Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Lark sat behind his desk and pulled the letter out of his pocket, reading it again.

"What does Senator Buchanan want with a halfling from across the country?" Lark had a natural distrust of government officials, but something about the senator had always given him an extra bad vibe. If he was somehow involved in Ebony's life, that could be a very bad thing.

He clicked the television on and turned it to the news. As usual, Senator Buchanan was filling the screen with his agenda. Tonight he stood in front of a room full of likeminded individuals who would hang on his every word. His daughter wasn't there this time. That surprised Lark; Buchanan liked to let her talk. She was a well-spoken, twenty-year-old going to school to be a geneticist, hoping to solve all the world's problems. Meanwhile Buchanan was asking for more money to be invested in the wars across the seas, keeping the peace, keeping the borders closed, and not allowing the U.S. citizens to find out how true the rumors of nosouls were. The message was always the same and as always, Lark didn't trust it.

"What do you have to do with my soulmate?" Lark whispered at the screen.

A knock at the door had him turning the TV off and shoving the letter in a drawer. "Enter," he called, and his pulse jumped, hoping it would be Ebony standing there.

"We're ready to roll on Glick whenever you are."

"I don't want her left alone. Tell Nelsen to stand guard at the front door. If she leaves the room or needs anything, he can assist." Nelsen was a halfling, but he'd aged well, strong and sure of himself. Years ago, he'd assisted Lark and the others when they'd left the orphanage at eighteen, and later had become a sort of father figure even though they hadn't known they needed it. When they all became fullsouled and started this business they'd hired him on as an assistant. Nelsen ran the house, kept things secure when they were out traveling on a job, that sort of thing. It was the least they could do for the man who'd taken them in and given them a home where they were able to live while fighting for a full life. Nelson hadn't ever had the opportunity to have a fullsoul life, his soulsibling had never been born but that hadn't stopped him from being happy. He'd found his calling in helping orphans who aged out of the orphanage.

"And he's old enough to be her father so she won't be attracted to him," Stone said with a wink. "Good thinking, boss."

Lark grunted. It had crossed his mind that he didn't want to leave anyone young and dumb in charge while they were out, but Stone seeing through it was more than a little annoying. "Everyone knows I'll cut off their dick and feed it to them if they so much as think about touching what's mine, so it really doesn't matter if she is attracted to the old man, he wouldn't cross that line."

Stone held his hands over his crotch mockingly and backed out of the room, "Got it, I'll tell him."

Lark ran a hand through his hair as Stone shut the door. He had no idea how to have a soulwife. He couldn't deal with the feelings of possession he felt toward her even though he barely knew her, it was frightening. Which really pissed him off.

He stood and strode from the room, ready to take his anger out on Glick; he hoped the guy gave them trouble. He hesitated outside Ebony's door, debating whether or not he should tell her he was leaving. He could hear her moving around in there, probably getting ready for bed, and once his thoughts went there, he couldn't stop the freefall into dangerous territory. Did she sleep nude? He doubted Granger had picked up pajamas for her.

He forced himself away from her door, hands clenched and jaw tight.

The last thing he wanted was to come on too strong. She wasn't ready to accept him, and he didn't blame her. He just hoped he could wait long enough that she wouldn't run screaming when he finally took her to bed.

They found Glick at home and Lark had no qualms about interrogating the man in his small living space. Lark knew the man had no family, a fullsoul destined to a sad lonely life because he had never been able to find his soulmate; maybe his soulmate had never even been born. Lark had seen it a million times. They came to him and paid big money to find their soulmates with no guarantee of success. They would deny themselves pleasure of others, deny the thrill of dating and close relationships of any kind, all with the hope that one day they would find the one. Then, once their soulmate was found, they would desperately produce babies and perpetuate the cycle. Or, as with Glick, they would wither away alone and die unsatisfied, a life worthless and dull. Glick obviously took his frustrations out on his staff, controlling and angry from what he'd witnessed today.

It was something Lark had thought he might come up against someday, no hope to find his soulmate but he thought he'd probably be okay with that conclusion to his life. He had found many willing beds, though, and lived a dangerous life in order to feel the thrill of being alive. Who needs a soulwife when you have that? Men like Glick just accepted their fate, and it pissed Lark off because he knew it gave all the power to the government. Halflings would always be treated like shit if the born fullsouls didn't stop acting like they had to sit back and take it up the ass from fate and the men in charge.

Lark walked into Glick's house uninvited, with Stone and Granger at his back. The man was looking haggard on his couch and jumped at the sound of intrusion, spitting out crumbs of his microwave dinner, now spilled on the carpet. His shirt was unbuttoned, and his hair was a mess. Lark knew this guy was a fullsoul because he could see it in the glint of his brown eyes. Glick's fat body told Lark he'd been born that way. No one with a repaired soul was unfit, they had to be strong to take their soul from their soulsibling and they valued the second chance at life they were given. This man was a lump, a waste of a soul, in Lark's opinion.

