Chapter Twenty-Six
There was no blaring alarm, no haunting nightmare. There was no sweat-inducing heat or shiver-causing cold. Nothing unpleasant forced her from her bed this time. For once, as Angel left the realm of sleep and rejoined the world of the living, it was because she wanted to.
When she opened her eyes, light streamed gently into her vision, filtered by the soft veil of a gauzy curtain at the bedroom windows. They were floor-to-ceiling windows, framed by the most beautiful drapes Angel had ever seen. She blinked as uncertainty set in. She didn’t have curtains like that. She didn’t even have windows like that.
Her mind felt fuzzy, but it was oddly comfortable. Her entire body was comfortable, in fact. Deliciously so. She looked down at the bed.
These weren’t her covers. She didn’t own embroidered silk duvets and… what was this, thousand-count sheets? “Oh… my….”
Memories flooded her all at once, as if a dam had been broken and her head was now flooding. She remembered the Apex case, her argument with Gabriel, her drive from the safe house into Monsters territory, and she remembered pulling over… on the side of the road….
Where she passed out just as someone was taking her from the Jeep.
“Oh gods, who –”
“I’m a little loathe to admit it, but apparently you’re in good hands,” came a voice to her left. Angel cried out in surprise and sat up like a shot. Her hair flew all around her like it always did when she sat bolt-upright in bed, but she shoved it hastily out of her face.
Darius was seated on the edge of some sort of plush chaise lounge, the kind you’d find in a prince’s room. His elbows were on his knees, and his fingers were laced. He was watching her calmly through his beautiful pumpkin fire eyes. His smile was genuine.
It took Angel a few seconds to process what he said. She looked around. The room was beyond opulent. It had that impression about it that it was very old, around a hundred years old or so in fact, and had been kept in perfect condition since then.
That made her nervous. She didn’t know anyone this wealthy. Did she? The air was fresh, clean, and lightly scented. It reminded Angel a little of a luxurious bath bomb scent. She could hear the sound of gently lapping water somewhere nearby. The furniture was the kind of solid carved wood stuff only the most excruciatingly rich could afford.
It all made her wary. But Angel looked down at herself to find that most unnerving of all was that she had been stripped to her underwear. “Shit.”
Out of habit because she was a warden, she quickly turned her wrists over and felt her neck to search for bite or claw marks. But she was clean. In fact… all of the bruises, cuts, and scrapes she’d acquired over the last few weeks were gone. Her skin was smooth and unmarred, as if she’d cast heal on herself.
Angel blinked a few times. Now her confusion was so great, she was starting to feel a little numb. She knew Darius was there with her, which steadied her nerves enough for her to look around. On the other side of the bed was a bedside table. Atop it she found her emergency stash of medicine and supplements.
She kept the emergency medicine in a plastic bag in one of her backpacks at her apartment. Someone had obviously found it. And now it was here.
Wherever here was. “Darius, where am I?” she asked, slowly turning back around to face the handsome sentinel.
“You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.”
“Try me.”
He smiled, laughing a little. “Very well. You’re in the penthouse suite of the Fairmont San Francisco hotel.”
“I don’t believe you,” she quipped. He grinned. But actually… she did believe him.
She looked away toward the double doors at one end of the room. “Okay, so I guess you know what I’m going to ask next.”
“It was Cain.”
Angel started. Her body actually jerked in surprise as her head snapped back around to face him. Her heart felt strange. Oh… maybe I’m still dreaming. That would explain it.
“You’re wide awake Angel,” Darius said as if he could read her mind. Really, he just knew her that well. “And it was the leader of the Monsters clan who brought you here last night.” He stood up and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “He owns the damn room.” He laughed, shaking his head in slightly offended bewilderment. “And in fact, it was Cain who saved you too. You’re alive because of him. If he hadn’t shown up when he had, pulled you from the Jeep, and –”
“Wait. Wait a minute.” She closed her eyes, touching her forehead. “You mean, that was him?” She remembered being pulled into strong arms. But she’d thought they were her sentinel’s.
“Yes,” said Darius.
Angel was still trying to process the fact that Cain had been the one to find her first when she remembered what he’d said about the penthouse suite. “Wait. And he owns this room? What do you mean?”
Darius looked at her steadily. He seemed terribly undecided. Shadows of something passed over his eyes before he finally straightened and said, “Cain is a man with resources. He’s quite wealthy. He knew you needed help because he has eyes all over the city. So he helped you, and he brought you here.”
Angel processed that. All of it.
Cain looked to be in his thirties, but this suite was notorious for its price. Wasn’t it the most expensive in the United States? Maybe the world? What kind of second job did a warden have to have to stay in a room like this, much less own it? Much less own it and still be capable of employing enough people to have “eyes” all over the city?
