She ignored it.
“You are reading way too much into a few coincidences,” she said.
“Broken into. Not once, but three times.” He held up three fingers just in case she wasn’t clear on how many times that was. “In fewer than as many months, I might add. Your books and research missing. You call all that a coincidence?”
She shrugged. “I’d call it unlucky. Or maybe lucky, because I wasn’t home any of the times it happened. And nothing irreplaceable was stolen.”
“And the strange phone calls?”
“They’ve stopped,” she pointed out.
“Yes, about the same time the break-ins started. Coincidence?”
“This is New Orleans. I mean, crime happens. Come on, weird stuff happens here all the time.”
Maksim shook his head, the desire to shake her clear from his grimace and his clenched hands.
“And you were just nearly run down by a car?”
“Again, this is New Orleans. Drinking and driving definitely happens.”
“Ellina, you have to be smart about this. You are a famous author. What if this is some crazed fan? Or some religious fanatic who doesn’t like that you are writing about demons? Or worse yet, some other demon who doesn’t like you writing about demons?”
She’d thought about all these things too. She wasn’t that clueless, but a bodyguard? In her house?
It was a known fact that she was a bit of a recluse. A reclusive writer who created fantastical worlds filled with monsters and demons and the inexperienced, yet fortuitously savvy, cake decorator turned demon hunter who protected humanity from them.
She liked staying in her charmed and fictional world of writing, and while Maksim didn’t know why, it was necessary.
But lately it did seem that the altogether too real outside world was determined to come into her safe little haven.
“And what about being trapped inside a cat? For several months?” He raised his eyebrows, daring her to argue that one.
Well, that hardly seemed like the “real” world, but it had happened. And it was disturbing, to say the least.
Ellina sighed. “Well, that one’s a little harder to explain away.”
But actually she had; she figured it was one of her other half brothers. The twins, maybe. They loved practical jokes. Neither Andrey nor Pasha had owned up to it. Even after Maksim bullied them, and Maksim was a professional when it came to bullying—now being a perfect example. She definitely liked it better when he bullied someone other than her.
He glared at her, clearly frustrated.
“I think it was the twins,” she said as she had many times before. “You know they aren’t particularly fond of me. They love to mess with me.”
“They aren’t fond of anyone. But I don’t think they put you in the cat. They seemed altogether too disappointed that they hadn’t come up with the idea.”
She could imagine they would have seen that as a missed opportunity. But their disappointment still didn’t clear them. It’s not like either of them could be labeled the embodiment of truth. And while they tolerated Maksim, because he was a more powerful demon than they were, they didn’t have to be so careful with her. They somewhat tolerated her, because Maksim insisted they do so, but she certainly couldn’t rule them out as the culprits of the cat fiasco.
Being trapped in a cat was something she’d rather not repeat, but it hardly warranted a bodyguard. Okay, all the things he mentioned put together did perhaps necessitate something to keep her safer. An alarm system. A dog maybe. But a bodyguard?
She didn’t want some burly lunkhead following her everywhere. She had too much work to do. She liked her privacy.
Not to mention she was far behind on her deadline for her publisher, who was already calling every other day to see if her newest Jenny Bell book was close to completion. Which was great, because her publisher was excited about her books, but it wasn’t even close to being done. And how did one explain that the reason she was late on her deadline was because she’d been stuck in a cat for nearly six months?
Her editor loved the books and all her demon ideas, but she didn’t think Ellina was working from experience. She certainly didn’t know that Ellina was half demon. Like she’d believe any of it anyway.
So Ellina just had to buckle down and get the book done as quickly as possible and with as few distractions as possible.
Maksim pushed the paper back toward her.
“You might as well look it over. I’ve made up my mind about this.”
Ellina stared at paper bullet-pointed with dates and past jobs. Nothing about “taking a bullet.” How good could this guy be anyway?
“This is ridiculous,” she said.
“Maybe. But better safe than sorry.”
Ellina snorted, knowing the sound was inelegant—and so undemonlike. “Better safe than sorry? That hardly sounds demonlike to me.”
He ignored her. “Jo thinks it’s a good idea too.”
“What do I think is a good idea?” Jo said, appearing at Ellina’s office doorway, her very pregnant belly showing just slightly before the woman herself.
Maksim was immediately at his wife’s side. “Did you walk here?”
The wind-mussed hair and flushed cheeks answered for her, even as she said, “No.”
Clearly Maksim didn’t believe her any more than Ellina did.
“You shouldn’t be walking,” he said, his dark scowl now directed at Jo.
“Of course I should walk,” Jo said, undaunted by his frown. “It’s nice and cool outside. And my back has been bothering me all day. Walking helps.”
“Your back hurts?” His glower was replaced by a frown of concern. He instantly began to rub a place low on her back that he’d obviously rubbed for her in the past.
Jo sighed, closing her eyes.
Ellina smiled at her brother’s protectiveness and attentiveness. He’d gone from the ruler of the eighth circle of Hell to a complete worrywart and a pretty great husband.
“I’m fine,” Jo told him after a few moments, touching his cheek, which seemed to pacify him. Unfortunately, because he only studied his wife a moment longer, then tugged her over to Ellina’s desk.
“Tell her,” he said to Jo. “Tell Ellina she’s being stupid, she needs someone around. That the things happening lately aren’t just coincidences.”
Jo pursed her lips, giving Ellina a pained look as if to say she didn’t want to think the worst, but…
“I do think you should have someone around. At least until you find out who pulled the cat trick.” Then Jo smiled as if to buffer her words and gestured to Ellina’s hair. “I like this new color. Blond suits you.”
Ellina touched her newly colored hair. “Thanks.”
Maksim rolled his eyes.
Ellina rolled her eyes back, then returned to the topic at hand. “But we may never discover who did that. And I’m not having someone hanging around all the time. My work requires alone time. To write. To research. No.”
She shoved the paper back across the desk at her brother, this time disregarding her orderly, printed-out notes.
Maksim growled, frustrated. “Don’t even get me started on all your alone time.”
Ellina frowned. This was a topic she didn’t want to talk about, but she couldn’t