Night Unbound(49)

“He still hurls daggers at you whenever you surprise him.”
“Then Seth or David.”
Hell no. “Stop fussing over me,” Lisette griped and sheathed her shoto swords. “I’m a grown woman and can take care of myself.”
Krysta raised her eyebrows. “I know that tone,” she said with a wry smile. “It’s the my brothers are treating me like a baby and driving me crazy tone. Sean used to wear my last nerve sometimes, worrying over me.”
Jenna smiled. “Sons do the same thing. John still worries over me.” She looked up at Richart. “You know, women are just as tough as men.”
“I’m aware of that,” her husband retorted.
“And yet I noticed you aren’t urging Étienne to let you teleport him home or take him to a healer, and he looks as bad as Lisette.”
Girl power! Lisette thought.
Richart and Étienne both held up their hands, unwilling to debate the physical equality of the sexes.#p#分页标题#e#
“Fine,” Richart said. “Just call Tracy when you get home and let her know you arrived safely.”
“I will,” Lisette agreed, happy to be able to head home without them. “Will you catch Seth up on what happened?” Avoiding the elder felt wrong, but he had come very close to questioning her earlier. She didn’t want to risk it again.
Or risk him smelling Zach on her after she had rubbed up against him earlier.
“Of course,” Étienne said. “We’re heading over there later anyway.”
“Thank you.” Lisette forced herself not to limp as she crossed to her bike. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she straddled the Busa and donned her helmet.
Krysta and Jenna returned to the subject of powerful women and stubborn men.
Starting the engine, Lisette tossed them all a wave and began the long ride home.

Wings tucked away, Zach listened to the night creatures sing their songs as he waited for Lisette to return. He had taken a chance and made himself at home. Mostly. Instead of perching on the roof, he sat on the front steps. His ass on the porch, he shifted his feet on one of the planks two or three steps below and rested his elbows on his knees.
It felt odd. Almost as if he were a guest. A welcome guest.
Frankly, he would feel much more comfortable pulling gargoyle duty, but thought Lisette might object if she caught him doing it again.
His lips quirked as he recalled the fury on her face when she had stepped outside David’s sprawling home earlier, looked up, and seen him occupying his usual spot on the roof. It had been so hard not to laugh when she had pointed that accusatory finger at him and jerked her thumb over her shoulder, telling him to get the hell out of there.
She made him feel so much that was new to him.
All these millennia of existing, and he hadn’t really begun to live until he had laid eyes on Lisette d’Alençon.
The faint rumble of a motorcycle reached his ears.
His smile widened. (He’d been smiling more, too, since he’d encountered her.)
Sitting straighter, he rubbed his palms against the soft leather covering his knees.
Would she let him kiss her again? Touch her?
His stomach fluttered with anticipation, then sank to the ground when she turned onto the long drive leading to him and he caught the scent of her blood. His smile vanished.
Her motorcycle’s headlight flickered in and out of sight, brightening the brush and trees she passed. The engine slowed as she came around a bend and showered him with light.
Squinting, Zach threw up a hand to shield his eyes and rose. Down the steps he strode, his concern growing with each pace.
She parked the bike and removed her helmet. Her clothes were saturated. He had seen them so before, but usually it was with vampire blood. Nearly all of that which painted her now was her own.
“Lisette?”
She offered him a tired smile, swung her right leg over the back of the bike, and dismounted, her movements stiff. “I needed that tonight.”
“Needed what?” It looked as if someone had slashed her throat.
“To find you here waiting for me when I got home.” Her smile broadened the slightest bit. “And not on the roof.”
Bending, he whisked her up into his arms.
She sighed. “Thank you. I wasn’t looking forward to climbing those steps.”
His heart skipped a beat when she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling close. “What happened?”
“We came up against some of the new irritatingly proficient vampires.”
“We, meaning . . . ?” Hollow thuds echoed in the night as he climbed the steps and crossed to the front door.
“Étienne, Krysta, and I.” Reaching down, she came up with some keys, unlocked the door, and turned the knob. “Well, Étienne and Krysta did. Then Étienne summoned me to help them.”