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Heriot enjoyed this side of his female—all business.
“There’s our group again. Darn it, we missed the tour of all the guest houses, but we can catch up with them before they step into the main building. Let’s go.”
His cock twitched in his trousers, already stirring back to life at her intensity, her focus. These were the hallmarks of a good assassin. Heriot exhaled, trying to calm his raging hormones. But it was difficult. His truemate’s sexual appeal was staggering.
His female took a deep breath. “I can do this,” she muttered to herself. Then she grabbed his hand and they walked to the edge of the group and rejoined their original tour. A few of the humans turned their heads and looked at them with surprise. Some snickered. He did not care. They were civilians. Beneath his notice.
He placed his hand on Hannah’s back, needing the connection. She glanced up and gave him a tremulous smile. Warmth bloomed in his chest, and every protective instinct he’d never had until now, doubled in capacity.
They were now standing in an open square in the middle of the estate, the large ornate doors of the main building in front of them. The tour guide spoke, explaining details of the façade and what they would be seeing inside. Heriot looked around and up at the building with twin bell towers jutting up into the blue sky. He glanced around to the blooming foliage spread all around. Beyond that was a view that stretched across the hills to the ocean and the horizon.
He shrugged.
“I can’t believe you’re not impressed with this place,” his female whispered. “This is one of the most beautiful spots on Earth. It’s a representation of the best of my world. Art from all over the planet. The gardens, the architecture are the best of the best. And you’re just blowing it off like it’s nothing, which, you know, hurts a little. I feel like I’m standing on a slice of heaven,” she said. “Can you smell that? The jasmine? The gardens are filled with so many flowers in bloom the air is like a soft perfume.”
It was pleasant enough.
The guide led them all around the right side of the main building, to a smaller door, and gestured for the humans to enter. Good, he could start looking for the Illibrium inside, which was where he expected to find it.
“Can you believe this?” she continued to whisper. “This place is called a castle, so I bet before people come here to visit they think it’s going to be a gray stone castle, like in Europe, but it’s actually a collection of five buildings made to look like we’re in a village on the Mediterranean. This place is an art and history mashup of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, and the California coast in the 1920s and 30s.”
He shrugged again, not even needing to look around. “R’Etor is better.”
She cocked her head to the side, her bright blue eyes narrowing with suspicion.
“You don’t believe me?” he questioned.
“I’d say you’re biased.”
He looked both ways for an all-clear and pulled out his tablet. “Look,” he said, showing her a picture of his home.
Her lips parted, and a wide smile spread across her face. “It’s like a golden castle in a magical, snow-filled valley.” She looked up at him. “Heriot, that’s not real.”
“It is.”
“It’s too beautiful to be real.”
He grinned. “This is my home. You will love it there. The air, water and soil are clean.”
She handed the tablet back to him and averted her gaze. “This is nice, but I’m not leaving,” she responded. “I’m happy we’re together while you’re here, and I want to help you, but I can’t leave. I live here. This is my home.”
His chest tightened. He hated hearing this from his mate. His mind began racing, searching again for the right words and actions to convince her to peacefully leave this planet with him, so he wasn’t forced to drug her and steal her away.
Because he would. He so would.
“You are my mate,” he replied. “You will leave with me because we belong together.”
“I’m not leaving with you.”
“You are.”
“I’m not.”
“Shhh,” an older mated female wearing a red hat hissed. “I paid for this tour,” she gritted. “I know the two of you think you’ve got more important things going on, but the rest of us want to listen.”
Hannah glanced over and gave Heriot a rueful smile. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
Later,while the group listened to boring human-speak from their guide about dead humans he had no interest in, Heriot was fuming over the glacial speed of this mission. He’d been able to visually inspect two large rooms so far and scan one object he thought might possibly hide the Illibrium, without the humans noticing. But this was not enough. The domicile was very large, he needed to be able to move freely…
