Chapter Thirteen #2
His mouth curled down. “I knew the selkies and the jackals couldn’t be it. Their races are too gentle. But if I’d only had you meet the more dangerous species on my lands, someone might have guessed that I’d had ulterior motives.”
“How many dangerous species are in your territory?”
“Dozens,” he said with a shrug.
Dozens. I almost missed the days when I thought the Beast was the height of monstrosities.
“I’ll set up an event soon where you can meet at least one member from all of those dangerous species to let me know which clan attacked Brendan,” Remy went on.
“A literal monster’s ball,” I said, shaking my head.
His smile reminded me that Remy was probably the deadliest monster of them all. “Exactly.”
Yeah, well, before I went to another big public gathering … “How soon can you share that regenerative power of yours?”
Remy’s brows went up.
“Yes, abrupt change of subject, but the Beast almost got out again tonight. I want to stop that from happening, and your power is the only way.” And I was only stalling before to see if you were legit first, I didn’t add, but it was true.
Tonight proved that he was. Remy had tried to protect everyone in the theater from the Vengers, and he’d stopped the Beast from breaking free, too.
He’d also nearly died protecting the people in his hotel when the Beast broke out of his trap a week ago.
Yes, Remy was dangerous, mysterious, and more than a little frightening, but he valued human life.
I’d wanted to learn more about Remy, but that was the only thing that truly mattered, wasn’t it?
Especially since the Beast didn’t value human life at all.
If I waited longer to do this, more people could die.
“Well?” I pressed.
“You’d have to meet my family first,” he finally said.
I gaped at him. “Didn’t you just say your family was dead?”
Remy stretched almost leisurely. I tried not to notice how it accentuated the long, hard lines of his body, but damn. If he did that naked, he could put it on OnlyFans and make a fortune.
“I have many great-great-great-grandnieces, -nephews, and cousins from my Irish, American, and Nepali sides of the family,” he said, dragging my attention away from his body.
“Every four months, I host a family gathering. The next one is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. Even though most of my family are human, they’d still be suspicious if they don’t meet you before you become my céile.
In the human world, that’s equivalent to our being engaged. ”
Oh. But … “I’m scheduled to work this Sunday.”
His gaze narrowed. “I’m surprised you’d return to the hospital after what happened tonight.”
“Are you implying I’m a danger to my patients?”
Now I was mad. “The only time I don’t worry about the Beast breaking out is in the ER! All that residual pain and death keeps it fed to the point of being its version of sleepy.”
Remy was in front of me before I could blink. “Those Vengers weren’t after me. They can’t harm a Warden. My magic is too strong, so someone sent them after you or Mandal.”
“Why would anyone be after me?” I sputtered.
“I agree that Mandal is the more likely target. He’s family, and he’s been my chief advisor for sixty years. If someone wanted to hurt me, killing him would be a good way to do that. But are you willing to risk everyone in your hospital on the off chance that Mandal wasn’t the target tonight?”
The thought of Vengers tearing through the ER made my voice rise. “No one in your world even knows me. It has to be Mandal!”
His gaze bored into mine. “I called you ‘my beloved’ in front of Bachen. He didn’t hesitate to spread the word. I received over a dozen texts about you during the concert, so news of you had already spread by the time the Vengers attacked, meaning that you could have been the target.”
“After one public date?” I scoffed. “That’s extreme.”
His smile made me shiver. “I have many enemies, Raine. None of them would consider murder to be ‘extreme.’”
Neither did the Beast. His enemies didn’t realize it, but I wasn’t a damsel in distress. I was a monster in human clothing.
“And this isn’t an average enemy,” Remy went on.
“Brendan was lured away from my hotel the night you met him. I don’t know by what, and he doesn’t remember.
Whatever it was, my cameras couldn’t record it.
That, as you might guess, is rare, as is an attack by Vengers strong enough to breach my shields. ”
“You think the two are connected,” I breathed out.
His charming smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Yes. Someone is making a play for my territory.”
I blamed being drunk for not getting it. “Your hotels?”
Remy let out a short laugh. “Nothing that boring. There are only two ways to topple a Warden without dragging that Warden’s allies into a protracted, bloody war. One is to incite division until the Warden’s own people overthrow him.”
I blinked. “Have your people ever tried that?”
