Ruling Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 4) (14 page)

“A week?” she said. “You can get some work done in the city and I’ll clean up whatever messes are being made in the Jersey plant.”

Brock nodded. “We have to find a replacement for you.” At her look of indignation, he continued. “You are too important for the company to lose, but I would like you to live with me. You can take on supervisory duties of the Jersey and Ohio plants from the Manhattan office and we can find someone to take care of the more day-to-day tasks.”

She would have to move. The thought broke her heart, but she knew it was reasonable. Every feminist bone in her body wanted to scream at him, but it wasn’t as if he could move into her small house and still run the company. His family spent generations turning it into a profitable national corporation. She couldn’t ask him to give up on it because life was unfair to her.

“I should, um, go pack.” She turned and walked back to the house, forcing herself not to look back at him.

“Elsie,” he called. She closed her eyes for a second before she turned to look at him. “We
are
going to make this work, okay?”

She tried her best for a reassuring smile but knew the result was shaky at best.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Elsie’s mouth watered as the line slowly moved forward. She was already imagining the full fat caramel latte sliding down her throat.

Normally she was good and got a skinny latte or tea, but today she needed more. After the week with Brock’s family, she needed this treat. She was used to getting her caffeine hit every morning, but apparently werewolves saw no need for the energy boost. Turning furry she could live with. A lifetime without coffee was a death sentence.

Her phone buzzed again and Elsie rolled her eyes. Between Brock and her mother, the phone hadn’t shut up all morning. Rebecca was desperate to patch things up between them, and Brock wanted to check up on her every fifteen minutes.

He insisted he trusted her enough to keep out of trouble, but she did like the security of knowing he was keeping tabs on her. And he wasn’t worried for no reason.

There were people who wanted her dead. In the past two weeks alone, she’d almost died twice. That wasn’t even including her nightmares.

Luckily she hadn’t had any dreams since the night she first turned. Maybe the mystical mansion really had collapsed and now it would leave her alone.

A woman in front of her finished placing her order and the line shuffled forward, bringing Elsie even closer to her blessed coffee.

Glancing down at her phone, she opened up Brock’s text. STILL NOT KIDNAPPED?

She chuckled. His constant checkups would probably get annoying, but when her fear was so fresh it was nice to know he had her back.

SO FAR SO GOOD,
she replied.

The line shuffled up a few more feet and Elsie let out a sigh of relief. She shifted her laptop bag so she could easily reach the money in her purse; she wanted to order and pay as quick as possible. It was never a good idea to get between caffeine addicts and their fix this early in the morning.

She finally was able to walk up to the barista and quickly shot out her order. She was a coffee shop pro.

“That’ll be four dollars fifty cents,” said the pretty young blonde, who looked as if she’d rather be anywhere other than taking Elsie’s order. A happy-looking pot head, aptly nicknamed Bud, was always at the coffee shop down the street from her house. He always smiled and told her amusing stories with no point about his roommates.

She missed Bud.

Not wanting to spend any more time with the depressed barista than she had to, Elsie quickly handed over her credit card.

“This one’s on me,” said a familiar male voice from behind her.

Elsie’s bags clattered to the floor as she jumped away from the voice and turned around. Instead of a monstrous and leathery creature, a breathtaking man stood inches from where she’d just been.

Others in line gave her strange looks and she couldn’t blame them. He cocked his head at her reaction and one corner of his mouth lifted. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Her eyes might be playing tricks on her, but she knew that voice. He was definitely the same myotis who invaded her home.

The barista stared at his new visage with unmasked admiration. “Can I get you…
anything
?” she asked in a breathy voice.

“Just get the queen her coffee. I’d really appreciate it.” His voice dripped with charm.

Elsie’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Don’t call me that,” she hissed as she knelt to pick up her purse and computer case. He bent down and picked up her work bag.

She snatched it from his hands. “Stop buying me coffee and stop touching my stuff,” she whispered as harshly as possible. “Just go away!”

