Chapter 3
The hound hanging from my grip didn’t fight back. Even when I booted Katarina from his mind, he held still like a good little dog and understood that now wasn’t the time to fight.
“Roman,” Blaise groaned. “I do not understand why you are so interested in her.”
Blaise was my most cherished member of the crew. Loyal, strong, practical…he’d been by my side for nearly two hundred years now. But Blaise was an old soul who hated change. And in this instant, when it came to learning more about the woman who’d remained under my radar for years, Blaise was wrong.
“There was a reason the coven kept her hidden.”
Dorian stalked forward, his typical arrogance on full display as he stuck his face right up against the hound. “I don’t know, boss. I mean, this guy is cool, but the woman? She isn’t anything special.” He brushed his shoulder-length brown hair out of his face when the hound growled at him.
“Really, Dorian?” Aiden teased. “Seemed like she was all you could talk about last night.” Aiden pushed past Blaise and walked toward us. “I mean, seriously, you couldn’t shut up about her and her hair and her leather.”
Dorian laughed. “Well, I never said I didn’t want to fuck her. But I’m not sure she’s worth pissing off the entire Crescent Coven for.”
“I agree,” Blaise said, staying in his spot across the room. He was in his suit that matched mine while the other two hadn’t bothered to dress up today. I guess jeans and tee shirts were as good as it would get with them.
Grim wiggled in my hands and I set him down. “Don’t move,” I commanded, and I swear I saw the dog roll his eyes at me. Looking back at my crew, I let out a sigh. “Why did Murielle send her after my necklace?”
“Because it’s worth millions?” Dorian scoffed.
“No, I mean why her? Why Katarina?”
“Because she’s a thief?” Aiden suggested.
“Maybe you’re thinking into this too much, Roman.
” Aiden pulled out a chair and set his feet on top of the oversized dining room table.
He knew I hated it when he did things like that, but I didn’t have the patience to fight him right now.
“You had an antique necklace at the silent auction, the most valuable piece there I might add, and someone tried to steal it. Seems pretty straightforward to me.” He shrugged as he bit into an apple, his smug smirk directed my way.
“Are you all seriously going to tell me you didn’t feel her…that…energy in her?” I asked. I hated laying all my cards on the table this early, but these guys needed to have my back.
“Oh no. Someone’s got a crush,” Dorian teased. “Hey boss, maybe you and I can have some fun with her together before we send her on her way.”
I reached out so fast that Dorian’s wolf instincts couldn’t keep up. Holding his throat in my grip, I glared at him and his playboy attitude. “She is not going to be one of your playthings, Dorian,” I growled.
Aiden suddenly appeared beside us, using his fae magic to catch me off guard. “Roman put him down. Please,” he added when I tossed a glare his way.
Shoving Dorian to the side, I released my fingers from his neck and straightened my suit jacket. I hated losing control in front of these guys. I was their boss. Their superior. They worked for me.
But something about the redheaded jewel thief had my instincts in a tizzy.
It happened when I grabbed her last night to force my compulsion.
This jolt of energy that zipped through me and then straight back into her.
Like our energies were balancing each other in a way that I’d never experienced in my long life.
There was no way she was just a simple human.
“Roman?”
Pasha’s quiet voice from the doorway helped bring my emotions back to neutral. “Yes?” I asked without looking at him. I didn’t miss the way the other three men in the room were watching me. Waiting for me to lose my shit again over a woman I’d just met.
“She says she needs to use the bathroom.”
Dorian chuckled and Aiden slapped me on the shoulder as they started to walk away. “We’ll take care of it, boss.”
“No! Don’t…” Don’t what? Let her go to the bathroom? I sighed again. “Just put her up in the blue room.”
The wolf and the fae exchanged a knowing glance with each other. “The blue room?” Aiden asked with a smirk growing on his face.
“Yes.”
“But don’t you reserve that for—”
“Just do it,” I growled, cutting off Dorian’s rhetorical question. Yes, the blue room was reserved for our most special guests.
“Got it, boss,” the wolf said, adding a salute and a wink as they both maneuvered around Pasha and disappeared into the hallway.
“Those two,” I groaned, looking down at the black dog still sitting by my side. With a jerk of my chin, I said, “Go. Go to Katarina.”
The hound chuffed at me but quickly followed Dorian and Aiden back to the room where Katarina awaited. Katarina…such a pretty name for a pretty woman.
