CHAPTER TEN
Penelope looked out the window, and her heart started beating faster.
Enzo was taking them to his place. The first night they’d met, and he had taken her to his house and fed her Manchego cheese, she had felt excited.
Exhilarated. What she was feeling now, as Juniper clung to her side, was far from that.
“Enzo, please tell me what’s going on. Please tell me there’s a misunderstanding and I’m reading this wrong.”
She hated the note of pleading that was so evident in her voice, but what other option did she have? Sure, she was ready to fight. But first, maybe there was the slightest chance to appeal to his rational side. It hadn’t worked with Goldman, though…
He sighed and caught her eyes in the rear-view mirror.
“Unfortunately, you’re not reading anything wrong. Yes, your boss was about to sell Juniper to Warren. For a night. It was sheer luck that I got there on time and outbid him.”
Penny’s temper flared.
“You outbid him… So, now you think you own us? You think Juniper and I are Goldman’s pets to sell?”
“No, of course not. Penny, I didn’t buy you, okay?
I saved you. When you barged into the office, I thanked all the gods that you were there, and I could take you too to take care of Juniper.
” He turned to the girl, who was sitting right behind him.
“What is your real name, anyway? Juniper can’t be it. I hate it.”
“Nina,” she whispered carefully. “My brother is Kosta.”
“That’s more like it,” he smiled at her, then turned back to the road. “Of course the bastard would change your names the first chance he got. He’s doing everything in his power to make you forget where you’re coming from, who you really are, and how strong you are.”
“What are you talking about?” Penny was more confused than ever. Could it be possible that Enzo was, in fact, a good guy? “You’re… helping us. Why?”
“Because it’s my job, Penelope. It’s my mission on this Earth.”
“I… I don’t understand. You’re so vague, so mysterious… Come on, just stop playing this stupid game and tell me the truth once and for all. Who are you, Enzo Salvador?”
As he parked the car and turned off the engine, he said loud and clear:
“I’m a Guardian. Immortal, half god, and a ram-shifter.”
Penny was dumbfounded. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He sounded completely delusional, and it was a laughing matter and a crying matter at the same time.
“That’s insane.”
He got out of the car, opened the door for her, and smirked.
“Come on in and I’ll show you.” He winked at Nina, who was looking at him with wide eyes and a small smile on her tired face.
“She felt it all along. Nina and Kosta have both sensed I was a shifter, but Goldman got into their heads so badly that they couldn’t trust their intuition.
Also, I’m pretty proud of my acting skills.
” He looked back at Penny. “I got you all fooled, am I right?”
She ignored the cockiness in his voice.
“We’ll go in with you and you’ll shift into a ram?”
“Yes.”
She bit her lower lip and shook her head in deep thought.
“Damn it. I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
He offered her his hand. Penny took it reluctantly, and he helped her out of the car. As soon as Nina stepped on the cobblestone alley in front of Enzo’s house, Penny grabbed her hand and held the girl close to her. Together, they followed Enzo up the steps and through the main door.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” he said as he motioned for them to sit on the couch. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“Cut the small talk, Enzo. We want the truth. Now.”
“Okay, okay…”
As if casually, he started removing his shirt, then he got rid of his shoes.
Penny shot up and stepped in front of Nina, so the girl couldn’t see him standing there, half naked.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Calm down. I just didn’t want to ruin all my clothes.”
Then, three or four bones in his body snapped at the same time, and Penny gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. She had seen the twins shift before, but that hadn’t prepared her for this particular show. She felt Nina push her aside, so she could see as well.
Right before their eyes, Enzo fell on his hands and knees as his body changed.
His face elongated, and two mighty horns grew out of the sides of his wide forehead, curling as they framed his head.
The wool sprouting out of his pores was black, rich, and smooth, just like his hair, and his eyes remained the same shade of intense green.
As the lower part of his body changed, the dress pants he was wearing turned to shreds that fell to the floor.
He kicked a piece of ripped fabric with his hind legs and stepped away from the mess, slowly stalking toward Penny.
“Oh my God, you are a ram-shifter,” she whispered. “You’re on our side.”
If anyone had asked her to describe the relief flooding her whole being, she would’ve been at a loss for words.
