to take pictures of.”
“What about your junk?” she challenged.
“Wait. What?” I belatedly got in on the conversation. “Can we not talk about guys’ junk?”
He grinned as his gaze collided with mine, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. I turned before my cheeks burned off my face, and was tackled by my sister.
She hugged me tight enough that I squeaked. “I’m going to miss you,” she cried, head buried in my shoulder. “But have fun. Okay? And be safe. Promise?”
“Promise.” I blinked back sudden tears. Since Danika had been born, we hadn’t been separated longer than a handful of hours.
Danika stepped back, her smile wobbly. She ducked her chin as Dez strode into the room and picked up my suitcase. Together, we followed him to the ground level.
Herding two small children into the kitchen, Claudia glanced up with a tired smile as she passed us by. One of the toddlers was in his true skin; the other had only phased one wing. I stopped, watching them as the little one hopped, got some air with its one wing and then landed a second later, laughing in high-pitch squeals.
“Kids are frightening,” Danika murmured.
“I don’t know.” I smiled. “They’re kind of cute.”
Our father waited inside the foyer. As Dez disappeared outside with my suitcase, I walked up to him. He smiled, and I noticed how deep the skin crinkled around his eyes. He looked weary but happy.
He placed his hands on my shoulders, heaving a long breath. “Tell me I’m making the right decision by letting you travel with only him.”
“You are.” A knot moved into my throat. I was itching to get out of this house, but there was a part of me that hadn’t been prepared for the emotion behind leaving my family, if only for a little while. “I’ll be okay.”
“I know you will.” He sighed again. “I trust Dez. He’s a good Warden and I know he won’t let anything happen to you. He cares for you deeply, always has.”
I glanced out the open steel doors, watching Dez shut the back hatch on the SUV.
“Answer a question for me, sweetheart.”
My gaze returned to my dad. “Yes?”
“Do you still have feelings for him?” he asked.
I started to reply but stopped. Everything about Dez was complicated, and how I felt about him even more so. There was such an ugly, messy ball of hurt that had lingered after he’d left, but just thinking about him made my heart jump and my stomach tumble. “I do, but...”
“But he left?”
I didn’t respond, but he knew. Dad had been there during the worst; the days and weeks immediately following Dez’s unexpected departure. How many times had I asked Dad why? There had never been an answer.
My father pulled me in for a quick hug that felt good, grounding. I would miss him, my sister and my clan, but as he pulled back, I knew I was getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He smiled as he patted my cheek. “Go easy on him.”
At first I thought that was a strange thing to say, but then suspicion rose. “Do you know why he left?”
Dad nodded. “I do, Jasmine, but it’s not my story to tell. It never has been.”
Chapter Eight
The couple-hour drive down Interstate 87 was blissfully uneventful and also very beautiful. The rolling hills were a lush green, the trees thick and stately, but the almost pristine wilderness gradually gave way to buildings larger than the tallest trees as we neared the city. My face was practically planted against the side window the whole time as I soaked in everything I saw.
“You haven’t been this far south?” Dez asked, and I looked over at him. One hand on the steering wheel, the other on his thigh.
I shook my head.
He grinned as he sent me a sideways glance. “You used to sneak out to fly when I was around. I’m sure you didn’t stop.”
“I sneaked out a time... or two afterward.” At his wry look, I smiled. “But I never flew south. I always went north. I didn’t want....”
“To get caught?” He laughed at my innocent expression. “That’s smart. You probably would’ve been seen if you came south.”
Driving to the city took a little more than three hours, but it took less than thirty minutes for one of us to fly. If I had dared to venture south out of curiosity, I would’ve been caught due to all the Wardens that covered the city, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if my dad locked me up.
It wasn’t too long before the last of the high hills cleared and New York City came into view in the distance. I leaned forward, grasping the dashboard. “Wow.”
“It’s something, isn’t it?”
I nodded as my eyes widened. The city created its own skyline, an elegant stretch of buildings against the backdrop of blue skies, some tall enough that they seemed to have their very own stairway into Heaven. I could almost imagine what it looked like at night, all lit up, dazzling and awe-inspiring. My heart thumped in my chest as the giddy realization that I would get to see that with my own eyes sunk in.
Traffic slowed as we crossed over one of the long, wide bridges, and only then did I feel Dez’s stare on me.
I looked at him. “What?”
He didn’t say anything as he picked up my hand and brought it to his mouth. Against the center of my palm, he placed a kiss, and my heart did another jump, this time a backflip. I started to ask why he’d done that, but realized that question would sort of ruin the moment and it was a very nice moment.
Instead, I smiled.
