A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 59
I’d tried to ask Jace about their exact relationship. Now felt like a pretty good time, but he was also moving quickly, suggesting he had to get back to the real world. He most definitely had to investigate the cathedral. Meanwhile, I guess I’d sit on some uncomfortable couch, staring out the window, waiting for the next big thing to drop in the city.
We reached the top of the stairs. A small corridor led to a closed wooden door. I couldn’t see what was behind it. Jace slid a finger down and repeated the same chant, “Allow this woman permanent entry.”
Another lock unclicked, and the door swung open.
Onto one of the most stylish, beautiful apartments I’d ever seen. It was massive, too. It looked like it had most of the floor space of the two shops beside it.
Flabbergasted, my jaw hung open. Then I stared at the place, wondering why Jace hadn’t decorated any of his other properties like this. And it wasn’t that modern, austere, white, dazzling crap you got these days. It had actual style. It was a mishmash of the arts and crafts style, with liberty designs, wrought-iron framework, glimmering tiles, and Tiffany lead-light lamps. There were beautiful polished tables, incredibly comfortable leather-backed lounges, stunning sun-bleached Persian carpets, and feature beams crisscrossing the ceiling. Large, wrought-iron-framed windows stared over at the city. I instantly realized I hadn’t seen them from the street below, which meant they were magical. And hopefully that indicated I could stand naked in front of them, and no one would see me. Not that that was my primary concern. I wouldn’t want anyone spotting me and reporting me to Virginia.
I raced over to them, a smile hugging my lips.
With a glance over at Jace, I realized his jaw was clamped in a grin, too. “You like it?” he asked in a light tone.
“Like it? It’s beautiful. Who designed this place? It’s completely different from the compound—” I stopped. Swallowing, I corrected, “It was completely different from the compound.”
Jace momentarily wouldn’t make eye contact. But the weary, haggard look he got spoke volumes.
I hadn’t slept in ages. But I hadn’t been running around trying to protect my pack from the heads.
… Nope. I’d been running around trying to protect myself from the Kings. I guess Jace and I would be equally tired. But while I could snooze on that incredible couch facing the sun, Jace would have to go and play politics.
Speaking of which, he angled toward the door. First, he pointed out a quaint little kitchenette. It had pretty much every device I could think of, including a glimmering coffee machine that was screaming at me to use it. “There’s some food in the pantry. It’s well-stocked. Nothing fresh, I’m afraid.”
I shrugged. “I’m sure I can find something. Do you have milk powder?”
“There is pretty much everything you can think of in the pantry.”
Good. I could bake up a batch of cookies, sit in front of the sun, have some fresh, steaming coffee, and snooze.
… While my sister remained captured, Lisa was probably dying of kidney failure, and the Kings were making another move.
Jace could read my mind. “Wash. Cook. Rest,” he grunted. “And give me a chance to catch up.”
“I promised not to go out without you.” I snapped a salute, though it made me look trite. “I’m serious. I’ll stay exactly where I am… unless this place gets attacked. Are you sure Virginia doesn’t know anything about it?”
“She wouldn’t attack you.”
Boom. I realized we were alone. Which meant I could tell him everything about Virginia. But I hesitated.
Like I’d said, Jace could read my mind. “What is it?” he asked in a defensive, protective tone.
Here we go. The test. If I told him and he rejected what I said…
“Trust me,” he said, an order, not a plea.
“I met Virginia down in the sewage system. She… she saved me from a wolf.”
He didn’t immediately snap that was a lie. Instead, confusion marked his brow. “I don’t understand.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, my shoulders rolled in. “One of the wolves who attacked the compound dragged me down there. Before he could deliver me to the wizard King, Virginia stopped him. She flat-out saved me, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Then she left me down there. She told me to find a way to escape on my own.”
Jace became expressionless. Literally, there was nothing on behind his eyes. You could get a forensic team of psychologists. They would probably conclude he was catatonic.
