Chapter 10

The streets were filled with a young crowd after dark—mostly drunk—and looking for fun. My eyes occasionally looked away from the tips of my shoes to the signs we passed. While I had adjusted to my new legs, I still didn’t trust that I wouldn’t go sailing across the uneven concrete.

Justus tucked his hands in his pockets. For every two steps I made, he only took one. There was a comfort walking with him; I felt like I had a personal guard, even despite the fact he was a stranger I just met in a bar.

Another strange thing I noticed was how I didn’t have that empty feeling when I was with him.

“Why did you do that in there,” I asked combatively.

“Do?”

“Embarrass me?” As if he didn’t know .

There was a deep chuckle. “Apologies.”

Yet, no regret. I muffled a grunt and took a deep breath of the clean evening air.

“So, Miss Zoë, where are you visiting from?”

“We’re from Texas.”

He lowered his head and followed the swing of my hand, perhaps looking for a ring. When he got the answer he needed he continued. “Boyfriend?”

I played with that idea for a minute before I responded.

“Ah, no. Just a friend.”

That filled a little corner of my heart, knowing that I had a friend. Although once I got back to the hotel, that remained to be seen.

Justus looked up when a car blew past us and muttered to himself, “Friends with benefits.”

I fell back just a pace. “Now that really stung. Do you think I just sleep around? You think just because a woman has a male friend she’s automatically sleeping with him? Don’t go around making blind assumptions, because you’re probably wrong.”

He sighed, and I almost felt bad for snapping at him—except that he had almost called me a whore. It wasn’t really what he said, but the way he said it that irked me. Otherwise, a comment like that I might have brushed off with a laugh.

“Don’t you have a car, Justus?”

“I do,” he replied. He caught the look I was throwing. “It would not be suitable for me to offer. A woman should be watchful of her safety; never ride in a strange man’s car.”

“Strange man, indeed,” I mumbled.

Wow, this guy I would have never expected to get the safety lecture from. I suspected if Justus caught Smokey the Bear lighting a match, he would probably beat him down with a cane.

We sank into the shadows of the dark road as the street lamps became fewer and dimmer. A long brick wall stretched out on our right, and across the street were dark shops—closed for business. Up ahead, I heard voices and saw two men leaning up against the wall talking.

“It’s cooler here than I thought it would be.” I brushed the chill off my shoulders. “I should have worn something else.”

The heavyset man nodded at his friend in the red shirt, who hopped off the curb with an extra skip in his step. There was no reason to be concerned until the guy against the wall pushed off and began stalking toward us with dark eyes scoping my purse.

Before I could react, Justus flung his arm out in front of me so swiftly that I ran into it and gasped. He guided me protectively behind him while he positioned himself in a fighting stance. I couldn’t see anything but T-shirt.

A thick voice as sharp as a knife challenged him. “What’s up?”

Justus didn’t respond. I looked down and saw that my hands were trembling.

A cheap purse with fifteen dollars in single bills was not worth my life. I already lost it once and I had no intention of losing it again. At least, not this soon.

I stepped left for a better view. They were toe-to-toe, and Justus bested him by at least four inches.

“Here,” I said, holding my purse out. “I don’t have anything worth taking, but you can have it.”

“Is that so, honey pie?”

I snapped my head to the left and saw the second man in the red shirt closing in. He came out of nowhere and I grabbed Justus by the back of the shirt, twisting it nervously in my hands as my heart thundered.

We were in the worst possible area and completely alone. I thought about turning back and running in the opposite direction, but the man in the red shirt was too close. He also had flashy white sneakers, the kind that you couldn’t outrun in a pair of flats. I tossed my purse to his feet and the contents spilled out.

“Check out the honey,” he said, edging closer. “She’s sweet—look at her blushing. She knows what’s waiting for her.” He took a wide step over my purse and smiled wolfishly.

“Tell your pawn to back off,” Justus growled.

The man in front of him lifted his chin. “Do we have a problem here, motherfucker ?”

“Back. The. Fuck. Off. And we won’t.”

Tension: sharp as a blade, thin as a hair, and acidic on the tongue. That’s when I let go and stepped back. Heat flared off Justus like a fever and the moment I heard metal click, I jumped.

Someone had a knife.

Justus stood like a powder keg—legs in an open stance, arms hovering inches from his body, as if he were ready to combust with some ass kicking. Alarm ran up my spine, latched on, gripped tightly, and clawed with dull nails.

“Leave us alone,” I said meekly. “Just let us go.”

Red-shirt guy snatched my skirt in a tight fist—leaning forward as if he were bowing to me. The tip of his tongue swept against the corner of his mouth. He looked like a wolf on the hunt with his crooked teeth—I his prey.

“Justus,” I started to whisper.

I cried out when my skirt was yanked hard and I flew out, stumbling over my feet.

That’s when all hell broke loose.

