Found (Books of Stone Book 1)

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Yes, I agree that I won’t disappear like that again,” she said carefully, drawing my gaze back to her. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes hurt. “Next time, I’ll just leave a note on my way out the door.” She shifted to the other side of the bed.

  “That is not what I meant,” I said, almost growling, my temper waking up.

  “It’s what you asked for,” she said calmly as she pulled on her boots. “Not to disappear. And I’ve agreed.” She got to her feet and moved around the bed. “I’m going to head down to the Chinese restaurant on the corner. I’ll bring back dinner for everyone.” She opened the door and walked out into her apartment.

  I rose to my feet and went to the doorway. “You’re not going alone.”

  “Watch me,” she called over her shoulder as she grabbed her coat then walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

  Growling, I was across the room and in the hall in seconds. I slammed open the door to our apartment. The others looked up. “She’s on her way to the Chinese restaurant on the corner,” I growled. “One of you go with her.”

  The others shared a look.

  “Now,” I ordered.

  “Atticus, she might just need a few minutes to herself,” Zahur offered. “She hasn’t exactly been alone since last night.”

  I didn’t care. At least that’s what I told myself. The other part of me was shouting to go after her and apologize. I ignored it. “Falk, if she’s not back in ten, go get her. Drag her back if you have to.”

  I turned from them and headed down the hall to my bedroom. I made a point to close the door behind me carefully.

  I sat on my bed and fought back the rage that flowed through me. I hated having to do that, call her a child when she was anything but. But it was what was best. She just kept getting under my skin. Pain registered. I looked down. My talons had slipped out and dug into my thighs. I cursed, then went about changing.

  5

  Evelyn

  I was waiting in a booth at the Chinese restaurant, my mind running in circles, when my cell rang. Glancing down I saw Astrid's name.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey hottie, what’s going on?” Astrid asked. I sighed as I ran over what just happened again. Where to begin?

  “Well, we got the Hunger demon, so you can spread the word on that,” I said. Astrid promptly announced it to the bar. There were cheers. I was almost smiling when Astrid came back.

  “How’d it go with the guys?” Astrid asked.

  “Remember when you said your species has something to find your Mate?”

  “Yeah?” I could hear the smile in her voice.

  “Well, we do too. And guess who it is,” I said.

  “The arrogant one?”

  “Yes. The arrogant one, who wasn’t even going to tell me I was his Mate,” I announced.

  “What?” she asked, her voice stunned.

  I explained how Atticus had kept it from me and how he would have left without telling me. That it was Zahur who told me. When I was done, I was tired.

  “Oh, that is fucked up,” she stated, stunned.

  “Yes, I believe it is too.” I took a deep, slow breath then I admitted what I was thinking. “I don’t think he likes me.”

  “Well, do you like him?” she asked pointedly. I thought about it.

  “I don’t know him well enough to say one way or another,” I admitted. “I’m angry with him, but I don’t know him.”

  “Well, if I was in your shoes, I’d try and see if we could make it work,” she said quietly.

  “Really?” I asked, surprised. I expected her to say 'tell him to go to hell.' That was her usual go-to.

  “Yeah, you only get one Mate in a lifetime sweetie, do you really want to give up on him so fast?” she asked gently. I sighed. She had a point. But…

  “He said I was acting childish,” I stated.

  “Impulsive, I’ll give you,” Astrid said. “But childish? I think you both have that award.”

  “What?” Was she serious? I was being childish?

  “You left the apartment alone just to prove a point,” she reminded me.

  “Yeah, but it was a point that needed to be made,” I countered.

  “I agree completely.” She paused. “But what was him not wanting you to leave alone really about?”

  I sighed as I thought about it. Dang it. “It was about my safety,” I grumbled.

  “Yep,” she said. “He’s worried about you getting hurt.”

  “I’ve done just fine for-”

  “He doesn’t know that,” she reminded me. “He doesn’t know what you are capable of, so he wants to protect you. Cut him a little slack on that until he sees you in action. Then you can get pissed at him.”

