The suspicious part of me perked its ears at a resume befitting a spy for the potentate. But, to be fair, that’s exactly what Taz had been. The only difference being she reported to Boaz. Using that logic, I couldn’t strike Mathew from the list of potential replacements without meeting him first.
“You took classes from him?” Lessons would be a perfect cover to disguise any covert meetings.
“No.” He fiddled with the zipper on his bag. “But we spar on occasion.”
Linus sparring.
Linus.
Sparring.
While I understood he had hunted the dybbuk, which meant he must work in the field in Atlanta, I had trouble picturing him in the role. Even with Cletus for backup, I had difficulty wrapping my mind around him being the defender of a city. Atlanta’s own Bruce Wayne/Batman. Unreal. Picturing him in a mayoral role came easy, but down in the streets? Fighting? His elegant hands used as weapons?
No, that I couldn’t imagine.
“How are you going to entice him down to Savannah?” That must be his plan. “How long will he stay?”
“His home base is in Atlanta, but he doesn’t live there. He couch-surfs or stays in hotels. He hoards his money like a dragon.” He reached for his suitcase. “Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him pay for anything.”
I wanted one thing clear upfront. “He’s not a dragon, though, right?”
“No.” Linus shook his head, amused. “He’s not a dragon. Those all live on the West Coast.”
The taste of dirt filled my mouth, which probably had something to do with my chin scraping the grass. “Dragons are real?”
“Most everything is real if you know where to look.” He grasped my wrist, turned it over, then traced the crease bisecting my palm. “We hold the balance of life and death in our hands. We can make, unmake, and remake humanity, and you can do so much more.” His thumb pressed over my pulse point. “Your blood is proof that all things are possible.”
The cold of his touch spiked chills up my arm. “I spent too much time with one foot in the human world. There’s so much I don’t know, so much Maud kept from me.”
Muted pop music blared at the same time an engine revved, the noise unheard of in this neighborhood of the quietly wealthy. A horn honked at the gate leading onto my property, and I gawked at the nerve. But Linus was on the move, so I followed him.
This couldn’t be our ride. The driver must be lost, and Linus wanted to hurry him on his way.
Beyond the glare of the headlights, I spotted a familiar white van coated in dust with profanity written across the hood and windows.
A young man with greasy hair popped his head out the driver’s side window and waved to us with a folded slice of pizza. “You guys call for a lift?”
I choked on a laugh. “Are you serious?”
“Do you approve?” Linus glanced over his shoulder, making certain I understood he was serious. “I thought you might—”
Catching up to him, I looped an arm through his. “This is perfect.” I chuckled again. “I can’t believe you’re going to let people in Atlanta see you arrive in this. What will your friends think?”
“They won’t be paying attention to him.” The stiffness that always seized him when experiencing unexpected physical contact began to melt, and he softened against me. “They’ll be looking at you.”
Shoulders hiking up to my ears, I wished he had kept that to himself. “I hope not.”
“You’ll be arriving with me,” he said, an odd smile flirting with his lips. “People will be curious.”
“Well, in that case, I’m happy to play the role of Nameless Arm Candy.”
The slight curving of his mouth blossomed, and I grinned at having made him smile.
“I invited Neely to meet us there,” I confessed while he was in a good mood. “I hope that’s okay.”
Quiet for a few steps, he lowered his voice. “Are you uncomfortable being alone with me?”
“No, nothing like that.” I tugged on his arm until he turned his head toward me. “He was looking for an excuse to visit Cruz in the city, so I gave him one.” Unsure why it embarrassed me to admit it, I glanced down at my least holey T-shirt and the jeans with ripped knees. “We’re also going shopping.” A flush warmed my nape. “I want to look not like a street person at Strophalos.”
The frown Linus bestowed on me while sweeping me from head to toe with his dark-water gaze made me want to plant another kiss on his cheek. His honest confusion that I needed help in the wardrobe department buoyed my spirits. Boaz didn’t care what I wore, minus his conviction that less was more. Volkov had been all about playing dress-up with me, which put me off the role of Society darling like nothing else. But Linus didn’t seem to mind the style I had adapted, a mix of thrift store finds and pieces from my teenage years scrounged from my closet, and that won major points with me.
Sadly, Linus was not a High Society dame or even a Low Society matron, and anyone we met in his town would hold me to the standards of my station.
