Chapter 9

Nine

Tonight had beenthe best and most romantic night of my life. I'd never been on a date like this. I'd never had someone who cared so much about what I thought or was interested in, well, me.

After finishing dinner and dessert, we walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand—something I'd never done before—and when we reached his car, neither of us seemed ready to pull away.

"Can I drive you?" he asked quietly.

My knee-jerk reaction was to say no, but my heart really wanted to stay with him a little bit longer. What if this was the last time I'd see him? The thought made that pain ache in my chest again, and I hid a wince as I ignored it.

"Okay?" he asked with a furrowed brow, and I nodded immediately. "I don't mind driving you at all. Plus, it'd be nice to get a little more time with you. What do you think?" He stared at me for a beat before rushing to add, "No pressure either way."

I couldn't help but snort at that. "You're flustered."

He shrugged. "I can't help it. You're gorgeous, and you make me all… crazy."

With a chuckle, I shook my head. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

He grinned. "Does that mean you'll let me drive you?"

How had this man gotten through my walls so easily? So quickly? I found myself nodding before I'd made the conscious decision to.

His smile was large and tender, and it felt so honest that I couldn't even regret it.

He opened the passenger door for me and held my hand until the last second, then he ran around the front of the car to hop into the driver's seat.

"Where do you want me to drop you off?"

I tried not to be embarrassed that I didn't have an address to give him, so I clenched my jaw for a few seconds before answerin'. "The alley is fine."

He seemed to take a long breath before he blew it out and nodded. "Alright." He looked upset, and it made me clench my teeth harder.

"You don't need to worry about me. I'm doing fine on my own."

He gave a nod. "I know."

Sometimes he was hard to read, but I had the feelin' he was being truthful, so for once in my life, I let it go.

We were quiet on the short drive there, but it didn't feel uncomfortable or strained. Remi seemed lost in thought, and I suppose I was too. We arrived at the entrance to the alley, and Remi parked on the street with his flashers on. Luckily, he didn't pull right in front of the entrance, or we'd have an audience. And I didn't want that at all.

He turned to me and grabbed my hand again. "Thank you for tonight, may'ezza. I had a wonderful time."

My heart skipped a beat, and I decided to be honest. "So did I."

He smiled and brought my hand up to his mouth to press his lips against my knuckles. I'd never had a guy do that before, and I was quickly becoming a fan. After a long moment, he asked, "When can I see you again?"

I blinked. He… really wanted to see me again? Did I want to see him?

Who the hell was I kidding? Of course I did.

"What about Friday night?"

I opened my mouth to agree, but then Friday night clicked in my brain, and I froze. I couldn't see Remi Friday night because I was breaking into a fuckin' bank. Shit. I shouldn't be seeing him at all. I was bad news, and Remi definitely didn't need to be around me or any of my baggage. He owned a fuckin' security firm, for fuck's sake. How could I, in good conscience, go out with this man? This wonderful, sweet, kind man.

I wasn't wonderful. I wasn't sweet. And I certainly wasn't kind.

And Remi deserved all of that and so much more.

I couldn't let him get involved in my shit.

"Bel?"

I glanced up at the sound of his voice, and he offered me a patient smile.

"What if, instead of making plans right now, you let me text you? Can you do that? Can we text each other? Maybe throw in a phone call if we're feeling daring?"

He was so earnest. All he wanted was to talk to me, spend time with me. How the hell could I say no to his sweet face?

I found myself nodding, and I whispered, "Yes. I'd like that." I cleared my throat. "I… I can't do anything this Friday."

"That's okay, may'ezza. We can figure it out later. I don't want you to feel pressured by me."

"I don't," I rushed to say. "I really, really don't."

His lips quirked up. "Good." He kissed my knuckles again before releasing my hand. "Thank you again for tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing you again and"—he gently tapped my chin, making me meet his gaze—"getting to talk to you. Good night, may'ezza."

He leaned in, and for a moment, I thought he was going to press his mouth to mine, but then his lips slipped past my own and landed on my cheek. It was so gentle and tender that I closed my eyes on a small gasp. He was treating me like I was somethin' to cherish, and I wasn't sure if my heart could take it.

I took a beat before opening my eyes. Then I sent him a small smile before exiting the car. Before I shut the door, I leaned down and quickly said, "I'm looking forward to it too."

I slammed the door shut and rushed toward the alley before he could respond or I could see the look on his face. When I reached the end of the alley, I glanced over my shoulder to find him watchin' me from the car.

I gave a small wave and slipped into the dark entrance, then walked back to my spot with my heart full of things I knew it shouldn't be.

There was no room for hope in my life, and certainly no room for… love.

After I settled down for the night, my phone buzzed, so I pulled it up, and my heart did not do a flip when I saw a message from Remi.

Remi: Thank you for a magical night, may'ezza. I hope you get a good night's sleep. Sweet dreams.

I stared at the message for a long, long time, a warmth carrying on inside of me that wasn't from the charmed blanket I was cuddled under.

I sort of wished Remi was here with me so I could cuddle against him. He was probably wonderfully warm. Shifters tended to run hot.

