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My first instinct was to call Gunnar. I grabbed my phone from the coffee table before I realized I didn’t even have his number. He’d offered it to me last night after refusing my drunken attempt to initiate a one-night-stand, but I’d said no, believing that I’d never have the chance to use it. Damn it.
One of the guys dug into his pocket and brought out his phone as the other one pressed his ear to the door. I quickly muted my phone, just in case. Sure enough, a moment later, the phone in my hand lit up with a call. It was coming from a different number than the one they had used to contact me before.
Ha! They thought they could ferret me out by making my phone ring, did they? Too bad so sad!
I could hear their low voices through the door as they talked, but I didn’t understand what they were saying. Shit. I’d tried to learn Mandarin since so much of the world used it but had failed horribly. Now, I wished I’d tried harder.
Dad was from Macau, and Mom was from Hong Kong. Despite settling here in America, they’d adopted from China so their kid would look like a part of the family. Growing up, they mainly spoke English to me, with generous sprinklings of each of their own preferred languages. We called it Por-chin-glish. As a result, I spoke English fluently and had baby talk levels of Cantonese and Portuguese.
It wasn’t much use right now. The asshole on the phone had told me to be ready on Monday when in fact they had shown up on Friday, in case I was thinking of running. Those sneaky bastards.
I stayed completely silent and still, hoping the fact that I lived here and everything smelled like me anyway hid my scent from them. I wondered if these two were snow leopards themselves, or if The White Claws had other shifters working for them.
The security feed on my TV was no longer on my floor so I waited. After what seemed like an eternity, and two cycles through the floors later, my hallway was clear. I switched to the feed from the lobby. I wanted to see them walk out that door.
As I waited for them to emerge from the elevator, Gunnar walked into the lobby and headed straight for the stairs. He was here! The two goons stepped out into the lobby only moments after Gunnar disappeared up the stairwell. They’d just missed each other.
A few minutes later, Gunnar stepped into my apartment. I was so happy and relieved to see him that I hurled myself at him.
Chapter 6
Gunnar
Iknewsomethingwaswrong the moment I opened the door to Lillian’s floor. The smell of shifter filled my nostrils. Not the delicate scent of Lillian’s cat, but something stronger. Canine.
Fuck. I’d expected them to come early for her, but I thought we’d have at least until tomorrow.
I hurried over to her door and was glad to find that it was still firmly closed, and there were no signs of a struggle or anyone tampering with the lock. I opened the door and was greeted by a very relieved-looking Lillian, who practically threw herself at me. I wrapped her up in my arms.
“What happened? I smell wolf.”
The stench of her fear still lingered in the air, spiking my protective instinct, and I couldn’t help the low growl that came from my throat.
“Is that what they were? They were here; you just missed them. They got off the elevator into the lobby right when you were coming up the stairs.”
She gestured to the screen where the building’s security feeds were still playing.
“Do you have access to the recordings?” Knowing what these guys looked like would help a lot.
“No. Everyone in the building has access to this channel, but that’s it. We can’t even replay it.”
At least security would have a recording. “I’ll talk to Security and get a copy.”
“I think they told me Monday on purpose so they could come grab me early, and I wouldn’t have time to leave.”
I grunted. Yup, that was exactly what had happened. “We’ll move the wedding to first thing tomorrow morning. They’re probably waiting outside for you. It wouldn’t be safe for us to move all your stuff now. We’ll just take the essentials and a few extra boxes, and I’ll send someone else to pick up the rest.”
“But what about my car?” she asked.
“We’ll get someone else to move that for you. They’ll probably be watching for it. If they know where you live, they probably know what you drive, too.”
We moved all the things she wanted to keep into the living room and shoved everything else into the kitchen to make it easier for whoever came to pick the stuff up later—probably me, or Graham. Then I picked up her two suitcases she had already packed, and we took the stairs down to the underground parking lot.
Her apartment was only on the fourth floor, and the stairs were not only faster and more comfortable for me, it would avoid exposing her should the elevator doors open on the ground floor. They might still be watching the lobby.
I insisted she stay in the Urus, which was both magically warded and bulletproof, while I went back up for two more boxes.
I made a pit stop at the front desk to ask for the footage from the camera feed, saying I was from the EA and needed it for an investigation. The guy on duty did his due diligence and insisted he call them to confirm.
