I glanced at the bedroom the two guys shared. It was bare of all their belongings with just the old wooden dresser and bed, which was switched down to the mattress. I watched as Casey grabbed up a few other bags and went to the door, then he turned back to Riley. “I’ll be in the car.”
Riley nodded. Casey’s gaze shifted to me.
I wasn’t really sure what to say to someone that I ordered to leave town. “Stay out of trouble,” I said again to him, not sure he would take the advice this time either.
Casey’s mouth tilted up. “As long as I ain’t around here, what do you care?”
I shrugged, because, really, I didn’t.
Casey’s small smile stretched to a grin and then he walked through the door. I wondered if this was the last time I would see him.
I turned to look at Riley. He looked back with a level expression in his dark eyes.
“Why did you stay here? Why did you put up with China?” I asked.
He lifted a dark brow. “For the same reasons as you.”
“You and I both know that you already knew all about being a hellhound before China found you.”
If he was shocked I knew, he didn’t show it. Calmly he shrugged. “I have my reasons.”
“What are they?”
He said nothing just stared straight at me. I figured now would be the moment to see if he really accepted me as leader. Finally something shifted behind his eyes and then he said, “She never found it, after all this time.”
“You mean China and that dumb map?”
Riley bent to pick up a few duffel bags and swung them over his shoulders.
“Is that why you were here? You wanted it too?” What was the big deal over some stupid map?
“I’ll see you around.” Riley said and headed for the door.
I hadn’t really expected for him to answer my questions and really, I guess I didn’t care. I just wanted him gone.
“I don’t want you coming back here,” I told him, the hint of threat in my voice.
“Relax,” he said, “I’ll stay away from her. I know who she belongs too.”
“Don’t forget,” I growled.
He grinned. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
And then he was gone.
My conversation with him left me oddly unsettled. Hev? You okay?
Yup. Waiting for you. How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days is being played on TV in half an hour.
It’s a date.
I looked around the room once more and my gaze landed on the open bedroom door. I moved quickly, pushing the door all the way open to survey the room. It was as I noted on first glance: empty. But there was something I hadn’t noticed before. I went toward the bed and picked up the piece of paper lying in the center of the bare mattress. I recognized Riley’s handwriting instantly. I stared down at the words and committed them to memory, not really sure why I bothered. Then I tossed the paper back down and left the apartment all the while wondering why Riley left me the location of where he was going.
Heven welcomed me as she always did, with warm eyes and smiling lips. I wanted to grab her and kiss her until nothing else existed but us…but I wasn’t sure it was the right time. For some reason my brief encounter with Riley left me feeling restless. I felt like something was coming, like there was something out there that I didn’t know about. I told myself that I was just too used to being on high alert, always on constant watch.
But those thoughts didn’t go very far in fighting my instincts. Instincts, I had learned, were usually right. It wasn’t until I was settled in the warmth of Heven’s bed, beneath a blanket, with her at my side that I began to feel any bit of relief.
And if I held her a little bit tighter and a little bit closer…she didn’t seem to notice, and I never once let on.
If something was comingI would be ready.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Heven
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” Sam said, looking up from the bagged lunch I’d brought him.
I looked out across the lake. It was calm and peaceful, the waves moving in the breeze. It didn’t appear at all the way I knew it could be: black, choking and life threatening. I shook myself and looked back at Sam.
“I’m going to teach you how to swim,” he declared.
“What? No.”
“Then you won’t be afraid of the water.”
“I’m never going to swim as well as you.”
He laughed. “No, but at least you won’t drown.”
I looked back at the lake. Maybe learning to swim wouldn’t be so bad…if Sam taught me.
He grinned and took a huge bite of the ham sandwich I’d brought for him. “Thanks for bringing me lunch.”
“You weren’t going to eat,” I accused.
“I can’t leave the shack. I’m the only one here renting boats today.”
I know. So I brought lunch to you. I liked switching into the Mindbond sometimes, it reminded me just how close I was to Sam, and I liked having conversations that no one else could hear.
I like to eat. He grinned, taking another huge bite.
“I noticed,” I said dryly, then laughed.
A car pulled up and a couple got out and walked up to the rental shack. “I’ll be right back,” Sam said, hurrying off to help them.
I watched him work. He was friendly and helpful, getting the couple into a paddle boat and seeing them off. He came back only after he was sure they could work the boat and were headed off toward the center of the lake.
“So you wanted to ask me something?” he said, picking up his sandwich.
I nodded. “They said that you’re Alpha now.”
He paused from chewing and looked up. Not really.
But they said…
He sighed. Hellhounds were never made to be pack-oriented. We’re too independent. That’s part of the reason we were tossed out of hell. Too hard to control even by an Alpha. We don’t really have Alphas.
I don’t understand. They said you were leader now. You told them to leave and they listened.
The four of us lived together for a while; China kind of took over and the rest of us let her because we were younger and weaker. It just kind of became our group dynamic.
Then you killed her.
He finished the sandwich and opened the bottle of water and took a long drink. Then I killed her. I guess the guys thought I would try to take over where she left off.
They wanted you too.
Maybe. But only because that’s what we are used too.
You wanted to be Alpha.