The Protectors Christmas Box Set (sexy paranormal romances) (5 page)

“Cold,” she whispered.

“Can you hear me?” he asked again as calmly and as patiently as the first time.

She nodded. Slowly. Carefully.

“Good.”

He shrugged out of his heavy overcoat and wrapped it around her shoulders. Its heat...his heat...enveloped her. The enticing scent and heat of his coat made her want to snuggle up against Hadrian. Before she knew it, she was doing just that.

“We really need to get you off the street,” he said. “Do you think you can walk or do you need me to carry you?”

She wasn’t sure. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if she was up to answering him with more than a nod, and since he hadn’t asked a yes or no question this time a nod wouldn’t do.

She wiggled her toes. They seemed to be working.

“Walk,” she whispered. Oh good, her voice was working. “You stopped him. Thank you.”

He snarled and his eyes grew dark and dangerous. “I didn’t stop anything. I merely switched victims.”

She didn’t understand what he meant and didn’t have the strength to ask.

“Let’s get you inside,” he said.

He helped her up the steps to her apartment building. The front door, which should have been locked, opened for him with a light touch. She was still gaping at how easily he’d opened the heavy door when he hurried her inside. With his hand steadying her, they made it up the three flights of stairs to her floor where they met Karen, Holly’s neighbor, on the landing.

There must have been a dozen shopping bags hanging from Karen’s arms. She looked as if she’d bought out half the city.

“Holly!” She dropped the bags and rushed over. “What happened? My goodness, you were supposed to leave today. Are you okay? Should I call an ambulance?”

Hadrian rudely pushed by her. “She’s okay,” he said. “I’m taking care of her.”

“And who are you?” Karen demanded, her gaze narrowing. “I’ve never seen you around before. Who is he, Holly? Are you really okay? I think I need to call the police.”

Hadrian sighed deeply and turned to face Karen. “Go about your own business as if we weren’t here.” Holly felt every word vibrate within her.

Karen’s mouth dropped open. She stared at them both dumbly for a moment. Then, as if a light bulb had flickered off, she picked up her dropped shopping bags and walked over to her apartment door.

Holly had never seen Karen back down so completely. It was scary. Unnatural.

“What did you do to her?” she demanded. “Hypnosis?”

Hadrian shook his head and led Holly unerringly to her apartment door. She shouldn’t have been surprised. If he’d been stalking her, chances were he’d know her address. Much like with the front door, he opened her locked apartment door with barely a touch.

“How did you do that?” It burned her throat to talk, but she had too many questions to stay silent. “You didn’t have a key.”

Hadrian’s hold tightened. He whisked her off her feet and carried her into her apartment. The door swung closed behind him completely on its own.

“Who are you?” she asked as he sat her down on her sofa.

“I’m Hadrian Graham,” he said. He fussed with an afghan blanket she’d left slung over the back of a chair, spreading it out on top of her and tucking in the edges around her. “Remember? You just saw me a couple of hours ago? Tore out of the café as if demons were chasing you?”

“Yes, yes, I remember all that.”

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Who are you?” she asked again.

“Oh,” he said, understanding dawning, “you mean the bigger ‘who.’”

She nodded.

“I’m a wizard...of sorts.” He disappeared into the kitchen. The moment she started to get up and follow him, he called out, “Don’t you dare move, not until you regain some more of your strength.”

A few minutes later he returned carrying two cups of tea.

“A wizard?”

“Of sorts. So are you.” He handed her a warm cup. “Sip it slowly.”

The tea tasted sweet and lemony and exotic. It hadn’t come from her cabinet. She took another sip. It soothed her raw throat.

“You carry your own tea?”

“Only when I think I’ll need it.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she took another sip of the tea. It was really very tasty. She’d have to find out where to buy it. Later, of course. After the important stuff was out of the way, like who the hell he was and what he and that other man wanted with her...a rather plain kindergarten schoolteacher!

“Why do I feel so terrible?” she asked. “What did that man do to me?”

