Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(141)

“I don’t remember that ever happening,” Neil said. “That espadrille is heavenly. What kind of shoes do we need down here? Do you think your foot will stay a seven and a half or will the babies fatten up your feet, too?”

“Neil, hopefully we’re not going to be around to actually wear these clothes. They’re a smoke screen to detract from what we’re really doing, which is cracking this bad girl.”

Neil turned in Marini’s chair, looking at the safe. “Is it a 1 or a 2?”

I rotated the combination lock. “Luckily, this beauty is a 2.” Combination safes come in two varieties known as 1s or 2s. The 1s are infinitely harder to crack because their combinations can accept up to six numbers. The 1s have more wheels in the lock mechanism. The type 2 combination is the type that would typically be found in a home or small office where someone just wanted to deter the average criminal. I wasn’t average.

“His security is shit, Z.” Neil turned back to the computer and ordered the aforementioned Valentino espadrilles. “I would have expected better.”

I spun the knob, listening for the sweet sound of wheels tumbling. “He’s the most powerful vampire in the world. Well, he thinks so. Who’s going to steal from him?”

“You,” Neil replied.

“Yeah, but only out of necessity. The catacombs themselves are a safety measure. Now, hush. I need to figure out how many wheels this baby has.” It was an older model safe and I’d already tried the obvious. I’d searched the desk for the combination and made sure Louis hadn’t left the safe in a day-lock mode where I would only need to know the last number of the combination. No such luck.

“Zoey,” Neil said suddenly.

I turned from my work. “Yes?”

“How long was I gone?”

I thought it an odd question, but time worked differently on the Hell plane. It was the first time he’d mentioned his time away. I had asked briefly last night, but he hadn’t wanted to talk about it. “It’s been five days since Marini took us.”

“No,” Neil said. “That’s impossible. I know I was gone longer.”

I got down from the chair I was standing on. “Sweetie, how did you get away from Stewart?”

Neil was quiet, and I thought he was going to go back to his shopping for a moment. Then I heard his answer. “I don’t know.”

“How can you not know?”

I watched his curly blond hair shake and there was something about it that made me pause. I was looking at him very closely, and something was off about my BFF.

“I woke up in a field, Z. I don’t know how I got there or where I was before. The last thing I remember was Stewart putting that collar over my head and leading me away, then I woke up naked in a field outside of Paris. The only thing I knew was someone had put a sock in my hand. It was one of yours and I followed the scent to the catacombs. Someone wanted me to find you.”

But I was still looking at his hair. I walked over and ran my fingers through it.

“That feels nice,” he said, leaning back.

Neil’s hair is practically platinum, but I could see some very subtle differences. There was gray in there and a lot of it. There was gray that hadn’t been there before.

“Look at me,” I ordered him.

He turned to face me. “What is it?”

There they were—fine lines around his eyes. I’d never seen them before. “You were gone for more than five days, Neil. Is there anything else odd?”

He hesitated but then lifted the T-shirt Trent had given him that was a million sizes too big for his body. I gasped in shock at what I saw.

“How is that staying on your body?”

An elaborate tattoo covered the left side of Neil’s chest. Werewolves loved piercings and body art, but the sad fact was unless the piercing was silver, the body would heal around it and the minute the wolf changed forms, the piercing was usually lost. Tats were even worse. The body reverted to its original form after the change. The ink wouldn’t last through a change. I’d heard wolf after wolf bemoan that little fact. It was worse for the female. Her hair color reverted to natural following a change, so L’Oréal didn’t last long on a she-wolf. She tended to get used to pesky grays.

“I don’t know.” Neil lowered the shirt again. “I woke up in human form and it was there. I figured it was a little demonic ‘property of’ sign so I changed as fast as I could, but it won’t go away.”

“And you don’t remember anything?”

He growled. “No, I don’t remember anything.”

I shrugged. “I was just checking. Danny tries to hide stuff so I don’t get worried.”

“When was the last time I tried that on you, Z? I’m not your husband,” Neil pointed out. “I’m much more important than that. I’m your gay husband. If I’m freaked you better be freaked, too.”

“Well, I’m pretty damned freaked, Neil.”

“Good.” He smiled slightly and pulled a granola bar out of his pocket. “Here. I stole some from the kitchens when I got our breakfast this afternoon. I’ll steal some crackers tomorrow. You might need them to deal with your morning sickness.”

Neil had held my hair when I woke up just after noon, heaving up everything I had.