Bile rose in her throat. She hadn’t seen him take a drag off his cigarette, so where was the smoke coming from? Parched and shaky, she instinctively reached for her glass, then remembered that it was empty. But as she clasped it in her hand, she felt the cool, refreshing liquid inside. Her glass was full again. Shivers rushed down her spine.
“I have a message for you, Eden Swain.”
Fear wiggled its way into her body, like a worm burrowing into black soil. Her throat tightened. “How do you know my name?”
“Go home, get drunk and forget everything you think you know about Lilith Grae.” He stood to leave. “If you don’t, you’ll be sorrier than you’ve ever been in your life.”
“Wait. Where is she?” Eden grasped his arm before he could turn away. His flesh burned like a hot plate against her skin. She yanked her hand back and swore. “Fuck me!”
Cradling her hand to her chest, she looked down at it. A black scorch mark covered her entire palm. Smoke was actually rising from it and the stench of burned flesh invaded her nose.
She looked up at the huge man with a renewed sense of awe and fear. It wasn’t normal for skin to sear; he wasn’t normal.
Leaning down into her face, he said, “You can’t help her, Eden Swain. You’re not worthy.” More smoke snaked out of his nose and mouth as he spoke, as well as the putrid smell of rotten eggs.
Eden’s stomach roiled and she had to bite her lip to stop from retching.
With the pain of her burn still registering, she watched as he walked away. He moved through the crowd easily. She supposed that didn’t surprise her since he was such an enormous man, easily seven feet tall, but it wasn’t as if people were consciously moving out of his way. In fact, it seemed as if nobody even acknowledged his presence.
They didn’t stare or gawk as he moved past, but just sort of drifted out of the way as if pushed gently by an unseen breeze.
Eden couldn’t let him walk away—she had too many questions. Even though fear coursed through her, she had to try. For the woman. For herself.
Leaning over the bar, she snagged a cotton rag, put the ice from her drink into it and wrapped it around her hand. It hurt like a bitch, but she sucked it up and jumped off her stool to follow the mammoth.
Because he was so tall—easily head and shoulders, maybe even ni**les, above everyone—it was easy to track where he was heading: to the washrooms.
Leaning against the wall outside the men’s room, Eden waited for him to come out. Other men gave her strange looks as they brushed past her, but she ignored them. She was beyond caring what anyone thought of her, or question what she was doing.
She was even more determined to locate Lilith Grae. The giant’s warning just affirmed her decision that she was on the right track. Obviously, there was more going on than simply a missing woman.
After ten minutes, Eden was through waiting.
She pushed open the door and marched in. There were two guys at the urinals. Ignoring their indignant protests, she continued on to the three closed stalls.
Eden peered through the crack in the first door. A young man in leather nearly fell off the toilet. She moved to the next one. This time there was a couple, a man and woman, getting their jollies—they didn’t even notice her intrusion. The third and final stall was empty.
“Where the hell did he go?” Eden spun around the room, looking for another exit or a utility door or employee entrance. There were none. She glanced up and saw a small barred window. No way that anyone could fit through that, especially not a man weighing at least two hundred and fifty pounds of solid flexed muscle.
“Damn it!” she yelled.
The washroom door swung open again. Two beefy bouncers stomped in; she recognized one of them from the front door.
He grinned. “It’ll be my pleasure to show you the way out, sweetheart.”
Chapter Five
The bouncers escorted Eden out of the club, but they couldn’t force her off the street. She stood on the other side of the road, leaning against someone’s car, and kept watch on the place. Something was going on inside the club, something nefarious or something unnatural. Either way she’d wait here all night to find out. She couldn’t let this lead disappear.
After two hours of sitting, Eden stood and flexed her legs. Her ass had gone numb. As she walked around, the prickly sensation radiated over her butt and down the backs of her thighs. She hated that feeling.
Something stirred in the alley a block over. A pop bottle rolled out of the mouth and onto the street. Vigilant, Eden watched, waiting to see if someone emerged. A flash of something pale rushed into the lane. She couldn’t be sure, but it had the look of a man, although it could have just been dogs rummaging through the garbage bins.
Big dogs the size of humans?
A sudden urge to make sure crept over her. What if it had something to do with the giant from the club or with Lilith?
