Rise of the Gryphon (21 page)

Inside
a building.

Me, obviously.

Evalle cut across the luxurious lobby of Quinn’s five-star hotel with Lanna close on her heels. At least, Lanna had
better
be.

A quick over-the-shoulder glance confirmed Lanna kept pace, dragging her beat-up suitcase. Head bent down, Lanna’s black-tipped blond curls drooped as much as her slumped shoulders.

Now Evalle felt bad about being perturbed that she’d gotten stuck with Lanna. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the girl. She did, but timing couldn’t be worse with the Achilles Beast Championship coming up in twenty-four hours.

And that was only if she managed to convince Storm to help Tzader hunt down the source of the infection so Evalle could slide out of Atlanta without Storm noticing.

“How was Storm?” Lanna asked.

Was?
Evalle slowed to let her catch up. “He
is
fine. I think he’s healed completely.”

“That is not question. How was date with Storm?”

Oh. Lanna had helped Evalle dress to see Storm after they’d returned from the battle where Storm had witnessed Evalle in all her beast glory. Not one of her more feminine moments. That had happened only because Evalle had been given permission to shift into her Alterant beast state to protect Brina and Treoir Castle from Svart trolls.

Lanna had come home with her and pushed Evalle to go face Storm even though Evalle had been sure he’d been disgusted by seeing her hideous beast form. She’d walked up to Storm’s front door wearing makeup and a sparkly sweater for the first time in her life—all Lanna’s doing. He’d welcomed her with open arms.

And chided her for doubting him.

Then kissed her and . . .

“Evalle?”

“What?”

Lanna’s shorter legs moved quickly to keep up. “I asked how date was.”

Slow down and stop being so irritated.
Lanna was just a kid. Evalle breathed deep and searched for the calm that seemed just out of reach this evening. “The date was not really a date, but it was okay.”

“That is all?”

“It was nice.” That night with Storm had been like stepping out of her life and into one that belonged to a normal woman.

He’d made her feel alive. Cared for. Special.

“ ‘Okay’ and ‘nice’ not good.” Lanna frowned at her. “Dull. What went wrong?”

Being with Storm was anything but dull. Evalle shot a glare at the nosy teenager. “Nothing went wrong. We enjoyed our evening. That’s all you need to know.”

“Ah. You spent night with Storm?” A speculative gleam brightened Lanna’s eyes.

Evalle had thought Lanna’s Russian-ish accent charming until the little busybody had decided to tamper with Evalle’s love life from the first moment they’d met. Now the teenage terror rubbed salt into Evalle’s wounded ego, reminding her she’d been a coward for backing away from intimacy with Storm.

She didn’t need the reminder, blast it.

She was ready for him. Any time he wanted it.

Now!

Who was Lanna to question anything she did, anyhow?

Before they reached the doorman holding the glass door open for them, Evalle dropped her tone to a level meant to end all discussion. “What Storm and I did that night is
none
of your business. Got it?”

Lanna looked over at her, openmouthed.

Guilt stabbed Evalle from head to toe.
Why?
The teenager needed to learn when to talk and when to be quiet.

Outside, the drizzle had turned into a steady downpour. But Evalle was sweating. It was so blasted hot. How could Lanna wear a sweater in this?

Lanna dragged the suitcase along, wheels clacking faster to catch up. Her shoulders drooped teenage disappointment.

Evalle slowed her pace once more and pointed at the covered parking deck ahead. “We’re going there.”

Big mistake. Lanna took that as a sign that they were chatting again and started yammering, oblivious of poking at a beast. “I do not understand why you did not stay. How can you not want man like Storm? If Adrianna had Storm—”

“
Don’t
—” Fury rocked through Evalle so sharply that she couldn’t get another word out. Her body burned with the urge to strike out. Just hearing Adrianna’s and Storm’s names in the same breath spiked her anger off the charts. Gorgeous Adrianna would never turn down what Storm offered.