It took an absurd amount of time to make it into the city, to the point where the buildings were so tall and so crowded that they blocked most of the sun and the streets were in their shadows.
Dez parked the SUV in a large garage and I followed him to the back, my eyes darting over the never-ending line of cars snuggled tight in their parking spaces.
Too much was roaming through my head as I trailed after him, into the ground floor of one of the tall buildings we’d passed. There wasn’t much I knew about Dez’s plans for this trip. No matter how annoying I got demanding details, he wouldn’t tell me anything, but since he was carrying our luggage inside, that meant we had to be staying here. I could barely contain the squeal as I’d been worried we’d do a drive-by through the city. I had wanted to enjoy it.
A young woman behind the desk looked up when Dez and I approached. She blinked twice at Dez and then smoothed a hand over her already neatly coiffed hair. Her gaze moved to me once and then centered back on Dez as if I didn’t even exist.
I folded my arms.
“How can I help you?” she asked, smiling as though Dez was her own personal sun.
Dez leaned against the counter, one side of his mouth curled up. I rolled my eyes. “We have a reservation.”
We did? As Dez took care of our check-in, I noticed that he mentioned only one room, but I was too fascinated by everything around me to make an issue of it. As lame as it sounded, I’d never been inside a hotel before, and especially not one as trendy as this.
The lighting was dark and mysterious. Rock music wafted from unseen speakers. Black and red couches lined the walls, low to the ground and level with the tables. A bar separated the lounge area from the dining section. All the staff, male and female, wore black and looked as if they’d just stepped off a runway.
I glanced down at my jeans and T-shirt and raised my brows. I really didn’t fit in.
“Ready?” Dez asked.
Nodding, I turned and discovered the clerk watching him wistfully. Who could blame her? It wasn’t until we stopped at the elevator that I thought to ask, “Where’s our luggage?”
“They’re taking it up to the room for us.” He placed a hand on my lower back, guiding me into the mirrored elevator. Once inside, he waved a card in the air as he grinned. “Your eyes are so big, they’re about to pop out of your face.”
I flushed. “I’m sorry. I probably look like an idiot, but I’ve—”
“You don’t look like a
n idiot.” He reached up, tucking my hair back behind my ear.
The elevator moved smoothly, clicking away at the floors. “I know I look like I’ve never been anywhere.”
“It’s cute.” He draped his arm over my shoulders, causing me to stumble into his side. “And stop worrying about it. This is for you. Have fun.”
Reassured that I didn’t look like a total loser, I was bursting at the seams by the time the elevator stopped on the twentieth floor and the doors slid open. We hung a right and followed the curving hallway until Dez stopped in front of our room.
A knot formed in my belly. Our room. I doubted Dez had gotten one with two beds.
Dez opened the door after the handle showed a little green dot. How high-tech. Cool air greeted us as we stepped in. He moved out of the way, letting me investigate. In the small hallway, I found a closet and a door leading into the bathroom. A separate shower, wide enough to fit two people, was on one side, and a large circular tub on the other.
Clasping my hands together, I inched past a wet bar and a desk and into the main part of the room. A large TV was attached to the red wall...and across from it was a bed big enough for four people. My cheeks heated as I glanced away. Aside from a small chair under the TV, there was no other place for anyone to sleep. We’d be sharing a bed tonight. I wasn’t going to think about that right now.
I hurried toward the curtains and threw them open. Holy crap. Leaning forward, I pressed my forehead against the pane of glass as I stared down at the busy street below.
“Do you like the room?” asked Dez.
“Yes,” I whispered, and then louder, “Yes, I do.”
“This is supposedly one of the nicest hotels in the city, or so I’ve been told.” His voice was closer. “I figured we could stay for two nights and then leave Thursday morning. That should give you time to really see Manhattan and also give us enough time to get down to DC. You’ll only have a day there before our seven days are up, but I guess we can stay longer, if that’s what you want.”
As I stared out the window, my throat worked hard to swallow the sudden emotion clogging it. I knew that most males wouldn’t have gone to this amount of trouble. Sure, they would’ve attempted to woo me, but to meet all my demands and not fight me on my desire to enjoy the simplest of freedoms? Not likely. But Dez was doing all of these things. There was something to be said for that, but I wasn’t sure words would do justice to the feelings working through me. I had a feeling that if I attempted to tell him I’d mess it up somehow.
“Jas?” Uncertainty threaded through his tone.
Dropping the curtains, I spun around and launched myself at him. Dez caught me around the waist, stumbling back a step as I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing tight.
“Thank you.”
“What?” He laughed.
My face was buried in his chest, so I lifted my head and repeated, “Thank you.”
He looked at me. “You’re welcome.”
