He turned to her then, his expression quizzical. “I’ll take you home.”
She shook her head. “Don’t bother, I drove.”
“I’ll have your car brought to your house,” he said, turning away from the three goons and pulling her along as he stalked through the crowded ballroom.
“I don’t need a ride,” she said, finally yanking her arm free of his grasp. The action startled even her and she stumbled back a bit, only to feel another steel hardness behind her.
“We meet again, Ms. Harper.”
His voice was smoother, his face just a touch softer than Rome’s. She turned to stare up at Nick Delgado, his laughing hazel eyes looking back at her. He was a handsome man, there was no doubt. From the silky ink-black hair to the thick eyebrows and firm jaw. He had a great build, not bulky but toned. Sex appeal just about oozed from every one of his pores. And Kalina suspected he knew all his attributes without her running down a mental list. But he wasn’t Rome.
And why the hell did she care anyway?
“Hello,” she said tightly. “And good night,” she finished, turning to look at a none-too-pleased Roman.
“Call Ezra.” Rome looked over her shoulder to Nick. “Tell him to bring the car around back. We’re leaving.”
“Five minutes,” she heard Nick say from behind.
“Let’s go,” he said as if just now remembering she was there.
“When hell freezes over,” she snapped and moved from between them with a quickness she didn’t know she possessed.
He followed behind her, giving Eli a nod as he did. The guard moved past him, getting closer to Kalina. Directly beside the huge open bar was a door, and through that door was a hallway and stairs that would take them to the lower-level parking garage and out into the hotel’s side alley. It was Eli and Ezra’s job to inspect any premises he went into beforehand. Knowing all entrances and the exits was imperative, especially in times like these.
They were shifters, the ones that had been coming for Kalina, just as he’d scented when he first came in. Rogues that carried the telltale stench of evil and corruption. It was a bitter tinge against the normal feline scent that enveloped the shifters, making them able to identify one another in this world of humans. All night Rome had wondered where they were and what they were up to. Even after he’d met with Bingham the sense that someone who didn’t belong and was creeping about assailed him. He’d wanted to find out who, so instead of leaving right away he’d had Nick and Ezra cover one half of the ballroom while he and Eli took the other.
Rome had spotted them first. Or rather, he’d spotted their prey.
In the midst of a couple hundred of DC’s most influential and attractive females, she stood out like a ripe apple in a barrel of rotten ones. For a minute he thought it was the smoky gray dress she wore that hugged her hips, thighs, and ass. Or was it the way that dress bared her back, cupping her breasts in the front so enticingly that his palms itched to touch her?
In the midst of desire he’d felt it, the clenching in his chest that had his protective instincts kicking in. His gaze wandered beyond her, resting on the three shifters stalking her. He didn’t know them personally but he knew what they wanted. Hunger and lust filled their gazes as their bodies prepared to move in. They wouldn’t care that it was three against one. They would use her together until one of them proved dominant. Then that one would take her alone, ravish her until she was useless, and kill her. It was their way, the no-boundaries way Rogues preferred to live. They preyed and they killed, it was as simple as that. And somehow, Kalina had been caught in their snare.
Possessiveness such as he’d never known washed over him and before Rome could think twice he was stalking across the floor determined to reach her before they did. It was close, the scent of Kalina’s fear pushing him closer to the edge of insanity. If they’d managed to get to her, if one of them had put a finger on her … his temples throbbed, his heart thumping wildly. He had to get her out of here.
Finding out what she’d been doing here in the first place would have to wait until later.
She was just about to pass the bar when Eli moved in front of her, stopping her passage. She looked up at him and was probably ready to curse him into next week when Rome stepped up behind her, putting his hands firmly at her waist. Leaning over, he whispered in her ear, “If you scream or try to run you’ll make a scene. They’ll come after you. Your choice is simple, go with me or be taken by them.”
Her body stiffened, the round globes of her ass rubbing against his own throbbing arousal. She was contemplating, her annoyance at him warring with her fear of them, the unknown. What she didn’t know was that there was no way in hell he was going to let the Rogues get within feet of her, let alone take her.
“I won’t hurt you,” Rome said, his mouth watering at being so close to her skin. He wanted to lick her, to taste her once more so that he’d never forget such sweetness.
She gave the barest nod of her head. Eli led the way. They were slipping through the side door in seconds, Rome looking back only once to make sure the Rogues weren’t on their trail. They did not give up easily, especially not when a female was involved. But they hadn’t followed; they’d actually backed away the moment they saw him. He knew that wasn’t due to any respect for his ranking among the shifters. They didn’t give a shit what title he held; Rogues were supremacists with egos bigger than any human or shifter he’d ever met. The fact that they weren’t coming after him gave him pause.
Eli headed down the stairs first with Kalina between the two of them.
“We’re coming down,” he spoke into the com link he, the guards, and Nick shared.
At the bottom of the stairs Eli pulled the door open. With a hand to the small of her back, Rome pushed Kalina through. Ezra pulled up first in the black Tahoe, the back door already swinging open. Eli grabbed it, stepping to the side with a swift nod to Rome. At the signal he grabbed Kalina by the waist, lifting her into the back of the vehicle. The door slammed behind them and they were moving before Rome was completely seated.
Eli would now drive the limo, which Nick had retained and pulled up right behind in the Tahoe. They would go in the opposite direction from Ezra and Rome just in case anyone decided to follow them.
Kalina slid all the way over, plastering her back against the opposite passenger door. “Take me home,” she stated without hesitation.
“Your wish is my command,” he answered, settling back in the seat. Taking out his cell phone, he keyed in her address, sending the text to Ezra in the front seat as well as Nick and Eli. Then he put the phone back into his pocket. “You can relax now, you’re safe.”
Folding her arms over her chest, she huffed. “How do I know that? You don’t look any safer than those guys back there. Oh, and by the way, I’m no damsel in distress. I did not need rescuing, thank you very much.”
No, she was no damsel in distress. More like a spitfire waiting to be ignited.
“You were in trouble. I simply arrived at the right time.”
“Whatever,” she said then turned, pushing her back against the seat. “Just take me home.”
He scented her nervousness and agitation. Or maybe she was pissed he’d interrupted. Whichever, Rome wanted her to feel safe, and his gut told him that the threesome back there was anything but safe to her.
“What were you doing here?”
“What? I can’t go to a political fund-raiser?”
“You don’t look like the type to support Kensington in his race for the Senate.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Is my political affiliation now scrawled on my forehead?”
“I thought you were a number cruncher. It just seems a bit out of place for you to be at a political function.”
She looked at him like she wanted to hit him. His lips twitched at that thought. This woman had a lot of spunk and it aroused something in him.
“I’m well versed in politics as well as other things, Mr. Reynolds. Just because I work in accounting doesn’t mean I can’t think of anything else.”
He held a law degree, was a Faction Leader to more than three thousand shifters on the East Coast, and stood to inherit a place in the Assembly should he ever return to the Gungi. Yet at this moment, instead of strategizing or analyzing what had just happened back there, he couldn’t think of anything except getting her naked.
“Did you know those men? Was one of them the one you were speaking to on the phone to this afternoon?”
