“Wait, I’m not following here,” Cheyenne interrupted. “What do you mean by shape shifters?”
He flashed her a brilliant smile. “I’m glad you asked. Apparently, they can look just like any one of us, wear the same clothes, everything. They’re supposed to be wicked hot, too.” He stuffed a wedge of pancake into his mouth. “Or,” he said, talking around a mouthful of food, “they can be super hideous too. And short.”
“And in these parts, we don’t speak of the Wee Ones.” The group looked up at once to see Ranga standing at the head of their table, casting penetrating glares at each of them. “Our people say they are the gods of the heavens, capable of great generosity and great vengeance. To anger them means death, and we do not take kindly to those who wish to disturb their peace.”
“It’s alright, Ranga.” Kris smiled up at him. “We don’t mean any harm. Sebastian’s a bit of a history buff and was just relaying some information he read about before we came here. If it’s any consolation, it won’t come up again.”
With a curt nod, Ranga turned, ready to leave when Cheyenne grabbed hold of his arm and jerked him back to her. She met the warning flashing in his coal-black eyes and gulped before gently removing her vice-like grip.
From across the room, seated at the far end of the bar, Erias sat nestled into the shadows nursing his beer while keeping his sights set on the beautiful brunette and her group of worshipers. Even from this distance he could see that the males of the group had it bad for her. And for some peculiar reason he couldn’t quite explain that really got his boxers in a bunch. Well, it would if he wore them anyway.
Last night had been a series of mishaps and unfortunate events created by one hell of a convoluted plan and several hours of pent up sexual frustration.
He should have controlled himself and stayed in bed. He knew the woman was a trigger from the moment he laid eyes on her willowy body made of pure silk and a promise of pleasure he was sure would make his toes curl and his eyes roll into the back of his skull just from sampling of its utter perfection.
Looking at her now, he had the perfect view of her derriere snuggled into a tight pair of form fitting jeans. Her wavy Auburn hair was pulled back into a sloppy pony tail that only succeeded in making her look sweeter. Her face, however, was a mask of sleep deprived shadows and her round doe eyes conveyed pure desperation as she peered up at the tavern owner, Ranga.
More than a little curious, the need to keep his identity and reason for being there secret, Erias did something he always thought was reserved for the female persuasion: he eavesdropped.
She cleared her throat and shifted nervously in her seat. “Um, Ranga, I need to ask a question of you.” She waited for the slight tip of his head that indicated it was safe for her to continue. “This might sound a little weird, but there was this man in my room last night—”
“A man?” Cathy asked excitedly. “Was he hot?”
Cheyenne shot her an annoyed look before continuing her story. “Anyway, he said that you set it up because there wasn’t another room available.” The frown on his face made her eager to tell him more. “I’m still not sure how it is that I paid good money for my own room only to end up sharing it with a perfect stranger, but the real issue is what happened once he was there.”
Feeling a little uncomfortable, Cheyenne glanced around at her friends realizing that everyone at the table had stopped eating and was now listening intently to her conversation. She looked up at Kris, who was seated across the table from her. He offered her an encouraging smile.
Taking a deep breath, she summoned the courage to go on. “I got up in the middle of the night to take a shower and, well, the next thing I knew…” She couldn’t do it. The words that had been swimming through her head for the last several hours like flesh eating piranhas taking little chomps out of her psyche, had lodged in her throat threatening to choke her.
Swallowing convulsively and gasping for breath, Cheyenne reached for her glass of water, only to find it already pressed to her lips. The cool liquid ran over her lips and filled her mouth. She swallowed it, grateful for every drop, then looked up to meet Kris’s panic stricken face.
“It’s okay. I’m better now,” she assured him. “Thanks for the water.”
He gave her a stern frown. “It’s not okay, Chy. Y just had a panic attack because of what that monster tried to do to you!”
“Nothing hap—”
“If you finish that sentence, I am personally going to ring your neck,” he growled. Then, looking up at Ranga, he snarled, “Whoever that man was you sent to her room tried to rape her last night! And now he’s gone. For all we know he could be lurking around here, waiting for the opportunity to finish what he started.”
Ranga’s look of anger was impressive but didn’t hold a candle to Kris’s. Even more, the puzzled expression lurking behind the rage of being snapped at caught Cheyenne’s attention. The man looked as if he had no idea what they were talking about.
Just as he went to open his mouth, a blank look stole over him and for several moments, silence enveloped the table, everyone waiting for his explanation.
In a very monotone voice, Ranga turned his attention to Cheyenne and addressed her directly. “I am sorry for any inconvenience you may have been caused. Your bill will be credited, and the problem will be dealt with accordingly. On behalf of everyone at this establishment, please accept our apologies. Breakfast is on the house. Enjoy your meal.” And with that, Ranga turned on his heel and stalked off, quickly blending into the crowd.
Talk was kept to a minimum after that, everyone choosing their words with care, afraid to bring up anything that might offend her or call the attention of the locals to them. Cheyenne sipped at her coffee pondering Ranga’s odd behavior and Sebastian’s words. This whole trip was turning into one hell of a crazy ride.
