Naya smiled knowingly.
Kenzie just shook her head, but she did it with a smile. She had never thought she’d see Naya like this.
“So,” Naya said, “what’s with this mate stuff, and what do you mean by, ‘not Sawyer’?”
Kenzie was dragging her feet. The night before, after Naya had left, Kenzie had broken down and listened to her messages. She had been dreading it since she got her phone back because there had to be some on there from work. And she was right.
There were several heavily worded voice mails from her boss, Dave. First, he had sounded concerned, but after a few days, the worry had turned to anger until the last one that had told her she was fired. Now, she had to make an attempt to fight for her job back. The shifters had given her a letter from one of their physicians, saying that she had been in the hospital with pneumonia, but Kenzie had her doubts that it was going to work. Then, what would she do? She couldn’t tell her boss the truth.
Well, Dave, you see, there are others out in the world who are not human. I was accidentally mistaken as the princess of the vampires and kidnapped. I finally made it home last night, and I came straight here this morning. Now, can I have my job back?
Kenzie snorted. Not only would she be betraying her friend, her boss would most likely laugh in her face. She would be better off with the letter saying that she had been too ill to come to work. Either way, waiting around wasn’t going to change anything. She might as well get it over with.
She dressed in her best outfit as if it were another day at the office and made sure her makeup was perfect. She didn’t bother with breakfast because the knots in her stomach told her anything she might eat wouldn’t stay down for long.
Kenzie took one last look in the mirror before grabbing her things and heading out the door. Her car was in its usual spot, thanks to Vance and his shifters who had returned it to her apartment from Naya and Vaughn’s house where it had been left when she was abducted. She got in, rubbed her hands over the steering wheel, and then took off.
The quick drive to work was uneventful, except for her heart pounding in her chest.
Once inside the building, she made a beeline to her manager’s office. She ducked her head as she walked. Many other hotel employees were roaming around, and she didn’t want them stopping her and asking questions.
Kenzie was one of the head event and wedding planners at one of the oldest and most prestigious hotels in St. Paul, and she loved her work. Even the late-night weddings couldn’t ruin her affection for what she did. She had been with the hotel since college—first, as an intern, and then as an associate before moving up to her current position.
As she knocked on Dave’s door, she couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach that she was about to lose it all.
“Come in,” her boss said from the other side of the thick wood.
Kenzie slowly pushed it open and stepped inside.
“Kenzie?” Dave said when he saw her, his ruby-red face showing complete surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I work here,” she answered, her voice full of hope.
Dave winced and opened his mouth to speak.
Kenzie held up her hand. “Wait. Please, before you say anything, I just want to let you know how sorry I am that you haven’t heard from me for...” She paused. She didn’t even know how long it had been since she worked last.
She started doing the math in her head, but it turned out that she didn’t need to because Dave knew how long it had been.
“Almost three weeks,” he said with his brow raised. “Because you haven’t worked for almost that long. And you haven’t answered your phone or replied to any of your emails either. Would you like to explain that?”
Kenzie quickly sat down in front of Dave’s desk and pulled out her lame doctor’s note. “I’ve been sick. I was in the hospital, and I wasn’t able to get you word that I was there. I am very sorry. I never meant for this to happen.”
Dave picked up her note and read it over for what seemed like an hour. “Pneumonia?”
Kenzie swallowed hard. She hated lying to her boss. “Yes.”
Dave put the letter down on the desk and folded his hands. “Kenzie, while I am pleased to see that you are no longer ill, I find it hard to believe that you could not find one way to let us know you were sick, especially since you’d seemed perfectly fine the last day you were here.”
Kenzie started to protest, and Dave held up his hand.
“It’s your turn to wait. I don’t want to hear any of your excuses.” He shook his head. “Kenzie, I have always valued you as an employee and admired your work ethic, which was why it surprised me that you had done something like this. And because I like you, I would like to let this go, but I absolutely cannot. Your actions were too irresponsible. I can’t, for the life of me, imagine that you didn’t have anyone, whether it was family or friends, who could account for your whereabouts this whole time. It’s almost like you disappeared off the face of the earth and then reappeared one day.”
Kenzie winced. His words were so close to the truth.
“I’m sorry, Kenzie, but I have to let you go. In fact, we have already started interviewing people to replace you.”
Her heart sank. She’d known it was a strong possibility, but a part of her had hoped this wouldn’t happen.
“Kenzie?”
She made eye contact with her boss—with her former boss. “Hmm?”
“Is there anything else you need?”
She hadn’t realized that she’d been staring off into space, and the man probably wanted her gone from his office.
“Um...” She licked her lips. “No.” She stood from her seat. “I’ll just be going.”
Dave nodded. “I think that’s for the best.”
Kenzie slowly turned and walked out the door. She hung her head and covered her face the best she could as she left the building. If she’d thought that she didn’t want anyone to see her face when she came in, the feeling was ten times worse now. She was completely embarrassed and ashamed. She didn’t need anyone feeling sorry for her.
When she got to her car, she turned the heat up all the way because she was chilled to the bone. Maybe she was in shock from what had just happened. Probably not. She wasn’t that lucky. Instead, she was going to have to drive home and stare at her empty apartment.
