Entangled With the Thief (5 page)

Mel shouldn’t have laughed at the alpha, and she knew she shouldn’t have challenged him in his own home. But with Cassie’s pronouncement, he seemed to forget it all. After Krista put a small sleeping spell on the girl, Mel, Krista, Luke, and Maya all met in his crowded little office to discuss the game plan.

“First you tell me what the hell
that
was in there,” Luke demanded.

Mel didn’t like his tone. She wasn’t accustomed to working so closely with her clients. Orders were for other people. But Krista could hold her own against the alpha. “It’s a bridge created by the hex. Temporary and more or less one way. We could hear him, but he couldn’t hear or see us. He probably sent the message knowing that the girl would be guarded at all times and that someone would hear it.”

Mel hopped in before Luke could ask more questions, “Whatever they want, they’re going to offer it in exchange for fixing Cassie. And judging by the effects of the hex, they want something big. It's your choice, what we do next.”

Luke didn’t pause to think it through. “We’re getting that damned powder, fixing my sister, and then I am going to obliterate whoever thought they were allowed to hurt her in the first place.”

They spoke through the logistics, but had to break up for Mel to get the proper gear to pull off the heist. For that she needed to go back to Denver, leaving Krista alone in the lion’s den. But Krista insisted that she would be alright alone. Mel was shocked when Luke let her leave without an escort, and less shocked when she made her tail after driving out of town. It was difficult to tail a car down nearly deserted roads. She lost him about an hour before she entered the city.

It took a few hours and several stacks of money to get the documentation and supplies, but she was back on the road to Eagle Creek before her tail found her again.

Luke was ready to leave the moment she got back, and supremely displeased when she insisted that they delay until the morning. “It’s nearly eleven,” she said. “I’ve been running around all day.” She shoved a small manila envelope in his hands. “Our flight leaves at noon tomorrow. Direct to Mexico City. Memorize the details of your passport.” She brushed past him.

He covered the ground between them in two steps and was in front of her before she reached the stairs. “I didn’t give you leave to wander my house freely.”

Mel disdainfully looked him up and down. “I’m going to see Krista. We have some final planning to do.”

“I’ll escort you,” he said.

She huffed, but replied, “Fine.” And let him lead the way.

“There’s a room right down the hall that’s set up for you and Krista. I had her move your stuff into it while you were gone,” he pointed to the door as they passed.

“Thank you.” She’d been planning to stay at the motel in the town, but his house would be even better. And since she didn’t need to hide anything from him, she didn’t see a reason to refuse the invitation. “Shouldn’t this place be crawling with vampires?”

Luke looked over, his expression puzzled. “How exactly do you know what’s supposed to be going on in my territory?”

Mel shrugged and said nothing.

She didn’t think he would answer her initial question, but he surprised her. He’d been doing that a lot. She would have never guessed that he’d volunteer to steal with her. She was more excited at the prospect than she would ever admit. “When Cassie was kidnapped we delayed our plans. For now.”

“What’s the meet about anyway?” Luke’s territory was remote enough that he didn’t need to worry about playing games if he didn’t want to. He could pretend that vampires and witches didn’t exist and most of the time it would have no effect on his world.

“Business. The clan I was meeting with has a proposal for a transportation company, and they want my assurance of safe passage for their trucks down the interstate.” He didn’t try to make it sound intriguing.

Mel laughed. “That seems like something you could handle by email.”

Luke returned her smile. “You know the old ones. If it’s not inscribed in Latin by monks it’s not real communication.” He opened the door to Cassie’s room where Krista sat holding the girl’s hand. He looked at his sister and spoke to Mel. “I wish they had done this to me.”

It hurt to hear him say that, but not in the way that Mel was used to. She didn’t know anyone who would throw themselves in front of a hex for her. She didn’t want someone to do that, but for a second the thought of that level of care appealed. She pushed it aside. “Cassie will be okay,” she tried to comfort him, but his expression had closed off. “Krista is an amazing witch. She’ll get it done.”

He left without saying goodbye, merely nodding and closing the door behind him.

Krista looked up from her patient. “Is that going to be an issue?” she asked.

Mel raised an eyebrow and looked quickly over her shoulder at the closed door and back again. “Is what going to be an issue?”

