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One of the men in suits reaches behind his back, revealing a gun tucked into a holster at his side. Violence etches his sharp features. Anger seeps from every pore.
Louisiana is an open-carry state and New Orleans is a dangerous city. I even applied for a license after Nathan Kress was set free. It’s not the gun that scares me. It’s the man it belongs to.
A chill courses through my veins, freezing my blood. Crackling like ice on a lake.
I stare at the glass full of white wine in front of me and try not to shiver. Memories thrum over my nerves—youthful innocence corrupted by fear and men in three-piece suits, Reid’s blood on my hands, duct tape and white panties, and red roses with thorns.
I shouldn’t be here.
The man with the gun lifts one side of his mouth. Not a smile. Not even a smirk. More like a snarl.
This city is full of hungry wolves, angel.
This man is a wolf.
Eva shoots daggers at me with her eyes while she drinks her cabernet.
I shoot them right back.
She’s the reason I’m here, wandering into the unknown, sitting in the wolf’s den, waiting for answers that may never come.
There’s something you need to know about Cal. He’s not the man you think he is.
That’s what she’d told me outside Suppato’s. My mind was already reeling over a conversation between servers that I’d overheard in the bathroom—a conversation about Callisto.And me.Then, I’d walked outside to find both of my back tires flat. I was on the verge of tears when Eva showed up offering me answers and a ride home.
“You said there was something you needed to tell me,” I’d said when she pulled out of the parking lot.
“No. I said there’s something you need to know. I never said I’d be the one to tell you.”
And that’s how we ended up here, at a wine bar in Jackson Square. Lead by curiosity and stupidity. All because I let my insecurities take over.
“She’s not like the rest of them,” the dark-haired server had said, obviously thinking I’d walked out of the bathroom.
“She seems normal. Guys like that don’t settle for normal,” the other one replied.
It was every thought I’d had since the minute he’d touched me in Carlos’s office. Only this time it wasn’t a nagging voice inside my head. It was spoken out loud, by someone seeing us from the outside. I’d glanced down at my scrubs, peeked at my messy bun in the mirror and saw exactly what they did.Normal.And then I hurried out of there like my ass was on fire.
“This was a mistake.” I’ve been here fifteen minutes and haven’t learned anything I didn’t already know.Eva is a bitch.And these men are making me feel like a mouse backed into a corner.
I need to get an Uber and go home. The only person who can tell me the truth about Callisto is Callisto. I just need to find the courage to ask.
I reach in my back pocket for my phone, panicking when there’s nothing there.Where the hell is my phone?
“What was a mistake?” a female voice sings beside me.
The hair on my nape stands on end. The three men at the table beside the bar shift in their seats. Suddenly everyone’s attention is on me, and it makes me shudder.
I take a deep breath and compose myself as I turn to face the voice. She’s beautiful—tall and lean with long dark hair and bright red lips over a picture-perfect smile. Everything about her exudes confidence and power. This is the type of woman who sits at the end of the bar. She’s nowhere nearnormal. It wouldn’t surprise me if these men weren’t here for her, if they didn’t all bow down to her. She’s too poised. Too calm. Too collected. As if she’d been bred to be this way—just like Callisto.
There’s something you need to know about Cal.
This is why I’m here.Sheis why I’m here.
I need air.
I need space.
I need out of here and away from the black clouds hovering over me.
