Circle of the Stars

Chapter 10 - Toven

"She's not leaving, I don't care what you say," I said as soon as the bathroom door closed.

"I agree with you. But we need to get her acclimated to living in our world. People are going to notice if we take her out in public. And we can't keep her locked in our apartment."

But, damn, wouldn't that be fun, though?

"Mind out of the gutter, Tove. We need her to trust us. Wherever she's from, some bad s**t must have gone down. She freaked out last night when I went into my room. Like melting into the wallpaper, freaked out."

I could hear the growl in his voice. The underlying edge of violence that crept up anytime a woman or child was in danger. I pushed the resulting memories away. We all dealt with what happened in different ways.

"What have you gotten from her so far?" I asked. "I can start doing some digging."

"Apparently her name is spelled with a Y, not an E. I would start there. I can't imagine there are too many Hollyn's running around the world. Also, start looking for anything dealing with ‘grove' and ‘the oaks.' She mentioned those the first time she slammed into me." His voice got quieter as he spoke to someone else. "Show them in, Matt. Thanks." He cleared his throat. "I've got to go. Let me know as soon as you find anything." He hung up without bothering to say goodbye.

"Yes, sir," I said with a smile as I dropped the phone back in my pocket.

Hollyn started singing in the shower. My body tightened. Her image was seared on my brain. Long legs that flowed to a set of hips I could sink my fingers into. Her waist was just a hint smaller before filling out to showcase the prettiest set of t**s I'd ever laid eyes on.

For such a tall girl, she had more curves than I imagined possible. She had some extra cushion, but it only enhanced her femininity. And I couldn't see one outline of muscle on her frame. I liked my women soft, not as hard as my own body.

The water shut off. With a jerk, I rushed from the room. I didn't want her to know I was being all kinds of creepy. I mean, I was. She just didn't need to know that.

I pulled the door shut behind me; a soft click sounded just as the bathroom door opened. A few strides later I was in the kitchen, laptop open. I figured I would leave the heavy equipment for later. Her records should be pretty easy to find.

**

Two hours later, I was about to pull my hair out. There was no Hollyn that matched her description in the United States. Of the fifty-six women named Hollyn, only three matched more than one of her statistics. How did a woman get to her age and not be found anywhere?

"Hollyn?" I called out, shutting the cover on my laptop. It seems I would be going about this the old-fashioned way. Talking.

No answer. In fact, I hadn't heard from her since the bathroom door opened. A sinking feeling invaded my chest.

I pushed to my feet. "Hollyn?" I jogged to Thane's room. Please let her be here. Please let her be here.

I swept through the slightly open door. The room was empty. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I hit the speed dial for Thane. He was going to rip me into a million pieces.

It went to voicemail. With a snarl, I typed in our emergency code. Waited.

Not even twenty seconds later, he was calling. "What the hell, Tove?"

"She's gone. I don't know where." I said it as quickly as I could.

"What the hell?!" he raged, the words clipped and hard. His freezing tone had my blood running cold. Nothing good would come from this. "Find her, Tove. Now. I'm coming home." He hung up before I could say anything else.

"f**k!"