I didn’t think he understood the depth of my gratitude. Stretching up, I placed a kiss against his cheek. I knew it wasn’t much, but it was something, wasn’t it? When I pulled away, he was staring at me as if I was insane.
Then he lifted me off my feet and turned. “I would’ve brought you here the moment I returned if I knew it would make you this happy.”
A laugh caught in my throat as a different look seeped into his eyes. The hue brightened and then his lids became heavy as his lips parted. Slowly, he let me slide down so that I was on my feet, but he still held me to him with one arm. He cupped my cheek, smoothing his thumb along the curve of my bottom lip. Every nerve in my body zeroed in on that touch of his. His chin lowered, and I thought he would kiss me. My eyes fluttered shut and anticipation rose sweetly.
But the kiss never came.
He let me go, stepping back. “Well, we better get going if you want to see as much as you can.”
The pang of disappointment surprised me, but I nodded. It was probably better this way, though. Because I had wanted him to kiss me, and it didn’t have a thing to do with any of our conditions.
Chapter Nine
The first thing I learned about New York City was that people were everywhere—in elevators, on the sidewalks, in the streets and inside all the shops. I’d never been around so many at once, and while they knew that Wardens existed, none of them seemed to notice that we were any different—at least those who didn’t look too closely at our eyes. The color was too pale to be human, and in my small town, everyone noticed.
But not here.
Everyone was too busy trying to get to wherever it was they were going, or they were enthralled with the sights, much as I was.
I couldn’t stop staring up and I knew everything about me screamed tourist, but the heights of the buildings, and the sheer number of them, was truly astonishing. And then there were all the flashing signs and bright lights.
“Hungry?” Dez asked.
“Yes.” I placed a hand on my belly. We’d walked so many blocks I’d lost count. “You?”
“Always. How about some authentic New York pizza?”
A grin split my lips. Another block down, he spied a pizza shop right in the middle of Times Square. Pictures of all the famous patrons lined their walls, from athletes to politicians. We waited in line and ordered, then found an empty table in the back.
Dez watched me as I bit into the pizza and moaned. The taste—it was nothing like the pizza back home; the cheese, spices and crust.
His dark auburn brows lifted. “Don’t ever stop eating if you’re going to make sounds like that.”
I almost choked on my slice, flushing. “It tastes good!”
He laughed. “I can tell.”
Grinning, I watched him under my lashes. For someone so large, he had such delicate eating habits. He cut each slice into bite-size pieces while I shoved half the thing in my mouth and probably ended up with sauce all over my chin. Of course, I finished before him since I inhaled the pizza. As he savored each bite, I took the time to people watch.
Around humans I tended to feel as if I lacked worldly knowledge, especially in a place like this where there were so many people, all of them so very different looking. I hadn’t even had a human friend; the closest I came was the lady who worked at the ice-cream parlor. I wanted one, probably much like humans wanted a puppy, but my father was wary of growing too close to them.
After we’d left to investigate Times Square and Broadway, I was reminded of why my father was so cautious. On the storefront of a cute Italian eatery was a sign that boldly read WARDENS ARE NOT WELCOME. Underneath that was scrawled WE SERVE ONLY GOD’S CHILDREN.
I sucked in a shrill breath, unsettled. These were the kind of people that thought we were the Devil incarnate; the kind who believed we were monsters, no matter how much good we did. As sheltered as the other females and I were, we’d only heard of such bigotry but never actually seen it in real life.
“Hey,” Dez said, reaching down between us and clasping my hand in his. “You okay?”
I hadn’t realized I’d stopped until then. “I just don’t understand.”
His gaze followed mine. “Honestly? In a city like this, I’m kind of surprised, but it’s just one place out of thousands. And there’s no point in even trying to figure it out. They’re the ones who don’t understand. They don’t know what’s really out there.” He tugged on my hand. “Come on, there’s a lot to see.”
I let him pull me away. “It’s just—”
I stopped again as a cold, sharp series of tingles exploded between my shoulder blades. I turned before Dez said anything, sensing a nearby demon. My gaze sought it out among the crowds of humans hurrying up and down the packed sidewalk.
The demon had walked out of the eatery—the very one that supposedly only served “God’s children.” A laugh bubbled up my throat but got stuck. He didn’t look much older than me, and to human eyes, he no doubt appeared rather harmless as he stopped beside a red-and-white fire hydrant.
His dark hair was cropped close and his profile revealed angular features. A stud in his right nostril glinted in the sunlight.
“A Fiend,” Dez said, his hand tightening around mine.
Although Fiends were the most common class of demons topside, I’d never seen one. Curiosity rose swiftly as I watched the demon. “He’s so... bold.”
“Of course. He knows we can’t do anything among humans. If I
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