Chapter 27
Leeva
All I can do is stare.
Hayes is here.
Standing on my front step.
Holding the groceries I had ordered.
Frantically, my eyes dart behind him, trying to see the delivery guy who had been on my security monitor. I see his car driving away down the road.
“Are you going to invite your best friend in?”
Hayes’ deep voice snaps my attention to him. God, I’ve missed his voice. I’ve missed him, period.
“Former best friend,” I say through my shock.
Hurt lances his expression, and it nearly crumples me right then and there. I know that was a bitch comment, and I know what happened wasn’t officially his fault, but…
This forgiveness stuff is hard.
“How did you know I was here?”
He looks down at the box of groceries in his arms. “This is heavy. Let me in so I can put it down, and we can talk, little dove.”
Tears threaten to fill my eyes as his nickname for me reminds me of all the good we had together as friends. But it also reminds me that I’m the pure and innocent dove that he put on a pedestal long ago. I’m not that girl—not anymore, or at least, not completely.
Forcing back my emotions, I move to the side. He steps over the threshold, and for some reason, I feel like I’ve just let a wild animal into my safe space. He kicks off his boots and carries the box to the kitchen, placing it on the island.
I watch him as he comes back for the next box. He’s smooth, graceful, and lethal, like a wild cat.
No, like a wolf.
Shock rips through me with that thought.
There’s that undeniable pull I feel to him, but that’s always been there. It’s only magnified now because of years apart, and because I’m no longer a young, na?ve girl, I reason.
It’s not the same pull I felt toward the masked man—my wolf—at Hedon.
Right?
I frantically look for the tattoos I had seen briefly on my wolf’s neck, but Hayes’ collar covers it, so I study his build instead. He’s broader and more muscular than when he was a young man. But does he have the same build as the man in the wolf mask from Hedon?
Calm down your imagination, girl. The rational side of my brain jumps in. It’s just the shock of finally being face-to-face with him after all these years.
Exhaling a shaky breath, I watch him bend over to set the box down, admiring his tight ass in his dark jeans. His leather cut creaks as he stands, and I see his profile. He’s not looking at me, but I swear there’s a faint smirk on his lips.
Flustered, I pick up the last, smaller box and close the door with my foot. I hadn’t taken off my heels when I came in initially, so I do so now, then go to the kitchen and set the box with the other two on the island.
Hayes’ eyes move over me, taking in the ivory silk blouse I’m wearing that’s tucked into high-waisted, taupe, wide-leg trousers. Then he lifts his blue eyes to mine.
“You look beautiful, Leeva.” His voice is husky.
Like a caress.
But I shake that thought off because this is Hayes, my best friend—former best friend—and he’s never thought of me in any other way than that.
His eyes move to my neck, and I feel the old spot where Guerilla’s tattoo was—where it should’ve never been. My skin feels like it’s on fire beneath his stare. “How did you remove his mark?”
My hand flutters up to my neck, then I shake my head. “You’re not distracting me, Army. How did you know I was here?”
His jaw shifts. “You never call me by my road name. It’s always been Hayes…always.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “A lot has changed.”
And it’s not just me who has changed. Besides his body size changes, there’s a darkness within him that had never been there before.
His ebony hair is the same color, though, and the same waviness. I remember it being soft, and right now, I want to thread my fingers through it and pull his head down to mine.
I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the inappropriate thoughts out of my head. When I open them again, Hayes is unloading the groceries.
We put the food away in silence. It’s clear the house is new to me as I open and close cupboards and the pantry, trying to find the right spot for everything.
“How did you know I was here?” I ask again.
He opens the fridge and starts filling it with perishables. “Digits.”
“He’s that good now that he knew I was back in the city?”
Digits—birth name Kade Collons, but he, like Hayes, had gotten his road name very young, even before they had been patched in. I knew he had some hacking skills, but I wasn’t aware he could find and track people.
“He’s scary good,” Hayes says, shutting the fridge door. He leans against it, studying me. “His program flagged an alert for you when you landed at the airport. On a private jet registered to Wentzell Global. And the lone passenger was listed as Kathryn Wentzell.”
Unease and alarm ripple through me at what Digits had been able to discover, plus that he had a program searching for me. “You were looking for me? For all these years?”
“Digits was.”
Okay, ouch.
His gaze flicks down to my neck again, then back up. “Tell me about the tattoo removal, and how you came to be Kathryn Wentzell.”
“No. Answer my questions first.”
“I answered one; now you answer one of mine. Tit for tat, little dove.”
My teeth clench, but I answer, “I had the tattoo professionally removed.”
“Obviously,” he deadpans. “But how, without any lingering sign or evidence of it ever being there?”
More unease and alarm courses through me, making my heart race because that’s awfully detailed for just having seen my neck without being up close to study it. “How do you know that?”
“Because I checked.”
“When?” I croak.
He continues, as if I didn’t speak, and ignores that I’m clearly trying not to panic and freak out, “There’s no scarring or change in skin texture. There’s nothing as evidence that it ever existed.”
“How do you know that?” I ask again, trembling.
“Because…” He pushes away from the fridge and steps closer to me. There’s fire in his blue eyes, warning me I’m about to get burned. It’s wild, possessive. “I broke into your suite at the Empress Hotel and checked while you slept.”
I’m panicking. I’m delirious. Thrown off-kilter by finally seeing Hayes again after all this time. That must be it. That has to be it.
I’m hallucinating. He’s not really here, not really saying these things.
And I’m not yearning for them to be true.
Right?
Because what woman, in their right mind, is not only okay with, but thrilled at the thought of her best friend tracking her and breaking into her hotel room?
He cups my face, and I jolt with the electricity that snaps through me. His touch… It’s so familiar. But not in the sense of it being familiar from the past.
No, this is more potent.
My heart is racing, and my breathing is coming in shallow pants as I try not to completely spiral into a weird sense of déjà vu, panic, and the feeling of ‘rightness’.
His thumb brushes over my neck, over the spot in question, as he stares down at me. “I used a solution to make sure you weren’t covering it with any make-up or a skin prosthetic.”
“The skin irritation… The scratches…” I’m unable to look away from him.
“I apologize if I hurt you. I just needed to be sure.”
“Of what?” I can hardly speak. I can hardly breathe. “Why?”
“So I could finally claim you like I should have done all those years ago.”
I nearly pass out as disbelief and panic overwhelm me, and I stumble back.
This is my best friend from years ago.
My best friend, who harshly and almost-brutally put me in the friend zone the first time I hinted I was interested in him more than a friend.
My best friend, who had put me on a pedestal like I was untouchable with my innocence and purity.
Not a man who breaks into a hotel that has the best security system in the city.
Not a man who is saying he wants to claim me.
I spin away, needing some distance and for him not to be in the center of my attention. There’s some logical explanation for this—there has to be. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding his words.
“Look at me,” he commands, but I only shake my head and take a step away from him. “Look at me, Leeva.”
I halt because his voice is different now. Like it’s changed. Disguised.
I begin to shake.
“Siren.”
Siren…
Oh, God. No… No. No. It can’t be…
I spin around. I’m expecting it still to be Hayes standing in my kitchen, even though parts of my brain have connected all the dots.
My hands fly to cover my mouth in shock and horror.
Because in my kitchen, where Hayes stood, wearing the same clothes, is the masked man wearing the wolf mask from Hedon.