The Curse (30 page)

This time he returned with vicious precision and drove her hard to the edge of release.

It took all the discipline he possessed to ignore his need to have her and instead delve into her mind.

His fingers held her body prisoner as he fought his way past mental barriers that would protect a king’s treasures.

Sweat poured down his face. He was struggling to hold her at the pinnacle and focus on searching when his body screamed to join with hers.

She’d warned him about her shields.

Both of them had thought that would be his only obstacle.

By the gods, Quinn hadn’t considered that he could observe Kizira’s response from inside her mind. That alone almost sidetracked him with her inching closer to release.

Her emotions lay open to him, and no man who cared for a woman could ignore seeing his woman when she climaxed.

She cried out, pleading with him.

That was the moment her shields weakened.

Prepared for anything, he forced himself to drive deep into her mind just as his fingers pushed her over the cliff and she came apart in his hands.

TWENTY-THREE

N
o woman was worth this much aggravation.

Storm circled the living room of the house he’d rented in Midtown, just on the outer edge of downtown Atlanta. A quiet place for eleven o’clock at night. He liked this older neighborhood and had considered staying, but not anymore.

If he did, someone would die.

But he couldn’t leave until he found that damn Ashaninka witch doctor.

To find out anything new, he had to speak with Kai. But to speak to her, Storm had to calm down enough to cross from one world to another.

And that wasn’t going to happen unless he could close his eyes without seeing Evalle kissing the guy who had already tried to kill her once. Had she forgotten that Isak Nyght had taken a shot at her the night Sen teleported her to the Tribunal meeting?

Evidently so.

Evalle also overlooked Tristan’s betrayal and his constantly letting her down at the worst times.
So why am I surprised she has no qualms about kissing someone who tried to shoot her?

Storm scrubbed a hand over his face, shoving his mind away from everything that antagonized his jaguar. His skin felt too tight already without riling the animal. As a Skinwalker, the full moon didn’t force him to shift.

The control was his … mostly.

But one woman kept him on tenterhooks so much that his jaguar stayed on the edge of wanting to break out.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, he stared at one of the fat, white candles sitting along his mantel and focused his mind. Battles were won through control.

He could win the one raging inside him.

When he felt ready to try again, he stepped over to the Navajo-design rugs in front of his hearth and sat down with his legs crossed. This time when he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he pushed his mind past the current world to the meadow in another dimension where he’d find his guardian spirit.

Seconds ticked past while his breathing slowed to almost nonexistent.

Once he was in the deep trance, Storm said, “I humbly request the presence of Kai.”

“I am here, Storm,” a pleasant female voice called to him.

No longer bound to earth, he opened his eyes to the peaceful setting of green-leafed trees surrounding her quiet meadow.

She smiled as she sat down across from Storm. “How does your healing progress?”

“I’ll be fine.” Physically.

“What troubles you?”

A woman. Not just any woman, but a raven-haired, motorcycle-riding hellion who had been turning him inside out since he met her. But he hadn’t asked to meet with Kai to discuss Evalle. “I have had no more dreams of the witch doctor whose name we will not speak. I fear she will arrive unannounced and catch me unprepared, and thus put others at risk.”

“You will know when she is near, but in my heart I feel you will not find happiness once you face her.”

“I will if I make her return my father’s soul, and mine.”

“What if you cannot regain what you have lost?”

Never get his soul back? “I won’t entertain that possibility.” He couldn’t consider failure when his father had no one else but Storm to save him.

“If you do not kill her, she will take that which you most desire.”

“She already has.”

“That was then. This is now.”

He’d heard this warning before, back when Kai had told him the witch doctor hunted Evalle, which paralleled his visions. Irritation over Isak Nyght would not interfere with his commitment to Evalle’s safety. “I won’t allow the witch doctor to harm Evalle, but to protect her I need to know where I can find the witch doctor or … when she’ll find me.”

Kai sighed deeply, her hands folded in her lap. “You risk much for this Evalle.”

“Maybe so, but it’s mine to risk,” he said in a polite voice, since he couldn’t fault Kai for pointing out that he might not be thinking clearly when it came to Evalle.

“Evalle has angered you.”

Anger didn’t come close to what he’d been feeling for the past hour. “Why would you say that?”

“Your aura was calm and happy during past visits when you mentioned Evalle, but it is now in chaos.”

An accurate description of his insides at the moment. Chaotic and acidic. “That’s a normal state around Evalle.”

Kai smiled, eyes shining with the humor of an indulgent aunt. “Perhaps this is good for you.”

“You think her driving me crazy is good?” he asked, forgetting to keep his tone even and undemanding.

“Yes.” Kai smiled again, eyes light with humor. “She is the reason you fought to stay alive. She causes your aura to brighten even as she creates chaos. You have been consumed too long with finding the witch doctor and saving your father. You have had no thought for your own happiness.”

She had a point.

He’d been pretty grim before he met Evalle. After only one day teamed up with her, Storm had decided he liked the prickly woman. She might know how to kill demons and stomp the butts of most men, human or otherwise, but she had an untamed innocence when it came to anything sexual.

Watching her open up to his slow advances had given him back something he’d lost—the ability to care about another person in the world of the living.

Kai watched him with eyes that saw more than he cared to share sometimes. “Or do you find the Adrianna who cared for you more interesting?”

“No.” He answered too quickly before realizing his guardian teased him. He could rarely dodge Kai when it came to revealing the truth. “I admit that Evalle does make me happy, but not right this minute.”

“How has she offended you?”

