by Eva Chase
“All right,” his boss said with a flick of his hand. “Get going. I’m sure she doesn’t want to see your face any more than she has to. You can get started with your new job.” He turned back to me with that slanted smile. “I’ve assigned him to cleaning duty for a month, which seemed to make sense, considering what a mess he made of things.”
“I’m confused,” I said. “I— So you didn’t mean to kidnap me?” It was a little hard to wrap my head around that idea.
“Like I said, not my style. I’d have told Leonard to bring you back to your home if I’d known where that was. Since I didn’t”—he motioned to the room—“I tried to make you as comfortable as possible in the meantime.”
He hadn’t come any closer, still giving me plenty of space. But he was standing between me and the doorway. I wet my lips.
“So, if I wanted to, I could go home right now?”
The guy’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, of course. Be my guest to stop being my guest.” He sidestepped to open the way to the door. “We’re only a half hour from Brooklyn, and there’s a train station a ten minute walk down the street. But maybe you’ll consider accepting my hospitality for a little longer, now that you’re here and all? I’ve been waiting a very long time to get the chance to talk to you.”
I’d already crossed half the room. At that comment, my body froze up. I stared at him. “What do you mean? You said that before: that you wanted to talk to me. Talk to me about what? Who are you? Why were you—and your ‘assistant’—poking around in my life at all?”
“Let’s take those one at a time, starting with the simplest. My name is Marco. Pleased to meet you.” He dipped his head in a playful half bow. “I’d like to talk to you about pretty much everything, but maybe starting with what you’ve been doing for the last sixteen years. And do you really have no idea why I’d be interested?”
Marco said the last bit lightly, but his indigo gaze held mine intently. That shiver of anticipation ran through my nerves again. Randomly I found myself wondering what one of those agile hands would feel like tracing over my skin—
Okay, Ren, mind out of the gutter. You’ve known this guy exactly five minutes, and you can’t even be sure this whole kidnapping thing was really accidental.
Other than the fact that I believed him, right down in the core of me, for reasons I couldn’t explain. He wouldn’t lie to me, my gut said. How the hell could I know that?
None of those reactions answered his question, though. “No,” I said. “I haven’t got a clue. This isn’t some kind of birthday prank that Kylie set up, is it?” It seemed awfully elaborate—and freaky—even for her.
Marco shook his head. “No. Definitely not a prank. I’m just trying to make things right.”
“With me? But I’ve never met you before. I’ve never even seen you before.”
“Haven’t we met? Your name is Serenity, isn’t it?”
I hadn’t thought I could tense up any more than I already was. It turned out I was wrong. My back went completely rigid.
No one used that name. No one had used it except my mother, in the quietest whispers when I was sick or drifting off to sleep, in as long as I could remember.
“My name is Ren,” I said. My voice came out in a rasp.
“Short for Serenity,” Marco said. “You don’t need to hide it with me. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Why would he say that? My thoughts were spinning. I pressed my hand to my forehead. Marco stepped toward me.
“I don’t understand any of this,” I said. “I really don’t.”
His expression softened. As I dropped my hand, he raised his to touch my cheek. My pulse hiccupped, but with the urge to lean into his touch, not to pull away. My skin tingled beneath his fingers. A rich, spicy smell like cinnamon-spiked coffee wafted off of him. Delicious. My gaze dropped to his mouth.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “What did she do to you, my Princess of Flames?” he murmured. “How has she shut you away?”
“No one shut me away,” I said. “I’m right here. Who are you talking about?”
“Your mother. It had to be her. To protect you, of course, but—”
I jerked back, my eyes widening. “What do you know about my mother? How do you know anything about her?”
Marco looked just as startled by my outburst as I felt. “You could say we ran in the same circles a long time ago. I’ve been looking for her just as much as you.”
The hope that had started to bubble up inside me burst. “Then you don’t know where she is now.”
