Watching the end of his mouth tilt upward into a smile and seeing that smile touch his eyes warmed Ravyn’s heart. She loved this kid and she wanted to support him always. Besides, something had changed in the way she viewed Cree’s position down here and in what she wanted for Safeside. She didn’t know when it had changed and she didn’t know how, all she knew was that it had. Unfortunately, that knowledge wasn’t enough.
“Go. And be safe,” Cree said. “I’ll be here when you return.”
Ravyn smiled and blew him a kiss before turning and running out the door.
She ran when she stepped out of the rideshare, going as fast as she could down a block she didn’t think she’d ever seen before. Yet, this was where she’d told the driver to go. This was where her mind said she needed to be.
There were houses on each side of the street, tall ones, short ones, Victorians, ranchers, brick, aluminum siding, with grass yards or cement yards, so many houses and she didn’t recognize any of them. But she didn’t stop running, didn’t stop looking, not until the humming in her ears grew louder, almost like a beacon. She ran faster, even though she didn’t know how that was possible because it already felt as if her feet weren’t touching the ground.
Turning a corner, she kept moving until she saw the house at the end. There wasn’t anything special about it, just a brick colonial with a basic rooftop. An iron gate at the front, a paved driveway. Just a house.
A house she was heading toward.
The gate was locked but that didn’t stop her, she simply jumped over it. Coming down on her feet, knees bent, the tips of her fingers touching the ground, Ravyn looked back, wondering what the hell had just happened? Did she just jump over a freakin’ wall? Hesitation was replaced by this urgent push in her legs and before she realized it, she was up and moving again, heading straight to the front door of the house. She stopped when she got there because the midnight-blue door with its sparkling silver knocker was ajar. Pushing the door open, she stepped inside, completely disregarding the fact that this wasn’t her house so she was breaking and entering...again.
Recognition seeped in the moment she stepped inside the house. She knew those paintings hanging on the dark cranberry colored walls. The rugs on the floor were the same, the shined wood banister that curved upward to the second floor of the house. She knew it all. Just as she knew if she kept straight and turned opposite the family room, she’d be in the room with all the display cases. That’s exactly what she did and then came to an abrupt stop the moment she saw the dead body in the center of the floor.
There was no doubt the guy was dead. The pool of blood circling him on the floor kinda gave it away. A part of her knew there should’ve been shock, probably a moment or two of freak-the-hell-out, and then quite possibly screaming and running away. But she felt none of those things and she didn’t run away screaming, because she couldn’t. Her feet felt rooted to that spot, the urge to go she’d felt before was gone, replaced by an eerie stillness.
And then there was a sound and she eased her gaze away from the dead guy to follow it. He came into the room with intentional steps, his gaze focused more on the watch at his wrist than the dead guy on the floor. He was saying something but her gasp put an end to that and he looked up to see her staring—or more like gawking—at his glowing orange eyes.
“Ravyn.”
“Who are you? How do you know my name? And what’s the deal with your eyes?”
Shit!
Steele dropped his arm and cursed because he’d taken his glasses off right after stepping into this room and finding Robles dead on the floor. Now, he blinked his human eyes back into place and walked toward her.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed as she continued to watch him. “Who are you?”
“Let’s just get you outside.” He continued and reached for her arm.
That was a big mistake, because the moment he touched her there were sparks exploding into the room. She shrieked and jumped back and Steele cursed again. The sparks or whatever had just happened was fast and seconds after he thought he’d seen them they were gone. She eased away from him, moving so fast she bumped into the wall. He took another step toward her but she shook her head, raising her arms in front of her to whisper, “Stay away from me.”
Try as he might, it seemed he just couldn’t do that.
“Wait, listen to me,” he tried saying but she’d already turned and was heading out of the room.
He followed her, reaching for her when they were in the small foyer but dropping his hand before touching her considering what had just happened.
“Did you kill that man? What the hell is going on here? What did you do?” She walked fast, firing off questions like she was some type of recorder, until she was just a few feet from the door and she stopped to turn around.
The motion was so quick she bumped right into Steele, who was still hot on her heels. He did touch her again this time, grabbing both her arms when she looked up at him in surprise.
“What—” she started to say but then stopped.
He felt the moment recognition hit her. It wasn’t just in the way her eyes flashed with a sudden awareness, but it was the warmth that spread immediately between them, and the instant movement of his beast. It knew she was near and it was reaching out for her.
“Listen to me,” he started again. “You need to
