Nikolas (7 page)

When he reached the tenth floor, Nik got lucky. The fourth door he came to was strong with the honeysuckle fragrance. He reached out with his shifter hearing before knocking on the door. If someone was in the room, they were asleep, because there was no movement at all coming from inside. Right as he was about to walk away, arguing sounded from the room next door.

“I’m telling you, Princess, it’s like the woman has disappeared.”

“And I’m telling you, Drago, to find her!” A glass shattered, and an inner door slammed. Before Nikolas could escape, the door opened, and a large man exited. If Nik hadn’t been paying attention, he’d have been plowed down. He pressed his back to the door he had been interested in, and the man sneered his way. Nik was pretty sure the man was a Gargoyle. His inner beast riled up when the man looked at him in a less than friendly manner. Thankfully, the stranger headed in the opposite direction of the stairs. Nik didn’t hesitate to make a hasty retreat. He didn’t want someone complaining to security that a man was spying on doors or eavesdropping on private conversations, no matter how interesting they were.

Nikolas made his way down the ten flights of stairs and exited through a side door. He wanted to get back to his computer and find out who currently occupied room ten seventeen. While he was at it, he’d also check on the room next door. Nik had his hands full with Sophia, but his curious nature wouldn’t allow him to dismiss the intriguing conversation. As he continued toward the restaurants, he was overwhelmed with another blast of honeysuckle. This one was much more potent than the last. It led him to a small bed and breakfast. He was certain he’d checked all manners of hotel, motel, and inn, so asking if Sophia was there would be a moot point. He did, however, step inside the small inn. Someone was definitely staying there who smelled as sweet as his mate. He added it to his mental list of places to double-check once he returned to his hotel.

The odds of Sophia staying at either place were astronomical. Julian would be able to calculate those odds almost instantly were Nikolas to ask him to. He was okay with not knowing the exact percentage since it would only make him depressed. After leaving the inn, Nik entered the first restaurant he came to. While he was waiting, he sat at the bar and ordered a beer. He had finished his first and ordered a second when his name was called. He paid the bartender and made his way to a small table in the back of the restaurant. Nik had become so accustomed to the southern cuisine of New Atlanta that he wasn’t sure what he would enjoy. He ordered three entrees off the menu and prayed he would find one to his liking.

As he sat sipping his beer, a text came in from Julian letting him know Tessa’s condition. He texted back telling him he was at supper and would call as soon as he returned to his hotel. When his three plates arrived, Nik snapped a photo of the food and sent it to Julian. How he wished his brother was there with him. He would have some smartass comment about the amount of food on the table, but Nik would welcome it. He wondered what Sophia was doing and if she was feeling as alone as he was. He ordered another beer and dug into his food.

Nikolas was pleasantly surprised at how much he enjoyed two of the three dishes. He made a mental note of the one he didn’t care for so he wouldn’t order it again. He passed on dessert and headed back to his hotel. As he passed a small boutique, he noticed the figurines in the window. Most were cats, but he noticed one in particular that called to him. Nik entered the shop and gently lifted a yellow and white ceramic hare. It wasn’t a cute bunny, but it held his interest, nonetheless.

“She is the symbol of fertility and renewal.”

Nik turned toward the voice. The shopkeeper was an older woman dressed in the traditional style of clothing. He had noticed a wide variety of styles as he was walking down the street. The older women preferred the customary clothing, while the younger women dressed more modernly like the women in the States.

“Fertility, huh? I’ll take it.” Nikolas had every intention of mating with Sophia and producing a houseful of little shifters. A fertility trinket couldn’t hurt. After he paid for his purchase, he made his way back to his hotel. Even though he was tempted to stop once again at the Nile Grand, he forced himself to continue on. Once in his room, he took the hare figurine out of the bag and placed it on the desk in front of him.

Instead of calling Julian immediately, he hacked into the computer systems of both the large hotel and the smaller inn. Room ten seventeen was registered to a Clara Fort, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility of an alias. He dug a little deeper to find her credit card and passport information. While he was waiting for that information to populate, he began another search at the bed and breakfast. There was no one registered by the name Sophia or Clara. He ran through the list of names and made note of them all. Once he did that, he set up a program to search credit card and passport information there as well.

His computer dinged indicating the first search was complete. He opened the window and studied the photo associated with the passport. The woman in the picture was an American, but she was not Sophia. Instead of Sophia’s light brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, this woman had both dark hair and eyes. If this was a disguise, it was a damn good one. While Nik waited on the information from the bed and breakfast, he called his brother.

“Nikolas, how are you?” Julian asked instead of saying hello.

“Same as I was earlier. No closer to finding Sophia. At least I don’t think I am.”

“What does that mean? Did something happen to make you believe otherwise?”

Nik explained the honeysuckle, fully expecting his brother to give him shit about following a floral lead instead of a tangible one.

“Don’t dismiss the possibilities just yet. You don’t truly know your mate or what she is capable of. If, like Tessa, she has been influenced by one of the greatest minds the world has ever known, we have no idea what she has in her bag of tricks.”

“That is true.” Nik’s computer sounded letting him know the other search was complete. “I have some information to go over, so I’m going to let you go. I’ll talk to you later.” They said goodbye, and Nik focused on the guests at the bed and breakfast. There were no young, single women registered. The only single woman was an older lady named Beatrice Nightingale. She, too, was an American, but she was old enough to be Sophia’s grandmother.

Nik wasn’t ready to give up, though. He searched the airline logs for Clara Fort. If that didn’t pan out, he would expand his search to neighboring countries. For now though, he was going to take advantage of the small gym in the hotel and hit the treadmill. His shifter was ready to exert some energy, and he couldn’t take to the skies. It was going to be hard to keep the beast at bay until he found his mate.

