“I’m not your enemy.”
Eyes wide and green as soft moss held his gaze for a moment. The previous misery had returned, making her look vulnerable and young.
“That’s what you think,” she said softly.
With a sharp turn of her polished heels, she slipped up the stairs and vanished from sight.
Matt rubbed his aching neck. This had been the ultimate bitch of a morning.
Couldn’t wait to see what the afternoon would bring. Lieutenant Commander Dale “Curt” Curtis, commanding officer of SEAL Team 21, had scheduled a top-secret briefing about the pyrokinetic demons who’d targeted Matt and Adam. His C.O. had told Matt to prepare for a new assignment.
With a new partner.
Even though he dreaded the idea of a new partner, Matt welcomed the chance to kick demon ass. If a new partner meant finding the leak, so be it.
As for the lovely, contemptuous Draicon … An ominous foreboding filled him.
He had a bad feeling he would see her again.
Very soon.
Chapter 2
The upscale hotel in Times Square boasted a grand view of the bustling streets and the colorful theater marquees. Sienna tapped her foot as she waited in the crowded lobby bar. Odd place for a meeting.
She ran a finger down the glass of water, catching a drop of condensation. Sienna brought it to her mouth, slowly licked it off. She sensed someone staring, and turned.
Son of a jackal …
Leather Jacket Draicon focused on her with a laser blue stare. Those eyes tracked every move her finger made, his gaze smoldering, his mouth compressed.
Had he followed her? And why? Her heart pounded hard at the idea. She studied the werewolf.
Heat surged through her, curling the tips of her toes in their not-so-sensible heels. He resembled a fallen angel with a face sculpted by an artisan’s chisel and cold blue eyes that could cut steel. Limbs sprawled out before him in a position of utter confidence, he looked dangerous.
He shifted position, the move opening his jacket and revealing a pistol strapped to his side. Sienna felt blood drain from her face.
Armed all this time.
Not a man, or a Draicon, to mess with.
As if he read her mind, he lifted the mug of beer in a mock salute and drank deeply. Fascinated, she watched the muscles in his throat work. He set down the glass, his gaze never leaving her as he backhanded his mouth.
“Woof,” he murmured.
Then he stood, dropping a few bills on the table, and left. Crimson flooded her cheeks. I deserved that.
“Oh, I love your Jimmy Choos!”
Startled, she turned. A buxom blonde in a print dress stood before her table. At her side was a severe-looking businessman, a hint of silver in his short-cropped dark hair. He carried an expensive leather briefcase and wore a gray suit with a crisp red tie. The blonde was gorgeous. She carried a large designer purse on her arm and was staring at Sienna’s footwear.
Rather, her legs.
“Such fabulous shoes,” she gushed. “They display your legs nicely. You have great legs.”
“Samantha’s a connoisseur of fine footwear,” the man said. He gave her a small smile. “I apologize for taking up your time.”
The woman simpered, and squeezed Sienna’s hand. “Have a lovely day, darling!”
As they walked off, Sienna glanced down at her palm. In it was a card key in a white envelope that had instructions printed across it.
Her contacts. In disguise, most likely.
As her heart raced with trepidation, she put the card in her purse. This was worse than she’d been told if they couldn’t even meet in the open. Maybe she should back off. It wasn’t too late.
And then what? Go home in defeat? Live alone for the rest of her life, wondering what the black hole in her mind hid?
Finding the Orb meant more than acceptance back into her Fae colony. It meant recovering her lost memories. Everything in her early childhood was a panicked blur. Flashes of a forest, quiet waters and the terror of being shoved into a dark hollow, screams of terror raging around her, a hot crimson igniting the night sky … The snarls of a wolf, teeth bared as it tore into throats, blood splashing and flowing like water … then darkness.
A distant memory tugged, too deeply buried to surface. Every time she tried searching for her past, she met with a closed door. Who was she? Which side ruled her?
Fae or Draicon?
Draicon, no way in hell.
Sienna paid her bill, leaving a generous tip. As instructed, she took the elevator down, then lingered in the lobby for ten minutes, made certain no one was following her, then went upstairs.
The room had a connecting door. She opened it and entered a lavish suite.
The woman named Samantha was inside, sweeping the walls with a device that resembled the metal wand employed by airport security staff. She finished and turned with a cheerful grin. “Nothing. Clean. Not even a bedbug.”
Mischief danced in her brown eyes. “Need to check you, Miss McClare. A total pat-down. Don’t worry, I’m a professional when it comes to frisking women.”
She didn’t like the idea of this woman checking her over. It made her nervous. “Why the search? And the covert activity?”
“Can’t take any chances,” Samantha said.
“I can assure you, I’m not hiding anything.” Sienna clasped her hands, willed a smile. If this woman searched her, she’d get too nervous. Drop the glamour. The glamour fed her confidence, enabled her to look cool and professional.
Samantha gave her body an admiring glance. “Ah, not quite. There is definitely something about you.”
“Any excuse to flirt, huh, Shay?”
That deep, drawling voice, smooth as the burn of whiskey sliding down a parched throat. Sienna’s heart went still as Leather Jacket Draicon ambled with lethal grace through the connecting door, joined by the same dark-haired man who’d accompanied Samantha in the lobby bar.
The Draicon halted and stared. Ice glittered in his sharp blue gaze as he closed the door.
“You? Hell on wheels, this has to be a damn joke. Who are you?” he snapped.
The dark-haired man gestured to the Draicon. “Sienna McClare, meet Lieutenant Matthew Parker, U.S. Navy SEAL. Matt, Sienna’s Seelie Sidhe Fae from the Los Lobos colony.”
Lieutenant Parker looked stunned.
