SEVENTEEN
The sense of spinning ended abruptly with Evalle standing upright. She shoved her hands out for balance. Her palms hit a surface that flexed, but it was the lungful of raw sewage she breathed in that told her exactly where she was.
Sen had teleported her to a port-a-potty.
In the middle of the summer in Atlanta. Gross.
That bastard’s sense of humor came from the same place his head was shoved up most of the time.
She fumbled with the door handle and stumbled out onto a dark sidewalk on shaky legs, gulping fresh air. The sidewalk pitched with her vertigo.
Nausea threatened to finish off her perfectly crappy day.
At least it wasn’t dawn yet. That would be more like Sen to stick her in a port-a-potty in the middle of a hundred-degree day without sufficient clothing to leave.
A hand latched onto her shoulder. “Hey—”
She came around swinging out of reflex, her mind a rush of red fury. No one would ever hurt her again.
He blocked her right cross. She shoved her knee up. He used another hand to deflect her slam to his groin. That gave her an opening to throw an uppercut with her left fist, clipping the edge of his chin.
“Ow, dammit. Stop!”
He spun her like a top on a string.
Vertigo won at that point. And she figured out who she fought.
“You stop or I’ll throw up on you,” she warned, sure that would be enough to make Storm shove her away.
“You don’t transport well, huh?”
Was he laughing? She could break his hold even though he had her back pinned to his chest, but her legs were so weak she’d probably land facedown on the sidewalk. She hated to ever feel weak, but the shaking wouldn’t stop. “We call it teleporting in VIPER. You make me sound like fresh fruit that gets damaged in shipment.”
He did laugh this time, a warm, throaty sound. His grip changed from one of containment to one of comfort.
She tried to make herself push away from him, from being held, but her body refused to help. His fingers wrapped her abdomen and moved slightly, cupping her waist. He breathed deeply, a motion that gave her an up close and personal idea of just how wide his chest was.
The air changed from one of joking to awareness.
Not the fight-or-flight mode she usually experienced this close to a man.
She was torn between wanting to stay in this moment a few seconds more and shoving away from someone who was helping Sen.
“You better now?” Storm’s voice was next to her ear and sounded as though he didn’t want to hear yes, but that was the answer she gave him. “Okay. If I let you go, will you promise not to hit me or throw up on me?”
“For now.”
When his arms fell away she experienced a quiver of disappointment. And surprise at not feeling the bone-deep fear of being held and hurt in his grasp.
Would she ever want a man to touch her … to really touch her?
She stepped away, recognizing the street and buildings as she turned and located her bike in the same spot she’d left it. Satisfied nothing had happened to her baby, she faced Storm. “What time is it?”
“Right around five. Be daylight in a half hour.”
Crud. She’d lost almost five hours even though the Tribunal meeting had seemed to pass in less than an hour. Isak had to be ticked off about her blowing a second meeting. One problem at a time. She cut her eyes at Storm. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you to show up. Again.” He canted his head in the direction of the bike. “I found your gixxer after you left. Figured I’d hang around and keep an eye on it.”
“Why?”
Storm had a way of looking at her that made her think she’d missed something in the conversation, as though she shouldn’t need to ask that question. “Bad enough to get yanked off your feet by Sen, but it would be worse to come back and find your ride gone.”
It was nice of him to look after it, since he had no idea no one could take her bike. His kindness touched her a lot more than she wanted it to. “What about looking for the Ngak Stone?”
“Sen came back not long after you left. I told him I’d just finished my shift in the park and if he expected me to work with you, then you had to be here for that to happen.”
Why would Storm purposefully bait Sen? Especially about her? Was he telling her the truth or trying to manipulate her into thinking they were on the same side? She kept her curiosity hidden. “We’ve got to find that stone.”
“VIPER agents have been in the park and the surrounding areas all night, so it’s not like the mission was entirely abandoned. Besides, I can’t see any of us finding that rock until it chooses its woman.”
He made it sound like some horny teenager. “What agents have been here since I left?”
