A natural beauty, but prickly as a cactus.
Carefully placing his palm on her cheek, he barely touched her.
That took the steam out of her hostility and replaced it with a blanket of confusion. Better. He liked her to be a little out of step at times, but he hated to see that haunted look in her eyes. “Sorry I crowded you. No harm done. Besides, you can’t hurt me.”
“What are you . . . bulletproof?”
“Maybe.”
“You might be bulletproof, but are youAlterantproof?” she tossed back.
Hearing her sassy confidence back in place gave him the opening to spin her off balance again. “The only thing in question is whether I’m Evalle proof.”
Her lips parted and curiosity skittered through her eyes before she clamped her lips together.
Smiling right now would probably get him knocked back over the tracks.
He didn’t care. He grinned.
She gritted her teeth then crossed her arms, tapping her foot. Thoughts pummeled her face, shifting her eyes with something she finally accepted with a shrug. “I get it. You’re being nice to me so I’ll help you find that woman.”
His throat muscles tightened against a growl of irritation. Hehadused that reason to convince her he needed her help. He did have to find the Ashaninka witch doctor who’d killed his father and still possessed both Storm’s and his father’s souls. His ability to determine if someone was lying or not originated with his Ashaninka roots.
The counter side of that gift was incapacitating pain that would stroke through his whole body ifhetold a lie.
He’d learned to be clever about his words when stuck between telling the truth and withholding information, such as a few days ago when he’d had to report to Sen about Evalle while they’d hunted the Kujoo . . . and this morning when she’d asked about her aura.
Shading the truth still hurt, but he could hide those aches. Blatantly lying brought on excruciating pain.
She looked up and down the dimly lit tunnel. “I’ve got to get rolling. Oh, crap!” She grabbed her head.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing . . . give me a minute.” She gasped short breaths for a few seconds, then slowly lowered her arms. “I should have thought about how bad this would be in Atlanta.”
“What happened to you?”
She rubbed her neck. “Telepathy. Tzader probably has everyone trying to reach me. I had my mental shields up even in South America, but Trey just tried. He’s like a mega-powerful telepath to begin with and just had his power ramped up so high his call to me was like having a loudspeaker shouting next to my ear. Even with my shields beefed up to where I won’t hear anyone else, Trey’s voice feels like the constant thump of a bass drum.”
“Did he realize you were here?”
She shook her head, then stopped with a grunt of pain. “I don’t think so. Can you track Tristan?”
“I can now.” The residue from that Alterant had been stinking up Storm’s nasal passages since they’d landed here. He pointed to his right in the direction of the train that had just passed them and started walking. “We’re going to have to get through this tunnel quickly—between trains.”
Evalle fell into step with him, quiet at first and staring ahead. She finally asked, “I said I’d help you and I will. What’s the deal with finding that woman?”
That woman. Storm enjoyed a moment over her little bout of jealousy. It soothed his own from earlier with Tristan. “She’s not a problem right now. I’ve got some time until I need to hunt for her.”
He expected Evalle to press him over not answering her question, but she trudged along with her own thoughts while he tracked. Hehadtold Evalle the truth about seeing her in a vision with the Ashaninka woman, but he hadn’t explained why he needed Evalle’s help to locate her.
In his vision, the Ashaninka witch doctor intended to kill Evalle.
Not as long as there was breath in his body.
Storm just couldn’t pinpoint when to expect the witch doctor because his visions had no time element. Sometimes a vision would be realized within hours and other times it could take weeks or months.
When he’d had the latest vision just hours before Evalle had been on the way to meet with the Tribunal, Storm had come up with the only way she’d permit him to use his majik on her. He’d had to convince her thatheneededherhelp or Evalle wouldn’t have agreed to let him use majik for her benefit.
