Indigo, he muttered.
Interesting name for a woman. Shed been more of a soft pink last night, mixed with a few streaks of jet-black mascara. Poor thing.
Kristine was right. He should have followed her out of his building this morning. But hed watched from his loft and seen the waiting cab. Shed beelined into it and it had pulled away. Shed made it home safe.
What hell of a hangover would she have? If not from the alcohol, but from the mysterious concoction of herbs and who-knew-what Hestia had given her?
Should have gotten her last name, he said with a regretful twinge that he felt in his heart. She was pretty.
And she had seen too much. That wasnt good. He needed to keep his secret, and the secret of FaeryTown, from the human public. And if she had seen him in those few moments when his rage caused him to partially shift, then he needed to make sure she thought it was just an effect of the alcohol. Not the truth.
Because his truth always managed to fuck things up.
* * *
Indi lifted her head from the alpaca rug. It was dark. Really dark. She was lying on the floor in her living room for reasons that escaped her...
Ah, really?
She dropped her head and realized she must have slept the entire day. Twenty-four hours had passed since Todd dumped her last night. And what had happened after that had been even more remarkable. Shed watched a handsome man with P90X abs and biceps kill weird sparkly creatures with a sword. And then shed woken up under his coffee table.
This is definitely one for the diary, she muttered as she sat up. Oh, my aching bones, have I become an old lady?
She pressed a hand to her back and winced as she stretched. Either she was growing old quickly or sleeping on the floor was no longer something she could do and recover from with ease. Her college days had often found her sleeping on the floor, or a table, or even in a big box once.
Shouldnt have sucked down all that champagne.
With some groans and grunts, she managed to stand. Inspecting her tattered and dirty gown made her moan. It was so pretty. I was pretty. Asshole.
Grabbing her phone from the couch, she intended to call Janet, but...
Its ten at night?
Now she stomped toward the curving marble staircase and her second-floor bedroom. She didnt bother to turn on the lights. Passing through the bedroom, she clutched the cat ears still clinging to her head and tossed them onto the king-size bed. Tripping a few more times on her torn hem, she made it into the bathroom and flicked on the lights as she stopped before the wide vanity mirror specially lighted for putting on makeup.
Indi chirped out an abbreviated scream. Then she slapped both palms over her mouth. Staring back at her from the mirror was a bedraggled bit of tattered lace and smeared makeup. Her mascara had streaked down her cheeks, butperhaps when shed been passed out on the floormost of it had rubbed off. Had that happened before or after she was at the handsome strangers place?
He saw me looking like this? Oh, Indi, you really know how to impress a guy, dont you?
Her hair was half out of the messy bun. One jut of hair managed to stick straight out on the left side. What hurricane did I walk through? She pulled out a leaf from her hair. Where did thisOh, I want to die! I just...
She slammed her hands to the vanity and shook her head. But instead of tears, laughter burst out. Lung-tugging, gut-clenching laughter. Dropping and settling onto the soft pom-pom rug in front of the tub, Indi laughed until her ribs ached.
Lowest point in my life? Last night, she muttered. Lesson learned? Lay off the champagne. Never date a guy whose most important accessories are his cell phone and day-planner app. And... She sighed and wiggled her toes through the tear in the pink tulle. Always thank the handsome stranger who rescues you from the idiocy of yourself. And from a strange creature she thought might have been trying to eat her. Did I thank him? I dont think I did. Ryland James? And he never did answer my question.
She had seen things while shivering in the alley last night. More than a few weird things. And he had most definitely changed into...something different. It hadnt been the alcohol. Couldnt have been.
Who are you kidding, Indi? Of course it was the champagne. People dont change shapes.
She touched her chest where she had rubbed over a cut earlier this morning at her rescuers place. Her skin felt smooth now.
Indi stood and studied her collarbone in the mirror. The skin did not show a cut or mark of any kind. And if she had been hurt, shouldnt there be, at the very least, a faint or red mark?
Was it possible shed imagined it all?
Anything is possible, she said to the tawdry princess in the mirror.
Hed called her Princess Pussycat. And his eyes had smiled before his mouth had.
