In Heat: Mating Call (In Heat Shapeshifter Romance Series #2) (21 page)

She'd waited two years to be truly with him, and now that it was finally time, she wasn't going to let some prince ruin it all.

“Meet you?” she said, leaning back into the sofa. “Why?”

“I want to talk to you,” he said. “Please?”

She supposed that it would be best to speak face to face with him, to get it all out in the open once and for all.

“Funny, because I want to talk to you about a few things too.” She didn't hide the annoyance in her voice.

“Come to my place.”

She laughed. Did he honestly think she was stupid enough to fall for that one? She wasn't going anywhere near his place. No, it had to be somewhere public. It had to be somewhere that there would be too many people around for him to try anything. Somewhere they knew her.

“The Ivy,” she said.

He was quiet for a moment.

“I'll pick you up.”

She laughed again. “I don't think so.”

“In that case, I will meet you there in one hour,” he said, sounding a little too happy for her liking.

She'd never had to break up with a man before, and she'd definitely never had to break up with a man she wasn't even going out with.

“Fine,” she said and hung up the phone.

She stared at it. What was she doing? She couldn't go and meet Kristian at The Ivy. What if the paparazzi were there? Surely they'd recognise her? They were bound to recognise Kristian from last night. She really hadn't thought this through but it was too late now. She had to face him.

She went into the bedroom and put on a pair of jeans, a black hooded top and her best sunglasses. It was a little over the top, but she couldn't risk being recognised.

In an effort to make sure that Erik wouldn't worry where she was and that if her and Kristian were snapped together he wouldn't think she was cheating on him, she left him a short note.

She read it back to herself.

“I've realised I need to sort things out with Kristian. Sorry. Kim.”

She nodded, pleased with herself and then left the apartment.

The journey to The Ivy was long and dull. The tube was almost empty and there were only a few shoppers sharing the carriage with her on the one that brought her close to the restaurant. She walked the rest of the way, huddled under an umbrella and desperately trying not to get too wet. The bottom of her jeans were soaked by the time she arrived at The Ivy.

Kristian was waiting.

There was no sign of the paparazzi.

He smiled at her and her stomach flipped, her heart rocketing as she told herself that she could do this. She just had to tell him that she loved Erik and that she wasn't at all interested in him. He was probably a nice man once you got to know him, but she really didn't want to know him.

He opened the door for her and she wondered whether it was wise to go in. With no cameramen out on the street, she could just say everything she needed to right here and then leave. She was about to speak when he pressed his hand into the small of her back and she was walking into the restaurant.

The maitre de gave her an odd look as she shook her umbrella out and she smiled sheepishly as she removed her glasses. She gave him a look that said that this really wasn't what he thought it was when he raised a brow and looked from her to Kristian and back again.

She was really beginning to get the feeling that this was a terrible mistake.

She was ushered into a seat by Kristian and tapped nervously on the table when he sat down opposite her. He smiled, so broadly that she could see his slightly extended canines and was left wondering how old he was. Erik had told her that traits such as teeth begin to show once you reached a certain age and that was why the bouncer at the club they sometimes went to had quite pointed teeth. Apparently he was well over one hundred.

“You wanted to speak with me?” Kristian purred and poured her a glass of water.

She stared at it rather than him, not trusting herself. He was handsome, and whenever she looked at him, he made her skin feel as though it was on fire, but it wasn't him that she wanted. This feeling he gave her was just because of the mating.

“Clearly you cannot find your tongue, so allow me to begin. You have decided to leave that man and come with me.”

She snorted. “No.”

There was a low growl but still her eyes remained locked on the glass.

“Kristian, I'm sorry, but I don't want you. I love Erik. I want to be with him.” She sighed and tried to find the right words to explain everything to him. She'd done a lot of thinking since Christmas Day and had drawn a few conclusions about what was happening. “Listen—”

“No,” he interjected, voice dark and full of anger. “You listen. I love you, and only you. I want you as my mate, as my wife. Come back with me and leave this fool. I can give you so much more than he can.”