She and Nina were safe. Kosta was safe. Enzo had been there all along, looking for a way to infiltrate Goldman’s group so he could protect his own species.
She still didn’t have the whole picture, and Enzo had a lot to explain, but for the time being, she allowed herself to relax and surrender her worries to the knowledge that she wasn’t in this alone, that someone had her back, and that someone was stronger and had more resources than her.
What had he said earlier? That he was a demigod and an immortal? Mind-blowing!
“May I… err… touch you?” she asked.
She had already reached out to pet his horns, but she didn’t want to offend him or anger him. After all, he looked like quite a scary ram, ready to charge, horned head first, and throw anyone who dared to piss him off through a wall.
He rolled his eyes, which looked more than a little weird on a ram.
“It’s me, Penny. I’m the same person.”
She ran the tips of her fingers over his ridged horns, and her entire body shivered.
A jolt of electricity ran up her arm when he pushed his head against her hand and she felt the soft wool warm in her palm.
She could barely wrap her mind around what was happening!
A little over a week ago, she was just a normal young woman minding her own business, hoping to get a job and make her parents proud.
Now, she was caught in the middle of an illegal plot and petting a ram-shifter’s head while two poor, frightened orphan children were counting on her to protect them and save them from a life of slavery and abuse.
Thank God, nothing extremely bad had happened so far, but Richard Goldman was losing his patience.
Apparently, he had given up on the idea of waiting until Nina and Kosta grew up.
Why not use them now, since he could, and no one was stopping him?
Penny had to do something, and quick. At least, now she wasn’t fighting this battle alone.
“This is incredible,” she whispered. “I can hardly believe my eyes. You’re full of surprises, Mr. Salvador, aren’t you?” She smiled teasingly. Oh, wow! Now she was flirting with a ram!
He shook his head, stepped away from her, and started pacing the floor. His hooves click-clacked loudly on the wood tiles, making Penny think her high-heels were a joke.
“You understand why I couldn’t tell you the truth, Penelope.”
“I’m not sure I do.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“You work for Goldman. I couldn’t know whether I could trust you.”
“I had no idea what was going on. Do you really think I’m the kind of person who would agree to something like this? To something so… so dreadful? So disgusting?! Come on, Enzo! I’d expect you to be a better judge of character.”
The black ram turned to her, his green gaze studying her carefully before he spoke again, as if he was doing one last assessment of her principles and intentions.
“You haven’t seen what I’ve seen,” he whispered sadly. “I can never be too careful. One single mistake, and Nina and Kosta would be the ones to suffer.”
She nodded and sat down. Quickly, Nina sat down beside her and grabbed her hand. Penny squeezed her fingers lightly and smiled at her. It hurt to know that, aside from her brother, the girl had no one to love her and take care of her. And, oh, how she needed to feel wanted, valued, and appreciated!
“See? Everything is working out,” she told her.
“I’m sure Enzo has a plan.” She turned back to him, a perfectly shaped eyebrow cocked questioningly.
“You do have a plan, right? And I’m part of it because you’ve been using me all this time…
” It pained her to say the words out loud, but she had decided this was too crucial to keep on beating around the bush.
The twins were more important than her hurt feelings or ego.
“No.”
He lowered his head and looked her straight in the eyes. He seemed ready to charge, but Penny knew it was just his way of showing he was being serious.
“I would never do that to you. Yes, I have a plan, and I need your help, but never think I used you for my own purposes.”
She swallowed heavily and did her best to keep a steady voice.
“It’s fine, Enzo. I get it. No more lies, okay? You did what you had to.”
He took an almost threatening step toward her.
“What we have is real.”
She huffed. “What we have? We don’t have anything.” She stole a glance at Nina, who looked rather confused. “We’ll talk about this later. Now, you were saying something about being… immortal?”
“Yes. It might be hard to believe, but it’s true.”
“Oh, it is hard to believe. Especially when you’re a talking ram. Could you please… shift back? It feels strange.”
In reality, she hated that she couldn’t read him when he was in his ram form. Things were already crazy. The least he could do was look like a normal human being and have normal human reactions she could interpret. Oh, wait. He wasn’t a human being.
“Give me a minute.”