I heard grunts from behind, shoes sliding on concrete, flesh and knuckles hitting bone—but I didn’t see a thing. I landed in his arms and when he pushed his nose in my hair, drawing in a deep breath, I shuddered. Without a thought, I punched his jaw upward and there was an audible click of his teeth cracking together.

He flashed those canines at me and scowled. “Goddammit, you stupid bitch!”

I didn’t even see his arm swing out, but he hit me in the face with a solid fist.

The concrete broke my fall, but I was by no means defeated. Livid might be a better word.

While he distracted himself by flexing his jaw, I kicked him in the shin with everything I had. At the same time there was a shout from behind and something heavy hit the ground.

I pushed myself up, ready for a fight, when he rushed at me but never made it. Justus launched himself between us and cracked the man’s nose so hard I involuntarily cringed at the deformity.

He roared out in pain, pivoting around and nearly falling over as he took off running. Justus hauled ass after him and got in a few good punches. His friend was splayed out on the ground, unconscious. There was no trace of blood.

The attacker sprinted off as if his life depended on it, becoming nothing more than a vanishing silhouette. Justus lingered in the center of the road as if he had a mind to chase him, but instead he turned back, stalking toward me with a control and confidence that was distinctly territorial.

He said nothing when he knelt down before me.

“Are you okay?” My voice was husky and out of breath.

“You first,” he mumbled, focusing in on my face with an intimate stare. His expression tightened when it settled on my throbbing cheek. The next sentence was spoken slowly, through clenched teeth.

“Had I known he hit you I would have hunted him down and snapped a few more bones.”

One minute I felt flattered by his statement, and when he spoke the next, I only felt the sting of annoyance. “You have a fearless heart; shame that you are weakened by your words.”

“Sorry if begging for my life seemed like a good idea.”

A strange sensation came over me, like poison was pumping through my veins—hot, numbing, and full of adrenaline. I licked my parched lips and searched for a calming breath. Justus reached around, touching the back of my neck, and that’s when it happened.

His touch. That touch was pulling something from me as if I had an internal magnet that was rising to the surface to meet its match. It was that power I had, that unexplainable thing living inside of me, buzzing in my fingertips. Leaning in—as close as two people could get without an exchange of lips and tongue—he tilted his head and searched my eyes.

“Look at me, Zoë.”

The smooth command of his voice lifted my eyes. A current of energy was bubbling in every nerve, snapping at the ends like a hungry dragon. Realizing that I was coming very close to that same sensation that threw a volt of electricity into Adam, I pushed him away. Justus leveled me with his eyes, pulled me close, and put his thumb on my forehead.

“Mage ,” he breathed. There was nothing sensual in his tone. In fact, his lips curled as if he were staring at the enemy.

My lips parted, confused by his statement. Mage? Maybe this guy was crazy, after all.

Justus gripped my arm and shook it—he was angry. Angry? I just got clocked in the face in the middle of the street by a man wearing hubcaps on his teeth, and he had the nerve to be angry with me?

“Why did you conceal from me?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t have a weapon.” I huffed, pulling from his grip, but he did not let go.

“Tell me why you concealed, Mage!”

“Don’t touch me, let go of me!” I pushed my hand against his chest, but it merely absorbed my efforts.

Tires screeching in the street pulled my attention away. A door swung open from a beat-up Land Rover and I was so relieved to see Adam. That is until I saw the violence in his eyes.

Adam didn’t just walk over, he charged. With alarming speed he ran at Justus, armed to the teeth with fists and fury and a big knuckle sandwich.

“Wait! Razor, no!” I leapt up and crashed into him—but he was an unstoppable force and I wasn’t strong enough. I never really tried to control a hurricane, but hell, it was worth a shot.

Justus was still crouched over when he pivoted his head around to look at Adam. His eyes were blazing with anticipation as he rose to his feet. “You must be the friend .” He didn’t have to say it like that—teasingly—but it was laced with all kinds of insinuations.

“Razor, it’s not what you think. Look at me!” My legs anchored to the concrete, pushing him with all the strength I had.

“So you’re the kind who hides behind a woman?”

“Shut up!” I screamed at Justus, putting more of my shoulder against Adam.

Adam looked past me as if I weren’t even there. “Who the fuck are you? No one puts their hands on Zoë, feel me?”

“No, I’m not feeling you. And neither is she, from what I understand.”

Adam lunged and spit out a profanity when I fell off balance and hurtled toward the cement. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my arm out when I was caught.

It was Justus.

“How the hell did you just do that?” Adam said with his jaw nearly unhinged. I looked up and knew exactly what he meant. Justus was at least ten feet from where we were standing; there was no way he could have caught me that fast.

Shock wore off Adam long enough for him to pull me into his arms and give Justus a hard shove. “You okay?”

“Too late for a hero, Adam. Can you calm down?” I wriggled free, deciding not to be anyone’s claim.

Justus looked between us. “We need to talk.”