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considerably. “Yes.” Adin kissed Donte’s hand and led him into the lobby of his hotel. “My monster.”
    He didn’t much care for the look he got from Monsieur Villiers, but when all was said and done, it was an honest mistake. Arguably he’d had plenty of men in his hotel room already.
    “Why on earth did the clerk look at us like that?” Donte asked once they were alone in the elevator.
    “Why indeed,” Adin murmured.

Chapter Four
    Adin wasn’t surprised when—after he invited Donte into his room—he discovered that nothing was there. Not Bran. Not Boaz. Not his luggage or personal effects. He sat on the bed with a sigh and scrubbed his hands through his hair, now just tacky from the gel and product he’d used to style it what seemed like days before.
    “Don’t bother trying to lock the door.” Wearily, Adin rose and headed toward the bathroom. “Santos broke it down.”
    Donte flipped idly through the television channels while Adin washed his face clean of makeup. When Adin returned, Donte opened his arms and enfolded him in an embrace that said as much about the longing Donte had been feeling for him as it did about their present circumstances.
    “My things are gone,” Adin told him.
    “Outwitted by Santos again, were we?” Donte murmured into Adin’s hair.
    “I don’t think so. No.”
    Donte shot him a look but said nothing.
    “Santos invited me to stay at his home. Call Boaz and ask him if you don’t believe me.”
    Donte’s brows knit together. “Oh, I believe you.”
    Adin rested his head on Donte’s broad, lightly padded shoulder. “I believe Santos was legitimately offering me a safe place to stay. How much do you know about what happened today?”
    “I know you did an extremely foolish thing, going to meet Harwiche in a cemetery.”
    Adin froze. “How do you know about that?” He jumped to his feet. “You’re having me followed ?”
    “Caro—”
    “So what? You have me watched when I leave the hotel, you have Boaz on speed dial to get me out of trouble, and you race here like a biblical angel when you perceive I’m in danger?”
    “Yes.” Donte turned cold eyes toward him. “What of it?”
    “You act like my mother!”
    “I do nothing of the sort,” Donte turned away.
    “Well, no actually, you’re right. She had faith in me.”
    “I—”
    “Admit it, you have not one molecule of confidence that I can take care of myself.”
    “In the world you knew, yes. You had every right to feel like the master of your fate. In my world…in this new world we inhabit together…” Donte left his sentence hanging as he pulled the phone from his pocket. He took only a second to check his messages and put it back. “Boaz has your adolescent friend. What were you thinking, Adin? Buying that boy?”
    “I doubt it would make any sense to you.”
    “Nothing you do makes sense to me.”
    “I hope you’re being facetious here.” Adin frowned. “The boy—Bran—reminded me of my friend Edward. I don’t know why. Edward never seemed lost like that when we were growing up. Bran is almost feral, yet something about him felt familiar to me. And he was in trouble. I had to do it. You didn’t see where they were keeping him.”
    “Fine.” Donte stood. “If you want your things you need to come with me.”
    “I need to tell Villiers I’m checking out so he can fix the broken door.”
    “The door Santos broke. Fine.”
    Donte waited as patiently as he ever did while Adin accomplished that. Adin returned from the registration desk in time to see two stunning, dark-haired women engage Donte in conversation. As usual, he was his charming self with strangers. Donte sent another impatient glare Adin’s way when he walked over to join them.
    “Ah, Adin. At last. Let’s go find out how much trouble you’ve purchased.”
    Adin followed Donte glumly out the door and just like that, they were back where they’d begun when he left Spain, silent and separate, walking the streets of