Page 14 of Midnight Serenade
I used a black fabric belt from another dress to tie a bowtie on Kazi. He huffed, but allowed it. And then, we were all ready!
We entered Polaris on level five, and I looked around me in awe. Everything was shiny in here. From the glass walls looking out over the ocean to the glass tabletops. The color scheme was a pretty pastel green with light accents of gold. Micaela and Rafe were ahead of me, deep in conversation as they followed the host to our table. I tried to follow them, but when I picked up my left foot, I realized I had somehow lost my shoe. I bent down to free it from where it had wedged between a metal rivet and the floor. How on earth had I managed to do that? I yanked, but I couldn’t... quite... get it.
Kazi tried to help, but he only got my hand slobbery and give my shoe some nice puncture marks. I gently pushed him away, grabbed the shoe, andyanked.It released suddenly, the force nearly knocking me to my butt. I watched wide-eyed as it flew across the dining room and landedsplatin someone’s parmesan ravioli. Sauceeruptedfrom the plate, spraying all directions. The women at the table shrieked; the men bellowed, and everyone stood and shoved their chairs back, knockingthem over, then stared at their table and the ceiling like it was suddenly going to start raining shoes at any moment.
I covered my mouth in horror, while tryingveryhard not to laugh, and that’s when a sexy voice said something from behind me.
“Are you causing havoc in one of my dining areas, Grace Liora?”
I looked up at him, still frozen in horror in myfree the shoecrouch, and saw that he was holding down a hand to help me up. I stood, hovering with one foot off the floor. I mean, the floor looked clean, but hundreds of feet had trampled over this very spot, probably. Whoknewwhat germs there were on the floor!
“It was an accident?” I bit my lip, continuing to watch as one woman from the table shrieked and yelled at a harried busboy. I felt awful. Who knew that my shoes could be used as deadly weapons? I turned to Sebastian. “I’m so sorry. You see, my shoe was stuck in the metal rivet on the floor, and I couldn’t get it out.”
Sebastian held out a hand, forestalling more words pouring out of my mouth. “I see. It was an accident, Grace.” He brushed a thumb against my cheek and I shivered. “Micaela here will help hold you steady. Let me get your shoe and help with the situation.”
Micaela held out an arm, and I held onto it. “I left you alone for five seconds,” she said, out of the corner of her mouth. “Does this happen often to you?”
I grimaced. “Umm, no? My problems usually come in the more human variety. Guys stalking me, that kind of thing.”
She looked thoughtful. “I have one thought and one question. The question first. Have anywomenever stalked you? And two, it’s possible you’ve been going through life on high alert until now. Which could mean new facets of your personality will come out now that you’re more relaxed.”
I blinked at my bodyguard. “Micaela, that was profound.”
She dipped her head in acknowledgement, a wry expression on her face.
“As for women stalking me? Yes, a few. The only requirement seems to be that they find me attractive and can’t resist my lure.”
“And they aren’t already madly in love with someone, or else have a strong mind. And I disagree with you aboutcan’tresist. I think they choose not to.”
I pursed my lips in thought. Huh. She might be right. “Anyway, yes, those seem to be the triggers. It’s been mostly men, though.”
She eyed me. “Bear or man?”
I laughed, instantly knowing what she meant. “Don’t hate, but man. I think I have a better-than-average chance of getting out alive. Sebastian said that there’s something mesmerizing about my musical voice, so I can just sing to them. I’m not sure that works on bears. It’s an unfair question, really. There are a lot of wonderful guys out there, and probably a lot of great bears, too.” I mean, I was stretching on that last one. I thought bears were just bears.
“Huh.”
Sebastian came back with my cleaned-up shoe and I slipped it on. He held onto my arm as we moved toward the table that Rafe and Micaela had already claimed like I was a feeble old woman, and I had to chuckle.
I wasn’t sure I could handle this level of excitement in my life.
We writers usually limited our excitement toon the page.
Chapter 6
Sebastian
Ispent the whole dinner with Grace thinking of her burgeoning superpowers. Really, the chances of her launching a shoe across an entire room and find the one table full of influencers and their husbands who’d been invited onto my cruise expressly for advertising purposes, was an astronomically infinitesimal chance. And yet...
I’d had to use my vampire mesmerism to make them forget the whole incident. Not exactly ethical, but the women had been harpies. I tried explaining that it had been an accident, and all they were interested in were their expensive clothes, and having me boot Grace off the ship at the closest port. And since that wasn’t happening, and they would not let it go, I’d had to mesmerize them a bit. Just enough to get them to forget the incident. They’d probably gone back to their cabin thinking they’d been clumsy eaters, but I didn’t care. Shallow minds equated with shallow hearts, and I’d long since stopped letting people like that get to me, or cause me a moment’s loss of sleep.
The two men from earlier who had actually laid hands on Gracehadbeen kicked off my ship. We had a small helicopter that we used for emergencies, and my pilot had been more thanwilling to offload them onto the nearest continent with their luggage. Andthathad been both legalandethical.
My pilot was a good man, who I relied on for those types of things. Well, he was a good wolf shifter. His secondary job on the ship was security, and even though I hadn’t assigned Grace to him, I’d noticed that he still shadowed her, protecting her from afar. With Micaela and Kazi protecting her around the clock and Gray keeping an eye on her, I hoped she’d stay safe for the remainder of her cruise.
When the call about Grace had come in over the walkie, my blood had run cold. I’d foolishly underestimated what having a siren of Grace’s power on my ship would do to the average person. The guys that had hassled her had been human.
One of them had had a girlfriend.
