Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Dom threw his head back against the brick wall behind him. Allowing Evie to catch him had been a selfish risk.
Bad move to underestimate her. She called his bluff of indifference.
That kiss while she held a knife to his throat…
The vision of the curvy blonde blowing off the head of a demon with a rifle while laughing… So badass.
Something he’d shoved into dormancy six years ago awoke—something he’d forgotten. It was almost obsession, but stronger—more a fevered madness. For the first time in ever so long he experienced a breathtaking buoyancy, as if surfacing from a deep dive when he’d held his breath for far too long.
I missed my wolf.
Not that she’d want him to call her that.
She despised the term werewolf or any suggestion she’d turn into something small and furry.
She did turn into something stronger and vicious when she turned “feral.” It was something more muscular with sharp claws and elongated teeth.
The transition didn’t happen often. Only when there were no other options, and she needed to fight viciously, would she shift.
Chasing her tonight had been the epitome of weakness. He should’ve let her go when she left the bar. Yet, for her to get shot and then allow a second demon to sneak up on her meant she was off. She needed him far more than she would ever admit. Her showing any level of weakness wasn’t normal.
After touching her, he felt a return of his focus. Never had his purpose been so clear. He existed to protect her. The strength with which he believed in this directive made him feel whole.
However, touching her was likely to trigger a cascade of events he knew better than to unleash.
He twirled the obsidian ring on his left hand, the one The Mage Conclave used to monitor him and dampen his ability to feel.
A tug found the magic holding it in place still in effect. They’d come after him, possibly her.
He had much bigger problems than being hunted and punished by a group of powerful mages.
Ian Lanzo was dead.
I killed him.
Now, he had to continue to follow Evie. Perhaps Ian might show up, and he could figure out what the hell was pretending to be the dead lycan.
He’d also continue to make sure Evie didn’t waltz herself into something that might kill her.
Sure, she and the Lanzo wolves could take care of themselves.
They were lycans, which meant they could be vicious with superhuman strength, and they all had advanced experience fighting magical nonhumans.
That didn’t mean he wouldn’t watch her to be sure it went well.
He closed his eyes to reach out with his senses to locate them. Finding the strands of a person’s unique energy came easy after he met the person. He located Roman first. They weren’t done with their quest tonight, which meant wherever Roman went, she’d follow.
Catching up to Roman he almost smacked into the lycan in his haste. Roman didn’t see him. No one did unless he wanted to be seen. However, the lycan shuddered as if sensing he’d almost been hit. Evie wasn’t here. Yet.
Roman’s dark hair rode below the collar of his leather knee-length coat, the one he claimed he needed to hide his assortment of talismans, weapons, and spell counter-curse measures.
Dom figured he liked the coat’s ruggedness, opting for looks over utility.
The unquestioned leader of the merry band of four brothers who worked for the Christian god to fight all manner of evils, Roman followed the guidance of an angel.
As in, an actual immortal who acted as a spiritual guide between God and humans.
Each of the four brothers had one guardian angel.
For Roman, Zadkiel provided direction on what threats they needed to squash.
Dom found it fascinating that God chose to use nonhumans to protect humans when this same god could offer no sort of afterlife promises to nonhumans.
Dom backed into the shadows to observe. Blue and orange lights flashed in beat to a pop tune.
The music was so loud it hurt his eardrums. The stench of sweaty, aroused humans would nauseate him if he allowed himself to dwell on it.
Instead, he focused on sorting through auras, waiting for Evie to arrive.
Flynn pulled a lollypop out of his mouth to ask Roman something.
He waved the sucker in the air and used it to emphasize his words.
Both kept looking behind them, worried more about something that wasn’t their target.
The warlock they sought stood near the bar at the far side of the packed dance floor.
Flynn ran a hand through his shoulder-length blond hair and plucked one of his several eyebrow piercings.
He eyed the third Lanzo brother across the room—Ky.
Humans tended to shy away from this lycan.
Ky had trouble masking his killer nature, which spooked people.
The fourth brother, Shane, wasn’t on this trip.
If Shane had come, Dom might feel more comfortable leaving Evie be.
That one had a pet dragon following him around that could keep all of them safe from just about anything.
He let his mind relax in order to pick up Roman’s thoughts. Mind reading came easily to him. Sometimes sorting the mishmash of thoughts could be complex. Deep breath in…deep breath out…
Roman didn’t know why his mother let herself get shot today.
Dom agreed. She shouldn’t have gotten shot. Something was off. He kept the thoughts to himself, but he could share them into Roman’s head if he wanted, which was a new evolution of his powers.
The vibrations of Evie’s presence battered him before he saw her.
They shattered his focus on Roman. She still wore the buttoned, black, calf-length leather jacket and heeled calf-high boots.
Her coat, unlike Roman’s, was a work of art.
It wrapped her like a glove. Her brunette wig fell in waves down her back but didn’t do her justice.
He longed to see the golden locks she covered.
Efrem wasn’t inside the building, but he sensed the lycan lurked around the perimeter. Smart move to be outside. If the warlock took a back door he’d catch him.
She marched toward Roman, but for an instant, Dom though she stared right at him. She shouldn’t see him, but she was the one person who could always see him when others fell victim to his mental manipulations.
He inched close enough to Roman to pick up their conversation without much effort.
“What’s the problem?” Evie asked.
Roman scowled into the far corner on the opposite side of the dance floor.
“There are two hundred people between us and him. He’s armed with an automatic weapon and at least two pistols in addition to whatever magical insanity might be up his sleeve.
If he dies and drops the talisman, it’ll infect every person in here.
