He looked at her, and whatever he saw in her face made his expression soften. "Okay. Okay, we can go. That dresser isn't going to restore itself."
She'd forgotten about it. "We still need to find the supplies I need. Do you think we can get them here?"
He chuckled. "Suddenly, you are not as eager to go back."
"No, I am." She let out a breath and resumed walking. "I will ask Nuri. I'm sure she knows where I can get the stuff."
He nodded. "I will have to come back here by myself. It's just that it looks less suspicious with you walking with me. A couple taking a stroll looks innocent enough."
He would have been right if this were anywhere else but this island.
"There's nothing to see anyway," she said. "We're not getting off this island through this harbor unless you can make us invisible and we can float onto one of the ships through the air."
Dimitri frowned. "That gives me an idea."
"What?"
"Gliders. We could use gliders to float through the air. The invisibility would be tougher to pull off."
"Well, well, well."
The voice came from behind them, but before she could understand what was going on, they were surrounded by four immortals.
Mattie's blood ran cold as she recognized the speaker as one of Tarik's gang.
With his shaved head and mean face, he wasn't easy to forget. He had been there that night and had watched Tarik attack her, looking amused.
He and the other three formed a loose semicircle around her and Dimitri that cut off any easy escape. Their expressions ranged from hostile to murderous, and they were looking at Mattie and Dimitri like rabid wolves.
"If it isn't the little human whore and her scientist boyfriend." The bald one took a step closer, his smile widening. "Fancy meeting you here."
Dimitri pulled her closer to him, and she could feel the tension in his body, the way his muscles had gone rigid, preparing for violence.
"We don't want any trouble," Dimitri said, his voice deceptively calm. "We're just heading back to the lab."
"Trouble?" The bald one laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Who said anything about trouble? We just want to talk."
"Then talk. But let us pass while you do that."
The immortals didn't move. If anything, they drew closer, tightening their formation and eliminating any gaps Mattie and Dimitri might have slipped through.
"See, here's the thing." The bald one's cold smile had faded, replaced by something even more menacing. "Our friend Tarik turned up dead this morning. Heart ripped right out of his chest. Nasty way to go."
Mattie felt her heart lurch. She should have known that they would come after her. She should have never agreed to come out of the lab.
"I heard about that," Dimitri said. "Terrible thing, really. Did he have enemies?"
The bald one cocked a brow. "We've been asking ourselves the same question. Who would do something like that? Who would have a reason to want Tarik dead?"
"I'm sure he had plenty of enemies." Dimitri didn't sound sure at all.
"He had enemies," the bald one agreed as he took another step forward. He was now close enough that Mattie could smell the sweat and aggression wafting from him. "But none of them would have dared to kill him. Tarik wasn't a lone wolf. He had us, and we don't let one of ours be murdered without retribution."
"Then maybe it was someone stronger and with a larger group of friends. Someone who didn't care about consequences."
"Or maybe..." The bald one's gaze shifted to Mattie, his eyes roaming over her in a way that made her skin crawl. "Maybe somebody didn't like Tarik sniffing around his little pet or touching her."
Mattie's throat constricted. She couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't do anything but stand frozen as the predator's attention fixed on her.
