Selene had never been so humiliated in her life. Even as an outcast in the fae world she’d never been degraded to scrubbing toilets. She swished a brush around the bowl, giving as much effort to cleaning it as she was to twirling her fingers through her hair.
Why had Mason left her here? Why hadn’t he just explained who she was and taken her with him? All these years, she’d missed him more than anything. More than milkshakes, more than burgers, even more than Oreos. No one knew her the way he did.
Instead, she was reduced to scrubbing a bowl that was already as sanitary as the plates they ate off. She flushed down the bleach and blue water, tapped the wet brush on the side of the bowl, and stuck it in the bucket of cleaning supplies Neeman had brought her that evening.
Selene growled at the thought of him. All of her memories had returned from the previous evening. A good day’s rest and a hearty meal had been just what her mind needed to recover and what her spirit needed to recharge her magical stores.
In the club she’d been sure she’d felt Neeman’s desire as she pressed up against him, but he’d shown no more interest in her in the past eighteen hours than she had to the old man whose money she’d stolen. Even so, something about him attracted her. Maybe it was his tight, hard body, so different from the fae males. Maybe it was his icy stare, which seemed to look right through her.
Most likely was the fact she hadn’t been with a real male since she’d left America after the outbreak. Not that she hadn’t wanted a man, but she liked her men hard bodied and dripping with sweat. Not soft skinned and naïve like the fae.
There had been one fae. One who had lived on the Earth plane for years at a time, travelling between the realms before the rift had been shut.
Alone with him in his home, she’d seen his malevolent nature. His bed had been one of pleasure, but only for him, and once she’d rejected his proposal of marriage, she’d been labeled an outcast. That was when things had gotten hard and the torture had started.
Thoughts of Neeman ran through Selene’s mind and she found herself heating into a frenzy of desire. Her body throbbed with need. Stop it. Stop right now.
The last thing she needed was to be horny, cleaning toilets, covered in chemicals, in a compound full of men she couldn’t have.
* * * *
Selene walked out of the all-white bathroom and into the small bedroom. The room was furnished the same as the one she stayed in, but it had been personalized. She stepped up to the desk in the corner and ran her fingers over a small electronic device she’d never seen before. The white rectangle with the apple on the back was no bigger than a pack of cigarettes.
Next to it sat a similar device, only more slender and the size of a magazine. She set the first device down and pried open another device. Inside was a keyboard with all different letters on it and what looked like a flat television screen. A door closed down the hall, making her jump. She stepped away from the desk and grabbed her cleaning bucket. She peered into the hallway. There was no one there. She closed the door and walked past several rooms, heading for the end.
In the Tracking Squad’s wing of the compound, room after room lined the long hall, like her college dorm, only cleaner and silent as a meadow.
Neeman had told her to clean all the bathrooms on this floor. Each room had its own bathroom. But after seeing how clean the first few were, she decided to skip to the last. No one would notice if she didn’t do them all.
At the end of the hallway, she pushed the last door open and stepped in. The room looked exactly like hers, completely bare.
White bed, white desk, white rug, white walls. For a moment, she almost closed the door and left, but something caught her eye. The closet was ajar and clothing peeked out. Setting down her cleaning supplies, she walked to the closet and opened it.
Neeman’s scent floated out to meet her. She ran her fingers over the black t-shirts hung neatly and pressed into crisp submission. Black cargo pants also hung in the same manner. Below them, three pairs of highly polished boots stood at attention.
She laughed and shook her head. She’d rarely seen such order.
Bending, she picked up one of the boots. The bottom had not a spot on it.
She set the boot back and a large wooden box pulled her attention. She sat on the floor and removed the box from the closet. The top was carved like a mighty willow tree with thousands of tiny branches all reaching toward the ground. The sides were inlaid with woods of every color and set in a pattern that resembled bamboo. The front sported a large combination lock. Strange, since anyone who wanted into the box could simply break the wood.
“Open it.”
Selene glanced at the open door and then laid her hand on the lock and whispered “Recludo.”
The lock spun and then clicked open. She removed it and lifted the lid to the box.
Inside, as neat at the rest of the room, lay a stack of photographs, an ornate goblet, a knife, and a lock of hair. She lifted the photographs and thumbed through them. They were photos of Neeman and other people. He was younger in the photos, happy and carefree. In some, his hair was long, in others, a bit shorter than it was now. The photos were black and white and faded or scratched. There were photos of him at the beach, surfing. Photos in the mountains, skiing. One of him skydiving, another climbing a mountain. And in every happy photograph, he was still human.
