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“I don’t know.” He chuckled and leaned his forehead against hers. “But I have a meeting I need to get to and now I’ll have to calm down before I can show my face.”
She smiled, loving this between them, wishing like hell it didn’t have to end.
She said nothing more, but waited with him. She took care not to fondle his arms, one of her favorite things to do. She didn’t even speak, but let her breathing settle down.
After a couple of minutes, he released her completely. “I’ll probably be gone for at least two hours. But when I return, I should probably fly you home.”
She nodded. He stepped away and shifted to altered flight. A moment later, he was gone.
Shayna stood staring at the empty space, grateful to have this respite before facing her empty apartment and her miles-away life.
But just as she turned back to the magnifying glass and the ancient tablet beneath, a man’s voice forced her to grow very still. “I think my son has fallen in love with you, which means that my current plan has worked out perfectly.”
She turned, and Daniel was just there, stroking his goatee and standing ten feet away. He’d broken through Gabriel’s layered cavern disguise that even Marius hadn’t been able to penetrate, and now he smiled at her in the middle of the room full of ancient tablets.
She squared her shoulders. “I’m guessing you’re not here to share a cup of coffee, maybe have a little chat. I have so many questions—”
“None of which I intend to answer.”
Instinctively, she picked up one of the tablets and threw it at him, but they were large and heavy. He laughed as it dropped to the floor several feet in front of him and broke into pieces.
Before she even blinked or saw him move, she was trapped in Daniel’s arms, flying through rock then into the air above North Africa.
How did you find me? I can’t believe you actually got through Gabriel’s disguise.
She felt him laugh again. Remember that sharp little pain in your arm, the one you might have thought was a pinch? Let us just say that I embrace technology in all its forms.
A tracking device?
Shayna, you certainly don’t lack for intelligence. And he laughed again.
CHAPTER 15
Marius sat down at an ebony conference table thinking he’d never been so glad to see all these men gathered in one place. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been with both of his brothers, as well as Gabriel and Rumy, at the same time.
He sat across from Adrien and Lucian, while Rumy sat on his right. Each of his brothers bore a resemblance to Daniel, just as he did, their parentage impossible to refute.
Adrien had thick dark hair to his shoulders and muddy teal eyes with brown flecks, while Lucian had gray eyes and kept his black hair cut short. Both were handsome men, six-five to six-six, and muscular like thoroughbreds.
He loved them and loved being with them, though he always felt separate because of what he’d done. In the past, he’d used a lot of humor to mask what he really felt.
Gabriel sat at the head of the table and had provided coffee. Marius sipped from a heavy red mug, his thoughts disjointed. He didn’t want Shayna to leave. He needed to find a way to end Daniel’s reign. He also wondered if Shayna was right. Maybe he should finally confess his sins to his brothers.
But would they ever forgive him?
“So what’s your plan? With Shayna, I mean,” Gabriel asked.
“I’ll be taking her home, of course. We’ve already discussed it. She has her life well planned.” He went on to speak about her fieldwork in Malaysia, her intention of earning her doctorate, her love of anthropology. The words flowed and he couldn’t seem to stop them. He then launched into all the ways she’d helped him and saved his ass over the past two very short days.
He ended with, “Shit, I’m going to miss her so much.”
No one said a word, maybe because they were stunned by his admission. But both Lucian and Adrien were fully bound to human women whom they now lived with.
He glanced at each in turn and saw eyes full of compassion. But all that did was fill him with his usual remorse.
Clearing his throat, he shifted the subject to the critical matter at hand. “So, I take it we’re all here for the same reason.”
“Yep,” Adrien said. “To go after Daniel and bring him down for good.”
