Charming (Exiled Book 3) (5 page)

Charming sat down at his kitchen table and, more or less, slumped in the chair. He had a human who clearly didn’t want to be there staying in his home and no way to reach Rosie. As if his life wasn’t already enough of a mess, what with people
always
wanting something from him.

He made a hundred decisions a day without enough time to really consider the logical ramifications of any of them. His choices affected the lives of so many people. Sometimes he thought he might bend under the strain and not be able to get up again. This latest wrinkle, a belligerent guest who seemed to tickle the fancy of his cock, was all he needed, the last proverbial straw.

Before Rosie’s interruption, his intention had been to take a shower, change into clean clothes, and go downstairs for a nice dinner, a tankard of full-bodied ale, and some carefree conversation with friends. He decided to proceed with his plans, but left a note giving directions to the pub in case she came out and was hungry.

When Ana woke up, the room was dark except for lights filtering in from the city. When she turned over, she realized the wool blanket was scratchy, but she’d been so tired it didn’t wake her. She raised a hand to her cheek, smoothing the burn. She was also hungry, even though she’d feasted on steak and French fries earlier in the day.

She cracked the bedroom door open and listened for some indication of whether or not she was alone. Nothing but silence. So she ventured out to the open living space, which was huge like a loft, but sparse with not much in the way of furnishings. Looking around she thought to herself that she didn’t know why Charming was worried about theft. He had absolutely nothing worth stealing.

Her eyes fell on the note and, even though the writing symbols were strange, she found that she could read it.

“If you get hungry, go downstairs to street level and turn left. Half a block down you’ll come to A Far Scar. Go to the bar, ask for Scar, tell him you’re Ana and he’ll feed you.”

Since he didn’t leave a key, she wondered how she was supposed to lock up. Looking around again, she was reminded that there was nothing worth stealing except maybe the stuff she’d brought with her in the suitcase.

She made it to the front door of the building without encountering another soul, but when she stepped out on the street, she saw that it was lively with pedestrian traffic. There was no doubt that she left the familiarity of her own world behind. The buildings were alien in shape and, instead of blacks, grays, and mauve tones, the colors tended to be ivory, gold, and blue.

The clothes she was wearing were different from what she saw on the street. The taller women wore form fitting long sleeve tees with colorful print wraparound skirts and lace-up boots. The women who were more her size wore clothing of such a variety that she didn’t feel conspicuously out of place.

As instructed, she turned left and walked along the sidewalk until she came to A Far Scar. There was music coming from inside. It wasn’t very much like the pop she was used to. It was more like folk music, no electrical instruments. When she stepped inside, she could see that it was being played by a live musician with an odd-shaped acoustical stringed instrument.

The place was crowded, but she spied one empty stool at the bar and began making her way through the people to get there. When she hopped up on the stool, an enormous bear of a man appeared in front of her wearing a white apron tied around his waist. With a gruff manner and voice that sounded like the rumble of distant thunder, he said, “What can I get you, little girl?”

Judging by the prominent scar on his face, she concluded that he must be the proprietor, possibly the scariest-looking person she’d ever seen, including Ernesto. But one thing she’d learned from years in the underbelly of society was that showing weakness would get you eaten alive.

“I’m not a little girl.”

He laughed. “No?”

“No!”

“Would you, by any chance be a little girl named Ana?”

“My name is Ana.” She gave Scar her meanest look. “But I am not a little girl.”

“Alright, settle down. Charming said to give you whatever you want. If you’re a friend of Rosie’s, you’re welcome here because she used to work for me. But make it fast. Got people waiting.”

“I don’t know what you have.”

He pointed to a blackboard behind him. “I’ll be back after helping customers who know what they want.”

She watched him walk away, slinging a damp bar towel over his shoulder, then read the board. With the exception of white sausage steeped in beer, everything sounded good. When Scar returned with an eyebrow raised, she said, “Lamb and onion stew.”

“Drink?” he asked.

“Water?”

“Water,” he repeated then shrugged. “Okaaay.”

She became aware of the guy sitting next to her when he turned and then did a double take. “You new? Haven’t seen you before.”

“Fresh off the boat, but that doesn’t mean I just fell off the cabbage truck.”

He smiled with open curiosity. “I didn’t understand anything you just said.”

“Got here today.”

“I got that.”

The guy was cute enough, but reminded Ana too much of the boyfriend who had betrayed her by taking Ernesto’s money and leaving her to face the consequences.
Fucking Joey.

“Good. So understand this. You’re cute and maybe you’re nice too, but I’m not interested in putting in the effort to find out.”

His smile collapsed and he nodded. “Okay, human. That’s blunt enough even for Exiled. Understood that, too.”

Human?

Exiled?

A tanned and muscled forearm with light blond hair snaked between Ana and the Joey-look-alike, landing on his shoulder. Hard.

Joey’s doppelganger looked over his shoulder. “Charming. What’s up?”

“This is my ward, Talon.” He glanced at Ana. “She’s under my protection. Just thought you’d like to know sooner rather than later. ‘Cause later comes with physical proof. Do us both a favor and pass the word.” Charming felt a funny sensation in his midsection when he said the phrase ‘under my protection’, but didn’t have time for self-reflection. As if there wasn’t enough going on already, he had to look after a girl who’d practically been left on his doorstep with a note.

