Pretty sure. Looked a hell of a lot like this. You said you just lifted if off a guy in Nepal? What did he look like?
Lia wrote back, describing the green-eyed man as best she could, down to his black and gold tattoos, his open shirt and leather coat, the odd, horned, silver pendant he wore around his neck, the long black and red hair.
The way he’d followed her onto the plane.
He sounds handsome, chica, Fonzo wrote back teasingly. Is he handsome? Did he follow you on the plane, looking for love? You got the hots for your crazy ring-bearer?
Lia frowned, remembering that riveting gaze.
He’s not ugly, she admitted in her next text. He’s… unusual-looking. Not someone who blends in. But his hotness isn’t going to keep him from beating me up and taking the ring I stole, Fonzo. So maybe focus, okay?
Her partner sent a string of laugh emojis.
Immediately afterwards, he began to type.
Okay. Let me look into it. I’m going to contact the buyer. Definitely don’t give the ring to that guy, though, not until you hear back. If it’s the merchandise in the alert, the price tag on this one is high. Do what you have to for now, but lose the hot weirdo with the freaky eyes if you can.
Lia glanced up and down the aisle, muttering, “Little tough on a plane, Fonzo.”
She didn’t write that part.
Instead she waited, looking between their dormant text window and the aisle of the plane, with occasional glances out the oval view port to the clouds and blue sky.
A few minutes after that, Fonzo wrote her again.
Definitely the same ring. I got the client to send me a few more photos and they’re a definite match. You hit the jackpot, sweetie! I mean, what are the odds you’d pick up something like THAT in a random grab? In NEPAL of all places? The guy looking for it is based in San Francisco, and he sounds super motivated, chica. He’s ready to fly to L.A., with money to spend. Can you bring it to me? Send me your flight number and I’ll be there when you land.
Lia cursed under her breath.
If the price tag was as big as Fonzo was saying, there was no way she’d be able to keep Gregor out of this. He’d want his cut. She’d probably end up with less than if she sold it on her own in Bangkok.
Thinking, she wrote him back.
This jackass will probably follow me to Los Angeles, you know. He seems as obsessed with the ring as your guy in S.F.
There was a bare pause, then Fonzo wrote her again.
The buyer claims he knows him. Describes him pretty much exactly the way you did. If it makes you feel any better, sounds like your guy might have stolen it.
“Shocker,” she muttered under her breath.
So her hot, weirdo, green-eyed ring-stalker was also a thief.
What the hell was it about this ring?
One stupid ring couldn’t really be that valuable, could it?
She poked her head up from the laptop, glancing up and down the two aisles breaking up the different rows of seats.
The old Thai woman in the seat behind Lia was dead asleep.
The South African couple seated in front of her were watching an action movie on a tablet. The Chinese family to Lia’s left all appeared to be staring at their phones, with the exception of the father, who had his eyes closed, his head tilted back as he snored.
She hadn’t seen the black and auburn-haired man since the stewardess led him away.
Somehow, not seeing him made her nervous.
She needed to go for a walk now that the seatbelt signs were off, figure out where the guy was sitting so she’d at least get some warning if he came at her a second time. She would have bet good money she hadn’t seen anywhere near the last of him.
After another few minutes of thinking, she wrote to Fonzo.
You sure it’s worth it? This guy seems a little nuts. I could dump it, try to get you and Gregor some better merchandise in Bangkok. I know a few art dealers there who might play ball. Expats in the import-export business. From what a few told me, rich locals are buying expensive pieces for vanity purposes and not guarding them for shit.
Fonzo wrote back almost at once.
We’re talking half a million payday with your crazy-random pickpocket grab, chica. Bring that thing home. I already talked to Gregor. He’s giving you three times your usual cut on this, since you went off the reservation.
Lia scowled, folding her arms.
The three dots rippled again, then Fonzo added,
Don’t worry about the guy. My client says he’s been looking for him. He definitely sounds confident he can handle him, and might even kick in a little extra for us bringing the thief to him. We’ll have our own security there, too. Syndicate people.
Lia pursed her lips.
She was skeptical, but Fonzo was right.
It was a lot of money.
Bringing half-a-million in bonus cash to the boss was hella tough to turn down, especially now. A big payday like this might even be enough to get Gregor to let his sister go. Lia could try to use it to get herself out of the worst of her debt, argue to Gregor that she was making him more money than her mother ever lost for him.
If she could get her sister out of there, everything would be better.
Lia could even keep working for Gregor; if she knew Maia was safe, she might not even mind. She’d get the two of them a place, an apartment or even a house, maybe somewhere in the valley. Somewhere decent, with good schools.
If she squared things more with Gregor, she might even be able to start putting some money in the bank, set up a college fund for Maia.
Her sister would finally be safe.
She’d finally have a future.
More of a future than Lia likely had, thanks to dear ol’ mom.
Thinking about that, imagining seeing her baby sister in the flesh for the first time in months, Lia decided she didn’t give a crap about some dude with riveting green eyes and long black and auburn hair and a hot body, no matter how crazy he was, or how much intelligence she’d seen behind that smirk on his face.
