Читать книгу The Billionaire Werewolf's Princess - Michele Hauf - Страница 13

Chapter 4

It had been a while since Ry enjoyed the company of a woman so much. And since he’d felt so comfortable with one. Usually his dates were high-maintenance, slipping into the bathroom every half hour to check their makeup, texting or doing God knew what on their ever-present cell phones. He had yet to see Indigo glance at her phone.

They both sat on the sofa, facing the slanted windows that lined the east side of his flat from the floor, where they rose vertically about six feet up the wall, then angled at forty-five degrees to the top of the high ceiling.

Indi’s hand rested on her stomach and she’d slouched down and declared, “You’ve ruined me for any other kind of nachos. I am your servant for life. Pay me with melty cheese and those fabulous pickled jalapeños.”

“I have never seen such a pretty, petite woman put down the cheese and chips with such gusto. I promise to call you next time I have a nacho craving.”

She met his fist with her own. And Ry tilted his head against the back of the sofa and slouched down as well. He’d had a couple of beers in the fridge, and the now empty bottles sat on the coffee table. An evening sharing brews and junk food with a pretty woman? This was a hell of a lot easier than doing the fancy-restaurant thing and then trying to figure out if he should suggest a museum or a boring concert. And how to read a woman regarding whether she was on board for sex or if she was the sort who had a three-date minimum or even longer.

But he reminded himself this wasn’t a date. The woman had been dumped by her boyfriend. And Ry did not do the rebound-guy thing. No way. He didn’t need that kind of baggage to sort through.

He wasn’t sure what was going on besides that he was warming to Indi fast and hoped they could get to know each other better. As more than friends, if that appealed to her. It did to him. When she decided to start dating again, he wanted to be tops on her list of potential dates.

Indi suddenly sat upright, turned to face him and asked, “Now about what I really came here for.”

Ah, hell. The fun couldn’t have lasted forever. Ry sat up and set the empty plate on the table, then prepared to face the tough questions.

“This is going to sound strange,” she began, “but...why do I feel as if I was drugged the other night?”

Because she had been. “You did say champagne goes straight to your head.”

“True, but I’ve been on a champagne bender once before. This was different. The aftereffects have been exhausting. I’ve slept like Sleeping Beauty minus the beauty part. I didn’t even get up until three today. It’s like I’m fighting to come back from an illness, or something. And I still don’t feel right. Tired and achy. Usually after a bender I puke, pass out, then wake with a headache. But a few hours later, I’m good to go. You didn’t... I mean, I don’t think you would. You seem like a nice man. But... I have to ask.”

He picked up on where she was headed. “I did not roofie you, Indi.”

“Oh. Right. I mean, it’s never happened to me before, so I wouldn’t know what to expect. I’m sorry, but I had to ask.”

“Understandable. Let me see if I can help you to sort out things.”

Ry shoved a hand over his hair, then pulled it back and held his hand at the back of his head. How to explain this to her without going into so much detail she’d develop even more questions... Could he trust her with the details? She already knew some things, so he’d only get caught if he tried to twist them into something they had not been.

“And while you’re at it, what were those black things?” she asked. “I saw them. They were...creatures. Totally black and creepy and yet weirdly sparkly.”

Ry blew out his breath and dropped his hair. No way around this one. And lying never felt right to his soul. He’d have to give her the truth. Some of it. She seemed smart and capable of handling such information. And if not, she could run away from him again, and he wouldn’t go after her. She’d just think she’d met a totally whacked guy with a weird way of looking at the world.

“You were drugged,” he said. “Or rather, you were treated with a complex healing process that involved herbs and some...” He couldn’t say faery magic. No human was that open-minded. “And I’m sure that was what has you feeling so blown now.”

“Herbs? What the hell?” She pressed her palm over the base of her throat. Today there were no signs she’d even been injured by the collector. “I remember something about getting cut. Maybe from the creature’s claws? Then you picked me up and carried me... And then I draw a blank. Ryland, please. I know this is crazy, but I need to fill in the blanks so I don’t think I’m going nuts.”

“You’re not nuts. At least, as far as I know. I don’t know you well.” He winked, but she didn’t return the playful vibe.

Right. She was worried, and he had no right to keep her in the dark.

“There was a creature,” he confessed. “Two of them. I was there to slay them. Which I did. Because if I had not stopped them they would have entered the mortal realm fully and done some terrible things.”

Indigo thrust up a palm between them. But she didn’t speak.

