“Aren’t you going to do anything?” Kataya growled.
“Why? He made me no promises—he can do whatever he wants. ButIcan leave.”
“No, you can't,” Brenna protested. “It’s your show, Evie.”
“It’s midnight, and I really don’t care—” She swallowed hard, unable to conceal her devastation.
“Oh, hell.” Kataya took hold of her arm. Her whiskey-colored eyes darkened with sympathy and ire. “You should have slept with David. At least you’d be spared this. Jesus, Eve, why did you have to fall for him, too?”
“Eve, you okay?” Eric appeared at her side from out of nowhere. Hazel eyes dark with fury, he glared at Reynner.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked, keeping her smile bright, even when she felt the cracks spreading through her protective shields. She didn’t want their sympathy, or she’d break down in front of everyone. She just wanted to be alone to lick her wounds. But that wasn’t going to happen.
Taking a deep breath, Eve weighed her options. Brenna was right. This was her show. She’d invested her life in this, and she had her pride…if she could just find the damn thing. Yep, right there on the floor along with her self-esteem. She dusted it off and hauled it back on.
She’d see this show to its bitter end, even if it killed her.
But when Reynner walked out of the gallery with that woman without a backward glance, the brittle shell she’d erected splintered.
***
Reynner paced the ground floor foyer and all he could see was the devastation in Eve’s eyes when Inanna had tried to claim him like some damn possession. And that, he refused to tolerate.
He ground to a halt in front of Inanna. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Come on, lover, you’re so tense. Give over. Come back with me, and I’ll show you a pleasurable way to ease all that stress.”
Inanna reached for him. Reynner stepped back. He’d spent the entire evening watching other males touch his mate every time they spoke to her, and it had pushed him to the end of his endurance. Then there was that bloody artist, who seemed determined to breathe the same air Eve did. The one she’d threatened to leave him for. He’d tolerated it all because he knew how important this night was to her. And she worked damn hard for it.
“Why are you here?” he reiterated.
A casual shrug. “I enjoy art shows.”
“At the very same gallery I happen to be at?”
Her eyes became brown granite. “Who is she? The slut I smell on you? Get rid of her. You won't like what will happen if she gets in the way of me and mine.”
At her threat to Eve, Reynner grabbed her by the throat and shoved her against the wall. “You dare threaten me?”
Inanna coughed and tried to tug free of his death-like grip. Despite her hold over him, her physical strength didn’t compare to his. Her power flared. The blast hit Reynner hard. He couldn’t breathe, the mark on his chest hurt like someone torching his insides. His wings surged against his shielding, it took everything in him to stop them bursting free.
Urias, he was so tired of her shit. He just wanted her to leave him the hell alone.
“It’s a promise,” she gasped in defiance. “If you don’t get rid of her.”
“Let’s get one thing clear. Come after me like this again, and I won't care if it means my death. I will take you with me from this life.” And binding him to her guaranteed that. At least Eve would be safe then.
Reynner shoved away from her.
She hissed her anger, but beneath it a tinge of wariness flickered. The burn inside his chest subsided a little.
“You’ll pay dearly for this!”
He didn’t care what she did. He just wanted her gone so he could go get Eve, make sure she was all right.
When he said nothing, just stared at her, Inanna screamed and flashed from the foyer.
***
