Master of Smoke (11 page)

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Authors: Angela Knight

BOOK: Master of Smoke
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Beautiful killer.
Joel seemed as helplessly fascinated as she was. “He’s uh ... really good.”
“Yep.” Remembering last night, Eva grinned.
That’s putting it mildly
. “Want your bag?”
“Yeah.” Joel leaned against the counter, still watching David. The prop sword flashed as he wove thrusts and parries in response to phantom attacks, every move fast and fluid, yet utterly controlled.
Eva dragged her gaze away with an effort and pulled open a file drawer. She started flipping through bags, searching for Joel’s. Most of the shop’s customers maintained a “pull list” of the comics they collected, which were put aside for them every week. Once a month, they were supposed to come in and pick up those books. Being a more dedicated fanboy, Joel came in as soon as he got paid every other Thursday.
Eva slipped the comics from his bag and started scanning them, the cash register beeping as it totaled the purchases. “Is he a stuntman?” Joel asked.
“Something like that.” She gave Joel a brooding glance. Even when they’d been dating, he’d given her no more than a pleasant tingle.
David damn near set her on fire.
Objectively, Joel was almost as handsome; tall, blond, and athletic, he was an assistant football coach at Ditko High. Eva had dated him until she almost bit him one night in an excess of passion. Since she’d become a werewolf from a bite, she figured that wouldn’t have ended well for Joel. She’d broken off their romance the next day, much to his pained bewilderment; he’d fallen for her pretty hard. Eva regretted the situation, but she’d have regretted turning him into a werewolf even more.
David spun in the center of the shop, sweeping his blade in a figure eight that drew Eva’s helpless gaze. Last night, he’d made love to her with sensuous generosity, so intent on pleasuring her, he’d seemed to read her mind. Today that kind lover had been replaced by a cool assassin, skilled, quick and merciless.
And God, he turned her on. Eva wasn’t sure she liked what that said about her.
“Oh.” She blinked and looked around to find Joel watching her with knowing eyes. “It’s like that.” There was a note of pain in his voice. “I’d hoped ... but I guess not.” His shoulders slumped.
Eva sighed and reached out to rest her hand on his. His curled possessively around her fingers. “Joel ...”
“Who
is
this?” David appeared at Joel’s elbow, his gaze narrow on the young man’s face.
“Ah ...” Oh, hell, his pupils were doing the slit thing again. And Joel, dammit, had noticed, judging by his widening eyes. “Joel Harmon, this is David ...” Oh, damn, she hadn’t invented a last name for him. “... Feral.” Because he sure looked feral at the moment, with those cold cat-blue eyes.
“She is
my
lover, boy.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Remove that hand before I break it.”
“David!” Outraged, Eva glared at him even as Joel pulled hastily away.
“I’ll ... get my books later, Eva.” Thoroughly spooked, the young man hustled out.
The minute the door jangled closed behind him, Eva exploded. “That was a customer, David! Not to mention a good friend of mine ...”
“Yes,” he said icily, “I noticed.”
“You had no right! Okay, yeah, I used to sleep with him.” She dropped her voice to a low hiss, in case Joel came back in. “I stopped because I’m a freaking werewolf, and I didn’t want to turn
him
into a werewolf. So we’re not lovers anymore, but even if we were, one night does not give you the right to threaten the poor man!”
David drew himself up to his full height, looming impressively. She was seriously tempted to turn into Fluffy so she could loom back. “If you think I will be content with one night ...”
“You’ll be content with whatever I give you!
I
decide who I sleep with!”
“Of course you do, but ...”
She was in no mood to be placated. “I already hurt him once. Now I’ve hurt him again, and he doesn’t deserve it!”
“He’s not worthy of you.” David’s strong jaw jutted stubbornly. “He’s a coward.”
“He is not!” She gestured at his slit pupils. “You just intimidated him with the freaky eye-thing you do when you’re pissed.”
“Had it been me, I would not have backed down. I would have fought for you.” His lids veiled a hot stare. “A woman like you is worth the risk.”
Eva felt her anger deflate.
Well, hell
. What was she supposed to say to that?
His head lowered toward hers. She watched his lips as her heartbeat leaped into a gallop.
 
Joel Harmon started
to get into his candy apple red Pontiac, only to discover his hands were shaking so hard, the keys jangled. Okay, obviously he needed time to calm down. Maybe he should grab a bite from the coffee shop and chill.
Jesus, Eva’s new boyfriend had the weirdest eyes he’d ever seen. Must have been wearing some kind of contacts.
Still shaking a little, Joel walked down to Sandwiched In, three doors down the strip mall from the Comix Cave. He and Eva used to go there for lunch all the time while they were dating. The menu included a decent ham and cheese panini, but it was the caramel frappe that was his favorite guilty indulgence.
After his encounter with Eva’s new boyfriend, Joel figured he owed himself a splurge. He’d run an extra couple of miles in the morning to make up for the calories.
He was waiting in line when Eva’s dad walked in. Joel mentally cringed. He’d known Bill Roman since he’d started reading comics when he was nine years old. The man loved to talk, but just now, Joel wasn’t in the mood.
Sure enough, Bill stepped in line behind him. “Hey, kid. How’s it goin’?”
Joel pasted a smile on his face and turned. “Great. Met Eva’s new boyfriend at the shop. He’s really good with that sword. You definitely got your money’s worth.”
Bill blinked, looking honestly astonished. “Boyfriend? Since when? And ... money?” His graying brows drew down.
Wait, he didn’t know?
Way to go, Joel. Eva’s gonna kill me
. “Ah ... Well. Apparently she’s dating that stuntman you hired.”
“
Stuntman?
”
Oh, shit. Eva’s really gonna kill me—if her new stud doesn’t do it for her.
 
