Chapter 40

Evie

Central Business District, New Orleans, Louisiana

E vie was still fuming when Cole parked on the street closest to his building. She didn’t remember much about the trip over besides a phone call between Cole and… somebody. Honestly, she couldn’t recall who the person on the other end of the call was or any detail about their voice, much less any of the conversation's content.

And she hadn’t paid a lick of attention to what was going on outside the car, either. Although she had been staring out the window the whole time, she hadn’t taken in any of the sights around her. She was taking faith that they were still in New Orleans.

And the entire reason for her fury? That damn girl from the store. How dare she get into Cole’s space like that? How dare she try to touch Cole, flirt with him? He was off-limits. The girl was lucky Cole had pulled Evie out of there when he did because she had been well on her way to strangling the girl with the sad, half-dead orchid sitting on the sales counter. She would have deserved it . Evie scowled, cracking her fingers as she glared at the skyscraper beside them.

“Hey, Angel.” Cole’s voice interrupted her homicidal musings.

She turned toward him, only to see a smile on his face. “What are you grinning about?” she snapped.

“Here I was thinking I was the only one who was insanely possessive,” he chuckled. “But I’m thrilled to see that’s not the case. It would have killed me if you weren’t at least a little jealous.”

“Jealous?” Evie spat. “I’m not jealous, I’m furious. She tried to touch you. How dare she?” Her voice kept rising, but she couldn't control it. “You’re mine, and that was so obvious, but she tried to get close to you and put her hands on you.” The more she thought about it, the more her blood boiled. “Take me back, Cole.”

“Take you back where, ma petite sorcière jalouse ?” An eyebrow raised in question.

“Back to the store. I have to take care of something.”

Cole shook his head at her. “I’m not taking you back. You’ll have to murder the salesclerk on your own time.” He leaned over the center console. “But fuck, it’s hot when you get jealous.”

She growled at him. “I’m not jealous, Cole. I’m pissed.”

“Why are you pissed, Angel?”

“Are you serious?” Evie’s back straightened at his question. “She was all over you! And she kept staring at you.”

“So you’re angry because she was eye fucking someone that belongs to you?” His voice lilted up at the end like he knew the answer already.

Evie frowned at him. There were only two possible answers to that question: yes or no. Given the smug expression on his handsome face, it looked like that may have been intentional. “This is an interrogation tactic, isn’t it?” Evie demanded.

Cole snorted. “Yeah, it’s called cross-examination. I was banking on you not recognizing it since I can’t imagine there’s a lot of courtroom drama in the coven. Almost forgot that your brain is as sexy as the rest of you.” His eyes narrowed in on her mouth, his tongue swiping out across his lips. “Fuck, Angel, you know there’s no one else for me.” He reached out, gripping her chin between his thumb and index finger to bring her closer. “I don’t want anyone but you.”

“I know you don’t,” she bit out. “Doesn’t make me want to claw their eyes out any less.”

“And that’s because you’re—?”

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s because I’m jealous. Are you happy now?”

“Unbelievably. It’s sexy as hell that you’re this possessive.” His voice was harsh when he dragged her that final inch to his lips, giving her a bruising kiss that curled her toes and had her all but crawling across the console into his lap. His hands were in her hair, angling her head so he could take her mouth the way he wanted, plunging his tongue in between her open lips, when a quick double tap on the window interrupted them.

Cole drew back, his head turning so slowly even she could see the threat in the movement.

Evie tilted her head to the side so she could see around Cole’s tense frame. The man on the other side of the glass waved aggressively at her, a friendly smile splitting his face. He was handsome with close cut light brown hair and stunning eyes, his irises an uncanny blue so light they were almost white. “Is that Hayden?” she asked quietly, recognizing him from the early morning phone call.

“My soon to be ex-best friend,” Cole snarled.

“So… Hayden?”

“The very one.”

“Should we get out?”

“Probably.” Cole sighed. “He won’t stop so unless you’re willing to be subject to the whims of an immortal woodpecker masquerading as the god of sleep… ” He trailed off, shrugging slightly.

Hayden was still tapping on the window when Evie shoved open her door, standing quickly and fixing him with a stern expression.

As Evie walked around the car, Hayden scanned her petite frame just long enough for Cole to notice and stiffen before saying, “Nice to officially meet you, Evie. I’m Hayden.” He held up his hands when her mouth opened, her eyes firing. “I come in peace. As for before, I wasn’t trying to imply that Cole would lie to you. All of this is a lot to tell someone.” His eyes flicked over their now-joined hands. “And with you naked in his study, I was… concerned that his decades-long obsession with you had beat out his common sense. I was wrong.”

Evie listened to him in silence. “Yes. You were. I appreciate you looking out for me, but don’t ever make the mistake of thinking Cole didn’t tell me something again. You’re what? Three thousand years old? Be smarter, god of sleep.”

“Touché,” Hayden commented. “I think you and I are going to be good friends, Evangeline Dyeus.”

“It’s Evie,” she corrected.

Hayden gave her a quizzical look.

“I may have been born with that name, but I don’t know it. Not really.” She lifted her shoulders. “The first time I ever saw my birth name was in that folder in Cole’s study. My coven only ever called me Evie.”

“So you are a witch then?” Hayden’s tone was neutral, but his eyes were mesmerizing. Hypnotizing, almost like he was trying to see into her thoughts.

“I am.”

“Interesting.” Hayden rubbed his fingers over his chin. “Unexpected.” She was about to demand he explain the cryptic comments when he clapped his hands loudly and strolled away. “Shall we go see the damage then?”

“Seems like a weird thing to get this excited about, man,” Cole drawled, sauntering after his best friend, Evie by his side. “Maybe take it down a couple notches until we figure out how bad everything is and see who all is hurt.”

“Fifteen total injured, four hospitalized. Three of those were blood loss from glass shrapnel, one got flattened by the hutch in conference room three.” Hayden tugged open the doors into the building.

Once they were in the lobby, Evie gasped at the sight in front of them. Glass shards covered the richly appointed room. The wintry breeze outside blew through the empty frames where windows had once sat. The front desk was crushed under the heavy way of one of the light fixtures, which appeared to have ripped out of the ceiling above it. And that was all from her first glance.

“Holy fuck.” Cole’s hand tightened around hers. “Are we even able to get onto our floor?”

“Nope.” Hayden popped the ‘p’ at the end of the word. “The earthquake may have fucked the foundation so the building’s owners are having an engineer come over to check it out.”

“Hayden.” Over her head, Cole leveled a probing look at his friend. “We’re the building’s owners.”

“Yep, and you’re welcome for taking care of that while the two of you were having some much-needed adult playtime.”

“Where’s our staff?” Evie heard Cole ask as she released his hand and wandered into the center of the room, her lavender shoes crunching over the glass. She couldn’t believe that they were responsible for all of this. Not that she regretted choosing Cole. She would do it again in a heartbeat. All of this devastation was overwhelming though. Inhaling deeply, she reminded herself that the temporary damage of them opening the Underworld was far better than the shade-caused apocalyptic extinction that was otherwise on the table.

An unsettling creak sounded above her. Glancing up, she noticed cracks extending through the vaulted lobby ceiling and lights dangling haphazardly from their fixtures. None of these things looked safe, and, with each glance around her, she grew less comfortable with the idea of them remaining here. Maybe them actually being in the building at all was a bad idea?

She was turning to ask whether they should move out of the potentially unstable skyscraper when a feminine voice cried, “Cole! Baby!” Accompanying this shout was a slender blond woman in heels clambered through the shattered window.