I had to admit, after surviving an avalanche, enduring a long flight, taking a romp through a cemetery, and getting into a fight at a library, I was utterly exhausted.
I sat on the bed in our hotel room and toweled my freshly washed hair. The news was on, but I was only halfway watching it. My mind was wandering uneasily toward what we would find at Alastor Glenhaven’s place.
Please don’t let this fae be dead and the relic stolen.
I had wanted to go there straight away, but Kael insisted we wait until morning. The man wouldn’t open his gates to us at night, and besides, we had needed the rest. I’d been so tired, I hadn’t put up much of an argument.
The bathroom door squeaked, and I turned to find Kael exiting in a billow of steam. All he had on was a towel tucked tightly around his bottom half. His hair still dripped, and sent beads of water rolling down his sculpted chest.
I swallowed, then berated myself. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen him naked numerous times, and this certainly wouldn’t be the last. I gazed back at the T.V. and told myself it wasn’t just for a distraction.
Kael rifled through his bag for some clothes, and I reached for the remote, then froze. A story came up that had me scooting to the edge of the bed. I turned up the volume.
“…and her team have been on an archeological dig in this remote part of India.” The news reporter pointed to a highlighted section of a map. “Yesterday, the team emerged with a brand new relic, the likes of which has not been seen before.”
A photo popped up of a disc the color of coffee grounds, but runes were etched in the surface in stark white. I squinted to try to decipher them, but then they flipped to an image of my team.
Sarah, who was apparently the head of the expedition, had her arms around my other colleagues and was grinning widely. The report continued to say the relic would be taken back to the university for examination to further attempt to uncover its history.
A mixture of jealousy and excitement for my friends hit me, but also a confusing sense of dread. I didn’t know why I felt them finding that disc was bad news, but I couldn’t shake it. Perhaps I should call Sarah and warn her.
I shook my head, wet strands of hair falling into my face. I pushed them back behind my ear impatiently. I was being silly. Not every hidden and long forgotten item in this earth was magical. If I kept this up, I’d start looking at things like toasters and umbrellas with scrutiny.
“Is something bothering you?” Kael asked.
The man was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination. It was an effort to lift my gaze to his face.
“I’m not sure,” I said honestly. “It’s probably nothing.”
Kael stepped closer, and I wished he wouldn’t because he was distracting my already frenzied thoughts. “Livvie, if there is something bothering you, tell me.”
There was a sudden knock on the door. “That would be our pizza.” I hopped off the bed and hurried past Kael. “Put some pants on,” I hissed at him.
My partner grinned as if he knew it had been bothering me. I scowled and opened the door a bit more roughly than I’d meant. The teenager on the other side looked startled to find an angry woman scowling at him.
I cleared my throat and smoothed my features. “Sorry,” I said. My stomach growled at the scents of sauce, cheese, and Italian seasonings wafted to me. I handed him a wad of cash. “Keep the change.”
The youth hurried off, and I shut the door.
“Finally,” Kael said. “I’m starving.”
Despite his smirk, he had put on a pair of lounge-type pants, similar to the ones I was wearing, loose and plaid.
I sat on the bed as he reached for the box on the top. I smacked his hand. “Ladies first.”
We didn’t have plates, so we sat there trying not to drip sauce on the coverlet while moaning about the deliciousness of the pizza. I’d only managed to get down four slices, but Kael didn’t put the boxes on the nearby table until he’d eaten eight.
A large yawn cracked my jaw, and I peered longingly at the pillow behind me.
“We’d better get a couple hours of sleep while we can. We’ll head out to Alastor’s place in a few hours.”
Kael stood and grabbed the other pillow from the bed, then headed toward a chair settled in the corner by the window.
“You know you won’t get any rest if you try to sleep in a chair,” I said.
“I’m not going to make you sleep in the chair.”
I laughed. “I meant, you can share the bed with me.”
It wasn’t as if it were the first time we’d slept beside each other. The memory of me sleeping in his arms on a chilly night in the Scottish highlands came to mind.
Kael didn’t move from where he stood by the chair. “You don’t mind?”
“Why would I?” Of course, my tired voice chose that exact moment to break. I hurried to shimmy under the cover.
The shifter climbed in next to me. I kicked my feet to dislodge the sheet and blanket where it was tucked in tightly under the edge of the mattress.
“Why are you abusing the bed?”
“Just because I unearth mummies doesn’t mean I want to sleep like one,” I said.
Kael chuckled. “Goodnight, Livvie.”
“Goodnight, Kael.” I rolled over, and tried my best to ignore the man mere inches from me.
Kael may be a jaguar shifter, but he snored like a grizzly bear in the midst of hibernation. I contemplated smothering him with my pillow for what was probably an unhealthy amount of time before I resigned myself to not being able to sleep. Instead, I let my mind wander to thoughts of magic and mages.
My partner made a particularly loud snort, mumbled something incoherent, and then rolled over. I stilled as he draped his arm over me. His hot breath brushed evenly across the back of my neck. I thought about telling him off, but despite not wanting to get involved with him, especially while the mage was still running around, I couldn’t help but enjoy the feel of his embrace.
