Page 55 of Change

Someone crashed into my back, and I fell to the floor, landing on my knees, as the stampede continued around me. I tried to get up, but there was no room, no way to regain my bearings.

I couldn’t breathe down here, and it was stifling, terrifying, as most people barely side-stepped around me. I thought I might be trampled. I was kicked, but nobody even seemed to notice. The space grew darker and louder, as I dropped Maria’s stuff to the ground and, sitting forward on my knees, wrapped my arms over my head.

“Come on!” Maria was suddenly beside me, grabbing my arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

Her calm demeanor was contagious and the tight feeling in my chest evaporated. She moved to her feet in one smooth motion, pushing back anyone who stood in her way. Then in another motion, she swooped up her jacket and bag while she held firmly around my wrist.

Everyone had been drawn into the chaos, so no one noticed as Maria pushed her way past the crowd, heading right for the unmarked doors that made up the exit. We paused there a moment, Maria pushing me against the patchy concrete wall as she positioned herself between me and the shifters and frowned down at her watch.

“I’m not sure what you were hoping to accomplish with that.” A thin, pale, snakelike man with slicked-back midnight hair suddenly appeared beside me. “But you’ve certainly startedsomething.”

Maria’s attention whipped around so fast that it made me dizzy, and before I could even blink, she’d pulled me behind her. “What do you want?”

“I’m not talking toyou.” His pinched face sharpened as he scowled at the lioness. “I’m addressing the lady fae. I’m assuming you have a plan?”

I gripped Maria’s sleeve and it took everything in me to keep my voice steady. We’d gotten attention, which meant it was working.

I couldn’t screw this up now.

I only had to think about the cashmere sweaters that lay unpurchased in my shopping cart. But only after, of course, I paid the boys back for what they’d already gotten me. “Sorry?”

He rolled his eyes as he reached into the front of his jacket and pulled out a small black card. “Don’t pretend to be dim, it’s annoying. Let’s agree to leave the evasiveness at the courts, and deal in real world terms. Here.”

I ignored Maria’s low growling and reached around her, taking the paper from him, but I didn’t have a chance to look at it before his hand closed over mine.

“When you’re ready to talk business, call me.”

“Are you done?” Maria stepped closer, pushing me more solidly behind her back.

“For now,” the man responded, shooting the lioness a patient glance. Then he moved into the pushing chaos of the room and pressed two fingers to the side of his forehead in a short salute. “I’ll be seeing you both again soon.”

“Ernesto Lucciano.” I flipped the card over in my hands. His name had been cut into the thick paper with gold lettering, inlaid with an elegant, swirling script. It was peculiar for a business card though, because there was no indication as to who he was anywhere; only a phone number engraved onto the back.

I really hoped this number accepted text messages, because I would rather gouge out my eyeball with a spoon than call a stranger.

That was, if I bothered with him at all.

“Who do you think he is?” I wondered, still staring at it. It really was a fancy calling card—it captured the light in a rather mesmerizing manner when held toward the light in a certain way.

“He’s Unseelie.” Maria’s knuckles were white around the steering wheel, and her focus was pointedly on the road. I would like to think that this excessive concentration was because she really cared for her Mercedes, but she’d already proven the exact opposite on the drive to the fights. “He’s the second-in-command for a regional gang and, despite being only thirty-two, is the patriarch of his house. I didn’t expect to see him there.”

“Unseelie?” I stopped playing with the card. “Why would a fae be at an underground shifter fight club?”

Maria shot me a pointed look.

“Okay…” My face warmed and I stared at the light tan dashboard. It was rather hypocritical of me to call out another fae’s involvement in illegal activities when we’d basically been doing the same thing. “What does that mean then? Why are you upset?”

“Why am I upset?” She sounded incredulous. “Did you not just hear me? He’s agang leader.”

“Not really,” I rebutted. “He’s only second-in-command. Are you afraid of him?”

She laughed, and I clutched at my seat as a measure of her erratic driving returned. “No,” she answered, finally stopping to take a breath. “But he knows you’re fae.”

Well… Most people around here seemed to know that anyway.

“That means he was probably watching you for a while, longbeforeGeorge and I fought,” she continued, seemingly frustrated. “You’re on his radar and he knows what you look like.”

“Ah—” I shrugged, picking the card up again. She said this, but I couldn’t help but feel that this worry about him was a gross overreaction. “Who cares? I think I’m going to text him.”