“Oh, my God! Seriously?”
Eclipse laughed. “Personally, I never did encounter one.”
“But they’re real.”
“As real as vampires and angels, but long since extinct.”
“Wow. That’s… Wow.”
By the time they reached Grand Junction, Eclipse was in desperate need of stretching his legs. While he loved his car, the Bugatti wasn’t the most comfortable when it came to long-distance travels. However, it had worked to shave a full hour off the one-way trip, and he intended to do the same with the return. Which gave them almost seven full hours of night to unearth whatever secrets Amber might’ve left behind here.
“Barin said she rented an apartment over the garage,” Orianna mentioned as they exited the vehicle. “The man who owns the house said he’d leave the key under the mat. It’s vacant right now.”
Eclipse kept his eyes peeled as they made their way up the narrow wooden stairs to the door on the second floor. Orianna flipped up the rug to reveal a shiny brass key, as promised. While Orianna shoved it in the lock, he took the opportunity to scan the area for souls. When he came up with nothing, not even in the adjacent house, Eclipse breathed a little easier.
“How long did she stay here?”
“Nearly four months. Which is possibly a record for her,” Orianna said as she pushed open the door and scanned the dark interior before stepping inside.
Eclipse flipped on a light and followed her in, closing and locking the door behind him.
“No one’s staying here right now, but he said he’s had a couple of tenants since she left. He also said there’s a storage closet where he keeps anything that’s left behind. Thought maybe I’d get lucky.”
“Lead the way.”
He was merely along for the ride, showing his female he was willing to do whatever it took to bring her closure where her sister was concerned. She’d spent so much time with Miklós, searching the message boards and tracking down virtual leads in between helping with the search for Asmia, Eclipse figured she needed this. While he sensed she’d come to accept her sister was dead, he knew how powerful hope could be. And until they located her body, he couldn’t very well blame her for wanting to keep searching.
“This is a nice place. I wonder how Amber found it.”
Eclipse scanned the interior. White walls, beige carpet, decent furniture. It was a vast improvement from the apartment they’d visited previously, that was for sure.
After they’d given the living room a quick once-over, he followed Orianna down a narrow hall. She flipped on more lights as she went. Coat closet, bedroom, bathroom, another small room with a desk, which he assumed was meant to be an office. Felt more like a closet to him, but hey, they were used to space.
Orianna pointed toward a door in the room. “I’m guessing that’s where he stores the stuff.”
Using another key, Orianna unlocked the knob and pulled open the door. Well, that explained where the other part of the room went. Looked as though someone had split the space in half to create this handy storage area. Evidently, the owner had an issue with people bailing and leaving their shit behind. Inside there were several rows of boxes, all neatly sealed up and labeled.
Eclipse held his position at the door, keeping his ears tuned to the other rooms, ensuring no one came along to surprise them while Orianna searched the boxes.
His mind drifted to the conversation he’d had with Obsidian early that morning. His brother had subtly reminded him that the next full moon was only a few days away—three and a half, to be exact—and wanted to know if they needed to prepare for thelintamair. In an effort to appease his brother, he’d pretended to give it some thought, although he had no intention of undergoing the official mating ceremony this go-round. The mere thought of taking Orianna’s life … even thinking about it made him feel as though he was buried underground, the weight of the world focused on the center of his chest.
He remembered how Obsidian had come apart at the seams before his own ceremony, the terror of what he had to do weighing heavily on his heart. Eclipse’s palms were sweating just thinking about it. Nope. They’d have to wait. How long, he wasn’t sure. But he figured he would know when the time was right.
“Here it is,” Orianna said, leaning over one stack of boxes.
“I’ll get it.”
It was the work of a moment to retrieve the small box from the bottom of the stack, and as he stepped back to give Orianna space, he couldn’t help wondering if he was putting her in even more danger by not going through with the ceremony.
“What are you doing?”
Reidar took stock of the boxes piled in a row along the wall near the door. His private quarters looked more like a storage room than a peaceful place to rest his head.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Winnie muttered, not bothering to look up at him. “I’m leaving.”
Well, that was fairly obvious based on the boxes of shit. Her shit. All the things they’d moved from her apartment in California just two short months ago were being loaded back up.
“Winnie…”
