My gaze locked onto Rook and all thosefeelingsshe’d caused ignited.
My walls came up.
My doubt returned.
Who the hellwasthis woman?
First she had a bodyguard and now she was loaded?!
“A team of twenty men are on their way to fetch you; they’ll escort you to the airport from there.”
I heard what he said but I couldn’t stop looking at Rook.
I turned molten; the fire in my bones threatening to lose control.
My rage came from a lifetime of living like a caged animal, so used to biting first instead of suffering later. I wanted to shake her awake and demand she tell me everything. I needed her to prove I was safe to fall, all while she kept proving otherwise.
“Your current location shows you’re staying in the Misty Meadows Bed and Breakfast. Don’t move. Thank you for using Sovereign Retrieval. You have a lifetime package with us so if you require our services again, please don’t hesitate to call. Goodbye.”
He hung up.
A blast of heat ricocheted out of me, singeing the carpet beneath my bare feet with the acrid stench of burning polyester.
Rook shifted in her sleep, smelling smoke.
And Whisper opened his golden-orb eyes, glowering at me as if he knew.
He knew our lives were about to drastically change and things were about to getveryinteresting.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I WOKE TO WHISPER SNARLING, HIS WARM body vibrating against me.
“Easy, tiny kitty.” I patted his shoulder, sleep sticking to my thoughts. “Did you have a bad dream?”
He hissed in answer, launching to his feet and dislodging me as he leapt to the floor.
Back in Cinderkeep, Whisper had been top of the food chain and very comfortable in that position, but right now...he acted as if something was about to eat him instead.
I sat up as the panther stalked toward Lucien who stood silhouetted in silvery gloom. His hands clutched the window frame as he looked through the iron-trapped glass.
“Everything okay?” I scrambled off the bed, brushing down my rumpled dress and giving up on my tangled hair. “How long was I asleep?”
“Less than an hour.” He didn’t turn to face me. Shirtless and cast in moonlight, he looked otherworldly—like a marble-skinned vampire deciding what nightmares to reap.
Padding toward him, I swallowed the dryness in my throat. What would I give for a nice icy jar of apple-blossom wine? Mystomach rumbled, hinting I’d also missed breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Whisper suddenly hissed, shooting upright and resting his paws on the windowsill, his tail whipping left and right.
My heart pitter-pattered as a quiet pop sounded, followed by another and another. A masculine grunt cut short; a cry muffled as quickly as it appeared.
Squeezing between the two of them, I looked down into the quaint garden complete with mismatched bird baths, garish gnomes, and one truly offensive squirrel sculpture.
Everything seemed hushed, sleepy, and quaint until...it wasn’t.
Shadows moved where shadows shouldn’t, gliding between hedgerows and along the Tudor cladding with unnatural precision.
Another soft pop whispered through the night.
