by Helen Scott
“Damn, angel. If we had more time, I'd enjoy taking that dress off you.” Knox's voice was a low growl by the end that sent shivers over my skin. I knew I'd enjoy it as well, and I wished we had more time, but we had a fourth hellhound to find and monsters to avoid.
Chapter Thirteen
Poppy
The fancy black SUV pulled up to the valet section under a big dark awning, and Knox and I got out, while Hunter and Emmett stayed put. As they pulled away from dropping us off, my heart was in my throat, not only from the memories of the crash Emmett and I were in a few days ago but also because we were really doing this.
Knox took my hand and escorted me inside. I knew in the back of my head that Hunter would be joining us soon, that he and Emmett were just looping around the block to check the perimeter, but I still felt exposed. Hunter, Knox, and I were the only ones going up to the actual restaurant, while Emmett was going to stay in the car, keeping it ready to go in case of an emergency.
At the end of the hall was an elevator that simply had a sign next to it with the logo and the name MountainSide written in fancy script. We got in and were immediately surrounded by warm caramel-colored marble and bronze. It was a very different color palette than the one I had seen in the vision, which made me question the correctness of choosing this restaurant. Knox pressed the button with the restaurant's name next to it, and we began to move.
“Nervous?” Knox asked.
I nodded.
“Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you.”
“I know that up here,” I said, tapping my temple, “but try telling the rest of my body that.”
He looped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a quick hug before the elevator slowed and came to a stop. The marble-lined doors slid silently open. As we stepped out, I noticed that guests could go left or right, but it was only the doorway on the right that had the logo and the name carved into even more marble and embossed with gold.
Both of us turned and began to walk down that corridor. The black carpet with white swirls began just after the doorway, and part of my nerves eased. I knew it was the right place. At the end of the hallway, the wall to the left opened up and revealed the hostess station.
“Welcome to MountainSide. Can I help you?” the woman behind the small counter asked. Her blonde hair was expertly curled, and when taken in with her tall, slender figure, she looked more like a model than a hostess. It was the Bluetooth earpiece she had on and the ledger in front of her that gave it away.
“Yes, we're here for the Coleman party,” Knox said.
“Of course,” she said with a tight smile. “Right this way.”
We followed her, weaving through the room as she slipped through areas that an average person wouldn't be able to fit through. I looked her up and down once more and decided that I would definitely win in a fight. Her thighs were as big as my arm, and it made me slightly uncomfortable to feel as though I could snap her like a twig.
She spun as soon as we reached the doorway. “Right through here.”
“Great, thanks,” Knox said, his voice devoid of any warmth.
After she scurried away, we started to go through when I paused. Something wasn't right. I could feel a scratchy, grating sensation on the back of my neck, as though someone was watching us, but it was more than that at the same time. My hand landed on Knox's arm with more force than I had intended, but it certainly got his attention.
When he looked at me, his gaze narrowed. “What's wrong?”
“I don't know, I just feel off, as if someone is watching, or as if we're about to step into a trap. I can't really describe it.”
He nodded. “Let's go to the bar and have a drink.”
I nodded, and we both headed up a small flight of stairs toward the lacquered black bar. Rows upon rows of different types of glasses shimmered in the light, drawing attention to the sea of bottles filled with different kinds of liquor behind them. On one end, facing a staff hallway, was a computer where the bartender was currently tapping on the screen. When he saw us, he hurried over.
“What can I get you, folks?” he asked as he put fancy wooden coasters in front of us.
“I'll have an old fashioned.”
“And for the lady?”
“A Manhattan, please.” I had debated just getting water or a glass of juice, but having something to help steady my nerves would be nice.
As we sat, Knox leaned closer to me and said quietly, “Do you feel where it's coming from?”
“Not anymore,” I said, absentmindedly rubbing the back of my neck.
“It must be someone in the party room itself.”
After our drinks were delivered and we both had our first sip, I asked, “Did you get a look inside?”
“Yeah, we'll have no problem. Lots of people just standing around. It should be easy to slip in, mingle a bit, and slip out once we find our guy.”
The warmth of the drink was already rushing through my system, and I knew the hellhound was around there somewhere. I could feel him. We were both fairly quiet as Knox paid, and we walked hand in hand as we took our drinks with us into the private room. The gray-blue walls and white leather seats were there but obscured by all the people. What I could see was definitely the same as my vision, though. Balloons covered the ceiling, and fresh flowers decorated every table. The delicious-looking hors d'oeuvres were there as well, and I had to focus on the people to prevent myself from grabbing a handful of them. When I turned to take in the room, I felt the scratchy sensation again and squeezed Knox's hand, turning toward it. I wasn't prepared for what I found.
Those same haunting silver eyes I'd seen during the car accident were staring at me again. I squeezed Knox's hand so tight that he had to put his drink down and pull my hand off his own. When he followed my line of sight, I saw him go from open and friendly to stony and ready to kick some ass.
“Who is that?”
“Not who, what,” he breathed as he pulled me closer to the edge of the room.
