FIVE
“This is Adrianna Lafontaine,” Sen said as the blond female took several steps into the war room and paused as though allowing everyone to enjoy her beauty. Her fire red jacket and short skirt ordered all eyes to start at the top and continue to the sparkling red shoes.
Evalle wished she could reach Tzader right now to find out if he knew anything about Adrianna. Everything about this woman raised Evalle’s alarms.
“And this is Storm.” Sen’s second introduction yanked Evalle’s gaze to the man who’d walked in behind Adrianna.
His presence spoke louder than any introduction. Black hair fell to his shoulders—an obsidian color that was matched by his dark eyes. Sun-drenched skin and high, proud cheekbones spoke of ancestors who’d lived in North America long before invaders had shown up. Pebble-sized mixed stones interspersed with inch-long carved claws were strung on a length of rawhide tied around his neck. He wore a lightweight leather jacket over a white T-shirt tucked inside worn jeans … jeans he filled out nicely.
His alpha presence doused the wave of male lust that had flashed through the room when Adrianna had entered.
“Have a seat,” Sen instructed the new members.
Adrianna took a spot on the couch next to Trey, using the motion to show off her shapely legs.
May Macha bless Trey because he ignored Adrianna. That was a happily married man.
Evalle expected Storm to stand only because his mysterious appearance reminded her of Lucien, who rarely sat, but Storm sauntered across the room and settled next to her, stretching out his long legs. She didn’t think he was much over six feet tall, but he packed a lot of man into that space.
And why was she noticing that about him if he was a new agent?
I think the sun boiled my brain.
Swinging her attention to Sen, Evalle started to lean back when she felt the stuffed leather behind her head move with Storm’s arm sliding across. She considered sitting upright and stopped herself before reacting. Never wise to show any reaction that could be misconstrued as apprehension around another nonhuman. Let no one see your weakness—it was the one code she’d never break. Storm didn’t touch her, but that presence she’d felt when he’d walked in barged into her space.
What exactly was he?
And what were his powers? …
Sen cleared his throat. “Now that everyone is present, pay attention so that I don’t have to repeat myself. We have a problem here in Georgia.”
“Again? Can’t the demons find a new place to play? I hear New Orleans is dying for some action. And New York’s nice this time of year,” Trey muttered.
For some reason, Evalle couldn’t resist taunting him. “What’s the matter? Married life making you soft?”
Trey cut an annoyed glance at her, then cocked a cynical smile. “If that was the case, we’d all chip in to find something to marry you.”
“Enough.” Sen’s no-nonsense stare struck Trey, then drifted to her.
A short, deep laugh rumbled out of Storm.
Evalle’s eyes widened at his audacity. Somebody should give him the Sen Survival 101 talk.
“The Ngak Stone—”
“‘Nack’ like ‘knick-knack’?” Casper interrupted him.
Sen cut a vicious glare at him. “The Nah-yak”—he enunciated slowly, then spelled it so that they’d understand the term—“Stone was lost in Atlanta during an unsanctioned battle two years ago.” Sen paused, his condemning gaze now firmly affixed on Trey, who sighed and covered his eyes with his hand, as if knowing what was coming next. “The stone will choose a new master soon. It has boundless power and moves through history with a certain autonomy. It’s believed this stone caused the Yellow River to flood China four thousand years ago when a high-level adviser inside the Yao Dynasty stole the stone from a Tibetan monk with intentions of using it to multiply their crops and build an empire that could not be defeated. The Yellow River flooded the next day, killing the thief and washing the rock away. But the stone must have been extremely angry over its theft because the Yellow River still floods to this day. And don’t get me started on what it did to Vesuvius. That is the kind of power we’re talking, people.”
Sen paused while a grim murmur buzzed through the room.
So that’s why we’re here? Evalle schooled her face to be concerned and not show her relief that she hadn’t been exposed. Thank the gods, Sen hadn’t found out about the demons or their quest for an Alterant …
Yet.
But that relief was only minor given the severity of what was happening. The Ngak Stone showing up again created all sorts of deadly possibilities, especially for the Beladors, since the last person to hold it had been a Kujoo warrior.
I think I’m getting a migraine.
Because the last thing she needed thrown into this mix was a bunch of angry Kujoo running around town with an all-powerful weapon, trying to settle an ancient score with the Beladors.
But at least this meant a common enemy that for once wasn’t her.
