Concern creased Tristan’s brow. “I’ll talk to Charlotte. They were given permission to interview you and do tests, but nothing that would harm you.”
“That won’t be necessary. It will not happen again.” There was a hardness in Hamid’s voice that hadn’t been there a minute ago, but his eyes didn’t reflect his tone when they met mine. “I’m sorry, but I have to take this call. It shouldn’t take more than an hour.”
I gave a small nod. “No need to apologize. But if you really want to make it up to me, you can let me hit Bastien again.”
Tristan laughed. “Never pick a fight with a warlock, Jordan.”
Hamid shot me a smug look, and I resisted the childish urge to give him the finger. Just because we had this temporary truce while we were stuck together, didn’t mean either of us was going to change our ways.
We accompanied Tristan to his office, where I tried to occupy myself with browsing the Internet on my phone while Hamid and Tristan had their conference call. I wouldn’t have minded if the call had been interesting, but it was ninety minutes of planning where each of the Council’s investigative teams would go next. I was half asleep in my chair by the time the call finally ended.
It was only ten o’clock when we left Tristan’s office, but my body felt like it had been up for days. Being poked and prodded with magic for hours had that effect on you.
“It’s been a long day,” Hamid said when he caught me stifling another yawn. “We should try to get some sleep.”
“Okay.” I started to tell him good night, but the words died on my tongue as I realized we had a new problem. We were going to have to sleep in the same room until Bastien’s spell wore off. Hamid’s expression said he’d already thought of it and had been waiting for me to catch up.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he said before I had time to work myself up over it. “We can go to your room if you prefer. It doesn’t matter to me.”
The thought of us alone in my room made my stomach dip. Something about it felt far too cozy for my comfort, and the last thing we needed was intimacy at a time like this.
“Your room is probably bigger, and it’ll be more comfortable for you,” I said. “I just need to grab something from mine to sleep in.”
Hamid standing just outside my bathroom doorway while I brushed my teeth for bed was definitely one of the more surreal moments of my life. He looked larger than life when I came out of the bathroom, and I wore a rueful smile as I dug through my sleepwear drawer for a soft T-shirt and matching shorts. There’d been a time not so long ago when being alone in a bedroom with the big warrior was my number one fantasy. That hadn’t exactly turned out liked I’d imagined it.
We were both lost in our thoughts during the walk to Hamid’s room on the second floor of the south wing. I changed into my sleep clothes while his back was turned, and then I helped him lay out blankets and a pillow on the floor. I felt guilty when I climbed into his king bed and heard him stretch out on his makeshift one, but every time I’d offered to take the floor, he’d refused to hear of it.
I turned off the lamp, sending the room into darkness, and lay back on the bed. Moving around until I found a comfortable position, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. But just like last night, it was impossible to turn off my mind. It didn’t help that Hamid’s scent lingered on the pillow or that I could hear his soft breathing a few feet away.
I tried not to disturb him whenever I shifted positions, because one of us might as well get some rest. At one point, I thought about going for another run since that had helped last night. Then I remembered I wouldn’t be going anywhere without him, and I let out a quiet sigh.
“Can’t sleep?” His voice startled me because I’d assumed he was asleep.
“Sorry. I’ll try to stop moving around.”
“Do you always have trouble sleeping?” he asked.
I stared at the ceiling. “Sometimes. I guess I’m still a bit wound up from today.”
I didn’t tell him that sometimes when I couldn’t sleep, I liked to ride my bike through the city, or I found an all-night club and a partner to dance my cares away. On nights I patrolled or was out on a job, I had no problem falling asleep when I got home.
“Would you like to go for a run?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.
Sitting up, I flipped on the lamp and blinked as light filled the room. My eyes strayed to the floor, and I stared at Hamid lying shirtless on top of the blankets. Sweet baby Jesus. He’d left on a pair of sweats, but the sight of his muscled shoulders and chest and ripped abs was enough to make me forget everything else.
Hamid’s eyes met mine, and I looked away, but not before I saw the hint of a smile on his lips. I waited for him to stand up and pull on a T-shirt before it felt safe to glance at him.
“I’ll have to get some running clothes from my room,” I told him, hoping he wouldn’t think it was too much of a bother and change his mind.
He sat on the bed to pull on a pair of Nike runners. “You might as well grab enough clothes for the next day or two so you don’t have to keep going up there to change.”
He said it so offhandedly, but nothing about this felt casual to me. First, we had to sleep in the same room, and now, I would be bringing my things over here. For two people trying not to strengthen a bond, we were moving into dangerous waters.
