Once she peeled the white printed label back, she was surprised to see a phone number handwritten on the back of the label. Her hands shook as she dialed the phone number. The phone rang and rang. She was about to hang up when a recording came on.
“Leave a message.” A man’s raspy voice came across the line. At the beep, Emma spoke quickly. “Hi. My name is Emma Gray. I found your number written on my bottle of prescription vitamins. I believe my aunt, Mary Gray, might have purchased them from your pharmacy. Can you please return my call?” Emma gave her cell phone number and then hung up. She was about to put her cell phone back in her pocket when she realized she’d left her charger at home. Turning the phone off to save the battery, Emma slipped it back into her coat pocket and mentally reminded herself to check her voice mail as soon as she got off work.
Sliding the empty pill bottle into her coat’s inside pocket, Emma slid her arms into the jacket and grimaced that it was still slightly damp. As she started to head out the door, she saw Jared’s red baseball cap on the rack. Grabbing the hat, she tucked her rumpled hair underneath it before she ran down the stairs. Jared would never let her live it down if she were late this time.
While Emma went through the day’s paces of ringing up customer’s bills, making lattes, heating up bagels, muffins and other pastries, her mind turned over question after question.
Why did someone go to such lengths just to talk to her? Was her aunt okay? And what was up with her vitamin prescription? Why had her aunt led her to believe she’d gotten them at MedCare Pharmacy? A thought suddenly occurred that shocked Emma; she knew they were strapped for money with her taking classes, but good grief…was her aunt buying prescriptions off the black market? Is that what all this was about? Emma didn’t know what was and what wasn’t the truth at this point. All she knew was, that damned empty pill bottle sat in her jacket pocket, weighing as heavily on her mind as her aunt’s safety.
She might be upset at her situation, her mind completely on edge, but as the day wore on, she began to feel better and more alert than she had in a long time. The coffee smelled stronger, the pastry aromas sweeter. Her energy level had shot up, too. Then again, the heightened sensations were probably due to the three espresso shots she’d had earlier. She was so wound up that she felt as if she was perched on a precipice, waiting for something to happen.
The indescribable sense of awareness stayed with her all day, prickling her skin, sharpening her senses with each passing hour. Emma was so tuned in to her surroundings that she found it hard to filter out the normal conversational “white noise” going on around her.
A couple more people entered the shop and their voices carried to her finely tuned ear while she wiped crumbs off a table with a wet cloth.
“You don’t need coffee.”
“But I like coffee.”
“Wuss.”
The first voice sounded familiar. Emma’s head snapped up and her gaze zeroed in on the two guys who were heading to the counter. The auburn-haired man was wearing only a T-shirt and jeans. No gloves, no scarf or hat, just a T-shirt…in twenty-degree weather? The nut. He probably did need coffee.
As she stared at them in surprise, Caine’s eyes locked with hers. Pulling his hands out of his black leather coat’s pockets, he paused and smiled. Heat shot everywhere throughout her body at once. Her primal response, mixed with fear and anger, welled up inside her, bubbling hot and building steam. She blinked several times to focus her jumbled, conflicting emotions to one—anger. Emma turned away, her stomach twisting in knots. She scrubbed the table with the cloth, trying to decide what to do.
“Hey, Hat Girl,” Caine said in a low voice, tapping the bill of her cap. Emma slowly lifted her head and stared at him. His friend was at the counter ordering.
She narrowed her gaze. “Why are you here? I thought I was supposed to meet you at the club tonight.”
“Huh? Laird wanted a coffee and I remembered the café logo on the napkin I handed back to you last night. I came by hoping this was a place you frequented—”
Setting the cloth down, she stepped into his personal space and hissed, “Where is my aunt?”
A look of confusion crossed his face. “Your aunt? What are you talking about?”
“Emma, I need your key. The drawer’s jammed again,” Scott called from behind the register. He was trying to ring up Caine’s friend’s order.
