Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(109)

Or the young woman with the rock walked everywhere. If she was blind and unable to drive, that could be the case. Or if she carried her dog some of the time, she’d have broken the scent trail.

Two hours later, Evalle’s legs burned from jogging up and down a couple inclines without slowing. She only had two legs, but she wasn’t going to complain, dammit.

She hunched her shoulders in defense right after cursing mentally, sometimes anticipating an air slap to her head from Brina, but it never happened.

Tzader said Brina heard all cursing, but maybe she only listened to the rest of her tribe, not Alterants.

Storm bumped Evalle when he swung around, intent on something. Had he picked up an especially promising scent?

When he slowed and crept up to a house, Evalle cast a glance all around to check for animals. The last dog they’d encountered had followed them for a while. Was Storm’s protection ward beginning to fail?

He padded across the street to the driveway of a cottage-style wooden house painted blue and white. The yard was neat and filled with flowers. Storm paced several feet back and forth across the driveway, then lifted his head to her.

Evalle walked past him, over to a window on the side of the house, and peered in.

The woman she’d been hunting was curled up on her sofa with her mutt next to her. Bingo.

Hurrying back to Storm, Evalle squatted down and brushed her hand over the soft fur on his head, considering what to do next. “This is the girl’s house. I don’t want to scare her, so I’m going in alone.”

He growled and nipped at her arm with his lips.

“No arguing. That dog we passed on the last block sensed you. You’re close to being out of time with the ward. Go back and change into the clothes I left in the bushes for you. I’ll meet you at the park with the girl.”

He didn’t move.

“Storm, I need you to do this. You can’t go in with me, and if someone sees you when the ward wears off they’ll call animal control. I don’t want Sen coming after you for doing this around humans without authorization.” She stood up.

He rubbed his wide head along her leg, then took a step, but paused, reluctance to leave in every move he made.

“I’m fine. I can call Trey, Quinn and Tzader telepathically if I get into any trouble. Trey is superfast and lives maybe a mile or two away at the most. He can be here in a minute. But I’m not calling anyone until I know what’s going on with this girl, the rock and Vyan.” She leaned over and kissed his head. “This might save my tribe. Thank you.”

He licked her cheek, then trotted away, looking back every fifty feet until he disappeared into the night.

When she climbed the wooden steps to the cute porch, she took a close look at the pottery planter next to the door that came up to her waist. She’d been studying ancient languages at night on her computer. She’d seen those letters before and made a mental note of the bold inscription across the top, but she put it aside for now and knocked on the door. When it opened, Evalle faced the young woman from the park. “I need a minute to talk to you. It’s important.”

The woman gasped. “I saw you in the park early this morning.”

Finally. Something would be easy. “Yes, you did.”

“Are you a Belador?”

Not a question Evalle expected. “Yes, I am.”

“Are the Kujoo your enemies?”

That’s when she noticed the rock in the woman’s hand and reconsidered the first response that came to mind, since there could be a wrong answer to that question.

Easy never stayed in her vocabulary long.





THIRTY-FIVE




“Can I come in?” Evalle asked the woman holding the Ngak Stone, which could wreak devastation on the entire world.

“You didn’t answer my question. Are the Kujoo your enemies?”

Evalle considered a couple things quickly, like the fact that this woman had only met Vyan, not all the Kujoo. “I don’t have an issue with Vyan.”

Wariness crossed the woman’s pale face, but the blue eyes concentrated hard on whatever she was deciding. Her hair fell in flaming red waves to her shoulders.

A dog’s bark made them both jump.

Her mutt scampered through the open door and danced around Evalle’s legs. She instinctively reached down to pet the dog.

“Okay, Brutus, you win.” The woman extended her free hand. “I’m Laurette Barrett.”

“I’m Evalle Kincaid, and I’m here because you’re in grave danger.”

“I know.” Laurette said that with simple acceptance and backed away, opening the door for Evalle to enter.

The interior had a cozy feel, with sheers over the windows and flowery pillows tossed on a cream-colored sofa. All the secondhand furniture had been kept clean and given TLC along the way. Something with meat had been cooked recently, filling the house with a wonderful lived-in smell.

Now Evalle felt justified in suffering a moment of jealousy over someone living in a real house that had a lived-in feel.

Laurette stopped in the middle of the room and faced her. “Vyan said to find a Belador if he didn’t come back to my house by four this morning, and that was five minutes ago. I think somebody’s going to hurt him.”

“We need to talk about that rock in your hand first.”