  I hated it when Astrid was right. I hated it even more when she had to lay it out like that to get me to think.

  “I’ll give it a try,” I said.

  “Good. Now, how’s that tall hottie from the bar?” she asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “You mean Ranulf?”

  “Ranulf? Hot name,” she said, her smile in her voice.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ll see if I can bring him by the bar to meet you before they leave.”

  “You’re the best!” The background noise on Astrid’s end rose. “Shit, gotta go sweetie, talk to you later!” Astrid hung up before I could say goodbye.

  My skin crawled. Someone was watching me. I lifted my eyes from the table. A man was sitting in the second booth down from mine, facing me. His golden blonde hair was stylishly cut. His face was strikingly handsome. He looked up in time to catch me eyeing him. His dark blue eyes sparkled. I gave him an awkward smile before going back to my phone. Something about him put me on edge, worse than anything I’d ever felt. I went through my contacts to look busy. Apparently the males had gotten ahold of my phone and put their numbers in it.

  “Waiting for food?” a rich voice asked. I looked up. It was blonde man.

  “Yes, I’m just waiting on a big order,” I offered politely. His head tilted to the side, his gaze ran over me.

  “A big order for a small woman like you?” he asked with a grin. It sent shivers down my spine, and not in a good way. What was it about him?

  “I have family in town,” I hedged. “What about you?” He sighed.

  “I just moved here,” he said. “My family’s back home. So, order for one.”

  “They deliver if you order over fifteen dollars worth. You’d have lunch for a few days,” I offered. He smiled an amazing smile that made my stomach knot. I didn’t know what it was. He was handsome, polite, he was the usual kind of man I went for, when I dated humans at least. Why was he giving me the creeps? Was this because of the Matching? Did it make other males less attractive? Was that why friendly, idle chit-chat was bothering me? Because it was another male?

  “That’s a good idea,” he said. I looked back down at my phone and found Atticus. They really put everyone in here. Maybe I was just in a cruddy mood?

  “Texting a boyfriend?” blonde guy asked. I looked up and eyed him. He was still striking, and had an amazing smile. But... nothing. I felt nothing.

  “No, I'm just not used to talking to people I don't know,” I said. He chuckled. I kept eye contact until he finished laughing. Was I going to be this way the rest of my life? Only reacting to Atticus?

  “You could ask questions back,” he offered, still smiling. I smiled politely at him.

  “Why would I ask you questions?” I asked.

  “Because we’re both stuck here waiting for food. Small talk never killed anyone,” he replied. I gave him a small tense smile. He hadn't done anything creepy, he was just being polite. This had to be all me.

  “I’m not very good at small talk,” I told him. My number was called out. I got to my feet. “Have a good night,” I said before I went to the counter for the large order. Two stacked boxes worth. I picked them up and was out the door before the blonde guy could say another word.

  It was snowing outside again
. I headed back down the block towards my apartment. How did I feel about only being attracted to Atticus? He was handsome, no doubt about it. The first time we spoke he was warm and nice. Now? He barely looked at me in my room. I was still struggling with it when a big figure in black came towards me. I recognized Falk’s gait and met him on the sidewalk. He took both boxes without saying a word.

  “Thanks,” I said before we started walking back towards the apartments. He said nothing. I eyed him out of the corner of my eye. A foot taller than me, he was trim, but muscled. The guy never really spoke. I eyed the thick scar tissue across his throat. It looked like someone had almost taken his head off. Maybe his vocal cords were damaged? His face was usually unreadable. I peeked up at him again. His thick eyebrows were low on his brow, and his lips were in a tight line.

  He truly didn't seem to like me. He stopped walking to look down at me. Busted. He raised an eyebrow, asking me without words.

  “I’m just trying to figure out if you can stand me,” I admitted. “Your face is usually blank or frowning at me and I can’t tell.” His brow drew down.

