How Beauty Met the Beast Read online

  Damn, that was cold. Absolutely true, but cold. A real plant wouldn’t be that much of a bitch, would she?

  Brayden’s dark laugh cut through their argument. “Catrina and I didn’t see your supposed kidnapping. And Hauk doesn’t remember it. I don’t know what really happened last night. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that you figured out how to trigger his blackouts.”

  “Oh my God. I’m not listening to this. My father is in some mythical order of bad guys? You people are nuts. Hauk, get me out of here. If my niece is in danger I need to do something other than waste time defending myself from your paranoid friend.”

  Brayden shook his head. “You can’t just leave. We can’t risk that.”

  “What, I’m kidnapped? He dragged me down here, and now you’re going to keep me?” She turned to Hauk, tears making her eyes sparkle like emeralds. “Hauk, please. I would stay and work this out, but Whitney... I have to do something. Please. Help me do something. I have no idea how to prove to you that I’m not what he says, but...she’s twelve.”

  Hauk stared at the delicate hands clutching his jacket and breathed until he found his calm. The right thing to do became clear. “You don’t have to prove it. Let’s go.”

  “What?” Brayden nearly screamed. “You’re going to get yourself banned, Hauk. Over the daughter of an enemy.”

  “What are we going to do, Brayden? Lo C, Brselck her up? We don’t kidnap people. They do. And this time it’s a child. I don’t care who the girl’s related to, we’re here to help people, so that’s what I’m going to do.” Hauk shouldered his way past his best friend, making room for Jolie’s exit with his bulk. “As far as Miss Benoit is concerned, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past five years it’s to let people be innocent until proven guilty, no matter how bad they look. Banish me when she turns out a liar. Won’t be the first dishonorable discharge on my record.” He held out a hand to Jolie.

  Wide-eyed, suddenly solemn, she took it.

  The Underlight was the best home Hauk had ever known, and pleasing a girl, even one as pretty as Jolie, wasn’t worth its loss. But he’d never been good at following orders when his conscience told him to go another

  way.

  He led Jolie from the room, hoping against reason his trust wasn’t misplaced.

  Chapter Five

  Jolie’s hands shook as she slid Hauk’s loam brown bed sheets into place and tucked them in tightly. Hauk was gone, ostensibly gathering “emergency supplies,” but she thought he might have taken off to cool down. He’d left her in his room with nothing to do but stare at the empty bed they’d slept in together and worry over her niece. She needed action to fill the nervous grind of her thoughts, hence making the bed.

  Though not a Zen type, Jolie considered re-tucking linens back into place, kneading pillows back into shape and smoothing her silk bedspread over the finished product to be a sort of daily meditation. She’d never had to do it before living with Papa Marcel, but despite having a full household staff he’d never wanted them do this particular chore. When she’d arrived on his doorstep with her trunk in tow, he’d taken her to his best guest room and admonished with a mischievous grin, “My bed is my business. Yours should be too. I won’t ask what you do in here as long as Miranda and Ellen aren’t required to clean up after it.”

  The memory brought a smile, despite the drama of the morning.

  After gathering Hauk’s enormous comforter off the floor, Jolie stared at the expanse of his mattress. Despite her initial fears, nothing had happened on this particular bed last night. She winced at the thought of her rescuer’s mangled body. It was unlikely much had happened in his bed for a long time.

  That was a shame. Hauk seemed like a good man, a rare thing in her experience, and nobody should have to be lonely.

  Someone knocked at the door. “Sweetie, you here?” Catrina asked.

  “Yeah. Come in.”

  The door opened and her boss stood in the frame, hands on hips. Her usually coiffed hair was loose and softly curling with the damp from her morning shower, and her oddly gender-neutral attire of jeans and a chunky sweater threw Jolie off.

  “She or he?”

  Catrina frowned as she walked in and shut the door gently behind her. Behind him? “What?”

