Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)(99)

“Then I wouldn’t be able to escape when the time came because you’d end up in the Medb dungeon where I couldn’t get to you. And I wouldn’t leave you.” Evalle kissed his chest. “I trust you. Now you need to trust me that I know what I’m doing.”

He ran a hand roughly over his head. “You make me crazy.”

“You’ve told me that before.” She smiled, hoping to lighten his mood, then remembered something. “How did you get away from the beast fight on Cumberland?”

“Used my majik and a sip of your potion. Walked right past the guards and Sen. I still have it. You can use it.”

“No, I can’t and I can’t explain why, but I need you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“It’s not easy to explain, because I’ve been compelled from divulging certain things.”

“Dammit.” With the liquid movements of the jaguar inside him, he shot up and loomed over her. “What did they do to you?”

“I can’t really talk about being there, because of the spell. But I can share some things if I’m careful about the words I choose. That’s why I need your help. There are people who need this information, and I can’t talk to them at all. People who you know will help me when the time comes.”

“Tell me.”

Feeling lost and staring into his tight gaze, she started talking before her brain engaged. “I need you to tell—”

Her throat tightened. She wheezed, gasping for air.

“What’s wrong?” His every movement said he wanted to hurt something for touching her.

“It’s okay,” she croaked out, massaging her throat. She’d almost said Tzader’s name. “I didn’t realize I couldn’t say a name.”

“Would it be easier for you to write it down?”

“Yes. That might be a better idea. That way I could check for a slipup before I handed it to you. The spell doesn’t attack me until the point I actually share information I shouldn’t.” She yawned, wishing she could just lie down with him and sleep for days.

He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him with possessive strength. He kissed her with more than passion. Something deeper. As if leaving a mark.

His whispered love words wrapped around her, sliding past her senses, but one word slipped inside her and grabbed her heart. Mine. Had she heard that . . . or felt it?

The world around her might still be spinning along on course, but hers stood still at that moment.

Had he just done something to bind her to him?

Did she care?

Yes. It made her happy.

She gripped his biceps, holding on to the one person who had been her anchor since the day she’d met him. His fingers touched her breasts, barely grazing the sensitive skin, then leaving too soon. After hours of making love, she shouldn’t be up for another bout, but when his fingers slipped between her legs she was on fire all over again.

Guess she wasn’t as tired as she’d thought. But time was disappearing for her. “Storm, I want—”

He lifted his eyes to hers, then cupped her face in his hands. “What? Say the word and it’s yours.”

You are all I want. Instead, she said, “Time, which is something neither of us can control.”

She stretched and squinted at the glowing clock on his nightstand. With twenty minutes left, she didn’t want to have Kizira appear in the middle of them tangled up again.

And Evalle wanted a chance to say good-bye this time, to tell Storm she would do everything in her power to return.

He asked, “How long?”

Sometimes she could swear he read minds. “Twenty minutes. I want a quick shower.”

A sigh filled with regret spilled out, then he sat up, pulling her with him. As comfortable naked as he was wearing the sleek coat of a jaguar, he got out of bed and turned around, picking her up.

“I can walk,” she said with dry sarcasm.

“I know.” He deposited her in a glass shower large enough for two that had to be part of a remodeling, since this house had been built during the time of small tubs and shower curtains. “I’ll make coffee and find you something to write on.”

After thoroughly kissing her one more time, he walked out, beautifully naked. She could spend hours watching him do mundane tasks with no clothes on.

That wouldn’t happen unless she left a message that Tzader and the Beladors could figure out.

Or if she failed to survive the attack on Treoir.

When Evalle finished showering, she walked through a cloud of steam while she dried her hair. The heat had turned what was left of her muscles into noodles.

The sound of coffee brewing gurgled in the kitchen way down the hallway. Maybe Storm was making breakfast.

Warmth tingled on her chest.

The emerald was glowing. She had to ask him about that.

She tightened the towel wrapped around her breasts and started to head to the kitchen until she saw a pen and paper on the bed.

She should write the note now.

The minute she got within two steps of Storm, she’d forget anything except touching him.

Getting a message to the Beladors was the other reason she’d traded for the four hours here. Kizira could sit on her broom and spin if she thought Evalle intended to tell Tzader and Quinn to not protect Treoir.