“That’s not nice, you know,” she said, her angelic voice breaking the heavy silence between them.
He tensed his muscles to prevent himself from leaping over the table to touch her. This was ridiculous. She was the one who should stop. “What’s not nice?”
“Glaring. It’s rude. You stole me, not the other way around. I’m not sure what you’re so pissed about.”
“I’m pissed that you keep trying to use your magic on me. That’s what’s not nice.”
She dropped her hands away from her water and laughed. The sound sent blood rushing to his dick. Yup. Ri-dick-ulous. He ground his teeth together and growled. When she didn’t stop chuckling, he drank more of his beer.
“Is this how you deal with women you’re attracted to?”
Bear choked on his drink. “Attra...what? That’s—”
She waved his protest away. “You must have an awful love life.”
“My love life is just fine, thank you,” he sputtered. The memory of Janice’s last phone call flared like a bad case of indigestion. He flinched. Whatever. Chloe had no way of knowing about that.
“Sure...sure...” Her lips twitched.
He wanted nothing more than to smash his mouth against hers and feel that wicked tongue on his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second instead. “Unbelievable.”
Her eyebrows shot up, mocking him with feigned innocence. “If this attraction is so unsettling to you, we could always act on it and cut the tension.” She leaned forward, mouth slightly parted, black irises bleeding out to cover the whites of her eyes. “It would be an enjoyable way to pass the time while you figure out what you’re going to do.”
Bear slammed his bottle down on the table.
Chloe giggled and brushed her white hair back from her smooth skin.
He jabbed his finger in the air at her. “You will stop this act and I will make a plan.”
She flopped back in her chair. The cheap wood creaked. “I’m not actively doing a thing.”
He glared.
“But fine. Let’s make a deal.” She placed on hand over her heart. “I won’t try to improve your love life.”
He snapped his mouth shut.
“And you will feed me. And soon or all bets are off. I’m not responsible for my actions when I’m hungry.”
“I’m starting to realize why someone locked you in a magical block of wood.”
She laughed again and his traitorous body pulsed in response.
Bear watched Chloe inhale the pizza at an alarming rate. It was one of those fancy kinds of pizza, not the regular pepperoni and cheese he normally ordered. The look on her face when he read out the description for this gourmet option made him cave. Who was he to deny a pretty lady who’d been stuck in a magical box for who-knew-how-long good pizza? It’s not as though it had pickles on it. That would be an abomination to the world of pizza and it had no place in his home.
The smell of greasy dough, cheese, chorizo sausage and a whole slew of veggies and herbs he couldn’t name filled the room. But it wasn’t the pizza that made his mouth water.
Chloe licked her fingers and met his gaze. She took her time sucking the grease off the last finger.
He dropped his slice of pizza. It flopped onto his plate with a cheesy splat.
“Stop it,” he hissed, not shaking the feeling of déjà vu.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help it. You’re so easy to...excite.” She smirked and reached for her glass of water. After taking a long sip, she set it down and met his gaze. “Do you honestly have no idea why you feel the way you do?”
“Oh, I know.”
She pulled another slice of pizza from the box. “Enlighten me then,”
He waved his hand at her. “You’re obviously weaving some sort of dark fae spell on me. I’d have to be a corpse not to respond to the magic coupled with your beauty.”
Her irises bled out again and he squashed the urge to go to her.
She blinked and rested her half-eaten pizza slice on the plate. “I take it you don’t have a lot of experience with dark fae.”
Bear bristled. He was experienced where he needed to be, thank you very much.
Chloe ignored his reaction and continued. “The fae magic that radiates off me is unintentional. It drifts from me just as it does with you. You’re more sensitive to my power because you find me attractive and our magic is compatible. That’s all.”
Bear snatched his beer from the table and took a long drink. “Are you going to dish some fated mate bullshit?”
Chloe laughed again, the sound addictive. A thought smacked Bear in the face. He’d do anything in his power to see her dazzling smile and hear that enchanting laugh again. Anything.
He drank more beer. What the fuck? He didn’t care what she said. Fae couldn’t be trusted and this shit wasn’t natural. She’d woven a powerful spell over him. That had to be it.
“Fated mates?” Chloe’s tone was amused. “No. Absolutely not. Have you been reading your sister’s romance novels again?”
“Again?” How’d she know he had a sister?
She smiled as if she knew some deep secret of his.
“I only read one section one time to see what all the fuss was about.” Raven had practically shoved the book in his hands and told him if he wanted to actually be a “decent fucking human being” he’d read it as if it was a manual to a woman’s heart. Weirdo. Like she was some love expert.
She crossed her arms and smirked again. “And?”
“And it was unrealistic. No man could possibly live up to the expectations set by Joe Roth. Nobody can read minds like that. It only sets women up for disappointment.”
Chloe’s smirk spread into a wide smile. “Struck a nerve, did I?”
He shut his mouth again. Anything he said now would come across as defensive. He had no reason to feel that way.
“Have you never spoken with a fae before? Has no one shown you the root of your power?”
