“None of your business.”
“So, he’s a heavyweight. That’s why they leave you alone.”
“All you’ve seen so far is the homeless refuge,” she said, ignoring his comment. “And that’s out of the way. I can’t show you Rough’s hideout just yet. His goons will be all over the place. Early morning’s your best bet.” She slowed at an area littered with debris and chunks of broken concrete. “Find yourself a space and claim it as home.”
“That’s not how this works,” he said, still in the hunched, haggard persona. “I will be with you for the duration I’m here.”
“Hell, no. I’ll meet you out here in the morning.”
“Not happening. Where’s your…base?”
Damn annoying immortal. Mouth tight, Shadow stormed around the corner, climbed over the broken wall and pile of bricks, and slipped through the jagged hole, heading toward her basement. She pulled out a rusty key from her jacket pocket and worked the heavy lock, but the darn thing had jammed again.
Nik brushed her hands aside. With a wave of his, the lock snapped open, and the heavy steel barricade door creaked ajar as if it weighed nothing more than plastic.
Biting back a snort, Shadow stepped into the darkness and threw over her shoulder, “Just make sure to…”
Yup. He’d already locked the door and was now studying the interior, back in his natural appearance. All big, muscly, and oozing sex appeal and peril. And every atom of estrogen she possessed perked up. Stupid libido.
Sheesh, in this cordoned-off basement, he took up even more space, sucking up all the dank air, making her far too aware of him.
So, he could see in the dark, too? Awesome.
Pivoting and trying to get her mind and body under control, she lit a half-burned candle on the old dinged-up filing cabinet. The small flame cast a flickering light, revealing everything.
The place was a craphole, but it was dry and safe. Eddi had made some changes like the partitioning of the area for her privacy.
She arched an eyebrow as Nik studied the watermarked ceiling, moldy brick walls, and the rusty metal sheet separating her side from Eddi’s, probably counting the cobwebs. His attention finally lowered to where she slept.
What, her crate-bed wasn’t good enough for him?
“Sorry if it’s not fitting for your highness’ idea of comfort. You chose to follow me here.”
His gaze met hers, then he slowly prowled closer.
Shadow had to dig her toes in her boots not to take a step back.
“I don’t need comfort, as long as I’m here. Yes, wherever you go, I’ll follow…” He stopped mere inches away, close enough that his scent curled around her. Leaning in, his voice dropped to a husky, menacing whisper that made her wariness hike, and her bones melt. “There’s no escaping me, Shadow. Not now.”
Chapter 4
Satisfied he’d left her speechless for once, Nik glanced around the place. It must have been a storage basement at some point.
The candle she lit flickered, casting a dim light over the old mattress set on several crates pushed together. The thing created a dais for the bed, probably to keep the rats from scurrying over her.
He had no idea why she lived like this. She appeared intelligent, could fight like a badass, and spoke well enough when she wasn’t cussing at him. Yeah, he picked up on her light psychic vibe, it was probably how she detected demons, otherworldly beings…and him. He frowned at that.
“Seen enough, or do you need more time?” she drawled, seeming to have recovered. “There’s no bed for you.”
He cast her an amused glance, fascinated by those unusual eyes lined and shaded with black make-up again. “Didn’t ask for one.”
Scowling, she shoved her fingers into her jacket pockets. Nik half expected a dagger to come flying his way, but she marched to the wall and dropped some white bits on the floor.
“Shadow?” A knock rumbled on the metal sheet dividing the basement. “Can I enter?”
At the gruff male voice, Nik stilled. The gang leader? A female who looked like her would be arm candy for the dumb mofo. And he couldn’t give her a better hole to live in?
“Do your magic trick and hide or something,” she hissed at him.
Nik raised an eyebrow at her demand. But he regressed into his glamor of the downtrodden persona he’d assumed earlier. Pointless in stirring up shit when he still had to find out what happened to the missing kids and women.
“We’re together now,” he took pleasure in reminding her, and in the predictable scowl contorting her striking face.
“Shadow?” the human called out, agitation clear in his voice.
“Come on in, Eddi.”
Nik stepped back as the metal sheet dragged away, forming an entrance and revealing a middle-aged, wiry man. Sparse iron-gray hair had receded to the back of his head, and deep lines etched his dark forehead, with finer ones at the corners of worried brown eyes.
Godsdamn female. This was her shield of protection?
A metal sheet and an old man?
After a fleeting glance at the human, Nik lowered his gaze to his old combat boots. The sounds of scuttling drew his attention. A rat inched its way along the wall and attacked the crumbs she’d tossed there.
“Hey, Eddi? What’s up?” she asked in a cheerful tone.
Nik watched them from beneath lowered eyelids.
The old man handed her a plastic container. “Saved you some food. Eat,” he said, cutting Nik a flinty stare. “So, Russ was quite eager to inform me that I had lost out to some slimeball loser. You know you can’t bring anyone here, Shady.”
“Russ is an ass.” She shot him another scowl before setting the food on the cabinet. “And he’s okay. Just an, er, lost soul who needs direction.”
Dickhead was more likely what she wanted to say. Or wet dick. But he doubted she’d ever use that tag again after his taunting comeback.
“He cannot stay, lass. If I allow this, it will draw notice to us.”
“It’s only for a little while,” Nik said, adding a compulsion to his tone for the man’s agreement. “I’ll find another place in a day or two.”
The old man stared at him blankly, then nodded. “I’m Eddi. I look after this little one.”
About to say he will, too, Nik remembered his frail persona just in time and shut it.
Eddi pivoted to leave, and Nik let the compulsion fall. Eddi stopped, blinked, and shook his head. “I have a mattress. Maybe you’d like to use it?”
Shadow finally dropped her backpack on the bed, folded her arms, and glared.
For him to say no? So, Nik nodded.
Her mouth thinned, making him want to smile.
“Good.” Eddi grinned, revealing nicotine-stained teeth. “But it’ll cost ya.”
“I don’t have much…” Nik stuck to his role, putting his hands into his jeans pocket and pulling out one of the three ten-dollar bills he usually carried. “Will this do?”
“Your boots would have been better,” Eddi retorted, “but I’m not in the mood to fight off those who’d want ‘em.” He pocketed the money and disappeared to his side of the basement, then reappeared a moment later with a thin, stained, foam mattress, tossing it at Nik’s feet before sliding the metal sheet back in place.