Ry felt compelled to clasp her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, then he set it on her leg. “This is going to be tough to hear, but you have to keep an open mind. Okay?”

She nodded. Winced. Closed her eyes tightly. Then opened one eye and nodded again.

“First,” Ry said, “I need to know if you’ve been in that area of the eighteenth before. At night?”

“A lot of times. I used to party there with friends a few years ago. Janet and I did the Club Rouge for her going-away party this spring. Why?”

“No reason. Well, yes, there is a reason. That particular section of Paris is a strange place. Actually, it’s called a thin place. Two worlds overlap.”

She didn’t react, but her attention grew fierce. He was jumping deep, but something about the woman made him feel as if she wouldn’t be satisfied with anything but that dive, so Ry continued. “Do you know about faeries?”

“You mean like the little twinkly ones I see in my garden?”

He bent to level their gazes. “You see faeries?”

She shrugged. “Not all the time, but I have. And just that you’re asking about it means that I don’t have to say to you ‘don’t think I’m weird.’”

“I don’t think you’re weird. You’ve seen actual faeries before?”

“I guess so. Out of the corner of my eye. I believe in faeries. Just like I’m sure all the other mythical creatures exist in the world. Not that I’ve seen anything but a few faeries. I’ve have never run in to a vampire, but until something is disproven, I keep an open mind.”

Ry’s exhale released a lot of tension. “Good. Because those black sparkly creatures were from Faery.”

“Really?” Her response was so enthusiastic Ry leaned away from her. Would it have been easier if she’d laughed at his fantastical suggestion and walked out on him? Much less to explain that way. “But those creatures were big. The same size as you. Can faeries be all sizes and shapes?”

He nodded. “Basically. They are a species, and within the species are hundreds, probably thousands of breeds.”

“Cool.”

So far, so good. Time to hold his breath and do the free dive to the deepest depths.

“That part of Paris you were in last night is called FaeryTown,” Ry said. “It’s where the realm of Faery overlaps the mortal realm. It’s always been there. Humans aren’t aware of it. They walk through never knowing that faeries are all around them, living, existing, doing drugs.”

“Drugs?”

“Rather, the faeries sell their dust to—” Er, she probably didn’t need to know about vampires and their addiction to faery dust right now. “Anyway, I saw you sitting on the curb, and you could see me.”

“I did see you.” Her eyebrows narrowed. She was starting to think too much.

Ry jumped in for the save. “At that moment, I realized I shouldn’t have been able to see you, so I figured that you had somehow breached the fabric between the two realms and were actually in FaeryTown. And since you say you’ve seen faeries in your garden, then maybe you have the sight.”

“Is that an ability to see faeries?”

“Yes. I have it. And that’s what allows me to enter FaeryTown and to interact with its inhabitants.”

“Which is why you were there with a big sword and hell gleaming in your eyes?”

“You did see those black things flying above me.”

“I did. Not nice?”

“The nastiest of the not nice. I can’t allow them to enter the mortal realm, so I go there every night to slay them.”

“Every night?”

“At midnight. One or two collectors come through from Faery.”

“Collectors? That’s what you call the black sparkly things?”

“Yes. And while you don’t need to know everything, just know that it would be a very bad situation if one got through to this realm. Meaning, they pierced the borders of FaeryTown and completely entered the human realm.”

“Uh-huh.” She rapped her fingers on her leg a few times, then tilted her head at him. Her big blue eyes were so deeply colored they were almost violet. Faeries had violet eyes. But she wasn’t faery. He’d sense her faery nature if she was. And she had bled the other night. Red blood. Faery blood was clear and sparkly.

“So you’re like Batman, then?”

“Batman?” Ry crimped his eyebrows. “I just fell off this conversational thread.”

“Well, I, uh—” she tapped a finger against her lip and squinted one eye shut “—kind of sort of...googled you.”

“To be expected.”

“I know you’re a famous billionaire philanthropist. That’s totally Bruce Wayne. And then you fight the bad guys at night?” She shrugged. “Batman.”

“I, uh, would never call myself that, but whatever works for you.” Probably more like wolfman, but he was trying to avoid that branch of conversation right now.

“So...” Indigo placed her hand over her throat again. “One of those things, a collector, scratched me. I think?”

“Yes. And they are deadly to humans. By the time I got to your side, your breathing was shallow. You were going to die.”

She gaped at him.

“I carried you to a faery healer and she saved your life. She owed me one. Well, not exactly, but I wasn’t going to take a no from her because of our history.”

