The restaurant was busy, but the service was top-notch, as always. He was seated quickly at the bar, and he had an expresso in front of him within minutes. The peace he felt, even being in the middle of so many, was achieved only through the strength and confidence of a fair and supportive Coven. He was just finishing his expresso when something caught his attention. It was sharp and expressive, and then it was gone, simply a flash of familiarity and then nothing. Whatever it was, it seemed to cause a sharpening in his awareness that spoke of possible danger.

  Enzo took several deep breaths, attempting to feel or taste it once again, but the air was no longer charged. The implications confused him. If it were a warning, something would be presenting itself even if it were subtle, but it was as if it had not happened. He looked around, and nothing had changed.

  "Another?" The bartender asked, and Enzo declined. He wanted to stay a bit longer to see if the strange scent returned, but he had little time. He noticed that he was seated near the kitchen entrance, so he ultimately chalked it up to the smells of an active kitchen. He finished his drink and left.

  All through dinner, that fleeting scent would not leave his mind. He couldn't identify it or even describe it, but his gut was telling him it was important. "I scented something odd at the Sienna tonight." He and Noori had finished dinner and were sitting in the living room with drinks and enjoying the end of the evening.

  “Something other than the usual restaurant smells?” Noori asked.

  "I'm not sure, but it was heavy and lasted only a second, and then I didn't smell it again." Enzo tried to explain.

  “Can you describe it?”

  "Not really. It wasn't floral, but it wasn't what I'd call a kitchen smell either."

  “It’s stuck in your head now and won’t let you go?” Noori said with a ghost of a grin playing around his lips.

  Enzo sat up straight and pinned Noori with his gaze. “What do you know?”

  "It sounds like your beloved was near you tonight." He blurted without preamble and smiled. "When I first saw Marek, I was struck with a scent so powerful it took my breath away for a few seconds. Then, as time wore on, I found that I could not get that gorgeous scent out of my mind."

  Enzo thought about it but then shook his head. "Can't be, no one there caught my interest. It was just a scent, nothing more."

  "You don't have to see them to scent them." Noori took a long sip of his wine. "Fate has a way of working it out, so if it is your beloved, you will be meeting them again soon."

  "It was probably one of the new entrées in the kitchen. It smelled good, so it had to be from the kitchen." He realized that he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Noori.

  “We’ll know soon.” Noori continued to smile at Enzo’s expense.

  "I have nothing against meeting my beloved. I just have my doubts that my beloved was hanging out at the Sienna, and I didn't see them." Enzo figured that Fate would have brought them together, not just waved a scent under his nose.

  "Again, we'll know soon." Noori was going to say more, but his phone went off. He quickly answered and then stood. "There's an incident on the first floor. A human saw more than they should have, and they're on the run. They'll probably have him apprehended by the time we get there, but let's check it out."

  “I’d love to.” Enzo laughed. “How often does something like this happen.”

  "Not as often as you'd think, considering we have so many humans working in the building."

  Enzo was wondering how the human got away with security at the level that it was within the Center. It seemed impossible. "How far would they get, do you think?" Enzo theorized as they rode the elevator to the first floor.

  “It happened in the restaurant bathroom, so I doubt he made it to the lobby.”

  “The Sienna?”

  “Yes.”

  “Rather sloppy for whoever it was that was seen. The place just closed at nine.” Enzo shook his head.

  "Definitely sloppy." Noori agreed. "Whoever he is, he's getting a dressing down from his commander as we speak."

  They stepped out of the elevator into the lobby just as the scene exploded. There were too many humans around to do an all-out scramble; we couldn't be making a spectacle of ourselves. The human moved fast and with agility, dodging the guards and making his escape out the main doors. Several guards were in pursuit.

  "They'll catch him," Noori stated. "No human can outrun our guards. They have his scent, and they'll bring him back shortly."

  "He seemed pretty wily to me," Enzo interjected, looking around the lobby at the security guard standing there. "He got out of the restaurant and out of the building. For a human . . . that is quite good."

  “Master Hadden is calling for a meeting in the security office . . . immediately.”

  "It's not going to be pretty," Enzo mumbled as they headed in that direction.

  "It was a shit show, and we only saw half of it." Noori chuckled.

  Foster left the parking lot, keeping to the hedges that lined the border, and made his way back to the main street. He was too exposed but wasn't sure where to go; he stood for a moment pondering his options as a car sped by too close to the curb and hit a large puddle, showering Foster in the filthy water. Could his night get any more fucked up?

  There were several motels south of town that took cash and weren't too picky about the name you used, so he headed in that direction. On the way, he stopped at a shop and picked up a few essentials he'd need for his stay. It was likely they had his apartment covered just like his car, so until he had a better idea of what was happening, he would stay below the radar.

  Keeping to the shadows, he managed to make it to the low-rent district of town and checked into one of the motels. They were all pretty sketchy, but the Sunset had less of a sordid reputation. The Sunset Motel catered to average folks who needed cheap accommodations for a week or so. But that didn’t mean it was clean by any stretch of the imagination.

