Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(13)

He turned and stalked out the door.

I tried to get to my feet, but I stumbled and fell back down, my cheek hitting the carpet. I needed to get up. I needed to lock the door, push the desk against it, anything to keep him from coming back. I cried, tears making it hard to see. God, I needed to figure out what the hell had saved me, but then I knew. A warmth enveloped me and I knew who my savior was. I cried at the sweetness of it.

Even without a body, Bris had found a way to defend his goddess. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to earn such devotion from him, but I was so grateful for it.

“Thank you, My Lord,” I whispered as that warm air surrounded me like a blanket. It enveloped me and gave me strength. He couldn’t speak, but I thought he was trying to tell me something. He wanted me to get up. He wanted me to get out of here. I was still vulnerable, and Bris had likely used all of his stored energy on his assault. He wouldn’t be able to help me again. There was time to cry later. For now I needed a safe haven.

I struggled to my feet and knew just where to go.





Chapter Four





I knocked on the door to apartment 1021. I glanced behind me every now and then, expecting Marini to show and try to take me away. My heart had settled a bit, but my anxiety was still high. After I’d cleaned myself up a little, I’d snuck into the residential area of the building, praying Marini wouldn’t come looking for me. According to Roman, he’d left, but my hands still shook.

I was startled when the door opened abruptly, and Lee appeared with a gun in his hand and a sheet wrapped around his lean waist.

“What the hell is going on, Zoey?” He took a deep whiff of the air and stalked out into the hallway, looking up and down. “Son of a bitch, where is he?”

“Gone.” I was pleased that I managed to speak with something of a calm tone. “Can I come in? I need to talk to you.”

Lee nodded and stepped back inside. “Sit down. I’ll be back in a minute.”

I got my first look around Lee’s apartment. It was nice, or it would be if anyone gave a damn. Like the other apartments in the upscale building, it had lovely hardwood floors and modern, clean lines. Dev had rehabbed the building when he bought it and it reflected his good taste.

Unfortunately, this particular unit also reflected Lee’s tastes. There was an old, well-used recliner and a couch that had seen better days. The only thing new in the entire living area was a large screen TV Dev had delivered and installed as a bonus for the work Lee had done while we were in Faery. Of all the wolves I’ve known, none of them had Lee’s senses. Even with Daniel’s blood, Zack couldn’t touch Lee’s hypersenses. He’d managed to track me across two sitheins while riding an eddy wind. If he hadn’t, I would have been executed, so the TV was well earned.

I sat down on the couch and heard Lee talking to someone in what I knew had to be his bedroom. I sighed. I’d interrupted something interesting. I stood back up. That hadn’t been my intention. “Lee, I’ll just go home. It’s fine. We can talk in the morning.”

“Sit your butt down, Zoey,” he yelled out. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

A woman stumbled out, still buttoning her shirt. I recognized her. She was a local wolf, a friend of Angelina Hernandez’s. “Hey, Julie.”

She smiled at me and stopped briefly. “Hey, Zoey,” she managed before Lee started pushing her toward the door.

“No, ladies. No girl talk,” Lee said firmly. “Good night.”

Julie frowned at him as he hustled her out the door.

“I’m sure he’ll send flowers tomorrow,” I said, all the while shaking my head in a negative fashion because that was so not going to happen.

Julie frowned. “If he wasn’t so good in bed I would…”

Anything Julie might have said was cut off by the slamming door.

“You’re a terrible boyfriend,” I said with a sense of awe.

He frowned down at me. He’d put on jeans and a wrinkled green T-shirt. “I’m not her boyfriend, Zoey. We were discussing some security problems she’s been having.”

“At three a.m.? Naked? Was she having a security problem in her vagina?”

An irritated growl preceded his response. “Well, you seem to have a security problem at three a.m.”

He had a point. “I lost the Blood Stone.”

“Damn it,” Lee cursed. “When did Marini show up? And why the hell do I smell him all over you? Stand up, Zoey.”

I knew what he wanted and I didn’t want to go through it. I couldn’t. “No, Lee. I’ll just tell you, okay? He caught me alone and he bit the shit out of me. It wasn’t his little greeting this time. It was a full-on feeding, and he gorged himself.”

“What else did he do?” The question ground out of his mouth. He went perfectly still, not even blinking.

There was no use in lying to Lee. We’d made a deal a while back. I trusted him and told him everything, and for the most part he followed my orders. I hoped the second part would hold up because I had a big favor to ask of my wolf. “He tried to rape me, Lee.”

“Tried?”

Nodding, I sat back down and attempted to get comfortable. “Bris showed up and went through a whole poltergeist impersonation. He threw stuff at Marini until he got off me.”