Beatrice was once again enjoying the company of the Waterfords. Everyone except Yvonne. She was being her usual catty self, and Sophia was doing her best to ignore the woman. Garret and Millicent were filling her in on their trip to the pyramids when Sophia became light headed. She took a sip of water and fanned herself as best she could with her cloth napkin, but the feeling wouldn’t go away. The few times she’d felt that way before were when Nik was close by.
No frickin’ way.

“Beatrice, are you okay?” Millicent asked.

“Yes, please excuse me. I need a bit of fresh air.” Sophia pushed back from the table and hurried to the door of the inn. When she reached the sidewalk, she looked both ways. Nik wasn’t short, but he wasn’t overly tall. Not like some of his cousins. Still, she didn’t see his sandy brown hair walking away. “Get a grip, Brooks,” she chided herself. When she returned to the dining room, Yvonne and Fred were the only ones there. “The youngsters retiring early, huh?” she asked Yvonne with a grin.

The older lady made a rude noise and continued to sip her coffee. Fred gave Sophia an apologetic look, but she just smiled at him. If he wanted to live with her crappy attitude, that was on him. She knew relationships were hard work, and couples wouldn’t always see eye to eye, but to marry a person knowing they were a miserable human being? That was insane.

She was lucky, though. The fates had found the perfect life partner for Sophia. Even if they hadn’t spent any time together, she had followed Nikolas Stone around without him knowing it. She watched every news program his family was featured in, and she read every article in which he was mentioned. The only time she didn’t follow was when he went on a date. The last time he’d taken another woman out, Sophia had nearly lost her mind and interrupted the evening just to prove a point. Had she strolled into the restaurant where Nik and the blonde were dining, he would have figured out then and there who his mate was. At that point, she was still under JoJo’s influence. It didn’t take her long to put a plan together to help Nikolas figure out that Gargoyles were mating with humans and had been for a long time. Had he not come into the library on his own, she was going to anonymously tip him off. It turned out she didn’t have to.

The King of the States, Rafael, met his mate, and that was the impetus needed to start the ball rolling. Now, Tessa and Gregor were together, and Isabelle and Dante had figured out their connection as well. Sophia and Nik would eventually get together. While the three women were actually half-bloods, there was still the human factor. She thought about her aunt and prayed Xenia would be able to convince Keene they were meant to be together.

Sophia couldn’t help herself. She knew poking the bear was wrong, but she turned to Yvonne and said, “I really can’t blame the kids. I remember my honeymoon. Why, my husband and I didn’t come out of our hotel room for days! That man knew how to keep the fires burning, if you know what I mean.” She wiggled her eyebrows, and Yvonne sucked in her coffee at the same time she gasped. When she fell into a coughing fit, Fred swatted her on the back a few good times and grinned at Sophia.

“Bless your heart,” Sophia consoled in her best southern drawl. She hated the fact Millicent was missing the show. If she got the chance, she’d tell her about it later. Sophia was quite fond of the other girl. She and Garrett would be fun to hang around if Sophia were able to be herself. But, she was not. She needed to go to her room and reschedule the ferry ride to Giza for the next day. Once Yvonne calmed down, Sophia excused herself and wished them a good night. Back in her room, she removed the prosthetics and turned on the water in the bathtub. It had been one hell of a day, and she had a feeling the next few weren’t going to be any better.

It took Ezekiel longer than expected to get to Egypt. Cordelia begged him to stay a couple more days, which he did. Eventually, though, he made her see the seriousness of the situation and promised to check on her once Sam and Monica were found. He didn’t have a clue, literally, where to start looking for Sophia other than she had flown to Cairo. He wasn’t an expert in computers, but hacking the airlines was pretty basic stuff. He called Elizabeth once he landed to see if she had heard from the girl. He may look only a few years older than his niece, but he was old enough to be her father. Zeke hadn’t spent a lot of time with her while she was growing up, but once she started her watcher training, he was around her quite a bit. He knew she had studied Tessa intently, as her older cousin was an expert when it came to the cloak and dagger stuff. If Sophia didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t be. Why she hadn’t asked Jonas for help was one of the first questions he was going to ask her when he finally found her.

He settled into his hotel room and relaxed in the large Jacuzzi in his en suite bathroom. He had left his sister in a somewhat decent frame of mind in New Mexico. Zeke found talking someone around after they transitioned to be more challenging than convincing them they would eventually become what he was. He had another sister, Xenia, who lived in Africa. Last he heard, she was in South Africa. Even though Tessa was her watcher, the woman could be anywhere by now. Zeke doubted Sophia would risk her aunt’s well-being by visiting her, but he would not rule out the possibility. All he knew for sure was Sophia had received a note stating Sam and Monica had been taken, and Sophia was to fly to Egypt.

Why would someone kidnap Sam? He was one of the kindest, most decent men Zeke knew, even if he was his brother. Zeke couldn’t say the same thing for himself. He went off the rails for a while when he transitioned. Sam had been the one to talk him back around and even convince him to become a watcher. Sam had come up with the concept of helping their siblings transition, but he knew he couldn’t do it alone being that they were scattered around the world. Ezekiel had nothing better to do considering he didn’t have a mate to worry about. That was another reason Sam wanted Zeke’s help; Sam wanted to be able to spend more time at home with Monica.

The only ones outside of the family who knew Jonas’ true identity were the other Gargoyles of his former clan. If they were targeting Sam to get to Jonas, why wait two hundred years? It was possible his father had pissed someone off and Zeke didn’t know about it. Hopefully not and hopefully this would be an isolated situation. For now, though, he didn’t want to think any more on it. He would do that in the morning. Zeke hit the music icon on his phone, turned on some Sully Erna, and leaned his head back against the tub, willing himself to relax.