Wulf smiled at that, but the smile was small and didn’t extend beyond his mouth. “Perhaps.” He picked a slim cell phone up from an end table and tapped a number in. “I’m done with her . . . for now,” he said into the phone. “She’ll be on a park bench on Boylston, in front of the swan boats.” He disconnected and turned his attention back to me. “Face the window and close your eyes,” he said, moving behind me, placing his hand on the back of my neck.
His grip was firm, and his hand was warm. A wave of panic slid through my stomach, and my heart tap-danced in my chest. “Who did you call?” I asked.
“I called your ride.”
And then an electric charge buzzed down my spine and hummed in my head. My legs gave way, my vision blurred, and the last thing I remember was Wulf wrapping his arms around me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I shook my head in a reflex action to clear the confusion. I was sitting on a bench at the edge of the park, and Diesel was squatting in front of me, holding my hands. The line of his mouth was tight with anger, his eyes showed concern.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” The truth is, I felt okay, but Diesel looked worried and a little shaken, and his anxiety was infectious.
“Do you know your name?”
“Lizzy.”
“Do you know how you got here?”
“No.”
“You were with Wulf,” Diesel said.
“Oh yeah. Now I remember.” I looked down at my hands. “Am I burned? Do I have blisters anywhere?”
“The parts of you I can see look okay. I’d rather wait and examine the rest of you at home so I can take my time. Right now, we need to get moving. I’m illegally parked.”
“You’re supposed to be a powerful Unmentionable. Can’t you cloak your car in an invisibility shield? Can’t you make the sign disappear from the handicap parking space?”
Diesel tugged me down the path to the sidewalk. “No, but I can make you wish you were nicer to me.”
I looked up and down Boylston Street, but I didn’t see Diesel’s SUV. “Where’s your car?”
“I swapped it out. I was getting a migraine from the monkey smell.”
The only car illegally parked was a black Porsche turbo. “You swapped it out for a turbo?”
Diesel opened the passenger-side door for me. “Gwen takes whatever is available and fits me.” He angled himself behind the wheel and pulled into traffic.
“Where do the cars come from?”
“I don’t know. I never get an answer when I ask, so I’ve stopped asking.”
“Wulf is living in one of the high-rise condos bordering the park. He had his own elevator, so I’m guessing it’s a penthouse.”
“That sounds like Wulf.”
“It was nice. Beautiful art on the walls and elegant furniture. And Wulf wasn’t terrible. He was very quiet and civil, but there’s something about him that frightens me.”
“Maybe it’s because he burned you, and he kills people.” Diesel took the road through the park and turned toward Storrow Drive. “How did it go with your dad last night?”
“It was good except for the mashed potatoes.”
Diesel cut his eyes to me.
“Carl wanted to sit at the table and eat with us,” I told him. “So I fixed him a plate of steak and green beans and mashed potatoes.”