Page 40 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

Karsten gave her a smile. “You’ll know when you meet her. She’s a force of nature, that one.”

Jane ran through everything that had passed between her and Logan, but she couldn’t recall him ever having mentioned an Adele.

They headed back to wardrobe, though Loki kept straining at his leash, due in no small part to Karsten, who kept encouraging him to play which only caused him to grow overexcited. When she was at risk of having her hand pulled off, Jane picked him up. He squirmed, not completely happy about being restrained, though that didn’t stop his tongue from working over her face.

“He adores you, how long have you been looking after him?”

“Oh, not that long.”

She fell silent, not sure what else she could or should say about the matter.

A few feet from the room, Loki must have caught Logan’s scent as he perked up and alerted.

A whimper of excitement left his lips as he tried to escape her arms. He was such a ball of energy that she couldn’t hold on to him any longer. He kicked off her chest, tumbled through the air and landed on his feet and ran into the room, yipping a mile a minute.

Jane tore after him.

Inside, Loki was running around as fast as he could, dragging his leash on the floor while Helena and one of her assistants, a girl in her twenties, snatched up the end of several costumes that were hanging over a long table.

“The scissors! Watch out!” Helena gestured at a pair of wickedly sharp scissors that were balanced precariously close to the edge of the table.

Not understanding the danger, Loki charged for that same corner.

The girl — Eden — tried her best to get to the scissors before him, but she was no match for the tiny dog. He was like a rocket, barreling full speed toward that table. When he crashed into it, the scissors flew off and up, windmilling in the air toward the dog with unnerving aim.

Jane could only watch in horror until, quick as a flash, a figure darted across the room and snatched up the dog just as the scissors impaled the space where both had been only a moment before.

The man — Logan — glanced toward her, looking equally stunned.

“That was too close for comfort,” he said as a flash bulb burst in his face followed by a stream of clicks. The photographer, Karsten, had caught the entire thing on camera.

“That was amazing!” Karsten exclaimed with barely concealed excitement. “The action star saves the day!”

“No no,” Helena exclaimed, moving toward Logan waving her arms outs. “Put the dog down! No fur on the clothes!”

Logan set Loki down, but Jane caught the flash of annoyance he sent her way. She only had one job to do, yet she had failed spectacularly. A voice sounded inside her head — a male voice — filled with a red-hot rage that raised the hackles on her neck.

The voice, which she couldn’t place, lamented her use to the world, causing a wave of shame to wash over her. It was gone in an instant, leaving her confused and a little shaken.

Someone was talking to her.

Another man… Logan.

As he approached, she saw him in his costume for the first time. His hair had been slicked back and gleamed from the wet-looking gel that had been applied to his head.

His face held a layer of make-up, nothing too overt, but enough that she could see the difference from his natural appearance. He was dressed all in black in an impeccably tailored suit.

He looked incredibly handsome, his rugged good looks and toned body shown off to perfection in the suit which must have been the cause of her suddenly sped-up heartbeat. She could feel her pulse racing, her heart thumping in her chest like a drum.

Logan was still saying something to her, but she couldn’t hear him above the sound of her own heartbeat.

There was a rush through her head that made her light-headed. The room began to sway. Her vision seemed to grow darker around the edges until all that was left was Logan. And even then, his face seemed to be fading with the rest of the room until there was only an outline of him.

But that suit…

That suit remained clear as crystal.

Her breath started coming, faster and faster until she was gasping for breath. She couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t she breathe?

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