I froze as his warm breath fanned across my cheek, his kiss growing bolder. My fingers dug into his jacket in an effort to remain upright as the train came to a stop.
The doors opened and I felt movement to my side as someone boarded the train, but this man’s mouth had me spellbound, blocking out everything and everyone around me except for him.
His head lifted and determination filled his eyes, before they softened. “Don’t worry, pet. You will see me soon enough.”
Then he shoved me hard, throwing me out of the train car. I landed on my side as the doors shut.
I saw him through the car windows, knife in his hand, facing two men. As the train pulled away, they rushed him, and the way he defended himself led me to believe he could hold his own.
Something poked the top of my ass cheek. I reached back and pulled out a six-inch-long leather case with a silver handle sticking out the top. I pulled it free, gasping at the sleek silver blade. There was no doubt it was designed for killing supernatural creatures. The question was, why had he really given it to me?
CHAPTER 11
LEA
I crouched in the second floor window of the broken-down hotel. This was where we’d met Sean, where he’d done his damnedest to convince Rachel I was the bad guy and he could be trusted. Turned out he was wrong, a mistake that had cost him his life.
Rachel was below me, pacing from one end of the blown-out room to the other. She hadn’t seen me yet, and I’d decided to watch her to see if anyone followed her into the abandoned hotel.
Her hands went to her lower back, paused, then fluttered up to her lips.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered, never slowing her steps.
Interesting. An image of Ivan kissing her sent a shot of pure adrenaline through my system that shocked the shit out of me. There was no way she would have let him kiss her. But then, where was he? I’d told him to watch over her.
I waited another full minute. Though I told myself it was to make sure we were safe, the real reason was that I was pissed at Ivan for being missing.
And more pissed at the thought of him kissing Rachel. I drew in a slow breath. No, I was not going there. Ivan was a werewolf—lecherous, dangerous and unpredictable. I had no reason to be surprised he hadn’t followed through with my command.
I pushed off the window ledge and dropped to the floor, deliberately landing on a stack of wood. It clattered away from me and Rachel spun around, whipping out a six-inch silver stake. I couldn’t help my eyes from widening. There was no way Ivan had given her that.
“Good reflexes.”
The stake was a replica of mine, right down to the length of the handle. A Cazador’s weapon. Even more interesting. I didn’t ask her about it, I didn’t need to. There were very few people who would have access to silver stakes.
I walked toward her as she tucked the stake away. “Who kissed you?” The question popped out of me before I thought better of it.
Her mouth dropped open, but she snapped it shut so fast her teeth clicked. Her face flamed an interesting shade of pink visible to me even in the dim light. “No one.”
A lie so thick it all but hung in the air between us. “Where’s Ivan?”
“He followed my contact.” She seemed to pull herself together. “How is he going to find us?”
I shrugged and Rachel narrowed her eyes. A few beats of silence passed between us, and then she smiled a slow-growing grin I didn’t like.
“Oh my God. You think Ivan kissed me? Girl, he is so not my type. Irritating as hell is about all he is to me.”
My jaw ticked, but I struggled to keep eye contact with her. I finally put a hand to my forehead. “Madre de Dios, what wrong with me? Hundreds of years and I’ve never been affected like this.”
“Not even with Calvin?” Ever the journalist, she asked the one question that cut to the heart of it.
“No. Not even with him. That was...slow.” I shook my head, remembering all too vividly the scent I’d picked up right before the restaurant had blown up. Time to change the subject, and I’d have to do it rapidly to avoid the girl talk we were falling into. “I don’t think Calvin is dead. I caught wind of him and then it disappeared just as quickly right before I ran into trouble.”
Rachel crossed her arms, her blue eyes hard as ice in the dead of winter. “What kind of trouble?”
“The usual. Explosions, demon dogs, and monstrous flames. No way out.”
She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. “If he’s a vamp, would he really turn on you?”
I closed my eyes and searched my heart well and truly for the first time, letting myself see Calvin for all his flaws as well as his strengths. “He will hate me for not killing him, with the passion only a true zealot can have. So, yes. He could turn on us.” I opened my eyes and let out a long breath. “He knows my ways, knows how I do things. Calvin would be the perfect vampire for them to set on us.”