He looked away and squeezed his beer bottle a little too tightly. “My mother strictly forbade us to go into the Underworld and I never had any opportunities for a long heart to heart with a random fae about my inadequacies.”
Chloe cocked her head.
“What?”
She shrugged. “You don’t seem like the type to listen to orders or rules when they’re in the way of something you want. You could’ve defied your mother.”
“You have obviously never met Elizabeth Crawford.”
Chloe laughed. “So, you haven’t met any dark fae? At all?”
“I’ve met some.”
“Women?”
He narrowed his eyes, not sure what she was getting at.
“I’m assuming you’re a heterosexual male fae who’s only met other male fae so there was no attraction involved.” She paused to wink. “At least not from your end of things.”
He opened his mouth to protest and she held up her hand to stop him. “Surely, you’ve met women before where you were instantly attracted to them.”
“Sure.”
“That’s what this is, only our compatible magic emphasizes it.”
“Emphasizes?” More Underworld dark fae bullshit.
“Accentuates, highlights, stresses...Yeah. Emphasizes. It might be potent and intoxicating, but you have free will. You don’t have to act on it.” She leaned over her plate with the forgotten slice. “But it’s more fun if you do.”
“What makes our magic compatible?” He gulped down the rest of his beer, trying not to show her how important her answer was. How could anything be a match to his puny power? Unless it was a yin and yang sort of thing. Her bold, impressive magic of mammoth proportions to his rinky-dink, dawdling power.
Bear swallowed the bitter beer and waited for Chloe to finish studying him like a lab rat.
“You really have no clue, do you?”
“And you do?”
She nodded.
“Enlighten me, then,” he said, using her own words from earlier.
She smiled and leaned back in her chair again, the soft lighting making her skin glow, warm and inviting.
“My power is all about shining light on darkness.”
“Darkness?”
She shrugged. “Literal or figurative. Secrets, lies, hidden truths.” She skewered him with an imperceptible gaze. “Self-made barriers.”
Bear frowned. “Barriers? I don’t have any of those. Surely, I would remember constructing magical walls.”
Chloe cocked her head at him. “Haven’t you? I can sense it. A giant barricade with a wealth of magic behind it, leaking out of cracks and crevices. One day, your dam will break, and it will be magnificent.”
Bear snorted. “Were you imprisoned because of hallucinations, by any chance?”
“I’m quite serious.”
“So am I.”
Chloe frowned and pursed her lips. “Did you experience any trauma when you were younger?”
“Describe trauma?”
“A moment of great pain or sadness, physical or mental.”
Bear sat back and a memory crashed into his mind—a memory full of sadness and pain. The first time Raven shifted with Mom and Dad—Terry—and Bear didn’t. He couldn’t. It was in that moment, Bear realized he would never be able to join them. Not like that. He would always be different and apart from his shifter family. He could call birds to him, but he’d never transform. He’d never join them. He’d never be like them. He’d never be one of them. And he wanted so desperately to belong.
Chloe’s knowing gaze burned. He looked away, wanting to say something scathing or mean. Lash out. Maybe tell her to fuck off.
But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t speak to her like that.
It would be so easy to lie and tell her she knew nothing. But he couldn’t do that, either. Because she did. She saw through everything, even the cloaking ring, and she scared the shit out of him.
Chapter Eleven
“Fuck it.”
~ Bear’s final thought before making decisions
Bear glanced over his shoulder for the third time since leaving Chloe behind in his rune-protected apartment. The dark fae lord had assured him as long as the runes were drawn, they’d trap the Claíomh Solais and prevent anyone from portalling into the apartment. But the client had also banked on Bear not opening the box.
Bear waited in the apartment building’s hallway for almost an hour to see if she’d emerge.
Nothing.
She didn’t even try the door handle. When she found out today’s date, she’d wanted to watch television and “catch up.” Exactly how long had she been trapped in that box? She wouldn’t say.
Tasha clicked as she flew overhead, occasionally stopping on awnings, windowsills or ledges to click at him some more. He didn’t need to speak bird to know she was both telling him off for the disappearing act at the same time as expressing her excitement to see him again.
A man walking in the opposite direction on the sidewalk rammed his shoulder into Bear’s.
“Hey! Watch it, asshole!” the man barked over his shoulder.
Bear waved at him with his middle finger and kept walking. If he ran into someone, he’d normally apologize, but the other man had been walking side by side with his buddy and the two of them had taken over more than half the sidewalk. Why should Bear have to flatten himself against the wall to let two inconsiderate strangers walk past?
“Didn’t you hear me, asshole?” A large, heavy hand clamped on Bear’s shoulder and tugged.
Bear spun with the motion and blocked the predictable punch to the face with his arm. He stepped inside the man’s guard, grabbed both his shoulders and whipped his head forward.
Crack!
The man reeled back from the head butt and clutched his spurting nose. “Phuuck.”
Bear ignored him and turned to his buddy. “You want to come at me, too?”
The friend shook his head, raised his hands and backed away.