  “What do I refer to you as in this incarnation? Sorry, should I not ask that? You look...like a guy. I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”

  She smiled (it was hard to think of Catrina as a he), and the expression was so down to earth that Jolie had the odd feeling a stranger was watching her. “At the day job I let everyone call me ‘he.’ My birth FUs0n wname is Carlton McGregor, and that’s who a lot of people know me as. But I prefer ‘she.’ With or without the makeup, that’s who I really am. This one’s just—” she motioned to herself, “—the packaging.”

  Jolie nodded, relieved that her Catrina was the real one and this unknown entity the imposter. The world was already upside-down enough without adding Catrina as a man with a day job into the mix.

  “You’re doing a nice job.” Catrina moved to the other side of the bed and they worked in concert to right the comforter.

  “You sound surprised.” Why did everyone think rich girls were incompetent? Damn reality TV. Jolie was quite sure she wasn’t that bad. Was she?

  Catrina shrugged. “You’re not who I thought you were.”

  Jolie’s jaw clenched, but she forced it to relax. “I told you my name when I auditioned. Besides, it’s not like it changes who I am.”

  Catrina snorted. “If only that were true. You never seemed... I suppose few people are exactly what they seem at first glance.” She stared at the bed, as if chewing through new information as her hands mechanically worked. Finally she said, “You’re a gifted dancer, and I’m with Hauk. I think this is all a big misunderstanding. But if I’m wrong and you’re here to screw these people, you deserve every smite of bad karma it brings.”

  The umbrage started again, tightening Jolie’s shoulders as she slapped the last pillow into place, marring the perfect bedding with one angry swipe. “I’m not screwing anyone. I had no idea about any of this. What I am doing is freaking out. My niece is missing. I just checked my phone, and Angela, my sister, has left three messages about it. And Hauk is taking forever putting together some ‘emergency pack’ that he insisted was necessary.”

  “You’re going to need it.”

  “Huh?”

  Catrina came around to the foot of the bed and sat, then patted the space beside her. Jolie joined her boss and tried to still the fidgeting in her fingers and ankle.

  A calming hand dropped onto her leg. “First off, your niece is fine. She’s the granddaughter of a member. They’re not going to hurt her.”

  “They were willing to hurt me.”

  “You’re an adult. Whitney is an innocent little girl, and evil masterminds that they are, her age will still make a difference to Ananke.” Catrina patted her knee reassuringly. “I’d even bet they had someone she knows pick her up from camp and she’s sitting pretty in a comfy room with junk food and video games. She’s not locked in a closet terrified for her life. Your dad is being obstinate about something, and as soon as he gives in, they’ll give him Whitney back safe and sound. So play this smart. Not fast. Truth be told, you’d be safer—and provided your father gives in, Whitney might be better off—if you just let them work it out.”

  Jolie clenched her jaw. “Nobody’s better off knowing what convenient political leverage they are. As just came up, my father is a powerful man. He has ties to national leaders all over the globe. His influence can move world events. You don’t kidnap the granddaughter of a media magnet to change a paper route...you want something big. Somebody needs to stop them before Papa gives in and Whitney lives with that guilt.”

  “Then at least let Hauk take his time. You’ll need all the emergency supplies you can get. Sweetie, they are b Ke, th="1em">

  “Yeah, yeah. Secret boys’ club directing the moti
ons of the cosmos as they cackle and crack their knuckles with Machiavellian glee.”

  Catrina hissed an ominous breath. “Not this boys’ club. They have an agenda. Some end goal. I don’t know what it is, but they’re not content to remain the power behind the throne.”

  “And you know this because...?”

  She ignored the question, seeming deep in her own thoughts, before adding softly, “And they use magic.”

  “Magic,” Jolie deadpanned.

  Catrina nodded, strangely serious. “Magic. The real thing.”

  Jolie couldn’t help a derisive snort. “Flinging fireballs? Lightning from the fingertips? Come on. If they’ve got guns, they’re scary enough. I don’t need fairy tales.”

  “No, not that Dungeons & Dragons crap. Magic is about working your will on the world. It’s about energy. I’d heard you were Wiccan. How do you not know this?”

