Forever and a Day Read Free

smiled, but she imagined his teeth would be very straight.
    Why can’t I have someone like that in my life?
    Because I’m a shifter, goddammit. It’s a big secret to keep.
    Yeah, and to keep on keeping it made her weary. She’d given up on a normal life when the first change had come on her shortly after she hit puberty. There were laws to ensure shifters didn’t get out of hand. It was easier to hide what she was than to embrace it. Her parents, both shifters themselves, had hammered that point until she was sick of hearing it.
    The waiter had just stopped by with her drink and crackers with cheese when Jaret joined her. “Feeling better, I see.” He pried the glass from her hand, swallowed half its contents, and raised his eyebrows. “Expensive.”
    “I can pay for it. I still have a little money.”
    He rolled his eyes. “No, no. Wouldn’t dream of that. You’re my woman, aren’t you?” At her pleasant nod, he went on, “I take care of my women. Good care of them. Come on.” He tugged her to her feet.
    “Wait. My shoes.” She bent and fished them from beneath her chair. Hanging onto him, she balanced first on one foot, then the other, while she slid her feet into the pumps. “Okay.” She grinned broadly. “All ready.”
    “Do you want to bring the crackers along?”
    “Sure. Why not?” She gripped the plate in one hand and curved the other around his arm. He finished her drink and steered them out of the casino toward the stairs that led to the Hotel de Paris.
    Tonight, she told herself. Before tonight’s over, he’ll be dead. Moira can rest in peace, and I’ll be out of here.

Chapter Two
    Shock ran through Lars as he stood in the open doorway of his room; he clacked his jaw shut. Someone had planted a bomb with a timer. Running on instinct, he yanked the door to his suite closed seconds before an explosion rocked the floor. He’d just jammed his gun out of sight when two hard-eyed men dressed in the casino’s signature black shirts, blazoned with a red fleur-de-lis, raced into the hall. It figured the hotel would use the casino’s security squad since the Place de Casino was right next door and managed by the same corporation.
    “Monsieur. What happened?” The red haired guard loped to his side and stared at Lars with penetrating green eyes. Around fifty, he looked like he’d seen a lot. Lars knew better than to try to feed him a line of bullshit.
    He ginned up a rattled expression. “Damn if I know. I had just opened the door to my suite when I realized I had forgotten my jacket in the casino. I pulled the door shut and turned to leave.” He tossed his hands skyward. “The whole building shook.” Lars jerked a thumb toward his room. “It sounded like something exploded in there. Is that even possible? My things…”
    The other guard pulled out a small electronic device, traced the sides, top, and bottom of Lars’ door, and muttered, “No fire. No poison gas.”
    “Maybe we should get the dog,” the first guard said.
    “Dog?” Lars infused anger into his tone. “If your implication is I have something illegal in my room, I resent the hell out of it.”
    The second guard, a balding thirty-something with brown hair and mud-colored eyes shrugged. “Resent all you wish, monsieur. We see a lot here. The Mediterranean is a prime entry point for drugs from Africa and the Middle East.”
    Lars drew himself up. “May I go back into my room? See what has been damaged? I had a very expensive laptop, my clothes, the keys to my airplane.”
    “You own an airplane?” Guard number one exchanged glances with his cohort.
    “Yes.” Lars reached for his back pocket and found himself staring down the barrels of two .45 caliber semiautomatic pistols. He held his hands up. “Whoa, easy there, boys. I was just going to show you my passport and my ID. We are on the same side here.”
    “We’ll get them for you.” Guard number two moved behind Lars and extracted his wallet and passport case.