Hadrian set down the tea he’d been drinking and started to pace. “This is going to be hard for you to believe,” he said. Not a good way to start. But she waited. He seemed to be putting his thoughts together. “To be blunt, you nearly died.”

“Yeah, that’s blunt.” She swallowed some more tea. “How?”

“That thing that attacked you wasn’t a man. It’s a soul eater. And it was feeding off you or rather your soul.” She remembered the ragged man saying something about her being tasty. “It was literally tearing your soul from your body and devouring it. You feel battered and sore because it had nearly succeeded. Your soul will heal from this, but it will take time. And your body will hurt like hell until it does.” He gestured toward the tea she was sipping. “It’ll help.”

“Supposing I believe you, which I’m not saying I do, what would have happened if it had gotten hold of my soul?”

“You’d be dead,” he answered a little too quickly.

“And my soul? What would have happened to it?”

Hadrian started to say something but hesitated.

“I want to know,” Holly assured him.

“Very well. If it had eaten your soul, it would have killed your spirit. The essence that lives on after our body dies would be gone. Obliterated.”

“A fate worse than death?”

“Exactly,” he agreed.

“What could do something like that?”

“An ancient creature. Something that is as old as time. A kind of demon. It’s called a soul eater. The creature had been vanquished from this world over two millennia ago. Sent to a limbo world where it slept. But times have changed. The world is a noisy place. Wars and corruption have clamored for too long. The anger and hatred in the world has awakened the creature and guided it back to this place and time.”

“And he’s hungry. I remember him saying how very hungry he was. I thought he was a homeless man. He looked weak. Shaky.”

“Really? Weak? It’s fed for the past three days. It should be near full strength.”

Holly shook her head. “No, he was desperate. Starving.”

“Hmmm...”

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

Despite the questions and confusion pouring through her head, Holly closed her eyes for just a moment. She was so tired. So needed to rest...for just a moment.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she woke up. Hadrian was shaking her shoulder.

“I’ve got to leave.” He looked worried.

She rolled over on the sofa. “Will you be coming back?” she asked with a wide, jaw-cracking yawn. Her heavy eyelids were sliding closed again.

“No,” he said. “And I’m not leaving you behind.”

He barely gave her enough time to brush her teeth, comb her hair, and check the dark bruises on her cheeks and temples before rushing her out the door.

He drove her to a small apartment complex not far from her apartment building. Though the sun wasn’t yet up, the complex was softly lit with an array of landscape lighting. It was an upscale place. The line of police cars in the parking lot with their red and blue lights flashing looked sorely out of place.

“Stick by me,” Hadrian said as he helped her out the car. She was still drowsy and stiff and felt as if she could sleep for a week.

He led her to the center of the activity near the fenced-off hot tubs. Hadrian didn’t pay attention to the yellow tape. He crossed it and passed the policemen as if he—and Holly—belonged there. No one stopped him.

A tarp covered what could only be a body sprawled out in the bushes.

She felt Hadrian close down as he stared down at the covered form. A muscle in his jaw ticked.

“I expected you earlier.” She recognized Detective Newton right away. “You were right, of course. Another body. And the press are on their way.”

“Don’t tell them anything.” Hadrian knelt down and pulled back the tarp.

Holly gasped. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth. She recognized the dead man. He’d been in the café the other day.

“Justin Davies,” Hadrian said. He glanced up at Newton. “He’s one of ours.”

“His soul?” Holly whispered the question. “Did the same thing that had attacked me get to him?”

Newton snapped to attention like a birddog. “You saw the monster who’s been doing this? You actually saw him?” He grabbed Holly’s arm, took a good look at her, and frowned. “Why do I know you?”

“We spoke last night about”—she flashed a guilty glance at Hadrian—“about him.”

“Right,” Newton said. “You reported that he was stalking you.”

Hadrian raised a brow at that.

“Miss Post, you’ll have to come back to the station with me. I need to take your statement. Get a description of this bastard. He’s been plaguing the streets for nearly a week now.”

“Take a good look at her, Newton. Her face is bruised. Someone beat the hell out of her. None of the other victims have even a mark. It’s not the same man.”

