by Amelia Jade
“What?”
“My friend, you were so against going, I had to drag your ass there. Then you go and find yourself a man, while I struck out seven times!”
“Seven times? Goodness gracious! Maybe you should have let them come to you, Kel. Don’t go looking for them.”
“I dunno,” Kelly said, shrugging. “Maybe. I’ll try that the next time,” she promised with a smile. “So, why did they warn you away from him then? If he’s so good, what’s the catch?”
Erika had hoped to leave it behind, but that was a valid question, and if Kelly was picking up on something, she was going to respect that. Her friend had a nose for things, she’d quickly learned. More often than not it was getting into trouble, but in this case, maybe it would be helping her avoid it.
“Uh, well, it’s weird,” she said. “He didn’t really say anything about Harden. Just that I should avoid him. That I should stay away from “the Kronum shifter.” Then he said that if I didn’t, things might not be good for me. He threatened funds being lost and stuff.” She looked thoughtful. “I guess maybe he meant that he’d do something to remove me from the Cadian support program?”
“That’s a pretty serious threat. Did you mention it to Harden?” Kelly asked, looking concerned.
“No. Not really. I mean, I didn’t tell him about what he’d threatened me with. Or even that he’d threatened me. I just asked him what Kronum was. That’s how I found out he was hiding a lot of pain. Loss.” She looked up at Kelly, wringing her hands. “Something bad happened, Kel. Something really bad. But he didn’t tell me.”
“You need to find out what, before you get too serious. That kind of baggage could be a relationship killer, girl. You don’t want to let yourself fall too hard without knowing what’s up.” Kelly had taken one of her hands now and was speaking in earnest, letting Erika know this wasn’t some joking matter, that she was serious.
“I know,” she agreed. “I will. I promise.” For a moment she contemplated mentioning the darkness she’d seen in Harden when the topic had come up. The part separate from the pain and the anguish.
The one filled with rage. In the end though, she’d declined, keeping that to herself. Harden was allowed to have things that stayed just between them. Though she was going to find out what happened to him, in time. When he was ready.
“So, are you seeing him again?” Kelly asked after a moment.
Erika looked away, but not before she could hide the smile on her face. Kelly made an excited noise.
“You are! When?”
“Today,” she said quietly.
“When?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” she admitted. “We never quite got that far.” Then she frowned. “To be honest, he never actually asked me where I lived either. So, I’m not sure how this is going to work.”
Kelly was laughing. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll find a way.”
She smiled broadly. “Yeah, shifters do sort of have a way of tracking things, don’t they?’
“You’d better go get ready then! What if he shows up soon?”
Erika looked down at her tie-dye pajamas, aghast. “Oh no. I need to go get ready!”
Kelly just laughed as she ran from the kitchen into her bedroom, doffing the garments and preparing to hop in the shower. Last night Harden had seen her all done up. She couldn’t let the second time he came around be while she was lounging in old clothes with ketchup stains from breakfast on them!
No, that wouldn’t do at all.
Chapter Eleven
Harden
“You’re an idiot, Harden,” he muttered into the mirror, his toothbrush handle sticking out from his lips and mangling the words if anyone had been listening.
It was the truth. He was a moron. The night before, he’d told Erika that he would see her again today. The pass was only good until Sunday night at eight, unless someone gave him permission to stay in the city. There were only two someone’s who could do that. The Cadian Ambassador to Cloud Lake, or a human woman, who would vouch for his whereabouts and good behavior while he stayed with her.
Harden wasn’t expecting to get such an offer from Erika, not this weekend. That meant he only had two days to spend with her, until he could secure another weekend pass. It might be doable for next weekend, or it might be in a month. Regardless, he had to make an impression on her now.
Does it matter though? You don’t know if she’s your mate. You can’t know.
Angrily he tried to shove that thought aside, but it kept coming back. It all came down to his wolf. To the animal that was absent in his mind. He thought back to the last time he’d felt its presence.
He’d been strung up to the wall, his arms and legs wide in a vertical spread-eagle position, held aloft only by the chains on the wall. There was no strength in his mangled limbs to support him any longer. That had fled him days ago, after the first few rounds of torture. Now he just screamed until his throat was raw and bleeding as the Institute thugs took sledgehammers to his bones, breaking them, and letting them heal improperly.
Then they broke them again, making it worse and worse each time. He doubted his legs would even have the strength of bone to support him anymore, even if he’d not been starved and deprived of any sort of nutrition either. It was the worst punishment a shifter could endure. They healed so much quicker than humans, broken bones fusing in a matter of hours, at best. So the thugs were just breaking his bones until they were mangled ruins, and letting them heal up.
If he ever got free, he’d spend weeks undergoing rebreaking of them again, and having them set properly. Then he’d have to relearn how to walk, another painful process.
At some point during the torture, he couldn’t remember when, his wolf had howled in internal agony, and had fled into the far recesses of his mind. It had never returned. Not even after he’d been rescued by a bear shifter named Maximus and his four brothers. Not after he’d undergone weeks of pain and healing, until he could walk once more. It had never once stirred, and only it could tell him for sure if Erika was his mate.
