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Chapter 11

Gideon’s Phoenix lair was located in a ground-floor apartment. There had originally been two barred windows facing the street, but with the owner’s approval, Gideon had had them plastered over with the understanding that, when he moved out, he would restore the windows. He had also replaced the flimsy wooden door with one of reinforced steel and installed a pair of the best dead bolts money could buy. His rent and utilities were paid ten years in advance, assuring that he had electricity and running water whenever he chose to return. The same was true of the other places he maintained here in the States. The lair in New York City was far more lavish than this one. The same was true of his place in Tennessee.

Materializing in the bedroom, he lowered the wolf onto the mattress. Was she out for the rest of the night? If not, how would she react when she awoke in a strange place? Would she remember who he was before she tried to rip his throat out?

He regarded her a moment, thinking that, wolf or woman, she was something to see. Her fur was as black as midnight, her ears small and pointed, her body trim and compact but well muscled. Quite a package, he mused, in whatever form she was in.

Maybe some night he would change into his wolf form and they could run the hills together.

Chuckling softly, he went into the bathroom and closed the door. After removing the filthy rags he had worn for the last three years, he stepped into the shower and turned the water on full blast. Damn, but it felt good! Closing his eyes, he stood under the spray and let the hot water sluice over his head and body. He hadn’t had the luxury of a real bath since Verah captured him. Whenever his stink got to be more than she could stand, she had turned a hose on him.

He stayed in the shower a good forty minutes, washing his hair and scrubbing away the stink of captivity.

When he returned to the bedroom, a towel wrapped around his hips, the wolf was still out of it. He figured she would likely sleep through the night after all they’d been through.

Moving to the dresser, he pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants, then stretched out on the bed beside the wolf. He needed to feed but it didn’t seem wise to leave her here, alone, on the off chance she might wake up. For a moment, he contemplated taking a few sips of her blood, but the thought of getting a mouthful of fur quickly soured him on that idea.

Turning onto his side, he stroked her head. Her fur was soft and warm. Touching her was soothing somehow. Closing his eyes, he slipped into oblivion, clean and at peace for the first time in years.

Kay woke with a start, surprised to find herself lying naked in a strange bed with Gideon, in a room she didn’t recognize. How had they gotten here? And where was here? The last thing she remembered was a searing pain in her flank. When she touched her leg, there was no wound, but that didn’t surprise her. Most injuries healed overnight, although in her case, serious injuries sometimes took a little longer, since she was only half werewolf.

She wrinkled her nose. The room smelled musty, as if no one had lived in it for a very long time. Of course, if this was Gideon’s home, it had been unoccupied for at least three years, which would account for the smell, and the thick layer of dust on the nightstand.

Sitting up, she glanced around, wondering if there was anything to eat in the place. Considering who lived here, she doubted it. And even if there happened to be a stray loaf of bread or a package of lunch meat lying around, after sitting on a shelf for three years, it certainly wouldn’t be edible.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she went into the bathroom and closed the door.

It had only been a few days since she had showered, but it seemed longer. She washed her body twice and her hair three times before she felt clean.

Wrapped in a towel, she returned to the bedroom. A glance at Gideon showed he was still sleeping soundly. She bit down on her lower lip for a moment before moving to the mahogany dresser against the far wall. Rummaging through the drawers, she found a short-sleeved navy T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants similar to the ones he was wearing. The pants were miles too big and too long, but better than nothing. She used a belt she found in the closet to keep them up, rolled the cuffs so she wouldn’t trip, and left the bedroom to do a little exploring.

The living room was sparsely furnished with little more than a dark leather sofa, a rectangular coffee table made of distressed oak, and a large bookcase filled with books, magazines, and a bronze statue of a tiger, all covered with dust. A state-of-the-art flat-screen TV hung over the fireplace. The fourth room was the kitchen. The cupboards were empty. There was no stove, only a small white refrigerator, also dusty. She stared at it, grimacing as she pictured the inside filled with bags of old blood.

Going back into the living room, she dropped down on the sofa, displacing little puffs of dust. She needed something to eat. Unfortunately, she had no cell phone with which to order anything and no money to pay for it anyway. And no idea where she was. For all she knew, she could be in the middle of Timbuktu. She regarded the TV for a moment. Gideon had been away for three years. What were the odds that the electricity was still on? Only one way to find out. Taking the remote from the coffee table, she hit the on switch, pleased to discover that the TV had power and the batteries in the remote weren’t dead. She was relieved to see a familiar news program. At least she was still in the country.