“You’re making kissy faces with the alpha. I want to know if I’m going to get screwed over when he decides he doesn’t like me.” Steel hardened her tone and she offered no quarter.

Mel wanted to turn back around and go to her room. She didn’t have time to deal with Krista’s distrust. But she hadn’t earned the luxury of asking her to stuff it. She kept her voice low to avoid being overheard. “I was wrong about Chance. I let myself get manipulated by him. I’m not going to do that shit again.” Even saying his name hurt. Two years ago, Chance had been a kindred soul on a heist in Cincinnati. But it turned out that Mel had been the only one to feel that way.

Krista threw her hands up. “I don’t give a shit about Chance.” She fussed with Cassie’s blanket while she continued, “You made a stupid mistake there, so what? But if I can’t trust you to have my back when other people are involved, then I can’t trust you at all.”

Mel crossed the room and stopped herself a moment before she would have put a hand on Krista’s shoulder. “I have your back. That was one time in twenty years, and I couldn’t be sorrier than I am now. But you’re my best friend, Kris. I count on you.”

Krista didn’t turn around, and she spoke so quietly that even with Mel’s excellent hearing she almost couldn’t make out what the witch said. “You’re not sorry. You just want everything to go back to how it was. Newsflash, Mel, we’re not friends, and I can’t count on you. Once this job is done, just… just leave me alone.”

An argument bubbled up in Mel’s throat, a plea for absolution. But it would get them nowhere and only breed resentment. Mel left the room with no idea how to make things right.

Luke was ready at the crack of dawn with only a backpack containing two changes of clothes and a small toiletry kit. Mel instructed him to pack light. Vince, who was still on probation for a stunt involving a snow mobile, had been assigned to take him and Mel to a private airport an hour away from his territory. He hadn’t even known the airport existed, and was beginning to think that a lot more shady dealings were going on around him than he had ever been aware of.

When she came down the stairs, it was evident that Mel was not a morning person. Luke wasn’t either, but he tried to hide it. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she wore no makeup. The clothing she’d chosen looked more comfortable than fashionable, but he thought she wore the hell out of it.

Given that her job more or less required a nocturnal routine, Luke had assumed she wouldn’t be awake come morning. He held up a thermos and handed it over when she reached the bottom of the stairs. “Fresh, black,” he said. “I don’t know how you take it, but we’ve got time if you need to hit up the kitchen.”

Mel flipped back the lid on top and took a long drink, wincing as the liquid burned her mouth. She gave it a second and smiled at him, “Black’s fine. Thank you.”

Vince carried both of their bags out to the car and they followed behind. They settled into the back of a discreet black SUV and Luke pulled the passport that Mel had given him out of his pocket. He flipped through the pages of the document, it drew her eyes downward. Once he had her attention, he asked, “You know I speak Spanish, right?”

“Yeah?” The vehicle pulled out and they were off while he watched Mel try to figure out where he was going with his questions.

“And that I’m Mexican?” He smiled as he continued. Mel just nodded, clearly carefully storing up her quota of words she’d speak in the morning. “So why is my passport Canadian?” He flashed the front page at her where CANADA was written clear as day.

“It was Canada or Greece,” Mel replied. “Do you speak Greek?” She leaned her head all the way back against the seat, exposing the line of her throat and yawning wide.

Luke watched her as she tried to get comfortable, squirming sideways, rearranging her legs, and finally landing half on her side, resting her head on her shoulder and looking in his direction. She looked at him for a long moment before he remembered that she’d just asked a question. “No, unless you count the alphabet.” She nodded, but he wanted to keep her attention. “I thought about rushing in my freshman year, but some other stuff came up.”

Mel laughed. “You don’t seem like the frat boy type.”

Luke angled his body closer, leaning in so that his head half covered the small seat between them. The world rolling by outside didn’t exist as far as he was concerned. All he could see was his thief and her big green eyes. “You’re not using your imagination,” he said. A strand of her hair had fallen out of her ponytail, he reached up and tucked it behind her ear. “I was eighteen years old, a continent away from home, and ready for shenanigans.”

Her eyes sparkled and she bit her bottom lip, “I didn’t know alphas were allowed to engage in shenanigans.”

