Chapter Sixty-Six

Safiya

I stared at the surface of the pool.

The bright turquoise was an almost exact mirrored reflection of the sky, and the two colors merged to nearly become one in an endless landscape of perfection.

Perfect weather.

Perfect setting.

Perfect natural beauty.

A perfect day.

I hated all of it.

Everything I had dreamed of since that initial defining moment as a young girl when I caught my first stolen glimpse of the sea was staring back at me.

Unfathomable, endless blue.

The color of hope.

And I couldn't touch it.

A light breeze fluttered the palm fronds, and the cell phone I was now too afraid to go anywhere without vibrated against the smooth travertine surrounding the pool.

My traitorous heart leapt as I glanced at the screen.

No caller ID .

Hesitating, telling myself not to answer but already reaching with a wet hand, my cowardly nerves won out. "Hello?"

"You asked me a question."

My heart and my breath both sank at the sound of the male voice because it was not the one I wanted to hear. It was November. The man with eyes full of darkness. "Are you going to answer it?"

"No."

Men.

Or rather, men like him.

I knew they were not all the same, but in this, with the cryptic, altruistic fa?ade of noble intentions, they were as one. Maybe it was their training or experiences or battles they had to not only survive but conquer that had made them this way. I did not know. And I selfishly did not want to. I just wanted honesty.

For once, I wanted a conversation that was as clear as this day. No hidden shadows, no masked motives, no dark betrayal bleeding into the beauty. I just wanted the blanket of bright sunshine. But to let on to such a desire was its own form of weakness, and I did not want to be that right now.

"All right," I replied, keeping my tone as even as his.

"I'm not the one you should ask."

Closing my eyes, I inhaled. "Is that what you called to tell me?"

"No. I have intel."

My breath hitched, and my skin prickled with a sudden sting of awareness as the hair on the back of my neck bristled. Opening my eyes, I glanced across the lanai. "I am not interested in conversing." Was Grayson here?

"I'm not calling to talk."

I fought the urge to look behind me. "Goodbye." My hands now shaking, I started to hang up.

"You have company."

The short breaths fighting my lungs all but disappeared, and I did not need to ask who it was because my body had already known who was near. Before I could reply, the man who tried to shield his overwhelming dominance behind a computer screen and stark expression caught me off guard.

"Grayson's coming in. If you need intervention, tell me now. The situation will be mitigated, and you'll be relocated."

The prickling awareness crawled up my back and spread like a river of shimmering heat across my entire body. Then I spoke the surest truth I knew. "A new location will not make a difference." The man named after an apparition had already proven he could find me anywhere. "Is it safe for me to take a job?"

I had been so startled by all the women that I had forgotten to ask. But I should have. It had been one of Grayson's strict protocols. No employment. I was not to interact with people on a regular basis. But now everything was different, and I could not keep staying here, staring at the ocean, wondering what to do. I needed to live. I needed to find my own way, and I did not want to take any more of his money.

"Yes, it's safe," November answered. "And I meant relocated to a secure location that I'll personally guarantee."

Eight years descended on me with a weight so steep, not even the hardscrabble experiences of my battered childhood knew how to bend around the sharp edges of this stranger's offer. "What are you doing?" Faith and hope were not luxuries I knew, but distrust and suspicion were, and this man's offer was not born of selflessness.

"Providing you with a choice."

I did not believe him, not entirely, but I did not have much more time for this conversation. "Why? Mr. Trefor said he would not help me beyond assigning someone to drive me here." And I was sure this man worked for him.

"I'm not Alpha. You have thirty seconds," he replied without an ounce of urgency.

"Is that a warning or the time limit on your offer?"

"Both. Twenty-five seconds."

"You did not answer my question."

"Because it's irrelevant. The current window's closing. Make a decision."

There was my nonanswer answer. Stark and dominant and layered with his own shades of misplaced heroism.

"All right." There was no choice. "Here is my decision." I hung up.

The air shifted, a reflection on the pool's surface and turquoise depths cast a shadow, and the scent of cool rain and vetiver surrounded me a fraction of a breath before bare feet and jean-clad legs stepped to either side of me.

Then a ghost sank into the warm water and caged me in with his strong thighs and shirtless chest as he sat down behind me. His knees bent, his bare feet submerged, and barely a ripple disturbed the surface of the pool before the deeply quiet timbre of his voice decimated my heart.

"November?" The caress of his hand swept across my back as he gently lifted my hair over one shoulder.

I could not fight the shiver as I suddenly remembered the phone in my hand. Carelessly placing it on the edge of the pool, I did not even consider not telling him the truth. "Yes."

A strong, muscled arm with veins that traveled all the way up to his shoulder wrapped around my waist before he pulled me into his own version of an embrace. "What did he offer you?"

My eyes shuttered against the impossible longing that this man's presence had haunted me with since the moment I had first collided into him. "Escape." I leaned back against my own personal ocean. "From you."