He fell silent and she realised that someone was standing beside him.

They poured two glasses of champagne. She continued to stare at her water. Something fizzed in the bottom of the champagne flute and her attention switched here, watching the bubbles dancing their way to the surface.

She jumped when Kristian continued.

“I need you, Kim. I'd give my country to have you as my mate.”

She didn't know what to say to that. Suddenly she felt terrible and all the lines she'd practiced over the past hour had disappeared. He really did sound as though he loved her, and she was beginning to believe that it was more than just an act to win her over. She had to break someone's heart, and she was afraid that it had to be his.

Swallowing down her champagne to give her some false courage, she prepared what she was going to say in her head.

She raised her eyes to meet his.

He looked so forlorn.

“Kristian... I...” The room swayed a little. The champagne must have gone to her head.

She picked at a bread roll, eating it and hoping it would give the champagne something to absorb into as she tried to gather her words.

“Kim, please, I honestly love you. I cannot return to Denmark without you.”

She frowned. Denmark? But she hated flying, and boats made her queasy.

He topped up her champagne and she drank it all again, hoping it would help the words come.

“Kristian,” she started again but he wobbled out of focus. Her head spun and she felt as though the floor was moving. She furrowed her brows and looked into his eyes, searching them. “I don't feel so good.”

He smiled, wavered and then everything went dark. Soft arms caught her and cradled her close to a firm chest. She curled up against it, drowsy and cold, seeking warmth and comfort as the world drifted into the distance.

“It would seem that the wine has got to her.” She heard Kristian's voice coming from far away. He sounded as though he was down a well. Or was she down the well? “I'll take her home.”

Home?

To the apartment.

Or to Denmark?

E
rik wearily pushed the door open and was surprised when silence greeted him. He'd expected Kim to be home, curled up in front of the television. He closed the door and moved further into the apartment. There was no sign of her in the lounge, or the bedroom. He checked the bathroom and then headed for the kitchen.

Maybe she'd gone to see her sister.

Still, it wasn't like her. She wouldn't leave the flat when the mating was incomplete and Kristian was sniffing around, not unless something unavoidable came up.

He stopped dead when he spotted a note on the kitchen counter. Frowning, he went over to it and picked it up. His heart beat a little quicker.

“I've realised I need to sort things out with Kristian. Sorry. Kim.”

She needed to sort what out with Kristian, and why was she sorry? His chest ached and tightened as he read it over and over again, trying to make sense of it. He told himself that she had just gone to talk to him, not anything else. She'd come back soon. The voice at the back of his head whispered that she'd left him. That's why she was sorry. She'd gone to make up with Kristian.

She'd gone to be his mate.

He slumped into a stool and stared at the piece of paper. It blurred slightly, but cleared when he blinked. He wouldn't believe that she'd left him. But why hadn't she called him to tell him if she was just going to meet Kristian to tell him to leave her alone. Why go to see him at all unless she intended to leave with him? She could have told him over the phone that she wasn't interested. Clearly Kristian had been in contact. Why hadn't Kim messaged him to tell him that?

His stomach turned over when he remembered their last vision, remembered walking into it and watching Kristian make love to her.

Make love.

There was nothing carnal and base about what they had been doing. It was slow and intense, just like it had used to be between them in the visions.

He screwed up the note and tried to gather his feelings. He was blowing this out of proportion.

But then, none of it made sense. If it did, he wouldn't feel so confused; he would know what she'd meant by the note and why she'd gone to see Kristian.

Why had she left the flat to see him? She'd been safe here and that's why he'd told her to stay home from work.

Why would she go and meet him?

He pressed his palm against his forehead and leaned his elbow on the kitchen island, supporting his aching head as tears blurred his vision. She wouldn't leave him, not Kim, not after everything they'd been through together.

