In Hawke's Eyes (6 page)

“Right here, Mom,” her daughter called from the window next to the front door. “Look, it’s a lion. Isn’t it cool? Uncle Toron went out to talk to him.”

Stephanie strode up behind her daughter. “Uncle Toron? Talk to him? Are you serious?”

Hawke strode to the door and opened it. “You two stay here,” he instructed.

Stephanie frowned. “Like I was going to volunteer to help? No thanks.”

She cocooned Meechi in her arms while staring out the window. A crowd had gathered, among them Toron, from his bearing, and Hawke, by his build and height. The animal stood in the middle of the people, pacing as if it felt caged. She couldn’t figure out how none of them seemed afraid.

While Toron’s voice didn’t reach her from where she stood, she was pretty sure he spoke to the lion. He extended a hand, and the tone of his voice grew sharp. Several people wavered, and quite a few fell to their knees.

“What the hell?” Stephanie muttered. What kind of voodoo did he have that people seemed to fall under its power? She didn’t feel a thing, and Meechi bounced with excitement at the scene. In the next instant, Stephanie pressed her nose to the glass and shook from head to toe.

“Meechi,” she whispered and swallowed several times to wet her throat. “What just happened? It’s not clear, but maybe my mind is making up crazy scenarios that are scaring the crap out of me.”

“Mommie,” her daughter said in awe, enough to forget she had taken up calling Stephanie Mom now. “That lion just turned into a man!”

Stephanie clutched Meechi’s hand and dragged her away from the window. She kept backing up until she hit the wall. She stuttered trying to put together words. What did they need to do? Pack, yes, pack and get out of there. She turned toward the stairs, but the front door opened. She froze, still holding onto Meechi. Pain ripped through her chest as the level of fear rose. The thought of the lion turned man attacking them rooted her to the spot.

“Stephanie.” Hawke’s voice this time held no comfort. He’d lied. He knew he’d lied when he brought them here.

“You said the people are different and that they would take care of us. You grew up here, and you knew. That’s what you were hiding.” She turned slowly to face him, her anger replacing the fear. “Are they all like that? Even Toron and Sienna? What are they, some kind of freaky experiments?”

“Go upstairs and calm down.”

She glared at him. “Excuse me? You don’t tell me what to do, Hawke.”

“I said go upstairs until I come and get you, Stephanie. Take Meechi with you.” She didn’t move. “Now!”

She jumped, pressed her lips together, and turned around. Trembling, she climbed the steps and kept hold of Meechi’s hand. When they were in her room, she locked the door and sat on her bed. Meechi went to the window.

“Move away from there,” Stephanie told her.

“Mom, it’s cool. Don’t you think it would be awesome to change into a lion?”

“Not really, no. We might not be safe here. I think I should start packing.” Tremors passing through Stephanie’s hands made it hard to fold her clothes and put them away in her suitcase, but she kept moving. Sitting still might send her over the edge and have her on the floor screaming her head off. She felt like the
Twilight Zone
had taken over her world, and try as she might, getting out of it wasn’t an option.

By the time her things were put away, her heart had slowed down and the shaking in her fingers subsided. She sat in the chair near the window but didn’t look out. Even thinking she saw something she didn’t want to see would set her off again. Meechi wandered from the curtains to the small stacks of books on the shelf and sorted through them.

“Those probably aren’t children’s books, Meechi,” Stephanie told her.

Meechi opened one and began to read, her hand tucked beneath her chin. Her daughter was a good girl. A bratty child would have complained about being locked away in the bedroom like they were, but Meechi dealt with it the way she did everything, with calm acceptance and her nose stuck between the pages she loved so much. Stephanie should make her tell what book she read, but she’d been aware for a while, Meechi had grown beyond reading material for her own age group. She sighed. A lot had passed out of her control over the last few years. This situation was one more thing, but what would she do? Going back to New York right now was out of the question. No other school anywhere in the country would probably keep the fact that they needed to hide out. Accessing Meechi’s bank account would be a dead giveaway.

