Ana blended a batch of margaritas while I sat on the couch and scrolled through Netflix, trying to pick a mindless movie or show to have on in the background while we talked. Our girls’ nights often turned into drinking and talking ourselves into oblivion. I loved every minute of it. Especially now, when I felt so disconnected from my best friend.
Ana sat down with a huff and handed me my extra salty rimmed glass. “So, who the hell are you?” she asked, giving me side-eye.
“I could ask you the same thing. I feel like we haven’t talked in years.”
“Agreed.” Ana took a long drink before she draped her legs over mine and snuggled back deeper into the couch. “Hi, I’m Ana. I recently discovered that my powers range from not only shooting sparks out of my hands but glamour, draw, and a whole new range of combative moves that Kallan, my surly yet somewhat sexy instructor has begun to teach me.”
“You sound like one of those Urban Fantasy novel heroines you love to read about,” I joked.
Ana took another healthy sip. “And I have a secret, but my best friend has yet to tell me hers, so she doesn’t get to hear mine yet.”
“And what secret do you think I hold?” I asked, nervousness fluttering in my belly.
“That you know something about Kallan, or something about him, annoys you. You never treat people like that unless you have reason to. Or else you’re keeping something from me.”
I twisted my lips and swirled the liquid in my cup to buy time while I put my thoughts together. I didn’t want to paint Kallan in a bad light, but he obviously knew something about Ana’s origins and was keeping it from us. Olezka knew too, but I wanted to believe he had no connection to it.
“I just think we need to be careful around Kallan.”
“I don’t disagree. I don’t like how he treats you. I noticed at the bar, a lot of the males look at you like you’re a piece of meat. But from what I’ve noticed, most paras are very respectful of their females. I know I’ve been treated better at Xibalba than I ever was at Sea Creature. Erebus was pretty direct about me coming straight to him if I ran into any problems.”
“Erebus? The owner?” I asked, my stomach knotting. I took a big swig of my margarita.
“Yeah…” Ana got a dreamy look on her face and then took a long swallow.
“What is that look for?” I practically shouted.
Ana snorted, and we both laughed for a minute. But as our minds settled from the outburst, the question still lingered in the air. Ana took a small sip, keeping her eyes on me. “I might have kissed him.”
“What!?” I shrieked as I leaned over and smacked her.
“He was getting on my nerves. He kept saying how I needed to be more careful and started acting all Alpha-male, and I needed to shut him up. So, I did. But Sixx... I can’t fucking get him out of my head.”
I frowned. It wasn’t like Ana to get hung up on a guy. She had dated in the past, even had a few flings, but nothing serious. She told me before that she was afraid to get attached. Thinking back to our conversation the night we escaped Olezka in the middle of the night, I understood it. She was scared of what a mate represented. Dread pooled in my drunk mind.
“Oh, fuck. Z thinks we’re forever,” I whispered as the weight of that statement crashed down on me. In my human mind, things were fleeting. The date was great and all, but wondering about our next date was as far in the future as I wanted to think. Maybe wondering when I would invite him to spend the night. Not…gulp…forever. I didn’t get a forever. I got a human life.
“Oh, no. Chug that shit right now because you’re getting teary-eyed, and when you come down from being buzzed, you’ll get depressed. Drink!” Ana commanded as she stumbled off the couch to get refills. After she refilled our glasses and we got halfway through those, we started to talk again.
“Let me get this straight – you like your Dark fae boss, the man who makes me insanely nervous?” I lolled my head to the back of the couch and stared at her with disbelieving eyes.
“I don’t know. There’s something about him… I wonder if this is how Z feels about you.”
“Do you think he’s right? That I’m his mate?”
Ana copied my movement and stared at me for a long time. Then she reached over and poked my cheek. “He’d be a fucking idiot if he didn’t.” We were silent for a minute, and Ana got a faraway look in her eye. “The more I learn about my people, about the fae, the more I worry that I’m going to turn into them. Will you promise me that if I ever become a stuck-up bitch, you’ll slap me?”
