Page 138 of Shifting Hearts 1
Dejection covers his face, and he sighs deeply before he answers, “Then I guess, no one. We haven’t called it in yet because we first wanted to kidnap you back.”
“So, when you die here today, you will go missing without a trace and no one will know where to start looking for you?” Alejandro asks.
I look into his desperate eyes and almost feel sorry for him.
Almost.
“Yes,” the leader whispers.
His short answer warns the men at his side that the time has come. And the one on the right starts weeping.
I turn to Alejandro, pointing my thumb at the sight. “Good to know the bureau only appoints the best of the best, right?”
Alejandro snickers at my statement and takes a step closer. I step out of the way, my work done, and go to lean against the wall and hopefully out of the range of blood splatter.
He lets the men down, one at a time, before he breaks their necks. The sound of the crack that fills the air is overwhelming. To snuff out a life in a second is truly a rare gift but should take no effort for a man of Alejandro’s stature.
Each man dropping at his feet in a useless pile signifies another worthless, arrogant, self-entitled piece of trash the world is rid of.
Stepping over the bodies, he makes his way to me and stands squarely before me when he asks, “Want to tell me how you did that?”
“Not particularly. Are we going home yet? I am starving.” His eyebrows pull up at my innuendo, and I allow him to think what he wants to. For the first time in my twenty-two years, I won’t object to demanding what I want. There is something so enticing about breaking in this man before me.
And after I have claimed all of him, he will become my greatest tool in getting Alexi back safe and sound.
“I will wait for you in the office to clean up. But hurry. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
Smirking, I turn and walk out the door, never looking back.
SIX
Alejandro
She must think I’m stupid. The arrogance of this girl is infuriating.
I walk into my office to find her reading my personal documents from my drawer with her feet on my expensive oak table. I will need to get the cleaners to buff out the scuff marks her boots leave behind.
“Ready to go? I have been waiting forever.” She doesn’t remove her feet from the table until I nod.
She jumps up and picks up my jacket from the floor to thrust it into my hands. “You are going to need this if we are going to keep pretending that you are an upstanding citizen. Time to get your captive fed.”
As she waltzes out the door, I need to jog a little to catch up to her. “What makes you think you are my captive?” I open the exterior door of the building for her and blink at the sudden streak of sunlight that invades the darkness inside the warehouse.
“Well, considering that I have nothing to my name except these shorts and my cell in my back pocket, I would say I am dependent on your mercy. Wouldn’t you?”
I don’t answer. I just open the waiting SUV’s door and motion for her to get in. After giving instructions to my driver to take us home, I turn my attention back to her.
“Would you rather be back at the club where Alvarez can easily get to you?” I ask.
“Is that what you want? I mean, you have no obligation toward me. You can drop me off at the street corner, and no one would know any better. Or are you going to admit that you are intrigued by me?”
Intrigued or obsessed. It makes no difference to me. She is the only Basilisk I have come across in years.
I snicker while shaking my head, but she sees right through me.
Agreeing with her will deflect my true motivation for taking her. “The only thing I am intrigued with is your reason for saving my uncle. You had no responsibility to do something like that. And taking into consideration that it put you on Alvarez’s radar, I would say it was a foolish decision to make on your part,” I say, keeping the tremor out of my voice as I feel a strange pull toward her.
My body is reacting instinctively to her presence in this confined space, and the completely new sensation catches me off guard. I feel the visceral response to her proximity and warmth glides over the scales on my skin under my suit.
