Chapter Eighteen
After everything that had happened, it all ended with very little fanfare.
Nyrene had expected…something. Some sort of climactic build-up.
Dev had left to go with his captain, and that had been with a lot more fanfare than with what later happened. He’d only left because Taige bluntly said, “We can hide the fact that we’re here. But you can’t. Your presence, even now, could be fucking things up. You want her safe or not?”
So he’d left, not even saying a word to Nyrene and damn if that didn’t hurt.
Joss and Taige were in the kitchen, leaning up against the counter and talking quietly.
Nyrene was in her room, pretending to pack.
She had no idea where she was supposed to be going, but it wasn’t like she was going to sit around waiting for people to come and grab her. Taige had told her to act natural, do what she’d have done under normal circumstances. She’d told Taige that under normal circumstances, she’d have been packing up and hauling ass.
So Taige told her to do it.
It wasn’t hard to feign what was almost panicked motions as she went through her wardrobe and took out what was the most important, putting it in a suitcase. She’d been at it for almost an hour.
When she had the suitcase full and nobody showed up, she’d go to Taige, give her a look and Taige would just shake her head. So she’d start all over again.
She had no idea how long this was supposed to take and although she was feeling panicky, it was hard to maintain that level of energy for too long.
She was about ready to crash.
Or so she thought.
Something rolled across her senses. She had no idea what it was. The only way she could describe it was like a knock—somebody tap, tap, tapping against the window of her soul, just checking to see if she was there.
Panic, true panic exploded inside her and she rushed to the door, mouth open.
Joss was already there and he lifted a hand, covered her mouth.
He shook his head in warning and then nodded back to the bedroom. She gave him a pained look. If she was supposed to be doing what her instincts said, then she should be hauling ass—like now.
But Joss shook his head and gave her another hard glare.
She withdrew, her gaze flicking to meet Taige’s.
Taige gave her a reassuring smile and held up a note. The writing on it was a scrawl and Nyrene had the impression it had been written quickly.
Take a suitcase. Go into the living room. Act like you’re leaving. Wait until the time is right. You’ll know.
Taige had a lot more confidence in her than Nyrene had in herself, but she nodded, feeling defeated.
The suitcase was about as full as it needed to be, so she zipped it shut.
That odd tension had settled into a vibration of sorts at the base of her skull. It all but hummed. Be ready, be ready, be ready…
Nyrene hefted the suitcase off the bed, watched as Taige slipped into her room to take her place, turning off the light and closing the door until only a couple of inches remained open.
Joss hit the lights in the kitchen and remained in there, lurking in the shadows.
Nyrene turned to look at him, mouth opening to ask him a question.
But it froze on her lips as a trail of ice seemed to trip up her spine.
Slowly, she turned toward the door.
You’ll know.
Her breathing hitched in her lungs.
She wanted to run.
Everything inside her screamed it.
Although her instincts, now in full-on panic mode, chittered at her and insisted there might not be any time left to run. He’ll hurt you, they whispered. They told him he could hurt you if you didn’t come. He likes hurting people.
She had no idea who he was.
Then a fist hit the door.
“Nyrene?”
A man’s voice called out her name.
She couldn’t speak.
He knocked again, louder this time. “Open up, Nyrene. I can feel you in there.”
Feel me? Panic screamed louder.
Joss’s voice drifted to her. “Say something,” he whispered, almost soundlessly. “It’s okay. You’re not alone.”
She sure as hell felt like it.
Gripping the handle of her suitcase, she said in a wavering voice, “Who is it?”
“A friend, Nyrene. I’m a friend. I’m here to help with this problem of yours.”
She wanted to scream out she didn’t have a problem, that her only problem was all the people who wouldn’t quit following her, but she said nothing.
She didn’t know what to say. There was nothing that wouldn’t sound like a bald-faced lie.
Swallowing the knot in her throat, she backed away from the door instinctively. She had barely lifted her foot when the doorknob rattled a little.
“Oh, honey,” the man said on the other side of the door. “Locks are useless with me.”
