“Yes, we’re fine. You’ve met Seychelle. We’ve had an incident, and I was hoping Lissa could help us. It’s important, or I wouldn’t ask.” He hadn’t needed to add that. It was a given. This was probably shocking both Casimir and Lissa that he had come to them.
He didn’t see Lissa, but she was nothing like Seychelle other than she was small. She might look fragile, but she wasn’t. She was backing up her man, somewhere in the shadows. She had been trained as an assassin, just as they had been, and she was lethal as hell. She suddenly appeared in the foyer, smiling a welcome as Casimir closed the door behind them. To her left was an imposing, muscular black dog, looking both powerful and intelligent. Savage was well aware the dog was a Black Russian Terrier. Czar and Blythe had one as well. Those very intelligent eyes had targeted him the moment Casimir had allowed them into the house, and hadn’t taken his gaze off him since. Clearly, he knew who the true threat would be.
Both Casimir and Lissa gave the dog a hand signal, and it relaxed and trotted to a dog bed that was placed between two very comfortable chairs.
“I have to apologize, Lissa,” Savage said immediately. “I didn’t think about the time, and I should have. We made a run over to the cottage in Sea Haven, intending to stay there for the night, and when we got there, we found the house vandalized. And by that, I mean whoever had done it had completely wrecked it. Everything. All of her belongings. Cut up her clothing, drilled her kitchen pots and pans, smashed even the walls, shower, bathtub and toilet.”
Savage pulled Seychelle even closer to him, her side to his front, wishing he could turn back the clock and be there in her house when Shari had come.
“How terrible, Seychelle.” Lissa indicated the cozy chairs in the living room. “I saw the damage in the photographs you sent, Savage. “I’m so sorry, Seychelle. It must have been a terrible shock to you. Please come in and sit down.”
Savage was a little uneasy. He didn’t visit people, and he didn’t go sit in their snug little rooms, where they had the advantage in a firefight. He noted the exits and every item he could use as a weapon in the room. He was armed, and his body was a weapon. Still, his woman was with him. He took the love seat and pulled Seychelle down beside him, one arm around her, the other still holding the large but fragile package.
“I’ve made some tea, unless you think it’s too late for that.” Lissa indicated a red-and-black inlaid tray. On it sat a black teapot decorated with a fiery red dragon and two matching mugs. It was clear she knew Savage because the other two mugs held coffee.
“Tea is perfect, thank you, Lissa,” Seychelle managed. “The tea set is lovely and very unique. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
“I actually made it myself,” Lissa confessed. “I went through an experimental phase, making pottery. I’ve been considering giving lessons to Lucia and Lexi. Lexi suggested it. Lucia is Airiana’s oldest girl. Maxim and Airiana rescued Lucia and her brother, Benito, and sisters from one of those horrible ships where they kill the victims after using them. We’ve all been trying to find ways to make Lucia feel at home here, but also to give her things she loves to do. She’s an incredible chef already. She has an affinity for the dogs and helps Gavriil train them. She keeps up with her schoolwork and is always there for the children and Airiana, but we wanted to give her something else, something that’s just hers. She told Lexi once that she always had wanted to take a pottery class, but when she looked them up at the arts studio in Sea Haven, they were just too expensive.”
Savage frowned. “Maxim is loaded.”
Lissa shrugged. “Lucia already feels he’s taken on so much. She refuses to be a financial burden to him any more than she already is. I actually think it would be fun to have her here, and it gives me a chance to spend a little time with Lexi. I haven’t worked with pottery like this in quite a while, so I’ve begun to fool around with it. Casimir is helping me.”
Savage raised an eyebrow.
Casimir grinned at him. “You ever see the movie Ghost? If not, you need to.”
Seychelle laughed softly. It wasn’t much of a laugh, but it was enough of one that he decided they’d have to find the movie and watch it together. “Must have missed that one. We’ll have to watch it, babe.”
Seychelle nodded. “It was really good.”
“The boys look over the cottage?” Casimir asked as he took the seat across from Savage.
“Yes, they’re doing so now. I’ll take Seychelle back to the house, and we’ll stay there while the cottage is being fixed up. Be interesting to see if the bastard tries to break in there.”
“It might have been just a random break-in,” Seychelle said, a hopeful note in her voice. “It wasn’t that long ago that there was a group of robbers breaking into the homes of the elderly. I’m sure my cottage looked deserted. Or it could have been mistaken for a vacation home.” She took a sip of tea, her eyes meeting Savage’s over the rim of the mug.
Savage kept his expression purposefully blank. He held out his hand for the mug. “This is really beautiful, Lissa.” It was. The dragon was far more detailed than he’d thought possible with pottery. Lissa’s hair was nearly as fiery red as the dragon. The scales were touched with gold to add accents. The lip of the mug was thinner, and the handle was part of the tail.
Lissa looked pleased. “Thank you. I made it on a whim.”
Seychelle accepted the mug back and regarded all three of the others with her intelligent blue eyes. Savage wanted to groan.
“Casimir, you don’t believe for one moment that it was a random robbery, do you?”
“Probably not,” Casimir answered. “The destruction was far too much for it to be anything but personal. I’d like to tell you different, but that would be doing you a disservice.”
Seychelle nodded and took another sip of tea. “I thought that too. I just hoped I was wrong. Savage doesn’t lie to me, and I didn’t ask him because I didn’t want to put him in a position of having to deliver more bad news to me.” She leaned into Savage, tipping her head back to give him another wan smile.
He slid his arm along the back of the love seat, finding the nape of her neck beneath the thick layer of silky waves so he could ease some of the tension out of her. “You don’t have to think about it anymore, baby. Let the brothers fix up the cottage. We’ll get first-class security on it. I should have been all over that already.”
“Don’t, Savage. You know I never even locked my doors until you came along.”
Lissa gave a little gasp. “With your voice when you sing? With your looks? Surely, you had to realize men could get obsessed with you.”
“Well. No, actually, I didn’t,” Seychelle admitted. “I never thought of myself like that. When I sing, I get caught up in what I’m doing. I love it. I can feel the energy of the crowd. When the band is good, like it is with Torpedo Ink, that just adds to the magic of the feeling. I can see the musical notes floating in the air like these beautiful gold shimmering fireflies. Sometimes, when people are feeling down, I can weave a net and bring their emotions up, make them feel happy. That makes me happy.” Enthusiasm poured into her voice.