She was here. In front of him. Real and tangible, not one of the dreams that tormented him. Her gold eyes were wide with shock. Her fair skin had grown tan, and her dark hair had streaks of amber through it.

“Leo.”

She said his name, but he couldn’t speak.

“What are you doing here?”

Leo’s heart was beating out of his chest. His mind was a jumble, and no coherent thought would form. A singular instinct took hold of him.

Away.

He tugged Kyra’s hand and turned, ducking under a hanging rack of lanterns and pulling her down a narrow alley between two market stands. She went with him for a few meters, then pulled on his hand.

“Stop!” she cried. “You don’t understand. I’m with friends. It’s not what you think.”

He turned and Kyra’s momentum pushed her into his chest.

She looked up, her expression still baffled. “Leo, I don’t understand what you’re doing here.”

He swallowed and opened his mouth, but again no words came out. How could he explain? How could he explain anything? His appearance. His actions. The reaction he had toward her.

Reshon.

The longing thought leapt to his mind. Was it the voice of his soul or a mad wish? He’d vowed to wait for his reshon—his soul mate chosen by heaven—when he was a young scribe, hopeful and romantic. A vow he’d wondered about since the first time he saw Kyra and she told him, “You make the voices go away.”

“Leo, tell me—”

Leo bent down and wrapped his arm around her waist, drew Kyra’s mouth to his, and kissed her.

Her taste exploded on his lips. It was everything new and everything familiar at once.

Yes.

There you are.

Her kiss tasted like ginger and oranges. Her lips were as unpracticed as his own. Kyra’s arms came around his neck, and he felt the contact move through him like an electric current. Her kiss was the rain. Her touch, the lightning. He gripped her waist harder. Would he bruise her? She kissed him back, one hand gripping his hair at his nape as her mouth moved eagerly against his own.

He’d only kissed her in his dreams. He’d imagined it in real life a hundred times. A thousand perhaps.

The heady taste of Kyra was far better than dreams.

She pulled back, gasping. “What are you doing?”

“Kissing you.” His voice was rough. “I’m kissing you.”

Leo kissed her again, ravenous for another taste. Her head fell back and he kissed her neck. Behind her ear. He set her down so his hands could slide over the delicate wings of her shoulder blades where her skin was bare. Was his skin too rough? He had many calluses from training. Would they scratch her? Did she like to be scratched?

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long,” he said against her mouth.

“I don’t understand.” Her teeth scraped across his lower lip, and Leo shuddered. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you.” Heaven above! Did every woman’s skin taste so delectable? How did their mates keep their mouths away from them? Leo kissed along Kyra’s jawline. And her scent! “So good,” he muttered.

He’d been aroused before; after all, he was hundreds of years old and scribes were never meant to be monks. But nothing compared to the pounding urgency in his body to take her, devour her, consume her passion to feed his own.

A mate chosen by heaven.

“We need…” She let out a short gasp when Leo nibbled on the muscle at the side of her neck. “Leo, stop.”

What? No! Why?

He frowned and lifted his head. “Am I doing something wrong?”

Kyra blinked. “I don’t… know. No?”

His eyes fell to her swollen lips. “I like kissing you.”

She let out a small groan.

“So much.”

Her chest heaved. Which caused her delicate breasts to rise and fall. Which was so, so good. They drew his gaze like magnets.

“Did you like it too?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes, but—”

“Good.” Leo bent his head, but she put a hand over his mouth and pushed.

“What are you doing in Chiang Mai?”

He opened his mouth. “I’m—”

“Other than kissing me,” Kyra said. “I think I understand that part.”

Oh. Hmm. How to explain? “I was called to Bangkok by the watcher there.”

“The Irin watcher?” Her eyes went blank. “But why are you in Chiang Mai?”

Leo hated the blank expression. He automatically knew she was hiding something. “There were pictures of you.”

“What? Where?”

“In Bangkok. Surveillance pictures.”

