Page 5

Chapter Two

Noah

Noah had been surprised when the questions he asked were answered truthfully.But not as surprised as his reaction to the sight of the beautiful woman who drifted into the office of the immortal he’d chosen to partially trust.

He was a means to an end.

But when Jade had come into the office, he was taken aback by the way his heart beat harder in his chest and the way he seemed to track her quick movements with ease, an instinct that told him exactly where she was at any given time.He was aware of Jade on a level he’d never experienced.

The limited amount of time he’d spent with the only immortals he’d known, the vicious ones who thought nothing about building their numbers and taking power, and skewed his view of them.He could blame his hostility on his experience, but he could admit to himself as the car barreled up the mountain road it was because she had rattled him.

Nothing rattled him.

He had overheard some of the immortals, when they brought them food and water, about their plans on taking over Dark Company.When he escaped after Sam had died, he figured he would have a hard time finding them, but lo and behold, the company showed up after a quick internet search.

Noah tossed the idea about in his mind about going to the enemy of the immortals he’d escaped from, the ones who killed his friend, but in the end, it wasn’t a hard decision.If a group of immortals could eliminate another, more menacing group, would they take it?

With Sam’s excruciating death on his mind, he’d called Ghost from a pay phone and explained he had information that might be helpful, but only if he could be in on the takedown.Ghost invited him to his office and after a short conversation, Ghost declared he believed Noah and they were going to work together.

He had no qualms about using Dark Company to exact his revenge, but he did feel a pang of guilt as he glanced over and moved his gaze over her beautifully flawless face.

Noah had never been so affected by a woman before.From the moment he locked eyes on her, his senses went haywire.He could smell the softness of peaches and vanilla as she strolled into the room.He was mesmerized by how elegantly she moved around the room, and what took him by complete surprise was how unaware she was of how beautiful, almost ethereal, she looked.And he’d known immediately that she was a shifter.

Part of him rebelled against his attraction to her, but a larger part wanted to protect her while he got to know everything about her.But he was cautious and he would wait to see how their little mission went before he could trust her and explore his rising feelings for her.Hell, he was good at compartmentalizing his feelings and focused on his job, even though sometimes they ended in a clusterfuck.

He noticed Jade flinched when he talked about Sam and noticed that she hadn’t said anything to defend immortals, only offering her condolences at his passing.And he knew that she was sincere, but now her silence was confounding.

Before he could ask her about it, a gigantic mountain house came into view and he managed to swallow back his surprise at the sheer size of it.

“This is Kai and Liv’s place.”

“The vampires.”

She smiled as he felt as though he’d been sucker-punched in the stomach.As Jade parked, Noah noticed movement coming from the shadows of what he assumed was the front door.A huge dark-haired man stepped from the porch, his arms crossed over his chest.

Jade stepped out of the car and Noah looked back and forth between the two.He could have sworn they communicated without speaking.It wasn’t through a look.He’d shared many of those with his team over the years.This was full-on communication, he was sure of it.

But whatever was said had the deadly-looking man dropping his arms and his stance relaxed as he looked at Noah, who had exited the car and stood by the door.He started toward Noah and as much as Noah wanted to tense at the advance, he held himself with his arms loose at his sides.

“Hi, I’m Kai.”He held out his hand, but before he could take it, Noah noticed a darting movement too fast for his eyes to focus on.He blinked and when he reopened his eyes, a small woman with wildly curly hair appeared at Kai’s side and she was smiling at him.

Noah shook Kai’s still outstretched hand before he turned to her.“Hi, I’m Noah.”

Instead of a handshake, she moved in for a hug, taking Noah completely by surprise.Tiny, yet strong arms wrapped around his torso and squeeze once, very gently, before she stepped back and melted into Kai’s embrace.He glanced up to see Jade smiling at him and the couple.Her bright smile relaxed some tension in his chest.

“I’m Liv.It’s nice to meet you, Noah.I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.It’s nice to meet you both.”And he found that his words held sincerity.

Kai nodded toward the house.“Ready to meet the rest?”

Noah nodded, again looking at Jade when Liv broke away from Kai and pulled her in for a hug.Jade closed her eyes and smiled.Liv lingered in Jade’s embrace and Noah could tell these two women cared deeply for each other.

“I’m not sure I like it dark.I miss your beautiful red hair.”

Jade laughed.“I know.I miss it too, but I get less attention this way.It’ll fade, eventually, and I’ll go back to the way it was.”

“You’re beautiful either way.”