Sen glared the room into silence. “The Hindu god, Shiva, contacted our Tribunal a few hours ago to let us know that the Ngak Stone will soon reveal itself in the same area where it was lost. He has no idea when or exactly where. But the time is drawing near, and once the stone is ready to be located it will call a new master.”
Trey let out a sound of aggravation. “Shiva didn’t say if choosing a new master would involve a Kujoo, did he?”
“No, but he didn’t say it wouldn’t.”
Casper slid a glance to Trey. “Wanna lay odds with me? Cause my luck and money says if a Kujoo don’t find it, my favorite song ain’t ‘I Love My Truck.’”
Trey shook his head.
Ignoring them, Storm frowned at Sen. “I’m unfamiliar with the Kujoo. But if Shiva’s involved, I take it they’re Indian in nature?”
Sen inclined his head to him. “The Kujoo were once a race of Hindu humans until eight hundred years ago, when a band of rogue Beladors, drunk on bloodlust, plundered their village and killed their families. Before Macha could punish them for it, Shiva answered the Kujoo’s call for vengeance and granted them supernatural powers so that they could fight back.”
Adrianna scowled at him. “Why are the Beladors still enemies then after all this time?”
Sen sighed. “The Kujoo weren’t content to kill the handful who’d wronged them. They declared open warfare on any and all Beladors. It was bloody and brutal. And the Kujoo quickly lost sight of why they’d originally fought. It became a matter of killing off anyone with a trace of Belador blood in them.”
When he said “a trace of Belador blood,” Sen sent a derogatory glance at Evalle before continuing. “Finally, when there were only a few of each left, Macha and Shiva came to an agreement. She would corral and sanction the remaining Beladors, and Shiva would lock his now insane Kujoo beneath Mount Meru—where they continue to live, train and plot the Belador communal deaths. Two years ago, one such plot resulted in a Kujoo warrior escaping Mt. Meru with the Ngak Stone. During the ensuing fight against some of our operatives, he lost the stone in Piedmont Park.”
Casper sat forward. “Wait … you’re saying that we knew where this potential Belador kryptonite has been sitting the whole time but didn’t send a retrieval team to find it and put it in our vault?”
Sen gave him a duh stare. “Yes, Casper. We purposefully left it there. It made such a great resting place for the pigeons and tourists that we couldn’t bring ourselves to move it.”
Trey spoke up. “It’s only the size of a goose egg, not a damn boulder. There was one good thing that came from the battle. Macha fixed our eyes. Our powers are no longer linked to our vision.”
“Speak for yourself,” Evalle muttered. Many of the Beladors, like Trey, had been subject to weakening of powers if their eyes were compromised. After the battle with the Kujoo two years back, Brina had lobbied Macha to fix that, which the goddess had. Be nice if Brina had lobbied Macha on Evalle’s behalf to allow her to walk in sunshine. “I still have sensitive eyes.”
“But it doesn’t affect your powers the way it did ours,” Trey pointed out.
Sen broke in. “Think you two can save the drivel for your own time?” He addressed the whole room. “The stone becomes invisible until it wants to be found, sometimes for centuries. We could have excavated the entire park and never found that rock. It chooses when and where to be seen or found.”
Trey let out an elongated breath. “I suppose it’s too much to hope that we have some idea who or what the stone has chosen for a new master.”
“In the past, it’s always chosen someone with significant powers. Someone with an unknown history. The only clue Shiva could give us is that he believes it’ll select a woman this time.”
“Well, there goes the neighborhood.” Casper winked at Evalle.
Evalle rolled her eyes. That cowboy was asking for trouble and some female would oblige him one day, but not her. He didn’t interest her at all, not like Isak, whose touch had been …
No, don’t go there.
Because she had no interest in a relationship with anything other than Häagen-Dazs. Especially not with a man whose favorite extracurricular activity was hunting nonhumans.
There was no telling what he’d do to her if he ever learned who and what she really was.
Sen crossed his arms over his chest, the action bringing her thoughts back to the matter at hand as he continued. “Shiva has agreed to let us put the Ngak Stone in our vault if the stone allows its owner to hand it to us voluntarily. Shiva warned he will not interfere with the stone’s destiny. He can’t. So we must find that woman and get that rock.”
“What if the rock is destined to remain with the woman it chooses?” Adrianna’s voice was filmy as smoke, soft and tainted with hidden undercurrents. “Why are we assuming this woman shouldn’t wield its power?”
If not for hearing an ulterior motive beneath Adrianna’s words, Evalle might have seen her point.