  He'd purchased cleaning products and scrubbed the place down before stripping off his clothes and taking a shower. He then put his things to soak in the tub. He'd need clothes for tomorrow, and these were all he had. Luckily the shop he stopped at had some cheap, white, t-shirts and he bought several. If only he could go to his apartment even for only a few minutes, but that would be risky.

  After rinsing his clothes and hanging them around the bathroom to dry, he took the plastic shower curtain he had bought and spread it out on the top of the bed. It wouldn't be the most comfortable, but it would protect him from the filth of the bed. With just a towel wrapped around his waist, he laid down and turned out the lights. He was exhausted, and this was not how he had envisioned his evening working out.

  Master Hadden was not pleased, and it showed. "How did a young human manage to avoid all security measures and personnel inside the Hadden Center while being actively pursued?" He denounced and then added. "Here, let me show you." He motioned to Zac, who put the footage from the restaurant and the lobby up on the screen for everyone to see, and it was a shit show, an absolute comedy of errors.

  They watched men tripping over themselves and each other as they were trying to stop the young man from reaching the doors. The scene was ridiculous, and in the end, the human escaped.

  "Tell me why this young man, Foster Rhodes, a waiter at Sienna, a new hire, was allowed to escape. Why has he not been apprehended?" The Master stood silently at the front of the room, and silence fell across the room because no one had an answer. After several minutes of silence, he continued.

  “A twenty-three-year-old human waiter of no particular skill or ability was able to best a large swath of my elite, highly trained security defense. Let me tell you, it does not fill me with confidence." The meeting continued in this tone for some time, and every man in the room was feeling every word, and the room was filled with a heavy discomfort. No one liked to disappoint Master Hadden.

  "Zac is sending everything we know about Foster Rhodes to your phones." Master Hadden let his eyes travel the room, connecting with every single man standing there. "Find him." He said and then swiftly turned and left the room. It wasn't a life or death situation, but it was a loose end that needed to be taken care of, and unfortunately, it had put the Hadden forces in a particularly bad light.

  Foster lay in bed on top of the plastic shower curtain, wishing he was in his apartment warm, safe, and comfortable. As his mind and emotions calmed down, he allowed himself to contemplate what he'd actually seen. He'd kept himself focused and busy until this moment, and now he had to analyze what he saw and how they reacted. Then, there was the man in the dark in the storage room who tried to stop him, and none of it made any sense.

  The guy in the bathroom looked inhuman, like a beast, but the waitress didn't appear distressed. Rather, she seemed to be enjoying their encounter. It was off, though the scene was wrong. Foster didn't know what he'd seen, but clearly, it was something the Hadden people did not want to get out. The man was drinking the woman's blood. There was no doubt about it. Was it a cult thing? Were all the security guys involved? Did their victims survive? It was just so much.

  Then, there was the man in the storage room hunched over in the dark, doing something to a junction box. When Foster startled him, he was pissed, not shocked or scared, just angry, and ran after him. What could he possibly be doing in the dark? He wasn't part of the maintenance crew; they all wore a distinctive uniform, and that guy was wearing a tunic with tight black pants and boots. It wasn't a good look and really wasn't appropriate for a place like the Hadden Center. He was certain that the two events were separate; whatever the guy in the storeroom was doing had nothing to do with what happened in the bathroom at the Sienna.

  Nikolas Hadden, the owner of the building and head of the organization, was resourceful and had connections everywhere. He was just a lowly waiter and no real threat to anyone. No matter what he said, who would people believe, Nikolas Hadden or Foster Rhodes? The answer was obvious. Why were they so dedicated to his capture?

  He scrubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. Frustrated and tired but also a little bit afraid to fall asleep. No, no, no, he had to stay with the facts. His mind was going in every direction and grabbing onto the crazy. He needed to stick with the facts.

  He saw a man physically assaulting a woman in the bathroom. The man was part of the prestigious security force of the Hadden Coven. They want to stop Foster from sharing what he saw, which could cause Hadden and his people difficulty. That was the long and the short of it. The question is, how far would they go to keep him from talking? As far as the guy in the storeroom, he simply wasn't supposed to be there. He was doing something nefarious, that was certain.

  He'd call his neighbor Roddy in the morning and find out if men in suits were hanging about his apartment. Roddy was a retired postal worker, so very little got past that man. Closing his eyes, he tried to clear his mind in order to get a little sleep, but every sound had him awake and alert.

  The vision of the man in the bathroom kept invading his mind's eye. His victim was not upset or fighting him. It was a tender scene at first, or at least that's how he interpreted it until the man turned around. His face was fierce, his teeth were abnormally long, and then there was the blood. Foster took a long, cleansing breath and once again closed his eyes, pushing the visions out of his head. He was safe for now, and he could sleep. As he relaxed, the image of the man from the bar came to mind, and he smiled in spite of himself. If only, he muttered as he finally fell asleep.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Enzo went over the information that Zac had sent. It was brief but informative. "He has taken care of himself for a lot of years, which explains his talent and proficiency when under attack." He commented to Noori, who was deciding whether or not to join the search.

