“Ely,” he murmured in greeting, but his gaze remained on Shadow as he prowled closer.
“That’s my cue to leave.” Ely grinned. “See you later, Shadow.” She leaped to her feet, flashed to the far side of the room, set her swords in the rack, and dematerialized.
Nik stopped in front of her. Shadow looked up and scrunched her nose. “I’m too tired to move a limb. Ely is a hard taskmaster—eeep!” she shrieked as he scooped her into his arms. She grasped his neck, wrapping her legs around his hips. “Nik, I’m not only sweaty, while you smell amazing, I haven’t cleaned my weapons or put them away.”
“Later.” His mouth came down on hers as he dematerialized them. They reformed again, and his tongue slid into her mouth, his hands molding her butt, pressing her into his hard groin.
Eyes bright with desire, he lowered her to her feet and drew off her sports tank top. “I need you.”
“In the dressing room?” she teased.
“Dressing room, bedroom, any room is good enough for me. But I thought we’d start with a shower first.”
“Don’t you have work?”
“In about two hours. Plenty of time—”
A strident sound of a cell ringing erupted the sensual moment. Nik growled, glancing around in irritation. Then he crossed to her backpack she’d dumped on the black chest and frowned as he retrieved her old phone. “You haven’t unpacked?”
“It’s all old clothes. Thanks.” She accepted the device.
At the name flashing on the fissured screen, her heart skipped. Aba usually only made a handful of calls to see that she was okay. And she’d just spoken to him… In her panic, she had to swipe twice over the spidering cracks before she could connect. “Aba?”
“He’s hurt badly,” he said roughly.
“Nate?” she croaked, dread gripping her. She not only shared a blood connection with Nate, he’d also saved her. He was family. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. You need to come.” The call dropped.
Her gaze rushed to Nik’s, knowing he would have heard the conversation. “I have to go to him. Aba wouldn’t call if it weren’t life or death, and I’m scared. Tolvi must have gotten to him.”
Nik gave a terse nod. “On one condition, if I say we leave—whether we’ve seen Nate or not—we do.”
Shadow nodded. “I won’t be a moment.” She hurried to the bathroom, did a spot wash, and changed into skinny black jeans and a soft gray sleeveless top that dropped to her hips.
As she put on her boots, a piercing pain seared her skull. Ugh. She rubbed her temples.
Come, female. Come to me.
At the grating voice in her head, she gritted her teeth. When would this crap ever end? Always being hunted by assholes.
Mouth clamped tight, she pushed her cell into her back pocket and walked out. Nik had already changed into his patrolling gear and was staring out the window at the murky view as rain continued to fall. She didn’t say anything about Tolvi, didn’t want to worry him, not when she was desperately anxious about Nate.
Nik crossed to her. “The address?”
“It’s near the Bowery Mission. The garage there.”
* * *
In the familiar parts of the rougher end of the Bowery, Nik rematerialized in the drizzle on a quiet lane between two buildings. Dark clouds hung low, obscuring the evening sunlight.
He did a quick scan of the area, reassuring himself no demons—the kind he dealt with—were around. He grasped Shadow’s hand as they cut through rain and slow traffic to the garage a short distance away.
“We’ll go through the back,” she said, leading the way around the well-lit garage to a gloomy workshop. Three vehicles took up space in the cramped shop, two with their hoods popped. The harsh smell of oil, grease, melded metal, and cold cement hung heavy in the closed space.
“Aba and Nate have their apartment upstairs,” Shadow said, opening the door.
A passage separated the back room from the front business part. An old leather couch and two armchairs decked the place. A stack of car magazines littered the wooden coffee table.