Shaking off that thought, I concentrated on replying. I typed a message, then deleted it, then did the whole process over again before chastising myself. Finally I came up with something simple.

Me: Ditto. Night, wolf boy.

Another text came through right away.

Remi: Goodnight, may'ezza.

I hugged my phone to my chest and closed my eyes, imagining him whisperin' those words into my ear as he held me tight.

I fell asleep with thoughts of his kind eyes floating through my head.

"This is a terrible idea,"I muttered, not for the first time to Terrell.

He sighed. "I'm fully aware of your feelings on this, but what exactly would you have me do? He wants you to go inside and steal it, so you're gonna go inside and steal it."

I cringed because he was right. Didn't mean I felt any better about the situation.

A minute later, Terrell nudged me. "You need to go, Belryn. You don't have a choice, and neither do I. I'll be right here, ready with the car to drive us off to safety."

"What if I get caught?"

His gray eyes—the color of stone—met mine. "Don't get caught."

I rolled my eyes. "Very helpful, asshat."

He smirked. "Get out of here, and be careful."

I gave him a nod, then slipped out of the car.

I tugged on my magic and wrapped it around my body like a coat, pouring as much energy as I could spare into it. My glamor made people see—or not see in this case—whatever I wanted them to… as long as they didn't come into contact with me.

If they bumped into me or were specifically lookin' for me, they would see me.

I wasn't sure if the guard inside, who'd be on the lookout for intruders, would be able to see me when I was in full glamor. Theoretically, he shouldn't. But if he was actively lookin' for an intruder or thief, I wasn't sure if my magic would hold up against that.

So I kept my fingers crossed as I used the keycard that Luynore had given me—no clue who he'd bribed or forced to give him it—and opened the employee-only entrance on the side of the building.

Once I was inside, I took a breath when the alarm didn't go off.

Okay, first step down; only about a million scarier ones to go.

I kept light on my feet—fae were light on their feet naturally anyway—and headed down the hall, goin' deeper into the building. I'd been given the schematics of the building, so I knew the route by heart. There shouldn't be anyone back here this time of night, but I still held my breath as I rounded the corner to the hallway where the safe deposit box room was.

To my horror, the guard was walkin' down the hall, straight toward me. There was a bathroom down this hall, so I could only assume that was where he was comin' from. Fuck. All I could do was flatten myself to the wall and pray he didn't see or bump into me.

Please let my glamor work. Please let my glamor work.

Suckin' in a breath and holding it, I watched with sweat dripping down my forehead and back as the guard walked straight on past me without missin' a beat. His eyes didn't even flick in my direction.

So… I supposed my glamor was good enough to evade him. Thank the Mother of All.

Luckily, no one was there, so I went to the room, used the keycard to break in, and slipped inside.

No alarm went off, but that didn't mean I hadn't triggered the silent alarm, so I went as quickly as possible to the box labeled 317. I slipped it out of its place and used my magic to unlock it. That was the one key Luynore hadn't been able to get, but fortunately for him—and me—my magic didn't have a problem with pickin' locks… I had a lot of practice with it.

When I got a look inside the box, I cringed. Inside, there were a bunch of small gems of all different colors. Green gems, blue, amber, pink, red, and a bunch of others. Holy shit. Even one of those could probably feed me for at least a month, if not more. Hell, it could probably feed everyone in the alley for that long.

I was so tempted to take one, but I knew I couldn't. Luynore hadn't given me permission, and if someone noticed one missin' and reported it, I'd be caught for sure—if not by the bank, then by Luynore himself. And I sure as hell didn't want to end up on his bad side.

Plus, the pawn shop didn't deal in stolen items, and I had no doubt the owner would give me up to save his own ass.

So I ignored them—painfully—and focused on the item lyin' in the very center as if it was in a nest of gems.

It was shaped like a small gourd, but it was pure white. It looked like some kind of artifact. Fae? Witch? Mind-bender? Who knew?

I leaned in closer and wrinkled my nose. It was… made of bone. What the hell?

I really didn't want to touch that thing, but at least I had gloves on.

As I reached for it, I felt power emanating from it, and I froze.

I absolutely could not touch that thing.

I wasn't sure what instinct was tellin' me not to let it touch my skin, but I knew it would be really fuckin' bad if it did.

I grabbed the bag I was supposed to put it in, stuck my hand through it, and quickly grabbed the bone artifact, yanked the bag right-side-out, and released the thing. At least I had two layers of protection that way, but even after cinching the bag, its magic felt wrong.

Luckily, it didn't react to me, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I stuffed it into an air pocket around me. Then I closed the safe box and slipped it back into place.

After I exited the room, I shut the door, made sure it was locked, and headed back the way I'd come.

If I was good at this—which I was—no one would even know I'd been here until the owner came to check on their box and found the gross bone artifact missin'. That could take hours, days, weeks, or months for all I knew. I had no idea who the owner was or how often they came to the bank.

I made my way through the back and out the door without issue, the guard nowhere in sight, thank goodness. Once outside, I ran as fast as possible to Terrell's car.

When I opened the door, he jumped and pulled a gun, aimin' it at me, although it didn't look like he could see me.

