1
Tywin
Instant gratification. It was the only description for the sensation that had zipped through me at the first sight of her. A smile, one I wasn’t used to, sat on my lips. Soon after, a feeling that complimented the smile wiggled past my emotional control, settled over me, and loosened the tension I rarely released.
Her beauty was evident, but I sensed an untapped depth hidden within her that I was desperate to explore. It didn’t seem to matter that I didn’t know a thing about her or that this was the first time that I had ever laid eyes on her.
I allowed myself to indulge in her every action while she ate and laughed with her friends. My cousin, Arjen, had decided it was time he and Khane marry, an endeavor that was sure to lend a helping hand to death and destruction.
I loved my cousins, but them married, was an undertaking that I had to see to believe. They were as deadly as a category five firestorm blown in from hell and a piece of dry toast was more emotionally available than they were. Arjen ate through women like a plague, and Khane was the same plague on a slower moving scale. And they wanted wives.
At first, I was concerned for the women they had chosen to marry until I began to study their profiles. After dredging the trenches and finding what I called real information, I was beginning to understand my cousins’ choices in fiancées.
The Evans women had not been spared the rod of danger. Their last name along with their organization, The Black Saints, was as whispered about around Denver as our organization.
Arjen had asked me to keep a secondary eye on the cousins even though well-trained guards had been hired specifically for the job. I was the eyes neither the guards nor the women would see because I operated in the digital realm, hijacking cameras around the city to keep tabs on them.
Known as “The Watchful Eye,” I was usually the one who would call in the cavalry if danger descended on our city. I made messes disappear in the digital world and sometimes in the real world. When situations were presented as mysteries, I found clues. I was also the low-budget financial advisor and according to my cousins, the family geek.
I had learned the useful art of laundering from my father and was set to follow in his dutiful footsteps until a few unfortunate incidents forced me to expand my skill set. On occasion, my cousins enticed me to come out of the shadows, and I made an appearance, but it was never a peaceful one.
Currently, I was sitting on my living room couch in my penthouse watching the Evans cousins have dinner. Desiree was set to marry Arjen and Mecca would be marrying Khane. However, it was the woman who had joined them who kept snatching my attention. Based on the animated expression of glee on her face, she liked to laugh. And based on the level of comfort the women expressed through their body language, they were close.
They were not afraid to look into each other’s eyes when they communicated. They likely weren’t aware of the sparks of care that shined in their gazes. I noticed the way they reassured each other with subtle touches and laughed together like the rest of the world didn’t matter.
The one I was unable to steer my eyes away from wore her dark hair in a short pixie style, her curls big and flirty and her freckles stood out on her cheeks. She wasn’t brown nor did she have a fair skin tone. Her complexion was somewhere in the middle. It was light and refreshing, a blushing caramel on a distractingly sexy body. In a black body suit top with cutouts at the chest and shoulders, and jeans, she was sexy. Not regular sexy, but the kind of sexy that created stalkers.
She made me smile from a distance, a feat so rare it kept stabbing at my curiosity about her. Was it contentment or excitement filling me while observing the woman? I ignored the peculiar sensations, determined not to interfere since I was a secondary link in their chain of safety, the watchful eye, and a part of the Vallin family protection plan.
It was taking me longer than usual to unlock a decryption sequence on my larger screen while the square of the smaller screen in the bottom right corner flashed movement. My attention kept going back to the woman.
Move on, I chided myself. Watch, don’t linger, I reminded myself.
Women in our world didn’t seem to last long. Hence, the reason my cousins had me as a second set of eyes on the Evans women who may have had enough experience in chaos to survive in our world.
The friend with those pretty, perfectly-placed freckles dotting her face would be subjected to danger by association. My phone vibrated, cutting the strange pull she had on me.
“Hello?”
“T, how’s the people watching going?” Arjen asked.
“It’s boring as hell.” It wasn’t a complete lie. It had been boring until my interest was roused.
“I read through the data you sent me on Mecca Evans. It appears she’s never been to a doctor a day in her life, which tells me she’s hiding something.”
I could hear him thinking.
“What you see is what I found. She is good at letting people see what she wants them to see, but I’m working on uncovering more on her. It will take some time to find answers, but I’m sure there is more to these cousins than meets the eye.”
The low rumble of his chuckle sounded.
“Why do you think I agreed to bring them into the family? I believe they can handle being Vallins.”
My eyes landed on the friend whose gaze lifted and met mine like she knew I was watching her.
“What about the friend?” I asked Arjen. “She’ll be in danger because the three appear to be close.”
Another low chuckle vibrated in my ear. Arjen and Khane knew me better than anyone.