Amazingly, Sen showed no sign of annoyance at being questioned by the blonde. “Shiva had a vision. He saw two paths for the stone once it passed into the woman’s hands. The first showed it resting in a guarded space—the outcome we prefer. The other ended with it being used for cataclysmic destruction. If this stone lands in the wrong hands, it could change the landscape of the world as we know it. Every time it shows up, it changes human history, and never for the better.”
“Where’s Indiana Jones when we need him?” Casper wondered aloud.
Sen’s jaw twitched, but he continued the briefing. “In the past, our people were lucky and managed to prevent total destruction of our planet. This time? It’s up to us. Things are going to get ugly if we don’t get our hands on the Ngak Stone.”
“How do you plan to take the rock from its new owner if we find her?” Lucien’s question surprised the room when he spoke.
Evalle imagined that deep voice and melodic Latin accent played well with the females. Oozing testosterone and looking like sex on two legs probably didn’t hurt either.
Sen sighed. “We can’t take the Ngak Stone from her. She has to willingly hand it over.”
“Not exactly true.” Lucien paused, his voice softening with a lethal quality when he added, “There is one other way to take possession.”
Evalle arched an inquisitive look at the Castilian, grasping what he insinuated. The new master could die.
Remind me to stay on his good side.
Sen glared at him. “You will not kill her to take that rock.”
Lucien smiled, an expression his stony gaze failed to support. “I don’t intend to. However, accidents happen and other creatures besides us are hunting for it. Who knows? She could easily slip and fall on someone’s knife. A few dozen times.”
Sen sighed. “As you said, we can’t stop that, but anyone who tries to take the stone by force would have to be out of their mind. The stone might accept a new master, or it might turn on the person who attacked the chosen one. The gods help them then, because it won’t be pretty.”
Casper gestured to the agents in the room. “Are we it? Please tell me given the nature of this beast that we’re going to have more folks looking for it.”
Sen hesitated before he spoke. “This is a highly delicate situation. The fewer people who know the stone is up for grabs, the better off we’ll be. So do not share information with anyone outside this team, not even other VIPER members, and especially not that we’re searching for the Ngak Stone. I can’t risk sending in a large contingent that would alert our enemies. If word of the stone’s reappearance surfaced, any and every thing with supernatural power would show up to get their hands on it.”
Lucien scoffed. “Word will get out.”
Wasn’t he Mr. Encouraging? Evalle didn’t think Lucien would live long around Sen if he kept that up, but she welcomed anyone drawing Sen’s attention away from her.
“Then we have to find that stone and the woman quickly.” Sen’s terse words sent in Lucien’s direction made it clear he wasn’t up for any negative attitude or slackers.
Trey shook his head. “Atlanta’s spread out. Do we know where to look for this woman?”
“No, but we know where the stone should reappear since it can’t physically move itself. The stone can create environmental changes that cause it to be moved, but it still has to wait to be picked up.”
Trey let out an angry sound of frustration. “Damn, this sucks.” He leveled a serious stare at Sen. “You do realize that I now have to choose between the end of the world as we know it and my balls, right?”
Sen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Pardon?”
“My wife’s in her last weeks of pregnancy, and if I’m not there when she goes into labor, she will annihilate my testicles. Both of them. Without anesthesia. I’d rather the earth end in a bloody ball of flames than I lose the boys. I think every male in this room agrees …” He glanced over to where Lucien leaned against the wall. “Well, maybe not Lucien. The jury’s still out on his sexual preference, but I don’t want to be a soprano.”
Lucien’s eyes held a wicked threat when he chuckled. “You keep that up, cabrón, and you won’t have to wait on your wife to remove them. I assure you, it can be arranged here and now.”
The tic started again in Sen’s jaw. “Go to your respective corners, both of you.” He looked at Trey. “As for your personal matter, I suggest then that you locate the stone quickly before your jewels are handed to you. And trust me, once her labor pains kick in, even if you’re there, you’ll be lucky to walk away with them intact anyway.”
Sen turned his attention to the rest of them. “Now if we can focus on something other than Trey’s testicles, we still have Armageddon to deal with. Tzader’s spearheading this mission, and Trey will handle communications with headquarters. Quinn will work with Casper. Storm will become part of the southeastern team. Evalle will show Storm around.”
Evalle stiffened. When had she become a tour guide? She started to complain that she couldn’t be saddled with a new guy when she had to be inside during the daylight, but Sen would love nothing more than to have her admit she was lacking.
Again.
