The girl flinched, but didn’t back down. “She’s not answering my messages. I just need…I just want to know if she’s all right. Please?”
“Jezebeth!” the tattooed skinhead snapped from the doorway. “Heel!”
The girl jumped. “So, uh, yeah!” she said loudly, baring her teeth in a snarl that was wildly incongruous with her pleading eyes. “Do what the boss says, or you’ll regret it!”
Ivy counted under her breath, both to focus herself and to make certain Gaze’s gang would have moved off. When she reached five hundred, she slid out from the café booth herself. Tugging her gloves up, she headed for the door—and nearly ran smack into the muscular chest of Hugh Argent.
“What are you doing here?” he snarled.
His ice-blue eyes were narrowed with anger, blazing in his handsome face. His short, spiky white hair bristled like the fur of an enraged wolf. He looked even more pissed off than he had after rescuing her from the elevator shaft.
“What are you doing here?” Ivy snapped back, bristling herself.
“Hope told me more about Gaze after you left.” Hugh’s jaw clenched. “I shouldn’t have let you go out alone.”
“Excuse me?” Ivy glared at him. “I’m not your damn property. And why do you care, anyway?”
Hugh made a low, frustrated growl under his breath. “Because—because—oh, sod this. Come on.”
He reached for her arm, and she reflexively jerked back out of reach before remembering that he was immune to her venom. They circled each other like a pair of fighting cats, glaring. There was a brief tussle as they both attempted to open the door for the other, which Hugh won. Ivy had to settle for walking past with icy dignity, spine straight, trying to ignore his delicious, masculine scent.
“How did you find me anyway?” she asked as they set off down the street. Then she groaned. “No, wait, stupid question. Ponyboy.”
She knew full well that he was friends with Chase. The pegasus shifter had the irritating ability to home in on people, even from several miles away. Ivy had run afoul of Chase’s special skills before.
To her surprise, Hugh shook his head. “I’m not foolish enough to mention you to Chase. No, you can blame your sister. Turns out she knows all your Internet passwords. She found the messages you exchanged with Gaze.”
“I am going to email links to her fanfics to her entire school,” Ivy muttered. “The whole world will know of her secret passion for Twilight Sparkle.”
Hugh raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t ask,” Ivy advised.
“I have a suspicion that in this case, ignorance is bliss.” Hugh’s taut shoulders had eased down a little, though he was still stalking along as though the entire world personally offended him. “In any case, once your sister realized what idiocy you were planning, she enlisted my help in stopping it. Too late, I fear.”
“Good thing you didn’t get here faster, or you’d have ruined everything.” Ivy glared up at that annoyingly perfect profile. “And you were supposed to be watching over Hope! She’s got the common sense of a bar of soap, and you just left her alone?”
“No, actually, because unlike certain people I make plans that include contingencies. I took her to Griff’s place before I came to find you. I didn’t want her unguarded, not when you’ve apparently managed to offend the entire criminal population of Brighton.”
Ivy didn’t like being even more in debt to Griff, but at least she knew he could keep her sister safe. Even her wyvern had to admit that the griffin shifter was a powerful protector.
“Anyway.” Hugh glowered down at her. “You’ve still got all your limbs, which is more than I was expecting, but I’m betting you didn’t escape from that meeting without giving up something. What did he want?”
Ivy couldn’t meet his eyes. She looked down at her boots, shoving her hands deep in her pockets.
“I said I’d take care of Gaze, and I did,” she said. “That’s all you need to know.”
Despite her words, her gut twisted. There was more that Hugh needed to know. Was he even aware that Gaze was targeting him?
“Have, uh, you ever run across Gaze before?” she asked, trying to keep her tone casual.
“Never heard of him. But from what Hope’s told me, I don’t trust him as far as I can kick him. No matter what arrangement you think you’ve made, you’re still in danger. So you’re both staying with me until this is over.”
Surprise jerked her head up again. “What?”
He lengthened his stride, taking the lead. “I hope you like cats.”
Dumbfounded, Ivy stared at his broad back. “But—you hate me.”