“No. My hotels provide anyone struggling with a free home, my rules prevent them from being taken advantage of, and my power keeps outsiders from harming them. Everyone who comes to my territory knows they’ll be taken care of if I accept them, and that’s a promise many rulers can’t or won’t make.”
Wow. That was a promise most human leaders couldn’t or wouldn’t make, too. “What’s the other way to topple a Warden?”
His face darkened. “Get one to violate their own treaties.”
“And how would attacking me, Mandal, or Brendan do that?”
Now Remy’s smile was tight. “Striking down someone close to a Warden has been known to make them go to war, treaties or no. If that happens, whoever wins claims the Warden’s territory.”
“So, another Warden is doing this?”
“Possibly. It could also be the head of another supernatural race. As I said, there are many territories that Wardens don’t control. When the rulers of those lands want a new territory for themselves, murder is often their first tactic.”
It reminded me of the online games I’d played when I was younger, only with real-life consequences.
I’m powerful enough to hold the entire northern East Coast, Remy had told me.
Yeah, I could imagine a lot of Wardens and supernaturals would kill for the chance to control that much territory. A lot of humans would, too.
“Why call me your beloved at all, then, if you knew it could put a target on my back?”
“I told you, if I gave you my power without first claiming you as my loved one, it would be obvious that you possessed something of great supernatural value. Other supernatural rulers, and even other Wardens, would kill twice as many people trying to find out what it was.”
I hadn’t asked to be in the middle of a supernatural power struggle. Then again, I hadn’t asked to be infected by the Beast in the first place. At least in this case, Remy’s arrogance would be to my advantage.
“I assume you don’t take attacks like these lying down. How long until you stop the person or creature responsible?”
Remy’s gaze turned so cold, I almost backed up a step. “They won’t survive the summer.”
The answer I’d hoped for, even if it was a violent one.
“Okay, then. Can you arrange for another nurse to fill my shifts until this is over? Not someone from my hospital, by the way. They’re short-staffed already.”
Remy held my stare. “I understand not failing those who depend on you. I will see that it’s done.”
I believed him. That’s why I forced a smile. “I guess my apartment won’t be safe anymore, either, so where will I stay?”
“With me,” he said at once.
“I’m bringing my cat,” I said with absolute determination.
Remy shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you?”
Of course he didn’t mind. Remy was damn near a cat whisperer. Belle would probably prefer him to me within a week.
I forced another smile. “Then this fake relationship is about to get serious, because on Sunday, I meet the family.”
“Sunday,” Remy agreed, a new tone in his voice brushing me like warm breaths on my skin.
I glanced around, grateful that the enchanted library offered a valid excuse not to look at him anymore. “If I’m not going home, where can I sleep? I’m exhausted.”
“I’ll show you,” he said, holding out his hand.
I didn’t move to take it. “We’re not pretending now, so there’s no need for the touchy-feely stuff.”
His slow smile made me want to kick myself. I’d just reminded him of how I’d reacted the last time he’d touched me.
“We should take advantage of our ‘off’ time, where we don’t have to fake the urge to be all over each other,” I added, trying to clean up my mess.
That raven-black brow arched. “Should we?”
Two words shouldn’t envelop me like a languorous heat wave, but they did. Silently, I cursed Remy and his abilities.
“Yes. We’ve both acted more than enough for tonight.”
He didn’t need to know how his kiss had rocked me. I could have been faking my desire. Like most women, I’d had practice.
His widening smile mocked me. Then his voice rubbed me with the lushness of velvet. “I was only acting when I pretended to be in love with you. As for desiring you … that’s no act.”
The gauntlet almost made me gasp. So did the look in his eyes. Now I knew what trapped prey saw when a hunter approached: inevitability, except mine was wrapped in sex and decadence instead of death.
I took a step back while summoning the same control I used to cage the Beast. Not today, Satan! Or Warden, in this case.
“Our situation is complicated enough.” Remy might look like all my fantasies come to life, but sex with him would be a mistake. Unless, of course, he fucked half as well as he kissed.…
“And as I said, I’m tired,” I added before I allowed that thought to linger. “Either point me to where I’ll be sleeping, or I’m about to find out how comfortable that glass couch is.”
The shimmer of heat between us vanished with the same swiftness as that dangerously sensual glint in Remy’s eyes. When he swept out his hand, he was every inch the controlled, enigmatic man who’d kidnapped me the first night we met.
“This way.”