Savannah might be used to me schlepping it, but Atlanta was all glass, steel, and glitter.
“We meet Reardon tomorrow at dusk.” Linus opened the gate and held it for me. “You’ll have to shop tonight if new clothes are on your agenda.” Brackets framed his mouth as he made his own addition to our schedule. “I have a meeting. One I can’t postpone.”
Our driver watched us over the end of his pizza slice as we loaded our luggage. I shot him a look he answered by taking a healthy swig from a twenty-ounce bottle of soda.
Linus had spoiled him. He wasn’t budging without the promise of another fifty-dollar bill.
The cargo area was crammed with speakers, which meant our bags got stacked on the front passenger seat, leaving us to share the middle bench.
“It’s no problem.” As much as I hated shopping, I would never subject another person to it unless I already knew their preference. After snapping my seat belt in place, I woke my phone. “I’ll shoot Neely a text and see if tonight works for him.” While I was at it, I took a covert shot of Linus and sent it to Marit as promised. “I’ll need to snag him before he meets up with Cruz. Their reunions last for hours.”
And Neely was useless afterward, all soft-eyed and boneless, smiling goofily and texting his husband when he thought I wouldn’t notice. Goddess only knew how I would end up dressed if I left it up to him in that condition. Probably lingerie. With accessories that required batteries to operate.
Ten
I jolted awake, chased from a blessedly dreamless sleep by the hand shaking me.
“We’re here.” Linus’s cool breath hit my cheek. “We’re also in a no-parking zone in front of my building.”
The numbness pervading the left side of my body clued me in to the fact I had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
“Parking here is a nightmare.” Our driver grinned at Linus in the rearview mirror. “Besides, you can afford the ticket.”
“You’ve created a monster,” I whispered, yawning as I sat upright and took in our surroundings.
“I think you’re right.” Linus passed him a fifty-dollar bill and a printout with a hotel logo in the top left corner. “Your reservation has been made, and your room paid for. You’re responsible for any room service you order, movies you rent, or other fees you incur during your stay.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got you, man.”
“Keep your phone on you at all times. You are only to accept fares from myself or Grier. Do you understand? No freelance work while you’re in the city.”
“I told you I got you. Sheesh.” His scowl tightened. “You need to take a chill pill, man.”
“Come on, man.” I shoved Linus out of the van, and we collected our luggage. “He’s got this, man.”
Linus sighed as he took my elbow and led me to the entrance. “I can’t tell if you’re mocking him or me.”
“Both?” I hopped onto the sidewalk, purple suitcase trailing at the maximum distance the handle allowed, like maybe I wouldn’t have to acknowledge it if it arrived after me. “Two-for-one special?”
“His name is Tony,” Linus informed me, flashing digits on his screen at me. “Put his number in your phone.”
Happy to oblige, I added Tony to my contacts list then included a pizza emoticon lest I forget him.
Air shimmered as Cletus materialized, brushed his bony knuckles over my jaw, then swirled into nothing.
Pressing fingers to my cheek, I turned to Linus. “What was that about?”
“I’m not sure.” The expression on his face was difficult to parse. “Wraiths aren’t allowed in the Faraday.” Amusement peeked through his eyes. “Odd, wasn’t it? Almost like he was saying goodbye.”
Nodding thoughtfully, I zipped my lips before I gave my part in Cletus’s newfound awareness away.
Though I doubted my doe-eyed innocence act had fooled Linus for a minute.
Fiddlesticks.
A giant of a man watched our approach through hooded eyes the tawny brown of crushed pecan shells. His sandy-blond hair hung in dreads down the small of his back, twisted into a loose tail. The crimson and black uniform did nothing to hide his muscular build or the menace in his bearing. How humans saw him and accepted him as one of them blew my mind.
“Mr. Lawson,” he boomed down at us, gripping the curved handle on the ornate glass door leading into a gilded lobby. “I wasn’t aware you were back in the city.”
“I’m only here for the weekend, Hood.” Between the curb and the door, Linus had donned one of the masks from his extensive collection. This was Scion Lawson, with a stick so far up his butt he probably coughed up bark, and a faint sneer tinged with just enough boredom to make you feel like simply addressing him was wasting his time. “This is Grier Woolworth. She’ll be staying with me. She has full access to the building and my loft, understand?”