After looking both ways to make sure no one was observing her, Eden sneaked along the sidewalk and ducked into the alleyway. It was practically barren except for a big green garbage bin that stood against one wall about halfway down.
Keeping her eyes forward, she bent down and unsheathed the knife from the strap on her calf just above her boot. She flicked the blade open and stepped down the alley, her back to the brick wall opposite the bin. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but she was of the motto forearmed is forewarned—with armed meaning literally with weapon.
As she crept, she listened for any out-of-place sounds, except she could barely hear over her own labored breathing and pounding heartbeat. Dread was pumping through her veins like a toxin. Maybe coming down the alley hadn’t been a very bright idea.
A sudden breeze whipped through the alley, sending pieces of papers and trash into a swirling dust devil. Eden shut her eyes as it whirled around her, peppering her face with dirt and debris. Almost as soon as it formed, it was gone, entombing the alley with dead silence.
Eden’s skin crawled. Someone or something was staring at her—she could feel it on her flesh like a thousand scurrying cockroaches. With her thoughts working overtime, Eden decided to turn and go back the way she’d come. There was nothing here. Even with the minimal light, she could see down to the end. At least, that’s what she kept telling herself as she rushed along the wall to the opening of the lane.
Glancing once more behind her, she stepped out of the alley and onto the sidewalk with a sigh of relief. She flicked her blade closed and tucked it into her pants pocket. Shaking her head at how foolish she’d just been, Eden started to walk back to the car to continue watching the club.
She managed two steps before she was quite literally swept off her feet.
A black hood was thrust over her head and she was picked up under the arms and yanked into the air. Her feet flailed, seeking anything solid to touch on, but found none. She was being carried somewhere high.
As pure terror surged over her, she clawed at the felt hood over her face. She couldn’t get enough air. She was going to suffocate.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The dark-chocolate-rich voice came at her ear.
“I can’t breathe.”
“Yes, you can.”
His voice was soothing and she could feel a little of her panic leak away. Slowly, she let her hands drop. As she did, they brushed against the arm holding her around the chest. Wide and strong. And hairy?
“Where are you taking me?”
“We need to have a little talk.” The second he literally growled the last word, he tossed her.
She landed on her ass.
Which was probably a blessing since she couldn’t see. If she had tried to land on her feet she might have twisted her ankle or worse.
Cursing, she yanked off the hood and looked around to get her bearings. She was on the rooftop of a building. A high building by the looks of it.
Gravel bit into her palms as she gained her feet. Dizzy, she stumbled sideways and nearly landed on her butt again. A pair of strong hands held her up. Not the same hands that had dropped her to begin with—these were not hairy.
Shrugging off his hold, she swung around to give him a piece of her mind. The words lodged in her throat. She nearly choked on them.
He was beautiful. There was really no other way to describe him. Not in the effeminate way some men were pretty, but flawless like a statue of pale marble carved by the most talented of sculptors. His skin seemed to glow, as did his eyes.
Oh, and he was na**d.
“What is going on? And who the hell are you?” She tried to not look at his other amazing parts. “And why the hell are you na**d?”
“None of those things matter.” He walked around her as he spoke, and she got a glimpse of his extraordinary ass. “What matters is that you listen very carefully to what I say to you now, Eden Swain.”
“You know you’re the second a**hole today who’s tried to tell me what to do.”
He stopped in front of her and arched a brow. “Who else has spoken to you?”
“Some big dude in the club.” She lifted her hand, the one still wrapped in a dishrag. “He gave me a little souvenir to remember him by.”
“What did he tell you?” His eyes fixed on hers and she had the sudden urge to fall into them, to surrender herself to the fortitude in them.
“To go home and forget about Lilith Grae.”
“Considering the source, those are wise words.” He began circling her again. “After tonight, do not concern yourself with this matter. Go back to your life. Do not get involved.”
“And what if I tell you to take a flying leap off this building and continue to do what I want?”
He smiled but there was no joy or humor in it. “You talk tough, but you would not be able to handle the consequences of your actions.” His eyes glinted like stars in the night sky. “You think you live in hell now? You have no clue what that truly is like.”
Without thinking, Eden used her injured hand to snag his arm as he walked around her. Pain seared through her and she grimaced. “You don’t know me. You have no clue about my life and what I’ve had to deal with.”