badly she could not deny it. Nor could she hold back a little challenge. “I bet you won’t say that in person.”
The line crackled with a sudden silence. Then, “Not because I don’t want to.” His voice held a low, sensual quality that beckoned her with enticement and possibility. God, she wanted to know those possibilities. Two weeks from now she could well be in the snake pits, and still a virgin, someone who had never known the pleasure between a man and woman. Who had never known Lucan, the man who had set her fantasies on fire for a year now.
“Kresley?”
“Yes?”
“Do not leave without calling me.” The line went dead.
She grimaced. So much for that steamy moment. She sighed and slipped her phone back into her purse, eying the clock as her stomach growled. Ten minutes until work officially started. She eyed the envelope, almost positive it was from Sheila. But it was work she had to do in order to be here, positioned to get the book, and the ring. She shoved it aside.
Kresley decided to take a quick moment to eat her pastries before she fell on her face, thankful for the secluded executive office. She opened the bakery bag, thinking about Lucan when she should have been thinking about her safety, about getting the book. She wondered about his past, about his interest in science, his transition from working in a lab to wielding a sword. She took a bite of her éclair and cringed at the cardboard taste. She crinkled her nose as she eyed the yummy-looking, chocolate-covered delight and wondered how it could taste so darn bad.
“Great,” she murmured, as she tossed it into the bag and into the trashcan. First meal she had atte
mpted in more than a day, and it was horrible. And not really a meal anyway.
Her gaze settled back on the envelope, and her heart kicked up a beat of its own accord. For some reason, she dreaded opening it, she realized, and not because of work. Her heart did a faster flutter. Yep. Dread. She felt dread.
She reprimanded herself and grabbed it, ripped it open and removed the contents. Stared at what she held in her hands – shock rendered her utterly still as she recognized the book from Cullen’s library. The book with the Knights' emblem. She’d been eating an éclair while this sat on her desk? What had she been thinking?
Her gaze caught on a note card stuck inside the front cover. Tentatively, she removed it, flipping the top panel open, and read: Next time, ask. Cullen.
She dropped the note, stared down at it. Why she was so shocked, she didn’t know. Of course, he knew she’d been nosing around in his office. Nick would have told him. Of course. Right. It was expected. Her finger traced the lines of the Knights' emblem engraved on the cover of the velvet book, baffled that he knew the exact book she’d been looking at. He wanted her to know he knew, too. Was he teaching her a lesson about snooping or was there more to this? Surely, this was a sign the book held no big secret. Would he give it to her if it had something important inside? Curiosity sent her hand to the cover, flipping it open. She thumbed through pages, but couldn’t understand a word of the text. Okay, maybe he would.
Leaning back in her chair, she decided Cullen Moore was playing a game with her, and she didn’t know the rules. Not a fun way to play any game. In this case, not a safe way to play a game. Especially not when two of the players wielded the power of fire. But there was one thing in her favor, she reminded herself. She knew about the ring and his ability to create fire. He had no idea that she, too, could create fire. Which meant she had an advantage and one she wasn’t afraid to use if she had to.
***
Lucan exited the elevator of the Embassy Suites Battery Park Hotel an hour after the call from Kresley, every nerve ending he owned standing on end, his head splintering with sharp pulses that radiated along his skull and seemed to come and go. His arms throbbed where the bracelets grabbed his wrists with excruciating tightness. These new afflictions appeared to strike every time he left Kresley’s presence. From what he could tell, these were symptoms created when the Guardians were battling his beast for control – letting it free when Kresley was near, hoping he would mark her. Reining it in during her absence. It appeared they underestimated the will of his beast, because it wasn’t submitting without a battle. One Lucan was paying the price for.