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Hannah unwrapped the bar, kept working and started munching. They were making good progress through the estate. So far, they’d snuck through the kitchen, the dining room, the billiards room and various morning rooms and gathering areas in the main building. Slipped between tour groups and dodged security guards. It was heart-pounding and a bit scary for Hannah, considering she’d never done anything illegal in her entire life. But it was worth it, considering each room they covered, looking for this mystery crystal called Illibrium, brought them one step closer to finishing Heriot’s mission, which ended in him killing T’Antor. And any situation that ended in the elimination of T’Antor was all right with her.
Hannah took another bite, thinking of Ron and Daisy who were probably in the hospital in Santa Maria. She hoped they were okay. She had no idea as to the extent of their injuries and could only send good thoughts and best wishes their way, wishing they could know she was doing everything in her ability to take out the asshole who hurt them. And of course, her heart bled for the unknown woman T’Antor had murdered. The innocent woman whose only error had been in wanting to go on a tour of Hearst Castle at the wrong moment in time.
Thinking of the fact that T’Antor was still loose caused her steps to quicken into the next room with Heriot. She tried to work faster, her eyes alert as she skimmed every nook and cranny for anything suspicious, anything that could possibly be Illibrium.
T’Antor needed to be stopped today. No way was she letting that alien asshole rape and murder his way through the central coast. Not on her watch.
The two of them stepped into yet another elaborately decorated gathering room. A row of tall windows looked directly onto the gardens at the back of the main building. This was considered the less extravagant and slightly unfinished side of the estate. She chuckled because it was still pretty damn elaborate. Every single nook and cranny of the interior of this ginormous mansion had objects that had been shipped over from Europe or recreated to look like the things right next to it that were hundreds of years old.
She imagined all the empty spaces in medieval, gothic and renaissance churches, cathedrals, castles and châteaux in Europe (she’d dubbed them the fours Cs) because those things were instead here, in Hearst Castle. Whole ceilings and walls had been removed and shipped across the ocean and installed here. In every single room there seemed to be an elaborate fireplace that used to be in a French château. And shit, there were tapestrieseverywhere. The ceiling of the room they were in right now was covered with carved and painted wood panels probably from a Spanish cathedral. And yep, yet another fireplace that she could literally stand upright in if she wanted to, and tapestries, tapestries, tapestries. Basically, she’d seen so much museum-quality furniture and art at every turn, she was becoming immune to it.
Heriot’s features brightened as he glanced at a large marble statue in a corner, of a naked woman holding a sparkling ball in her hand.
“Is it?”
He stepped forward. “I’m checking.”
Hannah held her breath as he scanned the object with his tablet. A red light blinked on the screen.
Heriot cursed.
Her shoulders slumped. Shoot. That sucked.
“I hate this planet,” Heriot groused as he continued to visually scan the far corner of the room, his pitch-black assassin-stealth outfit and his thick, glossy white-gold hair looking incongruous against all that renaissance art.
Heriot might be scary and intimidating to some people, his coloring a bit startling, but she thought he looked sexy as hell.
“What? You hate my planet?” she answered, her mouth still half full of protein brownie bar. “Why? What’s wrong with Earth?”
“It’s dirty. Your species learned how to begin creating a technologically advanced civilization, but it does not yet know how to balance this manufacturing without ruining the environment. The modernization of your planet without the control of eliminating the waste is polluting your air, soil and water. This unchecked filth is the sign of a primitive society.”
“Okay, Mr. Fancy Pants.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means I get it, you think you’re better than us.”
He shrugged. “I am.”
“Are you okay with finding out that your mate is human? Weren’t you…disappointed when I wasn’t R’Etor?”
He looked surprised at her question. “No, I wasn’t disappointed,” he said as he moved closer. “I was happy to have discovered my truemate. It does not matter to me that you aren’t R’Etor. In fact, to me you are special. A special gift I found on the planet Earth. I will bring you home and my life will be complete.”
He stopped in front of her.
Hannah lifted her chin up, up, up to stare at his harsh features, that dichotomy between golden angel and devilish assassin. She swallowed the last of her bar and placed her hands on her hips, trying to not get distracted. If she touched him, he won. She’d melt in his arms because he was so handsome, it hurt. What he’d said before about thinking of her as a special gift—that was sweet, but he was being so judgmental! Ugh! “My planet isn’t filthy. Your planet isn’t better than mine. And we’ve already been over this, I’m not leaving Earth. And…wait, Heriot…you’re flushing again.”
His jaw clenched. “It is happening quicker this time because your truemate pheromones are the most intense.”
“Oh no, should we separate to keep looking? Maybe that would be better…”
“No! No. I need you with me.”
“But Heriot, it’s probably more sensible to—”
“I will not be separated from my mate,” he snarled.
She blinked, surprised at his quick anger. But then, she could see hints of red rash peeking up from his collar, onto his neck. He was probably in pain and trying to hide it. “Okay, but I need to relieve you again.” Shoot, they’d just started making good progress and now they were going to need to stop again.