“Casper came by for a while, then Tzader was here. Another guy joined him—”
“Quinn?”
“Yeah, he showed up. They both left a little while ago.”
But Storm had stayed. She wished she knew how to feel about that, but she’d only slept a handful of hours in three days and was too tired to think at this point. “I’m going home. Thanks for keeping an eye on my bike.”
“No problem. What time do you want to team up again?”
Wow, he’d finally figured out that demanding she meet him at a specific time wouldn’t work.
But what to tell Storm? She’d stood up Isak—again—and still had no way to find him. Isak might know why the Birrn demon had been looking for an Alterant, information that could be useful with the Tribunal, but she doubted he’d share a thing with her after this.
Heck, she’d be lucky if he didn’t turn that big cannon he toted on her.
Storm waited patiently for her answer, his eyes full of quiet understanding she really wished she could trust.
“I’ll see you at the same gate at nine tonight.” She considered the conversation over and headed to her bike before she did something foolish such as offer to grab coffee with him.
“That’ll work. I’ve got to catch some sleep then follow up on a couple leads.”
Evalle was halfway to her bike when his words stopped her. “What leads?”
“On the Birrn killing.” Storm walked over and stood in front of her. “You could help by answering some questions.”
That’s right. He’d picked up a mint scent.
Hers.
“Why would you think that?”
“One of the two male witches I found said you’d been there and helped them escape the Birrn. Want to elaborate?”
Not really.
Had he asked her that before the Tribunal meeting, she’d have had to fight a rush of panic. Now she had much more to worry about than Sen’s agenda. She was sick to her stomach from being dizzy and had no energy left to verbally fence with Storm. “Yes, I was there. Yes, I helped the twins get away from the Birrn. And, yes, I could have told you that this morning and saved you from working so hard today to give Sen the information he needs to put me on suspension. Sorry I didn’t want to help you put a collar on me.”
Trying to outmaneuver Storm was like playing dodgeball with an octopus. She could only do it so long without losing.
“I know all that, and that you fought the Birrn and that you were present when the Birrn was destroyed.”
She had her arms crossed and her hands fisted, ready to tell him just what she thought of anyone who was Sen’s go-to man for information, but Storm didn’t let her.
“Get some sleep and cool off some. My questions will keep.” Storm used the back of his finger to wipe a layer of sweat off her brow, the motion wiping away her anger just as easily. “Regardless of what you think, I didn’t agree to transfer to Atlanta for the sole purpose of handing you to Sen on a platter. You want me to be straight? Fine. He does think you’re hiding something from him, and when he told me he specifically wanted to know if someone was putting the VIPER coalition at risk, I knew he was talking about you. That doesn’t mean I think you’re a risk. When Sen asked about the Birrn earlier, I told him I was tracking the person who killed it, which I am. But you didn’t kill it, did you?”
She didn’t dare tell Storm about Isak for fear of his running to Sen with the information—which would definitely not work in her best interest. Also, she still had to find out what Isak knew about the Birrn.
That is, if he’d ever speak to her again after she’d left him double hanging.
“No. I didn’t kill it.”
“Then you better run along.” His tone was fierce.
“Why?”
“Because you’ll turn into a toasty Alterant if you don’t,” he teased.
She allowed a smile. “Why didn’t you tell Sen about me being at the site where the Birrn was killed?”
Storm could turn a minute into the longest stretch of time with one look into his searing eyes. “Because I’m not Sen’s hit man. I decide for myself who the good guys are.” He turned his hand over to brush his palm through her hair, letting his fingers rest at her shoulder for a brief moment before he stepped back. His eyes were darker than before. Whatever he was thinking disappeared in his shuttered gaze. “Now head out before something even more evil than a Birrn comes along tonight and decides to eat you.”
She would have questioned him more, but every instinct she possessed told her to get out of here as quickly as possible. Because if she didn’t, something wicked just might devour her. Not that it would really matter. At the rate she was going, she’d be dead in three days anyway.
Or would she be able to find the miracle that could keep her free and save the world from those who wanted to destroy it?