He frowned. “No. Don’t you? Ren, I think you’d better—” He drew in a sharp breath and summoned his earlier jaunty tone. “I’m being a horrible host. All this talk over breakfast time and not offering you a single thing to eat. I’ll bring something up for you. Why don’t you take a moment to clear your head? It seems we have more to talk about than I realized.”
He lifted my hand to give it a peck on the back. The brush of his lips left my skin burning. Then he swept out of the room without waiting for my response.
Chapter 3
Marco
Leonard, the idiot, was hanging around in the hall. “What are you doing?” I snarled as I strode past him. “I told you to get started on your cleaning detail.”
He hurried after me, looking bewildered. “I thought you were joking about that, Marco.”
“Oh, really?” I spun on him at the top of the staircase. “Did you also think I was joking when I reamed you out for going up to my friend in there and trying to investigate on your own? Not to mention dragging her out here against her will? Or did that part, at least, sink in?”
Leonard cringed. With anyone else, he would have blustered back, but I knew he was a coward at heart. He crumbled in the face of a stronger authority.
Unfortunately I hadn’t been around to exert that authority last night. Track the source of the magic as closely as possible, I’d told him. I’ll take over from there when I make it up from North Carolina. Apparently those instructions hadn’t been clear enough. My New York lieutenant had gotten it into his head that I’d be impressed if he brought the girl in on his own. Because kidnapping was obviously the perfect way to rebuild the trust that had been so brutally lost.
But she didn’t seem to remember there was anything to rebuild. She’d responded to me—I’d caught her reaction, that immediate draw toward one’s mate. The same thing I’d felt the second I’d laid eyes on her. And, God, what a beauty of a mate I had. The smell of her, sweet and tart at the same time, when I’d leaned close to her... It’d taken all my self-control not to lower my lips to hers, to find out if she tasted just as good.
She wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t ready for any of this. Her body had responded, but her confusion had been genuine. She didn’t even recognize what I was, and I was pretty sure she didn’t know what she was either. My Princess of Flames, without a clue she was anything other than an ordinary human being. You couldn’t get much more absurd than that.
And now I had to try to explain it to her on top of justifying my lieutenant’s unfortunate kidnapping tendencies.
I glowered at Leonard a little more, but really, the fault was at least half mine for picking him for the job.
“The other alphas will be on their way,” I said. “They could arrive any minute. So now that you know I’m not joking, please find a lamp to dust or a toilet to scrub.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.” Leonard bobbed his head and loped away. Maybe he could learn. I didn’t enjoy hearing my underlings simper, but it was better than them running around half-cocked—and fucking up the most important moment in my life so far.
I headed downstairs, picking up the scent of frying sausages and scrambled eggs from the kitchen. Lindy, who took care of this house during the long periods when I was situated elsewhere, had known we were going to need breakfast even if I’d forgotten. She was sharp enough that she’d probably already made enough for guests.
Under the sounds of sizzli
ng oil and a spatula tapping the pans, a creaking reached my feline-sharp ears. I stopped, turning my head to zero in on the noise.
The back parlor. Someone was trying to jimmy open the window from outside.
First kidnapping and then breaking and entering. This really was shaping up to be a fantastic day. I sucked in a breath.
“Leonard!” I shouted, making for the front hall. “I’ve got another job for you after all.”
Ren
What did she do to you, my Princess of Flames? How has she shut you away?
Marco’s words echoed in my head. I leaned it into my hands where I was sitting on the edge of the bed. My mind hadn’t stopped reeling since he’d walked out the door. Which he’d left open, so I guessed I was allowed to leave if I wanted to. I just didn’t see how I could when there were so many questions I needed answered now.
How had he known my mother? Why did he think he knew me? How had he found out my full name? What was so important that he’d tracked me down—that his “assistant” had thought it was worth kidnapping me over?
Why did I feel the urge to walk into his arms every second I was near him?