“Your history?”

“It’s not important. Hestia agreed to heal you. I didn’t watch, but it took about twenty minutes. And whatever she gave you—the herbs or faery magic she worked on you—must be what’s making you so tired and feeling as if you’ve been hit by a truck.”

“That was how I felt yesterday. Only a small car this evening. So a real live faery healed me? Kept me from dying?”

He nodded.

“And then you carried me here to take care of me?”

“I wouldn’t call letting you crawl under a table taking care of you.”

“I was probably delirious.”

“Close.”

“Okay, so faeries exist and they are doing some bad things in Paris, and you go out nightly with your sword to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

“I try my best.”

“What are these collectors doing? Killing people?”

“No, uh...” He winced.

“Ryland.” She touched his leg and it sent such a shock of intense desire through him that he sucked in a breath. But now was no time to kiss her. Even if the compulsion was screaming for just that right now. “You seem like a smart man. Doing good for others by giving away your money. Avoiding the celebrity because that’s not you. I did creep on you online. Don’t hold that against me. Anyway, you don’t seem like a man prone to flights of fancy.”

“I never take to fanciful flight.”

Her smile was so cute, curling the corners of her lips like a heart. “I think I can believe everything you’ve told me. I want to, anyway. It’s the best explanation for my worst night ever. But you have to tell me everything. Please?”

“I don’t know what else there is to say. As for what I’ve told you, I would normally never tell things like this to anyone. Well, I tell Kristine.”

“A girlfriend?”

“No, my secretary. She knows me inside and out. And she knows that this realm is populated by more than merely humans.”

“You keep saying human like it’s something you’re not.” She dipped her head to meet his gaze. “Are you a faery?”

“I thought you wanted to hear about the collectors.”

“I do, but... Okay. Tell me.”

He hadn’t dodged that one and knew the bullet would ricochet around to hit its target soon enough. Stalling for time had never been his thing. He always liked to come right out with it. Unless it related to revealing his true nature.

“Collectors have only recently been infiltrating this realm,” he said. “I know because I got curious after a news reports about stolen infants.”

“I remember that a few weeks ago. Such an awful thing. Something like three newborn babies taken from their cribs.”

“Right. Do you know about how faeries take human infants from their beds and replace them with changelings?”

“I’ve only read about such a thing in faery tales. That’s something that really happens?”

“It does. Or it did. It’s been almost thirty years since any major baby thefts have occurred and changelings were left behind. Related to Faery, that is. But it’s started again. Only this time, the faeries have decided not to leave a changeling in the human baby’s place. They just take the baby and run.”

“What do they want the babies for?” She pressed fingers to her lips. “Oh, my god, do they eat them?”

“No. Faeries have a thing for half-breeds. Unless its half demon. That’s a long story. But suffice, they raise the humans in Faery and when they are grown, breed them with their own. It’s not like a breeding farm. Some are treated as family. But it’s how things have always been done.”

“That’s fucked.”

“Gotta agree with that assessment.”

“It sounds like human trafficking.”

“When you put it that way, it is similar.”

“You’re protecting innocent babies. That’s so honorable.”

“I try. I’ve gone out every night for the past two weeks. Each night I slay one or two collectors. They often come in pairs, sometimes just the one.”

Ry stood and paced to the windows that looked out over the city. Twilight was creeping up and the streetlights below fought with the remaining daylight. The sky was a hazy azure-and-gray violet. Behind him, he heard Indigo shift on the sofa.

“You don’t have to buy everything I’ve told you,” he said over his shoulder. “But it’s the truth. And...” He turned to face her. “You can’t tell anyone about this.”

“Who would believe me? I’ve got enough problems without adding crazy faery lady to the list. And I do believe you. Can I just say it’s kind of cool to know you? I mean, you really are Batman.”

“Call me what you want. But I’m not a superhero. All I want is to stop innocent families from having their precious children stolen.”

“I wish there was a way I could help you. I’m glad you trusted me to tell me.”

She walked up beside him, and when he sensed she was looking up at him Ryland met her gaze. The outside light gleamed in her eyes and gave her skin a soft matte texture that looked finer than the most expensive silk. He wanted to kiss her. He should kiss her.

“One last question,” she said. “And this one is the most important.”

“Shoot.”

“When I was hiding out in the alley, watching you battle the collectors with your sword, I saw something.”

“Like what?”

“I saw you change. Briefly. Your whole body bulked up and your face... Ry, what are you?”