Page 2 of Roguefinder

Scooping up five pairs, I shuttled them to the bed and stuffed them next to my T-shirts. I’d worn boxer briefs since high school but lately I’d experimented with bikinis that hugged my junk and framed my ass like a painting. The first time Jesse had walked in on me shaving in them, he’d nearly swallowed his tongue. It was worth hauling extra underwear across Europe to see Jesse van der Meer slack-jawed and drooling.

Smiling at the thought of it, I grabbed my phone charger from the nightstand and shoved it in one of my backpack’s side pockets. My phone from New York had gotten lost somewhere between France and London, but Jesse had bought me a shiny new model from an Apple store in Knightsbridge.

The man himself appeared in the bedroom doorway, his dark eyebrows pulled tight as he stared down at his own phone. At six-foot-three, he had to duck slightly to clear the frame. His hair was a rich, dark brown. His eyes were the same color, but they went gold when he was angry…or aroused. A thin gray sweater had given up trying to contain the muscles in his chest and shoulders.

Something about his frown made apprehension stir in my gut. I waited for my Spidey senses to tingle or for some kind of prophetic vision to pop into my head.

Nothing. As usual.

“What is it?” I asked.

Jesse looked up. His brown eyes traveled from me to my suitcase and back again, and his expression softened even as the frown lingered.

“Stefanos just sent a message,” he said. “He wants us to go see Sterling Moray before we leave for Rome tomorrow.”

My chest tightened, a phantom porcupine throwing out quills left and right. I didn’t have a concrete reason to dislike Sterling Moray. I’d never even met him, but I’d heard him speak to Jesse on the phone. He was powerful and rich, with the kind of money that made owning a private jet a casual thing. Everything I knew about the witch had come secondhand from Jesse.

And maybe that was the problem. Jesse had done Sterling a favor years before he met me—a favor big enough for him to reward Jesse with the gift of telekinesis. And when Jesse had tapped Sterling for an emergency plane ride to get us out of the States, the witch had readily accommodated us. Coolly British, he’d sounded amused over the phone. Familiar. He knew Jesse in a way I didn’t.

Was I jealous? Fuck yes. But I was keeping that shit to myself. Jesse and I were two months into a relationship. Not enough time for me to be openly deranged about him.

“Did Stefanos say why?” I asked.

Exasperation flitted across Jesse’s face. “Stefanos doesn’t like putting things in writing, especially over text.” He pocketed the phone.

“Could you call him?” I asked. “It’s shitty to make us show up for a meeting when we don’t know what to expect.”

Jesse shook his head. “Stefanos won’t put us in harm’s way.”

I folded my arms. Jesse glanced at my chest, and little flames of desire licked through my veins. I might have flexed my biceps a bit as I held his stare.

“You mean like when he had his goons beat us up in France before they dragged us to London and threw us in prison?” I asked. “That Stefanos?”

Jesse came to me and pulled me into his arms. And I let him because there was no version of him I’d say no to. At least, I hadn’t found one yet.

He brushed his knuckles over my cheek. “Things are different now, babe. You have a powerful gift.”

My nape tingled, and not just because that babe sounded especially hot in his deep rumble.

“I don’t know about that,” I mumbled, resting my hands on his hips and tucking my thumbs into the waistband of his navy joggers. “So far, my gift seems like a one-shot deal.”

Jesse shook his head, his dark eyes serious. “I know what I saw in that chamber. You’re young. A gift like yours takes time to mature. And seers aren’t one-size-fits-all. The fact that you saw into both the future and the past proves that. Nin said you have the potential to be extraordinary.”

I pulled back. “Nin said that about me?” The head of the Council of Elders looked like a supermodel and specialized in pulling people’s worst fears from their heads. I had no idea how old she was, but some instinct told me she was ancient. As in, mummies in a museum ancient.

“Yes,” Jesse said. “She wants you trained, but the Council is having a hard time locating another seer.”

A devil landed on my shoulder. “Can’t say I’m mad about that. I’ve been enjoying my hiatus from learning.”

Jesse smiled as he slid a hand to my butt and squeezed. “Don’t get too comfortable. Once this assignment is over, we need you focused on learning how to tap your gift.”

The devil poofed out of sight, the word “assignment” reminding me why there was an open suitcase on the bed. Last night, Stefanos Tasakis had appeared on Jesse’s doorstep with photos of Ulfrik Haraldsson, the rogue werewolf who’d attacked me and turned me.

Except Ulfrik was very much dead. Jesse had ripped his head from his shoulders and then disintegrated his body with chemicals. There was no rational or scientific explanation for Ulfrik showing up in a doorway in Rome.

But he had, and now Stefanos and the rest of the Council had tasked Jesse and me with finding out why.

I knew my irritation showed on my face. “I’m a seer. You’re one of just four wolfseekers in the world. We’re precious resources, right? So it seems pretty dumb for the Council to send us after Ulfrik.”