Chapter Ten
“You’re truly lovely, Raine.”
My form-fitting bronze dress complemented my brown hair’s lighter and darker shades. This dress had been a birthday gift last year from my stepmother, Angela. I’d never worn it before. Tonight was the first official date I’d been on since I thought monsters were fiction instead of reality.
“Thanks. You clean up nice, too,” I said in a casual tone.
An understatement. Remy’s black hair was combed back, and his freshly shaved jaw still showed hints of shadow beneath his smooth skin. His high cheekbones drew the gaze up until it reached those jewel-bright eyes, and his silvery gray shirt fit him like it was custom-made, as did his black pants.
“So, where to?” I asked as we got on the elevator.
“Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert.”
I stared. That wasn’t a normal band or orchestra.
They played a combination of metal, techno, vocals, and instruments, all set against a laser light show with pyrotechnics.
I’d loved them since I was a child learning how to play rock songs on my violin while dreaming of becoming the next Lindsey Stirling.
Was this coincidence, or did Remy know that I loved them?
And if he knew, how? All the videos I’d once posted of me rocking out on my violin had been deleted over a decade ago, when I took down all my social media accounts.
Better not to have your face all over the internet when you had to stalk violent people to feed their auras to your inner Beast.
“I didn’t know they toured in the summer, let alone that they’re in Baltimore,” I finally said.
The elevator creaked its way down to the first floor. “They just added summer tours, and they’re in New York City, which is where we’re going now.”
My brows rose. “New York is over four hours away in light traffic, which it won’t be on a Friday night. Unless you’re using a Warden trick to get us there?”
Remy only smiled.
He wanted to be mysterious? Fine.
His Benz was parked in front, garnering a few looks because this part of town didn’t have luxury cars. A new driver opened our door, and I ducked into the back seat with Remy.
“Mandal has the night off, huh?” I said to the driver, a young man with tanned skin and military-short blond hair that barely peeked out from under his chauffeur’s cap.
“Mandal?” the driver said in surprise, only to fall silent at the look Remy gave him.
“No, Mandal isn’t working tonight,” Remy said.
There was obviously more to that story, but I left it alone. We spent the next ten minutes zipping through traffic until we arrived at a long concrete pier. The summer sun’s rays dappled the river with gold, but that wasn’t what drew my eye. It was the helicopter at the end of the pier.
“Oh,” I said, glad that I sounded nonchalant. “So that’s how you’re going to beat the traffic.”
Remy’s lips twitched. “No Warden tricks necessary.”
Remy helped me into the chopper. Moments later, my stomach clenched at the abrupt vertical takeoff.
Then the view distracted me. The city looked different from up here.
Its underdeveloped parts now seemed whole, its parks were green oases against the urban sprawl, and the sunlight turned the buildings’ windows to gold while the river sparkled around it.
Charm City. It truly earned its nickname now.
“Beautiful,” I breathed.
Remy shouldn’t have heard me with all the noise, but he did, and a slow smile curled his mouth. “Very.”
I tried not to notice that he wasn’t looking at the city.
Skyscrapers blocked out the fading sun’s last rays ninety minutes later.
We’d landed at a heliport on the East River, and were now on our way to the Metropolitan Opera House.
I stared like a wide-eyed tourist the entire drive, but this was my first trip to New York City. A little wonder was to be expected.
I managed to look fashionably disinterested as we arrived at the entrance to the Met, but that only lasted until we got inside.
Then the sumptuous red, white, and gold interior with its wide staircases, soaring open levels, and glittering chandeliers made me stare again.
This theater was the definition of modern gothic, and I loved it.
Remy waited as I took it all in. He didn’t seem impressed, but he had undoubtedly seen it all before.
I was surprised when he suddenly pulled me off to the side and stood very close. “Showtime,” he murmured as his hand trailed down my arm.
Showtime? We weren’t even inside the main theater yet.… Oh. That show.