Muscles rippled beneath Evalle’s shirtsleeves and along the sides of her jeans. She shuddered and slowed her pace, clenched her hands together. Imogenia had said the person wearing the bone could not shift. Had she meant it was not physically possible, or had she just been warning not to attempt it? Evalle assumed Imogenia had meant her body wouldn’t try to shift on its own, but that’s what she was fighting at the moment.

Lanna had continued on several steps and entered the covered parking deck, then paused, turning slowly to look back at Evalle.

Her face lost a shade of color at something she saw in Evalle.

People hurried through the garage entrance, ignoring Lanna, who stood there still as death.

Evalle struggled between embracing her anger and
wanting to tell the girl she was sorry for hurting her feelings.

When Evalle reached her, Lanna spoke quietly. “Your face changing. Are you having trouble with
other
part?”

She meant Evalle’s Alterant beast.

Her muscles had swollen with the impending change. The armband was cutting off her circulation. Her skin was on fire.

The Volonte
.

Evalle swallowed the snarl clawing up her throat and took a breath, then one more and said, “Don’t. Say. Another. Word.”

Lanna nodded silently, hurt bleeding into her worried face as if Evalle had just squashed a kitten.

That’s all I need
. Evalle drew in one more calming breath and leaned close to Lanna. “I can’t . . . explain right now, but I’m not myself. Sorry. I don’t mean to yell at you. Not your fault. I’m having . . . issues. Our truck’s on the fourth level. Big black Expedition. I need . . . peace and quiet. Okay? Please.”

She got another nod from Lanna before the girl turned around and headed on, but this time without the misery that had been in her face a moment ago.

Smart young woman.

Gripping her forehead, Evalle fought to calm herself and lower her skin temperature.

Thinking of Storm seemed to push her emotions closer to the surface than anything else. She had to come up with something to tell him about her plans for the
next twenty-four hours that wouldn’t light up his lie detector. She hated lying, especially to him.

But she’d do whatever she had to do in order to keep him safe.

The elevator stopped with a jolt, and Lanna exited first. She took one look around and started toward the only black Expedition parked there.

Evalle pulled out the key fob and pressed the unlock button for the rear gate. It popped open by the time they got to the truck. “Sorry again about before, Lanna.”

“No problem.”

“Yes, it is a problem, but I can’t explain right now, and it’s also a problem because it was wrong to be rude to you.”

Lanna smiled at her and Evalle felt forgiven. The girl had given her time to calm down and regroup. She deserved a reward. Evalle offered, “How about some dinner?”

Lanna shoved the suitcase into the back and closed the hatch, smiling big-time. “This sound wonderful.”

“I’ve got a great place—”

The words died in her throat when Storm stepped out from behind the SUV. Arms crossed, eyes like flint and mouth rigid.

Evalle relaxed her fingers, determined to stay calm, or she had no chance at outmaneuvering him.

“
Storm!   
” Lanna bubbled, full of happy again.

“Hi, Lanna. Going somewhere?” He gave one of his devastating smiles to the young girl, and Lanna sighed so
loudly that Evalle worried the girl might pass out from hormone overload.

Lanna pulled herself together and answered, “I go to stay with Evalle.”

“Oh?” Storm’s gaze swung back to Evalle.

Evalle jumped in before Lanna could say too much. Handing the keys to Lanna, Evalle said, “I need a couple minutes, okay?”

With a quick look at Evalle and Storm, Lanna walked to the passenger side, climbed into the truck and closed the door.

Evalle walked away, stopping at a spot in a shadowed corner that allowed her privacy while still being able to see the SUV.

Storm followed her. “Where’s your bike?”

This was where it got tricky.

Snorting at his question, Evalle asked, “Do you think Quinn would let me put Lanna on a crotch rocket? At least we don’t have to ride around in a limo this time.” She hoped he’d accept her insinuation that Quinn was behind the SUV. Storm knew her underground apartment was a quick ten-minute walk from the hotel.

He admitted, “No. Can’t see him allowing Lanna on a bike, but she’d probably go for it. Why have you got Lanna?”

Relieved to get away with that, Evalle filled him in on Grendal.