“Jace?” My fingers uncomfortably fumbled with my elbow, then gripped my wrist, holding on tight.
“I see,” he said.
“You believe me, right?”
No response.
Crap. I shouldn’t have said anything—
“You’ll be safe here,” he defaulted to saying, strategically not mentioning Virginia and what she’d done. Then he promptly turned on his foot to head out.
“Hold on,” I hissed. “You must be hungry.”
“I’ll grab a bite to eat later.”
“Let me….” I couldn’t promise anything until I actually saw how well-stocked this pantry was. There was a little door leading off from the side of the small kitchen. Though I preferred gargantuan stainless-steel kitchens with enough space to cook for an army, I’d take what I got.
This one was really well-designed and fit the space beautifully. But the little door off to the side of the fridge was incredibly mysterious. Grabbing the brass handle, I twisted it… and almost fell off my freaking feet. When Jace said it was well-stocked, he’d failed to mention it looked like a general store in there. There was a long corridor that kind of stretched out to nowhere, so cram-packed with steel shelves, you could sell them for a fortune. And it had everything from flour, to cans of food, to bags of dried fruit, to whatever the hell was far off in the distance.
“You should be fine,” Jace repeated. But by that time, his heavy footfall had already reached the other door.
I turned. “Jace,” I hissed.
He paused. Shifting on his foot, he looked at me. “I won’t leave you for long.”
It was an odd promise, delivered with a stiff look in his eyes. It was clear he wanted to add something. The powerful Alpha had no time. He left. I heard the distinctive sound of the door locking behind him. Then I flopped against the pantry door.
My fingers fumbled to close it as I eased my shoulders against the wood and slid down to my butt. With a sigh, I flopped my head into my hands. “You shouldn’t have mentioned anything about Virginia. She’s… what? God,” my legs crumpled into a lotus position, “you should have asked him when you had the time. Screw the library for continually interrupting us.”
Though my tired body could have easily stayed there, I groaned and got to my feet.
It was important to refuel before I slept, otherwise I’d wake with a hell of a headache. I kept my meal simple. With no eggs or fresh milk, it wasn’t like I could do much. Until I realized there was a wall of restaurant-class freezers right at the back of the pantry. They had everything you could think of. Indeed, there was no fresh food, but sometimes frozen is better. I could have everything from fine cuts of meat, to seafood, to the freshest snap-frozen vegetables.
I settled for keeping it super simple. Veggies for vitamins, some seafood for protein, and a quick coffee.
Then I melted onto the couch. There was a bed. But my paranoid little mind told me to face the window. Because who knew what would happen to Mythos City while I was sleeping?
And more importantly, who knew what would happen to Jace? He’d promised to return. Would the heads ever let him?
Those unsettling questions circled in my brain as I drifted off. It felt a little like sinking under hip-high sand. Soon it would reach my throat. And then? Oh, my problems would bury my head beneath them and wait for me to die. Pity they didn’t understand one thing. I, Serena Winters, would always rise again.
Chapter 6
I woke to the sound of somebody walking toward me.
I bounced to my feet quicker than a spring. Though it was crazy, I’d slept with my dagger sheathed to my hip. I pulled it out, then blinked at Jace.
He was not at all perturbed by the fact a half-asleep woman had almost stabbed him to death. A grin wrapped around his mouth. “Good,” he said, and that deep throbbing tone meant it.
“I am so sorry, Jace,” I hissed. I wiped the sleep from my eyes, then blinked in abject surprise as I saw it was dark out. What time had I gone to sleep? Maybe about 1 PM?
Oh, my god.
I slapped my face, turned over to the clock on the oven, and realized it was 9 at night. “I slept so long.”
“Good. You could have slept in the bed, though,” he said.
“I wanted to keep an eye on the city.”
“The bedroom has an even better view. And don’t worry. I always have the same urges.” He leaned a little close as he said that. Why? To smell me? Or was it to underline the urges bit?