  Jolie shook her head. “Used to be, in my rebellion phase back in high school. Now I’m firmly in the don’t-know-don’t-care category of religion. So you’re not scaring me with the spiritual warfare business. Sorry, but no way.”

  “Magic is real, and Ananke can use it, and if you don’t watch out—”

  “No, they don’t.” The voice came from the doorway. Hauk strode in and tossed a rucksack on the bed, further marring the clean lines. “I’m with Jolie on this. Magic isn’t real.”

  Catrina huffed. “How can you of all people insist that?”

  The hooded look in Hauk’s eyes betrayed the presence of yet another deep secret.

  “What do you mean, him of all people?”

  His eyes widened in a subtle threat.

  Catrina hunkered down but pursed her lips defiantly. “He’s on the front lines fighting them. He’s seen it. For God’s sake, man, you’re Pagan. How can you not believe in magic when you’ve seen it?”

  He tugged on a hammer-shaped charm hanging on a cord around his neck. “I’m Heathen. We’re not into the woo-woo. I’ve seen nothing that can’t be explained by science and psychology. People see weird shit when they’re fighting. The mind doesn’t have time to process all the details and fills in with whatever dogma you’ve got trained into you—God, magic, universal nihilism—we see what we expect to see. Me? I believe in gods. I believe in my ancestors. I can even buy that some people have a sixth sense about things. But hocus-pocus, shake my Anubis rattle and poof, the world changes? No.”

  “Wait a minute,” Jolie inserted and turned to Catrina. “Why do you believe they do magic?”

  Catrina shot a questioning glance at Hauk. Jolie looked between them as something passed again.

  Whatever it was made Catrina grumble under her breath before she turned to Jolie. “You might’ve heard someone mention my day job. I’m in marketing and I work at a funky little place on the East side. What most people don’t know is that I used to be corporate. I’m good. I’m really good.” She gave a half smile full of pride without one ounce of pompousness. Jolie took her at her word, even as the notion of Catrina as a dude in a cubicle stra K cufull of prined her imagination. “Good enough to be noticed by important people with big connections and deep pocketbooks. I was courted by Ananke. I’ve been in their temple—”

  “Temple?”

  “Temple,” she said firmly. “To that bitch goddess. But I was young and still figuring out who I was. It became clear they wanted Carlton and only Carlton. A fast track to money, power, success, and all I had to do was give up this new person I’d discovered, the one I wanted to be.” Her eyelashes fluttered before she looked Jolie steadily in the eye. “The real me.” She took a deep breath. “Believe me when I say they can do magic. I’ve seen it. So has Hauk, even though he won’t admit it. And that, my sweets, is more powerful than any gun.”

  Hauk shoved a change of clothes into his rucksack and tied it shut. “You done?”

  Catrina narrowed her eyes at him. “Bring her back in one piece.”

  His expression softened and he nodded before turning to Jolie. “Ready?”

  The weight of the question settled on Jolie more heavily than she’d anticipated. She licked her lips. “Yeah.”

  He tossed a slip of fabric and it landed in her lap.

  “What’s this?”

  “Blindfold.” He crossed his arms as if daring her to protest.

  Jolie didn’t buy the magic bit, but that didn’t change that she was in some serious shit and Hauk was risking his home to help her out. She slipped the fabric across her eyes and tied it, then offered Hauk her hand.

  The hand he placed in hers felt warm, even through the gloves he’d slipped on that morning with the rest of his clothing. His fingers were gentle as they pulled her up next to him. Recognition flashed, blind touches through fabric, heat and pleasure. But she squashed the memories along with the blush that heated her cheeks. Her beautiful fantasy with wicked hands was not the same as this mess that Hauk had literally dragged her into (while saving your life). She shook her head and squashed that thought, too. “Lead the way.”

  * * *

  Hauk’s low voice rumbled, telling her she could remove the blindfold. Jolie found herself at the electric company, standing in front of the makeshift stage she’d commanded. Was that only last night? She kicked at the confetti on the ground, wishing she could go back to the joyous festivities. “I guess I should go to the police. My car’s—”

  He shook his head. “No police. We get her back, you and me.”