The detective cursed. “But perhaps she could—”

“I’m taking care of the situation.” Holly felt a wave of power rolling off Hadrian. “Davies was one of ours. Call off your team. We’ll take over from here.”

Several men and women emerged from the shadows. Though a most of them were strangers, Holly recognized Jake’s long face and a few others from the café. They moved silently.

“Now see here,” Newton protested. “This is a crime scene. I can’t just let you carry the body off.”

“We’re handling this one,” Hadrian said. The team from the café carefully wrapped their friend in a silvery cloth and then lifted him from the ground.

“But—but—” Newton sputtered.

“Don’t file a report. Don’t do anything. The mayor will back me up on this.” The power rolling off Hadrian intensified to the point that Holly was even nodding in agreement and Hadrian wasn’t even speaking to her.

Newton’s shoulders fell. “I understand. But what about Miss Post? If she was attacked last night, perhaps she can help us stop the bas—”

“This will end,” Hadrian said, grimly. “One way or the other it will end.”

* * * *

Despite Hadrian’s concern that Holly might try and bolt again, he decided to bring her back to The Oblique Café. If the creature was targeting the group, it would be safer for them to stick together. Besides, he’d told her that she was a wizard and she didn’t scream or try to run away. Perhaps her powers were finally starting to wake up.

Frank Stone had called a meeting at the café. Hadrian could see through the glassed café door that the inside of the café was packed.

“The café is exactly where I expected it to be,” Holly was saying as Hadrian put his hand on the front door. “It’s exactly where it is every time you bring me here and exactly where it isn’t every time I go looking for it. Why is that?”

“Because you’re not ready to find it on your own.”

She tilted her head and considered that a moment. “And am I ready now?”

“Did you see the café before I touched the door?”

The thought about it for a moment and then frowned. “No, I didn’t. What does that mean?”

“It means you’re not ready.” He wished she was, but she wasn’t.

And if she still wasn’t ready for the magic to flare to life, he doubted she’d handle returning to the café now any better than the first two times that she’d run away as if demons from hell were chasing her. Still, letting her go back to her apartment was too dangerous. The creature had tasted her. It had formed a connection with her.

If he had to, he would use his powers against her. He’d hold her against her will. He would keep her safe from the soul eater, even if it meant forcing her to face a life that her mind wasn’t ready to face.

Better to have a broken mind than no soul.

Hadrian ran a hand over his face as he fought an urge to turn her head to his and kiss away those fears that were darkening her pretty eyes. Damn it, he’d started to have feelings for Holly Post. Strong feelings.

Feelings that could prove fatal for the both of them. Frank Stone had said several times that they needed Holly to defeat the soul eater. But how could a New One who didn’t have enough magic inside her to find the doorway to the café defeat one of the oldest creatures on Earth? Hell, the soul eater had nearly chewed her up and spit her out without a second thought. And it had defeated Justin, who had been a scary wizard with some amazing powers.

So why did Stone want Holly? Why had he insisted that Hadrian force her to accept that she was a wizard before she was ready?

Hadrian didn’t like it. And he didn’t like the way his chest tightened when he thought about sending Holly back out to face the soul eater again.

He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. I promise. I’ll protect you from anything that might want to harm you.” He’d even stand against the powerful Frank Stone if necessary.

“Thank you.” Holly rose up onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.

She might not have any magical powers, but that kiss... The heat of it nearly knocked Hadrian onto his backside. His head was still spinning as he pushed open the café door and led Holly down the rabbit hole.

As anticipated, the café was crowded. Hushed conversations were taking place in every corner. Kara was the first to notice him. She gave him a weak smile until she noticed Holly at his side. Her expression hardened, and she glared at the two of them before turning away.

Hell, there was going to be trouble on that front. Justin Davies wasn’t just powerful. He was popular. If Hadrian wasn’t careful, Holly could find herself with a bunch of enemies she didn’t deserve. It had been Hadrian’s decision to save her, even if he knew the price.

“How much does she know?” Stone came right up to the two of them and asked.