She’d ditch him, just like Lia ditched any guy who made the mistake of assuming she was some blond idiot they could easily bully or manipulate.
That, or Fonzo’s and Gregor’s boys would make short work of him back in L.A.
Or that mysterious client, assuming he wasn’t all talk.
Okay, she wrote her partner. I’ll catch my connecting flight to L.A. Just don’t leave me hanging, F. There’s something about this guy. He doesn’t seem like the type to make empty threats. And he might be batshit, but he doesn’t strike me as stupid, either.
We’ll be there, chica. Just bring the ring.
Frowning a bit, Lia closed her laptop, again staring down the aisles of the plane in both directions. She stared longest in the direction the stewardess had taken the man with the long hair, and those stunning, armor-piercing green eyes.
Strangely, she felt almost bad about leading him into a trap.
On the other hand… not her problem.
Lia couldn’t afford to feel guilty about the fate of strangers who threatened her life.
She had her own crap to deal with.
The pretty blond human who stole his ring didn’t notice when Loki took the seat behind her.
Then again, why would she notice?
Loki waited for the stewardess to leave him alone, then shape-shifted into a harmless-looking old human lady, a local, so the blond would be even more likely to dismiss him.
He walked back, and eased into one of the empty seats behind her, making no noise so she wouldn’t wonder why he was taking his seat twenty or so minutes into the flight.
When the blond finally looked back, noting his presence, Loki pretended to look out the window.
He didn’t have to see the dismissal in her eyes to know it was there.
Loki watched the human female pull the ring out of her coat.
He was tempted to reach through the gap between the seats, take it from her righ
t then and there, but curiosity stayed his hand, causing him to watch as she photographed it, using her small machine, then began speaking to someone with the keyboard.
He read over her shoulder, and she didn’t notice that, either.
By the time she closed the laptop again, he even had the beginnings of a plan.
4
Just A Taste
Lia jumped violently when someone sat down in the vacant aisle seat next to hers for a second time.
Instinctively, even before she turned her head to look at who it was, she felt for the ring in her coat pocket and glanced down at her feet, looking for her satchel and the top of the pale pink laptop case poking out. Alarm ran through her belly as she realized she’d dozed off, and she wasn’t entirely sure for how long.
Minutes, surely.
It couldn’t have been more than minutes, could it?
Her internal clock told her it wasn’t long.
All of that happened before she managed to refocus her eyes on the strange woman now sitting in the seat next to her.
Lia wasn’t any less confused when she realized it was the old woman who’d been seated directly behind her.
The woman, who still looked Thai to Lia, smiled at her with thin lips and dark eyes, her round cheeks wrinkled and strangely tanned below her halo of snow-white hair. She held her hands out in front of her body strangely, her thin arms poking out from the knitted wrap she wore. Something about the pose reminded Lia of a rabbit standing on its hind legs.
Lia was still blinking, trying to wake up, when the old woman raised one of those hands, giving her a little wave. Then the old woman simpered, giggling.
Lia blinked.
“I think you have the wrong seat,” she said finally, pulling herself upright in her seat and combing her fingers through her long, blond hair. “Do you need help with something? Shall I call a stewardess for you?”
The old woman lowered the waving hand, staring at Lia for an uncomfortably long-feeling few seconds.
Then she spoke.
The voice that came out of her made Lia jump nearly a foot, pressing her back and body into the window and the curved bulkhead behind her.
“Were you dreaming about sex, my pretty?”
It was a man’s voice.
Worse, it was familiar.
The little old Thai woman smirked.
After a pause, she spoke again, her voice still sounding exactly like that of the black and auburn-haired man whose ring Lia had in her pocket.
“It sure looked like you were,” the old woman said. She quirked an eyebrow at Lia. “It sure smells like you were. I would love a little taste…”
Lia fought back a scream, staring at the old woman in the knit shawl and the lime-green polyester pants. Lia continued to watch, horror widening her eyes and opening her mouth as the old woman’s dark brown eyes changed color, morphing into a pale green, growing so pale and translucent, they seemed to glow with an internal light.
“Come on, lover,” the old woman cajoled.
Her face began to morph, the hair darkening, lengthening, transforming back into that black and auburn mane Lia remembered so clearly. Letting out a little yelp, she jerked back even further, drawing her legs up on the seat until she was half-crouched on top of it. She pressed her body as deep into the seat as she could cram herself, staring at him, wide-eyed, gripping the bulkhead just above the oval view port, fighting to breathe.
It was him.
Even the clothes had changed back to what she remembered from before.
Lia stared at him, then looked down at the call button on her armrest.
Before she could reach for it, the man leaned over swiftly. He placed a finger on the call button, grinning up at her from where he bent over the seat. There was a faint flash of light, a little pop sound, and the lit symbol of a woman in a triangle dress went dark.
Touching the call buttons on the other two armrests, he repeated the exercise.
After two more faint pop sounds, those went dark too.