Her fingers tightened until the plastic grip of the suitcase handle was biting into her skin. She made it two more steps as she watched, mesmerized, while the lock slowly twisted in the other direction, going from the locked position to the unlocked. Heart pounding, she backed up one more step as the doorknob turned and the door started to squeak open.
A couple of low murmurs were exchanged and she realized for the first time that he wasn’t alone.
She swallowed back the whimper rising in her throat and tottered back a couple more steps.
She tried to tell herself that Joss and Taige were there with her and they seemed confident that they could handle these people, that they knew what they were doing. She was fine, she had to be fine.
But none of the mental pep talking she tried to offer did anything to soothe the ragged, jarring fear unfurling inside her gut.
The door opened completely and a man appeared in the doorway. With him was a woman, her head almost on level with his, and the man wasn’t exactly short.
Her pale hair caught the lights from the streets and the few dim ones Nyrene had on in the living room. Liquid-blue eyes skimmed the room, coming to rest on Nyrene and a small smile curved her lips before she glanced past her into the dark kitchen just beyond Nyrene’s shoulders. Standing behind the man, he didn’t see the way she lifted a finger to her lips.
Shhh…it’s a secret, she seemed to say to Nyrene.
What? Nyrene wanted to scream. What’s a secret?
The man stepped forward, speaking. “Nyrene?”
She cleared her throat and backed up another step, almost to the kitchen now. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”
“I’m here to help,” he said easily. “Phantom told you I’d be coming. Remember?”
She tensed at the sound of that name. Phantom.
Jerking her eyes to the woman, she waited, wondering if this was the mysterious Phantom.
But the woman just smiled. “I’m just along for the ride, honey. It’s all good.”
The man’s face folded into a frown and he glanced back at the woman. It was…odd. Nyrene couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. It was almost as if he’d forgotten she was there. But the woman reached out and caught his wrist, squeezing lightly. “Don’t you have something to do?”
A faint line appeared between her brows as she spoke, but when she pulled her hand away, the man muttered, “I’ve got a job. Stupid fucking bitches…always hauling stupid fucking bitches around.”
His gaze locked on Nyrene and the air dwindled out of her lungs.
“We’re going to take a ride.”
“No,” Nyrene said, squaring her shoulders.
He smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Her blood ran cold.
But as he took a step toward her, the lights in the kitchen flared on.
Joss moved to join her.
The man tensed.
“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded, the hand at his side clenching into a tight fist.
“Somebody who isn’t too keen on letting Nyrene go for a ride,” Joss replied easily. He glanced at the blonde standing silently behind the unbelievably plain man—plainly dressed, plain-looking. Everything about him was plain. “Lousy company you keep these days, Nalini.”
Nyrene jerked at that.
The woman slid Joss a sly grin. “I was in the middle of getting information out of him when he got a call. I wasn’t done. Figured I’d just come along for the ride.”
The man, once more, shot Nalini a confused look. She repeated what she’d done earlier, taking his wrist and squeezing.
His face folded back into the irritated lines it had been in when he’d seen Joss.
“You need to just step out of the way, big guy, if you don’t want to get hurt,” the man said, directing a sneer at Joss.
“Nah.” Joss smiled, then tossed a look over his shoulder. “You know, I was really wanting to play with you myself, but that comment about stupid fucking bitches changed my mind. Hey, honey, why don’t you come on out?”
Nyrene refused to keep shrinking away. So far, the man hadn’t so much as moved for her and Joss stood next to her—big, muscled, ready.
And somehow, she realized the woman wasn’t there to harm her, either.
Then footsteps sounded on the floor. Click, click, click went the heels of Taige’s boots.
The man’s eyes flicked to Taige, then fell away, before shooting right back to her.
It was…comical.
His gaze went wide and his jaw fell open.
He backed away from the woman who’d just entered the room and Taige smiled.
It was a cat’s smile, and when he kept backing up, she just laughed.
He smacked straight into the blonde who ended up spinning him around and grabbing his face in her hands. “Let’s just end this little game now, shall we?”