by Dianna Love
Chapter 17
Evalle made the short trip to Six Feet Under, arriving as Atlanta calmed down for Sunday night. This late in the day in November, temps had dropped into the thirties, so riding over on her Suzuki Gixxer just before sunset in full-body Aerostich, deer skin gauntlet gloves and a completely enclosed dark helmet had actually been nice.
Not so much fun to be fully covered like this in the middle of August.
She did appreciate Tzader trying to save her making the run to headquarters, and if she never saw Sen again it would still be too soon, but she didn’t care to have everyone thinking she was vulnerable the minute she stepped out of her apartment.
She’d killed plenty of creatures, hadn’t she?
The last demon took your dagger and disappeared, and you came damn near to dying by falling off a mountain.
Okay, her job had pitfalls, but she was no princess to be put on a pedestal. She was having a tough enough time just being a mate.
Inside the restaurant, the smell of fresh-cooked fish and other kitchen aromas had her close to drooling. She found Adrianna sitting at the bar, nursing what appeared to be club soda.
Evalle set her helmet down.
Adrianna was halfway through a bowl of chicken fajita soup and put her spoon down. “Is Storm on the way?”
“Crap...” Evalle pulled out her phone and punched in a quick text about meeting her and Adrianna.
As expected, Storm replied that he’d pick her up. When she sent back that she was already at the restaurant, nothing came right back, then all she got was: K, be there in 40 min.
Bad sign. He was irritated.
She told the witch, “He’s on the way.”
Adrianna talked between bites as she finished her meal. “I’ve got a question. I heard Beladors around VIPER saying stuff about you being able to walk in the sun after you turned into a gryphon, but no one sees you outside in the daylight now. Are you just nocturnal by nature?”
“That ability went away. I’m night bound from here on.”
Adrianna frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Remember when you told me the spirits would expect payment for guiding me through their world to locate Storm in Mitnal? You warned me to choose my sacrifice. I made an open-ended pact and they jumped on it.”
Adrianna studied her with compassionate eyes. “I wondered what happened after you made the offer for the spirits to take whatever they could from you where you stood.”
Evalle lifted her shoulders, trying to own the feeling of unconcern so no one threw her a pity party. “I have no regrets since Storm is back here and alive. I was willing to lose all my Belador powers to find him, but the spirits took something from me that I’d never really had anyway, so really they’ve only inconvenienced me. Nothing more.”
Nothing except what you most longed for after living in the dark your whole life.
Now who was hosting a pity party?
Sure, Evalle would like to be able to watch the sunrise or sunset with the man she loved, like a normal person, but she hadn’t been dealt a normal life.
To balance things out, she got Storm forever.
Pretty good get on that point.
Any more mental complaining and she’d have to put her brain into time out.
“Can you be in the sun in your gryphon form?” Adrianna asked.
“I have no idea. I can’t shift in this world without permission.” That was another constant irritation on top of all she’d been through. She had the ability to shift into a beautiful gryphon now instead of the hideous beast form she’d once been relegated to, but even though Macha had accepted Alterants into her pantheon and petitioned for recognition, Evalle still couldn’t shift, not even to show Storm.
I’m sick of other people ruling my life.
That was why she’d left the apartment on her own tonight. Something had to be under her control. No one was ever going to tell her when she could come and go.
Not even the sun.
And definitely not Storm.
Adrianna pushed her bowl away and spun on the bar stool, all five-feet-three of her dressed in a denim skirt and a dainty white shirt with full sleeves. She sported short, silver boots with spiked heels.
How did she walk or do anything else in those?
Ready to change the subject, Evalle asked, “Why did you pick the construction site for ... you know what?”
Keeping her voice down, Adrianna said, “It will be free of activity on a Sunday night. There are security cameras, which I’ve taken care of and–”
Adrianna’s voice drifted off as her gaze shot past Evalle.
Evalle turned to find Isak Nyght strolling up to them. Men came in all shapes and sizes. This one walked in with the swagger of a linebacker on a day off. Usually, Isak showed up packing enough personal artillery, which included his custom demon blasters, to take out an entire terrorist encampment.
At the moment, he was packing a wicked glint in his blue eyes and a sexy curve to his mouth that had to be distracting the women he passed from whatever their dates were saying. The navy, collared shirt and dark pants might be an attempt to tone down the dangerous edge, but his bomber jacket and built-in attitude brought the threat level right back up.
Evalle had never missed Isak’s appeal—she wasn’t blind after all—but he wasn’t Storm ... who would not be happy to find Isak here. There was a time she wouldn’t have cared, but now she did. A lot. Storm was all she wanted in a man, and she wanted her man happy.
She checked her watch. Storm still had another half hour.
That gave her thirty minutes to get rid of Isak. Twenty-five if she didn’t want the men to run into each other, which would end badly.
Isak gave a nod in Adrianna’s direction.
The witch angled her head in a cool response.
These two had not hit it off during their first encounter, when they’d both shown up to help Evalle corner the witch doctor so she could open a portal for Evalle to bring Storm home.
That had been a trying time, especially when the witch doctor used majik to pin Isak and his megablaster to a wall.
