Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)(33)

Great. Now she was talking to inanimate objects.

Most anyone who witnessed that would call her mentally unstable.

Anyone, that is, except Storm. He’d understand. He always understood. The man had more patience than any other human being or preternatural she’d ever met.

Last night she’d tried to peel his clothes off and swallow his tongue, then she’d attacked him.

Foreplay with an Alterant.

And the ultimate humiliation for her.

But even now she wanted him. Wanted to feel the taut muscles flex across his chest like they had when she’d reached inside his jeans and grabbed him.

Heat washed across her face, but in spite of how embarrassing that had been, she’d thought about nothing else since then except being with him. Her breasts ached, missing the way he’d brushed his fingers across her nipples and—

Whoa! Were those her thoughts or the blasted armband’s influence?

Panting as if she’d been in a dead heat race, she sucked in a couple of calming breaths when her elevator reached the top floor. Then she took the stairs up to the ten-foot-square structure that jutted above the roof.

Wind carried a drizzling rain across the roof in gusts. Very little light from the streets below reached over the thigh-high parapet wall that enclosed this rooftop, but neither she nor Macha needed light to see up here.

Macha generally popped in to see Evalle whenever the mood struck, but she’d told Evalle how to call her if necessary.

That meant, don’t call her for anything less than the apocalypse.

In Evalle’s opinion, if the Medb took control of Alterants and turned some of them into immortal warriors, they’d have the ability to cause an apocalyptic event.

Leaning out a little but staying under the protection of the short overhang, Evalle called out, “I request Macha, goddess over the Beladors, to please grant me a visit. Your humble servant, Evalle.”

She actually managed to get all of that out without gagging. That proved she had some control over her mouth.

A cloud of glittering light pooled ten feet away, in front of where she stood. It swirled, reminding Evalle of iridescent ice cream. When the glitter suddenly burst away, a woman not quite as tall as Evalle glowed into form.

Rain stopped falling on the roof.

The last time Evalle had seen Macha, the goddess had auburn hair flowing to her waist. Today she’d gone with blond curls falling around her stunning face and the rest of it piled into some kind of deity ’do.

Must be nice to be a goddess.

No demolished hairbrushes.

Thankfully, Macha normally shielded her luminous image from humans. Even if someone happened to look down at this rooftop from a higher building, they’d be hard-pressed to figure out that Evalle was speaking to anyone, and would likely not even see her or the goddess in this light. “Hello, Macha.”

Disgust molded Macha’s hazel-green gaze and Hollywood-gorgeous face into a dazzling picture of threat. “You’re working under the false impression that these are social visits.”

In other words, get to the point. “I’ve located Alterants.”

Interest lit Macha’s eyes, shoving the disgust away for now. “Where are they?”

“That’s why I asked to meet. The Medb are offering them a deal—”

“They dare to take that over my offer?”

The building shook with the force of an earthquake. Thunder pounding all around had nothing on Macha in a snit.

“No, that’s not the case,” Evalle hurried to assure the female A-bomb before she leveled the building. If not for Quinn’s guarantee that the renovated basement she leased from him could withstand anything, she’d be worried about having left Feenix down there. “I need a minute to explain.”

“Your seconds are ticking.”

Muscles constricted in Evalle’s chest. Don’t snap at her. No attacking the goddess. She took another stab, starting out by explaining about the Beast Club. Evalle finished with, “If I’d gone to VIPER before entering to meet Imogenia, I wouldn’t have found out about the Achilles Beast Championship. The Medb are clearly using this to bring the Alterants together in one spot.”

“Clever. Surprising, considering the source.” Macha floated inches above the roof as if afraid she’d touch something mortal and not be able to get the grime off later. She shot a pointed look at Evalle. “Why didn’t you think of that?”

Grinding her back teeth, Evalle counted to five, since Macha would never wait for a ten count. “To begin with, the games are illegal. Number two, I doubt you want to offer Alterants immortality.”

“That’s a phony offer. The Medb have not had an immortal queen since Maeve was killed. Even if they did, they can’t just offer immortality to anyone. It’s not like being knighted.”

Evalle guided the conversation back to her goal—getting Macha’s help in delivering this Volonte bone to VIPER without having to admit to them how she came to wear it. “Supposedly, the person hosting this ultimate event has a way of vetting out a lie. Word is the Medb’s sponsorship is backed by a blood debt and they’ll send a female Medb to face a truth test in front of everyone the night of the games. If this Medb representative lies, she’ll die on the spot.”

Macha moved around, floating just above the ripped-up roofing material, and circled around to face Evalle again. “What’s your plan?”