Page 142 of Evil Hearts

“Yea yea. Let me borrow your highlander for the night and we’ll call it even. I’ve got the perfect sheathe for his longswo—”

“OH MY GOD! I’m hanging up! Goodbye!”

Ending the call, Katarina pinched the bridge of her nose.

Lachlan frowned, “What was all that about?”

“My agent, he…” she felt what could’ve been a squeal of excitement or a sob of terror welling and chose to swallow it back. “He got me a meeting with one of the biggest art dealers in… well, in the world. A meeting like this would pretty much secure my career for the rest of my life, and with that new painting and the other ideas I have now IknowI can nail it!”

“So what’s the problem?” Lachlan cocked his head.

Katarina blushed. “W-well… that’s the thing. I’d have to go back to New Yorktonight. The meeting is tomorrow and… Lachlan, I can’t miss this opportunity! I just can—”

Strong, calloused hands sandwiched her own and the intense gaze of the therion highlander locked with hers. “Then ye won’t miss it, lass. An’ I’ll be right there to see you through it.”

Katarina had spent most the flight back to New York trying to calm Lachlan, who had maintained a white-knuckle grip on the edges of his seat and panicked with every bout of turbulence. It wasn’t until she’d convinced the flight attendant to leave a bottle of whisky with them and gotten the jittery therion to down its contents that things calmed down.

The rest of the flight had been graced with slurred renditions of ‘Hi for the Beggar Man,’ where more than half the other passengers joined in “With a tooroo, rooroo, rantin hi, a-tooroo, rooroo, rantin hi!” while the other half clapped their hands over their ears and silently casted death-glares in Katarina’s direction.

By the time their flight had landed, Lachlan’s therion body had burned through all the alcohol and the stoic, wide-eyed man stepping off the plane more closely resembled the Lachlan she knew and loved.

As they stepped out of the terminal of LaGuardia Airport, every woman’s eyes landed on Lachlan, and Katarina had to resist the urge to attack every single one of them. Noticing this, Lachlan wrapped his arm around her shoulders and he pulled her in close to him.

“Every lassmaylook at me, but only one gets to share my bed,” he whispered, nipping at her earlobe and drawing out a gasp from every woman watching.

Blushing at the attention—but nonetheless loving it—Katarina nodded and moved to pull her cap over the tips of her pointed ears. Catching her by the wrist and pulling the cap away from her, Lachlan smiled and cast the wool garment into a nearby trashcan. Surprised by this, she looked up at him.

Lachlan shrugged. “Let them look, lass. They’re humans—they’d sooner make what they see make sense to them before believin’ yer an elf,” he winked. “I’m sure they’ll pass those pretty ears off as a movie prop or something. Sides, I think they’re sexy.”

She blushed, feeling her heart begin to speed up and forced herself to look away as they collected their bags and headed out to the streets of New York. Lachlan froze for a moment, staring out at the busy streets of New York City and she frowned, realizing this change might be hard for him.

“Lachlan, are you okay,” she squeezed his hand and felt him calm down.

“Aye…” he nodded, “It’s just so… sobig! How far is it to your place, lass?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Only five blocks, but we’ll be driving,” she pointed to a black limousine that was waiting for them out front. As she led Lachlan towards the car, the chauffeur, a well-aged man who had been driving Katarina for most of her career, bowed his head and opened the back door for them.

“Did you have a good flight, Miss?” he asked.

Katarina smiled and nodded as she slipped into the backseat. “It was… interesting,” she smirked, looking at Lachlan, who took a moment before clumsily working himself into the car.

“So this is what all the fuss was about?” Erik’s sing-songy voice rose. The vampire, wearing a freshly tailored brown business suit, presented each of them with a glass of champagne. “A pleasure, I assure you. Kat, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

Kat blushed and nodded, accepting the champagne and nodding to Lachlan to do the same. As the therion took the glass, his eyes scanned the interior of the limo.

“Right,” Katarina nodded, “this is Lachlan.”

“Lachlan? Ooh! So exotic!” Erik beamed.

“Erik, I take it,” Lachlan looked over at Katarina.

She nodded.

“You didn’t mention that he was a vampire,” he scowled.

Erik paused, looking back to Katarina. “Is… is that a problem?”

Katarina shook her head to her agent, “It’s a long story. Let’s just say that we had an ugly run-in with some vampires back in Scotland that didn’t do your kind justice.”

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