Then again, did they have to hide at all? Michael snatched Meechi with some trumped up story of how he was just protecting her from other bad guys. That could all be a lie. She had never been attacked before or run into any trouble. In fact over the years, the only harassment had come from her husband’s family in the form of Melanie, and now Michael. The police arrested him, and she could get a restraining order on the man. They should be able to go back to their regular lives without issue.

Stephanie dug her cell phone out and turned it on. Hawke had advised her not to use it so she wouldn’t be tracked. She waited for it to power up and then noticed the number of voicemails and text messages from her neighbor, Patsy, the woman who sometimes watched Meechi when Stephanie went out.

Stephanie checked the first message. “Hey, Steph, honey, are you still out of town with your new boyfriend? I hope it’s going great. You deserve it. Just checking in. Call me.” She skipped to the next message. “Hey, Steph, I thought I heard a noise at your place. I’m calling the cops. I’ll keep you updated.” The next message set Stephanie’s teeth on edge, and the fear came back with a vengeance. “They trashed your place, Stephanie. Don’t come home. The police seem to think they were looking for clues to where you are. You should call the NYPD. Oh goodness, please be okay. Call me, honey. Let me know you’re all right.”

A knock sounded at the door, and she jumped.

“Stephanie, please, let me in.”

She stared at the door, her fingers wrapped around her phone, squeezing so tight they ached, but she couldn’t make herself relax. Meechi stood up, and Stephanie directed her gaze to her daughter but said nothing.

“Want me to get it, Mom?”

“Yes… No… I…” She put a hand to her head. A migraine pounded there, making it hard to think. The doorknob rattled, and she let out a small squeak when it turned and the door opened. Hawke stood there. He must have gotten a key from Toron.

He walked over to her and knelt down to take the cell phone from her hands. After powering it off, he set it aside. “Sienna, can you take Meechi downstairs for a little while?”

“Sure.”

Stephanie hadn’t realized the woman stood in the doorway.

“No!” She clenched her hands in her lap. “I want her where I can see her, and I don’t… Frankly, I don’t trust anybody.”

“I understand,” Sienna said, but Stephanie heard the hurt feelings in her tone.

Hawke touched her leg, and she jerked away. He didn’t try again. “Do you want to talk about this in front of her?”

“Well, she can stay in here, and we can talk in the hall.” She stood up, head held high and back stiff to march out the door. “Meechi, wait in this room. I’m just going to be outside the door.”

“Okay, Mom.” Even her daughter sounded like she was at the point of tolerating Stephanie’s crazy.
I’m not the nutty one here. I don’t think. I
hope
not.

They walked out into the hall, and Stephanie shut the door behind her. She stood against it, folding her arms over her chest. She didn’t want to tell him but figured it was the best move, especially since she had no idea what her next step should be. “Someone broke into my apartment.”

Her voice cracked on the last word, and she put a hand to her mouth. Moisture gathered in her eyes, but she blinked it away. Hawke came closer, and she tried warding him off, but he forced her into his arms. Stephanie clutched at his shirtfront, drawing in deep breaths.

“My neighbor said the police believe they were looking for clues to where we went. I don’t know if we left any or not. Why are they doing this to us? Everything was fine until that idiot ran his mouth. What am I going to do? I’ve been racking my brain, but all it does is hurt more. I can’t even go to my eye appointments.”

“Stephanie, easy, baby.” The tenderness went a long way to soothing her frayed nerves. He raised her chin. “First, I’m sorry for how I spoke to you earlier.”

“I understand why you did it.” She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m still mad at you, and I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“That’s okay for now. Toron has a doctor here who can look at you and give you your treatments. I asked him about it this morning.”

She gasped. “You thought of that?”

“Yes. Also, I’m going back to New York tomorrow morning to begin my investigation.”

Her hands spasmed where they held him. “So soon?”

He nodded. “I know you’re scared, but I need you to stay here. Please try to trust me. No one here will hurt you. Yes, they’re shape-shifters. They were born that way. There are a lot more things in this world than you as a human can imagine, but think of Sienna. Think of how well the two of you connected. She’s still the same woman you became friends with.”

“What you say makes sense.” She chewed her lip. “Can I think about it tonight and let you know what I will do in the morning?”

