Page 17 of Balthazar's Fire

“Hmmm.” He noticed how she hadn’t reverted to calling him sir, but didn’t push the point. He would only accept her submission if and when it was freely given.

“Something strange happened out there on your terrace.” She pulled in a deep breath.

“What happened?” he asked, although he already knew the answer.

“You’re going to think I’m mad.” Brows knitting, she gripped her wine glass tighter.

“No,” he comforted, squeezing her free hand. “I won’t. Whatever it is, you can tell me. I won’t judge.”

“Okay.”

He sensed how difficult it was for her to go on, but noted how she did regardless. Cherie was stronger than she realized.

“After he…” She hesitated. “Hurt you… and before he snatched me, Oliver changed.”

“Changed?”

“Yeah.” Her voice trembled. “From a man into something else… some hideous beast with two heads.” She pulled her palm free of his hand and rubbed her temple with her fingers. “I sound crazy, but I swear it’s true.”

“It’s all right, Cherie.” Watching her reactions carefully, he placed his wine glass down on the rug at his feet. “I believe you.”

“Y-you do?” She sounded genuinely stunned.

“Yes,” he replied. “I had no idea Monroe was a shape-shifter, but I know you’re telling the truth.”

“How?” she leaned forward, almost spilling the contents of her glass all over his cream sofa.

“Shall I take that for you?” he offered, brushing over her skin as he adjusted her hand.

“Thanks.” A delightful blush bloomed on her cheeks. “I think I’m more tired than I realized.”

“No problem.” He placed it next to his.

“How do you know I’m telling the truth?” she went on. “I mean, everything I’ve told you sounds insane.”

“I know you’re telling the truth because I saw the beast, too.” His heart hammered as he considered what he was about to say next.

Don’t, his mind warned in what he swore was his father’s voice. Don’t tell her. You barely even know her.

But before he opened his mouth, he knew what he was about to say, and he didn’t have regrets. She trusted him, enough to take a leap on a stranger for a first date, enough to climb into his helicopter and wind up being snatched by her madman ex-boss. She’d also put her faith in him when she’d come back here with him this afternoon, just as she was doing right then and there, wrapped in only a bathrobe and admitting what had happened with Monroe.

Cherie had been through one hell of a traumatic event. The last thing she probably wanted was to be around a man, and yet she’d chosen him, believed in him, and Balthazar longed to repay her faith. He craved the intimacy that his confession could bring.

“And I believe you,” he continued, stroking the side of her heated skin with his fingertip. “Because he’s not the only shape-shifter I know.”

Chapter Six

Cherie

“What? I don’t understand.”

Surely, she hadn’t heard Balthazar correctly? He couldn’t have just inferred that he knew other shifters, as if they were a well-known phenomenon in society. Shapeshifting was the realm of fiction. Everybody knew that, including Cherie. She wasn’t sure what she’d seen last night, but obviously Oliver had managed to drug her somehow, and given her the impression that he’d morphed into a monster because those things just weren’t possible in real life.

“The things you saw were real, Cherie.” He sounded so sincere, but surely Balthazar was only trying to soothe her. “I want you to know that. You’re not mad.”

“But…”

Blowing out a breath, she looked into Balthazar’s brown eyes. He was so damn handsome and staring at him, it was as if she’d forgotten that, as though the time she’d spent in the foul basement had stripped her of his greatness. But it had been the thought of Balthazar that had kept her going in that dark place, and ultimately, it had been the man himself who’d swooped in to rescue her.