  “You’re not bad,” he said in a rough voice. I gave him a small smile as we started walking again. I didn’t know what to say to him.

  “So,” I began awkwardly. “What do you do for fun?”

  "Carpentry. I like working with my hands,” he said, his voice getting rougher.

  "You do?"

  "Takes my mind off things,” he said, his voice getting quieter. Was it the scar tissue? It must be.

  We were almost to the apartment when Falk’s arm shot out. I jumped as his hand rested on my stomach just above my belly button. I looked up to him with a raised eyebrow. His obsidian eyes met mine.

  “Ice,” he said, his voice hoarse and barely audible. It took me a heartbeat to realize what he was saying. Looking down, I found my part of the sidewalk was iced over.

  “Oh,” I said absently. Falk gestured for me to go ahead of him. I slipped by him. When we were past the ice I tried to understand what had just happened. Falk had been worried about me slipping on the ice? I hadn’t expected that from the quiet male.

  When we reached the building, I held open the door so he could go first. We headed upstairs and into the males’ apartment.

  The building owner had converted what had once been a loft into a four-bedroom, two bath apartment, which he rented out at an atrocious rate. The apartment was set up like mine only with much more room. Surprisingly, the apartment had furniture. Two large leather couches and a leather arm chair in the living room, a coffee table, lamps, heck they even had a huge TV on the wall that was showing a rugby game. It was noisy as the guys argued over the plays.

  “Hey!” I shouted over the TV. They all turned. “Food.” Atticus turned the TV down to a reasonable volume as everyone came to the kitchen. I got out of the way of the others. “How is it you have furniture already? And cable?” I asked them.

  “Bribery,” Zahur answered. I rolled my eyes. Ranulf got my attention, then tilted his head towards the door. I smiled. The pub. I had almost forgotten about it.

  Zahur and Atticus were talking about a play when Ranulf and I slipped out the door and hurried downstairs.

  I was trying and failing to hold back my laughter as we stepped out into the snow. Ranulf chuckled as he took my arm and hurried me down the street. We were a block away before we slowed down.

  "So, how long until we’re missed?" I asked, smiling.

  Ranulf looked back over his shoulder before answering. "About five minutes. They'll figure it out though."

  He turned us around the corner.

  “Well, I have to leave a note so….” I pulled out my phone and texted Atticus that I had left. And wasn’t alone. This was going to push his buttons. I showed Ranulf and he let out a belly-deep laugh as he read it over.

  "What's the plan?" I asked, smiling.

  He smirked down at me. "Ever had real Scottish food?"

  Two hours later…

  We were sitting in the back corner of the best Scottish pub in the city. I was full and laughing when Ranulf signaled our waitress for another round of scotch. He continued his story.

  “So, there was my baby brother, Hamish, in the courtyard of the farm,” he said, “naked as the day he was born. His Match, Alia, was dressing as fast as she could in the barn. And my father was questioning Hamish to within an inch of his life.”

  “What did he say?” I asked. Ranulf chuckled.

  “That training naked with a practice blade was a new training method he heard about,” he said. We both chuckled. “My mother was listening to this, sighed, then headed straight for the barn.”

  “Hamish must have stunk as a liar,” I said before taking my last sip of scotch. He shook his head, his eyes shining.

  “No, our mother was just that smart,” he admitted. I grinned at him.

  “So, what did you do? You helped him out, right?” I asked, the curiosity almost killing me.

  He nodded, his eyes on the table, his cheeks turning pinker. “Aye, I did,” he groaned. “I dropped my kilt, pulled off my tunic, grabbed our practice blades and walked out into the courtyard bellowing at Hamish for being late for training.” I was howling with laughter, the image he painted was just…. By the time I had control of myself, our drinks had arrived. Ranulf took a deep drink as his face turned crimson.

  “D-d-did your mother figure it out?” I asked as I was trying to get my breath back.

