“I like you, Kitty. It is rare for me to like anyone. That sentiment alone is why you are still breathing.”
“And?”
Ice went to a large overstuffed chair in the center of the room and sat down. “She’s wrong for the club.”
“And?”
He glanced at the résumé again. “What comes next is between her and me.”
“Let me get this straight. We can’t hire her because you’re about to take her to bed.”
“Something like that.”
“Well, shit. I’ll give you points for ethics, if nothing else. You still suck though, Ice. Why couldn’t you go after that other chick? The one who landed on her ass. She’s more the type I’ve been seeing you go with.”
“You’re not wrong. Rhedyn Brantley caught my attention.”
Kitty walked over and planted herself sideways on Ice’s lap. He sat back while resting a hand on her lower spine. Of all the employees, only Kitty braved being around Ice and treating him the way she did. Everyone else treaded on eggshells. He wore scary like cheap cologne and got off on the fear he caused. A sadist through and through, but that helped Kitty figure out where she stood with him.
So long as she didn’t show fear or question his authority too much, he would treat her normal…for him. The little power struggle of earlier was a reminder he didn’t scare her as much as the others. The day she backed down would be the day he would lose all respect for her, if he had any to begin with.
“Ice, I’m tired. You promised to bump me down to server once we hired three more girls. So far, the bottom of the barrel has auditioned. We are never going to find anyone if you keep picking them off for your to-be-fucked list.”
He flicked his finger against her back, hitting her in such a way that made her startle with a small intake of breath at the tingling sensation crawling up her spine. It hadn’t hurt but it was uncomfortable. Kitty had no doubt Ice had intimate knowledge of the human body and all the places to hit someone so it would cause the most pain. He’d given her a warning.
She snapped, “Well?”
Ice chuckled, similar to something one would hear from a young boy who liked to torture small animals. The sound made Kitty want to shiver. She quelled the urge since she got the feeling that would be construed as a sign of weakness. He said, “I definitely like you, Kitty.” He stood, dumping her off his lap, and stepped over her.
Kitty stared at him from the floor.
After folding Rhedyn’s résumé and stuffing it into his back pocket, he said, “I’ll put in a call to my contacts up north. They’ll send some girls our way. Girls with experience.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Happy?”
“Thank you.” She picked herself up off the floor. “How soon before I can be on server duty?”
“One month. You won’t be a full-time server. I still want you dancing. The six-foot pussy is one of the big draws of this club.”
“Fine. I want to pick the days though.”
“We’ll see.” Ice walked away, leaving the room and Kitty.
That was a small victory, at least. She would rather be a full-time server, but compromise wasn’t always a bad thing. If Ice let her pick her days to dance, she would consider it a win.
After four years on stage, Kitty wanted to keep her clothes on. The money was fantastic. She had even managed to save a chunk of it, but the fun had worn off. She used to love to dance for the sake of dancing. Taking her clothes off hadn’t bothered her. She loved working the pole and had enjoyed learning how. She couldn’t compete on Red’s level, but Kitty wasn’t that ambitious. Her lack of ambition was why she was stripping rather than strutting and fretting her hour upon the stage.
Kitty had been destined for greatness. The invitation to a prestigious dancing school was testament to her ability. But all Kitty had seen was the life her mother wanted but couldn’t have. She’d been living through Kitty and Kitty had gotten fed up and run away. Literally. She’d packed up her car and drove to Florida.
Waitressing tables paid nothing. Office work didn’t suit her. And her attitude made any job in retail or working with the public in a customer service capacity a big mistake. Kitty decided to try stripping as a whim and hadn’t thought she would get past the auditions. Vincent had snatched her up, seeing her potential and willing to train her.
He’d gotten her into Ice’s club. Vincent had heard of the switch in ownership and thought it might be a good opportunity for him to move up in the world. With Kitty as an incentive, since she’d gotten a good reputation by that point, Vincent managed to land the club manager position.
Though he was a hard-ass of a boss, he still thanked Kitty on the odd occasion for helping him get the job. To this day, Vincent still called her the best investment he’d ever made. Considering how much money the man had made playing the stock market, that was saying a lot.
Speak of the devil…Vincent poked his head in the lounge. “You didn’t come down after the boss left. Thought I would come up and make sure you were still breathing.”
“Just thinking.”
“You’ve got big, hairy brass balls to be talking to him like that. He freaks me the hell out every time I see him.”
“He knows. Don’t you know if you run from a dog it’s going to chase you?”
Vincent laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. That don’t change that Ice is one scary SOB.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “We open in an hour. Get ready.”
Kitty saluted and then headed for the dressing room. On her way out the door, she heard Vincent grumbling about the cost of fixing the glass and having to close the VIP lounge for the night for safety reasons. She would work at bringing in extra money tonight since the broken glass was partly her fault.
Work. When had this job become work? It had started out as a party every night. She danced and flirted while taking her clothes off. She made more in a week than most in an entire month. On a good night, she pulled down nearly a thousand, if not a little more. On a slow night, she pulled four or five hundred. That was still better than any other job she could think of—any legal job anyway.