If he panics and activates it, we get endless nightmares until everyone in here kills himself or herself.
I see no way to get across the floor without a blood bath. ”
Evie grinned.
Oh, shit.
Dom could’ve sworn her gaze slid his way again as her naughty smile widened. “I’m going to get it for you and kill him without the three of you doing anything. Then, we’re getting on our respective planes and leaving.”
“No,” Roman snapped.
Evie’s eyebrows shot up. “Your plan hasn’t worked so far. You scared him and—”
“You got injured,” he interrupted.
“We’re going to do this my way now. That means no one else gets hurt. Or are you about to imply I’m too old again?”
“Wasn’t even thinking it.” He ducked his gaze. Roman fought unthinkable evils, but the thing that scared him most was his mother.
Dom struggled not to chuckle.
Roman braved a step toward her. “I won’t watch you get hurt.”
Good luck stopping her.
She looked straight at Dom and winked. Shit, she means to involve me.
“I won’t get close to him. I promise.” She patted Roman’s cheek.
“Hold my jacket.” She unbuttoned and dropped it in Roman’s arms. Beneath that…
what the hell kind of sniper-on-a-job outfit was that?
A black, long sleeved, draped dress hugged every curve.
By modern standards, most would label her curvaceous. To him, she was perfection.
She tossed over her shoulder, “Stay here. Tell the others to stay away from me.”
A moment later she dropped her glamour. Every male in the vicinity noticed her like tomcats scenting a female in heat. She hip-gyrated and danced as they moved around her while she made her way across the floor. A twenty-something human did the bump-and-grind into her.
Was she encouraging the guy?
Oh, hell, no.
Dom hadn’t even realized he’d moved until he snagged her against him and growled, “Put your glamour back up. Make them piss off.”
She flicked her wrist, which looked like a dance move.
All the humans went back to dancing around them…
but not with her. With a sway, she slid her body into his and moved with him in time to the music.
Raw desire focused on the points where their bodies contacted.
Need crashed into him with a longing so painful that his abdomen cramped.
He lost focus on everything but her and the pounding of everything south of his belt.
That meant others could see him. The only “others” he cared about not seeing him were the Lanzo boys, but even that care disappeared when she put her hands on his waist.
He snarled, “You’re not getting near that warlock.”
She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled his gaze to meet hers. Their lips were within millimeters of touching. The pad of her index finger traced his lips, leaving tingles in its path.
He couldn’t breathe. If she kissed him, he’d drag her out of here and spend hours working out the loneliness he’s suffered away from her for the past few years. But…
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He touched the hole in her sleeve. She’d bandaged herself. Something was very off.
For an instant insecurity flashed in her mind. She cut him off from reading more. One of her fingers traced his lower lip. She moistened her own lips. The hunger in her gaze said she wanted his kiss. Then her eyes flicked toward Roman. It was a subtle loss of focus.
She’s trying to distract me. Interesting, Evie. I can play this game.
That naughty grin spread across her lips again. “Get the keychain for me.”
“I don’t tolerate being used.”
“You owe me for distracting me earlier.”
“I saved your life from the second demon, the one you neglected to notice. How about we talk about why that happened?”
“Before that. Your lurking distracted me.”
“You’re off and you got shot. That had nothing to do with me.”
“Do you want me to go over to him and get it myself?”
“Fine.” In a blink he had the warlock’s keychain, the talisman they sought, in his hand.
He hadn’t done that kind of trick to move a solid object by mere will of a thought in longer than he could remember.
A snatch-and-grab by thought alone required tremendous focus.
He’d only done it a handful of times, and on those occasions, it’d been triggered by emotional overload.
He fisted his hand around the object. “You will tell me why you’re off. This isn’t you.”
“How, exactly, would you know that?” She gently unclenched his fist and removed the keychain to tuck it between her breasts. “Kill him so I can leave.”
He glared. I don’t dance simply because you demand it.
“Do it. Now.” She pressed her breasts into him.
He didn’t even glance at the warlock when he launched the knife in his direction. It was a fatal hit, not that he needed to check. “Now we talk.”
She tilted her head and put her hands over her head to do a slow twirl of her body in time to the music. Her eyelids dropped as she gave him a heated once-over, lingering for a few extra seconds on his crotch.
“I haven’t felt this sexy in…well, I don’t remember.
I think you made me forget. I want to know why, but…
” She put a hand on his lower jaw to close his mouth, which he hadn’t even realized gaped open.
“I want you like no one else I’ve ever met.
Why is that? You will restore my memories.
Then, we can play. Unless I remember you’re an asshole. Then?” She shrugged.
He watched her sashay away.
Once the fog Evie cast had passed, he held out his hand to reacquire his knife.
It surged back to his hand from the dead, bleeding body.
Again, a power he hadn’t attempted in a long time.
His gaze bounced to Roman, who stared openly at him.
The shocked expression on the lycan’s face pleased him.
The other part of his mind detonated a resounding oh shit.
Of all the brothers, Roman would know exactly what he was.
The eldest Lanzo brother had a natural gift to identify what magical creatures he faced.
He’d know he was a mage, and a very old one.
Maybe he’d even experience a tingle of familiarity.
Roman had always been skeptical and somewhat combative toward him.
That attitude persisted even after years of somewhat positive interactions.
Evie paused in buttoning her coat to glance back at him. For an instant, her cat-like amber eyes widened like they had long ago on that fateful day they met. Remember me, Evie. He sent the vision of their first meeting into her head.
Remember. You’re in danger. From me. From whatever Ian Lanzo has become.