“Only if you promise to not leave me behind when you find out that you’re a long-lost fae princess destined to save the world.”
Ana and I stared at each other for a full minute before we burst into giggles and finished our drinks. We started our fourth round or fifth… I couldn’t remember. All I knew was that Ana was flipped upside down on the couch and I was on the floor. A lull of silence settled between us as we changed to a teenager rom-com movie.
“So, are you ever going to admit that you’re madly in love with the Russian man?”
“Nooo…” I said, nod-shaking my head.
Ana howled with laughter as she rolled over and sat upright. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“I am a decent liar.”
“Not when it comes to this!” Ana said, pushing on my shoulder gently.
She wasn’t wrong. Especially this many drinks in.
“I’m scared of how he makes me feel. Like this will all be a dream, and I don’t want to lose it. He makes me feel… special.”
“You are special,” Ana agreed, hugging me.
Was I though? Next to Ana, that was hard to believe.
We ended up drinking another whole batch. She and I fell into our normal drunk night activities, which mainly consisted of firing up our only gaming system and racing each other until the wee hours of the morning. Afterward, the night was a haze, but it was nice to reconnect. Coupled with my date, the weekend was a win.
****
The next day was the pinnacle of a lazy Sunday. Ana and I nursed our massive hangovers with super greasy, late breakfasts and spent the rest of the day catching up. She told me everything she had learned and detailed all the adventures she’d been on. Apparently, I had missed quite a bit while I was playing detective at Nova. Thanks to my accidental lead with the werewolves, they had a starting point. But as Monday broke, I realized after checking my computer scans that the number of deaths surrounding the drug Dreamscape were quickly getting out of hand.
I still wasn’t sure about the office dress code. Doug said to wear something sturdy but comfortable. I didn’t really understand what that meant, so I took cues from the others. Most of them wore jeans or slacks with a dressy top, so I decided to wear jeans and one of my limited dress casual tops.
As I pulled on the same jeans from Friday, something crinkled in my back pocket. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper I’d snagged from Doug’s desk, immediately remembering the alarming encounter with Key. He might be suspicious, but if he was, it meant he was hiding something. I couldn’t give up now that I might have an actual lead. The alarm on my phone pinged again, letting me know I was running late. I placed the paper on my desk and rushed out of the apartment.
Luckily, the drive to work was short. Once I arrived, Pepper waved to me as I power-walked through the lobby area. I learned the hard way on my second day that Doug didn’t much care for tardiness. I reached the lab before my clock-in time and hurriedly began my morning tasks. Scott walked in next, followed by Cecile and Kelly. I waved to each of them as they walked by. After another ten minutes, Key and Doug still hadn’t shown up although Scott kept shooting glances at me like I should know where they were.
In my rush to leave the house, I hadn’t had time to go to the bathroom. Waiting another couple of minutes for Doug to show up, I finally gave up and headed to relieve my aching bladder. The bathroom on our floor was a unisex, single stall. It sat on the far end of the floo
r where the older lab stuff sat collecting dust.
I finished up in the bathroom, but just as I placed my hand on the doorknob, I heard voices on the other side of the door. They were muted, so I carefully twisted the knob as quietly as I could. Creaking the door open half an inch, I pressed my ear to the open space.
“She knows something.”
“She doesn’t. There is nothing linking our project in my office,” Doug snapped, obviously annoyed.
“Maybe we should bring her into the project. You said she’s incredibly bright, and I smell para on her.”
I held back my gasp. The other voice sounded oddly familiar, yet different, in a deeper octave than normal. Pulling back, I tried to spy through the crack in the bit of space that I had open. Doug had his back to me and was talking to someone, but I could see him tense when he answered the other person.
“No. Too dangerous.”
“No, you’re just interested in the little tech,” the other man sneered.
“I am not!” Doug replied indignantly.
“Then, we bring her in.”
“Let’s take it slow. We know what happened to the last one you rushed into the project.”
“Well, sometimes the subjects need to be properly motivated.”
