“No, thank you.” She waited expectantly.
“A bite to eat? Are you hungry?”
Her nerves strung out as it was from the near confrontation at the bar, she leaned forward, got right up into his face, and slammed her hands on the table. “No! I don’t want a drink! I don’t want food! The only thing I want is to know is where the hell my sister is!”
Emma wondered where her sense of self-preservation was, but her patience with this was at an end. If he had some information for her, she wanted it now.
“Calm down,” he told her. “And I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Sitting back in a huff, Emma crossed her arms and waited for him to speak, idly wondering where her sanity had gone.
He leaned forward. “Emma, do you have any inkling of who or what you are?”
What is he talking about?“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what you are. What your sister is. What your parents were. And, more specifically,whothey were?” He put his elbows on the table and linked his hands, drilling into her with those eyes, until she felt like he could see right down to her soul.
“I’m not sure I know what you mean…” Emma hedged, genuinely confused.
He continued to stare at her, his head tilted to the side, like he was listening to something she couldn’t hear. After a moment, he seemed to come to some type of decision. “Emma, you come from a family of very powerful witches.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly what she’d expected to hear. “Witches,” she repeated blandly.
“Yes,” he affirmed with a nod.
Was this guy for real? If her family was full of witches, don’t you think she would know?
She should’ve star sixty-nine’d him earlier, demanded more information before agreeing to meet him. Not that he had given her a choice. Clearly, he wasn’t a cop or any kind of detective. Mentally unstable was probably more like it.
“I am so, so stupid,” she finally admitted. Disgusted with herself for falling for…whatever the hell this was, she grabbed her bag and stood to leave.
“Where are you going?” he demanded.
“I’m leaving. Obviously,” she spat back at him.
“Emma, please. Sit down and hear me out.” He held up a hand, halting her. “Please.”
She paused next to the table.I don’t know why the hell I’m doing this.“Fine. But I don’t want to hear about whatever it is you think you know about my family. I want to know who you are. And I want to know whatyouknow about the whereabouts of my sister.”
“I promise I will tell you all of that, but in order for you to fully understand, I need to give you some background about my people, and about your family, that you are apparently unaware of.” He waved his hand at her seat. “Please, Emma, sit down. As much as I hate to admit it, I need your help, and you need mine.”
His tone sounded so sincere, it gave her pause. Slowly, she went back to her seat and sat down again, giving him a hard look. “Just so you know, giving me the sad puppy dog eyes will get you nowhere with me.”
His lips twitched. “Duly noted.”
“Ok, wiseass, tell me about all this stuff I presumably don’t know about. I’m listening.” Crossing her arms again, she leaned back and waited for him to speak.
“Let me start over.” He paused. “Emma, have you ever noticed any strange things that happen around you?” Another pause. “It’s okay, you can trust me.”
Surely, her expression alone clearly showed how much she disagreed with that comment, but just in case it didn’t, she spelled it out for him. “What makes you think I would trust you with anything at all? I know absolutelynothingabout you. I don’t even know your name! Although you seem to know quite a bit about me. Or at least you think you do.”
Emma had spent her entire life safeguarding her secrets from everyone except her immediate family; she was not about to give them up that easily. She didn’t care how hot he was.
Or how lonelyshewas.
He ran a hand through his hair and started over again. He seemed to know he was totally blowing this. “I’m sorry, you’re completely right. My name is Nik, or actually, Nikulas. Nikulas Kreek.” He held out his hand.
She regarded that hand warily for a moment, and then hesitantly placed her hand inside his much larger one. He closed his fingers firmly around hers.