“What are you doing?”
The deep voice startled her. She turned, dropping the photos into the box and closing the lid.
Neeman stared at her, his gaze intense. He took several steps toward her. She clipped the lock on the box.
When he reached the corner of the bed, his eyes widened. He moved to her in one stride and pulled her to her feet. The box clattered to the plush rug.
“Hey!” She tried to wiggle free.
“I asked what the hell you think you’re doing in my closet with my things.”
A trickle of fear skittered over her and Selene rubbed her fingertips together. She took a deep breath, and sucked in his fresh, manly, ever so enticing scent.
“It’s your own fault. You’re the one who put me on toilet duty. And I haven’t been on this plane for so long I wanted to know what’s happened since I left.”
“You have no right to go through my things.” He bared his teeth.
Selene swallowed and kept up her nonchalant facade, though she wanted to run from his anger.
“So sue me. I never said I wouldn’t snoop.” She wrenched her arm free and crossed it over her chest. “You don’t like it, give me something else to do.”
Neeman stared at her hard for a minute, his fists clenching and unclenching. Finally, he blew out a large breath and turned from her, running his fingers through his hair.
His shoulders were broad and slimmed to a tapered waist and tight buttocks. She couldn’t help but stare at the round firmness beneath his pants. A flutter stirred in her stomach. What she wouldn’t give to be able to grab onto his firm backside as he— The room compressed around her like a vise, gripping her tight and overheating her body.
She coughed, and fanned herself, trying to get her thoughts under control. It had been a long time since she’d been with a man, but she needed to keep her wits about her. Her mother had been right in being concerned the draw of this plane might sidetrack her. And Neeman was definitely a distraction.
* * * *
Neeman pulled on his hair and tried to control his anger. Why had he agreed to let her stay in the compound? He had trainees to look after and demons to hunt. He had Vampires to protect and a million other things. He didn’t have time to police her.
Worst of all, she was in his room, in his closet, snooping. He spun around and retrieved the box from the floor. Inspecting it, he caught the faint scent of ozone but the lock was still intact.
He placed the box in the closet and closed the door. It was the only thing he owned that meant something to him, his past, present, and future all wrapped into a single eighteen-inch by twelve-inch by twenty-four-inch box.
She stood, arms crossed and defiant a few steps away. Her cheeks had flushed a beautiful deep shade of rose and though she tried to mask it, her arousal wafted off her and made his head spin once more.
“I don’t want you in here again.”
She shrugged. “Fine with me. One less room I’m subjected to cleaning like a common house slave.”
“You aren’t a slave. You’re a guest.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously? All your house guests clean the bathrooms?”
“They do if they want a bed and food.”
Her beautiful face twisted into a sarcastic smile and he suppressed a sudden urge to laugh.
He blew out a long breath and set his fists on his waist. “Look, Selene. I know you didn’t ask to be here, and trust me, neither did I for that matter, but this world isn’t the way it was the last time you were here.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
“What I mean is…” He tried to put into words the last several decades. “When was the last time you were here?”
“I left in the early nineties. My mother insisted we leave with the first wave of fae returning home.”
“So you didn’t see the awakening, or the outbreak, or the war?”
“We left just after the awakening.”
Neeman nodded. He remembered that time all too well. “So you never saw the vamps. You didn’t witness the human beings slaughtered in the streets. The rogues, the encampments, the destruction.”
She shook her head.
How could he put this delicately? He took a deep breath and her sweet scent hit him. “You’re here because humans are food,” he blurted. Subtle.
“I’m not human.”
“No, you’re worse. You’re fae.”
Her jaw dropped and he was pretty sure if he’d slapped her, she couldn’t look more shocked.
“Worse?”
“Yes, worse. Your scent is like Mason’s, alluring beyond a normal human. Remember the vamps? How even they were attracted to you at the bar?”
“Are you saying I’m unattractive?”
“What I’m saying is, if you’re attractive to even them, think of how you are to the rest of us. Any vampyr or Vampire you meet will have to use great restraint to stop from draining you. And there are those out there, many out there, who won’t use restraint. They don’t care about you or your life. They only care about the blood.”
“It’s always been that way. That’s no different from when I was here before.” She rubbed her throat with her fingers.
“True. But what is different is now there are only a tenth of the humans left for them to feed on. In a starving world, people don’t curb their appetites as well.”
