by Nina Bangs
“You can’t just show up here in Philly and expect me to welcome you with open arms. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Kelly paced—ten steps forward, swivel, then ten steps back—to emphasize how really ticked she was at her sister. “Where’s the consideration?”
Jenna widened her eyes in her best fake innocent expression. “Ty’s boss invited me.”
“Fin?” Outrage gave way to confusion.
“The same.” Jenna figured Kelly didn’t need to know that she’d called Fin first or that the boss man hadn’t specified when she should visit.
“Oh.”
Kelly bit her lip, a signal that she was trying to think of a reason why Jenna shouldn’t stay. Jenna was good at reading body language. She was also good at getting her way.
“You should’ve at least given me some warning.”
“I decided on the spur of the moment. And I tried to call you from the airport, but your cell was turned off.” Jenna took a chance on that, but she was betting on Kelly’s habit of forgetting to turn on her phone. “Sorry to show up so late, but I couldn’t get an earlier flight.”
Kelly looked suspicious, but she didn’t comment. She glanced around the condo’s huge living room. “We don’t have our own apartment yet. Fin is letting us bunk down here for a few days.”
The insinuation was that Jenna wouldn’t have anyplace to stay. Jenna didn’t intend to let a weak excuse like that get in the way of her finding out what was going on in her sister’s life. “Give me a break, sis. Hello, this is a pent house suite. I bet Fin could fit an army of missionaries in here.” Not that Jenna believed for a minute that Kelly’s yummy husband was a missionary. “But if he doesn’t want me to stay here, I’ll just get a hotel room.” There, let Kelly wiggle out of that.
Kelly glanced at Jenna’s bags piled by the door and sighed. “Sit down.”
Jenna recognized the expression in her sister’s eyes. She wasn’t buying into Jenna’s spur-of-the-moment story. Instead of sitting, Jenna wandered over to the large window. The city lights glittered bright and cold. She shivered. Someone walking on her grave? She hoped not.
Turning to face her sister, Jenna smiled. “I’ll stand. I sat too long on the plane.” Besides, she thought better on her feet.
Kelly nodded and collapsed onto the couch. She curled her bare feet up under her and tied her robe shut. “So why are you really here?”
Jenna thought about lying. She was good at it. She’d had lots of practice on herself. But in the end, she decided to tell the truth. Lying took energy, and she’d had a long day. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Kelly frowned. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Jenna rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. “Gee, let’s see. Uh, you met a guy, married him a month later, and then raced out of town so fast you left skid marks in front of the church. Oh, and did I mention that none of his family or friends came to the wedding? Add to that your pitiful attempts to avoid my perfectly reasonable questions about your new husband and, oh, I don’t know, I sort of felt the need to get to know Ty a little better.”
“Cut the sarcasm, Jenna.”
Jenna turned to stare out the window again. “Right. No more sarcasm. You brought Ty to meet us three days before your wedding. I’d like to visit for a week so that I can go back to Houston and report to Mom and Dad how deliriously happy you are. I think they deserve at least that much.”
“I’d call that meddling.”
“I’d call it caring.”
“I’d call it understandable worry.” The deep male voice spun Jenna away from the city’s lights.
The man standing in the doorway took her breath away. Literally. Big, about six eight, with a powerful body to go with the height. But that’s where his comparison to other men ended. Long silver hair fell past his shoulders. Not gray. Silver. The strands gleamed in the light. Where could you get that kind of color job? She wanted one.
His eyes were silver too. They had their own kind of glow going on. The silver color should’ve made him look as though he didn’t have irises at all, but she could see them clearly. As he drew closer, she realized his irises were outlined in black and there was a touch of purple deep in the silver. Cool contacts.
But it was his face that backed her up until she was pressed against the window. How could someone so beautiful be so terrifying? The journalist in her wanted to memorize details so she could get them right in her story—because anyone who looked like he did definitely had a hell of a story to tell—but the woman in her looked away. Jenna believed in woman’s intuition, and that intuition was yelling at her to run and not stop until she got to the airport.
