Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)(63)

This time the boat that floated up to the dock was a twenty-five-foot Sea Ray.

Storm cupped Evalle’s arm as she stepped down. She suffered quietly through being treated like some delicate little doll.

Just as he dropped down onto the boat deck, he swung his head around sharply, looking at the dock where the troll stood.

“What is it?” Evalle asked softly to avoid drawing attention.

“I thought I sensed someone else.”

“I did, too, earlier, right before you arrived. I picked up a strong sense of fear, so I don’t think it’s a threat. Might be someone from here who’s curious.”

“Maybe. I don’t smell anything.” Putting his hand to the small of her back, he moved her toward the bench seat across the back and called up to the captain that they were ready.

She hoped so. No going back now.





TWENTY-ONE





Once the boat dropped them on Cumberland Island, Storm kept his senses wide open as he led Evalle along a winding footpath through a forest of pines, sprawling oaks and palm trees. He didn’t want her here in any capacity, not even as a sponsor.

She asked, “Do you know anything about this island?”

“A little.” He’d gotten enough information from a local source and lined up a private boat to get them off the island if they had to make a run for it. “That big-ass house where the boat dropped us is Plum Orchard, built by the Carnegie family right before 1900. They were steel magnates.”

A horse nickered nearby. Evalle muttered, “Wild horses, pigs, deer, armadillos . . . it’s a freakin’ wild kingdom here.”

Storm chuckled at his city girl.

One day he’d take her camping and show her that the woods could be fun. The day this was all behind them. “We don’t have to worry about the wild animals. They have enough sense to avoid the preternatural.” Based on the directions the boat captain had given Storm, they’d reach the ABC pretty soon.

He wanted to know what to expect from Evalle. “How do you plan to get to Tristan?”

“If he’s the Medb representative, as Imogenia claims, I’m hoping he’ll be easy to find. Once I see him, I’ll figure a way to get close enough to talk, and if he agrees to leave, Nicole gave me a potion that will turn him invisible for an hour. There’s enough for at least five or six Alterants to drink.”

Then Tristan would get her trapped somehow. “What if he won’t leave with you?”

She walked along so quietly that she had to be thinking. “I can only save someone who is willing to save himself. If I can’t convince him that he, his sister and any other Alterants with him aren’t better off with Macha, then I’ll have to accept that he’s marking himself as the enemy.”

He squeezed her hand. “Good. There comes a time when a person has to be responsible for himself.”

“But I have to be convinced that he’s really signed on with the Medb.”

Her loyalty was one of the things that made Evalle who she was, but Storm feared one day that same loyalty might get her killed for someone who couldn’t possibly appreciate her sacrifice.

She pushed a branch out of the way and ducked past it. “You said the host was powerful. Did you find out who’s hosting this?”

“Yes. A centaur by the name of D’Alimonte.”

“Deek?”

“No. Kol D’Alimonte. Who’s Deek?”

“A centaur who owns The Iron Casket nightclub in Atlanta.”

“Probably a brother then.”

“If he’s anything like Deek, he’s very old and dangerous.”

Trees thinned out as they approached a wide-open tract of land. He released her hand, fighting the urge to toss her over his shoulder and drag her back to Atlanta.

The entire way here, his gut had churned with a deep fear for her. He’d thought for sure it meant she’d already gone inside the event. Relief had turned his knees to Jell-O when he’d seen her emerging from the woods at the boat dock.

Holding her close should have reassured him she was fine, and entering as her fighter would keep her safe, but that sick sensation wouldn’t leave.

“Where is the event?” Evalle asked in a hushed voice as they left the woods and entered an open field.

Two guards wearing Spartan outfits over bodies that bulged with muscles stood two arm lengths apart.

As though they were protecting the open space behind them.

A shimmering silver cloth twelve feet tall appeared between the guards.

Storm answered her, “The ABC is hidden behind that curtain.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. D’Alimonte has cloaked the entire event, which means there’s only one way in or out and you’re looking at it.” He couldn’t risk not having access to his majik here. Lowering his voice for her ears only, he said, “This is when you start calling the shots. Tell them you’re entering a Skinwalker. Showtime.”

She surprised him by not arguing but instead saying, “Okay.”

This would work out after all.

Evalle squared her shoulders and angled her chin up, then took a couple of long strides toward the guards. Before she could speak, the guard on the left held his hand out and a pale blue holographic image of a woman’s head took form. Eyes moving to take in Evalle, she said, “I am Dame Lynn, the Domjon. What do you want?”