He had no love for nonhumans and correctly grouped witches into that category.
Still, he’d pricked Adrianna’s temper when he’d automatically referred to the witch doctor as an “it” even before he knew anything about the race.
Then Adrianna had conjured up some crazy majik to back down the bitch, who’d been determined to turn Storm into a full-blooded demon. Isak’s personal code of nonhumans-are-a-danger-to-the-world had never been tested until he’d met Evalle, but he’d gotten interested in her long before he realized she was not human.
His attitude hadn’t changed, just allowed for one exception to his rule.
Evalle jumped in first before Isak could start in on her about the dinner date she’d put off forever. “I know I’m a little late getting in touch–”
That snatched Isak’s dark attention off Adrianna and back to her. “A lot late. You’ve blown off dinner three times.”
Has it only been three times? “Things have been complicated, Isak.”
“Did that guy Storm make it back?”
“Yes and he’s not that guy–”
“Then it’s not complicated any longer. You agreed to dinner a week later. It’s been a week later.”
“I realize that.” Evalle glanced at Adrianna, who lifted her eyebrows as if to say hmmm? No help there. “What if I absolutely promise–”
“Tomorrow. That’s your last extension. Kip asked about you and said to tell you the boys are doing good, but they want to come home.”
Who was minding the guilt gates, and why, all of a sudden, were they wide open?
Evalle was getting bombarded everywhere she turned. Kip, Isak’s mother, had spared Evalle’s life when she’d been almost shot full of holes by several Nyght weapons, and then she’d loaned Evalle a Nyght megablaster for a mission to take out deadly Svart trolls who’d kidnapped a bunch of humans.
<
br /> As long as Evalle agreed to come for dinner.
Kip had been in obvious matchmaking mode, and for a woman who barely came to Evalle’s shoulder, she was frightening. Plus, as a favor to Evalle, Isak had dropped off two homeless teenage boys with Kip. Evalle and a Nightstalker named Grady usually watched over the boys, but when things heated up in Atlanta, Kip had taken them for safekeeping.
Adrianna asked, “What boys?”
Evalle said, “A pair of eighteen-year-old twins who are homeless.”
Isak added, “Warlocks.”
“No, they aren’t,” Evalle argued. “They’re witches. Warlocks are dark male witches. Those two boys are not like that.” She knew this would not go over well, but she asked Isak, “Can Kip watch the boys for another week?”
“Why?”
Anyone else would be arguing with her or snarling over her audacity, but leave it to Isak to immediately figure out that Evalle had a reason for not bringing the boys back right now. Should she tell him a crazy witch called Veronika would have no trouble grabbing control of those two after an upcoming eclipse? Not a good idea unless Evalle wanted a black ops team in the middle of everything just to protect her.
Save me from men determined to protect me.
Evalle said, “I’m tied up on a project right now and want to be available when the boys come back so they don’t get into trouble.”
Adrianna was listening intently, watching the play between Evalle and Isak.
He stood, blocking Evalle’s exit with his wide body. She had to get him turned around and out of here. “I really am sorry for all the delays.”
He asked, “What time tomorrow?”
She accepted the end of her wiggle room. “I’ll meet you here at dark.”
“If you aren’t here at dark, I’m coming to get you.”
She said, “I’ll be here, but I need to get back to my conversation with Adrianna. She’s, uh, working on that project with me.”
“Hmm.” His gaze jumped to Adrianna, who managed to suddenly radiate even more sex than usual, while still giving him a frosty look.
Evalle had no idea what was going on with her.
Isak spoke too low to be heard outside their small circle, but he sounded disgusted when he asked Evalle, “You need a witch to help you?”
He’d said that as if he asked whether she needed an ex-con to aid her.
Adrianna remained in a relaxed position, with her elbow propped on the bar and stirring her club soda with a tiny straw. “Yes, she does, because as you had the privilege to witness, I can handle anything thrown my way.”
“You sure about that?”
Sitting forward, Adrianna spoke softly, which meant Isak had to lean down to hear her when she said, “A foolish man made the mistake of underestimating me. It only happened once.”
She sat back and he straightened to his full, humongous height. Daggers flew between their gazes.
Evalle didn’t move for fear of getting cut by the sharp-edged glares. She suggested, “Nice to see you, Isak, but I really have to get back to work.”
He nodded and turned, then stopped.
She leaned around to see what blocked his path.
Storm.
Chapter 18
Storm locked down on his emotions before Evalle picked up on his urge to rip Isak into two pieces and toss each half as far away from Evalle as possible.
Isak mimicked Storm’s posture, with legs slightly apart and arms crossed.
Storm would be the bigger man for Evalle, who didn’t need to be stressed over this. At least, he would be as long as Isak didn’t touch her.
Evalle stepped around Isak and looked up at Storm. “Funny running into Isak here, but he was just leaving.”
Isak interjected, “I might hang around and have a beer.”
Being the bigger man was overrated. “That’s fine. We’re leaving,” Storm told Isak, who wasn’t budging.
Evalle glared first at Isak then at Storm.
Then she must have noticed how quiet things were getting in the normally bustling restaurant.
