Warrior (Relentless #4)(172)

I gave him a look that said we weren’t quite done here. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

He turned away with a shrug. “Right.”

I looked at Sara, who seemed distracted. “You’re quiet all of a sudden.”

Her bottom lip quivered. “I can’t believe I forgot Christmas.”

“You had more important things on your mind,” I said gently.

“But I don’t have gifts for anyone,” she protested, growing agitated. “I need to –”

Moving with demon speed, I had her beneath me before she could blink, caging her with my arms.

“Are you going to run away from me again?” I asked gruffly.

“No,” she squeaked.

I smiled. “Then that’s all I want.”

“Oh.”

Her eyes fell to my mouth, and heat coiled in my belly again. I lowered my head until our lips almost touched. “There is one other thing.”

My mouth captured hers again, and I lost myself in the long, leisurely kiss that left both of us breathing a little faster. When I lifted my head to look at her, I smiled at her slightly dazed expression.

“We should probably go inside before they come looking for us,” I said reluctantly. I was all for spending Christmas Eve like this, but I didn’t think the others would agree.

“Oh, okay,” she whispered, but her eyes told me she’d be happy to stay right here.

Chuckling, I rolled off her and stood, leaning down to help her up. Her hair was mussed and her face still glowed from our kissing. I ran my fingers through her hair to tidy it, and she brushed grass from her clothes.

She smiled shyly when I took her hand and led her into the house where we were instantly surrounded. Sara’s eyes welled up when she saw Tristan, Jordan, and Chris.

I squeezed her hand and said, “Merry Christmas,” before she was swept away in a sea of hugs.

“She looks good,” Tristan said when he came over to stand with me by the window.

I watched Sara laugh at something Roland said as he passed her. “It’s good to see her smiling again.”

Chris joined us and handed us glasses of liquor. “For a guy who can’t tolerate human alcohol, Eldeorin has an impressive bar selection.”

I drank some of the well-aged Scotch and nodded in agreement. I had a suspicion this was one of many places the faerie liked to entertain his human lovers.

“How did it go in LA?” Tristan asked Chris, turning the conversation to work.

“Good. Raoul’s unit will be here next week to set up the equipment. Brock’s unit is still in New Orleans, but they should be done there by the time we get everything up and running.”

“We need everyone we can get,” I said, thinking about the reports I’d been going over.

“The Council’s sending Hamid Safar to help clean up LA,” Tristan told us. “He should be there by now.”

“Hamid?” I tore my gaze from Sara, who was on the other side of the room with Jordan, decorating the tree. I was finding it hard to take my eyes off her, but Tristan’s announcement was enough to grab my attention.

I hadn’t seen the Egyptian warrior in years, mainly because he preferred to work closer to home. He was one of the biggest, fiercest men I’d ever met, and he usually worked alone or with his brother Ammon. If the Council was sending him here, they were more worried about the situation than they were saying. I’d fought alongside Hamid a few times, and I was glad to have him here.

Chris let out a low laugh. “Hamid’s one scary bastard. I don’t think we’ll have a vampire problem in LA once they see him on their tails.”

Tristan said something, but my attention was drawn to Sara again. I found her watching me, her cheeks pink. When she touched her lips, I didn’t need to wonder what she was thinking about. I didn’t blame her. Every time I thought about kissing her, I wanted to take her and find a private place to pick up where we’d left off.

Tristan’s laugh pulled me back to the conversation. He shook his head at me. “Are you sure you’ll be able to focus on work with Sara next door?”

I smiled wryly. “I’ll do my best.”

Chris chuckled. “Give him a break, Tristan. He’s been impossible to live with the last few weeks. This is a big improvement.”

I raised my glass to him. “Amen to that. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to spend Christmas Eve with my mate.”

I set down my glass and walked over to the couch where Sara had gone to sit with Nate.

“California is nothing like Maine, that’s for sure,” she said wistfully as I approached.

I sat beside her and took one of her hands, lacing my fingers with hers. “We’ll go back there someday when this is all over.”

“If this is ever over,” she replied sadly. “I guess we can assume the Master knows I’m no longer at Westhorne.”

“Judging by the reports out of Los Angeles I’d say that is a safe assumption,” Tristan said as he sat in one of the large chairs.

“How bad is it?” Sara asked him.

“Over twenty attacks on humans in the last week that we know of. The council has dispatched three teams to the area to deal with it.”

“Twenty attacks?” she repeated, horrified.