A cloak of caution swathed around Ava, but she stepped through the door anyway. Lucien used to say that was a fault of hers, ignoring her intuition.
Damn it. There he was again, invading her thoughts. She forced her brain in another direction, scrutinizing the inside of the building.
A musty smell permeated from all the junk on the shelves lining the walls. Glass-top cabinets formed a rectangle around the center, showcasing rows of sparkling jewelry under miniature spotlights.
She followed Stone to the opposite end of the store and gave reading him another shot. The process was a lot like trying to interpret a blurry x-ray, the information was there, yet lost in the distortion.
Wasting her energy on someone she couldn’t grasp was not conducive. In fact, it was dangerous. She only had so much to spare. Instead, she settled on someone easier. Skeet’s emotions still glowed bright and brassy, giving her no indication she should be worried. The man was nothing more than annoyed.
That didn’t stop the blaring alarms and warning signals overloading Ava’s brain. Something was wrong, but she wasn’t leaving without her bounty.
She tapped out a divertive tune on the counter with her pink-tipped fingernails.
Stone stopped her with a gentle hand. “This’ll just take a minute.” He looked at her while passing the jewels to the guy emerging through a door behind the counter.
Ava slipped her hand out from under Stone’s. “Good, because that’s about all the time I’ve got to spare.”
Stone ignored her, watching the guy with the jewels instead. The stranger looked over a couple of pieces and returned them to the pouch. He pushed the small bag across the counter toward Stone and then cleared his throat. “Where’d you get these?”
“Are they real?” The tension in Stone’s voice reached out and knotted Ava with agitation, even though she knew she had nothing to fear—as far as the jewels were concerned.
“A more real gem...” The jeweler shook his head. “I have never seen.”
Stone dragged the pouch off the counter and shook a diamond into his hand before stuffing the rest into the front pocket of his Levi’s. “Thanks,” he said, offering the gem.
Ava’s opinion of Stone plummeted. He was either very generous or incredibly stupid. Even the smaller stones represented a steep payment just to confirm the jewels’ authenticity.
The jeweler took the diamond and a smile stretched across his face. Ava cringed. He slipped the diamond in his front pants’ pocket and glanced over his shoulder.
Uh oh. Who was the jeweler looking for? Dread ripped through Ava’s veins like an out-of-control raft riding the rapids.
Insight exploded in her head and pounded out through her ears. Sometimes her Karellian blood felt more like a curse than a good thing. Especially when she realized stuff a split-second before it happened—too late to react.
She closed her eyes. As if that was going to help. Maybe if she didn’t see him, he’d go away. Fat chance.
“Well, well, well...” Lucien’s familiar voice clouded around her like a stifling fog and she opened her eyes. “If it isn’t Nevada Valentine.”
She wasn’t surprised to see the two guys lurking behind Lucien, hanging on to Cole like he was some kind of prize.
The sight of Lucien pulling something out of his jacket’s inner pocket and Stone stepping in front of her was the last thing Ava remembered before everything faded to black.
~~~~
Chapter Two
Freaking tiki powder. That crap was like troll dust on steroids, and somebody had drenched Ava with a liberal dosing.
She ignored the side-effect—akin to a dozen imps pounding spiked hammers against the inside of her skull—and prepared to open her heavy-laden eyes.
If only her will was as strong as her ability to read people. Then she could easily dissolve the bonds forcing her eyelids shut—an after-effect of the tiki powder. Rubbing her eyes didn’t dissolve the pasty sensation, but she managed to pry them open anyway.
The hammering inside her head escalated. Apparently the little rascals didn’t like reality creeping in, and opening her eyes was like opening the curtains on a bright, sunshiny day, even though it was near-dark inside the pawn shop.
Ava’s heartbeat spiraled when she saw Mickey and Skeet lying in the doorway, neither of them moving. She dragged her head to the other side, even though it felt like she’d been fitted with a cement cap.
Stone was lying at her side, inches away. That was both liberating and troubling. Ava’s instincts had put him at the top of Lucien’s payroll.
Lucien St. James.
The man was a walking nightmare. And the biggest mistake she’d ever made. Stealing her bounty was one thing. That was part of the game. But he’d called her by that name.
Nevada.
Ava hated that name. And now, thanks to Lucien, a whole slew of people knew about it. Lucien was going to pay for that. Somehow, some way, she’d make him pay.
Just not right now. Right now she had to figure out how he’d managed to steal her bounty out from under her. He’d obviously had help.
Damned vamps. You can’t trust ’em.
~~~~
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Table of Contents
Foreword
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
PART TWO
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
PART THREE
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
PART FOUR
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
PART FIVE
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
PART SIX
CHAPTER 32
PART SEVEN
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
Chapter 1
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Broken Wings Page 18