Indi smiled. A weak, pitiful and bedraggled smile, but it was the best she could manage. It would be a crime not to see that man again. And she really did need to thank him. At least some man had been concerned about her last night.
More important, she wanted to ask him questions. To make sure she wasnt going crazy and hadnt started to imagine strange creatures walking the streets of Paris.
Tomorrow, she said to the disaster in the mirror. Now a shower, and a bath, and maybe another shower after that.
Chapter 3
The next day
The proposal is very well done. Ry laid the file folder on Kristines desk. Hed been in the office all day making phone calls and was ready to kick back with a beer and some sports TV.
The Severo Foundation is amazing. Kristine brought up the website on her laptop. Started by Stephan Severo decades ago to buy up forested land in Minnesota to protect the natural wolf population.
And I do appreciate that its also helping the Save the Wolf Foundation. His son wants to take the project international.
Yes. Pilot Severo continued to support the project after his father died, Kristine said. I dug a little deeper with my research. Most isnt in the proposal. Pilot is not werewolf. His mother, Belladonna Severo, is a vampire and his father was werewolf. Pilot was born straight human. I kind of relate to him. Kristine tapped her highly lacquered red lips in thought. He was born into a body that was so different from what others must have expected of him. And can you imagine the parents disappointment when their son was not a werewolf or vampire, but rather merely human?
I can, Ry said.
His thoughts flickered back to that day hed first discovered he was different. Not quite the werewolf hed always believed he was. And then his mother had confirmed it, and his entire world had been tipped off its axis. The time had been seventeen minutes and twenty-one seconds past three in the afternoon. Not a good time. Not something a seventeen-year-old man should have to experience.
Get me a phone meeting set up with Pilot Severo, he said. I want to send him funds and would also like to be a part of the international project, if possible.
Perfect. Kristine typed as they conversed. Multitasking, as usual. Something Ry appreciated but could never manage himself. Its morning in the States. Ill give them a ring in another hour.
You dont have to stay late, Kristine.
You know I dont mind. And I want to finalize the donations for the upcoming charity ball. You know the full moon is this weekend? You heading out to your castle?
I, uh... Ry winced as he considered that this full moon would be different from the previous one. He had a new commitment that wouldnt allow him to leave the city. To escape from the possibility of being seen in his shifted form. I dont think I can.
You cant stay in the city. Not unless you hook up with that new girl fast. And by fast I mean in the three days before the weekend. Dont you need to have sex before the full moon to keep the werewolf at bay? You up for that challenge?
Always. He cast her a charming smirk. But I dont think Ill see her again. She ran out on me so quickly. I do have some solutions available.
Uh-huh. But even if you do find a woman to have sex with the day before and after the full moon, theres still the night of the full one, mon cher. Dont you need to wolf out no matter what?
That I do.
Maybe FaeryTown can go one night without you.
If I miss one night of patrol, then a baby could be stolen from his or her crib, never to be seen again. Do you think thats fair for me to put my needs before one so innocent?
But youll wolf out during the full moon. In Paris.
Thats something Im going to have to deal with. I dont see any other option, Kristine. Text me the appointment after youve talked with Severo. Ill see you tomorrow afternoon.
He left the office in the wake of an unenthusiastic sure from his secretary. He knew she was right. She knew she was right. A werewolf shouldnt risk staying in a populated city on the night he was called by the moon to shift to his half-man/half-wolf shape. And while he wasnt a wild and crazy beast intent on destroying or maiming humans in that shape, he didnt need to be seen loping about the Parisian streets with tail wagging and tongue lolling. That was inviting trouble for him and every other werewolf who needed to remain a myth to all humans.
Yet if he went to his private property in the countryside, as he did every night of the full moon, then FaeryTown would be left unguarded for the collectors to come through.
As he strode down the sidewalk and angled for his parked Alfa Romeo, Ry wished the choice was easier. But then, nothing good ever came easily.
* * *
Indi slept until three oclock the next afternoon. She decided to mark it off as the worst night of her life. Getting dumped, being chased by a creature and then being sort-of kidnapped by a man she didnt know.