She entered the dressing room and started removing her street clothes so she could change into her first outfit of the evening. She would switch three or four more times depending on how her night went. A tired sigh almost made it past her lips, but she stopped it. She’d been awake for five hours and already she wanted to go home to bed. The feeling plagued her more and more.
She used to like her job. An odd feeling had started creeping over her the past few months. She felt restless and ill at ease without knowing why. Her first response was to run before bad got worse. If something didn’t change soon, she just might. The only thing keeping her here was her. Her bank account could take her anywhere in the big, wide world…except she didn’t know where she wanted to go.
“I need a man.”
Red laughed behind her. “What the hell for? To steal your money, knock you up and then knock you around?”
“Not all men are like that, Red.”
“All the men we’ll meet are. Hell, half of them are married. You’re smart, Kitty. Don’t screw that up by putting a man in the mix.”
“You’re right.”
“I know I’m right.” Red turned around and licked her lips as she slid her gaze down Kitty’s body. “Now a woman, on the other hand, might—”
“So very not interested, Red. What’s wrong? Did your girlfriend dump you?”
“Don’t even get me started on that thieving skank.”
“Okay. Leaving that one alone. I’m strictly dickly, otherwise I would jump you in a hot second.”
“You never know unless you try.”
“I need to make sure the DJ knows my song selection.” Kitty bolted for the door.
“Scaredy cat,” Red said in a sing-song.
Kitty replied in the same manner, “Damn straight.”
She headed for the DJ booth, throwing greetings at the other employees she passed. The
men all gave her blue-sequined negligee with matching bra and panty set appreciative looks. At one time, Kitty had loved the reaction she got from the men. Now it annoyed her.
They all liked to look but never touched. Of course the company’s no-fraternization policy, which was now strictly enforced thanks to Ice, contributed to her problem but she blamed her height for remaining dateless. She was too tall.
Most men didn’t like tall women, and her type didn’t extend to men shorter than her. The few taller men she had met thought she was too tall. She hadn’t been laid in weeks. Maybe the source of her unease came from that. Could it be something so simplistic? If it was, fixing it wouldn’t be hard, and she wouldn’t have to run away to do it.
Get laid. She had a goal and she knew just the man to see the deed done. Her ex loved it when she called in favors. Thinking about how she would spend her morning made Kitty’s night look a lot better.
If her anxiety remained after some therapeutic sex, she would worry about it and the cause for it then.
Chapter Two
Night remained the hardest. Chigaru shifted his sword, making sure it was secure. Next he straightened his knee-length brown vest. He was stalling. What’s more, he knew he was stalling.
He blew out an annoyed breath before stalking out of his room, headed down the hall to the royal chambers. Nym and Haige, fellow Hell Hounds, stood chatting softly across the expanse of the wide hallway. Nym guarded the door that led to Serenity and Melchior’s shared bedchamber, while Haige guarded Nilam’s room, which had once belonged to Serenity.
In those days, Chigaru had entertained the possibility of having Serenity. Melchior had shunned her back then. The reconciliation of the royal couple had ended all Chigaru’s dreams of being with his love.
Nym and Haige greeted him with simple nods. He returned the gesture to each in turn, starting with Nym because of her higher rank.
Nym said, “Going for a walk this night as well, I see.”
Chigaru nodded again. He owed her no explanation and wouldn’t break his silence to utter one if he did. No one needed to know he left the palace at night and walked for miles to distance himself from Serenity and the sweet allure of her scent. He couldn’t sleep with her near yet so far away.
The forest some distance from the palace proved a better bedroom than his own. While he hated being so far away from her in case danger struck, he would be of little use to her if he were fatigued. In order to rest, he needed to be away from her and the memory of the times when she used to sleep in his arms at night.
They had shared a bed through her entire childhood. Serenity had always felt safest held within the circle of his arms while she slept. Chigaru had surprised many of her would-be assassins, who had not realized he shared her bed. But those times had always been platonic. She had been promised to another. Serenity had refused to compromise that obligation in any way, and Chigaru had refused to ask it of her.
During the time Melchior had shunned her, Chigaru still had not asked it of her. He regretted his nobility. And yet, he would not trade Serenity’s current happiness for his own. Her joy was his joy, even if her joy was with another.
Serenity’s muffled cry of pleasure made Chigaru close his eyes against the pain it caused him. He had hesitated earlier in hopes of avoiding hearing Serenity in her husband’s embrace.
Haige said, “You cannot continue like this, my friend. Concede defeat and move on.”
Chigaru turned from his fellow Hell Hounds and left the way he had come. He had made his intentions clear to those on guard so they knew his whereabouts if they needed him. The lectures he could do without.
Nym called after him, “Ancraf and Lidan are patrolling.”
Chigaru waved to acknowledge he’d heard her but didn’t stop walking. Ancraf and Lidan were the two newest Hell Hounds. When Chigaru and the others had come to the palace five years ago, there had been four Hell Hounds. Erezion joined soon after. Three others followed as the years passed, with Ancraf and Lidan being the most recent two. With such numbers, Serenity had enough to have night guards and day guards.