Maybe I should have eaten more before going to sleep. My brain was trash right now.
I tried my best to fix my hair. But I had literally remained in the exact same position for nine freaking hours. It was a crinkled, weird wave over the top of my head. It refused to stay down, no matter how many times I patted it.
My stomach rumbled, despite the fact I’d fueled up before sleep.
“Have you made anything?” Jace asked in a careful tone that suggested he was way more interested than he was letting on.
“I can rustle you up whatever you want. This is literally the best-stocked pantry I have ever seen.” My voice shook. If I could marry that pantry, I would.
“We won’t have time,” Jace said simply.
I blinked quickly. “Wait… you’re serious, aren’t you? You’re not just here to check up on me.”
“Many things have been happening.”
God, I hated the way his voice contracted in his throat. Jace was bigger than life. But now he felt like a turtle receding in his shell.
Latching onto my arm, I tightened my fingers around it. “What happened to the cathedral?”
“We have a few more details. The men who—”
“Who burned it down had an overdose of that berserker drug, right?”
Jace’s eyes sharpened in interest, not suspicion. “How did you figure it out?”
Fear crawled up my spine and half-clamped my jaw shut. It took a while to ease my lips open. “Because I’ve seen the effects of that freaking drug up close and personal. It’s disgusting. I can’t stop thinking about those eye droppers in Lisa’s apartment,” I went off on a tangent. “Did you ever find out what was in them?”
“No. And funny you should mention it, because that’s where I think we should go tonight.”
“Back to Lisa’s apartment?” I asked excitedly.
Jace shook his head. “To the laboratory where I sent them.” Nothing left his expression. “What’s happening between you and Velos?”
“Nothing. As always. The Engelos keeps his cards close to his chest.”
“I thought you had the best working relationship with him, especially compared to the rest of the heads?”
“The Engelos,” Jace repeated in a clearer tone, “always keeps his cards close to his chest.”
Who knew what that meant? But Jace was tired, hungry, and in need of answers.
While I could have tried to lure him to his bed – in a good way – I quickly ran into the pantry instead. While I didn’t have time to make him a fabulous feast, I could at least get him some fuel.
It didn’t sound like much, but there were loaves of bread in the freezer. I’d already pulled out a sandwich press. It took literally ten minutes to make him a toasted sandwich. Okay, three. I knew precisely what kind of appetite I was dealing with. I added a fourth one for myself. Then, like I was packing a lunch for a kid, I shoved them into a brown paper bag then went to race out the door.
Jace deliberately let his eyes slide down me.
My hands went down to my blouse. It hadn’t completely opened, right? Nope. But it was still in the exact same trashed state it had been this morning after my eight hours of battling wolves. I hadn’t showered. And God knows I hadn’t changed clothes.
I kind of shrugged. “Do you think anyone’s going to notice that at the lab? I mean, I’m assuming nobody works there overnight.”
“No. But you can simply go into my closet and change.”
I made a face at him. Then I deliberately and stupidly measured our height difference. “I don’t think you have anything that fits me.”
“You’d be surprised. The second you came into my life, Serena, I stocked up.”
What the heck did that mean? I’d only had one sandwich, but my stomach flipped. Not in an unpleasant way. It was like a sizzling egg on high heat.
Had Jace always planned for me to come here? I knew how that wolf brain thought. He was security-conscious. As soon as I’d come into his life, he would have realized how valuable I was – but how dangerous, too. So he’d have contingency plans in place to help me if I wound up in any of his safe houses.
When I ran into the absolutely stunning bedroom, I soon saw the closet. On one side, there were indeed clothes that could fit me. The sturdy stuff, too. Not flouncy, not like what Virginia would wear.
I selected the best outfit I could: washed jeans, a cami, a shirt, and a jacket.
Thankfully, Jace had thought ahead. There was even underwear. And yep… the wolf knew my size.