I swallowed hard and slowly shut the door, trying to decide what my next move would be. There was no doubt that they were talking about me. As my mind raced through and discarded several escape scenarios, the phone in my purse blared.
I scrambled to turn it off, my fingers clumsily shutting off the ringer then didn’t breathe for what felt like a full minute. My best option would be to wait a couple of minutes and hope I could pass it off like I’d come in late and didn’t overhear their conversation. Nevermind that Scott, Cecile, and Kelly saw me.
Knock. Knock.
Fuck.
Chapter 26
Olezka
The buzzing of my phone pulled me out of an already restless sleep. My workload was such that I was unable to pick up my mate from her job, which meant even more time had passed since I’d seen her. I couldn’t get away, but I sent her a text asking her to let me know when she arrived home, which she did. Still, I ached to hear her voice, smell her tantalizing scent, see her curvy frame as she walked ahead of me in form-fitting jeans…
Growling, I ignored the ache in my dick and reached for my phone that had not stopped its incessant drone. If it continued, either Timur or Roman would come in and crush it. Snatching it off the nightstand, I pressed it to my ear after swiping it to answer the call.
“What?” I barked.
“Brother, you may want to get your ass to Nova.”
Puzzled, I said, “Timur?” I realized he hadn’t come home. It wasn’t easy to keep tabs on my brothers. Especially Timur, who had a position I had long avoided.
“Hey, kroshka! What did I say? Stop that. No… fuck. Get your ass down here, brat. Your mate is in trouble.”
He’d barely finished saying kroshka before I jumped out of bed. Searching the floor for the jeans I’d discarded earlier, I tugged them on and raced for the door. When Timur told me Sixx was in trouble, my beast side surged forward and exploded my inner fire along with my emotions, which subsequently melted the phone in my hand.
With thundering steps, I lumbered down the stairs to the lower level. Anubis barked after me, ensuring that Roman would be awakened. I didn’t bother scolding Anubis. Hell, I didn’t even stop to get a shirt. I palmed my keys, trying to keep my thoughts level so I didn’t melt them as well. I found that anytime a situation dealt with Sixx, I rarely had any control.
Finding her was a treasure, one I refused to lose or let any harm come to. She was so brave, stepping up to take the undercover job at Nova. Now I feared I’d made a mistake by allowing her to volunteer. A snarl ripped through my chest.
I would need to find a way to contact Ana as well. She would undoubtedly attempt to kill me if something happened to Sixx. I found that out when she cornered me after the training session when she lost control of her glamour and used her draw on Sixx. She not only threatened my male parts but to destroy everything I loved and steal Anubis if I broke Sixx’s heart. I promised her that I’d do anything to keep Sixx safe, and I meant it.
My brothers and I could sense each other’s magic through our familial bond, and my mate bond with Sixx had steadily been growing. Soon, I would be able to find her through that. This was a wake-up call. As a human, Sixx was too vulnerable. She didn’t realize the danger she would be in by being my mate.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel as the terrain became more familiar. What was Timur doing there, with Sixx of all people? I pressed my foot down a little harder on the gas pedal, and my sports car picked up speed as I swung around the last corner to reach Nova. Even from this distance, I could see them standing near the front of the building. I sped to the curb and parked with a loud squeal of my tires, the smell of burning rubber permeating the air.
“I wanna gooo,” Sixx drawled and slurred, trying to pull herself out of Timur’s unbreakable grip. “Oh! Timmie! Look who it iiis! It’s Ooo. Hiya!” Sixx nearly flopped over when she used her entire body to wave one arm at me.
“What happened to her?” I growled as I stomped over to them. Her eyes went wide and she took a step back and hid behind Timur.
“Timmie, he’s mad. You promised he wouldn’t be mad.”
“Brother, I beg of you to calm. She is yours, but because of that connection, she is also my little sister.”
Hellhounds were fiercely loyal. Our family was tighter than most since our parents’ pairing, while it seemed like a perfect match, was far from it. It produced two full-blooded boys, Timur a hellhound, and Roman a rarog, while my last brother and I were mere half-bloods as most in the Veil called us. My other brother… we did not speak of him anymore. My thoughts went dark even thinking of him now.