They stared at each other for a minute as she processed the information. He tried not to see her beauty, to feel the urge to kiss her, to run his fingers through her silky hair.
“I can take care of myself,” she finally said.
“I’m sure you think you can.” He nodded. “But not in this world. Not now. As much as you don’t want to be in this compound, you need to be. Out there you wouldn’t last a week.”
“I’d be—”
“There’s no hotel that would take you. Why? You look human and you need a master to go in. There’s no restaurant that’ll serve you without a collar or a bracelet monitor. Why? Because you look human and you need a master. There’s no store you could go into, on your own, to buy supplies without someone calling me to let me know that there’s a lone human out in the city. Why?”
“I get it! Because I look human.” She huffed. “I got into the bar though, didn’t I?”
“You did. You got into the bar. But trust me, you were seen well before that. When I got back here last night, I had over two dozen messages on my phone about you, running through the streets, darting into a locked high-rise apartment building. The only reason I didn’t get the messages earlier was because I was in a meeting and my phone was off. But my men got calls as well and they went out searching for you. You’ve been quite a hassle in the last two days.”
“Yeah, well I would’ve been fine without you, thank you very much.”
“You were lucky. Extremely lucky, because I know for a fact at least half a dozen vamps tried to run you down to cash you in. The slaver they called was a man named Roth, who happens to be my old boss and a good friend. He got in touch with me as well before heading up here to find you. Do you know what would’ve happened if Roth or his men had caught you? You’d have been chained, caged, and sold to the highest bidder. And a female with your looks? Well…let’s just say you wouldn’t be cleaning toilets.”
She threw her hands in the air. “Okay! Fine. I get it. I’m lucky you found me and lucky to be here. Blah…blah…blah. Thank you so much, your highness, for letting me clean your commodes!”
Neeman sighed. She didn’t get it. He stared at her. Really looked at her. With her fine cheekbones and almond shaped eyes, she held the air of…royalty.
Maybe that was it.
“What did you do when you were here before?” he asked.
“What?”
“When you were here before. What did you do? For work.”
“I didn’t work.” She looked at him as if he were crazy. “I went to school and studied art. Then I went to school and studied music. Next I went to school and studied history. And finally—”
“All you did was go to college?”
“All? What do you mean ‘all’? Isn’t that what people do here? Go to college and learn stuff?”
“Yes. And then they move on and get a job.”
“Not fae. The fae were here to learn about the human culture. My mother said my job was to go to school. Even though she hadn’t been to her plane in over a hundred years, she was very steeped in the traditions of her people.”
“So how did you pay for anything?”
She glanced away. “Mother got us everything we needed.”
“What do you mean ‘got’?”
She stared at the wall and didn’t answer. He watched the emotions play over her features. Her body posture tensed. She bit the inside of her cheek.
It explained a lot. Spoiled rich girl who spent her life studying and getting what she wanted without ever having to work for it. But for some reason, the look on her face… He felt for her. Though she was spoiled and high and mighty, she hid the pain she’d been through. Compassion brewed inside him.
“Look.” He gentled his voice. “I’ve explained to you why you can’t go near the other trackers. It’s like putting an irresistible buffet in front of them. They have been taught to control their wants and desires, but you are a whole different ballgame.”
Her gaze met his and a slight smile played on her lips. She dropped her hands and cocked her hip to one side.
“I’m a buffet then?”
The sensuality she exuded made Neeman swallow hard. How did she do that? She went from spoiled rich girl to sexy siren within seconds. Her scent wafted toward him, making his fangs ache. He clenched his jaw and let his fangs press into his lower gums.
She stepped closer, her lithe body making graceful motions. She trailed her fingers lightly over her collarbone as she moved.
Neeman held still as she drew closer to him until she was only inches away.
“You know, Neeman. I feel so alone in this new world. And you’re right. It is different out there. I can’t just go out like I used to and do anything I want. I need help. I need protection.”
She reached up and laid her palm on his chest. She was so close her scent surrounded him, making him want to taste her. Her bright eyes pleaded with him. She licked her bottom lip.
“Can you help me, loverboy? Will you keep me safe?”
Yes!
She lifted up on her tiptoes and leaned in close. His body tensed with need. Her petal-soft lips caressed his. He wanted to throw his arms around her and crush her body into his, but instead he took a step back.
Her eyes flew open and flashed with anger. “What?” she demanded.
“I know what you’re doing and your tricks won’t work on me.”
She grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well could you at least get me something to eat then? I’m starving.”