"Mr. Duport!" Glick squeaked in surprise. "If this is about that halfling girl, I have no idea where she is, probably the halfling district."

"I know where she is, she's currently sleeping in my bed," Lark growled darkly.

Glick's mouth dropped open in shock then quickly a look of disgust passed over his face. "If she's been sleeping around, I'm going to have to report her. She's a worthless halfling and I can't have her tainting my respectable business." Glick tried to stand straight, grasping at the upper hand futilely.

Lark reacted fast, reaching out and landing a punch to Glick's cheek.

Glick fell to the floor. "What the hell!" he yelled as he scrambled to his feet. "I'm going to call the police," he snapped, hand to his already swelling cheek.

"We won't be here that long," Lark said calmly. "Tell me why you never gave Ebony this letter from Senator Buchanan." Lark pulled the envelope from his pocket and watched Glick's face closely.

Anger filled Glick's face. "You broke into my office."

"We'll break more than that if you don't start talking." Stone and Granger stepped forward and by the look on Glick's face, Lark knew he wasn't going to give them a hard time.

Glick sputtered and tears were visible in his eyes as he spilled the whole story.

Glick had received the letter and, not wanting to lose a good employee, he'd waited to give it to her. After doing a little research on the senator, it had seemed he took a particular interest in young halfling women, employing them in large numbers in his homes and offices, all outside of DC of course. So, assuming the senator was only interested in her because she was attractive and poor, possibly wanting to add her to his own staff to seduce her, Glick had done what he felt was right and kept the letter from her. He told the senator that she was dead, and he never contacted Glick again.

"Had he been in your hotel? Had he seen her?" Lark pressed, glad that this idiot had done something decent to protect Ebony, even if it had been a bit selfish.

"No, the man has never been in this city that I know of. But maybe one of his staff members had been? Why they picked Ebony I don't know. She's nothing special," Glick shrugged, and Lark hit him again, delighting in the way his fat ass bounced through his mashed potatoes on the floor.

"She is never coming back to your hotel, forget she exists. I suggest you burn hers and her mother's files." Lark tucked the letter back in his pocket and turned.

"What do you care about one stupid halfling whore or her whore mother? She can't be that good a lay," Glick mumbled.

Before Lark could react and likely kill the man, Stone lashed out and landed a punch hard enough to knock the man unconscious.

Lark was slightly disappointed, but it was probably better not to leave any dead bodies. Granger slapped Lark on the back and urged him toward the door.

As they drove back to the house, Lark's mind was spinning. What if there was something more to the senator's interest? It didn't sit well with him that the man had requested Ebony without ever seeing her.

"Find out where the senator is going to be the next few days, I think we need to arrange a meeting," he told Granger.

"On it," Granger said and pulled out his phone. Granger was a whiz with finding information of all kinds on the internet and used those skills often in their searching.

"Stone, I want you to find out all you can about the halfling women the senator employs; what they might have in common with Ebony."

"Will do, even if I have to personally meet them all," he said with a smile and wink.

Lark gave him a sharp look. "Keep your head out of your pants. This isn't our usual mission, this is my soulmate," he snapped.

The rest of the drive was silent, and he didn't relax until he was through the front door and saw Nelsen there with a smile on his face. "Your lady has not left her room," he said.

"Thank you, Nelsen, go to bed."

Nelsen didn't move but his face broke into a huge grin. "You are on a path most have only dreamed of my boy, don't fuck it up." Nelsen patted Lark's shoulder then waltzed away.

Stone snickered as he came in behind Lark, and Granger just grunted as he headed toward their home gym. No doubt he would be working out half the night.

"Are you really going to let her sleep alone all night?" Stone asked as Lark stared up at the stairs debating that thing exactly.

"I think she isn't ready to accept all I have to offer," Lark admitted.

"Nelsen's right about not fucking it up. You wait too long, and you could miss your chance. There's no guarantee about the soulfight, and I saw her file," Stone said gently. "The diagnosis is not good."

"Yeah, I think that's why she's doing this now," Lark said, and his feet started to move. He hurried up the steps and stopped at her door. Just a peek, then he would go to his own bed. He listened to the silence on the other side of the door for a moment, then pushed it open slowly. The moonlight filtered in through the window and showed Ebony's small form curled up in the center of the large bed. He crept close, thankful for the well-built house and floors that didn't creak. How would he explain his presence if she woke up?

He got to the side of her bed and stood staring down at her. She looked so serene in sleep, and it took all he had to simply whisper a goodnight and creep back out, closing the door between them. He wanted so badly to scoop her up and carry her to his room, a place he'd never brought a woman before, where she belonged.

In time , he told himself. He just hoped they had time.

Instead of going to bed he walked to his office and pulled up her file on his computer then he sent off an email that included her medical records. He would leave nothing to chance where his soulmate was concerned.

When that was done, he went to bed and lay awake staring at the wall that separated him from her.

Was she dreaming of him?

When sleep finally came, he dreamed of her.