When the seafoam lady came back, she was followed by a striking creature wearing the black, iconic Widow leathers. The woman was tall, with powerful arms shaped by fierce training, and moved like she could pass through anything that stood in her way. Her skin was warm ebony, and her hair was shaved along the sides but gathered in a series of small braids on top. The braids were long and twisted together, gathered in sections down her back by silver bands.
Along her belt and wrists were knives and small weapons, and she watched us with crimson eyes.
She terrified the hell out of me. But if I liked women, I would be a puddle at her feet. She was a death goddess peering over her subjects, and I almost didn’t mind if I was going to be a sacrifice.
“Who presented this?” She held up Quellin’s card between her fore and middle fingers.
“I did, miss.” I raised my hand a little. “Quellin of Matron Lelia gave it to me.”
“Did he?” She didn’t sound convinced as she scanned me with her unyielding gaze. “Why?”
“I’m friends with his lover Cody Moore. I’m from Stallion Ridge.” I squeezed Danny’s hand as the Widow walked over to us, her eyes moving from me to him. She let us squirm a couple of terrifying moments before she handed the card back to me.
“What is it that you need my assistance with?”
I let out a long breath, cautiously optimistic that she wasn’t going to murder me.
“I need to get home to Stallion Ridge, but we’re being chased right now. Are you familiar with the sack of shit called “The Baron”?”
She sneered. “I’m familiar, yes. Why is he chasing you?”
“I stabbed him in the leg after he tried to attack me, then bought a really expensive dress and made him pay for it. Oh, and perhaps made people believe he had a half-inch dick.”
Danny tried to cover his snorty laugh with a cough. The Widow didn’t seem amused, but one eyebrow slowly cocked after my confession.
“Anyway,” I continued, hoping she thought I was charming and not frustrating. “Can you help us get home?”
She straightened her spine and made a quick gesture with her hand to the seafoam woman, who nodded and went back to her desk.
“I’ll escort you back to Stallion Ridge.”
“Thank you.” I exhaled the breath I had been holding. “We owe you our asses, Miss…?”
“Dezera.” She cut me off with her crimson eyes. “Don’t call me Miss.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Gods, she had my heart pounding. The Widow Dezera made me reflect on my sexuality while she was drilling me with her eyes. It was like she was forcing me to succumb to a bisexual spell with her gaze. I wasn’t sure how to casually or politely bring up the suggestion of a Mimic-Satyr-Widow threeway, so instead I just swooned silently while she led us out of the embassy.
It was going to be a very long, nerve-racking walk back into town and an even more terrifying one to the train station. New Haven’s station was a hub of activity and likely crawling with badges and Baron slime. It was the only real way out of the city beyond stealing a horse and making a run for it. The option of horse theft did cross my mind, but I decided I’d rather get tossed into a jail cell than rough it in the wilderness until a bear ate me.
And not the fun, large men bears. Like real bears. Bear-bears. They fucking ate people.
As we made our way back into the heart of New Haven, my stomach began twisting into complicated knots of emotions. I was scared. Of course I was scared, but not about getting caught or hurt. I was terrified something was going to happen to Danny and angry I couldn’t do anything to stop it. Sure, I could shift into Cal’s form and kick some ass, but that wouldn’t save us. And I certainly wasn’t bulletproof.
If Dezera couldn’t get us out, then I was leading my Danny to slaughter. I held onto his arm as we walked together, needing his contact to keep myself from becoming frantic. I fought the urge to tell him to run away and hide each time I thought I saw a head turn our way. He laced his fingers with mine and stayed with me.
We were three blocks from the train when I saw him. The Baron’s eyes locked with mine the moment I realized who he was. His lip curled as he began pushing through the crowded streets toward us, and I gripped Danny’s hand tight. He signaled at us with one hand, and the bodies around him turned in our direction. It almost seemed like the city itself was after us, with how many eyes he commanded.
The Baron had a good twenty or more people with him, and they were all heading right for us.
“He saw me,” I hissed quickly, snapping my gaze to Dezera. She was already looking the Baron’s way but turned her attention back ahead of us.
“Stay close,” she said quietly, taking a sharp turn through some side streets. Her pace increased as she began winding us through the maze of the city’s alleyways, forcing Danny and me to jog in order to keep up. She moved so fast, each turn sudden and sharp, that I began to worry we wouldn’t be able to keep up.
Each time I dared a glance behind us, I would see the last horrifying glimpse of someone running our way before we took another turn. There were too many to properly shake, and it seemed like the bastards were coming out of the shadows. Dezera took another turn, and I began to gasp for air as we ran after her. She was getting too far away.
“Keep up,” she called back over her shoulder. “Or I’ll leave you behind.”
“Wait!” I held Danny’s hand as we ran after her. My heart was trying to crawl out of my throat as we chased after the fleeting image of our protector, dashing further and further away. Behind us, someone shouted for us to stop, and I began feeling the cold tendrils of panic start to climb over my spine.
I was convinced we were going to lose her, that she was going to shake us instead of them. She was getting too far ahead, and the threat was closing in. We rounded another corner in a full sprint. The end of Dezera’s braid was all we saw as she shot down another distant corner.
When we whipped around where she was supposed to be, she was gone.
Vanished.
“No,” I pleaded, coughing as I tried to catch my breath. At the mouth of the alleyway, I saw men stalking toward us. Danny tried to redirect us backward, but there were already men blocking our path. Each one of them had a gunbelt strapped to their hips or carried something violent in their hands.
They came for blood. I was an idiot to think they were going to take us to jail.
We were going to die in that goddamn alley. I had gotten us killed.
Danny swallowed, pulling me to his side as we came to terms with being trapped. Our protector was gone. It was just us.
The Baron pushed his way past his hired guns, face red with anger and exhaustion. We had made him chase us, which pissed him off even more. I noticed his limp, favoring the leg that had a healing knife wound in it.
“Was it worth it?” His jaw bunched as he spoke through his teeth. “Stealing from me, impersonating me, and fucking stabbing me? Was it worth you watching your goat boyfriend suffer before I kill you both?”
In his hand, I saw him holding the knife I had stabbed him with. Gideon’s knife was cleaned and sharpened, and I knew what he had planned. I knew that blade was coming for me. For us.
The men around him adjusted their hands on their weapons, chuckling and drooling at the prospect of violence. People passed the alleyway, uncaring or unwilling to see the death that surrounded us.