“We can’t go yet, Your Majesty. Your drink isn’t done. It sounded complicated. Might take a while.”

Speechless, Elsie stared up at him. What game was he playing? And when the hell did he turn from batboy to Fabio?

No. Fabio wasn’t right, but he did look as though he belonged on the cover of a romance novel. His arms were huge and stretched the sleeves of his black sweater. His hair was a rich brown that didn’t look real, and his eyes were the deepest blue she’d ever seen.

She’d lived around the supernatural her whole life, but she’d never seen anyone as ethereal as him.

“Hey, lady! Are you going to move?” shouted an impatient customer.

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath.

The barista wasn’t about to let her dream man get chased away. “Hey! He and his little friend can take as long as they want!”

Great. Now she was a
little friend
. “I’m moving. I’m moving,” she assured the man as she scuffled away so the line could continue to move.

To her annoyance, the batboy followed her. He stood close enough that their shoulders touched, and Elsie couldn’t help her shudder of revulsion and backed away, not caring about the three people she ran into.

He stared down at her, frowning at her reaction. But he didn’t look surprised.

“Stop shaking like a frightened mouse. I’m not here to hurt you. I don’t even have my game face on.” He held up his hands in a non-threatening manner to elaborate his point.

“Funny. I don’t believe you.”

Her finished drink was pushed over the counter and batboy quickly swiped it off the counter. “You want to talk here or would you rather find somewhere more private?”

Elsie rubbed her forehead in exasperation. “I’m not talking with you. I am leaving and you better hope I don’t sic a bunch of were—” Elsie glanced around the crowded coffeehouse. “A bunch of my dogs on you.”

He frowned at the threat. “While I’m sure enough of your wolves would have me beat, I guarantee I’d win in a one-on-one fight. Besides, my coven might not be as numerous as it once was, but it’s still strong. Don’t make threats you can’t back up with muscle.”

For the first time, the smiling tone was out of his voice and he was dead serious.

“I’ll make a mental note.” As she spoke, she snuck her hand into her purse. She needed to keep talking so he wouldn’t hear her search for her phone. “Do you make a habit of sneaking up on women minding their own business on their way to work or is this a career switch from terrorizing women in their homes?”

Damn it! Where was the stupid phone?

“Believe it or not, women tend to enjoy it when I go home with them.”

Elsie rolled her eyes at the innuendo. “Obviously they haven’t met your Hyde.”

“True. That is a bit of a buzzkill. And you can stop looking for your phone. I have it safely in my pocket.”

Elsie’s hand froze in place. “Seriously? You attack me and my family in my home and now you steal my only form of reaching protection but you expect me to believe you aren’t here to hurt me?”

“Stop being so paranoid. You’re supposed to be a werewolf queen. Act like one.”

“I’m trying to be afraid of you. I really am. But right now I’m just a little too pissed off at you to manage much fear.”

He smiled at her threats. “All I want is to have a civilized conversation. Is that too much to ask?”

Elsie glanced around her to the various stares their fighting was drawing. He probably wouldn’t hurt her here. There were too many witnesses.

But she didn’t want to stake her life on “probably.”

She motioned with her head for him to follow her and walked to one of the small tables outside the coffeehouse.

After arranging her bags, she sat down and finally took a sip of the decadent drink, moaning in pleasure. Screw the monster across the table. This was heaven.

“I suddenly find myself jealous of the werewolf,” muttered the monster across from her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Never get between a New Yorker and her coffee. Never.”

“You weren’t born in New York,” he pointed out. “You didn’t even move there until you were twelve.”

She took another sip and tried not to be creeped out by his knowledge of her past. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“My name is Lucian. I am the current coven leader of the myotis. I would like to make a deal with you.” His words were ridiculous, but his tone was one hundred percent serious.

“Why on earth would I make a deal with you?”

“Because when you first heard my voice this morning, you almost shit yourself with fear. Wouldn’t you rather have me and mine as your ally?”

