The Curse (Belador #3)(83)

Why didn’t he contact you sooner? Not that she wanted to give the guy a hard time, but what took him so long?

Said he was unconscious until now. Lanna had his phone. Said the Svart took it away from her. Vince is one of the six nonhumans a troll named Jurba is using to negotiate with the Svarts to trade for his girlfriend. Two of the six are the twin male witches and one is Lanna.

How many more captives?

Vince counted eighteen so far, including Jurba’s six.

Stinking trolls. Evalle turned onto North Avenue, a block away. Are the Svarts feeding yet?

Not yet. Vince said there are five Svarts guarding them, but he believes more are out in the city, and he heard one of them say they were waiting on the lieutenant. I told Vince we’re close and to call out to me if any of the Svarts act like they’re going to feed before we reach him.

Lanna and the twins were still safe—for the moment.

Leaning her bike low around the last corner, Evalle straightened and slowed when the backside of the gargantuan warehouse once known as the Sears Building came into view.

She parked along the curb.

Headlights off, Quinn pulled his Aston Martin up behind her as Storm climbed off her bike. Within seconds, VIPER agents appeared from where they’d parked within a quarter-mile stretch of the older, mixed-residential-and-business neighborhood.

For the benefit of agents not telepathically capable like the Beladors, Tzader issued spoken orders. “Break up into teams of four with a Belador leader in every team so we can keep in contact telepathically. We have a Belador captive inside who will lead us to their location once we’re in there.”

Evalle asked, “What floor did Vince say they’re on?”

“Basement, but like the other floors in that place it covers as much area as a football field. We have to be careful not to kill a human. With this building in the middle of a major rehabilitation right now, the Svarts have very likely glamoured themselves to look like security for the developers.”

Adrianna stepped up and Evalle tensed. She hadn’t seen the witch until now. When Adrianna ignored her and moved closer to listen, Evalle glanced over at Storm for a moment, assessing him, then back at Tzader.

Evalle suffered a wave of jealousy she had no doubt Storm would pick up on, so she pulled back from the circle of agents crowded around the sidewalk. She could hear just fine without having to stand so near the Sterling witch.

Storm swung around to look at her, then his sharp gaze shot past her shoulder and turned murderous. In one step, he reached Evalle and yanked her around behind him.

Was he crazy?

She shoved his arm aside and glared her opinion of his ridiculous action, then forced her way around beside him, ready to face whatever threat he was trying to protect her from.

Beladors picked up on intruders approaching first and dispersed, then all the VIPER agents followed suit, lining up in a show of force to each side of her and Storm.

Across the street, deadly-looking men seeped out of the darkness as if their bodies formed from the obsidian shadows. Five, no, eight of them. Hard faces beneath black-smudged eyes and cheeks, but none more hardened than that of their leader, Isak Nyght. Every black-ops soldier aimed a demon blaster at the VIPER team.

Evalle now understood Storm’s action because she wanted to step in front of every agent here who had trusted her to contact Isak Nyght. So much for her and Isak’s truce.





TWENTY-SEVEN




What have you done, Roogre?” Kizira demanded of the eight-foot-tall Svart troll commander, as she entered her personal solar in T?μr Medb. Home of the Medb, for now.

Roogre answered by eyeing her as he would a buzzing insect.

She found that amusing since he had the greenish-brown skin of a bug and stood out as a dirty smudge amid silk cushions and sparkling glass art. Thick arms bulged with so much heavy muscle beneath the goatskin vest that she doubted the hideous troll could cross his arms. If he had a neck it wouldn’t improve a face that could make a mother wish she’d sewn her womb shut. Purple-inked designs scrolled around eyes as black as his soul, covering his entire face and slick head.

Kizira may have erred in dealing with a being demons would be wise to fear. “You said your trolls could go a week without feeding.”

“True.” His tenor voice threw the image of that body off-kilter. Roogre sniffed, causing his bulbous nose to flare and the lips across his wide mouth to lift, revealing sharp teeth.

“Why are your trolls gathering up nonhumans?”

“I said they could go a week, not that they would.”

He’d intentionally misled her, and his murdering trolls might ruin everything.

Kizira had spent long nights figuring a way to slide around Flaevynn’s compulsion spell so Kizira could orchestrate her own plan. She’d gambled much with Roogre, and even more with the man she’d just left, but she’d truly doubted that Qu … he could get past her mental shields. From the look on his face when he’d rushed out of the hotel room, he must have been successful.

Perhaps too successful.

She stalked across the room enclosed by peach, rose and yellow flowers blooming from vines that climbed a silver trellis. One day, she would grow real flowers in earth.

That would not happen if this step of her plan failed.

Or if Flaevynn found out why Kizira had convinced her to bring in Svart trolls.

Kizira swung around, giving Roogre her sharp censure. “Your trolls have drawn the full attention of VIPER in Atlanta sooner than expected.”