Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(118)

Storm moved around behind her. “Your back’s a mess. We need to get Adrianna to draw out the Noirre venom again.”

“I’d be happier to owe a loan shark,” Evalle muttered.

Storm sighed. “Don’t move, and I’ll ease the burn.” He waited until she nodded to put his hands on her back.

Heat, then a wonderful numbing sensation, raced across the nerves just beneath her skin.

When he finished, Storm kissed her neck this time.

In spite of worrying that someone might have seen the intimate touch, she smiled.

Heavy footsteps pounded in her direction. Tzader strode up to her, but his glare blasted Storm, who returned it with a look of what’s-your-problem?

Before anything erupted between them, Evalle intervened. “I need to grab a shower, get some sleep and take care of a few errands before I meet with the Tribunal.”

Tzader broke off from the visual posturing with Storm and addressed her. “Think you can stay out of trouble between now and midnight?”

Evalle considered what she’d just decided a moment ago. She didn’t want to lie to Tzader, but neither did she want to share what she was planning to do. Trouble was a mild way to describe it. “What, and give up the only thing I’m good at?”





THIRTY-EIGHT




The world swirled and blurred in Laurette’s milky vision the minute she took the hand of the man Evalle had called Quinn.

He squeezed Laurette’s fingers and said, “We’re almost there.”

She expected to wake up any minute and find out that she’d fallen in Piedmont Park and hit her head and that all of this had been a bad nightmare. But when her feet touched solid ground next, she was wide awake and still clinging desperately to some guy she’d bet would answer to the name Quinn. “Are we there yet?”

“If you live in a charming cottage with blue shutters and a large pottery vase next to the front door, I’d say we are.”

She could only see blurry light. “It’s my home, but I may need some help getting inside.”

The sound of him moving around was followed by the familiar squeak of her front door opening. He took her arm with gentle fingers and led her slowly inside. “How impaired is your vision?”

He had a kind voice full of understanding, but Evalle had already told her no one could fix her eyesight. Laurette wouldn’t whine. “It’s manageable now that I’m inside.”

“Take this.” He pressed a cell phone into her palm. “I know this has been a harrowing experience, but you are part of the Belador family now. Can you find the number five in the middle of the keypad?”

“Yes.”

“Press that to call me when you’re ready to talk about a companion dog and adapting to the changes you’ll be facing. We won’t leave you to face them alone.”

“Thank you.” She needed him to go now or she was going to break down in front of him. The rock had certainly seduced her, because she felt the loss of her vision as acutely as when she’d lost her granddad. On top of that, she couldn’t quiet the urge to see Vyan again, but he was where he wanted to be.

She would be happy for him and remember the way he’d made her smile. Remember the way he’d stepped between her and danger.

Remember his kiss.

“Thank you for bringing me home, but …” Go away.

“I sense that you’re ready to be alone. I’ll leave, but I’ll expect your call soon. And know that you can call any time, day or night.”

She just nodded because she couldn’t push any words out of her tight throat. When the door closed, she gave in to the pain expanding in her chest. A sob broke free over everything she’d lost. But she’d found out why her granddad had never come home. He’d been a Belador. They spoke of him as if he was a hero. He used to tell her the Barrett women were strong, that her ancestors were warriors. Warriors!

She was a Belador.

A blind one.

And Granddad would have been frowning at her right now for giving in to despair. She sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

Suck it up and act like my granddaughter. She could almost hear him saying that.

Having practiced recently, in anticipation of her vision being all but gone, she stuck the cell phone in her pocket and felt her way across the room. She might not be able to create her signature designs on the large pottery anymore, but right now she needed to sink her fingers into the clay and feel her granddad’s spirit surround her again.

At the door to the basement, she put a hand on the rail along the stairs and worked her way down. She’d reached the bottom landing and had taken two steps into the room when she heard someone’s sharp intake of breath.

Her own breathing was suddenly short and frantic. “Who’s there?”

“’Tis I.”

Fear pumped with the blood slamming her heart. “Who?”

“Vyan.”

Impossible. “What are you doing here?” Her heart raced for an entirely different reason now.

“I don’t know.” He sounded lost, which cut through her thrill of happiness over finding him here.

“I’m so sorry. You weren’t supposed to get stuck in this time period.”

“What did you tell the rock when you sent the Kujoo away?” His footsteps moved toward her.