His gaze swept over her and stalled at her arm. “Did you get rid of the armband?”

“No, and I haven’t been able to tell Tzader about the
ABC yet. There’s a lot going on at VIPER that I need to tell you about.”

Storm didn’t rush to fill in the pause that followed.

She’d told the truth, even if it was misleading. She hadn’t been able to tell Tzader because of the warning he’d given her before she’d left headquarters, but Storm’s silence was getting to her. “What?”

“You still have that Volonte, and now you’ve got to watch out for a crazy wizard.”

“Lanna thinks he’s in the city, but Grendal hasn’t actually located her yet. My apartment is underground
and
warded. He won’t find her there.”

Appeased for the moment, Storm asked, “Why didn’t you come by my house?”

The truth would work best right now. “I was afraid.”

He made a sound of disbelief.

“Wait.” Hoping to smooth out the bristling tension between them, she put a hand up. “You know I’m not afraid of
you
. But I haven’t got the best control right now and I . . . don’t want to humiliate myself again.” If he could change the subject, so could she. “Where were you when I called?”

“I went back to the Beast Club site this afternoon to track Imogenia.”

“Why?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Something wasn’t right about Imogenia. The more I thought about it, the more it bothered me that she’d stuck that armband on your arm, as if she knew what the bone would do to you.”

“But that would mean she knew who I was and expected to see me at the Beast Club,” Evalle pointed out, feeling her body cool off with the change in topic. “I’m the one who went looking for her.”

“I know.” Storm turned his head, gazing out to where night surrounded the parking deck. “But . . . I don’t know, something’s off about all of this.”

“Did you find out anything else?”

“Maybe.” He faced her again. “You recall smelling a smoky scent of licorice around the Beast Club last night?”

“You mean that old vendor’s incense?”

“Yes. I tracked Imogenia and her Alterant to where she left the area in a car. Her trail diverted around a clearing in the woods. I went to check it out and found that smoky scent.”

Evalle realized where he was going with this. “That scent means something to you. What?”

His jaw flexed while he decided his next words. “Remember the witch doctor I told you about?”

She rolled her eyes and answered with self-recrimination. “You mean the one you came here to find that I promised to help hunt for when we got back from South America, and haven’t yet?” She shook her head at herself. Total loser not to do that for him.

“I don’t need you to hunt her right now.”

Of course not, because Storm always put what Evalle needed first. That was changing after this if she came back from the ABC alive. “We
will
get on it as soon as we get a break, okay?”

He lifted his hand. “That’s not why I mentioned her. Her majik has that same licorice scent.”

Evalle thought back. “So you think
she
was at the Beast Club last night?”

“No. Maybe.” He stared off for a moment. “I’m not sure. I should have sensed her being close, or I could at one time. I didn’t. But that smell bothers me.”

“Wouldn’t she have shown her face at some point? Like when we were alone walking back through the woods?”

“I don’t know.” He blew out a breath and raked his fingers over his hair, disturbing the straight black locks only for a moment before they fell back in place. “I want you to tell me if you smell that again, no matter where you are.”

“I will.” Why did she have the feeling that Storm wasn’t telling her something? “What else happened in the woods today?”

He studied her, taking his time to answer. “I ran into the witch doctor.”

Evalle had a moment of worry until she realized Storm stood in front of her, safe and alive. “Is
she
still alive?”

“Very much so, unfortunately. She disappeared before I could get my hands on her. That’s why I want you on your guard and to watch for that scent. Now tell me why you didn’t talk to Tzader.”

Evalle nodded, still feeling there was more but letting it go for the moment. “Sen and Tzader held a big meeting at VIPER about a couple things. Everyone’s forbidden
from using telepathy, which means
all
the Beladors, because there’s an infection being transmitted through touch and telepathy. They think some powerful being is moving around the city shaking hands with Nightstalkers to intentionally release the infection, but no one knows who or what.”

His cheek muscles flexed with angry pulses. “Those are Langaus.”

“Plural?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how many.”

“But you
do
know about this infection. How?”