Gaining the title of Hell Hound was a difficult task, which was why so many vied for the position. It proved the abilities of those who made it as well as declared their loyalty to their human queen. Only those who could profess loyalty to Serenity, not because she was queen but to the female herself, were allowed to join the Hell Hound ranks. She had decreed it when she first became queen. Since all bhresya were physically incapable of telling a lie, the loyalty oath as a prerequisite kept the ranks of the Hell Hounds small and elite.
Many of the palace guards protected Serenity because of her status. It was a duty. She meant no more to them than that. The Hell Hounds protected Serenity because they wanted her safe, because her smile needed to be preserved at all costs. If she were not their queen, the Hell Hounds would still protect her.
Such loyalty and devotion made some overeager. Lidan was one such male. He had challenged Chigaru for the right to lead and lost. He had also challenged Nym for the right of second and lost that as well. The male refused to let the judgments stand.
At least once a year he challenged Chigaru and Nym. He felt Chigaru weak because of his missing arm and Nym because she had the appearance of a helpless female. Nym’s looks made her the most lethal Hell Hound because her opponents underestimated her.
The constant challenges made Lidan hard to work with. He obeyed orders grudgingly and forced Chigaru to speak those orders when Chigaru preferred to remain silent. Chigaru’s persistent silence branded him a liar in Lidan’s eyes, which was the true reason for the male’s many challenges. The bhresyas believed a silent bhresya was a lying bhresya because only through omission could a bhresya lie. All else that left their lips had to be the truth.
Chigaru refused to change his ways to put Lidan’s mind at ease. Lidan’s suspicion kept Chigaru sharp. That helped keep Serenity safe. The constant challenges served to make sure Chigaru retained his position because he earned it, not because he had Serenity’s favor. Chigaru suppressed his anger toward Lidan’s constant disrespect for those reasons.
“Ho there, Chigaru,” Ancraf called as he neared the palace gate.
Chigaru waved to Ancraf but didn’t return the verbal greeting. Lidan wasn’t there, and Chigaru’s silence didn’t bother Ancraf. He took it as a fact of life and moved on.
“The night is clear and calm. You should have a pleasant walk.”
Chigaru grunted with a stiff nod.
“We shall see you again at day break.”
Another nod.
“Good rest to you.” Ancraf patted Chigaru’s shoulder and returned to his patrol.
Chigaru watched Ancraf leave before resuming his journey to the forest. Many knew of Chigaru’s habit of going to the forest at night. While that knowledge made him vulnerable, he never went to the same place twice in any given month. The vast forest afforded him many places to take his rest. He varied his location every night and had done the same for the last few years. No one knew the forest better than he did.
He entered the forest and walked until the trees’ shadows hid the palace from his sight. Only then did he use his transportation magic to move to a random spot in the forest. All bhresya had magic, some more than others.
At one time, Chigaru had been an assassin for hire. So long as the job paid his price he’d taken it. Nym and Haige had partnered him in the profession. He had honed the use of transportation magic he’d learned as a child, enabling him to breach any magical barrier no matter how strong, to facilitate the success of his jobs. One such job had placed him before Serenity. He had been hers ever since.
To remain hers, he had to keep himself safe. Though someone might see him enter the forest and think to follow, once he transported they would lose him. Only the most skilled mage could follow the trail of magic his transportation left behind. Chigaru did not know erasure magic, which would remove all trace of him and cover his tracks. Such a skill had been lost f
or centuries. He’d seen it used once in his lifetime—the day he’d lost his arm. If he ever found the person who had taught the ones who had used it, that person would die.
“Hell Hound.”
The soft feminine voice from the depths of the densely packed trees made Chigaru tense. He grabbed the hilt of his sword and crouched, preparing for an attack. No one should have been able to follow him. Either he had stumbled across someone or someone had learned to track him.
“I am unarmed, Hell Hound. I wish only to speak with you.” The owner of the voice stepped into the moonlight filtering through the treetops. A human might find the sparse light a hindrance but his bhresya eyes could see well in darkness.
The female smoothed back the hood of her cloak, revealing herself to be a dusk purple-colored bhresya.
Chigaru straightened but kept hold of his hilt.
“I am Silny, Hell Hound. I am a mage. Quite a powerful one, which is how I was able to find you.”
“Why?” Chigaru growled that one word, partly because of his suspicion and partly because lack of use made his voice rough.
“I wish to offer you your true mate.”
His eyes widened and his hand dropped from his sword as he stared at the female. “What?”
“She who will be to you as your queen is to your king. I can send you to her.”
“Why?” He didn’t know this female. Such an offer had to come with a very high price. If Silny was as powerful of a mage as she claimed, the price might be something her magic couldn’t accomplish. Chigaru had an idea what that something was and why she had sought him out over any other.
“The female who is your true mate has something I need. Only she can give it to me.”
“Go to her yourself. You do not need me.”
“I would if I could, but she is in a place I cannot reach. You are connected to her, fated to her, thus you can go to her. My magic can help. Once you retrieve her, I ask that you bring her to me so I can reclaim my property.”
Kristar (Bookstrand Publishing Romance) Page 3