I leaned into his caress, smiling before stroking the edge of Remy’s jaw. Smooth skin teased my fingers before Remy caught my wrist. Then hot velvet tantalized my palm as he pressed a kiss into it, all the while staring at me as if he were imagining his mouth were somewhere else.
Damn. No wonder my cat had melted into his touch. I was about to start purring, too. I let out a breathy laugh to release the new tension. Then I ruffled my other fingers through the back of Remy’s hair. There. Didn’t I look like the affectionate girlfriend to anyone watching?
What should have been a simple gesture turned into more when I kept touching his hair.
It was so soft. And sleek. Like stroking a raven’s feathers, and when his mouth slid lower, bathing my wrist with heat over a spot I hadn’t even known was sensitive before now, my gasp wasn’t for any potential onlookers.
Those hot, silken lips made me forget that I was supposed to be acting.
I pulled my hand away with a shaky laugh. “Don’t we have a concert to see?”
Remy only steered us against the nearby wall. People passed by us, but I barely noticed them anymore. Remy’s arms barricaded me on either side, creating our own little alcove.
I put my hands against his chest, intending to tap him in a playful “not here” manner, but as soon as they settled on him, I knew I’d made a mistake.
Now I felt all the hard muscles that his elegant suit only hinted at.
I couldn’t stop my fingers from tightening until my nails lightly dug into his skin.
Then I let them spread out again just so I could feel more of him.
His gaze flared.
I couldn’t look away. My heart started hammering. Why had I ever thought his eyes resembled something as cold as jewels? They were the blue gleam inside every fire, and right now, I wanted to be burned to the ground by what was inside them.
How had I lost control so fast? This was only supposed to be an act!
Remy’s head started to lower. Oh God, he was going to kiss me. I’d agreed that he could do it, thought I was ready for it, but now I couldn’t. I wanted it too much.
“Remington,” a deep voice said from behind him. “As requested, I’m here.”
I looked over Remy’s shoulder in relief. A tall, lean man with heavily gelled brown hair, pale skin, and a thin mustache walked toward us.
Remy turned around. “Bachen.” The undercurrent in Remy’s tone told me this guy wasn’t a friend.
Bachen didn’t even glance at me as he said, “Are you sending that woman away so we can start our discussion?”
“‘That woman’ is my beloved.” The hairs on the back of my neck felt like they snapped to attention at the warning in Remy’s voice. Suddenly there was nothing sensual about him. There was only violence encased in skin. “And you will show her the proper respect.”
Bachen’s gaze sharpened as he finally looked my way. He’d dismissed me as arm candy before, but he wasn’t doing that now.
“My sincerest apologies,” he said in a new, contrite tone that didn’t match his oily smile. “Please, introduce me.”
Was that a faint hiss slithering through his words? I inhaled, but I didn’t smell anything unusual. For once I wished I could see through the Beast’s eyes. If I could, would Bachen’s aura have a distinct, snakelike profile?
“Raine Stone, meet Andreas Bachen, head of the New York Basilisk clan,” Remy said, his light pressure on my wrist stopping me from extending my hand.
I knew I’d heard a faint hiss in his voice! But why was Remy outing him as a snake man in public? And why didn’t I smell that odd, agave-like scent I’d caught when those other Basilisks attacked me?
“Charmed,” I managed to say in a normal tone.
“Fascinated,” Bachen said, drawing out the word in a way that promised an immediate background check.
He could look, but he’d only find what Remy had: me losing most of my family in a tragic wildfire as a teen, followed by me turning into a friendless workaholic nurse as an adult.
Remy didn’t move, but somehow, the air around him felt thicker. “Two Basilisks attacked my grandfather a week ago.”
Bachen’s eyes widened at the abrupt change in subject. So did mine. Throngs of people still passed us, since we were between the entrance and the theater. What if one of them heard?
“Not any of my people!” Bachen almost sputtered.
Remy’s smile was frightening for its charm.
“That’s exactly what the heads of the other Northeastern Basilisk clans said, so I’ll tell you what I told them: I’m giving you forty-eight hours to verify that.