His soft chuckle raised goose bumps along her arms and down her back. “And I try so hard to be nonthreatening.”
Taking a deep breath, Jenna glanced at him. “Yeah, well, you have to try harder.” She glanced at her sister. “Introductions?”
Kelly was looking beyond the silver-haired man. “Jenna, Fin. Fin, my sister Jenna.”
Jenna forced a smile. “The boss man. Glad to meet you.” Glad to meet anyone, since Kelly had made a bunch of lame excuses to keep from introducing her family to the men who worked with Ty.
“You have no idea how happy I am to meet you.” Fin managed to make the polite comment sound sinister. He reached for her hand.
Jenna fought the urge to bolt from the condo as his hand engulfed hers. She’d never thought you could physically feel a person’s power, but power was the only word that came to mind as pressure built up around her, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until she was gasping for breath. Just when she was certain her chest was about to cozy up to her backbone, he released her hand and stepped back.
Thank God. She had no idea what had just happened, but she couldn’t get away from Fin fast enough. She side-stepped past him only to realize that three other men had entered the room with him.
She recognized Ty. He broke from the group to join Kelly. So she was left staring at the remaining two men. They both looked big and dangerous like Ty, but that’s where the similarity ended.
One of them came forward to offer his hand. “I’m Lio. This visit is a surprise.” His cold, dark eyes said it wasn’t a good surprise.
She almost went limp with relief when his handshake didn’t set off any seismic tremors.
Lio’s hard face and unfriendly expression canceled out any points Jenna gave him for really knowing how to dress. From shoes to jacket, Lio was designer labeled all the way. And his brown hair showed what a great stylist could do.
If he expected her to feel guilty, he was doomed to disappointment. “Yes, well, Kelly will tell you I’m the queen of impulse.” She offered him a friendly grin just to annoy him before turning to the last man.
The last man did not offer his hand. He wore a black duster that hung open. Worn jeans, a black T-shirt, and scuffed boots put him at the other end of the clothes spectrum from Lio.
But clothes would never define this man. He’d moved to the dimmest area of the room, where shadows cast the planes of his face into mysterious layers of light and dark. And his eyes were…terrifying came to mind. They blazed with so many emotions that Jenna wanted to hold her hands in front of her to block the force of his stare. No, glare was a better description.
Fin stepped into the uncomfortable silence. “This is Al. He didn’t have a good night.”
Jenna widened her eyes. She hoped she looked suitably naïve and stupid. “You didn’t find any lost souls to save? How sad.”
For a moment a predatory gleam lit his eyes, and then he smiled.
Jenna forgot to think, she forgot to blink, she forgot to breathe. She knew smiles, all the things they said and didn’t say, all the ways they could manipulate. In the hands of a master, a smile could be the ultimate weapon. It could persuade, compel, destroy.
And Jenna was looking at a master. A woman would crawl on her hands and knees to a man with that smile. It was a soul-stealing, sensual lifting of his l
ips, all savage beauty and frightening secrets.
“We found everything we were looking for to night.” On that cryptic note, he turned and walked from the room.
“Gee, it was great meeting you too,” she muttered to his retreating back. Final thoughts: his tied-back hair fell a lot lower on his back than she’d expected, and she’d been so mesmerized by the emotion in his eyes that she hadn’t noticed their color.
The silence dragged on for a few beats too long. Then Fin walked over to lay his hand on her shoulder. She controlled her instinctive flinch.
“The room next to your sister’s is empty. I’ll have someone take care of your bags.”
Jenna nodded. “I appreciate it.” She glanced to where Ty had joined Kelly on the couch.
He grinned at her. “We’re glad you could visit. Kelly needs someone to go out and do stuff with.”
Jenna raised an eyebrow. Interesting. Why didn’t Ty do “stuff” with his new bride? She wondered if Kelly still drove the mean streets with him while he looked for souls to save. If so, she’d evidently taken to night off.