She kissed another man.
When he said that in his head, it didn’t sound as bad as what he’d watched. Especially since he had no claim on Evalle and might have to leave if the witch doctor slipped through his fingers. That didn’t stop him from wanting to rip off Isak’s head for touching Evalle. “The issue with Evalle is something I can handle. I’m more concerned over finding the witch doctor and need your help to do that.”

Kai nodded, then shut her eyes and lifted her hands, pressing her palms together in front of her chest. She whispered a soft chant for several minutes, then became silent, swaying slightly left, then right, until she lowered her hands. When her normally soft brown eyes opened, they were milky orbs. He always found it odd to hear the shallow voice of an old woman coming from Kai’s young form.

“The witch doctor’s energy circles closer to you each day. She will find the one she seeks before the next new moon. Beware of her words, for you will lose if they entangle you.”

Storm tamped down his impatience in spite of his pulse’s thrumming at the hope of nearing the end of his search. The witch doctor would be here by the new moon at the end of this month.

But did that mean she’d find him first? Or Evalle? He asked, “Is there any chance she’ll be here sooner?”

Kai weaved back and forth, her smooth forehead tensing, then relaxing. “Not before sunrise three days from now.”

Good. That would give him time to work off the frustration tightening his insides before he spoke to Evalle again, without worrying about the witch doctor getting to her first. In his present state of mind, he might say something to Evalle he’d later regret.

Right now he wanted Kai to explain about her warning to beware of the witch doctor’s words that could entangle him.

Kai’s eyes cleared. She stared through him as if watching something else and warned, “You must return to your world. Someone approaches.”

“Wait.” Something pulled Storm backward as Kai faded along with the meadow. He closed his eyes, trying to catch up to the swift change in his body.

The sound of knocking on his front door shook him from his groggy state.

He cupped his head and pushed to his feet, trying to get fully back in his body. He opened the door.

Evalle stood before him, rigid as a general, but Storm always picked up on her emotions, with his empathic ability quicker than any other person he’d ever been around.

He understood the guilty feeling, which she’d brought on herself, but not the irritation vibrating beneath her nerves.

She had no reason to be angry with him.

When she didn’t speak first, he said, “Yes?”

Huffing out a breath meant to make sure he caught her irritation, she said, “I found your place. You had a typo in the e-mail draft.”

She deserved kudos for locating him since he’d changed his address in the e-mail draft to the house across the street and hidden his sport utility in the detached garage. He’d considered deleting the e-mail and should have, but he had an exterior camera facing the front yard and house across the street. He’d wanted to see if she’d even try to talk to him. Bonehead move since he wasn’t ready to see her yet and should have figured on her stubborn tenacity.

He said, “You found me.”

“Can we talk?”

“About?”

Her eyes darted past him to the door to the floor, then back to him. She picked silently at possible answers and finally said, “About you coming to the parking deck … with Grady.”

“Grady should have been able to tell you all you needed to know.”
Like the fact that I was standing in the shadows when you let soldier boy try to swallow your tongue.

She growled her next breath and kicked her chin up, back into attitude mode. “Well, I want to hear what you have to say.”

“About what?” Yes, he was being obstinate, but that beat being lame enough to say the kiss bothered him.

“The … ” she said, dragging out the word. “When we … uh, tracking the Svarts.”

He’d thought for sure she would have said
the kiss
.

He’d been a fool, thinking there was more going on between them than just working together.

Evalle crossed her arms, her fingers digging into her forearms. “Would you be willing to track—”

“No.” He’d tracked for her many times and would do it again, but not right now. Bad enough that she blew off his warning that the damn Svarts might be hunting her. He had no desire to lead her to a freakin’ troll who might kill her.

The idea of her getting hurt just amped up his pissed-off state.

His muscles tightened and flexed. His jaguar wanted out.

He clearly shouldn’t be around her right now, not until he could get his head screwed back on straight. That would probably happen by tomorrow, once he found a place to let his jaguar run off some energy tonight. Maybe kill a troll and satisfy the blood lust pumping through his veins.

Evalle uncrossed her arms. “What’s wrong with you?”

You
. “Nothing.”

“Is it because you saw me with Isak?”

“Who?” He had to be careful not to answer with a lie or the pain would be unbearable, but now it seemed lame to say anything about the kiss.

“The guy with the black-ops group.”

“Oh, the one who took aim at you a mere three weeks ago when he saw you defending other Alterants and tried to kill you? That one?” Sarcasm boiled through his voice. “Why would I care if I saw you with him?”

“Well, crap, I knew you saw that. I can explain.”

He held up his hand. “Don’t want to hear it. Not after the grief you gave me over Adrianna, and I sure as hell didn’t kiss
her.
It’s your life, you can spend it with all the losers you want.”

“He’s not a loser.”

“Then what is he if he kills Alterants?”

“And I don’t think he would have shot at me that night in Decatur if Sen hadn’t shown up.”

That really pissed off Storm. “But. He. Did,” Storm reminded her. “What were you doing with Isak anyhow? If he finds out you’re an Alterant, again, he’ll shoot you,
again
, and this time he may not miss.”

“I went to borrow a weapon from him, and no, he won’t shoot me.” She had put her fists on her hips and cocked that adorable chin in fighter mode. “For your information, he found out about my being an Alterant right before he dropped me off in the parking deck and he’s okay with it.”

What?

She wasn’t done blasting him. “I didn’t know you were standing there when I kissed him, but I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and it was just a kiss.” Once she got on a roll, she didn’t slow down. “At least
he
will help me find the Svarts if I ask, so if you don’t want to, that’s fine by me.”