Everyone stared. Great. Low profile blown. His heart pumped blood hard enough the pounding of it drowned out all other sounds. He rounded his shoulders, turned back and ducked around the next corner. He didn’t want to make a scene and here he was getting into scraps on the sidewalk on the East Side. Stupid.
Not wanting to risk the main streets, he made his way through the filthy side streets to the local convenience store that sold everything from onions to cell phone cases decorated with kitties. He needed a burner phone, and in less than twenty minutes, he walked out of the store with one set up.
When the next SkyTrain slid to a squeaky halt, he hopped on and ignored Tasha’s indignant squawk. She’d find him again soon enough. She always did.
Bear got his lodestone ready and pulled out the business card of the dark fae. He stared at his phone. Maybe he should call Raven. Not for advice or help—he didn’t want his twin mixed up in this—but just to hear her voice. He knew his distance hurt her. He hurt his whole family, including himself. But he just couldn’t...
He gripped the phone and looked away. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he shook his head as if it would magically clear his thoughts.
He couldn’t bring himself to admit he’d been wrong. So wrong.
Bear had planned to make it big and roll back into the family house a successful man, proving to Terry he could make it on his own, doing things his own way. Instead, he was a thief and broke every single code of ethics Terry tried to instill in him.
He glanced at the card. Well, almost every code. There was still some honour left in him after all. Bear might’ve finally taken one bad job too many, but at least he’d dictate how things ended. On his terms.
He should’ve paid more attention to the early warning signs and turned down this job before meeting with the dark fae lord and crossing that point of no return. If he hadn’t taken the job, though, someone else would have. Chloe would still be in the box and the Claíomh Solais would end up in someone else’s hands. Literally.
Anger bubbled up inside him, and he turned the phone on. While he punched in the number, he took another deep breath.
The dark fae lord picked up on the first ring, his deep voice rattling the phone’s cheap speakers. “Is it done?”
Bear had been unsure of what to say or do, but the hard, detached voice of the dark fae lord confirmed Bear’s belief he couldn’t under any circumstances hand Chloe over to him, nor would lying get him far. Even if this choice meant his death, he had to stand for something. Maybe one day his family would be proud of him, proud that he finally made the right choice and protected something other than himself.
He closed his eyes.
All this time he searched for a way to prove himself without having the ability to shift, and the answer had been there the whole time. Raven was right. He was an idiot.
“You didn’t tell me the Claíomh Solais was a woman,” Bear growled. He briefly considered denying any knowledge of Chloe and lying about completing the job, but the dark fae lord would find out. Spies abounded in the Underworld and at least one fae already knew of the theft. Shadow Man.
Silence met his statement.
“The deal is fucking off. Women aren’t property or chattel.”
A couple of passengers blanched and stared at him with round eyes. He turned away from them to look out the window as metro Vancouver whizzed by.
“You weren’t supposed to open the box.” The dark fae lord’s voice dropped dangerously low.
“I’m dead either way.” The cars on the SkyTrain jostled a little as they rounded a corner.
The silence meeting Bear’s analysis confirmed he was right. At least this man didn’t insult him with lies. Instead, after another long pause, he said, “Bring Chloe to me.”
“Go fuck yourself.” Bear hung up. He did the right thing, but a sense of dread settled over him and clamped onto his gut. He’d stolen from one dangerous dark fae lord and he’d backed out of a deal with another. It was only a matter of time before one or both caught up with him.
/>
Maybe he could make a deal with the fae he stole Chloe from. His memory flashed to the fae’s deadly expression and the flash of metal. Yeah, sure. Make a deal with a man who threw a knife at his chest. He’d already contemplated that idea and it was just as dumb as the first time the thought crossed his mind. He wouldn’t get past showing his face. That fae was definitely the type who killed first and asked questions later.
Bear swallowed and pulled his shoulders back. He’d find a solution to this problem. He always did. Like the corvids he commanded, he was resourceful. And when he figured out a safe way to return, he’d go to his family and make things right.
Bear dismantled the phone and chucked it in the garbage at the next stop before hopping on the next train. He had the rest of the Millennium Line loop to figure out what to do before heading back to the safe house.
To Chloe.
Chapter Twelve
“I think my soulmate might be carbs.”
~ Unknown, but also Bear’s sister, Raven
Bear pushed open the apartment door and slipped inside. The cool air brushed his face and chased away some of the heat from the late summer’s day.
Chloe sat at the kitchen counter and sipped water from one of the two glasses he had in the cupboard. Unexpected relief washed through him. She was still here.
An open window let a gentle breeze into the apartment, and confirmed it didn’t matter if the doors and windows were opened, closed, or locked, the runes trapped Chloe inside.
“What?” Chloe set her glass down. “No menacing dark fae lord trailing behind you to whisk me away?”
Bear shut the door with his foot and turned the deadbolt. “No. I told you I wasn’t a human trafficker and I meant it.”
“Some would argue I shouldn’t get the same consideration as a human.”
Anger flared. Who were these people? An overwhelming urge to hunt them down and beat them rose up from within. Bear pushed the feelings down, took a deep breath and unclenched his free hand. He’d struggled to control his emotions since he “met” Chloe.
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