“What Ty’s trying to say in his own male way is that I need someone to go clothes shopping with.” For the first time since Jenna walked into the condo, Kelly sounded amused.
“Yes, well, I can do that.” Jenna ignored Lio, who’d flung himself onto a chair, instead aiming a comment at Fin. “This is an incredible condo.”
He strode over to the window and gazed out at the city. “I chose it because it overlooks Rittenhouse Square. Not much of a park, but I like to be near trees.”
Jenna could see him watching her in the window’s reflection. “This must cost a fortune.” Left unasked was, “Where the hell would a missionary get that kind of money?”
A rude comment. Too bad. She’d learned one important thing during the three years she’d spent writing for The Scene. You only got good answers when you asked questions that made people squirm. Besides, she’d ask this guy what color shorts he wore if that’s what she needed to know to keep Kelly safe.
“I have a trust fund.” There was laughter in his voice. “And they’re white.” She could see his smile reflected in the glass.
White? No, he couldn’t have…Her knees felt a little rubbery. She resisted the need to sit down. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll head for my room. It’s been a long night.” Turning away from Fin, she aimed what was probably a sickly grin at her sister. And she was definitely not running away.
Kelly looked troubled. “Sure. Maybe we’ll go shopping in the afternoon.”
Ty smiled. “I’ll grab your bags.” He leaned over to kiss Kelly before rising from the couch.
Jenna chalked one up for his side. He wasn’t afraid to show affection toward Kelly in front of everyone. She could see why her sister had fallen for Ty Endeka. With that dark hair and those gray eyes, he was a great-looking guy. She chanced a quick glance at Fin. Even if he did have a strange boss.
Kelly wasn’t smiling. She was worried. It was there in the crease between her eyes, the way she’d pressed her lips into a thin line, and how she avoided looking directly at her sister. Jenna tucked that fact away for further investigation.
Fin finally turned from the window. “I hear you thought Ty was a vampire when Kelly first met him.” He was still smiling.
Well, that was embarrassing. She glanced away from those silver eyes. “Umm, sometimes I let my imagination get away from me. I guess it was the whole mysterious, work-at-night thing.” Along with some unexplained emotional hits her sister had taken when Ty was near.
Jenna didn’t believe in vampires, werewolves, or alien abductions, but she never stopped hoping one would prove her wrong. In her line of work, fame and fortune were only one ET sighting away.
Suddenly, Fin was beside her. She hadn’t seen or heard him move. She controlled a startled squeak.
“Your imagination needs an upgrade, Jenna. You have to think outside the box.”
His murmur made her want to shrink away from him. And because there was no reason for her reaction, she forced herself to meet his gaze. “Sorry, I’m not too creative. Vampires are at the top of my woo-woo list.”
“Hmm. Maybe we’ll have to widen your horizons, then.” He sounded thoughtful. And completely serious.
“Sure. We’ll do that.” As she followed Ty from the room, Jenna knew she was in full retreat. Fin was too beautiful, too strange, too…Too unearthly? Okay, so he scared her.
A short time later, as she lay in bed staring at the ceiling, Jenna was still thinking about the men she’d met. Once Kelly and she were away from this condo, she’d wring the truth from her sister, because there was nothing missionary-like about these guys. Any lost souls with a lick of sense would run and hide if they saw Fin and his crew coming. That’s what she’d do.
She finally fell asleep on the promise that tomorrow she’d check out Al’s eye color.
Chapter Two
Al’s hair was braided today, as tightly controlled as his anger. That didn’t mean the anger wasn’t still simmering below the surface, though.
He paced the private elevator taking him up to the penthouse condo. Fin probably had security cameras watching his every move. Controlling bastard.
Lio and Ty might not have paid much attention to Al’s brief defiance last night, but Fin had. The only question was how Fin would deal with him. And deal he would. Al never doubted that.
He stepped from the elevator and strode to the hand-carved door. Pretentious bastard. The thought almost made him smile. Almost. Guess he couldn’t blame Fin for the door.
