His lips formed a wickedly crooked smile. “They won’t find you because I won’t let them.”
“And who are you, exactly?” Cassie raised a single eyebrow in question at him.
He leaned forward until his mouth was mere inches from hers.
“I’m yours,” he whispered.
Cassie snorted out a short, abrupt laugh to cover up the gasp his words caused. “Does that work on all the girls?”
Suddenly his head whipped up as the handle of the door began to jiggle. Cassie’s body tensed as she turned to look at the door, ready to bolt like a frightened animal.
“Cassie, are you in there?” Cassie let out a relieved breath as she heard the voice of her father.
She took a step towards the door but was stopped abruptly when an arm snaked around her waist. She let out a gasp of air as her back came in contact with a very firm chest. She felt his breath on her ear as his lips grazed her skin.
“I will see you again, beautiful.”
She closed her eyes briefly as she tried not to enjoy the sensation of being held so confidently. When he released her she headed quickly for the door and as she unlocked it and began to turn the knob, she felt his breath on her neck again and then a whisper.
“Trik, my name is Trik.”
She turned to look over her shoulder at him but there was no one there.
Chapter 2
“Light elves have one mate—their Chosen. They love that one with totality and unquestioning faithfulness. For all the darkness that lives inside a dark elf, for all the evil that is innately born in them, they too have but one mate. And whatever the reason, the ferocity and intensity they love their Chosen with is neither lessened by their evil, nor sacrificed because of who and what they are.” ~Myrin, Advisor to Lorsan
Trik stood leaning up against a large tree in the deserted park, the lateness of the night having driven the humans to the perceived safety of their homes. He debated whether to go and report back to Lorsan or wait until he had his emotions under better control. He didn’t want to get into what had happened with the beautiful girl, Cassie. He had plucked her name from her mind when he had touched her. As soon as his skin had made contact with hers , it was evident to him that her beauty wasn’t just skin–deep. She was beautiful down to the deepest part of her soul, and that should be enough to make him stay away. But he knew he wouldn’t, especially since she had seen the light elves in their true form. For all the good in the light elves, they still lived according to their laws and a human who had seen them in their true form had forfeited their life—whether it was their fault or not. As soon as she had walked into the room where he had been spying on the light elves and turned to look at him, she owned him. There was no way that he would let Tamsin and his band of goody-two-shoes touch a single hair on her head.
He shook his head and chuckled as he remembered the look in her eyes when he had told her that he was hers. What he hadn’t said, and what would have probably sent her running straight into the arms of the ones searching for her, was that not only was he hers, but she was his. And that was why he couldn’t go see his King right then.
He pushed away from the tree and decided to head for one of the many businesses that his people owned. It would do him good to surround himself with some good old-fashioned greed to remind him of who and what he was. Like the light elves, the dark elves had many businesses in the human realm. It was a good way for the elves to justify coming here to keep tabs on the various other species that had decided to make this realm their home. But where the light elves businesses had to do with the wellbeing of the earth, the dark elves’ businesses had everything to do with self-indulgence, feeding off of the baser needs of humans and the potential for darkness and evil deep in their hearts.
Deciding he needed a distraction from the beautiful human, Trik headed in the direction of the stores just beyond the park. He found what he was looking for in a large glass front window where he could see his reflection. Elves could travel from realm to realm as well as to other cities using mirrors, or glass as long as there was a reflection of themselves in it. They needed only to think of where they wanted to go and then step into the glass. He pictured the lights of Vegas in his mind and took a step forward, his leg slipping easily through the glass followed by the rest of his body. On the other side , he stood in front of Iniquity, one of the many casinos in Las Vegas that his people owned. The bright lights flashed across his face; the city noise and chatter of humans was music to his ears. He could feel the greed, the lust , and the depression that swirled around the city in a thick fog. He inhaled a deep breath, smiling as he thought to himself; this is where I belong, not drooling over some human girl . Yet even as the thought passed through his mind, he knew he would see her again. He headed into the casino looking to find one of the few humans he dared to call a friend and hopefully a good card game.
~
“So why exactly were you hiding in that conference room?” Cassie’s father asked as they walked out to the parking lot after having locked up his office.
Cassie had been trying to figure out what to tell her father. She didn’t want to freak him out, nor did she want to sound like she was off her rocker, but she didn’t want to lie to him either.
“Are there any unusual people who work in your building?” She asked carefully.
“What do you mean by unusual?” He asked as they arrived at her car.
“Like long, shiny hair, unusual colored eyes, and pointy ears unusual?” Cassie cringed as she said the last part. She knew how it sounded, and the look on her father’s face just confirmed the sanity, or lack thereof, in her statement.
He thought for a moment before he replied. “The owners of our company are a little odd looking.”
Cassie jumped on that statement. “Odd, how?”
Her dad scrunched up his face as he tried to describe them. Of course, a man trying to describe anyone in any amount of useful detail was a little bit of a stretch.
“Well, they don’t have long hair, or pointy ears, but they are…” he scratched his forehead and searched for the words, “well, for lack of a better term, beautiful.”
Cassie’s mouth dropped open and her mind jumped to the tall, incredibly handsome, and yes, beautiful , guy who called himself Trik. She remembered how his appearance had seemed to shift before her very eyes, though both forms were unbelievably beautiful.