“I wasn’t an alpha then. Just a dumb kid.” He didn’t have any malice towards his younger self, no matter how stupid he’d been as a teenager. “And California was a bit different than Connecticut.”

She laughed again, the burst of sound engulfing him and loud enough to cause Vince to spare a glance back at them. But the boy quickly averted his gaze. “First it’s frat boy, then Yale. How did you end up banished to the hinterlands of Colorado?” While the mirth roiled through her, she leaned closer and her hand brushed against his arm. He thought it was unintentional, but she didn’t move it back.

“I went to Stanford, thank you.” And he wouldn’t point out that he’d gotten into both schools. There was no need to brag, at least not about that. But answering her question was complicated. “When I was a kid we had a huge territory. Miles and miles and miles, my dad was the alpha of a small pack and my mom ruled at his side. I don’t remember a lot, but I remember the forest.” But he didn’t want to get into all that. He liked Mel against his better judgment, but he didn’t need to tell her everything. “And when we came to America we had this shoebox of an apartment. Scott is great, but he lived in the city. I guess I became a city cat, but then when we came out here…” he looked over her shoulder and smiled at the mountains in the distance. “I knew I had to make it mine.”

He reached for her hand and entwined his fingers with hers. It felt so right to touch her that he couldn’t resist. “What about you? Shock me with stories of the honor roll.”

Mel shook her head, smiling all the while. “No, I was never in any school enough to make honor roll.” She thought for a moment, her eyes rolling up before settling back to normal. “Though I think I have a trophy that one high school gave out to all the honor students.”

“You stole an honor student trophy?”

“Hardly the worst thing I’ve taken.” Pride laced her tone.

It broke the spell. Luke pulled back and sat facing forward in his own chair. The only reason Mel was with him now, the only reason he was in this mess, was because she’d broken into his house and taken something that belonged to him. His sister wouldn’t be in danger if it weren’t for Mel. And he was about to commit several crimes just to undo the damage.

Why the hell couldn’t he remember that when he was around her?

Mel napped for most of the trip to Mexico City after the alpha turned cold. She should have expected his reaction, though she couldn’t quite figure out why it stung so much. She’d done her job, and she didn’t feel bad about that. If only Cassie hadn’t been hurt. No kid deserved to be dragged into shit like this.

They landed at a small, private airstrip outside of the city. Money greased the correct palms on both sides of the border, and they were on the road within fifteen minutes of stepping out of the plane and into the hot Mexican sun. The drive wasn’t far, though as they got close to the city it became beyond clogged. She pulled off the highway after an hour of driving and into a nice residential neighborhood.

“Do we have a plan?” Luke asked, breaking his hours’ long silence. “Or are you going to just knock on this Marco guy’s front door?”

Mel should have fought when he decided to tag along. Bob had to be available somewhere, and he could work with her much better than an angry lion who had retired from a life of theft before he hit puberty. “Yes, I have a plan. I’m not exactly new at this.” She pulled into the driveway of a small, yellow cottage. It would have looked at home on a postcard with two children playing in the small front yard with a dog frolicking beside them. Instead, everything looked perfectly put together, only one step away from sterile.

“Where are we?” asked Luke.

Mel turned and smiled, “My house.” She turned off the car and opened her door. “Come on, we need to get ready to go.”

“You have a house in Mexico City? You have a house at all?” He seemed to be having trouble with the concept as he grabbed his bag and met her on the way to the front door. Mel unlocked it and revealed the orange painted walls and old furniture that made up the living room. Luke stepped inside and took a look around. “It doesn’t exactly scream thieves den.”

Mel set her bag down on the couch and flipped on the lights. “Well, I keep the Picassos in the basement. You don’t just leave those out for anyone to see.” When he didn’t laugh she glanced over her shoulder to see his brows drawn down as he scrutinized her words. “Really?” She asked, “You seriously think I have a stash of stolen art here? It’s a safe house, you know. Meant to be safe.” She gestured down the hallway off the living room. “There’s a bathroom down there. I keep the utilities on all the time so it should be good. Just take a shower and we’ll talk once you’re clean.”

Luke left without another word, walking slowly, studying every inch of her house. After a few minutes she heard the bathroom door close and the water start up. Almost immediately she realized the error of her ways. Luke was getting naked, in the shower, in her house. If she had x-ray vision she could see him right now, he was that close.