Trying not to think of that, I changed my clothes. There was no time to wash.
Would it matter? I’d probably get dirty almost immediately.
Don’t go there, brain, I mouthed at myself as soon as my stupid hormone-driven mind went straight to Jace’s body. He hadn’t walked into the room with me. He was giving me my space. While the wolf presumably prepared himself another massive meal from the pantry.
That meant I had all the time in the world to slap my cheeks and point at myself in the mirror. “You have a mission to accomplish tonight. It’s more important than whatever the hell’s happening here.” Clapping a hand over my heart, I beat it up and down twice, then raced out of the room. I wore sturdy boots that were so much better than the shoes I raced around in yesterday.
Jace was fixing himself a coffee. He drank it down in a single gulp as his eyes locked on me. I knew he took in my figure, the clothes, and probably the bed hair. But he smiled.
And that emboldened my stupid hormone-fueled mind.
Jace nodded at the door. “Let’s go.”
Yep. Together. Alone. That’s how it should be.
I wasn’t talking about Virginia here. Jace and I were better when it was the two of us. I could read him, and God knows the werewolf could read me.
“You slept well,” he said as he closed the door behind me.
“Got video cameras in there or something? Or is it this?” I kind of ruffled my bed hair.
“No, it’s your scent. It’s stabilized.”
My mouth opened, then closed. “If you can smell me properly, how come you don’t know what I am? I got Kelsey to smell me. She said I’m kind of indistinguishable from a human.”
“If you pay little attention, sure.”
Now wasn’t that a leading question. It suggested Jace paid extreme attention.
That was fodder for that stupid hormone-fueled mind. I kept mentioning it, because it kept trying to control me. Get a little closer, it suggested. Smile at him more. Grab the damn werewolf by the collar and scent him in front of his face.
To distract myself, I quickly ran my fingers through my hair. “So exactly how are we going to get into this lab? And what’s going to happen if everything goes wrong?”
“I’ll lose my position as head of the shifters.”
“I’d say everyone’s trying to take it off you anyway.”
“Precisely.”
I frowned at him. “Why do I get the feeling you were never like this before I came along?”
We’d reached the stairs, and he trundled down them, two at a time. “Because I didn’t have as much to fight for.”
A thrill chased up and down my back.
I could keep questioning him, but he’d hear the shaking in my voice.
We reached the main road outside, anyway. Jace leaned close to convey the plan. “We’ll head to the lab, break in, and find out what they’re doing with the eye droppers. Then we’ll take it from there.”
He deliberately made lingering eye contact.
The old me would have turned away, not knowing what to do. This one simply stared right into his eyes and nodded.
Jace turned to hide a smile. Then we disappeared down the street.
If today had been crazy, the night was worse. You’d think people would be scared, wrapped up in their beds, asleep and shivering in the cold. Instead, it felt like every single car in Mythos City was out. And all of them were honking at each other angrily. There were a lot of pedestrians, too.
Jace hadn’t rocked up wearing his usual get-up. Rather than a suit, he wore a large hoodie. He’d crammed it down until it covered his memorable features. He wore acid-washed jeans that were cut at the knees and old trainers.
I should have worn a hoodie, too, but that would’ve made us stick out as dodgy. And not everybody knew me from sight alone. I also kept several steps behind Jace. Most of the pedestrians were busy snarling at each other or talking on their phones. Some of them raced past, not even making eye contact.
I’d never been in a city on the edge of collapse. Was this what it felt like? Nobody talking to one another, nobody making eye contact. Everyone in it for themselves.
“It’ll be okay,” Jace said. His words seemingly came out of nowhere. But the werewolf would be smelling my stress.
“I sure hope so,” I hissed.
We focused on getting to the lab. Jace hadn’t driven. I wasn’t certain why. Maybe it was easier to track one of his cars? Perhaps he’d simply run out of them.
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