“Coming,” she responded. She was so tense that she thought she might lose it any second. Her attention snapped back to Caine. “Why did you take her? Answer me!”
His big hands surrounded her fists in a firm hold and his brow creased in a deep furrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What’s going on?”
Emma sucked in her breath at the tingling, near burning sensation where his hands covered hers. She jerked away and backed up a step.
Caine frowned. Glancing at his palms, he rubbed his fingers across them and mumbled, “That was…intense.”
Emma’s physical reaction to his touch frightened her. She honestly felt like she was going to jump right out of her skin. Electric didn’t begin to describe the sensation. More like shocking. Caine had seemed taken aback by her question, like he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “You didn’t follow me home, did you?”
He fisted his hands and his black eyebrows slashed downward. Jaw flexing, he said in a suddenly serious tone, “No.”
Cool wind rushed in, heralding a group of talkative businessmen into the café. Emma glanced at the side counter. The milks and stirrers needed to be replenished. Coffee drinkers got cranky when their condiments weren’t readily available. She would normally ask Scott to do it, but he was busy with a crowd at the register and John was in the back unloading supplies.
“I have to go,” she said, even as a sense of relief released some of the tension from her chest—at least as far as Caine was concerned. She was glad he wasn’t the bad person her mind had begun to think he might be, but…who else saw her at the club last night? She didn’t know anyone in town. Shaking her head, she blew out an unsteady breath and said, “My apologies for what I said. I was mistaken,” then grabbed the cloth and headed to the supply closet.
Emma stood in the back of the supply closet, trying to reach the stirrers on the top shelf when Caine leaned over her shoulder and lifted the white box down for her.
The instant his hard chest pressed against her back, his body heat made her skin prickle all over. Emma quickly stepped away and turned to face him. “Um…thanks.”
Before she could walk off, Caine clasped her shoulders, his expression intense. “Emma. Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong. Maybe I can help you.”
His hazel eyes were interesting, an intriguing mix of forest green and brown. The colors seemed to meld and pulse in intensity as he talked. Hearing her name in his deep baritone sounded more intimate and personal than Hat Girl, way more personal than her dream. It sent a delicious thrill zipping along her spine. The warmth and comfort of his hands soaked through her T-shirt, even as the cotton barrier buffered the electric effect that had happened earlier. Something about the look on his face and his firm grip felt dangerous and exciting…and strangely trustworthy, while his inviting smell made her want to tell him everything, to trust him completely.
It would be so easy to ask him to be there in the background at the club tonight, if nothing else but for support, but she didn’t know who, among the faces of strangers at the club, would be watching. What if they did have her aunt, and Caine’s presence by her side angered the people who took Mary? Emma couldn’t take the risk with her aunt’s life.
Regretful, she shrugged out of his hold. “I’m fine, Caine. I have to go.”
He didn’t say anything as he followed her out of the room. She felt his heavy gaze track her every movement while she refilled the stirrers at the condiments counter, felt the heat of his intense stare trace her every step when she moved behind the main counter to replenish the skim and whole milk thermoses.
She glanced over her shoulder to see Caine sitting at a table near the far window. His friend was drinking a mug of coffee and talking to him, but Caine hadn’t taken his eyes off her.
“Have you talked to your aunt yet?” Jared continued, drawing her attention. “I really think you should stick to your guns about moving closer to town if that’s what you want to do.”
Emma tried her best to smile at him, although it probably came across more like a grimace. “I’ll…” She swallowed the hard knot in her throat. What if she never got to speak to her aunt again? Unshed tears burned her eyes. “I’ll do that.”
He tugged on her cap’s bill. “You’ve got a free pass tonight, roomie, but tomorrow you’re going to have to talk to her.”
Her smile wobbled. “Thanks, Jared.”
“Sure thing.” An encouraging smile tilted his lips and he swept his gaze over her Go-Gos T-shirt and jeans. “I’m glad my sister made it by.”