She tapped her fingertips on the arm of the sofa, wondering if Gideon kept any money in the house, and if so, where? She spent several useless minutes trying to imagine where a vampire might keep a few dollars stashed and then went looking—there was nothing in the dresser but T-shirts, socks, and underwear, and nothing in the closet but pants and shirts and shoes.

When she looked in the nightstand beside the bed, she found a brown leather wallet. Hunger overrode guilt, and she looked inside, hoping to find a few dollars. What she found was several hundred in twenties and fifties.

Taking two twenties, she put the wallet back, closed the drawer, and headed for the front door, only to pause, her hand on the knob.

She didn’t have a key. If she went out, and the door locked behind her, she wouldn’t be able to get back in.

If she left the door open … she bit down on the inside of her lower lip. She couldn’t expose Gideon to a risk like that. It was unlikely that anyone was looking for him, or would expect him to be here after being away for so long. Still … she chewed on her thumbnail, her stomach growling loudly all the while. It would be hours until he woke. Darn it. She was stuck in here until sundown.

With a sigh of exasperation, she plucked a book from the shelf and blew off the dust, thinking it was too bad she couldn’t eat the pages.

Gideon woke with the setting of the sun. A glance to the left showed he was alone in bed. So, where was Kay? Sitting up, he sniffed the air, felt himself relaxing when he heard the faint sound of her breathing from the other room.

Throwing back the covers, he got out of bed and padded barefooted into the living room to find his houseguest curled up on the sofa. She looked incredibly young lying there, her lips slightly parted, her cheek pillowed on her hand, her hair spread around her face like a cloud of ebony silk.

When he took a step toward her, she jerked upright.

“I thought you were asleep,” he said.

“I’m starving.”

“Sorry. Come on, I’ll take you out to dinner.”

“I don’t have anything to wear.”

His gaze moved over her. With her hair falling loose over her shoulders and clad in his T-shirt and sweats, she looked like a little girl playing dress-up in her father’s clothes. “We’ll stop on the way and buy you something.”

“I can’t go out looking like this.”

“Sure you can. Let me put on a pair of jeans and we’ll go. There’s a mall down the street.”

Huffing a sigh of exasperation, she muttered, “Sure, you get to change,” but he was already gone.

He returned a few minutes later wearing a pair of jeans, boots, and a leather jacket over a T-shirt. “Ready?”

She glanced at her bare feet, grimaced, and said, “Let’s just go.”

He sketched a bow. “After you.”

With a shake of her head, she preceded him out of the apartment.

She was too hungry to spend much time shopping. In the department store, she picked out a pair of jeans, a yellow sweater, and a pair of flip-flops, quickly changed clothes in the dressing room, and was ready to go.

Passing through the shoe department, Gideon insisted Kay try on a pair of black suede Gucci boots to replace the ones Verah had taken.

“You don’t have to do that,” Kay said. “It’s not your fault that witch is a thief.”

“But it’s my fault you were there.”

She couldn’t argue with that. She sat down while the clerk went to get the boots in her size.

Kay gasped when she saw the price tag. Seven hundred dollars. “These are way too expensive,” she said. They were far nicer and considerably more costly than the ones Verah had stolen.

“I can afford it,” Gideon said. “If you don’t like these, pick out something else.”

“These are fine,” Kay said. How could you go wrong with Gucci?

He nodded at a display table, then told the clerk, “We’ll take that matching bag, too.”

When she started to protest, Gideon shushed her with a look.

After they left the store, he stuffed a handful of greenbacks into her new purse. “Mad money,” he muttered. “Just in case. So, what are you in the mood for?”

“A steak and fries.”

“I like a woman who knows what she wants,” Gideon said, grinning.

Twenty minutes later, she was sitting across from Gideon in a swanky steakhouse.

“I think we’re a little underdressed,” Kay remarked, glancing around. Most of the men wore suits or sports jackets, the majority of the women wore dresses and heels.

“Are you kidding? Your boots probably cost more than most of the dresses these women are wearing.”

She couldn’t argue with that.

When the waitress came, Kay ordered the biggest steak the place had to offer—rare, please—fries, and a glass of iced tea. Gideon ordered a glass of dry red wine.