“Hey.” Ely stood aside and smiled as her friend hit the bottom step. But she appeared impossibly pale beneath her usual honeyed tone skin. “Echo?” Ely grasped her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Her friend blinked, her otherworldly bi-colored eyes—one resembling a misty gray lake and the other like embers—refocusing on her.
“I’m not sure.” Her smile wavered. She dragged her fingers through her short, spiky hair, disheveling it more than usual. “I have these images of leaping flames, like they would consume me. It felt so real…” She exhaled deeply, then shook her head as if clearing it. “Maybe they’re just remnants of a bad dream. Have you seen Aethan?”
“I’m here,me’morae,” Aethan said from behind Ely. Hastily, she stepped aside. He looped his hands around Echo’s waist and brushed a kiss on her crown. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled into his chest, seeming to shrug off what she told Ely. “I’m just glad you’re here. Oh—” She eased back. “Another rune awakened. Look.” She dragged the wide neck of her navy sweater down, revealing the slightly swollen, reddish tattoo-like symbol on the upper curve of her left breast near her spidering bullet scar. A reminder of when she was shot two years ago by a deranged human who wanted her.
Ely peered at the new glyph. Little spirals radiated out of a small circle, almost like a stylized eye.
“What happened?” Aethan demanded.
“I was working with Lore earlier in the evening, going through the angelic runes when it spun out of the scroll and settled in me. Just like this one did.” She held out her palm imprinted with the rune she’d received last year. It had darkened to a deeper tan, almost like a henna print. “Lore said this new one is the Eye of Perception.”
A tic working his jaw, Aethan gently ran a finger over the rune on her chest. “Does it hurt?”
“No, not so much now.” She smoothed her top back in place. “But it felt like I’d been tasered when it happened.”
His mouth tightened. No, he didn’t like his mate hurting, but more, Ely sensed his disquiet. Echo wasn’t only a descendant of Zarias, the leader of the Watchers, but also the Healer of the Veils. Her ability to mend tears formed in the mystical shrouds protecting a realm from supernatural evil made her a target for demons—until they clashed with her mate, who could literally bring down worlds with his power.
“As long as it aids you,” he murmured, kissing her brow. “Whatever happens, I’m right here with you,me’morae. Always.”
Feeling like a third wheel, Ely left them and headed up the stairs. While she might have given up on finding her destined mate, a deeper part of her longed for that connection, that closeness she witnessed between the mated couples at the castle.
Maybe she should accept Tagg’s coffee invitation? But instead of Tagg’s face, another with a smirk and topaz eyes crashed into her mind.Vae!She must have hit her head darn hard when her face went through the building wall to even think ofhim—
Oh crap! Her breath caught as the wall incident came tumbling back, remembering her body sliding through bricks and mortar.
Had she dreamed it? She rubbed her tired eyes, everything felt so off-kilter.
Well, only one way to find out.
Eyes narrowed, concentrating with everything in her, she pulled back her fist and punched the stairwell stone wall—
Bone crunched. Pain erupted.“Ow, ow!”She spun away and bent over, eyes shut, hand clutched to her chest, gasping for air at the agony rolling through her…
When she could breathe again as her self-healing started, she groaned at the sight of her damaged hand. Her fingers limp, blood seeping from her smashed knuckles. So much for another so-calledabilityawakening.
Gaia had gifted her warriors with new powers or enhanced their own when they first pledged to become her Guardians. But hers, obviously, was still somewhere in the ether, asleep.
Sighing, she made her way to her room as her hand mended and her skin smoothed. At least the broken bones and pain took her mind off—
Ugh! Now that impossible demon was back in her thoughts!
Growling, Ely flexed her hand as she shut the door to her bedroom. Hopefully, a hot shower would bring her back to the sane person she usually was…
CHAPTER5
In the earlyparts of the morning, Nate headed for the garage because hanging in the bar and staring at his drink wasn’t going to stop the looming meet with Azgor.
He rounded to the back of the building and opened the door next to the enormous roll-up one, both leading into the massive workshop. The sharp smell of car oil and cold cement enclosed him as he bypassed the office on his left, with the vehicles needing work on his right, and opened the door into the private sector of the building.
In the dimly lit living room, he dropped down on the old couch. Head tipped back, he shut his eyes. But sleep remained a distant memory despite his exhaustion—nothing new there, either. And nothing moved inside his usually dead self, either, except for that brief interlude when he held thelaikaand felt as if he’d been transported to a chimera of peace—
No! He glared at the ceiling. He was a corpse waiting to happen, his future set in stone. Whatever this draw was, he shut it out.
“Nate?” Aba called out, his soft footsteps sounding on the side stairs.