“How are you going to figure this out?” he asked his reflection, but no answer came to him.
It was such a feeling of helplessness, of weakness, in a way that he’d never before experienced. He stared at his face for several minutes, his mind searching within itself, looking for the other half, but like always, it came up empty. His wolf, it seemed, was gone forever. It had abandoned him.
Anger at the Institute boiled his blood, for what they’d done to him and his friends, the final remaining members of the Kronum Resistance. They’d fought for so long against the Institute to free his homeland, but in the end, they had all been caught. Only an incredible stroke of luck on their part had allowed them to life.
You can still have fun with her this weekend, no matter what.
Harden stood up straighter. It was one of the few positive things his conscience had said to him of late, and he took note of it. Clearly there was something to this woman, if she could elicit that sort of response from his usual depressed self. Perking up at that idea, he hurried and got dressed.
He’d never asked Erika where she lived. That knowledge had set him down the dark path his thoughts had just taken, but a light shined now, showing him a way. He had an idea. His steps were light down the hallway as he headed for the stairs, eager to be out into the city and on his quest to find her.
There were a few other shifters stirring. On the way to the stairs he passed the same grayish-haired shifter from the night before. They waved, but it was clear he was headed for bed, while Harden was headed out, so they didn’t stop. Harden reached the stairs, and, in a spurt of excitement, hopped onto the banister and slid down to the bottom, jumping off just before the post at the end.
“Well don’t you look happy this morning.”
His head snapped up at the voice. There in the lobby, arrayed in an arc between him and the door, were the three shifters from the night before, the younger brother, and another bigger, bulkier
man who he hadn’t met before, but had the thickness to him that could only come from being a bear shifter.
“Oh boy. If it isn’t the breakfast club,” he said dryly. “Recruiting more members are we?” he asked, pointing at the newcomer. “Did they tell you about this club of theirs?” he asked. “And how it’s not worked out too well for them so far?” He winked. “Maybe you should ask them what happened to their faces.”
Three of the five shifters had bruises still in evidence on their faces, courtesy of his fists and knees from the night before.
“I did,” came the even reply. “That’s why I’m here.”
Harden was forced to instantly re-evaluate the threat the bear shifter posed, just by the way he spoke. It wasn’t the arrogant confidence of someone he could take advantage of, but the cool trust in his own skills to see himself through. It was a huge difference, one he had to take seriously, or else end up on the wrong end of a very serious beating.
“I see. So what lies did they tell you, then? That I’m the boogeyman? Something unholy and unnatural come to life?’ he asked. “Seriously guys, I’m just a shifter like you. My home was destroyed, and I have nowhere else to go. Believe me, I’d much rather be back in Kronum.” His voice started to waver as he spoke of his destroyed homeland, but he clamped down on it. “But I can’t.”
“Not our problem,” Baldy said, obviously the nominal leader of the group. “We already did enough by supplying the people and supplies to bring you and your little group back to life.”
“And we’re supposed to be better than the humans,” Harden snorted, feeling ashamed of his own kind at the treatment they were levying against him. “You should be embarrassed right now. What would your mother say?”
Baldy sneered. “She’s the one who informed me about your…status.”
Interesting.
“Well then, mama’s boy, good to know you’re capable of thinking on your own.”
The shifter snarled and took a step forward, as did the others. The bear shifter pushed himself up off the wall he was leaning on.
“You’re going to regret that,” he snapped.
“Who’s going to regret what?”
Harden half-turned at the sound of another voice, one deep and powerful, yet smooth and melodic all at once. A man entered the lobby from down a hallway he hadn’t explored yet. One labeled Offices and Conferences. He was tall, more muscular than a wolf shifter, but still not as bulky as the bear shifter. Yet something about the way he carried himself told Harden that this man was far more powerful than he seemed, and wouldn’t be bothered by a measly bear shifter.
“We’re just having a conversation here, Andrew,” Baldy said, a note of nervousness entering his voice.
“Right,” the blond-haired man said sarcastically. “Is that why the four of you are arrayed in front of this man, blocking his way?” He peered closer. “And why do most of you look like you just got your asses handed to you?”
Harden tried not to snicker, and succeeded. Mostly.
“Is that your handiwork?” Andrew asked, swinging to face him.
Harden knew who he was now. Andrew Raskell. Cadian Ambassador to Cloud Lake, and a gryphon shifter as well. A badass, by all accounts except his own. Definitely not someone that Harden wanted to cross.
“Yes,” he admitted simply, not trying to hide anything. “They attempted to jump me last night. For the second time. I got tired of playing nice.”
Andrew eyed him, blue eyes gazing deep into his soul with a power that made Harden equal parts nervous and jealous. He could only wish for such strength that he could make another person cower simply by looking at them.
“Why are you trying to jump…” he looked at Harden again.
“Harden,” he supplied.
“Why are you trying to jump Harden, Angelo?” he asked conversationally.
Angelo. What a perfect name for a dickbag like that.
“Private business,” Angelo, née Baldy, replied.
“Uh-huh. Well, take your private business elsewhere then,” Andrew replied frostily. “I don’t want anything happening in my embassy. Got it?”