Working on my calm, I focused on pulling in Sixx’s uniquely floral scent that ensnared me. I breathed deeply once, twice, three times. When she saw that I had calmed, Sixx finally came out from behind Timur and threw herself at me. She tried to pull my head down, planting sloppy kisses over my neck where she could reach.
“What is wrong with her?” I glared at my brother as if he was the one to cause her reaction. He wouldn’t; he couldn’t. Hell, he was ready to tear me apart for scaring her, and she was mine.
“Smell her,” Timur grunted, taking a measured step back. I leaned down, which Sixx used to her advantage, pressing kisses against my cheek and trying to get to my lips. I kept out of her reach and pulled in her scent again. The acrid, chemical smell of drugs was mingled in her blood. My eyes shifted to my brother’s.
“Dreamscape?”
“You need to get her out of the public eye before the other side effect of that drug comes out,” he warned.
“We are going to talk about how you know about Dreamscape and how you found Sixx.”
“Part of that you know I cannot discuss. The other,” Timur glanced around before switching to Russian, “I found her stumbling around on one of the sublevel floors. Brother, Erebus owns this company. You need to get her and yourself out of here. Now. I’ll meet up with you back home. Love you, brother. Watch over my little sis.”
Clenching my teeth, I nodded. I snatched Sixx up, but once she got lip level, she dove in again.
“Apparently, my mate, you are very affectionate when you are inebriated.” I slung her over my shoulder. Taking her back to her apartment was out of the question. If another para was in the area when she started to demonstrate the other side effect of Dreamscape, she could be killed.
“Timur, do you have your cell?”
“Da. Take it. I’m headed home in a bit. Are you taking her there?”
“I may need to. Kallan has many para neighbors.”
“Take care of her.” With that, Timur sprinted away.
Sixx started to pound on my back as I walked to my car. After securing Sixx into a seat and buckling her in, I pre
ssed my back against the passenger door and called Kallan. His was one of the few numbers I had memorized, and I knew he would have Anastasia’s number.
After quickly explaining the situation, Kallan gave me Ana’s number, and I immediately gave her a call.
“Hello?” she answered hesitantly.
“Anastasia?”
“Where is Sixx?” she demanded, her voice turning flinty.
“Meet me at Nova. I have her, but we need to get her somewhere safe.”
Without another word, Anastasia hung up on me. I walked around the front of the car and sat in the driver’s seat. Sixx muttered nonsense and seemed to be calming down, but my rage continued to boil. My concern for her only heightened it.
Did she do this to herself to see how she would react to it, or did someone drug her? If so, to what end?
In minutes, Anastasia pulled up behind us and ran to the passenger side, ripping the door open. Sixx lolled her head back and blinked up at the newcomer, and a bright, sloppy smile crossed her face. She lurched forward to greet her friend but got stopped by the seatbelt. She stared hard at the offending object keeping her trapped. When her hands went to pull at it, I reached over to stop her.
“Get in or follow, but I need to get her somewhere safe.”
“What happened to her?” Anastasia demanded. She was a stunning fae, but she belonged to the Light Court, ones I had very few encounters with when I lived in the Veil. To this day, I tried my best to keep my distance.
“I do not know, but I intend to find out. Now choose. We have been here far too long already.”
Anastasia looked like she wanted to fight me, but when she looked down at her friend, her resolve faded. After a slight incline of her head, she climbed into the back seat.
****
“Watch out!” I yelled at Anastasia, who refused to wait inside until this passed as I suggested. Fire exploded from Sixx’s body as she screamed, the sound curdling my blood. Her terror permeated the air and drove me to my absolute brink. Timur still hadn’t arrived home, but during the commotion, Roman had strolled outside and taken a seat on the patio furniture to watch the show. Anubis joined him, watching with a cocked head.
The Sidekick Chronicles: Sixx and the Hellhound Page 17