But with that came a sense of dread. The last thing she wanted was to deal with Storm tonight. Not that he hadn’t seemed like a decent guy at first glance. Still, she didn’t want to be alone with him for several reasons.
One, she didn’t trust any man when they were alone.
Second, she didn’t know what kind of powers Storm had or how he felt about being stuck with a woman. Then there was the small matter of her being an Alterant. Her experience with Beladors was that they tended to freak whenever they found out about her heritage. He’d put her at the bottom of the food chain, right under Birrn demons and pond scum.
With any luck, Tzader would take Storm off her hands to train.
Lucien jerked his chin toward Adrianna. “What about her?”
Sen glanced at Adrianna, then back at Lucien before he answered. “She’ll be working on her own, but you’re to assist her.”
Lucien’s eyes darkened with an emotion Evalle would call loathing that matched his tone. “Ah, I would say gracias, but that would sound as though you did me a favor. Perhaps now you’d care to tell everyone what she is?”
Evalle had found the source of the hatred she’d felt when Adrianna had walked into the mission room.
And Adrianna didn’t appear any happier with Lucien than he was with her.
When all eyes focused on Sen, he explained, “She’s a Sterling witch, working with us on this one mission. We needed a consultant who was there the last time a witch opened a portal for the Kujoo.”
Evalle shook her head. “Are you out of your mind? You want us to trust a witch from the Sterling family? A black-majik-practicing dynasty?”
Sen’s eyes narrowed to slits. “A Tribunal has approved her. This is not your decision.”
Evalle had to force herself not to argue her point. Tribunals weren’t infallible by any stretch of the imagination. But Sen wasn’t about to listen to her, even though all of them knew better than to trust a Sterling.
What was the Tribunal thinking?
Sen’s threatening gaze shifted to Lucien, whose only reaction was a muscle twitching in his jaw. “Another thing. I had a report that a Birrn demon was executed in a warehouse off Metropolitan Parkway in Atlanta this morning. I want to know who or what took him down and what the demon was doing there. I know it couldn’t have been one of our agents, since no one called for cleanup.” His face tightened. “At least it better not be one of our people. The gods help them if it is and I expect answers by sunset, or it won’t go well for any of you.”
With a snap of Sen’s fingers, a low wooden table appeared in the middle of the room, along with a stack of file folders. “This is what we have from Fulton County law enforcement on the slaying.”
Holding her breath in fear, Evalle lifted a file and tried to look normal. She went immediately to the pictures of the scene, hoping there was nothing from the county investigation that would betray her.
Grace be to Macha, nothing in these pages looked damning.
For the moment, she was safe.
But the question was, did Sen have a sniffer in this region who could use the chips to catch a trail and follow it the way a bloodhound tracked scent? That was one of the few powers she envied.
And while she was at it, she needed to locate the twins and tell them not to mention the incident with the Birrn to anyone, especially a Nightstalker.
Her thoughts turned to Isak, and her stomach sank. How was she going to find a man who no doubt was unfindable and convince him not to tell anyone about seeing her with the demon?
I should have been late for this meeting.
Apparently she’d flunked basic survival, too.
Sen wouldn’t need any help getting rid of her if she kept putting her own head in the noose. Her heartbeat jumped into high gear.
Her time for locating the Birrn’s master was running out. Sen would suspend her, strip all of her powers, then lock her away in hell.
She’d absolutely lose her mind if that happened. There was no way she could take that again. Not to mention the small matter that she was their target. Without her powers, there was no telling what the demon master would do to her.
But she couldn’t do a thing until dark without risking her life. Her breath came in shorter and shorter gasps as she fought down her panic through clenched teeth.
Trained agents would be looking into the Birrn slaying.
I’m so dead. I’m so dead. I’m so dead. She couldn’t breathe or focus. Her panic continued to swell. She had to keep it hidden from the rest of the agents. Get a grip!
Suddenly, a gentle wave of energy floated over her, soothing her distress and wrapping her in a cocoon of comfort. Her breathing steadied.
Someone in this room had done that.
Evalle slowly looked around, but no one seemed to be paying her attention. Who had reached out to her?
Who knew she’d been closing in on panic?
Was it Lucien or Casper? She didn’t think Trey had that kind of power, and Sen definitely wouldn’t have done squat to help her.
Her gaze skipped around the room until she looked into the dark eyes of the man sitting next to her.
Storm.
Her breath got tangled in her throat.
His expression had been void of emotion when he’d entered the room, but interest burned through his gaze now. A purely male gleam. He stretched back, looking even more relaxed and utterly confident in a room full of alpha males.