  “How? They should know what happened to me. It could help.”

  His anger sparked. “What are you going to tell them? How are you going to explain that you got away and then didn’t bother to report it until this morning? The Underlight may have cleaned up the bodies, but if the police send a CSI team to the alley, they’ll find something, and that something may link them back to my people. You said you’d keep us secret. That means we work outside the system. I’m sure that goes against everything you’ve been taught by good-old-boy Reggie, but as someone who’s been burned by that system, inside and out, I’m telling you it’s corrupt and we can’t trust it. If you want my help, we do this my way.”

  Jolie couldn’t blame his outburst, but it riled her all the same. “So can you explain ‘your way’ before we start? Because if you think you’re going to turn me into your little thoughtl Kttlr all theess servant, you should know I’m not so good at following orders.”

  He rocked back on his heels and rubbed a hand across his face. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Well, what did you mean?”

  He studied his boots with the focus of a man who’d never seen footwear before as he wrestled his temper back under control. Finally he met her eyes again and held up two fingers. “Two things. First, no involvement of police or other forms of so-called authority, including your dad and his media empire. Besides making me twitchy, involving outside sources makes it more likely the Underlight will be found. I want to help your niece, but there are a lot of children below who I’m honor-bound to protect.”

  Jolie considered that before nodding. “I’ll try it your way first. I don’t promise I’ll keep quiet if talking may bring about Whitney’s return, so I hope you have a plan.”

  Hauk’s lips thinned, but he nodded.

  “But if I do talk, I will stand by my promise to not mention the Underlight. Or you. What’s the second thing?”

  “We stick together. I want to trust you, Jolie, but I’d be an idiot if I ignored that Brayden’s solution, that your father sent you to infiltrate us, may be right.” He stiffened as if he feared the rejection of his presence in a personal way. It reminded her of their earlier interaction, before Whitney went missing and Brayden’s accusations, when Hauk first opened his eyes and was so clearly terrified of what the girl in his bedroom would say.

  The reminder made her relax. They were a team. He’d more than proved it when he’d left the Underlight. “No problem. Just don’t hog the covers again tonight.” His jaw dropped, and she curled her lips, smug. Any mal
e who thought he could tell her what to do deserved a little harassment. “My car’s this way. Come on.”

  Truth be told, she felt better with Hauk on the case than all the police in Austin and the bureaucracy that got in the way of effective action. Appearances could be deceiving; a badge didn’t make someone a good person, and following the rules didn’t always lead to success. But she’d never been around anyone who so completely eschewed convention.

  Moving from ballet to burlesque was a tame kitten in comparison to moving from soldier to anarchist. Hauk may just be her new hero. And together, they would get Whitney back.

  * * *

  Hauk jogged to catch up with Jolie as she strode from the building into a nearly empty parking lot. He tried not to focus too much on the way her firm ass swayed with each step, but damn, it was hard. “You were kidding, weren’t you.” He tried to keep the hope out of his voice, to make it a statement of fact, but the image of her sliding under the covers beside him—because she wanted to this time—played through his brain in a tantalizing loop.

  “Yup. But don’t worry. My guest room’s got a big TV.”

  The despair was gone from her eyes as she pulled keys from her pocket, and despite the small (but expected) rebuff, he smiled in relief. “No, I meant kidding about the covers. I’m a perfect gentleman in bed.”

  She lifted one eyebrow and gave him a mock glare. “I don’t doubt. It’s the least you can do after conking your date on the head and dragging her there.”

  He stopped, once again horrified. “I knocked you out?”

  “N Kizeth="1o! No. I was teasing. The guy who—” she hesitated, “—attacked my person dropped me pretty hard on the floor of the van. I passed out from that.”

  “Attacked your...” The way Jolie drew back at those words told Hauk the story, and a predatory protectiveness gripped him. He would track down every last one of the bastards who’d gotten away and make his destruction last night look gentle.