A sudden wave of loneliness crashed over her. Naya had a husband with children on the way, which was good. Kenzie was happy for her, but their relationship would never be the same. She’d just lost her wonderful, fulfilling career, and she was completely and utterly single. She had been fine with that before, but after her time with Sawyer and seeing Naya so happy, she couldn’t help but feel all alone.
“Stop it,” she told herself. “It’s just because you lost your job. Naya is still your friend, and you don’t need a stupid man to make you happy. Sawyer’s an asshole anyway.”
She was right. This was just a bump in her life road—a big bump but a bump nonetheless. She would go home, fire up her computer, and start looking for a new job. She would not let this bring her down.
Chapter Seventeen
SAWYER CROUCHED LOW next to the abandoned house. He’d been home now for two weeks, and in the shifters’ and vampires’ quest to find Gerald, they had been making their way through the entire metro area, searching all the vacant homes. They had installed cameras in Gerald’s home in case he went back. They had eyes on Brent, his son, twenty-four/seven. They had also hacked into every motel and hotel to receive updates on new customers checking in. The downside was that not every motel kept computerized records, but the shifters and vampires only had so much manpower.
With Gerald on the run for almost three weeks now, they were running out of options to find him. And they were starting to look a little pathetic. Sawyer didn’t understand how one shifter could get away from them all.
Sawyer hadn’t been the least bit shocked when he found out that Gerald had been behind Vaughn a
nd Naya’s kidnapping. Sawyer had never liked the guy. He was a sorry excuse for a shifter, and even though he was related to the boss, he didn’t have a quarter of the alpha’s integrity.
What had shocked Sawyer was the wolves’ involvement. He hadn’t been surprised that they were involved. He had already smelled them on the humans who abducted Kenzie and him. No, he had been surprised that the wolves would be involved with Gerald. Obviously, Sawyer had missed a lot during his kidnapping and amnesia. He had been filled in on everything that had happened—Payton’s attempted capture, her rescue by Damien, Damien challenging his father, Dwyer losing and getting kicked out of Minnesota, and the pardon for the wolf-shifters to come back to the Twin Cities.
“Are you ready to go in?” Saxon asked from beside him.
“Ready when you are,” Dante answered from the other side of Saxon.
Sawyer had been working with the vampires for the last two weeks, and he was finally getting used to it. He didn’t have a problem with the vampires—they were better than humans—but it was still strange to be sharing so much information with them and trusting them to have their backs in situations like this. But he also understood how much they cared for their princess and that they weren’t going to be left behind while the shifters did all the work in finding Gerald.
“I don’t smell Gerald around here anywhere. Just humans,” Sawyer told the other two.
“Yeah, me neither, but we still gotta check it out,” Saxon replied.
Sawyer palmed the gun in his hand. It felt strange to use something other than his claws, but after Gerald had shot Saxon and Zane, Vance had ordered them all to carry firearms.
Saxon, Dante, and Sawyer had glanced in all the windows, and after not seeing anything, they were getting ready to go in the front and back doors.
“I’ll take the front,” Dante told them. “Go around back, and I’ll let you in.”
Saxon nodded and headed toward the rear of the house while Sawyer followed him. It appeared that Saxon had no problem with taking orders from the vampire leader, but it seemed the two were friends. Sawyer didn’t question it too much.
Just when Saxon stepped on the back porch, Sawyer heard a gunshot from inside the house, followed by Dante yelling, “Goddamn it.”
Saxon kicked the back door open, so he and Sawyer could enter the residence. They looked for anything suspicious until they found Dante on top of a filthy human, holding the human’s arms behind his back and tying something around his wrists.
“This fucker shot me in the leg. Can one of you find something to wrap around my thigh before I bleed all over the carpet? My jeans aren’t going to soak up much more blood.”
Saxon grabbed an old sheet lying in the corner. It was dirty, but so was everything else in the shithole.
“I don’t get it. We didn’t see anyone through the windows,” Saxon said.
“Yeah, this asshole was hiding under a pile of who-knows-what. That’s why we didn’t see him,” Sawyer replied.
“Ha-ha. I tricked you sons of bitches,” the human said from underneath Dante.
“Shut up,” Dante said before punching the guy in the jaw and knocking him out.
“We’ll quickly check the other rooms, and then we’d better get out of here before the police show up. Someone had to hear that gunshot,” Sawyer told the other two as he made his way down the hall.
Saxon and he cleared the other rooms and helped Dante up from the floor in the living room.
“I’m fine. I’m fine. I’ll probably just need a couple of stitches. Can we swing by the vampire clinic on the way to our next location?” Dante limped out of the house.
“Dude,” Saxon said, “I think you’re done for the night.”
Dante sighed. “Yeah, I suppose. Didn’t hurt to try.”
After they were all outside, Sawyer closed the door behind him. “Don’t worry. We’ll cover the rest of the homes on the list. We can do it with just the two of us.”
The three of them hurried toward their vehicle down the street.
Thank God only one of us got hurt, was the last thought Sawyer had before his head exploded in pain, and it was lights out.