Confidence like that was incredibly sexy.
And he knew it. The corner of his mouth lifted a tiny bit, letting her know he’d seen her purely female reaction.
Her pulse thumped wildly in response. The room was hot and crowded all of a sudden. She wanted everyone to leave.
Maybe not Storm.
The smile peeking from his eyes picked up heat.
Crap, what was wrong with her? Had her hormones blown a gasket?
Or was Storm using majik to heighten her attraction?
It took all of Evalle’s control to break away from that gimlet stare and calmly shift her attention to Sen, whose briefing she was missing.
“… the Ngak Stone chooses its master in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. It will use its powers to call her out and to seduce her into accepting her destiny while she carries the rock. The morning after the next full moon, when the sun touches the spot where she found the rock, the stone will bond permanently to her. At that point she’ll be a force to be reckoned with. We have to separate her from the stone without killing her before that happens. Once bound, the woman will have full use of the stone’s power, but it will also have control over her.”
Casper sat forward. “The next full moon is Tuesday night. So you’re telling us that we have three days to find this rock and the woman. Three days to save the world?”
The room groaned.
Sen nodded. “Get moving, people. In the hands of a preternatural predator, that rock is invincible.”
“We’ll all be dining in hell,” Trey said under his breath.
Casper turned a thoughtful look toward Evalle. “You think the stone’s looking for Evalle? She has power and an unknown history. Seems like a good fit to me.”
Every set of eyes turned to her. Thanks, cowboy. Just toss my hide out for the skinning.
Sen curled his lip derisively. “I seriously doubt it would pick an Alterant when it has the entire universe to choose from.”
Evalle went from terrified to humiliated with one sentence. Anger scorched the back of her throat, but she knew better than to let it show. So what if he felt that way? She didn’t care about him either.
Still, it stung, and the fact that it did just made her all the angrier at herself for giving him that kind of power over her emotions.
By the time she stood up, everyone else had left the room except Storm and Sen.
The sun would be out in all its glory by now, and she’d have to ride back home with the heat climbing to a hundred. Gotta love baking in Georgia’s summer heat. Not.
Evalle couldn’t squelch the irritation she’d kept bottled until now. “Did we have to come all the way up here to hear this? Couldn’t Trey have briefed us from home?”
The pleasure that burst into Sen’s gaze took her breath, and not in a good way. “Trey could have briefed the others, but I wanted you here for another reason. Storm’s SUV has been warded to shield the interior from the sun. And there’s a motorcycle trailer hitched to it for your bike. He’ll be driving you back so that you won’t damage yourself.” Could he be any more snide?
Tzader would have been proud of her for not saying a word. But in all honesty she’d gone blank. Ride two hours with a man who had …
What had Storm done to her? She still didn’t know what kind of powers he possessed.
“Looking forward to the company on the drive down.” Storm’s tone was professional, yet his gaze was anything but.
She’d be the first to admit she found him sexy … if admired from a distance. However, the last thing she wanted was to be trapped inside a vehicle with an unknown male for two hours.
Especially one her senses were yelling at her to avoid.
Sen’s expression was creepily pleasant, like that of a lion licking its chops while eyeballing its prey. “I want you to review the Birrn death with Storm. Tell him everything you know about paranormal activity in the city and the recent proliferation of demon visits.”
“Okay.”
Sen’s gaze sharpened, like he’d just cornered her. “By the way, I didn’t tell you why I brought Storm in.”
“He knows something about Birrns?”
Sen shook his head. “He’s a Navajo shaman who can track unnatural beings. But he has one special talent I think you’ll find fascinating. It’s one that will be of great benefit to VIPER. Storm has the ability to know if someone is lying or not.” An evil, smug smile curved his lips. “And he’s going to be your new partner, which should expedite your efforts in finding out why the demons are here, as well as ensuring the Ngak Stone doesn’t end up in your hands.”
Bile rose in her throat. “Thought you said the stone would never pick an Alterant.”
“The gods occasionally have a sick sense of humor. And I can’t take the chance that it will seduce you.”
Oh, I’d like for it to choose me. ’Cause you’d be the first one I’d go for, you arrogant bastard. That alone would make it worth her soul.
And now she understood what had caused Sen’s happiness.
He wanted her out of VIPER, since he didn’t like an anomaly on his team. The little pig thought Storm would catch her in a lie that would land her in suspension … or a Tribunal hearing.
Sen was wrong.
Storm could catch her in a whole string of lies, and any one of them could doom her.