Declan wasn’t used to being nervous. No, not nervous. Jangly. Was jangly a word? Because that was how his insides had felt all day. He’d only seen Suzanne once since he’d kissed her good-bye and left her in the under-stairs dungeon, and that had been when she’d brought him and Steve lunch. She’d showered and changed into a pair of khaki shorts with a matching, flowing pink and khaki top, and if Steve hadn’t been there, he’d have had that sexy little outfit on the floor.
She’d given him a flirty smile, probably thinking she’d been covert about it, but the moment the office door had closed behind her, Steve went playground.
“Ooh, damn.” Steve whistled. “What was that about? You nail her?”
“No, I didn’t nail her.” He reached for what Suzanne had called a French grilled cheese. Declan wasn’t normally one for bucking the grilled cheese tradition of plain white bread and American cheese slices, but this croissant sandwich with pepper jelly, sliced granny smith apples, brie, and turkey was fucking awesome. He paused before taking a bite. “And shut up.”
Steve snorted. “You nailed her.” At Declan’s glare, he’d grinned and held up his hands in defense. “Shutting up.”
That lasted for approximately three seconds.
“But aren’t you always the one preaching about how it’s harder to protect someone you care about than someone you don’t give a shit about?” Steve grabbed a homemade French fry and dragged it through the garlic aioli Suzanne had made. “That’s bullshit, you know. Just ask Liam and Avery or Case and Mia. If anything, I’d argue that you’ll be even better at keeping someone you care about safe.”
“Yeah, well, you’re an IT guy. If your computer dies, you can get another one.”
“That’s harsh, man,” Steve said with mock seriousness. “My computers are my babies.”
“That’s because you can’t get a woman.”
Steve considered that as he popped another fry and chewed. “Did you know there’s sex doll porn? Like, dudes fucking sex dolls. On video.”
“What does that have to do with you not being able to get a woman?” Declan grimaced. “And why do you know that?”
“Not important.” Steve ate another fry and wiped his fingers on a napkin. “My point is that I’m not that hard up.”
“Not that hard up to do what? Get a sex doll?”
“To watch some dude bang one. I mean, how fucking lonely do you have to be to watch someone have sex with a doll?”
Declan really hadn’t wanted to think too hard on that.
He and Steve had finished lunch and then got back to searching the house, but Dec hadn’t been able to get Steve’s words about Suzanne out of his mind. You’ll be even better at keeping someone you care about safe.
Maybe. But the cost of failure was also much, much higher.
Now, hours later, Steve had gone and Declan shook himself out of thoughts that weren’t doing anything but making him crazy as he pulled Suzanne’s Jag up to the front door. He was not a fan. Sure, the car was nice. Luxurious, plush, drove like a dream. But he felt like a douche driving it. Like he should be wearing a two-thousand-dollar suit and paying three hundred bucks for the same haircut an average person could get for twenty at the local barber.
He’d take his Rover over her kitty any day.
His breath caught when she came outside, still in her shorts and blouse, but she’d added a light sweater and strappy sandals, and a lot of blingy jewelry. She was practically glowing, her hair in a high ponytail that bounced as she walked down the sidewalk. If he had to choose just one word to describe her, it would be vibrant. She was a bundle of positive energy that engulfed everything around her, and as he got out to hold the passenger door open for her, he reveled in the way she made him feel.
“Thank you,” she said, giving him a shy smile that was as bright as the diamond around her throat.
He wanted to kiss her. Maybe ravage her a little.
Shit. This was why getting involved with a client was dangerous. He was thinking about getting her into bed when he should be alert to threats.
Mentally re-ordering his priorities, he shut her door and got back into the car. He put the Jag in gear, waited for the gate to fully open, and then he eased the vehicle down the driveway. Next to him, Suzanne put on her sunglasses, completing her effortless, angelic look. There was even a golden halo surrounding the crown of her head, a trick of a sunbeam striking her glossy hair.
She was too good for him, and that was something he would never have thought he’d say just a few days ago.
“Well,” she said, giving a sassy toss of her head as she turned to him, “did Steve find the secret entrance? Or did you guys just work on security issues?”
Busted.
“No,” he said sheepishly. “But did you know there’s a storage room full of some really old and bizarre artifacts and religious stuff?”
“Really?” Her eyebrows climbed up over the rims of the sunglasses. “Huh. I’d like to see it.”
She seemed genuinely surprised, and he didn’t doubt it. The room’s entrance had been hidden behind a door disguised as a bookcase, and if Steve hadn’t been specifically looking for a secret door, he never would have found the storage room.
Declan flipped on the Jag’s blinker and pulled out onto the street.
Suddenly, a man was there, standing in the middle of the road, his finger pointed at the windshield.
“Oh, shit!” Suzanne lunged at Declan, slamming her palms into his knee and pushing down, forcing his foot on the gas pedal. “Hit him!”
“What?” He cranked the steering wheel, and he swore he saw the guy smile as the car swerved wildly.
A flash of light, so bright it made the noon sun seem dim, blasted his corneas, blinding him with searing pain. Suzanne shouted as he mashed down hard on the brakes. The car skidded sideways to a halt, the squeal of tires fading into the sound of the passenger side door opening.
Somehow, his vision returned, partially, at least. He saw well enough to watch as Suzanne bailed out of the car and ran toward the man in the road.
Except it wasn’t a man anymore. He stared, blinking madly, as if doing so would eventually change the image in front of him. Holy fuck, it was a monster. A horned creature straight out of his nightmares. And Suzanne was running right for it.
“Suzanne!” His hands shook as he simultaneously drew his weapon and opened the car door. As his foot hit the hot pavement, the beast swung a massive ax at Suzanne, and his heart shot into his throat. “Suzanne!”
She disappeared. Right before Declan’s eyes, she disappeared, and the ax cut through empty air. A split second later, she reappeared behind the creature, scythes whirling like blender blades in her hands. Where had those come from? What the everliving fuck was happening?
The monster-thing leaped into the air. One of Suzanne’s blades caught it in the mouth as it spun into her, knocking her thirty feet away into a telephone pole. She slid to the ground in a heap, but before Dec could take a single step toward her, she threw her hand out, and a fireball—an actual fireball—shot from her fingertips.
The beast easily stepped aside, and the ball of fire shrieked through the air before plummeting into a nearby mansion. Time seemed to stand still as the roof caved in and then blew out in an explosion that shook the entire block. Debris rained down and smoke choked the air.
Before that moment, Declan had actually thought that maybe, just maybe, he was being punked. Or that they’d inadvertently driven onto the set of a Hollywood movie.
But no, this was all too real. Unbelievable as it was, it was real, and he knew it.
The monster snapped its arm in an arc and launched some sort of round weapon at Suzanne. Blinded by a veil of black smoke, she didn’t see the sphere, and Declan didn’t have time to warn her before it struck her in the head, knocking her to the ground. The monster charged at her, jaws snapping, its massive, serrated teeth clacking together like demonic thunder.
A sense of déjà vu washed over him. As if he were divorced from his mind, a feeling of calm took over, and he leaped into action. Taking a knee, he used the Jag as cover and fired at the horned creature. It roared and rounded on Declan, its gaping maw dripping saliva and blood.
He fired again, and the thing charged, the bullets bouncing off its hide as if they were nothing more than BBs hitting the hull of a tank.
Hawkyn materialized on the monster’s left flank and attacked it with bolts of lightning, slowing it. And then Sexy was there, and three other people he’d never seen.
Suddenly, skull-shattering pain knocked him to the ground, and his body convulsed so hard that he heard the crack of bone. Hellish agony ripped him apart for what seemed like hours, until finally everything went dark.