Elsie bristled at his words. Had she really seemed that scared? “What exactly are you offering?”

“You are the siren werewolf queen who was raised with vampires. You are already uniquely powerful due to your position between the species. Imagine how much more respect you will get when you have two myotis bodyguards under your control.”

Elsie considered his offer. As far as she knew, myotises and sirens had hated each other forever. The supernatural world would be rocked on its axis if she started showing up to events with myotises at her back. She already had firsthand knowledge of how dangerous her new position was.

Brock would never accept their help. Hell, his delicate male ego would probably be injured if she hinted that she didn’t feel safe with his werewolf bodyguards.

“I’m assuming you want something in return? What’s the price of your protection?”

Lucian smiled, apparently seeing the question as a sign of her considering his proposal. “My terms are simple. I want a siren as a bride. All I ask is that you try to find one for me.”

Elsie choked on her sip of coffee. “Are you serious? How can you expect me to hand over some innocent woman to you?”

He shook his head. “You don’t have to force her into anything. All I want is an introduction. My people have a…
reputation
among your kind. I am trying to remedy that.”

“Yeah. All that rape and torture tends to turn away potential mates,” she muttered.

His eyes hardened at her words. “That was before. I am the new master of the coven and I intend to make sure that behavior doesn’t happen again!” His raised voice caused Elsie to lean away and a few passersby looked in his direction. He took a calming breath. “My people are dying. There are no women left and humans are incapable of carrying our children to term.”

It all started to click for Elsie. “But you know sirens take on traits of their mates.”

He nodded. “Kalger used violence and force in his attempt to trap sirens but all he did was make sure they stayed as far away from us as possible.”

“Don’t talk like the violence is all in the past. Just last week I was attacked by one of your men, and he was more than happy to prove just how violent he was.
Then
you attacked me and my family at my home. Don’t bullshit me,” she warned.

“We are facing extinction! Every member of the coven we lose is one step closer!”

His outburst was the last straw. “It is one thing for one of your people to be homicidal, but don’t you dare defend him. You weren’t there! You didn’t feel the way he touched me or hear the hatred in his voice when he said the things he was going to do to me. I would never submit anyone, let alone one of my own, to that torment.”

Not wanting to deal with him anymore, she slung her purse and work bag over her shoulder and turned to leave. She only got three steps away from the table when Lucian appeared out of thin air in front of her.

Her breath caught in her throat and her precious coffee tumbled to the concrete sidewalk. Quicker than she could see, Lucian knelt and grabbed the falling cup, stopping the descent before even a drop spilled.

Slowly, he extended to his full height and handed her back her drink. The sudden reminder of just how dangerous he was had Elsie gulping in fear.

“Thank you,” she squeaked out as she took her coffee from him, careful not to let her fingers touch his.

He didn’t offer her the customary “you’re welcome.” Instead, he just looked down at her, as if to say
I could be hurting you right now but I’m not! Isn’t it obvious that my race isn’t violent?

His now free hand pulled her phone out of his pocket and his fingers quickly moved over the touchscreen.

She frowned at the slight invasion of her privacy. “What are you doing?”

He locked her phone and handed it back to her. “You have my number now. Me and my men are just a phone call away.”

Elsie looked over her phone, not knowing how to feel about having a myotis at her beck and call. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she pocketed the phone and started to walk around him.

As she passed, his hand lightly grabbed her arm and she jumped at the sudden contact, eyes going wide. “Just so you know, Cullen is in town. Your escape humiliated him and he’ll make sure you pay.”

Elsie pulled herself from his grip and he let her. “You’ve seen him?”

“I have eyes everywhere,” he said.

Elsie nodded and backed away. “I’ll keep that in mind. Good-bye, Lucian.”

He nodded back to her and she turned away. When she turned the corner to go to her car, he was still in the same spot.

~~~~~

Walking into the office after an unexpected two-week absence wasn’t the best feeling. Elsie could feel her overburdened coworkers stare at her questioningly over their cubes as she made her way to her office.