A yelp from outside broke through my whirling thoughts. There was a thump and a grunt, sounds of a struggle. I was already on my feet hurrying to the window when a familiar chirpy voice, hardened with anger, carried through the glass.
“Let me go! And you’d better let Ren go too. I know you took her in there. You freaking assholes. I called the police! They’ll be here any time now.”
Kylie. What was she doing here? I dashed the rest of the way to the window.
Kylie’s neon pink pixie cut flashed in the brightening sunlight. Marco’s assistant Leonard had tackled her to the ground with her arms pinned behind her back. She squirmed against him, still yelling threats and insults even though her face was pressed against the grass. Marco stood over the two of them. His mouth moved, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying to Leonard.
A chill washed over me. Marco had claimed the kidnapping was accidental, but he did at least hire guys who thought that kind of behavior was a-okay. What if he hurt Kylie—or worse?
I yanked up the window and kicked out the screen. Then, in a blink, I’d leapt onto the ledge and vaulted myself out into the air.
The wind rushed past me with the exhilaration a good jump always brought. Like a surge of power I could almost grasp hold of before it slipped through my fingers. My body hunched over, braced for impact. I hit the ground with a thunk that rattled my bones but didn’t break any. I’d done worse.
When I scrambled to my feet, Marco was staring at me with those intoxicating indigo eyes. He glanced from me to the window and back again. Then he laughed. “If you wanted to come down, I do have a perfectly good staircase.”
I ignored the quip. Leonard had frozen to watch what was going on, but he still had Kylie jammed against the lawn. “Don’t hurt her,” I said. “Let her go. She’s my best friend.”
Marco arched an eyebrow at me. “I caught your best friend attempting to break into my home.”
“Because I caught you dragging Ren off to do who knows what to her,” Kylie snapped back. She managed to tip her head at an angle so she could meet my eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. Physically speaking, at least. Emotionally... My confusion had faded behind that sharp scrabbling feeling in my chest, which was getting stronger every second Kylie lay pinned on the ground. Leonard was only following orders. I glared at Marco. “I said, Let her go. She was only trying to help me. You can’t blame her for that.”
Something shifted in his eyes as he gazed back at me. A deeper heat than before collected between my legs. It really wasn’t fair that this dude could make my panties melt with just one look, even when I was totally pissed off at him.
At least he listened. He raised his hand. “Leonard, that’s enough.”
He spoke smoothly and evenly, but his assistant jerked back as if Marco had barked the order. Kylie shoved herself upright, swiping at the bits of grass clinging to her tank top and bleached cutoffs. The second she was on her feet, she grabbed me in a hug. I squeezed her back, feeling steady for the first time since I’d woken up.
The sensation didn’t last. Marco cleared his throat. “Can I ask your friend exactly how she found us?”
Kylie drew back, but she kept one arm slung around me protectively. She was half a foot shorter than me and wiry besides that, but I knew how fiercely she could fight if she had to.
“I was coming to the bar to meet up with Ren,” she said. “And I saw your guy here stuffing her in the back of a car. She was obviously unconscious. He drove off before I caught up, but I got the license plate. From there...” Her lips curled into a smirk. “Let’s just say I know people who know how to get into the right databases. And traffic cams are awesome.”
Marco’s gaze flicked to the traffic lights at the end of the long suburban block. He shook his head, looking almost amused. Kylie really did know people—lots of people. Pretty much anything you needed, she could find someone who could do it. She’d racked up a lot of favors over the years.
Believe me, I don’t even like most of ‘em, she’d said to me one time, halfway through a bottle of cheap wine. But it’s better getting in with people and knowing how far you can trust ‘em than never knowing what they might be up to.
“And are the police actually on their way?” Marco asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Kylie shot back, but I could tell from the twitch of her eyes that she was bluffing. Neither of us had a whole lot of faith in cops. She’d been trying to rescue me on her own.