The long, sinuous body of the man with the leaf-green eyes stretched out a hand and arm.
He caught hold of her wrist, tugging her easily back down beside him.
“Come now, my precious little elf,” he said pleasantly. “Let us talk. Shall we?”
Lia reluctantly lowered herself back into the cloth seat, never taking her eyes off his face. She was breathing harder, but something in his expression eased the worst of her terror, making her more confused than fearful for her life, or even afraid that she might be losing her mind.
She stared at those pale, glowing, otherworldly eyes, trying to form words.
“Oh, no, you don’t need to speak… not yet,” the man soothed.
Before she could take another breath, he pushed up the armrest and slid half into her seat with her, pulling her leg around so that her back was to the view port, and he more or less positioned himself between her legs.
“They know about you,” Lia blurted, staring at him. “I don’t mean on the plane. I mean back home. In Los Angeles. If you take the ring now, it won’t help you. There are people waiting for you––”
“Shhh, precious. I know… there, there.”
The man with the green eyes smiled his wicked smile, studying her face openly. There was something inhuman about him, almost predatory, like a hawk staring down at something it might want to eat. Strangely, there was also something guileless in that look, like he wasn’t hiding anything, including anything about his motives.
His hand, instead of going for the coat Lia was wearing, and the ring, slid into the V between her legs, pressing hard before he began massaging her in that spot, still watching her eyes.
“How about that taste now, my lovely elf?” he said, smiling wider. “I got ever so hungry, watching you dream about me… watching you imagine my cock massaging your cunt. What a dirty, naughty little thief you are…”
Lia swallowed, staring up at that face.
As she did, flickers of the dream she’d been having before the old woman sat down rose in the darkness behind her eyes.
She had been dreaming about him.
The dream had been so vivid, she even questioned whether she was really asleep.
Kind of like she was doing right now.
She’d been sitting here, with the light off, reading on her laptop, reading a book she’d been meaning to get to for weeks. She must have paused, rested her eyes. She doubted everything now, after watching him transform right in front of her.
Maybe she was sleeping still.
Maybe she was still dreaming about him.
“I see that mind of yours working, working, working… turning, turning, turning.” Gauging her expression, her flushed cheeks, the uncertainty in her eyes, he grinned. “But you aren’t asleep anymore, my lovely. And after watching you dream, I might have to give you what you asked for in that other space––”
She let out a shocked gasp, then a low moan when his hand slid inside her pants, his long fingers curling inside her.
She didn’t really want him to stop, though.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had sex. She couldn’t even remember who it had been with, or whether she’d liked them much. This life, post mom running out of them, hadn’t left a lot of time for anything Lia. It was all work, Gregor, worrying about her sister, worrying about getting caught, anger at her messed-up circumstances, anger that she’d lost any chance of a normal life, free of the debts her mother left.
Gregor would never let her go.
Never.
She grasped the man’s arm, staring up at those leaf-green eyes, and he smiled at her, his fingers dexterous to the point where she could feel herself building, her heart pounding in her chest, so loud she was sure he could hear it.
“Ah, yes… my little kitten wanted to be pet. She longed to be pet, didn’t you, lovely? Is that what makes you such a naughty little snack? Not enough stroking and petting and fucking in your world…? Not enough you in
your world, perhaps?”
She let out a shocked groan, bucking against his fingers as she came, and the green-eyed man leaned down, kissing her mouth as his other hand slid up her shirt.
He massaged her breasts, skillfully and roughly and sensually, making her back arch, her breath come in ragged pants. He found the clasp of her bra in front, somehow tugging it open with a single pull of his fingers. Yanking down her shirt, he lowered his mouth to her nipple, and then his fingers were stroking her again, and she was so slick she was whimpering with each pulling touch.
She came again, and that time, she pressed her mouth against his arm, if only to keep from crying out.
The man pulled up off her long enough to unbuckle the front of his pants.
He motioned towards her with graceful flicks of his fingers.
His green eyes shone hard now, filled with a dense desire that caught her breath in her throat, making her pant harder, until she could scarcely breathe.
“Take off your clothes,” he said, his voice a hard command. “Now, elf. I’m going to fuck you until your cunt sucks on my cock…”
She didn’t think.
She did as he said.
She forgot about the stewardesses, about the South African couple sitting in front of them, the Chinese family with their three kids on her other side. Something told her none of them would see anything, just like she’d seen an old Thai lady instead of this man when he sat down next to her for the second time.
She glanced past his shoulder, still fighting to breathe, looking at the family across the aisle. They were all staring at their phones still, the father snoring loudly with his head cushioned between a neck pillow and the edge of his wife’s reclined seat.
“Now, elf,” the man said, his voice thick. “Now. Or I’ll be forced to punish you further.”
She got her pants the rest of the way off and he yanked her hips down so that she lay beneath him on the three seats she’d gotten to herself. He inserted his body between her legs, coiling an arm dense with muscle under her knee and yanking up her leg so that it was nearly over her head.
He plunged his cock into her without waiting, all the way to the hilt.
Loki Page 3