He stilled.
She rolled her eyes.As if.“I liked him, went on a date, but he was only after my blood.”
His eyes narrowed.
Nia gulped more of her hot brew and coughed again at the acrid taste. Dammit.She gently massaged her sore throat with one hand, echoes of her nightmare—the chokehold, fangs sinking in her neck—rearing up once more. And the blaze?—
Christ.Her breath stuttered. She didn’t want to think ofthatagain; she’d probably lose her mind. Needing a distraction, she focused on the trailing mist beyond the window. “Where are we?”
He circled the table and stopped several feet away as if she had the cooties or something. “At an abbey in the Apuseni Mountains, Romania.”
“What?”she yelled. Her hand shook so hard, she almost dropped the mug. She left it on the table. “You brought me halfway across the world to some unknown place in the mountains?”
“Calm down, female?—”
“Don’t youfemaleme. My name’s Nia!”God!She glowered upward.
Yeah, no help from uptherewhen one of His angels was attached to her backside. Worse, if Lore had gone to such lengths to keep her safe, just how bad was her situation?
Was Kas truly that dangerous?
Feeling as if all the air had escaped from the kitchen, Nia stumbled for the door, jerked it open, and rushed outside into the brisk morning, gulping in lungfuls of icy air.
You couldn’t have known he was. Not when he pretended to be one of those quiet Otiums who dwelled on Earth.
Right. A snow-laden path snaked out in front of her. Nia followed it to the front of the abbey, into a huge courtyard with a lone occupant.
A soaring, almost leafless oak tree stood to one side, a solitary custodian watching over all. A wooden bench, worn and warped by the weather and the passage of time, sat beneath the tree. On her right, a discolored stone balustrade meandered and disappeared past the building.
Nia exhaled wearily, feeling a lot like the forlorn oak tree.Alone…always alone.Even as a child. And Nan… She blew out a tired breath. Nan likely wouldn’t care much if she disappeared.
God, how had her mundane life turned into this rollercoaster?
Just because she dared to take a chance, wanted what her best friend had…except she chose the worst of the species. Freakin’ Kas!
She pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples and glanced back at the building Lore had hauled her to. Her gaze went up, up, and up…
Holy crapballs!The gloomy granite abbey loomed like the lord and master of this grim mountain. Its spires and dome emerged like phantoms from the low-hanging fog. Drifting tendrils of mist trailed closer, reaching for her with spindly hands?—
Jeez, she shivered. She didn’t need to scare herself senseless. Kas already did an excellent job of that.
The angel appeared around the corner of the building, stopping under the naked tree.
No matter his handsome face, couldn’t whoever was in charge have assigned her someone with a bit more personality? It might have made the lack of knowledge more palatable. Just her luck!
Nia fished out her cell from her jacket pocket, and her belly clenched. A missed call from Zayn. She hit callback.
He answered after two rings. “Nia, are you all right?”
“Yes-yes, I’m fine. What happened?”
“I called last night.”
“No signal.” She shot the angel a stony glare. Lore must have silenced her cell.
He merely stared at her, arms folded over his chest. Like that intimidating pose would make her tread carefully.
“Okay, as long as you’re fine. I gotta go. Call if you need me. I’m here, on your street, waiting for the sewer stain to show. Don’t worry about anything. We’ll get the bastard. The angel will keep you safe.” He rang off.