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

He pulled it out and slid it open. It was a message from Kim.

“I've realised my feelings for Kristian and can't be yours. I've gone to Denmark with him. Don't try to find me.”

He felt like throwing up as he read it out loud several times over until his eyes were swimming with so many tears that he couldn't see it anymore. He swallowed, trying to shift the dry sticky lump in his throat.

She'd really left him.

This couldn't be happening.

His whole world fell apart.

He blinked away his tears and cleared his throat, picking up the pieces of his shattered heart at the same time. It was over. She'd killed him.

He read the message again and then stopped.

Denmark?

He frowned at that.

Kim wouldn't go to Denmark. She loved him but she wouldn't even go to Scotland with him if he said they had to fly there. She'd never get on a plane to a country over two hours away if she couldn't stomach a thirty minute journey.

He had to find her. Something was very wrong here and he was beginning to get a terrible feeling about everything. Kim's note was mysterious, but if she'd been in a hurry when writing it then maybe she wouldn't have realised how bad it sounded. To her, it might have sounded perfectly clear and fine.

Plus, the more he thought about it, the more he remembered that she hated trying to resolve things over the phone. The only time they'd argued had been when she was in London and he was in the country. She'd refused to speak to him over the phone and had driven all the way to the house to see him face to face. She'd done something similar with her sister when her husband had given her the divorce papers.

But what could he do now? He still didn't know what she'd been up to. All he had were theories and both of them could be the truth. He had to find out what had happened. Knowing her, she would've made sure that she'd met Kristian at a public place, somewhere that she felt safe. But where in London did Kim feel safe?

He couldn't waste time by going everywhere he could think of. He had to narrow it down to two or three places at most.

He rang her office and asked the person on reception whether Kim had come in that day. No was the answer. He tried her sister next and her sister went into a blind panic so clearly she hadn't seen her either. It took a few minutes to calm Sherry down and then he was on to the next number. No one had seen either her or Kristian at the club today. They'd been closed until this evening. Finding nothing but dead ends, he tried the last place he could think of.

He called The Ivy. It was the only other place they'd been to together recently and it was the most public one on his list. With the cameras there and the staff who would remember her from his proposal, she was bound to feel safe from Kristian trying anything.

The phone rang for what seemed like hours before someone finally picked up.

“This is The Ivy. How may I be of service?”

“I was wondering if you had a reservation this afternoon for a Prince Kristian?” he said, keeping his tone calm and measured so the person on the other end of the line wouldn't know how flustered he was.

There was a pause.

“We did.” Came the reply.

“Can you please put me through to the manager,” he said and waited while he was transferred. The manager answered. “Henri? This is Erik Blackwell. I believe you had two guests this afternoon. A Danish prince and my fiancé.”

“We did,” Henri said.

Erik's heart hammered hard against his chest.

“Did Kim leave with him?”

“Yes... she apparently had too much wine and passed out. They didn't eat.”

“How much wine?” He frowned at the floor.

“Barely one or two glasses of champagne. It seemed strange at the time. She drank a lot more the other night. We just thought she'd probably not eaten anything since she had half a bread roll while drinking the champagne.”

Erik's stomach dropped. “That's not like her. She wouldn't get drunk that fast and she wouldn't pass out so easily. I've seen her drink a whole bottle of champagne without eating and she didn't pass out. Did the prince mention where he was taking her?”

“I overheard him saying something about taking her home.”

That was it. Kristian had done something to her. He'd done something to make her pass out so she wouldn't put up a fight and it would be easy to blame it on the alcohol.

“Thank you,” he said and ended the call.

He dialled Sean's number.

“Hello?”

“Sean, it's Erik. I've got a problem,” he said.

“Don't we all,” Sean said with a laugh.

“I'm serious. I think Kristian has kidnapped Kim. She went to the bloody Ivy to meet him and mysteriously passed out after only a couple of glasses of champagne.”