If you discover that some of your people broke truce behind your back, bring them to me, and I’ll hold you blameless for their actions.
If you don’t, and I find out it was your people after the deadline expires …
well. Then theirs won’t be the only heads I’ll collect. ”
My jaw didn’t drop, but it was close.
Bachen’s head dipped in a slight bow. “Understood, Warden.”
Remy led me away without another word.
I waited until I couldn’t see Bachen in the throngs of other people, and then let out my breath in a low whistle.
“That was … intense.”
Remy leaned down. “Yes, and you did splendidly.”
He was so close no one could overhear us, and Bachen was long gone. Still, I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Bachen can’t deliver those attackers to you even if they had been his people. They’re nothing more than ash stains on the ground.”
“I can’t admit that.” His voice was equally low, and he was now so close, his mouth brushed my ear.
“Few creatures can incinerate people into ash, and none of them are my allies. Furthermore, I wouldn’t have killed Brendan’s attackers without interrogating them first, and Bachen knows that.
Neither would any of my people. If they killed themselves rather than be interrogated, I would have used their bodies to discover which clan they came from.
Since I have no prisoners or bodies, and I can’t say why, I have to pretend that they escaped. ”
“But none of the clans can bring you the ‘traitors,’ so why the threat? You can’t lop off all their heads!”
His laugh teased my skin. “I could, but I’m not that bloodthirsty. Still, if none of the Basilisk rulers admit that they have people missing, then I’ll know one of them is lying. And when I find out who, I’ll act accordingly.”
I shivered at the casual menace in his tone. Somehow, that was more chilling than him being angry when he said it.
He felt my shiver, and his lips brushed the sensitive skin of my earlobe. All at once, the dangerous man was gone and the smoldering one was back. His hands slid up my bare arms in a slow caress that turned my shivers into something else entirely.
I couldn’t deal with the emotional whiplash from him talking about slicing off heads one moment to him making my breath hitch with desire the next. I moved out of his arms.
“I couldn’t smell any agave scent on Bachen.”
Coolness snapped over Remy’s gaze. Ah, the Warden was back. Good. Him being dangerous was less hazardous to my mental state.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Maybe it’s because he wasn’t, you know.” My voice lowered. “Snaking out?”
A slight smile curled his mouth. “Possibly. Do you smell anything unusual about me at the moment?”
I leaned over, sniffed, and then straightened. “Nope.”
He caught me back against him before I could react. His arms held me in a deceptively loose grip, but I knew if I pulled away, it would tighten.
“And now?”
I felt the power in his words like a thrum that reverberated all through me. Then that rich, decadent scent filled my nose. It was so intoxicating I inhaled while my eyes fluttered shut. Remy smelled as good as his power felt.
“Yes,” I got out while opening my eyes.
A harsh sound escaped him. “You don’t merely smell what a person is, like any normal were-shifter can. You smell their magic when they activate it. Astonishing.”
He’d spoken in his normal tone, so I didn’t feel the words like I had last time.
That addictive scent also dissipated until I only smelled the faint tang of cognac and sugarcane from his cologne.
Thank God. I didn’t want another double dose of that power/scent combo. I had to clear my head, not cloud it.
“Where is the ladies’ room?” I asked, backing away.
Remy didn’t move to stop me. He merely gestured toward the grand staircase. “To the right, about a hundred feet away.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, and left.
A few minutes later, I washed my hands while lecturing myself.
I had to stop reacting to every little thing Remy did.
I was supposed to be finding out what sort of person he was so I could decide whether I could trust him enough to do his “power sharing” thing.
That was what mattered. Not finding out how many orgasms Remy could give me, if any part of that blisteringly sensual display wasn’t just him acting.
By the time I dried my hands, I was ready to try my girlfriend act again, this time without the lust bomb. When I left the bathroom, Remy was in the hallway across from me. His gaze was back to its jewellike coolness, and he nodded at the staircase that led to the main theater.
“Shall we?”
My chin raised. “Let’s.”