The Diamond Heartstone (2 page)

shouldn't have put it on knowing she would never be able to buy it. Her

fingers fumbled around for the clasp but met only chain links.

The woman held up her hands. "No, no leave it on."

"But I can't afford this."

"You didn't even ask how much it was." The woman crossed her

arms in front of her sagging chest. Her wrinkled skin pinched at the

corners of her mouth as she smiled.

"How much is it?" Alycia tried to keep the longing from her voice

and failed miserably. The stone was so beautiful and felt so... so... right.

Like it belonged to her.

The woman arched an eyebrow. "How much money do you have?"

"Seriously, how much is it?" The fold of ten one dollar bills bulged

in the pocket of her jeans. Money for lunch today. She'd go without lunch

for this. Who wouldn't?

"Ten dollars," the woman said, tilting her head at Alycia.

"Are you sure this isn't stolen?"
Please say no. Please say no.

"I’m sure, now do you want it or not?"

Alycia reached into her pocket, pulled out the crumpled bills and

handed them over. She shouldn’t be buying this. It went against every

saving instinct she'd followed for the last five years. She never let anyone

talk her into an impulse buy.

Live a little. If you don't, what in the word have you been working for?
It

was only ten dollars. Ten dollars. She reached up and stroked the smooth

stone and the pawing at the pit of her stomach eased. It was hers, bought

and paid for.

"It will bring you much happiness," the woman said, pocketing the

money.

"Hopefully." Alycia stepped back from the stall. She nodded her

thanks to the woman and moved down the aisle. She was well and truly

broke now. Might as well catch the BART back to the hotel.

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

She was steps away from the small exit of the market when one of

the stall vendors called out to her.

"You there. Yes, you," the man said, pointing at her.

She looked away pretending not to hear him. She didn't have any

more money. Even if she did, the too shiny look of the gold in front of him

screamed ‘fake’. One hundred percent gold. Yeah, right. Gold plated was

more like it. They’d probably turn your skin green.

The little man rushed around the edge of his stall. He actually ran

up behind her. She stopped and waited on him to catch her. He had to be

just over five feet. His shirt and pants looked a little too tight. And who in

the world wore dress shoes to a flea market? Even if you were a vendor.

Dust kicked up around him as he stopped and he let out a series of

rattling coughs. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help but notice your necklace. Do you

mind if I have a look at the pendant?"

"Sure," Alycia said, more than a tiny bit proud of her new trinket.

She bent down so that he could pull the necklace up to his eyes.

He put a small eyepiece up to his face. "Just like I thought. Nothing

shines like a diamond."

Alycia yanked back. "Diamond?" He had to be mistaken. "This isn't

a diamond. It's a rhinestone or quartz or something," she stammered.

"You see that jewelry stand over there?" He pointed to his tiny stall.

"That is my stall. It is filled with drill diamonds. Those things are so tiny

the naked eye can barely see them. If I can tell the difference between that

and glass, I think I can tell if that is a diamond.‛ His tongue rushed out to

wipe the spittle that dripped from the corner of his mouth.

She didn't mean to agitate the man. But the thought of buying a

diamond this size for ten dollars was ludicrous. Ridiculous. More than

ridiculous.

"Look, I just bought this for ten bucks. No one would sell a diamond

this size for ten bucks," she said, suddenly suspicious. Did he and that old

woman have some type of scam going on?

"It's not a perfect diamond. It has four large fault lines that run

straight through it, but still it is a desirable piece. How much?" he said,

digging into his pocket.

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

"Excuse me?"

"How much do you want for it?"

"It's not for sale." She closed her hand around the heart and started

walking again. She was getting the hell out of here. Let him and that old

woman run their scam on someone else.

The man pulled on the edge of her elbow to stop her. "Ten

thousand."

"Let me go." She yanked away from him.

"Fifteen."

"It's not for sale," she said, suddenly getting nervous. If someone

heard this outrageous conversation they might try to kill her for the

damned necklace. She should have never stopped when he came running

after her. She sped up. Her long legs ate up the ground, leaving him

behind.

She had almost made it out of the flea market parking lot when

someone grabbed her shoulder from behind.

"Going somewhere?" a security guard asked her. His grip tightened

on her arm. "Let's go see what kind of trouble you're in."

"Let me go," she said, yanking hard on her arm. "I haven't done

anything."

"If that's true, why is that man chasing and yelling after you?"

Alycia bit the inside of her lip. No matter what she said he wasn't

going to believe her. He'd already made up his mind she was a thief.

Guilty until proven innocent. God, this is why she preferred animals to

people. One person might be okay but people in general could be so

stupid.

"Sir, is there a problem?" the guard asked the short heaving man as

he practically dragged Alycia behind him.

She stared hard at the little man. If she had intended to sell the

necklace, she definitely wasn't going to sell it to him now.

"No, sir. I was only admiring her necklace." The man was clearly

sensing he was causing more trouble than he wanted.

"Now, let me go." She yanked her arm out of the guard’s hands.

"Asshole.‛ She walked away from both of them. Her hands immediately

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

moved to the diamond. She rubbed along the smooth surface and let her

anger drain away.

