Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(151)

“Z?”

I rushed over as Trent was changing back into his human form.

“Neil, are you all right?” It was a stupid question to ask but the only one my lips seemed capable of forming.

“How did I get here?” He dropped the lizard’s head and stared down at his hands. “I was talking to you and then…then I was standing over this thing.”

“Good thing, too,” Trent said. “That damn lizard had a hold on my leg and he wasn’t giving up. I hate lizards. Give me a freaking panther any day. I’m gonna see if Marini has anything I can wear in those closets. Me walking around naked with a lizard corpse might draw attention. We need to clean up here.”

While Trent took his naked self off to find clothes, I held Neil’s shaking hand. “Stewart did something to you. That tattoo glowed and burned my fingers. Take a look at your shirt.”

The fabric was burned in the shape of the tattoo. He shook his head. “Why didn’t I hurt Trent?”

“I told you not to,” I replied. “Look, we’ve been down here for weeks and this is the first time it’s happened, right?”

Neil took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ve been fine the whole time, Z. After waking up in the field, I’ve been normal except for the weird ink on my chest.”

“Then we have to assume that whatever is happening only happens when you feel really, really threatened.”

“Or when I think you’re threatened,” Neil added.

“So we just stay calm and keep the adrenaline down, and when we get out of here we’ll figure it out.” I set about righting the living room. The fight had knocked down some lamps. I wasn’t sure I could save the couch, but I managed to get it back into position. It would pass a cursory inspection.

“Man, I had heard you were kind of weak in the physical department,” Trent said as he walked out of the bedroom dressed in slacks and a button-down. He quickly went about picking up the remnants of his former clothes. Even though the end game was at hand, we didn’t want to tip Marini off that we’d been here. “But there was nothing weak about that performance. That was pretty damn awesome if you ask me.”

Neil looked at me while Trent started to pick up the corpse, and I knew this was a secret we would keep between us.

“Well,” I said brightly, “I suppose when you’re a vampire king everyone looks a little weak.”

“I guess so,” Trent answered, picking up the corpse. “I’m gonna take this and shove it in the catacombs. Why don’t you head back to your room and I’ll meet you there? We can wait for Donovan’s signal together. He better hurry his shit up, though. I don’t want to have to get through another night here.”

Neil and I carefully relocked the doors after taking inventory of the apartments and erasing all evidence that we had been there. The walk back to our rooms was a quiet one.

“Z?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to stay calm for the fight,” he said.

I was worried about that, too. There was no way that thing wouldn’t come out when we took on two hundred vampires, their supernatural servants, and everything else they could throw at us. It had worked to our advantage in this case, but I worried what would happen in the chaos of a battlefield. I couldn’t risk that Neil would harm our allies.

“I don’t want to hurt someone I care about. I couldn’t handle it.”

“I’ll figure something out,” I promised.





Two hours later, we’d been waylaid by the cooks, who were freaked out about having to prepare a meal for her Royal Highness Queen Miria and a party of Fae. I could have told them I didn’t think that dinner was going to happen, but I played my part and discussed the dietary preferences of the Faery contingent. I was tired and it was almost dark as Neil, Trent, and I made our way back to my rooms. My edge of anxiety was verging now on full-blown panic as I knew the time when Danny would make his push was coming at us with the speed of a steamroller.

“Neil, why don’t you come with me?” Trent asked. “I got some weapons in my room. We need to move them in here so when the time comes we’re not caught off guard.”

Neil checked his watch. “We better hurry. Sunset is only fifteen minutes away. I don’t want her alone after that.”

“Agreed,” the wolf said. “We’ll do it in ten.”

I entered my rooms alone and thought about how I couldn’t wait to get one of those weapons in my hand. I hated feeling completely vulnerable, and it would be good to have even a little piece of metal to put between me and Marini. As I closed the door behind me, I wondered if I shouldn’t have gone with Trent and Neil because the minute the door shut, I felt a hand around my waist, pulling me up against a hard masculine body that seemed very glad to see me. Before I could scream, the other hand slapped across my mouth.

“You don’t want to do that, Your Highness.”





Chapter Thirty-Seven





“You idiot,” I hissed once Danny let me go so I could turn around and properly kick his ass. “What the hell are you doing here? Don’t you know it’s almost dark?”

His dimpled grin was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen, and I threw myself into his arms despite my irritation that he seemed to be in his enemy’s stronghold with no backup.