“Sir?” Blaise interrupted my daydream. Jesus, something was off with me today.
“I know what you’re going to say, old friend. But you know the adage about keeping your enemies close.”
Blaise stalked toward me, his massive size blocking the light from the windows behind him.
From far away, I could appreciate his handsome strength, both in looks and in his build.
He was a half-breed shifter…ousted from his family centuries ago because he couldn’t shift into his dragon form.
With so few dragon shifters left in the world, he was considered a waste of a mate as he would never sire an offspring of his own.
I’d found him working in the tunnels of Africa, digging for diamonds to appease his instinct to covet beautiful things.
I gave him a chance to collect more in exchange for a partner by my side as we built our empire and amassed our fortune.
He’d been a stabilizing force in my circle ever since.
“She is not your enemy,” Blaise said, his dark eyes and dark hair accentuating his scowl.
There was a time when powerful friends of ours tried to convince Blaise to enter the Hollywood scene.
With his size and his looks, he had “successful action star” written all over him.
But Blaise didn’t do people well. He basically hated people. Especially humans.
“I never said that she was.” I reached up and placed my hand on Blaise’s large bicep, giving it a quick squeeze. “Trust that I know what I’m doing.”
His stiff body loosened ever so slightly under my touch. “We shouldn’t be inciting a war with the witches.”
“I didn’t start this war.”
“It will be bad for all of us,” he said in response. Blaise flicked my hand off his arm and stomped away from me. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I let out another long sigh, something I didn’t even need to do. But when I felt Pasha’s arms wrap around my waist from behind, I relaxed a bit.
“I hope you do know what you’re doing, Roman,” he whispered against my back.
Squeezing the man’s arms that crossed my stomach, I rolled my neck until it cracked.
Pasha’s human warmth seeped through my back, and I instantly felt my fangs elongate.
I didn’t need to feed right now, but feeding from Pasha always helped calm me down.
Where Blaise was my partner in all things business-related, Pasha had been my partner in… other areas.
“How is she?” I asked, rubbing my fingers against the skin of his arms.
“I like her,” he said after a long pause.
I turned so that we faced each other, holding onto his hands so I didn’t need to leave his warmth. “That’s not what I asked you.”
He smiled up at me, those bright green eyes hidden behind the atrocious glasses. I’d once offered to give him my blood to help cure his human weaknesses, but he’d refused. “You’re right. She’s different.”
Katarina certainly was.
“Are we ready for tomorrow night?” I asked, doing my best to get the thoughts of the woman out of my mind.
“Almost. But…”
“Go ahead.”
“But are you sure you want the coven here when you just stole their thief?” Pasha didn’t mix his words. The other men were my confidants and partners, but they still tended to steer clear of the difficult conversations. Not Pasha, though. It’s why I loved him so much.
“I think it’s a perfect time for Murielle to see what we have collected.” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. “It might help us understand more about Katarina.”
Pasha shrugged. “If you insist.” He stepped away and started to walk toward the door. But he stopped and spun on his heel as he looked back at me. “Should I keep the cameras on in her room?”
“Yes,” I said quickly and before Pasha could appeal to what was left of my humanity. I would only keep watching her until I learned what I needed to.
“See you at dinner,” Pasha said with a nod.
Suddenly all alone in the dining room, I walked toward the fireplace and added a log to the flame.
It wasn’t quite cold enough yet to warrant a fire, but it just didn’t feel right not having one in this great space.
I’d purchased the old abbey nearly fifty years ago.
And for the past five decades, I’d been slowly restoring her to all her glory.
It was a running joke inside my crew that we lived in an old church…
considering who we all were. But the architecture was beautiful and reminded all of us of our days in old Europe when life was a little less complicated, and we weren’t forced to hide so much of ourselves.
I threw another log into the fire and watched the sparks dance around the open hearth. Several of them sprinkled down onto the stone floor, immediately turning into darkened pieces of ash. Was that an omen? Should I really keep Katarina for myself at the risk of inciting a war?
I shook my head to rid it of these unnecessary thoughts. I would let Murielle and the rest of the Crescent Coven see that I had Katarina tomorrow night when I hosted my annual Autumn Equinox ball. I would show them that they did not have the right to hide someone like her from me for so long.
I would show them that I was in charge of this city.
And Katarina was mine.