Probably a good thing she didn’t. Her resolve only went so far.

She tried to focus, to set things up so that she could give Luke something to study while she cleaned herself up. But the drip of the water against the tile kept distracting her and she could almost picture the water sliding down his tight abs. She’d never seen them, but she’d felt them through his clothes. Very tight.

Her hands balled into fists.

One minute of fantasy wouldn’t hurt anyone. But only one minute, then she had to work. She closed her eyes and breathed deep. His hair would be plastered to his forehead and slicked back against his scalp. And his golden brown skin would be hot under the steaming water. Mel imagined running her fingers over his muscles, tracing shapes in the water and feeling him shiver under her touch.

But her hands wouldn’t be satisfied to play against his arms for long. In her mind she reached down, gliding over the sharp contours of his muscles until her hand hovered right over his naked cock. If she couldn’t have him in real life, she’d settle for a feel in her daydream.

A commotion rose as Luke must have knocked over a bottle on the ledge of the shower.

Mel opened her eyes. That was not part of the fantasy. But the thought of a clumsy alpha made her smile, and then immediately frown. She’d need to think over her plan one more time to ensure he wouldn’t be near anything breakable that could give their plans away.

She was able to keep her attention focused after her small fantasy. And by the time Luke came out of the bathroom, toweling off his damp hair, Mel could safely ignore him. Really, the thought of what he would look like naked wasn’t even a consideration. It was a good thing that being a good liar was a necessity in her job. She could almost believe it when she tried to pull one over on herself.

No matter what she was feeling, she wouldn’t show it. “Read up on Marco while I clean up. We roll out at seven.”

Luke sat down on the threadbare couch and picked up a folder containing all of the pertinent details on Marco’s compound and the security around the powder. He glanced through the first page and looked up. “We can seriously get in there?” He didn’t flash her the picture of Marco’s property. He didn’t need to.

Marco lived in a fortress even more guarded than Luke’s. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter and with the press of a button the entire place could go on lockdown, all windows closed by steel shutters and the doors blocked by concrete. It would be nearly impossible to break in. Luckily, Mel didn’t need to. “He holds a monthly gathering to which I happen to have a standing invitation.” She sat down; it was better to explain this now before Luke read through the material and got spooked. “You’ll go in as my plus one. Marco will think you’re either sleeping with me or that you're my muscle. Or both.” Luke’s nostrils flared, but Mel had to ignore it. That meant nothing.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such trouble focusing on a job.

That thought was a bucket of ice on her train of lust. While it was unpleasant to think about, it did bring her back in line. “Anyway,” she continued when she realized she’d paused for too long. “He keeps his backup supply in his office. We’ll need to switch it out with something of equal weight, but the lift itself shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Do you get chased by a giant stone ball if the measurement is off?” he asked.

Mel smiled. “Not quite, and I don’t carry a whip with me.” She shrugged, “Not usually anyway. There’s a three second delay on the weight sensor. Or there was a year ago. We’re going to have to hope he hasn’t changed that or we’re boned.”

“Won’t this Marco guy have his shit on lockdown if he knows he’s going to have guests?” Luke tossed one paper on the table and picked up another. He didn’t look at Mel while he spoke. “And if you’re friendly enough to have a standing invitation to his Mexican palace, why can’t you just buy this powder from him?”

Mel had to be careful with her response. Men like Luke didn’t like to find out the gritty details that women like her needed to know. And she wasn’t interested in a moral debate. “Stealing is easier than what he’ll ask me to pay. And if I give him what he wants this time, my relationship with the man will be ruined. I’ll be a client, not a colleague.”

“I won’t ask you to prostitute yourself for my sister.” The matter of fact tone, his lack of judgment, lifted a weight from Mel’s chest that she hadn’t realized she’d felt. He offered no censure, and didn’t call her character into question. How refreshing.

But there was more for him to read than she had time to explain, so she stood up from the sofa. “We’ll go over the rest once I’m cleaned up.  Your clothes are in the garment bag.”