I turned to make sure the whatever he was hadn't disappeared, only to find him moving toward us. The man's skin was so pale, it almost looked as if he had to be wearing makeup, but the hair on his head, along with his eyebrows, was so white, it was almost translucent. His milky blue eyes stared at me and made me want to run for cover.
Next to me, Knox had pulled out his phone and was sending a message, I assumed to his brothers, but what it was about I had no idea. Just as the pale man broke through the edge of the crowd toward us, Knox's phone flew out of his hand, clattering against a chair before landing on the carpet by the next table over.
I couldn't take my eyes off the ever-approaching man. His hand was flexed as though he was the one who had made Knox's phone launch itself into the air. The absolute last thing I expected was for him to walk over and pick it up.
Pale fingers circled around the black plastic and metal of the smartphone. His hands looked odd, almost as though they were too long, as if he had been stretched out. Knox was in front of me then, shielding me, which I appreciated except that it completely blocked my view of what was happening. A cold breeze blew over my neck, and I spun to see what could have caused it. After all, we were in a closed room with no other exit and windows that didn't open.
What I found was another pale person. A woman with her white hair pulled up in a chignon high on her head while an ice-blue dress floated around her. She smiled at me and waved, which was even scarier than the guy just staring at me.
I squeezed Knox's hand and whispered, “There's more than one.”
He gave me a barely perceptible nod and whispered, “Forget about my phone and the fourth hellhound. We need to get you out of here.”
As we started to move toward the door, the pale man tossed Knox's phone in the air. Instinct kicked in, and he reached out and caught it, sliding it into his pocket before the strange pale man could do anything else. When they just let us walk out, I was both relieved and nervous. They had to have a reason to j
ust let us go. Were there more of them waiting somewhere? Anxiety flooded my system, and I knew we had to get out of there fast.
“Is Hunter still with Emmett?” I whispered.
Knox shrugged and pulled out his phone, finishing the text he'd been trying to send earlier. “I've told them what's going on, but I don't know where they are. We need to get down to the foyer so we can be ready to go as soon as Emmett gets my text.”
I felt the prickling once more just before we turned down the corridor that led to the elevator, and I paused, looking over my shoulder, only to find the man and the woman watching us, looking like the creepy twins from The Shining or something. I could see guests staring at them, but they didn't care in the slightest.
“Shit,” Knox muttered under his breath, drawing my attention back to the direction we needed to be going.
I jogged a couple paces to catch up with him. “What's wrong?”
“There's a tracker on my phone,” he said under his breath as he lifted the black rectangle and pointed to a small circle of plastic attached to the back. It was almost invisible, and I could only really tell it was there from the small mound I could feel when I ran my fingers over it. The thing blended perfectly with the phone, and anyone other than Knox or my other hellhounds would have completely missed it.
My heart thudded in my chest. I knew we needed to get rid of the tracker, but we also needed to be clever about how we did it so that whoever was monitoring it wasn't alerted. When we got a little further down the hall, I could see the elevator doors and a couple standing in front of them. “If we catch the elevator with them, no one will start anything, right?”
Knox's gaze looked up from his phone to the elevator. He seemed to take a deep breath before he said, “Can you act tipsy?”
I nodded.
“We need to bump into the guy.” Knox's voice was low to make sure it didn't carry. Even in a tense situation like the one we had found ourselves in, his voice still made my body react, which was more than a little frustrating. I needed to keep my mind on the mission, not replay scenes from my earlier adventures with him and Emmett.
“Got it,” I said, trying to focus on the task at hand.
As we got closer, I began to make my movements more exaggerated, and I slurred my words slightly when I said in a voice that was way too loud for the setting, “I don't see why we have to go home. I was having fun at the party, and you like it when I have fun.” I giggled a little at the end for good measure and hung off Knox's arm.
The couple turned to look, and in my peripheral vision, I saw the scowls on their faces. Clearly, they hadn't been hanging out very often in places where they get to see drunk people.
I leaned into Knox as we approached the elevator. “Don't be a little grumpy guss,” I said as I used the tip of my index finger to pull his lower lip down into a pout.
He looked across at the couple within stumbling distance. With a strained smile, he said, “I apologize. Please just ignore her.”
“Ignore me! Well, how do you like that? I don't think I want to go to dinner with someone who's willing to ignore me!” I dramatically tugged my arm from around his and pretended to go flying backward into the guy.
“Angel,” Knox growled, seeming frustrated with me. “Get it together. These nice people don't want you falling all over them. I'm so sorry. Please forgive her terrible behavior.” He lifted me off the man I was still clinging to as if he were the only thing preventing me from landing on my ass.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, revealing the luxurious interior. I made as if I were going to follow them, only to have Knox grab my elbow and prevent me from moving any further forward. I feigned outrage and spun slightly so I could face him and keep the couple in sight to judge their reaction.
“Don't worry, we'll catch the next one,” Knox said over my shoulder as the relieved-looking couple relaxed against the back wall and closed the doors as quickly as possible.
Once the elevator was moving, I straightened and tidied my dress. “Did that work?” I asked.
Knox nodded. “You're quite the performer.”
“I've seen enough drunk people in my day that I can give you any kind of drunk performance you want. Tequila? Vodka? Wine? I can do it all,” I said, spreading my arms and dropping into a mock bow.
