Page 7 of Stolen Magic
“Hmmm, I didn’t think you had it in you, darling,” a woman purred, the suggestive tone of her voice thick enough to be cut with a knife.
I rolled my eyes.
Just my luck that I’d be stuck in a freaking stairway while office workers got down and dirty one floor below me. When I told Char about it, I’d never hear the end of it, I was sure. Craning my neck, I peered down to see where the couple was, but the second voice that spoke froze me in place. I nearly swallowed my tongue.
“I told you not to come here, Angela.” A thick accent colored the deep baritone, harshly rolling the r’s and t’s and sending my heartrate into overdrive. “What is the meaning of this?”
Personally, I didn’t know Dimitri Bell, nor had his existence ever tempted me to find out more about the Alpha. But it was inevitable to hear about him from everyone else around me, including my best friend. Ladies spoke of him like he was the best thing that had happened to woman-kind, and despite my determination to ignore the comings and goings of my world, I still knew more about him than I should. Example: the fact that he was raised by his mother in her homeland away from the American society until he was in his early twenties was not news to me. His Russian accent was something whispered under breathless sighs, which normally made me roll my eyes, but I totally understood it at that moment. With a couple of sentences, he awoke a cloud of butterflies in my belly and sent them into frenzy until I had to grip the banister tightly to ensure I didn’t jump over it to see if his physical appearance matched the voice. It was slightly raspier than his father’s, and a note or two deeper, with a natural growl to it that made me shiver.
I shook my head to clear the hormonal insanity. What on earth was the mater with me?
“We had a deal, Dimitri,” the woman whined, and I found myself padding down the stairs on the balls of my bare feet. It took effort not to suck in an audible breath when I stopped on the landing right above them in clear sight. Thank all the gods for invisibility spells. “If I have to do what you say, you have to suffer being introduced to those in my circle.”
The woman, Angela, was one of the most beautiful beings I’d ever seen. Not in the traditional sense, according to Hollywood, but in a jaw-dropping one. Her hourglass figure was wrapped in a blood-red knee-length dress with a slit on the right side up to her hip. If it wasn’t for the platinum blonde hair draped over one shoulder, I would’ve mistaken her for a living, breathing Jessica Rabbit. Her large boobs were ready to spill over the tight strapless dress with each breath she took, and her blue eyes sparkled in the yellow glare of the light while she pinned the man in front of her with her gaze. Full lips were pressed in a firm line, displaying her frustration, and most surprising was the fact that she was as tall as him on her high-heeled, strappy sandals.
“You have bad timing, woman,” Dimitri snarled, his shoulders bunching as if he was trying very hard not to grab her by the throat.
I couldn’t see his face, but that didn’t stop my mind from conjuring all sorts of scenarios just by watching him from behind. His silver-gray button-down shirt was tucked into his black pants, but his suit jacket was missing. The shirt itself was rolled at the sleeves almost to his elbows, displaying impressive forearms where the muscles were corded while he clenched his fists. My eyes traveled down the expanse of his back to the narrow waist and a mouthwatering backside that the expensive-looking fabric was hugging lovingly. His pants were stretched over powerful thighs, and I found myself swallowing thickly. It took me a moment to realize he had stiffened, and he spun around to face me so quickly that I had no time to bolt back the way I had come.
My heart stopped.
Stormy silver blue eyes flicked all over the stairway, and I didn’t need to guess that he was looking for me. I might be invisible, but apparently all the stories about Dimitri Bell were true. His eyes couldn’t see me, but his senses picked up my presence immediately. I didn’t dare move or breathe. Gaze locked on the powerful Alpha, I stared like a deer caught in headlights as I waited for him to pounce and shred me to ribbons. It would serve me right for being an idiot.
“What is it?” The blonde placed a manicured hand on his forearm, her red-painted nails denting his tanned skin.
He ignored her, still intent of finding what triggered his senses, and that gave me time to examine him. I should’ve been running, but his chiseled features had my feet glued to the cold floor. When I saw his father, I thought the photos on the company’s website were old to feed Dimitri’s ego, but it became more than clear they didn’t do him justice. His square jaw was clean shaven and his harsh slash of lips twitched as he barely contained a snarl. His eyes had storms brewing above the sharp cheekbones, and my blood turned to icicles when a smile bloomed on his face, bringing to life a set of dimples.
“Nothing.” Straightening, he turned his back on me, and I released a silent sigh of relief. “I thought I heard something.”
“You’ll do anything not to be introduced to my friends, darling. It’s almost painful to watch the lengths you’ll go to avoid it.” She still had her hand on him, and my eyebrows crawled to my hairline when he shook her off.
“Leave,” Dimitri snapped before taking a deep breath and rolling his shoulders. The shirt stretched to its limits, and I fully expected him to shift. He didn’t. “My father is here, and I need to deal with him. Make sure he doesn’t see you on your way out.”
“He is the one that agreed to the engagement, if you forgot. I will not be hiding from him.” Angela jutted her chin out stubbornly and glared at him. She might not look tough, but she definitely had a spine to stand up to the Alpha. Agitated power was rolling off him in waves, blasting my skin.
I could’ve avoided it, but I was still frozen on the landing. If I understood it correctly, I was witnessing Dimitri Bell hiding his fiancé in a barely lit stairway of his company’s building. I filed that in my mind in case I needed to use it against the Alpha in the future after I destroyed whatever he had against me. Sharp senses or not, he had no idea I was standing there ready to take away his leverage. Dimitri would be getting the shock of his life before the day was over.
“If you don’t leave, you will regret it.” Confirming that he was the jerk I suspected him to be, he opened the door and waited for Angela to exit ahead of him. Which she did after huffing an annoyed breath like a petulant child. Pouting, she sashayed through the door with her head held high like she was the queen of England.
My body tensed to continue down the stairs, avoiding the floor I knew Dimitri was prowling around, when he stepped out and tugged the door behind him. One foot on the stair and the other up, I flinched when he glanced over his shoulder, his stormy eyes locking on mine. There was a promise in his irises that spoke of many things I’d regret before he gently pulled the door closed, and I almost collapsed when my knees buckled. It was impossible for the shifter to see me through the spell. I couldn’t see myself when I used it. No matter how many times I told myself the same thing, something deep inside me was screaming for me to run.
So run I did.
Forgetting all about destroying evidence and threats to expose my identity, I bolted out of the building with only one thing in mind: I had to take the book I stole and get it to Dimitri Bell. Something was not right about the whole situation, and I had a sinking feeling my death was the only outcome at the end of this journey. If he had it back, maybe I could pretend I had no idea what he was talking about when it came to it. It was the smartest thing to do.
I had to talk to Char. Stat.
All the way home, I felt eyes stabbing between my shoulder blades, but there was no one around when I glanced over my shoulder.
Great. On top of everything else, now I was getting paranoid, too.
Chapter Six
Char watched me over the rim of her cup without a word. She wasn’t drinking the coffee; she was just smelling it while tendrils of steam curled in front of her like dancing cobras. I found her unlocking the front door when I ran back home like a little girl scared of the big bad wolf. Gah! Someone needed to slap me across the head for being stupid. Gnawing on my lower lip, I waited for her to say something. A confirmation that I wasn’t crazy, maybe? I couldn’t tell for sure.
“And he looked straight at you?” Repeating the words for the umpteenth time, she wrinkled her nose. “Not at your nose or your forehead or something, but locked gazes?” My best friend was still wearing the long black dress she had on for work, not bothering to change when I unloaded my crazy on her.
“Yup.” The silence stretched, and I progressed from gnawing on my lower lip to chewing on my nails.