“Please thank her again for me.”
He nodded. “Why don’t you go ahead and take off. We have it covered.”
“Really? I still have another forty minutes on my shift.”
He laughed. “Take the generosity while it’s being of fered, Emma.”
“Yeah, it happens like…never to me.” Scott’s curly black hair fell into his eyes. He’d glanced at them over his shoulder after ringing up another customer.
Emma nibbled her bottom lip. “I guess I could try to catch up on my sleep.” And check my voice mail to see if that other pharmacist called back.
“That couch is hard as a rock. Use my bed. You’ll sleep bet—”
Something shattered on the hard floor. Caine’s auburn-haired friend lifted his hands and called across the room, “Sorry, the mug slipped.”
“Scott…” Emma started to ask him to take care of it.
“I know, I know.” Scott grabbed a white towel. He paused as he came around the counter. “Dude, it’s in the middle of the room. What’d you do? Throw it?”
Emma had been avoiding Caine’s gaze, but at that moment their gazes locked for a split second and her stomach dropped. Sitting sideways in his seat, he’d leaned forward slightly with his fist clenched on the table. He looked intense and on edge—like he was about to launch across the room.
When she turned to leave, Emma decided to exit through the back way. She had a feeling Caine had no intention of giving up on trying to talk to her. Any other time, she’d have been thrilled to have the sexy man’s undivided and intense attention, but tonight she couldn’t afford to screw up.
Chapter 3
“G ive me your damned cell, Laird,” Caine snarled under his breath.
Laird shook his head and leaned back in his seat to pull his cell from his pocket. As he handed it across to Caine, he said, “That human’s got you some kind of eff’d up, bro.”
Caine snatched the phone and quickly punched in Kaitlyn’s cell number. Thrumming his fingers on the table, he waited for her to pick up. When voice mail came on, he clenched his jaw and ticked off the seconds before he was able to leave a message.
“It’s Caine. We haven’t heard back from you. I have something important I have to do at the club tonight. It’s a gut call. I’m going.”
When he closed the phone and slid it across the table to his pack mate, Laird nodded to the guy who’d just finished cleaning up the broken mug, then frowned at Caine, saying in a low voice, “I really wanted to finish that coffee.”
Caine shrugged. “You were being a prick.”
Laird smirked. “I smell the blond guy’s interest in the girl, too.”
When Caine narrowed his gaze, Laird sighed. “I’ve always trusted your instincts, but going back there without being able to see or smell the Velius will be risky. I know your going to the club tonight has something to do with the woman you were just blatantly eavesdropping on.” He glanced toward Emma as she disappeared into the kitchen. “I’ll admit, she smells…” He paused, like he was trying to think of the right word to describe her scent.
“Earthy and primal,” Caine added, his tone full of gravel.
Laird snapped his fingers and his eyes lit up. “That’s it! She smells like the woods.”
Caine shook his head and his heart thumped hard. “It’s more like she took a long walk in a misty forest. She’s all woman, but the scent of rain-soaked leaves and earth clings to her.”
When he was close to Emma in the supply closet, Caine made sure to scent her. As soon as he’d inhaled, his predatory hunting senses kicked in. In the small room, her strong scent had made his fingers itch to capture her like prey, leaving her nowhere else to turn. Caine shook off the strange, aggressive emotion that rushed full force to his brain. A human was no competition for him, and yet she’d said she would be his ultimate challenge. One thing was true, she aroused him on many levels.
Instead, he focused on the protective instincts that had sent him in the closet after her in the first place. She’d seemed both angry and fearful when she’d asked why he was at the café when he was supposed to meet her at the club. And what was this about her aunt? He wanted to know who had frightened or threatened her.
“Emma was the woman I was talking to outside the parking garage last night. I met her at the club.”
Laird shrugged. “You know where she works now. Talk to her here.”
Caine shook his head. “I have to go to the club tonight. I think she might be in some kind of trouble.”
