Steal the Light (Thieves #1)(87)

She hugged me and then with a glance at Daniel, she began to walk toward the elevators. She never turned her back, and I knew what she was feeling. She was thinking she’d never really known him.

I took his hand and watched as the last of that volcanic rage left him, and he looked like my Daniel again. “So you can listen in while you sleep. Good to know. If you piss me off, I’ll put on some Broadway CDs.”

“Remind me not to piss you off. I don’t usually listen in, you know. I can ignore most of it, but there are certain conversations that catch my interest.”

There was a low growl and then a big white wolf fell from the hole in the ceiling. Unlike Daniel’s graceful, deliberate descent, this was one big pratfall. When the wolf hit the ground, it only took him a moment to change back into human form, and when he came up, he was one righteous werewolf.

“Keys? Did you think about leaving the keys? The car doesn’t work without the keys, and big surprise—I can’t fly. But no, Superman here just wakes me and takes off like a superhot speeding bullet. I had to run twenty miles on an empty stomach. Twenty miles. Do you know what it was like trying to get across I-35? It was like playing Frogger, and I was the poor little frog. And I think animal control is hunting for me.” Neil paused briefly to take a breath and then started in again. “And then when my sad, starved body finally manages to make it to the place where my thoughtless boss has told me to go, I fall through a bunch of holes in the concrete. Who has sink holes in a parking garage? This hotel sucks. That said, I’m going upstairs to order room service. Did I mention I’m hungry?”

I was laughing as quietly as I could manage while Daniel slid out of his long, leather duster and handed it to Neil who was, once again, naked.

Neil looked at the coat and reluctantly slipped it on, sighing over the bullet holes in the back. “Great,” he muttered. “Now I look like a flasher. I need a couple of steaks, and a lobster, and some carbs.”

Neil walked toward the elevator.

Daniel took my hand and started to follow. “Come on. If I remember correctly, the faeries paid for the Gilmore suite until tomorrow afternoon. It’s as good a place as any to wait this out.”

Wait this out. Our meeting with Halfer. We had a few hours before I would have to go to Hell and all I could think to say was, “I don’t have the keycard.”

Daniel pointed toward the ceiling with the gaping holes in it. He could probably handle the door.

We made it upstairs without further incident. In the elevator, Daniel held me tightly, and I could feel the will he was using to have the people who got on the elevator ignore us. A couple looked our way but their eyes seemed to glide over or around us. I was grateful to reach the safety of the room.

Neil immediately got on the phone and started ordering two of everything. I began to make my way back to the secondary bedroom where Dev was still tied up. Daniel stopped me.

“Is he back there?”

I nodded. “Yes, I have to go untie him.”

He’d been really great. Even though I was with Daniel, I have to admit, there was something about Dev that called to me. It didn’t matter because I had so few moments left and I meant to throw everything I had into Daniel, but I cared about Dev.

“I’ll do it.” Daniel held up his hands as though to say he had no weapons. The problem was Daniel didn’t need weapons. “I have no intention of harming him. He isn’t the one who betrayed you, so he’s safe from me. I need to have a discussion with him, and I promise to keep it peaceful. I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me tonight. Let me have this.”

He hadn’t killed the faeries or Sarah and he’d really wanted to. I needed to give him this. He went off for what I expected to be a manly discussion about Dev keeping his hands off me. I wasn’t sure why he felt the need. I had only a few hours of life left on the Earth plane. I intended to spend them with Daniel.

I was about to head to the master bedroom when I glanced at the table in the center of the room. The box. It sat in the middle of the table, forgotten in all the hurry to get home. Now it sat there, a sad reminder of what might have been. I ran my hands across it, feeling the detailed carving. What had Halle said to me? He’d said something about details being important, and on this box, the details were everything. They told a story.

The box practically whispered, but the moment was broken, my thoughts shattering as I was spun around by the elbow.

“Come with me, Zoey.” Dev stood there, his eyes narrowed. “I’m going to try to get you out of this. I know people, important people. I may be able to work something out. I’m not going to allow this to happen.”

Daniel walked up behind us but he simply folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. I suspected he’d told Dev that this wouldn’t work.

I pulled my hand back. Of all the people I’d dragged into this awful situation, it was Dev I was most regretful about. I could feel for him. But my history with Daniel trumped everything. I loved him. I wanted these last moments with him. “Dev, I’m sorry, but there is no way out of this. You can’t do anything. If you try, you’ll probably get hurt.”

He shook me a little. “You can’t mean to just sit here and wait for Halfer to come for you.”

“I’m so sorry I brought you into this. I never meant to hurt you. But I’m going to stay here and wait for him. The Light of Alhorra is gone. I’m not going to spend my last hours running like a rat trying to get off a sinking ship. If you had three hours left on Earth, how would you spend them?”