Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(68)

Evalle stabbed Quinn with a look of accusation. “But I hadn’t wanted to add that word to his vocabulary.”

Quinn lifted his hands in surrender. “I didn’t tell you to curse in front of him. If he farts from chocolate, I can only image the piles of rusty poop he leaves from lug nuts.”

“He absorbs the steel into his system. We blew a hole in the back of a closet that gives him a cave to hole up in when he needs his space. He’s very tidy.”

“Yeth, dammit.” Feenix flapped his wings, then settled in the corner and started counting his toes. He had eight, but he only knew how to count to six so far, so he had to start over when he reached the extra two.

Tzader shook his head at her. “You take him outside again and he’ll pick up an even more colorful four-letter word than damn to say for the number ‘fork.’”

“I’ll get earmuffs for the next time I take him over to Nicole’s. She loves to see him, and Feenix likes riding the bike.” Evalle wouldn’t take Feenix around just anyone, but Nicole was a witch in Rowan and Sasha’s coven, where some feared her because she had unusual gifts and a strangely lethal air about her. But her coven did not permit any black majik practice, and Nicole would never practice dark arts.

She was one of the most honorable and kind people Evalle had ever met. Maybe she’d always felt a kinship with Nicole because she was different even from other witches.

That Nicole treated Feenix like a prince made her even more special in Evalle’s book.

“I don’t want to know anything about you taking Feenix out in public at all or riding him around on a motorcycle.” Tzader shook his head. “Let’s get back to real problems. The Rak did confirm that someone from the Medb coven was working Noirre majik in the southeast and it had something to do with the Alterants.”

“Alterants walking around free as in plural?” Evalle tapped her fingers against the beanbag. Was there any positive news to be had?

“Possibly.” Tzader allowed another long pause, then looked her square in the eyes. “We’ll have to inform Brina and VIPER about this.”

She knew that look and tone but glanced at Quinn to confirm her guess. The unguarded worry in his angular face was answer enough that they were telling her not to share something with them that they would be forced to pass along.

Quinn cleared his throat. “We told you two years ago we’d always have a plan if it became necessary to get you somewhere safe, and this may be the time.”

She started shaking her head. “You said I could never come back or be around either of you again. I can’t do that.”

“Evalle, darling, we don’t want you to go away either,” Quinn told her. “But we’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe and uphold our vows to the tribe.”

Give up what little life she’d finally gained after twenty-three years of struggling? She’d fight first. But that meant not putting these two in a position of having to choose between her and the tribe. She wouldn’t do that to any Belador, and these two meant more than all the other Beladors put together.

She would find a way out of this mess without putting Quinn or Tzader at risk. Or she’d suffer the consequences on her own. “I understand what you’re saying, and you know how much it means to me that you would do this to keep me safe, but I have to try to find the answers. And I have to help find the Ngak Stone. If I can show my value to VIPER, maybe the Tribunal will give me some more time.”

“What’s going on with them?” Tzader’s body tightened when he leaned forward, propping his forearms on his knees.

“Yes, what’s this about more time?” Quinn shoved the recliner footrest down and sat up.

Evalle took a deep breath and let it out. “That’s the part you two don’t know yet. The window for me to leave has passed. Let me tell you about what’s happened since I ran into Tzader yesterday.” Since Quinn didn’t have all the details, she explained about the mangled body in the morgue that was now missing, the Cresyl demons and the Birrn. She’d just finished telling them how she’d escaped before the police found her with the smoked Birrn demon, but stopped before she said anything about missing the meetings with Isak, when she noticed Tzader. He’d covered his face with his hands. “What, Z?”

“You said the shooter’s name was Isak? Big guy with a superweapon?”

“Yes. You know him?”

Tzader’s jaw flexed. “Know of him. Isak Nyght. Runs a team of mercs called the Nyght Raiders. Former military from different branches, all special division Black Ops types. Isak has a source for the weapons, and some think he actually designs them. In the past, he and his men have been sent to investigate and deal with unusual situations, but on other continents.”

Quinn frowned. “Unusual … like nonhuman?”

“Exactly.”

Evalle kept her tone casual. “Is Isak human?”

“Yes, but he has an uncanny ability to find information and locate nonhumans.” Tzader scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Based on the report from our people on the ground in Tehran, we’re pretty sure the Nyght Raiders killed an Alterant that shifted into beast state.”

The hairs along Evalle’s neck danced with anxiety. Isak had killed an Alterant? “Does Brina know there’s an Alterant Terminator running around?”