 
Eva had no
idea how she’d ended up in David’s arms. One minute she’d been screaming at him in a howling That Time of the Year rage. The next, they were playing tonsil hockey.
God, he could kiss.
One massive arm was wrapped around her, and she was plastered against every hard ridge of his powerful chest. He filled her senses with potent masculinity—his scent, his taste, his hands. He simply overwhelmed her, and she went under with a sigh.
Lost in him.
His big hands stroked away the last of her anger with tender skill. The last of her rage wafted away like a curl of smoke from a bonfire. He smelled of clean sweat and steel and a fizzing whiff of magic.
Eva had never wanted any man so much.
So of course, cue Daddy.
SIX
The door jingled
a manic note before banging shut loud enough to make Eva jump. “What the hell is going on?” her father roared.
Eva tore out of David’s arms as though he’d scalded her. She met Bill Roman’s hot gaze and felt a furious blush roll to her hairline. “Uh ... Hi, Dad.”
He stalked toward them, his muscular shoulders tense with under the black fabric of his Batman T-shirt. “This is the stuntman ‘we’ hired?”
“I guess you ran into Joel.” Eva smiled weakly.
“Who
are
you?” One scalding look took in David’s long black hair and bare, sweating chest. “And what the hell are you doing kissing my daughter?”
“I am David.” He straightened, stepping a bit in front of her as if to protect her from her father’s anger.
“You got a last name,
David
?”
For a moment, Eva’s mind went completely blank as she struggled to remember what she’d told Joel. “Feral! His name is David Feral.”
Bill shot her a cold look. “What, he can’t speak for himself ?”
“I can speak.” David studied her father, eyes narrowed.
“How long have you known my daughter?”
“Since yesterday.”
Bill rocked back on his heels in surprise. “And you’re already kissing her like
that
?”
Fluffy promptly started snarling. “Wait a minute, Dad. How is that any of your business? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not sixteen anymore.”
Bill ignored her, staring hard into David’s face. “Are you wearing some kind of contacts, or what?”
Oh, hell, this situation was skidding right off the cliff. “Look, David, would you mind taking a walk and letting me discuss this with my father?”
He gave her a little dip of his head. “Of course.” Still carrying the sword, he walked out, shirtless.
“What the hell is going on?” her father exploded. “Who is that guy? Where’d he come from?”
Eva rubbed the ache throbbing between her eyebrows and wondered how she was going to talk her way out of this one.
 
 
It went against
the grain to leave Eva to confront her father alone, but David knew anything he said would only inflame the situation. Apparently Bill Roman did not know his daughter was a werewolf, so she would have to lie to explain how they’d met. Any lies of his could inadvertently contradict hers.
He strode down the sidewalk away from the shop, just walking, taking in the surrounding neighborhood—shops, a few houses, a car or two cruising past in a cloud of fumes that made his nose wrinkle. The sun was just disappearing behind the trees, edging the purpling clouds in blood red. David absently played with the dull sword, rotating his wrist to spin it as he walked and brooded.
It galled him, having to lean so heavily on a woman for his very survival. He should be the one supporting her. Instead, he was only making her life more difficult.
Perhaps he should leave. Get out of her life and find some way to support himself until his memory returned.
Assuming it did. If it didn’t ...
Well, even if he had no past, he did have a present—and a future he would have to deal with. He ...
David froze as a terrible awareness suddenly rolled over him.
His enemy
. Suddenly he could feel the other like an intense pressure crushing down on his skull, all black power and malevolence.
And if he could sense his enemy ...
David whirled and ran back toward the shop. He had to get Eva and her father to safety—whether they liked it or not.
 
The squirrel raced
up the tree trunk in a panic, its furry little legs a blur of effort.
For all the good it did.
The laser-thin bolt of magic hit the tiny creature right in one beady eye. It tumbled off the tree and hit the ground, a charred corpse.
Warlock pivoted, drew a bead on a robin sitting in frozen terror, and blasted it, too. The tiny blackened body hit the leafy forest floor with a papery rustle.
The Dire Wolf grunted, dissatisfied. He was making progress, but not fast enough to suit him. He scented a rabbit, and turned. The animal broke from cover, moving in desperate bounds.
He drilled it through the skull in mid-leap. It went down, its fur still soft and gray, no visible injury to explain its death.
Better. Much better.
A familiar presence burst into his consciousness, and he froze in blind instinct and an instant’s fear.
Smoke.
Gods and devils!
Then realization kicked in, and he knew he had only seconds. He cast the location spell with a flick of his clawed fingers. An instant later, he had pinpointed the Demigod’s location.
A slight, cold smile curved his thin black lips, and he reached out to Skoll team.
He had the bastard now.
 
 
“We met through
one of those online dating sites,” Eva told her father, her mind working frantically. “David’s a movie stuntman specializing in swordplay. Flew in yesterday to meet me. I didn’t want to leave him alone all day, so I brought him in to work. He was just showing me his latest choreography ...”
“With his mouth?” Her father folded his beefy arms and glowered.
“And like I said, that really isn’t any of your business.” A bead of sweat rolled down her back, itching furiously. She ground her teeth and ignored it.
“This guy could be some kind of psycho for all you know. People have ended up murdered by men they met online.”
“The site makes everybody pass a background check.” Eva hated lying to her father. He knew her too well. They’d always been close, even during her rebellious teenage years when she and her mother had fought like two cats in a very small sack.

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