Rise of the Gryphon

  "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?"

  Storm hesitated, but he would have a tough time getting around a question that direct. "I ran into one up around Oakey Mountain when I met up with the witch doctor. She created the Langaus."

  Evalle swiped a fast look over his face and eyes. "Did you get infected?"

  "Yes."

  "You have to go to the healers."

  "I'm good. Now."

  "How?"

  "That's why I didn't answer your call. I can draw on my jaguar's ability to heal, but to get an infection or poison out of my system I have to completely shut down into a deep sleep. My guardian spirit woke me when the fever broke, or I'd still be sleeping."

  When Evalle felt her skin getting toasty, she forced herself to ratchet down the urge to dismember the witch doctor. No time right now, but soon. "Why did she do this?"

  "Don't know."

  "Is there anything you can tell the healers that will help the Beladors and other agents?"

  He nodded. "They have to treat this like a poison instead of an infection, because of the way it was created. I'll talk to Tzader and the healers, but they need a live Langau to make an antidote."

  Evalle reached up to feel his forehead. "At least you're not hot now."

  "Not there." His lips twitched.

  Now she was hot again and doubted the Volonte was solely to blame. "Thought you weren't going to encourage me." She gave him a wry smile.

  He gave her a smoldering look. "Doing the best I can, considering, but it's a struggle."

  She had a feeling if she looked down she'd know just how much he was struggling. Stop thinking about touching him.

  But how was she supposed to do that?

  By talking about something that didn't make her want to reach under his shirt and run her hands over his body.

  Nothing came to mind.

  Touching him would send her up in flames again.

  A dark look passed through Storm's gaze, then he shook his head at some inner thought and helped her out by talking business. "How many VIPER agents are infected?"

  The infection. She could work with that. "I don't know. There were a handful of cases by the time I left headquarters, but we've got agents who are MIA that might be infected and unable to call for help. Speaking of help, they need your ability to track."

  "I can do that."

  "That's great, but I have a message for you from Sen."

  "Oh?"

  Lots of disdain in that one word. Evalle laid it all out for him. "He said you have until Monday to come back to VIPER, or he's marking you as an enemy of the coalition. I don't want you going back, but neither do I want to see the coalition turned against you." Because if that happened, she'd be expected to hunt Storm and bring him in.

  Wouldn't do it.

  Now that she thought about it, that might have been the reason Sen had been so happy. He'd figured out a way to force her into conflict with the Beladors and VIPER.

  She'd write that on her worry list for later.

  Speaking of worry, she still had to get Lanna settled, check on Grady, who she hoped was not infected, and ask if the old ghoul had any intel on the beast championship.

  Storm shrugged over Sen's ultimatum. "I'll deal with Sen Monday."

  Evalle didn't want to leave, but she had to convince Storm that all was fine, then get moving. "Thanks for helping them track those Langaus, especially now that I have my hands full with Lanna."

  He tossed a glance over his shoulder at the truck before his gaze returned to her with a challenge. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

  What kind of question was that?

  One she couldn't answer truthfully without giving away her plan. When all else failed, fake it.

  Evalle dropped the don't-screw-with-me face into place that she used when kicking demon butt and snapped, "What do you mean, is there something I'm not telling you?"

  Please tell me Storm bought that.

  Storm took a step back and raised both hands in a sign of surrender. "Easy. That came out wrong."

  Sold. She kept her jaw clenched to avoid grimacing over tricking him and just nodded her okay.

  "You're not trying to leave town without me, right?"

  He was not part of her plan to enter the beast championship, but what could she say and not get caught in a lie?

  "You want the truth, Storm? I don't want you to go."

  When he looked surprised at her blatant admission, she drove on, hoping to sell this, too. "Bernie might have been a pushover for an Alterant, but others won't be. I know you're capable of killing pretty much anything you fight. The problem is that Alterants are an unknown entity. We come with a mixed bag of tricks and powers."

  "I have my own mixed bag of powers."

  Thickheaded man. She wanted to beat some sense into him. "I know. I saw you rip the head off a demonic troll, but you knew what you were up against. At the Achilles Beast Championship, you would face Alterants with no learning curve in your favor, because I doubt any two of them will be exactly the same. One bad injury and you'll be at the mercy of the next fighter. An Alterant has tremendous recovery ability in beast state." She put her hands up to each side of his face. "Please don't make me watch you get bloodied."

  A growl started deep inside Storm, rumbling up through his chest. His shoulders tensed with unleashed frustration. "I won't be the one getting bloody." He huffed out a sigh that blew fine hairs around her face. "Stop thinking I'm going to die."

  "So now you're immortal?" What was it about men, especially alphas, that made them believe they were indestructible?

  "Of course not, but you know I'm the best choice and I'll survive."

  That burrowed under her skin and started irritating her with a burning need to have the last word. She crossed her arms and should probably leave this alone, but the harder he pushed her on this, the more she was determined to win. "If you're not immortal, then technically you can't say you won't die, or you'd be lying. Right?"

  He crossed his arms, too, and leaned down, shoving his dark gaze at her to make his point. "You don't have an argument. Bottom line? You aren't going inside that place without me."

  "Since when did you get it in your head that you're calling all the shots?"

  "Since you came back with that damned bone on your arm and no backup from VIPER."

  "That's my problem, not yours," she shouted, shoving up in his face. She needed this stupid bone for any hope of getting into the the beast battl
es as an observer and not revealing her Alterant status. Did he really think she'd give it up? "Bottom line? I'm not taking it off."

  "The hell you aren't," he blasted right back at her. He raised his hands in a sign of frustration and muttered, "You're making me insane."

  She opened her mouth to give him another dose of her anger and he grabbed her shoulders, crushing his mouth to hers. A demanding kiss, so unlike Storm. One filled with both hunger and caring. After a moment, he moved his hands to cup her face, holding her in place, easing the kiss until he took her on a ride through heaven with his mouth.

  Slowly, her anger simmered down, muscles relaxing under the onslaught of new nerves bursting to life. When his fingers smoothed over her face and down her arms, she dropped her forehead on his shoulder, content to just be for a moment in her life.

  She let out an earthy sigh.

  He growled near her ear, gripping her shoulders again. He eased her away from him, cursing softly. "We can't . . . do this."

  "Why?" She blinked, trying to focus. "You're blurry."

  Taking a couple of ragged breaths, he told her, "It's the damn bone influencing you. I don't want to increase the spell I wove around you, so work on calming your thoughts."

  She did, and once her breathing evened out, she could see him clearly, right down to the vexation on his face. "Sorry about blasting you just now."

  "No, this time the short fuse was my fault as much as the bone's."

  Lifting her eyebrows at that, she asked, "Is the Volonte affecting you, too?"

  Storm gave a harsh chuckle. "No, sweetheart. You're affecting me."

  "If you don't want to get your head bitten off, then just stay away from me."

  "That isn't going to happen." He reached over and touched her chin with his fingers. Warmth flooded his eyes. "You piss me off more than anyone else is capable of--"

  "Careful or I'll get all tingly," she muttered.

  "--but that's not what has my animal on the edge of ripping out of my body every time I'm around you." His eyes took on an unholy gleam of hunger. He leaned in close. "I'm out of my mind, wanting you so much it hurts, and my jaguar wants to be uncaged to release what I keep holding inside."

  "Oh." What could she say to that?

  He sighed and took another breath. "I'm not going to touch you until that armband is gone, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to feel your skin under my hands and to bury myself so deep inside you we turn into one. I want to taste every inch of you."