Then he stood waiting. Fin knew he was here. No need to knock. He probably also knew Al had called him a bastard twice. Fin wouldn’t care. Mad, sad, glad—emotions didn’t touch Fin.
While he waited, Al thought about what Fin might have lined up for him. Whatever it was, Al wouldn’t like it.
Ty interrupted Al’s thoughts by yanking open the door. He didn’t look happy. But then Ty had spent the night here, so he’d been exposed for hours to whatever it was that caused the Eleven’s aggression levels to skyrocket when Fin was near. Scowling, Ty gave him only a few seconds to step inside before he slammed the door shut.
Ty turned and headed for the dining room, complaining all the way. “He got me out of bed at ten. Said to meet him and the rest of you guys here in fifteen minutes. No explanation. My head didn’t hit the pillow until five. Waking up before noon puts me in a crappy mood.”
No shit. “Yeah. Hope this is important.” Al was tired too. On a whole bunch of levels.
Ty paused in the doorway to the dining room. “It’s bad when we’re all together.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “I want to kill something.”
Al felt the wave of aggression from the nine men roll over him as he sat down at Fin’s fancy antique table. Ten now that he was here. Ten plus Fin made up the Eleven, men with the souls of ultimate predators. The world didn’t know it yet, but they were here to save humanity’s butt. He nodded at his partner.
Car stared at him from bright green eyes that always seemed out of place in that savage face. He rubbed his hand over his shaved head.
“Where’s the damn coffee?” Car’s usual bad attitude was set on hyperdrive today. “Whatever the big man wants, it could’ve waited a few more hours.” He swung his head to stare at the kitchen door.
Al figured Greer had better come through that door with a pot in his hand soon if he didn’t want to be Car’s main meal.
As if conjured from the lightning strikes of bad temper snapping and crackling around the seated men, Fin’s cook pushed open the door and rolled his cart up to the table. Two big pots of coffee had a place of honor on it, along with a bunch of covered plates.
Greer wasn’t a big guy, but his soul was tiger. A predator. That commanded respect from Al and the others. Too bad he was otherkin instead of a shifter. Otherkin had souls trapped in the wrong bodies, but they didn’t have the power to change. Greer would never walk the Earth in
the skin of his tiger. Al felt sorry for him.
While the others were busy shoveling food onto their plates and gulping their first shot of caffeine for the day, Al glanced around the table. Fin hadn’t shown up yet. When Al realized what he was really searching for, he immediately stopped looking.
The woman wasn’t there. He refused to recognize any disappointment in that thought. Jenna Maloy didn’t belong in Philly with them. She had no place in what they were doing. Kelly’s sister was nothing more than an annoying footnote to the battle the Eleven were fighting. Still, he kind of wished the annoying footnote was here so he could watch her try to play Fin. No way would Fin believe she’d come here for a friendly visit with her sister.
Al glanced across the table at Ty. “I thought you said Kelly planned to tell her family everything. Maybe it’s just me, but I got the feeling her sister didn’t have a clue about us.”
Ty looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, well, she’s waiting for the right moment.”
“When’s it going to happen? Some night when the sister sees what she shouldn’t see? It’ll be tough then to—”
“Shut up. It’s none of your business.” Ty’s voice was a low growl. He half rose.
The men around the table grew still. Anticipation fed the silence.
Al started to rise too. “The sister is a danger to all of us.”
“Sit the hell down. Both of you.” Fin’s voice sounded weary.
The pure novelty of that swung Al’s attention from Ty. Fin took the seat at the head of the table. He exhaled deeply as he sat. For Fin that was tantamount to someone else collapsing from exhaustion.
Fin didn’t waste time. “Finish your meal while I fill you in.”
Everyone began eating again, but no one talked.
“Zero’s looking for us.”
Everyone stopped eating.
“When we showed up in Houston, Zero didn’t think we were much of a threat. He took care of us sixty-five million years ago, so doing it one more time was no big deal.”
Fin’s silver eyes were flat, but Al knew that death lived behind them.