Alterant (Belador #2)(94)

“I would never . . .”

“Kill me?” Storm finished. “You will if you have to.”

“No, I couldn’t.”

He would do whatever he could to prevent putting her in that position, but she would do the right thing no matter what. He knew that. “Time to go hunt.”

She chewed on her lip, indecision weighing her down until she finally gave up. “I know it’s raining, but we should take my bike instead of your truck. Glad you brought this.” She zipped up the gray rain jacket he’d had in his vehicle.

A frisson of worry fingered up his spine at the idea of her exposed on the Gixxer, and he wasn’t thinking about rain. Some threat hovered around her that he couldn’t pin down. “Don’t you need a vehicle for transporting the Alterants if you get them?”

“The Tribunal gave me no instructions on how to bring in the Alterants.”

“They expect you to just wait somewhere once you have them in hand?”

“Actually, I don’t think the Tribunal expected me to deliver the missing Alterants, but I have a plan. Once I have the Alterants ready to go in with me, I’ll have you contact Tzader and he’ll send Brina. She’ll work out the details with the Tribunal.”

He kept his attention divided between watching Evalle and any threat. “If VIPER doesn’t spot us first. We need to get out of here before someone does recognize either one of us.”

“That’s why I said to take my bike. I bet they already have your sport ute under surveillance. I painted my bike black and altered the tag. With us riding two up, I won’t be as obvious.”

“Okay.”

“But I don’t have a helmet for you, and you have to ride behind me.”

He wouldn’t let her ride on the back without full-body armor to protect her anyhow. “I don’t mind hugging up close to you.”

She pushed her soft eyebrow up in a smartass way that relieved some of his guilt from earlier. He didn’t worry about her anytime she dropped into cocky mode. “How does you hugging close to me negate the lack of a helmet?”

Storm gave her a half smile. “You really think a cop wants to stop a bike in this downpour? And we still have a couple hours until daylight. We’re both in dark colors. If I pull up my hood, they may not even notice.”

Her eyes took note of his head and shoulders. “If we wreck you won’t live through it without a helmet.”

He leaned down and kissed her quickly on the forehead. “Then don’t wreck. Let’s get moving.”





THIRTY-THREE




Evalle cruised her motorcycle into Decatur and located the city parking deck close to the MARTA station Tristan would have exited from if he had come this way. She was betting heavily on guessing right. Evalle found a corner spot and climbed off. Removing her helmet, she swiped wet hair off her face.

Storm couldn’t have been any more soaked if she’d dumped him in a lake. When he pushed the hood off his head, wet black hair clung to his neck. He stuck his cell phone in her tank bag, then peeled off his soaked hoodie, wrung out the water and started using the jacket as a towel.

Using both hands, he wiped water and damp hair off his face. “Let’s go.”

“Storm, if I ask you to back off and stay out of sight, will you?”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I don’t want you caught or shot.” She’d seen what Isak’s demon blaster could do to an enormous demon. Storm wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Let me worry about that.”

“No, I need this promise from you or you can’t help me.”

“We can talk or we can track.”

She crossed her arms and said nothing.

He scowled and uttered something in a strange language. She didn’t need a translator to interpret pissed off, but she wasn’t budging without his agreement.

Storm said, “Okay, okay. I promise. Now let’s go.”

No one loitered on the sidewalks running along the front of eclectic retail shops and restaurants between the parking deck and the MARTA station. That still didn’t lower her anxiety when they reached the subway station and Storm stepped behind bushes to strip down and shift.

The black jaguar emerged, blending into the obsidian night except when he turned bright yellow eyes on her. He stalked around the station for a minute, sniffed one spot twice, then turned to Evalle.

She asked, “Got it?”

He gave a nod and took off along McDonough Street with her right behind.

Storm hung close to the walls. When he reached an older neighborhood surrounded by woods, he padded up to a two-level brick apartment building. Judging by the simple window and door trims thick with paint, the structure had probably been new in the ’80s.

Evalle waited at a spot where she could see both entrances to the apartments while Storm searched around the building. When he headed back to her, he nodded.

The Alterants were here.

But the real confirmation had just stepped out from the far entrance behind Storm.

Tristan held an umbrella for a young woman he had his arm around. She had brown hair—nothing like his blond locks—and wore hers in crazy curls piled on her head. When she lifted her head, Evalle saw a blink of bright green eyes. Neither Tristan nor his sister had Evalle’s night-vision eyesight, or they’d have been wearing sunglasses to hide their eyes in the dark.