“You’re going to get me a closet, eh?”
“You know what I mean.” His gaze moved over her. “We’ll go shopping tonight.”
That shimmer of hopefulness changed to a glint of wickedness. “I thought you had guests coming.”
Guests.
Right.
He was expecting the usual suspects at midnight. And one special friend, if the paven had news to share. His gaze moved about the room. It looked so sparse. Cold, even. He hadn’t noticed it before. Shite, he’d been in here only once or twice since he moved in. Would such a dim, modern room displease her? Make her uncomfortable? Make her miss the rustic warmth of her home in the Rain Forest?
He would have to fix that.
That, and other things.
“No guests tonight, I think,” he said. “And what color do you fancy?”
She stared at him, looking as confused by his behavior as he was. “You mean, what’s my favorite color?”
“Yes.”
“Green. I like green.”
“Good.” He cleared his throat, nodded in the direction of the bed. “Call your family. They’ll be worried.”
Her eyes were as wide as plates and her lips were parted as if she couldn’t figure out what to say. She glanced over her shoulder at the phone, then back at him. “I don’t understand you.”
Join the bloody club, veana. He didn’t know what had gotten into him, what was spurring this sudden need to make her comfortable, make her feel at home. He just knew he couldn’t fight it.
“Get some rest, Petra.” He turned around to leave.
“So, what? You’re not afraid I’ll have them come and get me?” she called after him.
Synjon’s lips twitched. Saying anything more about favorite colors—now that was a legitimate fear. But keeping Petra and the balas by his side? Not so much.
“Just let me know when you’re hungry, love,” he called before closing the door and heading for his study.
“Now they’re both gone!”
After finding the caves empty, Phane and Dani had flown the party back to the lion shifter’s land. While the Romans searched the river cabin, Phane, Helo, Dillon, and Wen returned to the family home.
“The bastard took her somewhere,” Dani said, bursting through the front door. “I know it.”
“Why would he do that?” Phane asked, following her. “He’s only wanted to get away from her.”
“I don’t know.” She charged into the first bedroom, nose lifted, eyes narrowed. “Who can explain asshole?”
Phane heard Helo chuckle from the room next door.
Once the house was searched, they all met up in the living area. Everyone except Wen. The older female had told them she was going to contact the faction leaders, let them know the situation. But Phane wondered if she truly just needed a moment alone. She’d looked stricken after leaving the caves.
Hands on her hips, Dani surveyed them all expectantly. “Well? What’re we going to do? Where are we going to look first?”
“We should split up,” Helo said. “Take different sections of the forest.”
Once again, the door opened and both the Romans and Petra’s brothers entered the house.
“Nothing at the river cabin,” Nicholas said. “But Lucian stayed behind just in case they show up.”
Dani nodded. “Good.” She turned to Sasha and Val. “What about you two?”
“We’re going to search on foot,” Sasha said. “Ask every shifter we come across if they’ve seen either one of them.”
“I’ll take the sky,” Dani said. She glanced at Phane. “I could use some help up there. You interested?”
Phane’s hawk stirred. “Very interested.”
“I need to buy time with the Order,” Dillon said. “Cruen’s disappeared. He wasn’t in the caves with us. I lost track of him. That’s not going to go over well. Especially if he’s back, standing before Feeyan and telling her that two Purebloods are missing on shifter land.”
“We’ll help with ground cover,” Alex said, “then flash into Manhattan when it gets dark. Check out the penthouse.”
Dani smirked. “He wouldn’t take her there. Not to his den of—”
“Wait!”
Wen came into the room. She looked disheveled, wide-eyed, but the fear in her expression had dimmed somewhat. “She’s not here, not in the Rain Forest. She’s with him. He took her—”
“Unfuckingbelievable!” Dani called out. She headed for the door. “I’m out of here. I’m going to kick some douchy vampire ass!”
“No, Dani,” Wen said, going after her. “Stop. She doesn’t want us to come.”
With a low growl, Dani turned to face Petra’s mother. “Wen, that’s the douchy vampire talking, not Pets.”
The older female shook her head. “I heard the truth in her voice. She’s agreed to stay with him.”
Dani shook her head. “No.”
“I know my daughter.”
Dani stared hard at the female. “Goddamn it.” She turned away, then back. “Why? Why would she be so freaking stupid? He’s a jerk. He’s a whore. He’s a—”
“He’s got the blood,” Phane said simply.
The female whirled on him, her eyes narrowed. She sidled up to him, her finger pointed in his face. The heat coming off of her was so damn intense, Phane nearly reached out to grab her. But Dillon’s words stopped him.
“This changes everything, you know?” The jaguar shifter sighed as she headed for the door. “God, I hate this job.”
“Yes,” Dani called after her, turning away from Phane. “Go appease the vampire Order. But what about us? What about the shifters? One of ours has been taken now. From shifter land to bloodsucker territory. Maybe we’re the ones who’ll have to infiltrate to get her back.”
“She’s not yours,” Phane said, watching her, admiring the passion in her. Her ferocity, her loyalty, made his hawk scratch and stir. “She’s not shifter.”
“This is none of your business,” she warned him. “My best friend is out there, pregnant and with a male who doesn’t truly care for her. I don’t know why she’s agreeing to this—if it’s really about blood or something far more problematic—but I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
Petra woke feeling groggy, emotional, and hungry. She lay on top of the covers in the bed she had agreed to sleep in every night until the balas arrived.
She blinked and rolled to her other side. The room was dimly lit, but she could make out the dark gray walls, stark white molding, expensive leather chairs, antique dresser, and the door to her own private bath, well enough. She’d already been in the bathroom. Massive stone shower, white towels everywhere, and a whirlpool tub. It was like a fancy hotel. Not that she’d been in all that many fancy hotels during the months in New York, when she was looking for Cruen, but the one she had been in reminded her an awful lot of this one.
A wave of melancholy moved over her and she moaned against it, then took a deep breath into her lungs.
She didn’t want that back. The intense, overwhelming wave of feeling. The pain. The tears she couldn’t control no matter how hard she tried. She looked over at the closed door. Where was he? Her sexy prick of a blood donor. His bedroom? The living room? If she called to him, how fast would he be at her side?
She moaned again. Not from the emotional waves crashing through her this time, but from the foolishness of her thoughts. If she dared to attach romance or sensuality or connection to this agreement, she was basically inviting him to hurt her again. What she needed to keep in the forefront of her mind at all times was that he didn’t want her in the way she deserved to be wanted.