Still, she couldn’t help but wonder where that man had disappeared to. Feeling like someone was watching her; she cast her sights into the crowd.
It was a narrow miss, but he had escaped all the same. Just call me Houdini. Sipping at the foam of the fresh lager, Erias kept a watchful eye on her.
He felt a little bad about having to pull a Darth Vader on her and choke her out with his evil Jedi mind tricks, but what choice did he have? He was not some kind of serial rapist, and he would never allow a woman to use that term and his name or likeness in the same sentence. Shit, not once in his life had he ever had to take what he wanted from a woman. They all but threw it at him.
It was bad enough trying to get through a mission with all his fingers and toes intact, but having to cover his ass in twenty directions had a way of taxing him to death. He wasn’t a natural-born liar, and he never would be. That was just plain fact. Which was why he always found himself wiping minds and choking people out to keep their mouths shut.
It wasn’t like he enjoyed doing it either. It drained the hell out of him and left him physically weakened for days afterward, depending on how often he did it.
Slapping a twenty on the counter, Erias drained the last of the mugs’ contents and made his way through the milling bodies to the check-in counter.
“Room for one, please.” The small, round woman nodded before rummaging around under the counter. When she came back up, she produced a key with a leather tag on it. “This won’t do.” He shook his head, taking note of the room number emblazoned in the worn leather.
“Sir, that is the only room we have available,” she argued in broken English.
With a heavy sigh, Erias leaned in closer and locked gazes with her. “I need another room, please. Room 226, to be exact.”
She nodded, accepting the key back and returning it to a small box under the counter where several more like it resided. A minute later, she offered him the key and a large, weathered book and pen. He signed his name and date before thanking her and making his way up to his new room.
Cheyenne didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and the feeling of being watched had finally sub
sided long enough for her to relax and begin eating.
“Chy?” Kris waved his hand in front of her face to capture her attention.
“Hmm?” Cheyenne blinked, then finished chewing the rest of the bagel in an effort to clear her mouth.
“I asked if you were okay. Are you?” he asked with a slight frown.
Her eyes flicked to the stairs where the man had disappeared and back again before answering. “Um, actually, I’m not feeling well.” She took a quick drink of her water to rinse her mouth out, then rose from the table. “I think I’m going to go back to my room and lay down for a bit.”
“You shouldn’t be by yourself right now,” Hadley said, making the rest of the group focus their attention on her again. “Why don’t you take someone with you so you can get some sleep without having to worry?”
“I’ll keep watch if you want me to,” Sebastian volunteered, already standing up to join her.
Cheyenne waved him back. “No, no, you all just sit down and finish your breakfasts. I’m fine, really. I just need a little nap to catch up on some of the sleep I lost last night, and then I’ll be good to go.” She gave them one last fleeting smile and dashed off before anyone could protest.
Cheyenne searched high and low for him, but nothing turned up. Frustrated and tired, she headed back to her room to take the nap she’d told everyone about.
Pulling the key from her pocket, she was just about to slip it into the lock when she heard the deep rumble of a man’s voice emanating from the room next to hers. It sounded as if he was arguing with someone, and being the nosey person she was, she tip-toed to the door and pressed her ear against it to listen.
“I don’t fucking care, Seph. This is my assignment, and I’ll handle it how ever I well I please!” Erias cut the connection and opened his eyes. Talking to Persephone always had a crazy way of making his skin crawl and his balls tight. He hated what she did to him.
Scrubbing his hands down his face, he looked around the room, feeling a stab of loneliness seep through him. Well, he knew how to shut that pesky little emotion up: a big bottle of scotch and a few choice beers to wash it down with.
Looking at his watch, he crossed the room and wrenched open the door. He heard a tiny gasp before his chest collided with a wall of flesh. Instinctively, he grabbed for what was in front of him.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” he said, appreciating the petite woman he held firmly in his hands.
Fiery brown eyes met his and perfectly pouty lips curled, contorting her face into an adorable mix of feral female and snarling pussy cat.
“You!” she screeched, trying to pelt his chest with her tiny fists. Her efforts were almost comical, and he had to fight to restrain his laughter. “Get your hands off me, you sleaze ball!”
An old man poked his head out of his room a few doors down and peered at them. Not wanting to gain any more unwanted attention, Erias pulled her into his room and closed the door.
Now kicking and biting, Erias tossed her onto the bed and backed away, placing himself between her and the door to block her escape.
Leaping to her feet, she turned on him, her face mottled red and her hair mussed from their struggle. “So, you just couldn’t stay away, huh?” Erias asked, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Miss me did you?”
At that, the female screamed in fury and launched herself at him.
Chapter 9
It had been nearly two hours since he had last seen or heard from Cheyenne and Kris was beginning to get a bit worried. It was irrational to feel that way, of course. She was no doubt still taking her much-needed nap, but the way she had left in such a rush, the preoccupied look of fear and curiosity sparking behind her brown eyes, was a familiar one that he knew well.
She was up to something.