“They’ve been watching the Grigori here,” she said quietly.

He smoothed a hand over her mussed hair. “That’s what we do.”

“They are not your enemies,” she said. “No one here—”

A slight sound caused Leo to turn a second before the knife would have sunk into his shoulder. He batted it away and pushed Kyra behind him, putting himself in the path of his assailant.

“Leo, no!”

“Stay back.” He drew a silver dagger in one hand and a silenced 9mm in the other. In a place like the market, he didn’t want to have to use the gun, but he would if necessary. His aim was steady.

Leo’s attacker didn’t hide. He walked out of the alleyway with his own gun pointed in Leo’s direction. Leo brushed a thumb over his talesm prim and felt his spells come alive. With that brush, he was effectively wearing a suit of living armor. His hearing sharpened. His vision became hyperaware. His skin would be hotter if Kyra touched him.

“Who are you?” the Grigori asked. “Let her go.”

Kyra said, “Niran, he’s a friend.”

Ah yes, it was the Grigori from the picture, Leo realized. The one walking with her and making her laugh. He had a gun pointed at Leo’s head.

“Please,” Kyra said. “Both of you, put the weapons down.”

“Him first,” Leo muttered, unwilling to leave Kyra unprotected.

“You have no purpose here, scribe,” Niran said, still walking slowly toward Leo. “Go back where you came from and tell your watcher you’re not needed.”

“I’m not here because of my watcher,” Leo said.

“Will both of you put the weapons down?” Kyra said. “Someone is going to get hurt. Niran, where is Intira?”

“With Sura. Step away from the scribe, Kyra.”

“I don’t take orders from you. Both of you put your weapons away!”

“No.” The answer came in unison.

“For heaven’s sake.” Kyra shoved her way from behind Leo and stepped between the raised guns, which were immediately lowered as soon as she came in their sights.

“Kyra, what are you doing?”

Leo dropped his gun. “Are you insane?” He tried to push her back, but she twisted away.

“Both of you, listen!” She was angry. “Just stop. Niran, Leo is a friend. He’s from the Istanbul house, which has an alliance with my brother. Leo, I am here as Niran’s guest. Please, do not attack the man who has welcomed me and taken care of me in this country.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at Niran, who was looking equally hostile. Reluctantly he put his arm down as Niran did the same. He slid the 9mm in his holster… as Niran did. Then Leo’s knife was put away. He glared at the Grigori whom Kyra had defended.

“If it weren’t for her, you’d be on the ground,” Leo said.

“Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel good.” Niran whistled and three more Grigori stepped from the shadows. “Myat, go tell Sura and Intira to walk back to the truck.”

“Niran, don’t,” Kyra said. “Don’t spoil her night because of this. Everyone needs to stop and think. There is no fight here. No one wants to hurt anyone.”

Leo was fairly sure he wanted to hurt Niran.

“I’m not leaving her in the market with an Irin scribe around,” the Grigori said. “We’ve all heard the stories of them taking our sisters. Where there is one, there will be more.”

Leo said, “I’m not here to take anyone who is not in danger.” He glanced at Kyra. That might not be strictly true, but it was none of this Niran’s business.

Kyra seemed to sense his thoughts. “Don’t. We need to talk. Just talk.”

“As long as you’re not running away from a real conversation, I can agree to that.”

“How many scribes are in my city?” Niran asked.

“I’m the only scribe who came from Bangkok,” Leo said. They didn’t need to know that Alyah was with him. “And I came for Kyra, not to attack you.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that before. Right before two scribes tried to grab a sister of mine from a local temple.”

Leo frowned. “I know nothing about that.”

“Watchers know best, do they not?” Niran said. “We don’t want anything from the Irin. Leave us alone.”

Leo examined the Grigori with new eyes. The man was of medium height and carried a commanding presence. The men who flanked him took orders effortlessly. Clearly these Grigori were disciplined and well organized. Looking again, Leo saw dark lines of tattoos at each of their necks. He glanced at their arms. Tattoos there too.

