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The pawn shop owner sniffs again. “Suit yourself.”
Scooping my coins off the counter, I return them to the frayed leather bag and hurry outside. I’ve gone further from the theater than I wanted, searching for one more place in the hopes this guy would give me a better offer. I’m going to miss the curtain call if I don’t hurry. I should have been there for the whole show, but this was more important. If I’d waited until later, the shops would have been closed. I found that out the hard way.
When I make it back, I know immediately I chose the wrong night for my little excursion. A fuming Sethos is stalking the east tower when I land. “Where were you?”
“I had business to attend to,” I grumble. In reality, I’m already feeling guilty for not being here. Immediately, I head toward the stairs, intent on finding Jessie. Sethos steps into my way. “Not so fast. You gave me your word. I know the terms of the curse. If you want to wake again tomorrow night, you had better stop and listen.”
“Or what? You’ll freeze me and be completely without a guard? What good will that do?” I fold my arms across my chest and glare down at him.
“It’s not doing me much good right now having a guard who’s not here when I need him. Did you know we had a bomb threat tonight? Of course, you don’t. You weren’t here!”
I stare. “A what?”
“A bomb threat. Some maniac rang and threatened to blow up the whole place. Lucky I decided not to call the police in the end, since it turned out to be nothing. If I’d have called, they’d have shut down my theater for days. As it was, some of the cast were spooked. The performance suffered.”
“You didn’t call police?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “What if it had been genuine? What if the whole place was destroyed?”
Sethos shrugs. “It wasn’t. If you had been here we could have established that a lot sooner.”
I cut through the air and his words with a slice of my hand. “Where’s Jessie?”
Sethos snorts. “Your precious human is fine. She went home already.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” I push past him, brushing him aside like he’s not even there.
Sethos growls. “I’m warning you, du Buisson—”
I turn back with a roar. Sethos darts out of my way, but I’m not interested in him. I’m interested in getting to my mate and establishing she is unharmed. Stalking to my perch, I bend and tear it from the stone floor. Sethos curses and I ignore him.
“I hereby give you my resignation.” Giving him a mock salute, I tuck the stone perch under my arm and leap from the tower.
He calls after me, but I ignore him. Spreading my wings, I catch a warm updraft from the sewerage system below and let it lift me higher. Sethos could follow, but he doesn’t. Clearly, he knows when he’s lost an argument.
I put him out of my mind and focus all my senses on the streets below and on my destination. In a matter of moments, I’m landing with a crunch on Jessie’s balcony. All the lights are on, but when I try the door, it’s locked, though she normally leaves it open for me. That in itself makes my tail flick. I hear muffled sounds through the glass and let out an angry roar.
I don’t bother trying the door again. I just put my fist and elbow straight through it. Glass crashes. More shouts come from within the apartment.
Jessie cries, “William!”
I lose my fucking mind.
Shards crunch beneath my rough soles as I storm through the living room, knocking aside furniture in my rush. I drop the stone perch with a thunk and race toward my woman. I tear her bedroom door from its hinges with the force of my anger and drop the broken wood to the floor as I take in the scene in front of me.
Jessie cowers on the floor, completely naked. Tears streaming down her cheeks and red marks around her wrists and across her face tell me everything I need to know about what’s happening here.
Beside the bed, a man fumbles with the front of his trousers, tucking himself away as if that will somehow stop me from removing his fucking prick from his body before I slowly disembowel him.
My voice is dark, deeper than even I thought possible when I speak. “How slowly should I kill this miserable sack of shit?”
Jessie’s answer is a pained whimper. The guy is hardly more articulate. “D-don’t kill me.” He’s stumbling around the room, avoiding my claws as I swipe at him.
I dive for him, but he ducks beneath my arm and scrambles for the door. Not a fucking chance. I round on him, snatching his ankle and smiling cruelly when he slams to the floor, his chin making a resounding thud on the floorboards.
The asshole curses as I drag him back through the door and lift him off his feet. He doesn’t have the breath left for cursing, though, when I smash him against the wall, my hand on the back of his neck.
“William!”
With my free hand, I gather the guy’s wrist and twist it up behind him until he wails. “Did you touch her?”