It seemed Marco could read the lie too. “Well, you’ve found Ren, and you can see that she’s all right,” he said. “The situation is complicated. And it doesn’t involve you. So as wonderful as it was that you dropped by, I’ll have to ask you to leave now.”
Kylie jutted out her chin. “Uh-uh. No way. There’s obviously something sketchy going on here. Come on, Ren. Let’s vamoose.”
We could. Marco didn’t make any move to stop me, just looked at me questioningly. Waiting to see what I would do. Seeing that strengthened my resolve.
“I can’t go yet,” I told Kylie. “I need to talk with Marco some more.”
She tugged me around to face her. “Are you kidding me? The guy seems like a total scammer.”
I swallowed hard. “He knows something about my mom,” I said.
Kylie’s eyes widened. I didn’t talk about Mom very much with anyone, but my best friend had heard by far the most. And she was good at reading me even when I didn’t want to show how I was feeling, so she probably had a better idea of how much my mother’s disappearance haunted me than I’d have liked.
“Okay,” she said. “I get that. But I don’t want to leave you alone with these dudes either. If you’re staying, I’m staying.”
Of course she’d say that. My throat tightened. There wasn’t any point in arguing with her. I turned to Marco. “Anything you’re going to say to me, Kylie can hear it too. That’s the deal.”
We stared each other down for half a minute. Then Marco chuckled. “All right. This should be interesting. Come on in. We’ll have a brunch party.”
He sauntered back to the front door without even checking to see if we were going to follow. I made a face at his back, but I hurried along behind him. Kylie wrapped her hand around mine.
“You’re sure he’s legit?” she murmured to me.
“He knew things he couldn’t otherwise.” Like my full name, which I’d never told even Kylie. And that it’d been sixteen years since Mom and I had come to the city.
A memory swam up from my birthday just a couple days after we’d first arrived in our East Village apartment, the rooms still bare, a cake with five candles on the floor between Mom and me. Make a wish. You can ask for anything you want. We’re starting new.
Marco led us into a sitting room on the first floor. Like the bedroom I’d woken up in, the
furniture was all tasteful, expensive-looking antiques. Kylie and I sat next to each other on a velvet-cushioned settee.
A middle-aged woman with tightly curled gray-blond hair glided into the room and set plates heaped with sausages, scrambled eggs, and buttered toast on the mahogany coffee table in front of us. The hearty smell set my mouth watering. I hadn’t eaten since yesterday’s mid-afternoon snack. I grabbed one of the plates and a fork that looked like actual silverware and dug in.
Kylie eyed the spread. “Shit, that does look good.” She picked up a plate and shoveled a forkful off eggs into her mouth. Her eyes rolled back with an ecstatic expression. Then she jabbed her fork toward Marco. He was leaning against the mantle of the empty fireplace, his arms casually crossed in front of him, watching us with a little smile.
“So what’s your news about Ren’s mom?” Kylie said. “We’ve got ears even if we’re eating.”
I lifted my head, gulping a piece of sausage. Marco ran his thumb over his perfect, firm lips. I was definitely not thinking about what it’d be like to kiss them while I waited on the edge of my seat for his answer. My heart had started thudding again.
“Maybe first I should ask what you know about her,” he said in his usual light tone.
“Not much,” Kylie said. “Only what Ren’s told me. She was already out of the picture when I came into it.”
“I’m getting the impression she’s been ‘out of the picture’ for a while.” Marco glanced at me for confirmation.
I nodded, hesitant to offer any details. I still didn’t know enough about this guy to be sure how far I could trust him. “She took a lot of trips out of the city,” I said. “The last time, she didn’t come home.”
“And how long ago was that?”
“Do you really need me to tell you that, or do you already know?”
The serious expression I’d only glimpsed once before came back, a brief shadow across his handsome face. “I promise you, I’m not playing a game here. I want to understand what’s happened as much as you do. I’m hoping that between the two of us we can put together enough pieces to see the entire picture.”