What was going on here?

Kyra put a hand on his forearm. Her touch nearly caused him to moan in pleasure. She felt so good. He controlled himself.

“You have questions,” Kyra said. “I have answers, but I need to confer with Niran first. Allow me to talk with him in private.”

She wanted to leave him and go off with the Grigori? Leo’s lip curled.

“Or we can take her now and you’ll never find her,” Niran said. “What will it be, scribe?”

Kyra’s chin lifted. “No one takes me against my will. You don’t speak for me.”

“I speak for your brother,” he said. “I promised no harm would come to you in my territory.”

Leo said, “I’ve got her brother’s number on speed dial. Shall we call him now?”

“No!” Kyra shouted. “Leo, don’t you dare.”

What the hell was going on here? Kyra looked panicked. Niran was hard to read, but Leo would swear there was some confusion in his eyes.

“Fine,” Leo said. He drew a hotel card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Kyra. “I’m here when you’re finished talking to him.”

Kyra relaxed. “After we talk, I’ll find you.”

“I want your phone number before you go.” Leo didn’t take his eyes off Niran.

Kyra was reluctant, but she nodded and put a hand out. “Your phone?”

Leo unlocked his phone and handed it to her.

Kyra quickly entered a number and hit Send, then she held up her own phone for him to see the number flashing. “Satisfied?”

His eyes raked down her body. “Far from it.”

She turned bright red. “I’ll call you later.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

She walked toward Niran, and everything in Leo screamed at him to grab her and run.

He didn’t. She wasn’t his to steal. Plus he had a few questions for Alyah before he and Kyra talked.

“Kyra,” he called to her back.

She turned.

“If you don’t come to me, I’ll find you.”

The smile she gave him was sad. Amused. Skeptical. Far too complicated for a single emotion.

“You could try.”

* * *

Leo opened the heavy gate to the hotel garden on the other side of the river. He’d ignored the hails of the tuk-tuk drivers and walked the distance from the night bazaar, needing time to gather his thoughts. The hotel where Alyah had brought them was close to the old city and the bazaar, just on the other side of the river and downstream. High walls protected it from prying eyes, and lush gardens greeted him when he entered the compound. His suite faced a narrow pool where lilies floated and fish swam. Across a small bridge, Alyah had taken her own room, but all her lights were off.

The garden was silent. The staff was gone. But Leo’s thoughts were in a riot.

Their kiss.

The sheer pleasure of it kept leaping to his mind, scattering every other conscious thought.

He unlocked his room and walked inside, tossing his keys on the small table by the door and falling back on the bed to stare at the ceiling.

“I like kissing you.” He closed his eyes at the memory of her lips. “So much.” Her hands gripping his hair. “Did you like it too?” Her breasts. Heaven above…

Leo had dreamed of kissing Kyra for no less than two years. From the time he’d met her, he’d been aware of the desire, but Kyra had been a tentative bird in the beginning. She could barely manage to walk down a street without cringing from the rampant human thoughts that invaded her mind. The last thing Leo wanted was for her to feel that a large, clumsy giant of a scribe was preying on her vulnerabilities.

But then he’d seen her in Rěkaves, standing up to the scribes and singers of Mikael’s line, holding her own with Sari, one of the most dominant and warlike singers Leo had ever known. She’d grown. She’d come into her power.

Then…

Then he’d wanted her. He’d craved her. He’d sought her company but always felt a wall hanging between them. He longed for her. Wondered where she had gone when she left with her brother. Sari had tried to convince Kyra to stay at Rěkaves with her, but Kyra had refused. Leo suspected her brother had been the reason why.

Then Kyra had reacted with panic when he’d offered to call Kostas tonight.

What was going on?

Had she been cast out? Impossible. Was she hiding? Niran’s words indicated otherwise.