He had given it his best shot to control the urge he had to pry into her business and allow her to take care of herself like the big girl she was, but it was hard when every waking thought he had revolved around her. The fact that she had been attacked last night was just an added bonus to his already weighted thoughts.
“Seriously, Bas, I don’t need an escort,” Kris said with some annoyance. Sebastian had insisted on joining him to check on her. The obvious torch he carried for Cheyenne was enough to burn them both and Kris hated the fact that he might have to consider the kid competition for something that he had in the bag just a few short months ago.
“No problem, man. Not like I have anything better to do.” The men narrowed their eyes on each other in a silent challenge that wasn’t lost on either of them. Cheyenne was fair game and there would be blood before either would let the other claim the prize.
Shoulder to shoulder, Kris and Sebastian walked down the hall together, coming to a stop in front of room 225-Cheyenne's room.
“I can handle this if you want to head down and grab us a table,” Sebastian offered none too innocently.
Kris wasn’t fooled in the least. He had been playing this game since Bas was in diapers. “Not a chance, kid.” Raising his fist, he rapped lightly on the door before turning the handle and letting himself in.
The silence was deafening. Both noting the still made bed that had obviously not been slept in since Cheyenne had left it this morning, Kris crossed the room, nudging open the bathroom door to see if she was in there.
“Where could she be?” Sebastian asked him.
Running his hand through his hair, something he did whenever he needed to think, Kris scanned the room for clues to her whereabouts.
“I have no idea, but I don’t think she ever came back here after breakfast this morning.”
“Yeah, me either.” Sebastian’s voice held a note of worry in it. “I think we should check the girl’s rooms, see if she’s with them, or if she’s stopped by or something.”
“Good idea.”
The men left the room in search of the rest of their team.
He had to admit; the woman could hawk a loogie like a pro. Her aim was dead on, lethal. Wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve, Erias returned her glare with equal rancor.
“You vile pig!” Cheyenne screeched.
“Me!” Erias bellowed. “I’m not the one spitting like some sort of boor! Honestly, woman, I don’t know who taught you your manners, but they should give you your money back.”
And he had no idea what he had been thinking when he had brought her into his room. He had intended to earn her trust, make her see that he really was a good guy and then talk her into abandoning this ridiculous need to discover what was on top of that mountain and go back home where she belonged. He couldn’t have predicted that she would turn into some rampaging beast with a bad case of rabies. For the last couple of hours, he had been forced to strong-arm her several times, even going so far as to shield the room so her voice couldn’t carry to the rest of the hotel’s occupants.
This woman was the hardest-headed thing he had ever had the displeasure of dealing with. As it was, he was getting tired of this little cat and mouse game they were playing and more than ready to get down to business.
“What are you doing?” Cheyenne asked wearily, still panting from the anger of being tossed back onto the bed for the thousandth time. The man had been tossing her around for hours. Every time she tried to make a break for it; he would circle her waist and toss her back onto the bed. Her legs were so tired she wasn’t sure how she still had the strength to stand, but she was not about to go down.
She had screamed at the top of her lungs until her throat was sore and her voice was hoarse, and still no one came to her rescue. What kind of place was this that no one would help a woman is distress?
It wasn’t until a moment ago that she had resorted to the vilest of acts. She had punched him in the gut, and he had asked her if she was a tranny because the only way she could have packed a wallop like that was if she were a man. Then he’d tried to grab her boob to see if it was real. That was when she had gathered everything she had and spat in his fa
ce.
It was sick; she knew, but she could think of nothing else and besides; it had worked. If only for a moment, he was staying away from her, but now, as she watched him reaching into the depths of the closet, she had to wonder what he was up to.
“Well, since you refuse to calm yourself and listen for five fucking minutes, I have decided to do myself a favor and shut you up.”
It took two seconds for her to realize what he meant and another one for her to make her choice. She was out of there. With the pathway to the door temporarily unguarded, she ran.
Erias smiled a second before he felt the air stir. Really, did she think he was that stupid that he would leave the door completely unguarded after everything they had been through without having put some sort of safeguard in place?
A second after she whizzed by him the air filled with an electrical charge, the hair on his arms stood on end and the air around him turned fluorescent blue before the familiar sizzle and pop hit his ears.
No sooner did she touch the knob did she feel her fingers tingle and burn. The current zipped through her fingertips, raising every hair on her body. The air crackled around her and a second later she was blasted back, flying through the air and into the heart of the room where she slammed into the wall and bounced off, landing with a thud on the floor.
Her teeth rattled in her mouth, and her head was pounding like someone had beaten her with a sledgehammer. Her eyes burned, and her tongue felt thick and dry in her mouth. Every part of her body ached, and she felt so tired she could barely open her eyes, but once she did; she felt a renewed sense of strength rush over her.
“No, get away from me!” she cried, rolling onto her belly and scrambling for the shelter of the bathroom.
Erias stalked toward her knowing full well how scary he must look with his heavy black biker boots, black jeans, black long sleeved thermal t-shirt and ten feet of rope, but she had left him with no choice. How else was he going to get her to listen to him?
Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) Page 7