“I think that there is another reason, as well. I think that he is using the women for leverage. He has something planned, perhaps some kind of coup to get the kingdom back from Alix,” Lucian added.
They talked about Dizag’s plan and who could be helping him. Finally, though, it was getting late, and Nick decided that it was time to take Lana home.
“I can take a cab or walk. I’m a big girl. You don’t have to babysit me,” Lana said. She sounded tired and a little indignant.
“I know that you are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. However, even the most ferocious lion might have some difficulty fighting off a dragon. He could also take you by surprise. Not necessarily jumping out of shadows or an alley, but dropping out of the dark sky,” Nick said.
Lana just looked at him as though she were trying to decide what to do.
“Do it for me,” Nick pleaded. “I would feel a lot better if you would let me take you back.” After a moment he added, “And you know that you aren’t going to do Lucy any good if something happens to you as well.”
She is most definitely stubborn. Nick sighed, waiting for a response.
Lana nodded, finally.
The night sky was absolutely beautiful. There were no clouds, so the full moon lit the world up in a silvery, shimmery magical light. The stars shone on the way to the hotel room.
Lana was quiet, and Nick wondered what she was thinking. He knew the entire situation must be extremely frustrating and frightening for her.
She couldn’t go out and simply start searching for her sister. She wouldn’t know where to look. This tied her hands completely. Nick wondered what her plans had been when she came over if Brady hadn’t been there to help her. She was smart and was quick to adapt to the situation around her, but she wouldn’t have known who to trust or where to start looking, especially since she didn’t know anyone or the city. She would have stood out like a sore thumb, naked in the human world, and she didn’t have any money for a place to stay or food. What had she been thinking?
Nick realized that he was getting more and more worked up over his concern for Lana. He paused his thoughts to consider what that meant for him. He realized that he had grown quite fond of Lana over the last couple of days.
“Are you okay?” Lana asked, breaking the heavy silence that had hung over them.
“Yeah, why?” Nick asked.
“Because you suddenly grabbed my hand and started squeezing it hard enough that you might break it,” she replied.
Nick hadn’t even realized that he had grabbed her hand. He let it go quickly as though it were a burning lump of coal.
“I’m sorry. I was just worried about you, and thankful that Brady was there to help you when you came through to this world,” he said.
“I appreciate your worry. Father showed me which portal to use, so that I would have a safe passage,” she said.
As silence fell heavily upon them once again, Nick considered Lana. He knew she would be able to defend herself well, since she was a lion shifter. Even if she lost a fight, she would make a good show of defense. However, he still sensed a kind of vulnerability around her. Nick knew that Lana would be horrified if she knew he thought this way, because she would consider it a weakness. She was confident and proud of her ability to take care of herself.
If there was one thing that Lana was not, it was weak. Yet even the strongest people were vulnerable to something. Somehow, though, Nick doubted that Lana would see it from that perspective.
This line of thinking stopped as he spotted the bright lights from the hotel just a couple of yards ahead of them. Perhaps once she was safely tucked inside her room and he was able to get a good night’s sleep, he would be able to focus on something besides the shapely, beautiful woman who walked next to him.
Nick opened the door for her. The elevator ride seemed to take forever, even though her room was only on the third floor. The silence once again cloaked them in a heavy wool blanket, making Nick feel as though he were choking. He wanted to say something to Lana, but he didn’t know what. He didn’t know if he should reassure her that he knew she could take care of herself or reassure her that they would find Lucy, or both.
Finally, the shiny silver doors slid open and a rush of fresh air bathed their faces.
Lana’s room was at the end of the hallway, but it was quite evident before they even got there that she had had a visitor while she was gone.
How no one had heard the commotion and came to investigate was beyond Nick. The door to her room had been shredded—literally. Claw marks started at the top of the aluminum door all the way to the bottom. At one point, the intruder had tired of playing with the door and simply tore it from the frame and pushed it down to the floor.
The bed and chair had suffered a similar fate. Claw marks slashed the mattress and chair. Stuffing exploded out of the furniture, making the room look as though a blizzard had come through and littered the place with snow. Pillows had been cut into ribbons, the filling ripped out and thrown around the