He seemed about to say something but let it go and dropped a featherlight kiss on her forehead. “Of course. Why don’t you lie down and get some rest? I’ll have Sienna send up tea and pain meds for you.”

Stephanie wasn’t in any shape to argue. She nodded and went back to her room. When she had more energy and had thought things through, they could talk again. Hawke might have kept the truth from her of what Toron’s people were, but she knew it wasn’t to hurt her or Meechi. With rest and a little time she could make level-headed decisions, and that might include never seeing him again.

Chapter Six

The room lay in darkness when Stephanie awoke. She had allowed Meechi to leave the room earlier but forbade her to go outside. Stephanie pulled her shoes on and put her face close to the clock on the nightstand. The time read after midnight. She hurried across to the door leading to Meechi’s room and passed through it. A lamp hadn’t been turned off, so she picked out the small lump on the bed as her daughter, and the closer she moved to her, she heard the soft breathing. She sighed in relief. After removing the book Meechi clutched from her fingers and placing it on the nightstand, Stephanie kissed her baby and twisted the light switch. She checked the lock on Meechi’s door, although a lock hadn’t kept Hawke from her room earlier.

Back in her room, Stephanie paused. After sleeping so long, she wasn’t tired. A desire to see Hawke came over her. After all, he would be gone tomorrow, and there was no telling when he would return. If she decided to leave, it would be without his knowledge, and he wouldn’t know where she had gone. Spending time with him for one night might not be such a bad idea.

She left her room and crossed the hall to his. A light knock brought no answer, so she tried the knob and found the door unlocked. Sucking in a deep breath, she walked in. His bed lay empty. Disappointment descended over Stephanie until she heard the shower running. She waited, unsure of whether to go or stay. If he didn’t expect guests, he might come out of the bathroom naked. She hadn’t come with an eye toward sex with him. Had she?
Who am I lying to here?

Hawke might reject her again and tell her to go back to her room. She might look like an idiot when he fed her some line about it not being the right time or whatever. Still, she crept farther into the room and fingered the buttons on her top. His bed lay just a few feet away, the bath to the right. He’d shut the door, but not all the way for it to latch. Through the gap, she caught a shadow of movement, and his male scent wafted on the air.

Her heart hammered, and her throat dried. She swallowed. If she didn’t go through with it now, she might regret it later. Squaring her shoulders, she began unbuttoning her blouse and then pushed it over her shoulders. Her breasts hid behind a lacy pink bra, her favorite color. He might have been able to tell her no before, but he wouldn’t with her naked.

Jeans pooled at her feet, she stepped out of them and kicked them to the side. She removed her bra, panties, and socks. How cliché was she to climb into his bed and slip under the covers? Rather than that, she positioned herself on top and struck a couple of poses. An anxious giggle escaped her.
I really have lost my marbles trying to seduce a man with so much going wrong in my life.

The scent of alcohol reached her, and she realized Hawke had brought a nightcap to his room. To fortify her nerves, she took a big sip and set the glass aside. Blowing out a breath, she waited.

Heat and steam billowed from the bath when Hawke opened the door. He stepped from the interior without a towel and turned his head toward her. She didn’t think he started in surprise at all.

“You knew I was here?” Disappointment crept into her tone.

“Are you here to seduce me?”

She noticed he didn’t answer her query, but since they were on a roll with the questions, she threw out another. “Is it working?”

“A luscious woman with smooth caramel skin I already know to be as sweet as candy and heavy, sexy breasts all bared for me—what do you think? I can’t say no to you again, Stephanie. Not with you like this. You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure.”

He crossed the room to her and snaked a finger over her belly. He paused at the valley between her breasts and just teased the swell of one as if he dared not venture toward her nipple. Without the least bit of warning, he thrust his hands beneath her and raised her off the bed. He buried his face between her thighs and kissed her pussy full on. Stephanie gasped and moaned. She didn’t realize she was so wet until Hawke’s tongue bathed her from the top of her folds to the bottom and moaned from the discovery.

“You taste so good. I’ve wanted this from the moment I saw you. I wanted to eat your pussy when I fingered you.”