People were watching.
Waiting on the show to begin.
Could Isak not recognize that the chase was over? Evalle had made her choice, dammit.
Isak gave Storm a narrowed-eyed stare of challenge.
The human outweighed him by about thirty pounds, but Storm’s jaguar strength would more than balance out that difference.
Hurting this guy would upset Evalle and she had enough on her plate right now, but Storm needed to get things straight with Isak so he’d stop sniffing around.
If that didn’t work, then Storm would have a more in-depth conversation in a less public venue.
Evalle muttered, “Another minute of this and I’ll get testosterone poisoning.” She leaned past Isak and called out, “Ready?”
Adrianna slid off the barstool.
Storm angled his head just enough to see Adrianna, whose eyebrows lifted and dropped just as quickly. She tossed money on the counter and slipped the strap of her tiny purse over her shoulder, striding past Isak without a second look.
Isak noticed her though, his gaze sliding from head to toe as the petite witch walked away, before he caught himself and returned to posturing.
Storm picked up on male interest in the witch that should have eased his anger, but Isak’s gaze slid from Adrianna to Evalle, who rolled her eyes at both of them.
Then she fell into step behind Adrianna, not saying a word.
Storm felt eyes on his back and sent a look across the bar area and around the restaurant. That had everyone immediately shifting their attention to whatever conversation had been going on a moment ago.
Isak’s mouth lifted with smug sarcasm. “Nice trick. That all you got?”
Storm stepped up to Isak. “Let’s make this simple. In case you didn’t get the memo, Evalle is my mate. Don’t come near her again.”
“Going to be hard to avoid it when she just agreed to go to dinner with me tomorrow.”
Shock whipped through Storm first and disappointment followed close behind. What was going on between Evalle and Isak?
Storm was a master at disguising his emotions and shrugged off Isak’s comment, telling him, “Don’t get your hopes up.”
Isak’s mouth turned up, beaming arrogance. “Don’t bet against me.” He walked out.
Storm needed a minute to pull his fury under control before he walked out of here and faced Evalle. She was as genuine as they came, so his first guess was that she owed Isak dinner for something in the past, probably borrowing one of Isak’s damned weapons.
With that realization, Storm’s blood pressure started dropping. Isak had come around to collect on a debt.
Storm had won her love and he wasn’t letting anyone impose on her. If Evalle had an outstanding debt with Isak, Storm would settle it.
Sure that Isak had cleared out, Storm turned to catch up to Adrianna and Evalle, but when he stepped outside the women were nowhere in sight.
Thumbing the keys on his phone, he sent her a text on the way to his truck. Where are you?
Busy.
His fingers paused on the handle of his truck and he stared up into the heavens, searching for patience. He could track her and Adrianna, but that would take time and he didn’t want to risk those two trying to cross into a hostile realm by themselves.
He climbed into his truck, mentally searching for the right thing to say, and texted: Isak and I parted on civil terms. Now can I come join you? I missed you today.
Thirty seconds passed and he stared at the phone, waiting.
Forty seconds.
A minute.
When she finally texted back, she sent an address for the construction location of the new dome, but it was the smiley face she included that eased the tightness in his chest.
Still, she’d been stressed when she left the restaurant and knowing he’d contributed to her tension felt like shit.
He glanced up at the rearview mirro
r, seeing the face of a frustrated man. “Your trying to build walls around her to keep her safe is not helping.”
No, but he could fix that. He’d have to give her space and hope like hell nothing happened to her.
Chapter 19
Evalle followed Adrianna over chewed-up ground that would eventually be home to the Atlanta Falcons football team. Once this new dome was finished, the old one next door would be torn down.
The Georgia Dome still looked nice to her, but she’d never been to a football game so what did she know?
“Is Storm coming?” Adrianna asked, sounding concerned but not missing a step with those spiked boots.
“He’s on the way.”
Adrianna wore a backpack that had been stuffed full. She had her palms turned toward the ground, shining a glow ahead of her, which made up for her lack of night vision.
But Evalle saw just fine even through her dark sunglasses, and Storm would move through the night with the eyes of the predator he could shift into.
Adrianna paused and swung around, adjusting the backpack, then gave a head nod in the direction of something behind Evalle. “Looks like he found us.”
Evalle twisted around.
Storm closed in on them with long strides, his knee-length coat billowing open. He was silent as a shadow in spite of how quickly he moved across the construction site.
When he reached them, he stopped and looked around. “There are cameras all over this place, plus they’ve got to have on-site security.”
“I’ve taken care of the cameras,” Adrianna assured him. “Whoever monitors the feed will see the same picture with an occasional bird flying past to break it up. We’ll be shielded from human eyes. As for human security moving around, they’ll turn back as soon as they reach this area and retrace their steps, thinking they’ve circled the building.”
Evalle tried to get a read on Storm and picked up strong determination.
Storm worked on one speed when he was focused. All out.
He wouldn’t let her or Adrianna move forward unless he was convinced they’d both be safe.
That was the man she loved, who might go overboard when it came to watching out for the woman he loved, but he didn’t love in half measure.
