“The Lilin is not going to be happy to have all his clubs shut down in a matter of days,” I said. “And Charles said the Thomas family has already left for an undisclosed location. Losing the clubs and the girls is going to force the Lilin’s hand.”
“I know,” Nikolas said gravely.
“I took pictures of the Lilin’s tattoo on the Incubi we caught last night and sent them to David and Kelvan. They’re going to see if they can find something in the demon archives. It’s a long shot, but you never know.”
“Did you get anything out of the Incubi?” Geoffrey asked me.
“We tried but no luck. Charles is going to keep interrogating them, but I doubt they’ll give up anything useful. They’re fanatics and so devoted to their sire they’ll die before they betray him.”
Geoffrey frowned. “Why don’t we let them go and see if they’ll lead us to him?”
“Won’t work,” Nikolas said. “It’s been tried before with other Lilin. The captured Incubi never returned to their sire. They committed suicide to protect him.”
“They really are fanatics.”
I expelled a long breath. “That’s what makes them so dangerous. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do for their sire.”
Nikolas’s gaze went to Sara. “I never thought I’d say this, but I wish Eldeorin hadn’t chosen now to take a vacation in Faerie.”
I felt my eyebrows shoot up. Nikolas couldn’t stand Eldeorin, who took every opportunity to annoy the hell out of him. The only reason Nikolas tolerated the arrogant faerie at all was because Sara liked him. She thought of Eldeorin as her cousin and mentor, and under his tutelage, she was learning to master her Fae power.
The fact that Nikolas wished Eldeorin was here spoke volumes about how serious the situation was, and it doubled my worry for Beth’s safety.
Two of Geoffrey’s guys called to him, and he went to see what they wanted. After he walked away, I looked at Nikolas and found him watching Beth and Sara.
“They’ve become close,” I said.
I was happy Beth and Sara had hit it off. Not only was Sara mated to my best friend, she was one of my favorite people to be around. After Beth, that was. I imagined the four of us traveling together and working as a team, and I liked the idea very much.
“Sara cares a lot for Beth.” He gave me a sideways glance. “She’s rooting for you to win Beth over.”
“Tell her I’m working on it and I appreciate the cheering section.”
Nikolas chuckled. “How is it between you two? She seems less tense around you.”
“She’s fighting it, but she’s coming around. She agreed to go to dinner with me.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
I hadn’t told Beth that yet. She was shy about going on a date with me, and I wasn’t going to give her time to talk herself out of it.
I knew from overhearing one of her conversations with Sara and Jordan that she liked a particular French restaurant, and I’d called them from the plane to reserve one of their private dining rooms for tonight. It was romantic and intimate, and the perfect setting to woo my beautiful, reluctant mate.
And if all went well, we’d end the night with another one of those incredible kisses. Or two.
Chapter 12
Chris
“I give up.” Brock lifted his head from the mat and waved in surrender. “Mercy.”
I walked over and grasped his hand, pulling him to his feet. He staggered slightly before putting a hand against the wall to steady himself.
I went back to the center of the gym. “Come on. We’ve only been sparring for thirty minutes.”
He groaned. “Is that all?”
“You sound like a new trainee,” I taunted, bouncing on my feet. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll go a few rounds with you,” Nikolas said from the doorway.
“Oh, thank God,” Brock muttered, limping past him.
Nikolas stepped into the room, dressed in sweats and a T-shirt, and joined me at the center of the mats with a familiar gleam in his eyes. He was the only one who could best me in hand-to-hand, and we both knew it.
His attack came lightning fast and without warning. I parried the strike with equal speed and countered with a kick to his thigh that would have put Brock on his ass. Nikolas gave me the little smile that caused younger warriors to tremble in fear and landed a numbing blow to my shoulder. I smiled back. This was more like it.
The thing about sparring with your best friend and longtime partner is that you know each other’s fighting moves better than anyone else. Nikolas and I had fought together so many times I could predict his reaction before I made a strike. And the same was true for him. We were so evenly matched that all we could do was fight and wait for a sliver of an opportunity to land the winning strike.
We traded blow for blow until I lost track of time and my body was slick with sweat. A group of people had gathered outside the door to watch, but my focus was on my opponent. He’d beaten me in our last full-on sparring session, and I was determined to win this one.
My Mori fluttered excitedly, telling me Beth was nearby. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of long blonde hair, and I shifted my gaze to her for one brief moment.
It was all the opening Nikolas needed. In the next instant, I was on my back staring up at the ceiling with his heavy weight on top of me. Hoots and clapping came from the doorway as I conceded defeat and shoved my friend off me.
He rolled over onto his back and to his feet in one movement. Reaching down, he extended his hand to me. I took it and let him haul me up. We walked over to a set of metal shelves where he grabbed two towels, tossing one to me.
“Thanks,” I said, wiping sweat from my face and neck.
“You good now?”
“Yeah.”
He slung his towel over his shoulder and gave me a dry look. “You want to tell me what has you in such a pleasant mood?”
“I’m not in a mood,” I muttered, causing his brows to lift.
“I thought things were going better between you and Beth. You said she agreed to go to dinner with you.”
“They were, and she did agree.” I exhaled loudly in frustration. “But dinner didn’t happen. Nothing has happened since we got back. Except work.”
“Ah.” Nikolas nodded in understanding.
The day we’d returned from San Francisco, I’d told Beth we were going out that night. She’d looked surprised but shyly agreed. An hour before we were to leave for our date, a call had come into the command center from one of the other teams about a large lamprey demon infestation in the subway. Almost every warrior at the command center had gone down in the subway tunnels, dealing with the problem.
The next day, we’d gotten word from one of Sara’s demon contacts about a new gulak slave operation in Baldwin Park. That night, there was a rash of vampire attacks, and we’d spent the whole night answering calls and patrolling.
Yesterday, Nikolas and I had spent the better part of the day following up with informants and in conference calls with the Council about the Lilin situation. By the time I’d gotten free, it was too late for dinner. I was starting to think some higher power was determined to keep me from my date with Beth.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen her in the last three days. She’d worked alongside me on every job, but there was never time for personal talk. At home, there was always someone around, making it impossible to get her alone, even when we had some time to spare.
I didn’t know what was worse, the time I spent away from her or being close to her and not able to touch her and talk to her like I wanted to. The need for physical contact with her created a dull ache in my chest, and I caught myself fantasizing about kissing her at the most inconvenient times. If I didn’t get some alone time with her soon, I wasn’t going to be fit to be on duty.
“It’s been a busy few days,” Nikolas said as if he’d read my mind. “Things seem to be back to normal, and we can handle it if anything comes up tonight.”
“You sure?”
He smiled and thumped my shoulder. “Go spend some time with your mate.”