Charming (A Seven World Novel) (3 page)

A muscle twitched in Prince’s cheek, and he leaned back. Just the thought of a male harming a child sent a reaction through him like fire racing up a trail of gasoline toward an explosive. “How can someone your size capture these men?”

Kat swept her dark hair back, unaware she had a dab of tomato sauce on the corner of her mouth. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear the underlying sexism in that remark. I’m tougher than I look, and so is my wolf.”

“Are you armed?”

She eyed him suspiciously and bit off another piece of her crust. “I carry a stunner because sometimes I have to track down the occasional Mage.”

Stunners were weapons, usually knives, infused with magic that would paralyze a Mage if embedded in their flesh. “And what if they are not a Mage?”

“Well, as it turns out, knives come in handy with just about anyone. Except Vampires. I once paralyzed a Vamp after driving a wooden spike through his shoulder, but I don’t like getting that close to them. They have a nifty trick of snapping necks with a flick of the wrist. I won’t be doing
that
again,” she said almost to herself, picking up a giant glob of cheese from her plate and putting it in her mouth.

Prince had never met a beautiful woman with such atrocious table manners. And yet her behavior wasn’t vulgar so much as it was quirky. Kat fascinated him in a way that took him off guard. She reminded him so much of Alex.

“Are you also estranged from your father?” he asked coolly, hoping she would give him more answers than Nadia had.

The twins looked between each other and Kat dropped her pizza crust into the box. “Estranged? I’ve been looking for the man for the past two decades.”

Prince quit chewing his food and swallowed the last bite. “Would you mind explaining?”

“While my sister wants to sit there and pretend that our father left us, I know for a fact he’s in trouble. Someone took him, because he would
never
go this long without getting in touch with one of us.”

Nadia rolled her eyes, and when Prince noticed, Kat followed the direction of his gaze.

“I’m sorry that you weren’t daddy’s girl, but that doesn’t mean you have to punish him with your indifference,” Kat said. “He didn’t abandon us; someone
took
him. You don’t have to believe me, but I’ll never stop looking for him.”

“And why would someone take our father? What reason could anyone have to abduct a Packmaster? Kidnapping is so Middle Ages.”

“People do it every day,” Kat murmured, prying another large slice of pizza from the pie.

Prince pushed his plate away, his appetite gone. “What makes you believe he’s in trouble? Who would have a grudge against him that they’d risk capturing a Packmaster?”

Kat swallowed a bite from her fourth slice and sat back, patting her bloated stomach with a satisfied look on her face. “I have a couple of ideas, but nothing solid.”

Nadia tapped her fingernail on her glass of white wine, the crystal ringing a high note. She looked at Prince and lowered her voice. “Remember what I said about infectious behavior?”

A hiccup from Kat drew his attention forward again.

“Seriously, are you
still
calling me a virus?” she asked Nadia. “I’m not the only rude one in this family. Having an opinion isn’t a character flaw; God knows you have plenty of your own that I’m subjected to hearing. Motivating people isn’t a negative trait. If I were a man, I would have been a Packmaster and you wouldn’t be questioning my behavior.”

Nadia held the stem of her glass. “But as it stands, you don’t have any testicles that I’m aware of. Prince is a respected Packmaster with responsibilities. He’s not a man you can brainwash into following your schemes.”

“He’s also a man of free will who happens to be sitting at this table.” Kat looked at Prince, her eyes resolute. “So what do you think? Do you want to help find my father?”

Nadia threw her white cloth napkin on the table. “That’s enough, Katarina. You’ve exceeded your wine and caloric intake.”

Kat stood up and grabbed the bottle. “I don’t think I’ve had
enough,
because I sure as hell need something to anesthetize me from the ignorance that lives within this house.”

“One you’re free to leave anytime.”

Prince sat back and folded his arms, amused by the quarreling between two women who looked and sounded the same but were mirror opposites.

Kat took a swig of wine, settling her eyes on Nadia. “At least I make an attempt to keep a relationship with you. Maybe you don’t like me swinging by unannounced, but how often do you call or come by where I’m staying? Never. I call you as often as I can, but you don’t answer. Before cell phones, you used to let the answering machine screen your calls, but at least you could lie and say you weren’t home. There’s no excuse for you not answering my calls now, because you carry that phone wherever you go!”

Something changed in Kat’s voice—a catch in her throat that snagged Prince’s attention. Her anger switched to something else, and her lip trembled for a fraction of a second before she took another swig of wine and stalked out of the room. His heart clenched and he felt an unexpected compulsion to go after her. There was nothing petulant about her outburst, just an underlying sadness.

Nadia gripped his left arm. “If you’d like to go, I have no complaints.”

“Not one?” he asked, placing his right hand on top of hers.

She flashed a lovely smile and tilted her head to one side. “Maybe a tiny one.”

“Your life intrigues me. I never imagined Alex would have such willful, strong daughters.”

“Alex?”

He nodded. “It’s what I called him.”

“I never did like nicknames,” she said, her voice tired. “Sometimes I wish a man would take her off my hands, then maybe she wouldn’t come around so often.”

“You don’t like your sister’s company? She’s your twin.”

