Warrior (Relentless #4)(102)

“Nikolas, come in. We just finished dinner.”

My eyes went to Sara as soon as I entered the apartment, and my stomach did a strange flip when I saw her. Instead of her usual attire, she wore a lacy pink top that complimented her sun-kissed skin. Her hair flowed in soft waves around her shoulders, and her face was flushed from laughter. Her green eyes met mine demurely before she glanced away.

Remembering my talk with Tristan, I schooled my expression before she could see the effect she had on me. I turned my gaze to Chris, who gave me a knowing smile.

“I’ll leave so you guys can take care of business,” Sara said quietly, a note of discomfort in her voice that could only have been caused by my arrival.

Damn it, I had upset her this morning. Or someone had mentioned it to her. Only yesterday, I’d told Tristan I could train her and be around her without revealing my true feelings, and I’d already caused her distress.

Tristan shook his head when she moved to stand. “No, this concerns you. Nikolas has been investigating the kark attack.”

He looked at me expectantly. “I assume you have something for us.”

I sat on the couch, very aware of the girl sitting three feet away, and the fact that she averted her eyes when I looked at her.

“We examined Sara’s shirt. The karks destroyed one side of it, so we focused on the scraps of fabric left there and found traces of what looks like scarab pheromone. The only way Sara could have gotten it on her clothes is if someone put it there.”

“I cannot believe anyone inside these walls would try to hurt one of our own,” Tristan said, no longer smiling.

I met his skeptical stare. “I find it hard to believe as well, but the evidence speaks for itself. Sahir said he found it odd there was no pheromone spray in the crates with the shipment of eggs. It’s likely someone took it out before he searched them.”

Chris leaned forward. “Why would anyone here target Sara?” He looked at her. “Your beasties didn’t snack on someone, did they?”

“Ha, ha.” She grew serious. “It’s not like I don’t have enemies out there.”

“Out there, yes, but not in here,” Tristan replied confidently. “And we’ve found nothing to indicate the vampires believe you are still alive. Even if they did, there is no way a Mohiri would betray one of their own people for a vampire.”

The idea of someone here betraying Sara to our enemies seemed unthinkable. But God help anyone who caused her harm, Mohiri or otherwise.

“I agree,” I said, looking at Sara. “There must be another motive.”

Chris pursed his lips. “Trainees have been known to prank each other. They were brutal back in my day. Perhaps one of them did this as a practical joke and it got out of hand.”

“I don’t know any of them that well, but they’ve all been nice to me,” Sara said, looking genuinely confused. “I really can’t see one of them doing something that would hurt me.”

“Jordan? Nice?” Chris gave her a disbelieving smile.

She shrugged. “She has her moments. I like her actually. I took her to meet Hugo and Woolf today, and they didn’t go all growly on her so she must be okay.”

I nodded in approval. “Jordan will make a great warrior one day. You could learn a lot from her.”

If I could have picked a friend for Sara, it would have been the blonde trainee, but not just because she was a skilled fighter. Sara didn’t open up to people easily, but she’d looked happy the few times I’d seen her with the other girl.

“She is already teaching me a lot,” Sara said. She stood and looked at Tristan. “I should get going. I need to call Nate because I forgot to ask him yesterday if he’s still coming for Thanksgiving.”

Tristan chuckled. “I doubt you could keep him away. I’ve already arranged for the plane to pick him up in Portland in two weeks.”

Her eyes sparkled. “I can’t wait for you guys to meet each other.”

They walked to the door. Chris and I followed.

“I’m looking forward to it, too,” Tristan told her. “He sounds like a nice person on the phone.”

Sara stopped walking. “You talked to Nate?”

“We speak at least once a week. You didn’t know?”

She wore a small frown. “No. What do you talk about? You don’t even know each other.”

Tristan darted a look at me before he answered her.

“We are getting to know each other. He wants to make sure you are happy here; he knows how much you miss your friends back home. The last time we spoke he wanted to know if you’d started dating anyone yet. Apparently, the boys back home were not to your liking.”

I almost growled at Tristan. Why was he talking to her about dating other males when he knew she was bonded to me?

A flush crept into Sara’s cheeks. “Excuse me while I go kill my uncle.”

Grinning, Tristan opened the door for her. “I will see you tomorrow.”

Sara turned to Chris and me. “Good night.”

“I’ll walk with you so we can talk about tomorrow’s training,” I said, although training was the last thing on my mind. I wanted some time alone with her to get back to where we were this morning before the kark incident.

Tristan raised a hand to stop me from following her. “Actually, I need to speak with you, Nikolas, if you don’t mind.”