The Monsters MC was always on the move. There was no telling what they did in each city they visited. Their records were not only impossible to come by for even the best hackers and investigators, they were literally nonexistent. She should know; she’d tried to get background information on Jake a few days after she’d started working with him. But the warden investigator had returned to her several days later empty-handed. She hadn’t even been surprised. No one knew anything about the Monsters.
And now… she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Okay…” she began slowly, licking her lips. Her throat had gone a little dry and her tongue suddenly felt thick.
“Hold that thought.” Darius strode to the double doors and opened them. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared through them, and she heard the sound of a refrigerator opening. When he came back a few seconds later, it was with one of the bottled protein shakes she often had for breakfast, along with a fresh bottle of water.
He sat on the edge of the bed beside her and placed the protein shake on the night stand while he twisted the top off the water. “Drink up.”
She nodded thankfully and took several long pulls from the bottle. It stung her teeth as it passed by, it was so cold, but she was grateful for it anyway. After a few swallows, she lowered it, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and asked, “How did he save me?”
Darius stiffened. He caught her gaze and held it. “I’m sorry Angel, but I can’t tell you that.”
Angel frowned. “What?”
“I can’t tell you. I was sworn to secrecy.” He took the water from her, put the cap on it, and opened the protein shake next, handing that to her instead. Angel sat there in silence, her eyes darting from him to the shake, and realized he was treating her like a child and trying to distract her.
So she pursed her lips, took the shake, and said, “Okay, fine. I’ll let it go. But only if I get to have every breakfast food on the Fairmont’s menu delivered up here through room service and only if I get to take an extra long, hot shower in the penthouse suite’s bathroom.”
“There are several bathrooms.” Darius grinned. “Because the penthouse has three suites, each with its own full bathroom.” He picked up the phone on the nightstand and began ordering room service.
Angel shook her head. She still couldn’t believe all that was happening. As she got out of the bed and her feet sank into the high-pile plush rug, she realized she had no idea where any of her stuff was.
“Don’t forget your meds,” Darius told her, placing a hand over the receiver to nod toward the bag of thyroid pills and supplements. “And your clothes are in that closet there. Your phone is in the bedside table drawer.” He returned his attention to his phone conversation.
Angel ran a hand through her hair, fisted it at the scalp, and took a deep breath. Darius was right. She needed to come to grips with this and continue her day. Then she would thank Cain. He’d not only saved her and let her stay in this room, he also hadn’t taken her right back to Gabriel. She had no idea why, but she was grateful. So grateful in fact, she hated that she was going to have to ask him if she could have the Apex case.
As if she didn’t already owe him.
Angel sighed. She took her medicine, pulled her phone from the nightstand drawer, and went to the closet. She opened it expecting to find it empty, but it was instead filled with numerous highly expensive tailored suits, freshly cleaned and pressed and draped protectively in plastic. Her clothes were there too, also freshly cleaned and neatly hung along with the suits.
“Holy cow,” she whispered, running her hand along the arm of one of the suits. “This thing must cost more than… well, pretty much everything I own combined.” Suddenly she felt guilty for touching it and pulled her hand away.
Hurriedly, she gathered her clothes – and the boots, which had been placed neatly on the floor below, and made her way through the room. But once she was at the double doors, she realized she had no idea where the bathroom was. And all it took was a peek through the open doors to see that she had choices of where to go. Lots of them.
“For crying out loud, this place is stupid big,” she muttered, turning a helpless look on her sentinel. He was just hanging up. When he saw her dishevel, he laughed again.
“If you want the nicest one, it’s at the end of that hall down there. The mirror literally doubles as an enormous flat-screen TV, no joke. But personally, I think the shower in the suite down that other hall and to your right is more to your tastes.”
“How so?”
“The room is just small enough that it’ll fog up.”
She laughed out loud. He really did know her. “Got it. Thanks.”
When she’d closed the door behind her and set down her things in this “smaller” bathroom that was four times the size of her own, she turned on her phone to run the usual morning checklist everyone ran: Messages, weather, Instagram, Facebook, Email, and so forth.
But she didn’t get past the messages, because the last one that had been sent to her was from Cain.
Cain: Good morning, Angel. Darius won’t leave your side until you tell him to. He’s a good sentinel. But if you want the Apex job, come to the Monsters safe house alone when you’re ready. You’ve probably already ordered, but room service will deliver anything you wish to eat, and the concierge can supply anything else you need. I’ve already logged the address on your map.
The message stopped there. But Angel suddenly felt a tightening in her gut. Cain knew everything. That was scary enough. But going to the safe house alone…. Her heart hammered. A warm flush moved through her, and her mouth was dry again.
As if by magic, a new message appeared, pinging her phone. She looked down and read it.
Cain: Don’t be afraid, Angel. We won’t bite.