“Well, you successfully distracted him enough that I could get the back of my phone into his suit pocket, so I call that a win no matter what kind of alcohol you were acting out.” He lifted his phone to show me the whole back was missing. I could see the shiny silver of where the sim card lived, the dull silver and black of the lithium battery, along with all kinds of screws and prongs that I had no idea what they did.
We both breathed a sigh of relief as we listened to the elevator descend, knowing that the tracker would hopefully be leading whoever was after us away from our location. The only thing still worrying me at that point was the two people we had encountered in the restaurant. If they came out following the tracker and we were still standing by the elevator, then they'd know we had gotten rid of it. I could swear I could feel them getting closer.
“Come on,” I said, dragging Knox down the other hallway and into the ladies’ room that I saw as soon as we started heading in that direction. I knew it must be for the other businesses on that floor, or maybe just a public restroom like in a hotel. Knox resisted at first, but it felt good to realize that he trusted me enough to follow even though I hadn't explained myself. I was grateful as we made our way inside and realized that the other businesses were closed, so the bathroom shouldn't be too popular at that time of night.
“What's going on, angel?” he asked as the door swung shut behind us.
“They were coming, and I didn't want to get caught,” I said, trying to catch my breath, my chest heaving from the anxiety.
“Good thinking.”
“How long do you think we should wait?” I asked, honestly unsure. After all, it wasn't as if avoiding monsters and planting trackers on strangers were regular occurrences in my life. Until now, that is.
“Let's give it ten minutes,” he said, looking at his watch. For just a second, he looked like a billboard for a fancy brand of watches, or maybe men's cologne. All suited up with his fancy watch, some delicious cologne, and a woman in a scandalous situation, aka the women's restroom.
I nodded, and we just stood there breathing for a moment, me more so than Knox since he didn't seem particularly worried about the situation anymore. Finally, once my pulse had slowed at least a little, I asked, “Who were those people?”
“They're not people anymore, not really. They were souls that went to the realm of Helheim and were recruited into Hel's army.”
“Wait . . . what?” I asked incredulously.
“All the gods are real. Each and every one that ever existed has been at some point, and most likely still is, real. The only time I've heard of gods disappearing is when something has happened to their realm, or they stayed too long in the human realm and lost all their powers somehow. Anyway, Hel is the daughter of Loki the Norse god, and she controls their version of the Underworld, but apparently that's not enough for her.”
I wanted to sit down, to rewind my life to when I was just dancing at a bar with Rox, but then I wouldn't have met these wonderful men. As much as I hated to admit it, I wouldn't give them up for anything. Instead of freaking out, I was quiet, forcing my brain to wrap itself around the idea that not only were Persephone and Hades real but so were Loki and Ra and whoever else I'd never even heard of. My mind rebelled against the idea at first, but then I thought about all the species scientists had discovered deep in the ocean or jungle. Maybe they were kind of like that? Except in human form. And that was where the analogy died.
“Want to try getting out of here?” I asked, ignoring the fact that Knox had just flipped my world on its side once again. At least this wasn't as far a stretch as everything had been in the beginning.
He nodded and headed over to the door, gent
ly easing it open until he could get a clear look at the elevator. “Looks good to me. You feeling anything?”
I shook my head, and we awkwardly left the restroom, trying to look blasé as we both stepped out. Part of me found it amusing that I'd finally dragged a guy into the restroom, only to be leaving without so much as a smooch. Once we were waiting for the elevator to come and pick us up, a different sensation washed over me, one that had me feeling on edge but in a sexy way, not as if I were about to have an orgasm, but I knew something was happening around us. When the doors opened and revealed the tan marble once again, I stepped in without even looking, only to find a man standing in the elevator car.
“Thought it was going down,” he said, explaining why he wasn't getting off.
When our eyes locked, I felt everything in me shift. His russet-colored eyes seemed to glow before me. He smiled a little, and it made the dimples in his cheeks pop, as well as the corners of his eyes crinkle. I felt Knox watching me, but I couldn't move. “I'm Poppy,” I said, my voice coming out much breathier than I had intended.
“Nolan. Have we met before?” he asked softly, his hand coming up and rubbing at the dark stubble just starting to show on his chin.
I stepped closer and was wrapped in his scent. Citrus, amber, and vanilla all filled my nose, drawing me ever closer to this man I couldn't leave alone. There was a scar running through his eyebrow and a slight bend to his nose as though he'd been in a few fights before. Without thinking, I leaned up on my tiptoes, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him down into a kiss that sent electricity running through my veins.
Chapter Fourteen
Knox
My heart hammered in my chest as I watched Poppy kiss this random guy in the elevator. I didn't know what to do. It wasn't as if we had talked about exclusivity at all. Plus, I knew I had to share her with the guys, so did it even matter? My hound roared at the question. Hell yes, it mattered. What I shared with Poppy was special, and I knew if I really thought about it that she would jeopardize that by jumping some random stranger in an elevator. When the elevator made an unexpected stop, I braced myself as the doors opened, fully ready to find agents of Hel waiting for us. The only person on the other side of the doors, though, was Hunter.