Suddenly, the alarm on the table next to me blared. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. Kael jerked awake and hurriedly leaned over me to turn off the alarm. He stayed in that position, hovering over me, for what seemed to be an eternity.
Why wasn’t he moving? What was he looking at?
My heartbeat picked up pace, and I really hoped he couldn’t hear it. Finally, he eased back and shook my shoulder. I blinked my eyes and did my best to look momentarily confused.
“Huh?”
He smiled at me. “Time to get up and get going.”
I made a play of groaning about how it felt as if I’d just fallen asleep and stretching my arms above my head.
“Why are you pretending you were sleeping?” he asked as he changed his pants.
“What?”
He straightened and pulled on a shift. “Come on, Livvie. I know you were awake.”
I frowned and shook my head. “I was dead asleep,” I lied. “Right in the middle of a dream.”
“Huh,” he said, clearly not buying it. He threw me a change of clothes. “Must have been having quite a dream then. Your heart was going crazy.”
“Really?” I said. I shuffled out of the covers and was thankful I was facing away from him. “I don’t remember.”
Before I headed to the bathroom to change, I glanced at Kael. He was watching me with a knowing sparkle in his eyes. Not wanting to know what he knew, I hurried inside the bathroom.
Once I was dressed and ready to go, we took a rental car to the outskirts of the city. Thankfully, the traffic was light and it didn’t take us long, especially with Kael’s crazy, frightening driving.
When we pulled up to a manor that looked like it should belong to some celebrity in Hollywood, my mouth dropped open. A massive, iron gate barred our way. Kael rolled down his window, jabbed his finger into a call button on a box, and waited.
“What is it?” a voice answered.
“My name is Kael Rivera. I’m with PITO and would like to ask you a few questions.”
There was a pause. “I am not due for an inspection for quite some time.”
“This is not an inspection. We are on a very time-sensitive mission. However, if you would like, I’d be happy to make a call to headquarters and ask if an impromptu inspection is in order.”
Wow. Kael wasn’t pulling any punches. Straight to the threat.
“Fine. But be quick about it. I have appointments to keep.”
The gates swung open, and we drove inside. We rounded a massive fountain, though no water flowed at this time of year. We exited the car, I hunched my shoulders against the stiff breeze, and the pair of us strode between the columns lining the front and to the large doors. Before Kael could raise his hand to knock, the door eased open.
A pair of gorgeous green eyes peered down at us, eyes that I knew were often filled with curiosity and wonder. Where Renathe seemed to have been born in a fancy suit, this man wore casual clothes, loose khaki pants, and an untucked shirt. He certainly didn’t look as if he belonged to this manor.
“Are you Alastor Glenhaven?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”
I stuck my hand out. “Olivia Perez. I found an article about you in a library and was wondering if I may ask you about it?”
He opened the door wider to let us in. Once inside, I could see why he would need a home so large. Antiquities, relics, maps, and trinkets covered nearly every surface. Some were similar to many of the items I had found on digs, but others, like a strange-looking object that was a cube but seemed to glow red when I was staring straight at it, were obviously magical in some way.
“Well, sit down.” Alastor waved impatiently at a few chairs not far off the entryway. He sat, too, and crossed his arms over his chest. “So, what article are you referring to?”
“The one where you donated an item, a sort of artifact, somewhere.”
The fae let out a short laugh. “Girl, I have donated hundreds of items to many different places.”
“This one is rare,” Kael said. “And likely dangerous.”
“Again, I have donated many such items.”
I was closest to Alastor, and I reached into the front of my shirt and tugged out the pair of keys. His emerald eyes grew round.
“The relic would be similar to these,” I said.
He leaned forward. “Where did you get those?”
Behind me, Kael let out a vicious snarl of warning. The fae withdrew his hand.
“Forgive me, I just hadn’t heard more had been discovered.”
“They have, and it’s quite the tale, but I’m afraid we are short on time. If you would like to hear more, I suggest you seek out a fae named Renathe.”
The man nodded slowly, clearly interested, but not quite willing to press the issue. “If you want the relic, you will need to break into a museum.”
Break into a museum?
“I’m not a thief,” I said.
He shrugged. “If you truly want it, then you will. However, I must warn you, it is heavily guarded by the supernatural. It may look like a tourist attraction for humans by day, but in reality, it holds some of the world's most deadly magical objects. That is why I donated the key in the first place. I knew there it would be better protected.”
I looked to Kael. “Could you ask your superiors for permission to take the item?”
Kael frowned. “I think the less people who know about things from here on out, the better.”
“Fine. Thievery, it is.” I turned back to Alastor. “Where exactly is this museum?”
His green eyes danced, as if he knew the answer to some joke we were missing.
My breath whooshed out of me in surprise when he told us, and suddenly, the third key seemed like it would be impossible to steal.
We would be heading to Paris, to break into the Louvre.