Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(104)

Vyan stood and walked into the living room, where he lifted his sword and slid the dangerous-looking blade into a sheath at his hip, then pulled on his coat. “I will say a special prayer to my god for your eyesight.”

“What about your wounds?”

“Your kind hands and my immortal state have healed them. I am fit to battle.”

She didn’t care to hear that. “How do I find you again?”

“Do not look for me on your own,” he ordered in such a fierce voice that she took a step back. His eyes closed for a moment, then he opened them and anguish flooded his gaze. “I did not mean to frighten you, but you must not come looking for me, or Batuk and Tristan will capture you. Understand?”

She understood that this man was trying to protect her from dangerous people. “Yes. I will contact the Beladors if you’re not back by four o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Obviously pleased by her agreement, he smiled, then spent a long moment watching her.

When she rubbed the stone in her pocket, she could feel his thoughts, could feel something he wanted that he wouldn’t ask. “What?”

Vyan walked back to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Thank you for a day of peace like I have not enjoyed for many centuries. You have been a balm to my weary soul.”

This man was stealing her heart one sliver at a time.

She lifted her hand to his arm. “I wish you wouldn’t leave.”

“As do I, but I cannot stay when each minute puts you further in danger.”

The heck with normal. Life was never going to be the same, and she might never see this man again. He was far too much of a gentleman to make a forward move, but she wanted something to remember him by. She lifted up and touched her lips to his. He didn’t move for a heartbeat, then he kissed her back.

And kissed her some more until she felt her feet lifting off the floor, which might be because he’d wrapped her in his arms. Good grief. No man kissed like that.

When he lowered her back to the floor and lifted his head, she was breathless at the affection in his eyes. “You have given me many gifts that I can never repay.”

“Then come back alive and I’ll make a payback list.”

He smiled, but it did not hide the sadness in his eyes. He touched his lips to her forehead, then backed away and walked to the stairs that led to the second floor.

“Where are you going?”

“To leave by the rooftop so no one can track me back to your house.”

Why couldn’t she have met a man like him in her era? “Thank you for not taking the rock when you could have.”

His face glowed with surprise and warmth, then he was gone.

Lifting the rock up to eye level, she stared into the molten depths. “I did not promise I wouldn’t search for him on my own.”





THIRTY-THREE




Waiting came as easily to Evalle as trusting, but for once she’d shown up twenty minutes early instead of late. She wouldn’t have had to change her meeting with Storm at Piedmont Park to midnight if not for hunting Nightstalkers. She’d found six since dark had fallen over Atlanta.

Grady had not been one of them.

None of the ones she’d found had significant intel on the Ngak Stone, but every one of them had asked if she was also “offering a two-handed shake deal” like the Kujoo. Which meant that Tristan and the Kujoo might be turning hundreds of Nightstalkers into aggressive halflings like the one that had stabbed her.

Where were these Nightstalkers? Was Tristan, the Kujoo and/or the Medb amassing an army?

“Will wonders never cease,” Storm said from behind her.

She stopped pacing along the sidewalk outside the entrance to Piedmont Park and swung around at his voice, almost colliding with a young couple pushing a baby stroller in the warm night air. “Sorry.”

Giving her the keep-your-distance look, the couple scurried past Evalle.

“Scaring the natives?” Storm chuckled.

“I doubt there are many true native Atlantans here anymore.”

He was too attractive for her peace of mind to begin with, but smiling amplified everything from his exotic eyes to his strong chin. His upper body flexed beneath his mocha brown T-shirt when he crossed his arms. The movement brushed a scent of virile male through the air, stirring her nerves into a scary dance of awareness.

What had gotten into her, noticing men like Storm and Isak?

She’d never taken an interest in men, not this way. The next time she saw Nicole she’d find out if her empathic ability was ramping up her emotions.

Because men were making her jumpy for a whole different reason than past fears. Storm in particular.

She had to shove this back to a business level. Angling a shoulder toward the gates, she said, “Tzader wants us to walk the park and see if we can pick up anything or if any of the Kujoo show up, since they’ll be searching this area for the woman, too. What have you been up to today?”

Storm fell into step with her. “Found the woman’s body from the morgue.”

“Really? Where?”

“Adrianna and I tracked the Noirre majik to a house in Inman Park and found the body there. Looked like the family was out of town.”

Evalle suffered a twinge of something she refused to call jealousy at Storm’s working with Adrianna. “What prompted that trip?”