“Are you okay?” he asked, stepping closer, concern creasing his features. “You don’t look so well.”
I swallowed roughly, ragged breaths escaping my lips.Pull it together,I silently berated myself, because even though this was the first time in my life I’d had to face the truth of my mom’s warnings, I should be handling it better than I was. Panic attacks and scattered focus was not going to get me out of this situation.
“Totally fine,” I said as casually as I could manage. “Just got a little spooked. You know how it is, always someone in costume jumping out at you here.”
He crossed his arms, staring me down. Maybe it was that my mom’s suspicions had been confirmed, and I was now suspecting everyone, that I had to ask him: “Why am I always running into you, Michaels?”
Seriously, I ran into him multiple times a week, and considering I almost never left my house, it was … odd. I hadn’t stopped to think about it until now, but everything was different today. Today, I had all but confirmed the fact that supernatural beings existed side by side with me.
When he remained silent, I took a step back, letting my gaze run from his feet up to his surfer locks. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” My whisper was tinged with anger and worry. It wasn’t as immediately obvious as with the inked guy – who was just so far beyond human – but the more I stared, the clearer it was to see the special touches that Michaels had.
His expression grew serious. He flicked a look toward his friends. Without a word, they started to close in on me, moving as a unit.
Shit.Dammit, I was in trouble. I knew his interest in me had been abnormal. From the moment he introduced himself a month ago I’d had a feeling about him. Not good or bad, more cautious. I should have paid better attention.
Backpedaling, I tried to keep all of them in sight. Which grew steadily harder as they fanned out to surround me. “You don’t have to run, Callie,” Michaels said. “I’m not going to hurt you. We’re the good guys in this situation.”
I snorted but didn’t stop backing away. “I don’t believe a single word which comes out of your lying mouth. You’ve been playing me this entire time. What the hell were you waiting for…?” I broke off before a hard laugh escaped. “Of course, you were waiting for the inked Adonis from my condo.”
No one denied it and I congratulated myself on finally putting the pieces together. Five minutes too late, as always.
“We’re here to keep you safe,” Michaels tried again, but I was done listening.
Spinning on my heels, I took off zipping between stalls and groups of tourists, ducking in and out wherever I could. There wasn’t much outside of white noise in my head, my body struggling to deal with the shock. I took a sharp right, but because I wasn’t paying close enough attention, I missed the horse and cart turning at the same time. Pain shot through my face as I plowed headfirst into the side of the white carriage, bouncing back and landing on the street. Stars burst before my eyes as my head slammed onto the pavement; the world went dark around the edges as my mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood.
Everything after that was pretty blurry, the pain pounding incessantly in my head, random thoughts and voices confusing me over and over until I was finally released into blessed darkness.
2
Waking up to a pounding head was not something I was used to. I never drank or indulged in anything that would impair my senses; that was one of my mom’s rules I absolutely agreed with. I liked to stay in control.
So why was I about to … I rolled across the bed and dry heaved over the side, thankful there was nothing in my stomach to come out. The pain in my head became even worse as I gagged and spluttered, eventually just hanging half off the bed. I wiped my mouth, desperate for some water, but unable to pull myself up to crawl to our tiny bathroom.
Laying my head against the super soft throw, I tried to remember what had happened. The pounding didn’t ease, but as my head started to clear, I realized that the light wasn’t coming from the normal direction it did in my room. In fact … nothing was as it should be, including the fact I was in a massive king-size bed.
I jerked myself upright, fighting the disorientation and nausea.Shit.The last hours before I blacked out came back to me in jerky mental scenes.
Hot Daelighter … Michaels … on the run.
As I scanned the bedroom I was in, which was at least the size of my entire condo, I paused at a pair of long legs stretched out in front of a chair in the corner. The owner of those legs appeared to be asleep – judging by the soft snores – his face back in the shadows, making it difficult for me to see who it was.
I eased myself off the bed. I was still dressed in my clothes from earlier; only my shoes were missing.Thank God.Hopefully “human” wasn’t the right type to get these aliens going – sexually that was. It would be nice not to have to fear rape at their hands.
As I took the first step toward the window, my feet sank into the carpet. It was soft and thick, cushioning my soles as I crept forward. Adrenalin pumped hard within me and I had to fight the urge to just flat-out sprint. I forced myself to take a moment to figure out my escape. The window was the older kind that had a latch which twisted to open it, and then the bottom half slid up. I would easily be able to fit out through the opening, and there looked to be a small landing on the other side, which was helpful, because I was on the second floor of wherever I was.
It was dark outside, but the well-lit street below was familiar, one of the rich areas in the French Quarter. I was pretty sure it was Esplanade Avenue. I recognized one or two landmarks from my first days exploring here.
The latch twisted without a sound and I moved the glass frame up slowly, letting in the billowing heat. I hadn’t noticed until that hot blast hit me how pleasantly cool it was inside. The heat increased my headache, but I shoved the pain to the side. I’d deal with it later. I needed to hurry, before the humid air woke whomever owned the legs in the corner.
When the frame was eighty percent open, I swung my leg out, resting my weight on the ledge below. Just as I ducked my head and shifted to bring my other leg across, a voice from below had me freezing. Deep, accented, and sexy as hell, it was immediately recognizable as the tatted hot-alien.
I stopped breathing as I waited to see if I’d been sprung.
“We’re currently at Jason’s place near the Quarter.” Pause. “Her mom was gone by the time I got there…” There was another pause before he continued. “I’d say that Laous has her. He’s clearly going to try the same thing he did with Emma … using this girl’s family as a bargaining chip.”
Air whooshed out of me when I realized he was on the phone, talking about my mom and this Laous asshole he thought had taken her. My heart was pounding rapidly, caught between fear and anger. I didn’t always like my mom – most days I fantasized about running away and never dealing with her shit again – but part of me loved her. She was all I had.
I had to get her back. But how the hell was I going to do that on my own? As I sat there, one leg in and one out of the building, I realized that I needed to find out exactly what the deal was with these Daelighters who had kidnapped me. Michaels said he was protecting me, and I had to take into account the fact that he hadn’t attacked me in all the weeks he’d been around.
