Remembering what she thought she’d seen, Casey climbed into the car, turned down the stereo and hit the automatic door locks, just in case.
Okay, think. She’d take him for help, then call the authorities to come back and look for the woman. Figuring that was as good a plan as any, she glanced at the man to her right and started the ignition. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
His hand snaked out so fast, she barely tracked it. It closed around her wrist with stunning force for someone who looked to be on his deathbed. His index finger pressed against her pulse point. “No hospital. Rest.” The fight slipped from his words, and in his heavily accented voice she sensed something…familiar. Dark eyes focused in on hers until all she saw were pools of obsidian, black as night. Warmth rushed through her limbs until every muscle in her body relaxed. “All I need is rest. Then I promise I’ll leave you. I won’t hurt you.”
It was a strange comment coming from a man who couldn’t even keep his head up. The safest thing to do would be to head straight for the hospital or police station or simply run back inside the club, where she knew Nick was sitting.
But she didn’t. Instead, she nodded slowly, unable to stop herself. A strange fogginess filled her head, one she tried to shake off but couldn’t. As she put the car in gear, pulled out of the parking lot and attempted to turn toward the hospital, a tingling vibrated across her lower back. The car made a right-hand turn onto Old Cornell Road almost as if it had a mind of its own, heading for her house at the lake.
“Thank you, meli,” he whispered as he released her arm and closed his eyes. “This will be over soon. I promise.”
Nick Blades kicked the apartment door closed and tossed the keys to his Harley onto the small card table in the middle of the empty living room. He peeled off his leather jacket and threw that over the keys, then pulled out the desk chair and sat, cheap vinyl creaking beneath the weight of his body as he did.
Something didn’t jell.
He flipped open his laptop—the only expensive thing in the shabby apartment he kept here in Silver Hills—and waited for the machine to boot. As Windows blinked onto the screen, he chewed on the inside of his lip and ran his hand over the stubble on his chin.
He’d recognized the blonde in the corner of the club the moment he’d walked in. No telling how long she’d been there, but the way she’d been staring at Casey set his instincts on alert. What in hell was an Argolean doing in that club, trying to pass herself off as a human?
He rolled his finger over the keyboard and called up his instant messaging. He hoped Orpheus was on so he could get some of these damn questions answered.
Sure enough, the one link he had in Argolea was there.
Computer nerd.
He started typing.
Niko: Need answers. Can you chat?
Orpheus: What up, my man? Been a while. How’re those human women treating you?
Nick frowned as his fingers flew over the keys.
Niko: Like a stallion. Why the fuck do you think I stay here?
A laughing smiley icon rolled across the screen.
Orpheus: You are the biggest frickin’ liar I ever met. And I am jealous as sin. What do you need?
Niko: What rumblings have you heard from the Council?
The cursor blinked, and Nick leaned back in his chair, one hand on the armrest as he waited to see if Orpheus would answer. The guy was the most techno-savvy person—mortal or god—Nick had ever met. He gobbled up human technology like a child in a candy store and morphed it with what his race was doing, which was the only reason Nick could chat with him like this. If there was a chance Orpheus thought their conversation was compromised, he wouldn’t risk answering.
Orpheus: What makes you ask?
Niko: Curiosity.
Orpheus: You know what humans say happened to the curious cat.
Niko: I’ve already been dead once. Remember? I’ll take my chances.
Orpheus: Fine, wiseass. But you didn’t get this from me.
Niko: I never do.
Orpheus’s uncle was one of twelve Council members who advised the king. In actuality, the Council defied the king more often than not, and it was no big secret they were itching for a shift in power. Because of that, Orpheus had the skinny on everything that went down in the Argolean kingdom—good and bad. And he was Nick’s one link to something he’d turned his back on years before.
The cursor blinked and then started moving.
Orpheus: The king is dying. Some say he’ll be dead before the next full moon.
Niko: The Council must be overjoyed.
Orpheus: They’re not. In fact, they’re mad as hell. Isadora is scheduled to marry the guardian Theron by week’s end. It was announced only days ago.