  “I think she knew that day. Hamish and Alia were Mated not three days later,” he told me. He was smiling when I finally got my breath back.

  “Oh, that was good one,” I said as I wiped tears from my eyes.

  “Your turn, lass,” he said as he smirked down at me.

  I finished taking a drink. “My turn?”

  “Aye, what’s one of your crazy stories.” His gaze ran over my face before meeting mine again. “You have to have some.”

  I sighed. “Most of mine include hunting demons and killing rogue vamps or shapeshifters,” I admitted, feeling completely relaxed and at ease for the first time in weeks. “I didn’t have any brothers or sisters to go on crazy adventures with.”

  “Oh, don’t try to play innocent with me,” he chided. “Come on.”

  I grumbled, but gave in. “You know that whole Jersey Devil myth that started in the early nineteen hundreds?” I asked, biting back my smile as I turned my tumbler on the table.

  His grin grew bigger. “Aye.”

  I raised my hand. We burst out laughing. I dropped my hand.

  “That was you? How’d ye manage that?” he asked, still smiling.

  “I was really bored,” I admitted emphatically. “And I wanted to have some fun. I didn’t think the myth would keep going like it has though.”

  “That can’t be the only one,” he prompted, grinning down at me. I leaned back in the booth and looked up at the ceiling.

  “I might have a few more,” I admitted. I looked up at him, my head still on the back of the booth. “My mom would have killed me. My parents never really got my sense of humor.”

  “It’s a good sense of humor,” he assured me.

  I smiled. “Atticus doesn’t seem to get it.”

  He chuckled, lifting his head to look around the pub. “Atticus is under five hundred years old. He is still working on his own issues. Not to mention the stick up his arse.”

  I grinned before taking another drink.

  “So, how’d you like Scottish food?” he asked with a grin.

  "It's not exactly my first time eating haggis, or scotch eggs,” I admitted.

  “Really?” He signaled to the waitress for another round.

  “We might as well have her bring the bottle,” I pointed out.

  He chuckled. “You can hold your drink, lass. I thought you’d be passed out by now.”

  I scoffed. “I may not be Scottish, but I did spend some time in Scotland.”

  His eyes lit up. “When?”

  I looked up a
t the ceiling as I thought about it. “Around, 1870. It was about thirty years after my parents died. I worked in a pub for a bit.” I turned back to him. “All you Scots love to drink, and buy drinks for pretty English girls just to see them drunk.”

  His brows went up. “You’re English.” He eyed me. “I never would have guessed. Where were you born?”

  “London,” I said. “1823.”

  “Have you been back?” he asked gently.

  I took a long, deep drink. “No, I haven’t.” The waitress came with our tumblers. I took another drink. I needed to change the subject. “This is my limit though. Any more and you’ll be carrying me home.”

  “I’ll make sure you get home,” he promised.

  I eyed him playfully. “Are you going to hold my hair back if I’m sick?”

  He grinned. “Lass, I’ll even carry your purse if you need me to.”

  “I don’t carry a purse,” I pointed out.

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  I rested my elbow on the table and propped my chin in my palm. “I kept losing them,” I admitted without embarrassment. We both chuckled. I took a sip of mine before continuing. “All I really need is my phone and my wallet anyway.”

  “And weapons,” he reminded me before taking a drink.

  I nodded. “That’s what the car is for. It’s harder to lose a car.” He let out another deep belly laugh. I was smiling until he took a drink from his glass.

  His turquoise eyes were shiny from the scotch, he might not have been wasted, but he was buzzed.

  “You’re fun, Ranulf,” I stated.

  “I try.” He smiled. His phone rang and he reached into his pocket, then answered. “Yeah?” I took a big drink out of my glass. “We’ll head back now,” he growled. He hung up, cursing as he put his phone away. “We’re being ordered back.”

  I peeked up at him and met his gaze. “I say we finish these drinks, then we leave.”

  He grinned down at me. “And walk slowly back. It’ll irritate the hell out of him.”