  "He knew how to quickly size people up and how to move; if it weren't for the fact that he possessed potentially dangerous knowledge, I'd applaud his success and forget about it," Noori added.

  "You want to join the search?" Enzo knew that he did and wanted to give him the freedom to say go. Apprehending a clever, uninitiated human was not in Noori's job description, but the man loved a challenge, no matter how small. He lit up at the offer.

  "Let's go." They first headed to the bathroom, where it all began. "The others began their search at the main doors, but we'd be wise to get a read on his scent first. The best place for a solid read is the bathroom, where he was startled and forced to flee. His scent should be quite pungent depending upon his fear level." Noori was in his investigative mode, focused and absorbing every lead. He was Commander Noori for a reason, and that reason was that he was one of the best, with a shrewd mind that never stopped.

  They were just entering the restaurant when they both received another message from Zac. “It has been determined that Foster Rhodes was able to escape and was unaffected by attempts to influence or stop him because he is a Fated partner. At present, we have not identified his significant other.”

  “Significant other, is that what we’re calling them now?” Enzo laughed.

  "Zac is always careful with his words. If he said vampire, then the shifters among us would be offended, and so on. Significant other casts a wide net and offends no one." Noori explained as they headed to the men's room. At the door, he stopped suddenly and turned to regard Enzo with a look of shocked surprise.

  “What?” Enzo asked after a few seconds of being scrutinized.

  "Foster is a waiter, and he was working tonight when you were here enjoying your espresso." Noori spelled it out, and Enzo resisted the implication at first, but he had to admit that there was a strong possibility that Foster Rhodes was his beloved.

  "You'll know for sure when we enter the bathroom his scent will be strong there," Noori told him and let him take the lead. Enzo walked with purpose, taking deep breaths as he approached the back hall, and then it started to hit him. The scent he recognized from earlier only it was more meaningful, and the markers were hitting their goal. He felt the sweetness touch his heart and mind.

  When he swung the door open, the presence of the man who was his beloved rose up before him, and Enzo closed his eyes on the sheer emotional overload of the moment. He walked in with Noori close behind, but he could not speak at first; he was not able to find the words for such an experience.

  "It's overwhelming, isn't it," Noori said knowingly and then stayed silent as Enzo brought his surprise and joy under control.

  "Yes." He responded and then turned to Noori. "This is what I sensed earlier, but it didn't possess the absolute punch that it has now."

  “It was fleeting but strong enough that you couldn’t get it out of your mind.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening to me and with this man. I have to find him. I can't let him continue running and being afraid." Noori nodded and left the bathroom with Enzo right behind him.

  "Now we follow his scent. He is your beloved, so even at its weakest, you will still be able to identify his trail and track him through town or wherever it is he has gone. Come on, let's follow him." They trailed the scent out the door and down another hall to a door that led into a storeroom. "He was trying to find a way out of the building."

  “Something startled him in this room.” Enzo stopped and flipped on the lights. “Someone else was here.”

  “Maintenance?”

  "Maybe, probably." Enzo found no reason to be suspicious of the presence of someone else, but still, his beloved's scent was a mixture of surprise and fright. Why would a maintenance man scare him? His only concern was the guard seen in the bathroom. He was running from the guard. He wasn't aware that everyone was after him until he reached the lobby.

  “What is it?” Noori picked up on his uneasiness.

  "We should find out who was in this room. Foster's reaction was unusual." Enzo decided to leave it there.

  "I'll text Zac and have him check on it." They continued out the double doors that brought them to the lobby where Enzo first laid eyes on Foster Rhodes. At the time, he found him entertaining and marveled at his skill at evading capture. Now, he knew that part of that skill came from the fact he was a beloved. Fate protects beloveds from being controlled or influenced by others, so any mind games the guards tried to use on him fell flat. The moves, though, were all his, and he had some fine moves.

  They left the lobby by the main doors following Foster's scent. Enzo was amazed by how easy it was to track him through the plaza and out onto the street. "He went into this shop," Enzo stated, but it was closed at this hour. They circled around to the back, assuming he had gone out the back door to the alley. Enzo picked up his scent again immediately.

  "He was trying to get to his car parked in E-Lot a couple blocks away," Noori commented. "They already had it covered by the time he would have arrived."

  They stopped at the partial hedge delineating the edge of the lot from the alley. "He stood there and then moved over to the truck there for a better view of his vehicle, no doubt." Enzo and Noori walked over to the truck and saw the guard still standing watch over the car. They decided to approach him.

  "Patrick," Noori announced his presence, and the guard gave him his immediate attention.

  “Commander Noori.” He responded and stood at attention.

  “Any sign of the young man?”

  "No, sir." Enzo and Noori walked over to Foster's car, a standard, older, dark blue sedan with a few dents and scratches. A glance inside showed that he maintained a clean and orderly car. Even though it was an older model and a bit beat up, he treated it with respect.

  "Stay sharp, I doubt he will show, but you never know when dealing with humans," Noori told him, and with a nod, they continued following Foster's trail. "He followed the hedge until it ran out, and then he moved from car to car using them as cover until he reached the main road."