Angelo grumbled something in reply, but he motioned to the others and they retreated up the stairs, clearing the way for Harden to leave and start his search for Erika.
“I don’t know you,” Andrew said levelly before he could leave. “But I know him. He’s an ass. But his mother is extremely well connected and fairly influential back home. My position here is too tenuous at the moment for me to truly interfere. If I see them doing something, I can help you, but I can’t protect you at all times.”
“Understood,” he said. “I appreciate you intervening when you did.”
The gryphon shifter shrugged. “Like I said, he’s an ass, and I’d love to see you wipe the floor with him again. But be careful, he has a lot of pull. He’ll keep finding more allies until he has the numbers to use you like a mop to clean up your own blood.”
“I’ll be careful,” he assured him. “I’ve got some experience at avoiding those I don’t wish to find me.”
Andrew regarded him thoughtfully for another minute. “Yes, I do believe that. Best of luck to you, and let me know if he breaks any of the rules. I’d love to send him packing back home with an actual reason,” he said with a grin.
Harden matched it, then dipped his head low respectfully and headed out into the streets of Cadia. It was time to start his search.
It was time to find Erika.
Chapter Twelve
Erika
The knock on the door came just as she finished tugging her white tank top into place. She quickly flipped her hair back over her shoulders, stood up straight, and double-checked herself in the mirror.
Black jeans with a faint gold stitching to them adorned her legs, made of a blessed denim-Lycra mix that didn’t take two hours to pull them up. Erika had discovered the material perhaps a year earlier, and now it was the only style of pant she would wear when it came to jeans. They were just so comfortable, and easy to get into.
Or out of…
Stop it, she commanded. Her brain had been feeding her images of Harden all morning, in progressively more suggestive and revealing poses. Clearly, part of her wanted something from him. Not that she could blame it. He was hot. She almost wished she’d taken more time in the shower, to help dull her hunger. Maybe it would ease in the afternoon. Or maybe not.
The knock came at the door again, and she headed for the front of her little apartment, untangling some stray hairs from the medium-sized hooped earrings she’d put in. The women didn’t own much jewelry, but she and Kelly had pooled some of their funds together to buy a necklace and two sets of earrings, so that they could dress up a bit if they wanted to. It had made eating for two weeks a little tough, but she was happy for it now. They weren’t overly expensive, but she felt like a million bucks.
With that grin on her face she went and pulled the front door open, hoping Harden would enjoy the way she looked. It wasn’t the stunning purple dress of the night before, but she could hardly be expected to prance around wearing that all the time. It just wasn’t practical. So, now he had to see her in a more dressed-down outfit. She felt confident he would still be happy, but one never knows.
“Hel—”
Her voice died as she realized no one was there. Peering outside, she didn’t see anyone. A smell hit her nostrils and she looked down, to see a bouquet of flowers sitting in front of her door.
“What the…?”
Reaching down, she eyed them over. It was a lovely mix of roses, orchids, daisies, and others that she didn’t know the names of, all arranged into a beautiful pattern. They were clearly expensive, and they smelled it as well she thought, taking a deep whiff of them.
“Mmmm.” She looked around again, but there still wasn’t anyone there. Shrugging her shoulders in confusion, she closed the door and moved to the table to the right of the door, setting the flowers down as she searched through them for the note,
to find out who they were from.
There was no note.
Odd. Why wouldn’t Harden include a note of some kind? What an interesting man.
Erika was still admiring the flowers and trying to figure out a way to display them when the door bounced with a firm knock once again. It was so unexpected she yelped and dropped the floors unceremoniously on the floor. Bending down, she picked them up and set them gently on the table.
Peering through the peephole, she grinned at the sight of Harden’s buzz cut on the other side. She didn’t know how the hell he’d found her, or why he’d sent flowers first, but it didn’t matter. He was here now, knocking at her door.
“What’s the magic word?” she called through the thick wooden door.
“That depends,” he replied.
“On what?”
“If you’ve just finished eating or not. If you have, then the word is ‘please.’ If you haven’t, then the magic phrase is ‘Let’s go get food.’”
“Damn you’re good,” she said as she swung the door open to look up at him, admiring his soft green eyes once more, or the way his thin lips turned up in a genuine smile.
He was dressed in a plain red V-necked T-shirt and black pants. Dark brown hiking-style boots adorned his feet. A grin was plastered on his face and one hand was behind his back.
“Harden!” she exclaimed, even though she knew who it was, the sight of seeing him was still enough to get her all riled up. She flung her hands around him without waiting. “Thank you for the flowers! They’re beautiful,” she told him, squeezing extra hard.
“How…” He sounded shocked.
Erika pulled back, and noted the confused look on his face. “What? What is it?”
He pulled his hand from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of flowers. “How did you know?”
“But…” she looked inside at the paper-wrapped bundle, and then back at him. “You already…didn’t you?”
Harden followed her gaze to the simple wooden table just inside the door, often reserved for keys and hats and the like. Then his eyes narrowed as he saw the package there. She saw him shake his head slightly back and forth.