How long did she want to talk to Niran? Would she come tonight? He glanced at his phone and noticed it was after midnight. Then he tapped the number she’d entered earlier, adding it to his contacts along with a picture he’d snapped of her in Rěkaves. She’d been laughing with one of the children Damien and Sari had rescued, holding the little boy as he tried to squirm away.

Happy. She’d been so happy.

“What about your own family?”

“I don’t know if that is possible for me.”

Though the kareshta were daughters of the Fallen, they were still angelic. They could have children. There were several kareshta who were pregnant from Irin scribes. Some they’d identified even had children with human mates, though it was unusual. What was the sorrow that shadowed her eyes?

A tapping came at the door.

Leo sprang up and rushed toward it, flinging it open only to see Alyah on the other side.

“Oh,” he said. “It’s you.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Clearly not who you were hoping for.”

No, but he did have a few questions. “Why don’t you come in?” He held the door open and Alyah walked inside.

“Did you find her?”

“Yes.”

“Was she safe?”

“Apparently.” How to broach the topic without having Alyah clam up? She was highly loyal to her watcher. She practically worshipped Dara, and Leo understood why. “I spoke briefly to the Grigori you’ve been watching. There are some interesting things about him.”

“Oh?” She sat on the bench in the small living area. “We have been watching for some time. It’s apparent he’s not feeding on humans.”

“When we first spoke, you were skeptical about the existence of the kareshta. You didn’t know if this group of Grigori were protecting any sisters or not.”

“Are they?”

“It would seem so,” Leo said. “It would also seem that two or more scribes—I wasn’t able to get specifics—attempted to abduct one of their sisters recently.”

Alyah wasn’t prone to strong reactions, but that got her attention. “What?”

“Two scribes. He said they tried to grab one of his sisters from a temple.”

“I know nothing about this.”

“Then this Grigori said: ‘Watchers know best, do they not?’ Alyah, are you sure that Dara has no knowledge of the kareshta this Grigori is protecting?”

She frowned and leaned forward. “I told you we were skeptical they truly existed. Why would Dara lie about them if she knew they were there?”

“Why would scribes try to abduct a woman praying at a temple?”

“Maybe they thought she was human,” Alyah said. “Maybe they thought they were protecting her from Grigori.”

“We’re not supposed to touch humans,” Leo said. “It can be harmful to them.”

Alyah gave him another skeptical look. “Do you truly think all scribes are as honorable as that? Besides, Dara doesn’t command every scribe in Thailand. Perhaps they were independent and believed this woman was kareshta. Maybe they believed they were saving her from an angel.”

“Or perhaps they were eager to find an available female,” Leo said quietly.

Alyah’s lip curled. “They wouldn’t—”

“They would,” Leo said. “They have. It’s happened in Europe.”

“Scribes have kidnapped these kareshta? Abducted them?”

“They dress it up,” Leo said. “Say they’re rescuing them from the Grigori. Or the Fallen.”

“Maybe they are.”

“And maybe they want a grateful female who looks to them for protection,” Leo said. “A kareshta in debt to them for their freedom. If that’s happening in Thailand, you must put a stop to it. The mandate from the council is clear: the protection of the kareshta, not their exploitation. Sometimes protecting them might mean protecting the brothers they depend on.”

“Grigori?” Alyah said. “Leaving them alone is one thing, but protecting them?”

“Some of these men have given everything—given their own lives—to keep their sisters safe. Many love their families just as much as Irin love theirs. Taking a kareshta away from brothers who have been her caretakers and protectors only traumatizes them again.”

“Unless they want to go.” Alyah stood. “Who says these Grigori aren’t keeping their sisters under their thumbs just as much as the Fallen did? Irina have options. We have power. We have independence. We have magic.”

“You have independence because you have magic. You want the kareshta to have that too?”

Alyah fell silent.

It was one thing to rail at the Grigori. It was another thing to offer magic to a race that had very recently been the enemy. Alyah’s reaction was not unexpected.

“We wait for Kyra to call me,” he said. “At this point, it’s all we can do.”