“You’d put yourself out there like a lamb for slaughter because of some human woman?” Laird’s eyes closed to near slits.
Caine slammed his fist on the table. “Shut up and listen.”
Once Caine relayed the strange conversation he’d had with Emma, he finished with, “She was told to go there tonight.” He jerked his head toward the counter. “She’s staying with that guy, which makes me think she doesn’t have any family to turn to. I could tell by her heart rate that she lied to him about why she’s staying with him. I don’t want Emma going to that club alone.”
Laird rubbed the back of his neck. “Damn, I hope Kaitlyn calls us. Do you know when Emma planned on going?”
“No. She just alluded to having to meet the person at the club tonight when she thought I was ‘him’ and something about her aunt being taken.”
Laird jerked his gaze back toward the kitchen door. “Why don’t you just ask her?”
Caine ground his teeth. “I tried. She wouldn’t tell me.”
“No wonder this woman is so appealing to you.” Laird’s grin was smug. “If you can’t charm her, you’d see her as a challenge.”
It was a helluva lot more than that, Caine thought, rubbing his fingers across his palm again.
Laird stood and Caine said in a dark tone, “Where are you going?”
“You didn’t plan to camp here all day, did you?”
“I was going to try and talk to her when she got off work.”
Laird raised an eyebrow. “Let’s find out when that’ll be.”
Before Caine could tell him to mind his own damned business, that she’d be leaving soon, Laird got up and walked over to the counter to speak to the guy who’d cleaned up his coffee mug earlier. “Sorry about the mess, man. When does this café close?”
“We close at eight.”
Laird leaned forward, his tone conspiratorial. “My buddy wants to ask Emma out. Any idea when she gets off work?”
“She’s already left for the evening,” Jared answered as he walked out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a towel. Cutting his distrustful gaze toward Caine, the café owner continued, “Do either of you two plan to order anything else?”
Annoyed with Laird, Caine bit back the fierce growl that rumbled in his chest when the blond man’s tone turned challenging. The guy had no idea Caine could smell his testosterone level spiking. Did Emma know how her
boss felt about her?
Determined to find her, Caine stood up from the table and said in a cold tone, “Let’s go, Laird.”
The second they walked outside, Caine concentrated and inhaled. He caught Emma’s scent instantly. She was close. Laird followed him around the side of the building. “You scented her?”
Caine nodded and paced around the small beat-up car in the parking lot beside the café. “Her scent is on this vehicle. It might be hers.” Approaching the stairs that led to a second level above the store, his focus zeroed in on the door at the top of the stairs. “She’s up there. Must be his apartment.”
“You can’t go up there, bang on the door and demand that she tell you everything. You’ll scare the shit out of her.”
Caine clenched his fists in frustration. Laird was right. “Let’s go back to my apartment for now. We’ll just have to be at the club the moment it opens.”
“It would be helpful if Kaitlyn could be here tonight,” Laird said as they stood outside Squeeze an hour later. Sleet had been pouring down on them for a good ten minutes.
“I called Roman to help even the odds.” Caine jammed his hands into his coat pockets, then swept his gaze over Laird. “The least you could’ve done was wear a coat and pretend you’re affected by the weather like the rest of the humans. You look like a freak wearing nothing but a thin shirt in twenty-degree weather. Your hair is turning to a block of ice.”
Laird laughed and plumes of frost floated in front of him. Brushing the sleet out of his hair, he glanced at the long line ahead of them. “You’d think the weather would’ve deterred some people from coming tonight.”
Caine snorted. “When it’s the first big snow of the year, humans go a little nuts. Think about how it affects our pack.”
“I’m here, boyeeees!” Roman slid across the icy edges of the sidewalk and came to a stop next to them. He flipped his shoulder-length blond hair away from his face, his grin wider than usual and full of mischief. “Let’s par-tay!”
Scions: Revelation Page 4