But it was the memory of that mystery man that compelled her this afternoon. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, then dousing it with creamer, she curled up on the couch, wrapped a light summer blanket about her bare shoulders and pulled the laptop up to browse online.
Ryland James, she said as she typed in his name.
Not expecting to find anything more than a Facebook page, she was surprised when the first page of Google spilled down a whole list of hits. And the image bar featured some paparazzi shots of the man wearing either a tux or a well-tailored business suit, and in all of them he was either facing away from the camera or had his hand up to block his face.
She clicked on the first entry posted by a dishy entertainment channel. A photo showing Ryland James leaving what looked like a nightclub with a hand blocking his face was captioned Parisian Billionaire Camera-Shy.
Billionaire? she whispered. What have you stumbled onto, Indi?
She scanned the article and it mentioned that Ryland James was a philanthropist who gave away billions but was noted as media-shy, and while he was occasionally seen with a date, no woman could ever be pinned to him as a long-term relationship. He was always the talk of the party when he arrived, and socialites listed him as their BILFB standing for billionaireon their social media pages.
I was rescued by a billionaire? She couldnt help the incredulous tone. But at the same time... Why have I never heard of him before?
She was a socialite. She participated in all social media and liked to know who was who and what they were doing with whom and for how long. Of course, shed never followed the philanthropy hashtag before. As a trust-fund baby, shed grown up, admittedly, with a silver spoon in her mouth. But now that she was on her own, she was perfectly happy to create her own riches. And was doing a great job at it.
And yet.
Why would a billionaire be out in the middle of the night wielding a sword and chasing weird monsters?
Because that was what shed witnessed. Much as she didnt want anyone to hear her say it out loud, she had seen exactly that. Monsters. Big, black, sparkly monsters that had sort of faded out in a long wispy tail of darkness. And a tall, muscled, handsome man who had swung a sword like a Viking marauder.
And I woke up under his coffee table. If only I had known he was rich, I would have stayed for breakfast. Ha!
No, she wasnt the gold-digging type. Generally, a mans checkbook did not influence his attractiveness. And hadnt she given up on rich, self-involved men because of the extremely humiliating dumpage from Todd?
For sure. No more rich businessmen.
Scanning through a few articles on him, she didnt learn much more, other than that he had been wooed by major modeling agencies and had refused contracts from all of them. Was known for driving a black Alfa Romeo down the Champs-Élysées at top speed. And could be rude to reporters when they pushed him for information. A rumor that hed once dated Lady Gaga could not be confirmed. However, according to a tabloid, they had been in the same New York concert hall on the same night and both had left in the same limo.
Teasing her tongue along her upper lip, Indi double-clicked on the one photo that showed his face. The man was so freaking gorgeous. He wore his long dark brown hair loose, yet in other pictures it was pulled back behind his head. Always, the shirts he wore strained across strapping biceps and pecs. And the mustache and trimmed beard framed some seriously kissable lips.
Billionaire or not, I most certainly need to thank him. And ask him the burning questions. Today. I do remember where he lives.
Now to figure out what to wear when thanking a man for saving her life, while also wanting to enhance her assets without looking desperate. But she had just been dumped. She really should go into mourning for a bit.
Hes not worth it, she muttered, dismissing Todd with the breezy apathy she should have had the other night. But if she hadnt been so distraught she would never have had a few too many drinks and wandered the streets, and she would never have run into Monsieur Sexy Billionaire.
Not chasing after another rich man, she said, confirming her drunken decision to forgo them. But I do need some answers.
Grabbing her half-empty coffee mug and heading down the hall to her bedroom, Indi tore off her robe and entered her closet to stand naked, perusing the possibilities. She owned a lot of clothes, and she wouldnt apologize for the extravagance. Shopping was in her blood. Her closet had always been bigger than her bedroom since she could remember, even from when she was a toddler. Dressing up made her happy, just as wearing cat ears gave her confidence. Besides, her job required she seek out vintage, and off-season, designer clothing. If she happened on the perfect item of clothing for herself, she would never deny that want.