It didn’t take long to get the stuff I needed from my room and drop it off in his. I changed into my workout clothes, and we left the building by the main door, jogging across the lawn to the lake road.
As we neared the woods, I glanced to my right and saw lights on in the arena. The team must be in there going over their findings from today. Or planning new ways to torture us tomorrow, I thought with a shiver.
I put the team and their tests out of my mind when we entered the woods. Hamid didn’t try to talk to me, which suited me fine, and we ran in companionable silence. At the lake, we turned without stopping and headed back to the stronghold.
By the end of our fourth round-trip, I felt pleasantly tired and a sheen of sweat coated my body. “I think I’ll be able to sleep now,” I told Hamid when he looked at me to see if I wanted to go again.
He nodded, and we went inside. We made a detour to the dining hall for bottles of water before we climbed the stairs to his room.
Back inside his room, I discovered another problem when I grabbed my bag and made it a few feet in the direction of the bathroom before I could go no farther. I stood in the middle of the room, frustration eating at me.
“I’ll stand outside the door while you shower,” Hamid said from right behind me. Startled, I looked over my shoulder at him. How could someone his size move so quietly? Or maybe I had been too caught up in my pity party to notice.
We took turns showering while the other person stood near the bathroom door. It was a good thing the bathroom wasn’t much larger, or we would have had to both be in there at the same time. As curious as I was to know if Hamid’s lower half was as impressive as his upper half, being around each other without clothes was asking for trouble.
Lying in bed a little while later, I listened to Hamid settle down on the floor. After he’d stopped moving, I spoke into the darkness. “Thank you for that.”
“Do you think you can sleep now?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.” There was a long moment of silence then, “Sleep well.”
* * *
“Thank God that is over, at least for today,” I said as Hamid and I walked away from the arena after our second day of tests. I was starting to forget what it was like to not be constantly surrounded by magic, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
He slowed his stride to match mine. “You handled it better today.”
“I’m a great actress. I was one spell away from losing it.” I gave him a sideways look. “I don’t know how you always look so calm in there. I still feel like I have bugs crawling all over me from that last one.”
“I’ve had more exposure to magic because of my work with the Council. And I am older and stronger than you.”
I scoffed lightly. “So you keep reminding me.”
He smiled, something he’d started to do more often since we’d gotten to Westhorne. It was a good look on him. Based on the dreamy expressions from the two girls we passed, I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Not that I cared if someone else found him attractive. The flare of anger from my Mori told me it didn’t share my feelings.
My steps faltered when I saw we were headed to the main building. Except for my runs, I’d spent most of my time inside since we’d arrived, and I wasn’t looking forward to another long evening and night of the same. I longed to go for a long ride on my Ducati, but I couldn’t even do that until Bastien’s spell wore off.
Hamid slowed with me. “Is something wrong?”
“Do you mind if we stay out here for a little while? I’m not used to being cooped up inside this much.”
“I could use some fresh air myself,” he admitted readily. “I haven’t seen much of Westhorne since I arrived. Would you care to show me around?”
I smiled gratefully. “Yes, but I warn you there’s not a whole lot to see.”
We took our time walking around the grounds, and I explained what each of the outbuildings was. He was curious when I pointed out the menagerie, so we went inside. All the cages were empty, but we found Sahir cutting up what looked like half a cow for the hellhounds’ dinner. He looked after Hugo and Woolf, as well as Sara’s cat and imps, whenever she was away from home. We talked to him as he worked then helped him load plastic bins of beef into his truck to take to the lake.
After that, Hamid and I walked to the river, where I told him about the night Sara and I had jumped into the water to escape vampires during the attack on Westhorne.
“The water was freezing, and I would have died if not for Sara. She used her magic to keep us warm and afloat, and she brought us to this exact spot.” I pointed to the embankment below us. “And right there is where two kelpies jumped out of the water to kill the vampires that had us cornered.”
Hamid’s eyebrows shot up, and I laughed. “I’m not lying. You won’t believe some of the stuff I’ve seen just being around Sara.”
He stared thoughtfully at the rushing water. “I heard about the attack, but I didn’t realize you were here for it.”
“Sara and I were smack in the middle of it. All of the trainees were…” My smile faded as the memories of that night played in my head. Standing here where it had all gone down made the images more vivid and the pain more intense.
“What is it?”
“Two of my friends were killed that night. We were too late to save them, and we watched Olivia die.” I breathed in deeply and pushed the grief down. “But Sara and I got the vampire that killed her and Mark.”