The guy Charming had called Talon, slid off his stool, but before he left, he said, “Good luck, Leader. It’s going to take more than a word from me to keep males away from that.” He threw a last glance toward Ana then walked away taking his tankard with him.

Charming slid onto the vacated stool. “So you found the note, found your way here, and ordered supper. You’re more resourceful than you look.”

“No idea if that was an insult or a compliment.”

He smiled and shook his head. “More like playful banter.”

Playful banter?

“If anybody makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, let me know and it will be dealt with.”

Ana barked out a laugh and looked around the room. “You have no idea what my life is like. Believe me, it would take more than some hot guy coming on to me at a bar to make me ‘feel uncomfortable’. While we’re on the subject, I don’t like being treated like property and I don’t think people ought to die just for speaking to me.”

Charming looked at her like she was crazy. First, he’d never heard the term ‘hot’ used to describe a person, but inferred that it meant sexually desirable. He found that distasteful at best because he knew the male he’d retired from the flirting pool and knew Talon couldn’t possibly be considered desirable by anyone. Not even
human
females. And, second…
die?

“Who said anything about dying?”

She scowled. “Didn’t you say they’d be ‘dealt with’?”

He stared at her for a few seconds noticing for the first time that her eyes were fascinating enough to enthrall if he stared too long. Up close he could make out the little gold, yellow, and brown flecks that formed a kaleidoscope of color around her pupil.

“You must have come from a pretty rough place. Here ‘dealt with’ usually means having a talk. Not killing.”

“Oh.”

Charming’s alpha presence was even more powerful when he was just a few inches away. Her eyes came to rest on the long eyelashes shading his eyes, then moved down his straight nose, and stopped again at his lips, which were full and twitching at the corners like he knew she was cruising his features and was amused.

“I left the apartment unlocked. You didn’t leave me a key.”

“Not a problem. I never lock it. Don’t even have a key”

“You don’t?”

“No. There’s nothing to be afraid of. No one would dare enter a closed door without permission, especially not
my
door.” He could see by the look on her face that she wasn’t ready to accept that at face value. “But if it will make you feel safer I can get a lock installed and give you a key.”

She nodded. “On my bedroom door, too. It doesn’t have to have a key. Just one of those things on the handle that you turn.”

It was at that point Charming realized that Rosie hadn’t told Ana that he and a lot of other people she was sharing space with were hybrids. If she’d been told, she’d know how ludicrous it would be to expect a simple door lock to provide protection from someone as strong as he was. He didn’t think the time was right for that conversation and he knew it didn’t cost anything to let her have the illusion that a flimsy little lock would be a deterrent to a hybrid who wanted in. Those locks could barely give pause to human males, much less Exiled.

“Okay.”

Scar appeared in front of them and wordlessly set a steaming bowl of stew in front of Ana with a large spoon, a butter knife, a chunk of multigrain artisan bread, and a square container of butter. Ana thought perhaps it looked and smelled better than any meal she’d ever been close to before, including the steak in the hotel.

Charming watched as she picked up the spoon.

“Are you going to stare while I eat?” she said. While it wouldn’t normally bother her to be watched, she felt self-conscious eating with Charming looking on. As her anxiety about the situation was receding, she was becoming more and more aware of his sexually charged bigger-than-life presence and the electrical energy that seemed to collect around him.

She had an image of a cartoon character with a rain cloud above his head that followed him wherever he went. Only Charming’s cloud wasn’t about bad luck. It was about power. Maybe he was Thor.

His lips pulled into a smile as he noticed she’d started out staring then mentally taken flight into some sort of private fantasy. But that smile froze when the sounds of a bar skirmish broke out behind him. Ana’s attention was yanked back to reality when the enormous guy behind the bar roared loud enough to make the glasses and bottles rattle on the shelves behind him.

Ana looked up just in time to see the bone-chilling sight of Scar’s fangs fully extended. Adrenaline kicked in so fast and powerfully that she could feel her accelerated heartbeat pounding in the inner part of her ears.

“You are NOT tearing up my bar again you idiot fuckers!” he yelled just before he gracefully jumped over the bar from a flatfooted stand still.

When Charming turned back to Ana, she wasn’t on the stool next to him. She was in the corner with her back to the wall, shaking, and trying to make herself as small as possible.

Scar ousted the troublemakers, returned to his place behind the bar then followed Charming’s gaze to where Ana cowered, obviously scared to death.

“Let me guess,” Scar said to Charming. “You didn’t tell her what we are.”

Charming shook his head. “Guess it’s time to have that talk.”

“I’d say so.” Scar shook his head before returning to the business of running a pub.

Charming approached Ana slowly. When he neared, she held her hand out as if to ward him off.

“Come on,” he said softly. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Come back to the bar. Finish your supper and I’ll tell you the story of what we are.” Her hand was still shaking and she didn’t look ready to comply. “Rosie wouldn’t leave you with me if it meant you’d be in danger.”