Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(73)
Evalle pushed her soaked ponytail off her neck. “You know the origin of this synergy?”
“Got an idea who.” He paused for another libation break then said, “Remember that time a couple years back when you and those other two Belador hoodlums had a smackdown in Piedmont Park with a Kujoo?”
“Yes.” She didn’t even bust him for calling Tzader and Quinn hoodlums. Grady was confirming her worst fears.
“Same synergy this time, but much stronger.”
The only reason the synergy would be stronger was if Vyan had found a way to bring more of his kinsmen forward in time. “I think you’re right. Probably the Kujoo and they’ve come for a reason.”
“I doubt VIPER’ll be happy with the Beladors or the Kujoo if they have a showdown in the city again for no reason.”
She wanted to tell Grady about the Ngak Stone, but there was a limit to how much she could share even if he had held her confidences in the past. She hedged, “I don’t think the Kujoo are looking for the Beladors since that didn’t go well with Shiva last time. But they’re here for something. If you find out what, I need to know.”
That was as close as she could get to telling Grady about the stone.
“I’m giving you something important about this synergy,” Grady said in a quiet voice underpinned with need. “Maybe something worth more like an hour of solid time?”
She growled under her breath. “What has gotten into you? You know I can’t give you an hour.”
“Just one time, that’s all.”
“Why?”
Grady snapped his lips into a firm line.
She wasn’t the only one with trust issues. “If you’ve got word on anything else going on, you have to give it up. We’ve got a deal.”
“Let’s see.” He twisted his face into an exaggerated look of seriousness. “There’s a Chattahoochee Faerie lifting trinkets from street vendors, the twin heathens are trying to make pigeons steal tip money off outdoor café tables, heard a troll and a ghost were squabbling over a stretch of dirt up under Spaghetti Junction …”
“Never. Mind.” She didn’t have time for squabbles about living under Atlanta’s notorious interstate interchange. “I gotta go.”
When she stepped away, Grady pressed, “I want that hour on Wednesday evening, Evalle.”
That made her take another look at him. Getting one hour of human form was important to Grady, so she didn’t blow him off with a wisecrack.
“If I could do it, you know I would, Grady. I’m the last person who can do something like that right now. And even if I could, I have no idea what it would do to you.” She couldn’t look in his sad eyes without her heart aching for him, but neither could she give him what he wanted without putting him at risk with VIPER. Or turning him into some kind of monster.
If she did try and Sen found out, his reaction was unpredictable at best.
She put her hand on Grady’s forearm to stall him from lifting the bottle again. “I won’t do something I think might harm you further and I won’t pull you into my mess, which is what would happen if I got caught giving you an hour. I’ll help you figure out whatever it is you’re trying to do once this is over, okay?”
He stared at her for the longest time, then patted her hand in an understanding way. “That’s okay. It’ll wait.”
She released his arm reluctantly and walked away.
Grady had just lied to her.
Whatever reason he had to want human form for an hour would not wait. But she’d help him the minute she got herself out of trouble, which wouldn’t happen unless she found Isak. First she had to do her rounds with Storm in Piedmont Park.
Waste of time. Did VIPER really think the Ngak Stone was just going to be sitting there waiting on them?
And what would Grady give up for an hour of time in human form?
TWENTY-TWO
Storm leaned back against the stacked stone gate to Piedmont Park. He gazed through the misty air for a hellion on a motorcycle who had three minutes to show by nine o’clock if she intended to arrive on time.
A line of headlights cut a swath of light through the nighttime blanketing Atlanta’s busy midtown streets. Tires shoved leftover rainwater up on curbs, but the thunderstorms had beaten August’s heat into temporary submission.
Getting wet didn’t bother him in the least, but he’d taken advantage of the rain to wear a poncho.
Nice cover for a weapon.
“Rainy night in Georgia, huh?” Evalle appeared on his right, walking up to him from the park instead of the street side, where he’d expected her. Figured.
He hadn’t heard her approach, but he should have smelled her at least with his senses so sharp this time of night. Not as acute as when he took jaguar form, but sharper than a human’s. “Plan to put in more than a half hour tonight, or you hanging out with Sen again?”
“That’s a tough one. Teleport with the Grim Reaper or spend an evening playing truth or dare with you?”
Storm’s lips twitched. “I haven’t caused you to toss your cookies.”
“There is that. Sad to admit I’d have rather worked the park with you last night.” With her gunmetal gray riding jacket unzipped, her unusual silver navel ring flashed when the streetlight hit it.