Page 30 of Black Hand
“What do you mean they’ll come again tomorrow just like every night?” Confused, Alice looked from me to Dominic, who was finding the pendant even more fascinating now. “I thought we were good now since we’ve had no trouble for two days.”
I tried to jump to my feet, but Dominic placed one warm hand on my thigh and froze me in place. The heat that radiated from it burned my skin, though not in a painful way. It was in the most inappropriate way, and it sent butterflies fluttering through my belly. My thighs tensed in reaction, and he snatched his hand back with a frown on his face, staring at it like it belonged to someone else.
“How long was I asleep healing?” No amount of breathing could hide the slight tremble in my voice.
“Two days and almost two nights,” Dominic answered while glaring at his now-clenched fist.
It should’ve been the first thing I asked, but that wasn’t important anymore. I knew how the Syndicate operated. There was no way they’d left us alone for that long. My gaze found Dominic’s face again, but this time I stared at it in a new light. The smudges under his eyes shouldn’t have been that noticeable, and there were lines of strain etched on his handsome face that twisted my stomach in knots. There was no doubt left in my mind that he hadn’t slept all that time.
“They did come.” Not looking away from the top of his head, I waited. “I took care of it,” was all he offered before picking up the pencil again and returning to what he was doing.
I didn’t know what to say. He not only protected Alice, but he kept me safe while I couldn’t defend myself, too. It would’ve been so easy to just walk away, or even to take the human and hide her somewhere safe while leaving me to my fate when the Syndicate found me. I would’ve bet my life that was what he would’ve done the first time I woke up in his small apartment. Now?
Now I had no idea what to think.
“Thank you.” His head jerked up and his gaze locked on mine at my whispered gratitude.
“You would’ve done the same.” Dominic spoke those words, but his eyes searched the truth on my face.
My lips parted but nothing came out of them. Everything around us faded into nothingness until I was left snared in his eyes like a deer stuck in a steel trap. Something strange and foreign passed between us in that moment. I could almost physically feel it twining and tugging me toward him. He must’ve felt it too, because he leaned closer just as I did, our faces left separated only by a breath. My heart hammered against my breastbone, all signs of the approaching dawn forgotten when he dropped the pencil and his hand glided up my shin to my thigh. If he held a dagger in his other hand intending to stab me, I would’ve let him just so I didn’t look away from his eyes.
“They were here and you didn’t tell me?” Alice screeched, her words breaking the moment.
“I took care of it,” Dominic replied much more harshly than before, and I shook my head to clear it. What the hell just happened? “There was no need to frighten you,” he added to soften the impact of his earlier snarl.
“Okay, here is the deal.” Agitated, Alice started flipping through the book in such a way I thought she would rip the pages. “My house, my rules. From now on, I want to know who comes and who goes, understood?” When she turned to see us both gaping at her, she nodded once sharply as if she’d made her point. “I’d rather know if someone is coming to chew on my neck than them coming out of nowhere. As you both like to remind me every second, I’m human. Surprise attacks are all I have going for me. I can’t surprise shit if I don’t know it’s coming.”
Dominic’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he lifted himself off the floor where he was sitting at my feet, making a shadow fall over me from his impressive height. Alice and I both craned our necks to look at his face, which was devoid of emotions. Unsure of what he was planning to do, I tensed, ready to jump up and stop him if he tried to throttle the human. I wouldn’t have blamed him because I wanted to do it too, but I would’ve stopped him, nonetheless.
“She is your human,” Dominic repeated the statement he made a few days ago before turning on his heel and walking out of the house, closing the front door softly behind him with a click.
“He knows I’m not a pet, right?” Alice muttered in annoyance.
My eyes flicked to the wolf sleeping in front of the fireplace and one of his eyes popped open to stare at me. My raised eyebrow did nothing but made that one eye narrow in a challenge. I might not want to hurt Alice, but that asshole was fair game if he didn’t stop whatever game he was playing.
“Yes, he knows,” I answered her, but I couldn’t stop the chuckle when I saw her frowning face. “But you must understand that no one dares to talk to us the way you do.”
“Oh, I’m sorry your majesties.” Exaggerating the words, she rolled her eyes at me. It only made my grin grow.
“He will get used to it; he just needs time.” Snickering under my breath when I heard the growl coming from the porch, I reached out for the first time to touch her without reason. With a reassuring squeeze to her hand—and being careful not to crush her fragile human bones—I smiled. “Thank you for taking care of me.” My throat closed up tight.
No one but Veronica had done something like that. Now not just Alice, but Dominic as well, went out of their way to care for me, and it was too overwhelming to grasp all at once. Some of the emotions I was trying to suppress must’ve shown, because the next thing I knew, Alice was wrapped around me like a boa, her arms squeezing as tight as she could.
“You are welcome, Brooklyn. If you take away the whole chewing on the neck part, you are actually a very nice person.” Pulling away, she didn’t let go of me. “You don’t smile much, which is a shame, but all things considered, I wouldn’t smile either if I lived around all those grumpy, snarly jerks.”
“You might have a point there, human.” Snorting, I patted her awkwardly on the back, though I didn’t know what to do with my hands.
Alice noticed and, removing one of her hands from my upper arm, she took hold of my limbs to wrap them around her shoulders before returning to hug me tight. I had to blink fast to get rid of the burn that started at the back of my eyes, and that was when Dominic opened the front door. Our eyes locked and he just stood there watching me with that same weird expression I’d seen on his face a few times before. I was the first to drop my gaze, embarrassment warming my cheeks because I was showing weakness in front of him. He cleared his throat and the lines on his face softened, but Alice once again cut whatever he was about to say.
“Brooklyn, we found it.” I winced when she shrieked close to my ear. “Look!”
Wiggling out of my hold, she dropped to her knees and snatched the still-unfinished design Dominic was drawing, bringing it to the open page of the book. There were still a few lines left for the sketch to be done, but there was no mistaking that the symbol was exactly the same. Holding my breath, I leaned over the couch to get closer too, sensing, more than hearing, Dominic join us. All three of us stared at the picture without saying a word for a long moment. Until Alice broke the tense silence and asked the one question that was no doubt on all of our minds.
“Why on earth would anyone carve a binding sigil on your pendant, Brooklyn?”
“Yeah, why indeed,” I muttered under my breath, still staring at the page.
“I think I might have an idea why.” Dominic shocked me, but whatever he was about to say couldn’t be good judging by the look on his face.