"At least show me where you bought the damn thing," he yelled

after her.

No way. He could find it on his own. She was here as a rep for Big

Cat Heaven for a series of lectures on the mating of captive tigers. She’d

volunteered for this trip for a free mini vacation before graduation. But she

didn’t sign on for this bullshit. She was getting the hell out of here. She

loved the scenery in San Francisco but the people and crowds always

reminded her why she hated it.

As she stepped onto the BART train, her fingers glanced over the

warm stone. It felt so natural, so right. It was hard to believe she just

bought it about an hour ago.

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

It didn't hit him right away that the meat in front of him was

actually red. In the last six months, it seemed he'd forgotten what colors

actually looked like. At first, it had been simple to close his eyes and pull it

up from memory. But as one month turned into two then three, some of his

memories began to fade. The explosion of color was almost an assault on

his eyes. The red of the meat, the blue, green and orange of the fruits and

vegetables. His suffering was over.

"She did it." All doubts about The Peddler disappeared. He looked

around the communal dining room as if he was a young cub once again,

gaining the ability to see in color. He could even see the light color in the

not too distant stars.

"Did what?" Timbal, his pack brother, asked.

"Nothing." He refused to raise anyone's hope. This union could be a

disaster. But if it wasn’t…

"More secrets?" his brother teased before sinking his teeth into a

large piece of meat and pulling it from the bone. "First half of your credits,

now this. Better not let the medics find out. They quarantined you for a

week over your eyes. Wonder what they’d do if they found out you’re

talking to yourself?"

"Shut up," he said, pushing his brother onto the floor. "You breathe

a word of this and you'll be dealing with more than you can handle." The

fact that the medics around the plant were all reporting significant

breakdowns in their DNA meant every single charge was taken seriously.

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

Every outbreak dealt with. Some permanently. It was the main reason he

needed to find a mate off-world. His descendants would live on while the

purist died out.

"Threats?"

"Promises, Lil Bro. Promises." He rose from the table and warmth

enveloped him. Light fingers ran down the length of his back. He could

swear someone was stroking him.

His penis stood at attention. He needed to get out of here before

someone noticed the large bulge in his pants. He marched to the door and

left the room without a backwards glance.

Another long caress down the front of his body pulled a groan from

him. That damned witch hadn't mentioned anything about this. Another

one down the front of his face and along his neck. Barrick turned to the

cool wall outside the door. He leaned his head along the silver metal as his

body went up in flames.

His need to mate just revved from zero to light speed in a matter of

minutes. The Peddler better bring his mate soon.

* * * * *

Two million dollars. Two freaking million dollars. The man's words

seemed foreign to her. How in the world could a ten-dollar piece of glass

be worth even a fraction of that?

"Did you hear me, miss?"

"I'm sorry. It's not for sale." Her fingers trembled as she pushed the

pendant inside her blouse. She turned around and left the shop.

This wasn't possible. Things like this didn't happen to her. She'd

gone to the pawnshop on a whim. An impossible whim.

She didn't doubt for a moment that the guy behind the counter had

low-balled the value. Hell, the pawn shops in Oakland where she grew up

rarely gave more than ten percent of what something was truly worth. She

wasn't new to how businesses like that operated. And she knew that guy at

the flea market had been trying to cheat her.

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

* * * * *

"What the hell do you mean you're not bringing her to me?" Barrick

growled at the woman on the vid screen inside his office.

"Just what I said. It's not my job to bring her to you. I’m paid to find

her." Her boredom with the conversation blared across the speaker. She

drummed her fingers on the dark glass of the table in front of her.

"You had her? In front of you, and it was too much to ask that you

just pick her up and bring her to me?"

"That's not the way it works."

"I could give a fuck how it’s supposed to work. I paid a lot of credits

for you to find my mate and what?" He slammed his hand onto the chair

arm. The bolts groaned but held.

"I found her but I cannot bring her over to this side.‛

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked, running his tongue along

his top teeth in agitation.

"It means that your mate exists in another dimension. I can't bring

her across but since she now possesses your heartstone, you can."

"And how do I do that?"

"You figure it out because frankly that's not my problem." She hit a

series of buttons and the screen went blank.

Barrick slammed his fist on the chair repeatedly until the bolts

snapped and the left arm of the chair clanked onto the floor. She expected

him to live in this constant state of arousal? To feel these phantom hands

stroking him all hours of the fucking day and night? He'd find that witch

and make her take him to his mate.

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The Diamond Heartstone by Leila Brown

Alycia turned the ATV to swerve around the trunk of the downed

tree. Ten million dollars. The internet appraiser had told her that he was

low-balling it. With only photos to go by, he couldn’t be one hundred

percent accurate. Why would someone sell a necklace worth ten million

dollars for ten bucks? She could sell the damn thing and open up her

own practice. Hell, with that amount of money, she could open her own

big cat preserve.

She hit a bump and the necklace jostled in the gap between her

breasts. Her nipples hardened at a sudden infusion of heat. Yeah, she

could get ten million dollars if she could make herself take the damn

thing off. It wasn't that she thought anyone would steal it. The warmth

was soothing, calming, even with the vibrating machine between her