Oh. Right.My glamor was still on.

"Belryn?" he whispered.

I scowled and dropped my glamor, unsure why he hadn't been able to see through it when he'd been expecting me. "Of course it's me."

"Well, I couldn't see you, could I?"

I shrugged, climbed in the seat, shut the door, and buckled myself in.

"Did you get it?"

"Yep."

"Awesome." He put the car in drive. "Boss'll be happy."

I grunted.

"Any trouble?"

"Not really."

"That doesn't seem like a not really kind of question. It's either yes or no."

I sighed. "No. The guard walked past me, but my glamor held, so it was fine."

He grunted this time. "Must've scared the crap outta you."

With a snort, I shrugged. "Yeah. It did."

"That sucks, but now you can relax, right? Luynore doesn't usually call on you often, so you should be good for at least a month, right?"

I shrugged. "He calls me whenever he wants. I'm never good."

He blew out a long breath. "Yeah… I know what you mean."

I glanced at him with a frown. He'd been so chatty lately, which was so unlike him. Made me think somethin' was going on. He seemed fed up with his boss. Frustrated for sure. And maybe a tad pissed underneath all that calmness.

Yeah, somethin' was definitely going on, and Terrell wasn't happy about it at all.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I certainly didn't want to get into the middle of anything between the two of them. If I had to choose sides, Luynore would simply pull on my obligation and make me do his bidding. And I didn't want it to come down to that.

Despite tryin' not to give a shit, I guess I sort of did care whether somethin' bad happened to Terrell. Ugh.

With a sigh of my own, I leaned my elbow on the widow and watched the city go by.

When we reached Luynore's home, I was a tad surprised I was allowed inside it. He always had me meet him at his place of business, so this was new. Of course I'd already known which house was his because everyone knew which house to steer clear of.

It was a big house—not quite a mansion, if only because those didn't really exist inside city limits—but this place was the biggest one on the block.

Terrell led me through an open foyer to some kind of sitting room and said, "Have a seat. Wait there for me. Don't go wandering around and getting yourself into trouble."

I nodded. "No trouble. Got it."

He rolled his eyes and left.

I was curious about the place someone like Purtham Luynore lived, but I wasn't curious enough to walk around and end up with him pullin' on my damn obligation for bein' too nosey. I'd had enough of that this week, thank you. This entire lifetime, if I was being honest.

I sat there, fiddling and playin' with my phone for about fifteen minutes before Terrell returned with Luynore right behind him.

Luynore didn't bother with a greeting. He simply said, "Let me see it."

I nodded and pulled it from the air pocket, holding the bag out to him. I didn't want to hand it over, but I couldn't deny that I was happy to have that thing away from me and my magic. Keeping it in an air pocket had been uncomfortable.

I hadn't known Luynore could ever be happy, but he was damn right gleeful as he plucked the bag from my hand. He opened it and didn't hesitate to touch it.

I might've sorta wished the thing would curse him. But nothin' happened, and I frowned.

"This is going to look wonderful with my collection," Luynore mumbled almost to himself.

I stared at him, and the disbelief had my mouth opening before I could stop it. "You made me steal that so you can show it off like some kind of trinket?"

He spared me a small glance and shrugged. "Of course. What use would I have for a Zotz' humerus?"

I closed my eyes and bit my lip to keep myself from spewing vitriol at him. On the one hand, he obviously couldn't feel the power still collected in that bone because I was sure it could do destructive magic if wielded correctly. On the other hand, he seriously made me break into a fuckin' bank for a fuckin' bauble?

What a fuckin' asshole.

He wanted it just to show off that he had it. He didn't even want it for practical use. For fuck's sake, I could've been caught and thrown in prison for a very, very long time.

My phone buzzed, making me jump and gettin' me out of my head. I pulled it out since Luynore wasn't paying one bit of attention to me anymore, and my heart skipped a beat. I knew who the text was from because he'd texted a few times already.

Remi: I hope you're having a good night, may'ezza. I was wondering if I could maybe take you out for breakfast in the morning? Since it's Saturday, I don't have to go into the office, and I thought maybe we could spend the day together?

Before I could catch my breath and text him back, another text came through.

Remi: I'm sorry if that was too forward. I don't want you to feel pressured, so if you don't want to, it's okay. But… I really do want to see you.

My heart leapt, and I quickly typed back a reply. I knew I was being stupid, but it seemed like that was all I was capable of at the moment when it came to this wolf shifter.

Me: I'd love to.

"Belryn!" Luynore demanded, soundin' like he'd already said my name once or twice.

I shoved my phone into an air pocket, suddenly afraid he'd try to take it from me, and faced the other fae. "Yes?"

He glared. "You're dismissed, but tell no one about what you did tonight, where you were, or what you stole. Tell no one what I have."

The obligation twisted in my gut, and I held in a grunt as I nodded.

He glared for another minute before he released his hold on me and waved me away.

I took it for the dismissal it was and ran out of there, giving Terrell a small nod as I passed him.

I really hoped he was right and that the asshole boss wouldn't call on me again for a few weeks.