Mel took her time in the shower, and even more time afterwards preparing her hair and makeup. For a simple dinner party it would have been alright for her to let her hair hang around her shoulders, but since she knew she’d muss it up in the middle of the heist, she needed to spend more time twisting it every which way and pulling it up. The makeup was simple, a smudge of color around the eyes, a lipstick that claimed it wouldn’t smudge for hours, and a little bit of blush. All part of her uniform.

She pulled on a pair of tight fitting black pants and a dark top. The second Marco saw her outfit he’d be on high alert. Luckily for her, he had no reason to think that she’d steal his powder. And with Luke with her he’d expect it even less. Two shapeshifters couldn’t do magic and had no need for magic potions.

She walked out of the bathroom after nearly an hour and froze in her tracks when she saw Luke. He wore the hell out of his suit. She’d asked Maya to put Luke’s nicest suit in the SUV before they left. And the quality was stunning. It had to be worth at least $3000, perfectly tailored, and fit him like a glove. Mel didn’t lick her lips, but she wanted to. And if the job wasn’t on the line she would have done more than ruffle his hair and wrinkle the clothes.

As it was, she could do neither.

Once her thoughts were under control, she asked, “Armani?”

Luke looked down and straightened one of his sleeves. “Gucci, actually.” He offered no more explanation for why he had such an expensive suit. But Mel had already filed away several details of Luke’s life. The guy came from money. Maybe he hadn’t been born to it, but his stepdad wasn’t suffering for cash. And by that token neither was Luke, not for at least twenty years.

She didn’t hold it against him. In her line of work she had only rarely been strapped for cash. But it was important to know a partner’s background, his potential weaknesses, and his potential strengths.

“Think of this like a business dinner,” she said. “Marco invites anywhere between a dozen and twenty people at least once a month. A few, like me, have standing invitations. We drop in when we’re in town. The rest will be people who either want something from him or who he wants something from.” Mel reached down and dug through her bag. She came out with a small black box.

Luke took it when she offered and flipped open the lid. “I have my own cufflinks,” he said.

Mel smiled. “Not like these.” She pulled out another box and flipped it open to reveal a matching ring. There was a diamond in the middle with a small ruby set along one edge and an emerald on the other. “They’re an enchanted set,” she explained. “Obviously we’ll need to split up at some point. We can use these if we get in deep shit.”

Luke examined his cufflinks, “Do I speak into them?” His tone bordered between sarcastic and serious.

“No,” Mel slipped her ring on and flashed it to him. She twisted the stones toward the ruby.

Luke jerked, tossing the cufflinks up before catching them again. The central diamond had turned a bright red. “It’s hot, what the hell?”

Mel chuckled, “Red means ‘I’m in deep shit, come get me.’” She twisted toward the green and he didn’t jerk this time, but his hand did tighten around the cufflinks. “Cold, right? Green is ‘I’m getting out, meet me at the rendezvous point.’ You just turn the stone either way. Shift back to the center until the diamond is clear again to deactivate the charm.”

He studied the gems, “Clever. Do you have a definition of ‘deep shit’? Or may I trust my own judgment?”

Mel bit her tongue to stop herself from saying anything that would compromise their teamwork. “You’re a big boy,” she settled on, “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

The drive to Marco’s didn’t take long, though Mel didn’t go directly there. She had a few more things to set up before she was ready to put her plan in play. Luke went along, only asking questions every so often and otherwise making no conversation.

As the sun set she pulled up in front of a palatial estate. Marco’s home. A gold and white gate opened to let her drive down a long driveway which led to an enormous house. There were half a dozen arches made of yellow stucco and covered by a tiled roof. The double door to the main entrance was over ten feet wide when both were open. The grounds were covered in verdant grass and trees that took far more water than was natural to maintain in such a hot climate. The house screamed money, and Mel’s hands itched to see what Marco had inside.

But she had to behave; this trip had only one objective.

There were already several cars parked on the driveway. Most, like her, drove dark SUVs, though there was also a Rolls Royce and a Ferrari.

Before they got out of the car, Mel put a hand on Luke’s forearm. “Remember, you’re not Luke Torres in there. You don’t speak Spanish, and you’re trying to hide the fact that we’re sleeping together.”

He sputtered, “What? We’re… I’m—”

“Your character,” she reminded him. “You’re playing a roll. And red is rescue me, green is get out. Don’t be a hero.” She gave his arm a squeeze. “You can do this.”