The air cooled, and Nadia retracted her hand to sip her wine. “We have nothing in common. If you don’t have siblings, you wouldn’t understand. The last time she came to visit, I was entertaining a group of friends. It was an upscale party until she had everyone doing shots. Then the music changed and she infected them with her riotous behavior. No one wanted her to leave.”

“I’ve heard twins are competitive.”

Nadia shook her head, resting her narrow chin on her laced fingers. “That’s not it at all. Katarina is the dysfunctional one.”

He smiled and glanced at the open doorway. “She seems quite functional to me.”

“I think we both know what I’m talking about. There’s a certain way one should aspire to live their life. Her bounty hunter title keeps her from having the negative label of being a rogue, but that’s
exactly
what she is by choice.”

“You don’t consider yourself rogue?”

“I’m a businesswoman, settled in one place, and contribute to my community. It’s hardly the same.”

The soft lull of her words broke when the phone beside her plate went off. “Hello? Yes. … That’s excellent. Can you send me the information in an e-mail and—” She paused, the other person’s voice barely audible. “I’m eating at the moment. Can it wait?” She eyed Prince and held up one finger as she stood up and left the room.

Prince folded his cloth napkin and draped it over his half-eaten quail. Nadia was a skillful cook, but he’d been too anxious to eat, and that was an emotion Prince wasn’t accustomed to. He rose from his chair and entered the dim living room. Nadia had refined taste and had put thought into how she decorated her living space. A white sofa ran along the wall to his right, and across from it, a tall curio was lit up from within.

Kat was sitting on the sofa, staring at the glass shelves. The wine bottle sat on the floor to her left. “Maybe if I pretend hard enough, the figurines will move around and entertain me,” she said. “Who doesn’t own a television?”

He took a seat beside her and stared at the cabinet. Light sparkled against the glass shelves inside, giving a magical aura to the figurines of women, children, and flowers. “I only have one television in my house, but it’s for the pack.”

Her voice softened. “You’re missing out.”

He slanted his eyes toward her legs. The dark leather stood out against the white couch and complemented her figure. His fingers wanted to touch the material, to know what it felt like.

“Did you bring luggage?”

“Not this time. If Nadia’s in one of her moods and doesn’t want to lend me a gown, I guess that means I’ll be sleeping in the nude tonight.”

Prince placed his hands in his lap, hoping she hadn’t noticed the twitch in his pants. He silently cursed himself for behaving like a young wolf.

“So you’re the boyfriend? Nadia always had good taste in men. I don’t know why she won’t settle down. I mean, she’s got it all going on. Looks, grace, a career—but then maybe she’s never been able to find a guy of her caliber. That’s what people need, someone who’s on the same level.”

He lowered his voice to a rich timbre. “For someone who bickers with her sister, you speak highly of her.”

Kat scooted down, her gaze adrift. “I love Nadia; she’s all I’ve got in this world. We couldn’t be more different, though. Sometimes I think if we weren’t related by blood, she’d cut ties with me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

She threw her head back and yawned. “I would.”

Prince looked at her over his right shoulder, admiring the way the dim glow from the curio accented her lovely mouth and angled jaw. He considered how to best answer her previous question about his relationship with Nadia. “We just met. There’s no relationship to speak of.”

“Give it time. You’re like peas in a pod.” She leaned against his arm. “You even smell yummy. I probably smell like oil.”

“You mean pizza grease?” he replied, a smile touching his lips. But when he briefly dipped his nose in her hair, he smelled something indescribably wonderful.

“No,” she murmured sleepily. “My car died on the way over. I had to check the engine and got fluid all over my hands.”

When Kat shivered, Prince wrapped his arm around her and she nestled against his chest. He thought about how satisfying it was to hold a woman—an affection he didn’t indulge in very often, if at all.

“I’m going to have to cut our evening short,” Nadia announced, strolling into the room in a pair of strappy heels. “I have a client who’s in need of funds tonight, and I’ve got two hours to locate a buyer for his painting.” She tapped her fingernail against a tooth, her gaze distant. “I’m tempted to buy it myself and sell it later so I don’t have to jump through all these hoops. If you want to wait for me, I’ll be back in an hour or two. It depends on how much he wants to charge. If not, then I’ll understand,” she said, judgment clinging to the edge of her voice.

Nadia was testing him, seeing what he was willing to do for her time and affection.

Under the circumstances, he could hardly go anywhere. Kat had somehow adhered herself to his side and was drooling on his shirt. Oddly, Nadia didn’t question their cozy position.

“Perhaps I’ll find a blanket for your sister and then wait on the terrace.”

That pleased her. “If you get sleepy, feel free to lie down in my bed. Just make sure you’ve removed your clothes; I like to keep my sheets clean. I’ll be back soon.”

With a jingle of her keys, Nadia slipped out the front door. The second it slammed, Kat sat upright, eyes wide.

“Your sister left,” he said.

She released a heavy breath.

“Tell me, why doesn’t Nadia seem concerned about leaving us alone?”

Kat yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Nadia’s men never want anything to do with me, and that goes both ways. She knows I’d never betray her trust. I’m a loyal wolf.”