Lexine was trying her damnedest to work with Phoenix, but it was hard. The more she was around the cat-shifter, the more Lexine disliked her. On a conscious level, she knew that it was petty jealousy. On an unconscious level, she didn’t care because she should be the one in Dante’s bed every night. It wasn’t fair.
Lennox was driving while Lexine was sitting shotgun, so thankfully, she didn’t have to look at the shifter’s face. Although not seeing her didn’t help much because the cab of the truck smelled like sunshine. Sunshine and Dante.
I think I’m going to puke.
Lexine knew they weren’t having sex. One, because they never smelled like it, and two, because one of the other guys made a joke one night, and Dante had shut it down really fast. But it was almost worse that they weren’t having sex. Lexine had never seen Dante in a relationship. She knew that he had girls who he would go out with, screw, and use for feeding, but none of them had ever come around the compound, and Dante had certainly never taken any of them on a date. Yes, this thing he had with Phoenix was much, much worse.
“Lexine!”
“Huh? What?” She hadn’t even heard her brother talking to her.
“Did you hear anything I had to say? Did you even know I had a phone call?”
“No,” she admitted embarrassingly. She could feel heat filling her cheeks. So much for being on alert when she was working.
She heard Phoenix huff from the backseat. Lexine turned and shot her a dirty look.
“Dante was shot and taken to the clinic,” Phoenix informed her, annoyance or anger or both on her face.
Lexine looked at her brother to see if what she had said was true. “What?”
“It’s true, sis.”
“Oh, no. I hope he’ll be okay,” she said.
“He said to meet them there ASAP, so we will soon find out.”
“He did?” A tiny flare of hope went through Lexine.
He could have told them to keep working, yet he had asked them to meet him there.
“Yes,” Phoenix said, practically yelling. “Now, can we hurry the fuck up and get there already? If I knew where this clinic was, I would drive myself, but since I have to rely on you, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop driving like a grandma.”
Lexine gasped. Phoenix didn’t have to be such a bitch. Lexine looked over at her brother to see if he was as mad as she was, but the big dumb idiot was grinning.
“Lennox,” Lexine scolded.
“What?” He shrugged. “It’s funny.”
Lexine rolled her eyes and counted the minutes until they arrived.
As soon as her brother stopped the vehicle, Lexine flew out of the passenger seat and into the building with Phoenix right on her heels.
“Take me to Dante,” she demanded of the first person she saw.
The woman in scrubs put her hand on her hip and gave Lexine a look as Lennox joined them.
“Please,” Phoenix added.
“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” The woman turned around and waved them back. “This way. Doc Montgomery is almost done cleaning him up.”
Phoenix took a step forward.
Lexine put her arm out. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Lexine, let her go. Come on, it’s not a big deal,” Lennox said.
Lexine looked over her shoulder at her brother. “But it’s the vampire clinic,” she bit out.
The woman in scrubs turned around. “He said to bring the shifter, too. Now, will you three hurry up? I don’t have all day.”
Lexine looked at Phoenix, expecting to see a satisfied smirk on the cat’s face, but she only appeared to be relieved.
Phoenix stepped forward again, and this time, Lexine didn’t stop her.
They followed the woman to a room in the back. The door was closed, so the woman knocked first and waited
for a response on the other side before entering.
She ushered the three of them into the room. Besides Dante, there was a woman in a lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck, who was clearly the doctor, and then another shifter, Saxon.
Lexine eyed Dante up and down to see how well he was doing. He was sitting up in the bed, shirtless, with the sheet pulled up to his waist. Lexine didn’t notice a wound or bandage anywhere on his upper body.
“Hey, man. You gonna be okay?” Lennox asked Dante as they all crowded around the bed.
“Yeah, I was only shot in the leg. The doctor here assured me that I’m going to live.”
Phoenix snorted. “‘Only’?”
“Yes,” the doctor said, “he was shot in the leg. I removed the bullet and cleaned the wound. He should be just fine in a week or so.” She looked at Dante. “As long as you feed, that is.”
“Thanks, Dr. Montgomery.”
The doctor looked at everyone besides Dante. “Make sure he feeds, will you, please?”
Saxon pulled up his sleeve and stuck his arm out. “You can have my blood. Only the best for you, Dante.”
Dante swatted Saxon’s hand away. “Thanks, man, but no. Gross.”
“That hurts, bro,” Saxon said with mock sadness.
Heart pounding, Lexine took a step forward. It was now or never. There was a reason Dante had asked them to come. She knew he preferred women, like most adult vampires, unless he was on his deathbed. All she had to do was offer her blood, and he would be drinking from her. She would never wish a gunshot wound on him, but she couldn’t help but be pleased by the turn of events. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth—
“Could everyone please leave the room, except for Phoenix? I need to talk to her,” Dante said.
Black dots swam in Lexine’s vision as she got light-headed. What was going on? This couldn’t be happening.
He’d asked them to come because he wanted to feed from her? From a shifter? He would rather take the blood of a shifter than from another vampire? A vampire who was more than willing to share herself with him?
She had to get out of there.
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