Page 23 (2/2)

"Nothing"

"You keep licking your lips Are you nervous?"

"They’re just dry"

The darkness in his gaze intensified as he watched her, and then he dipped his head until their lips nearly touched and she could feel the softest draft of air in the span of distance between them "I can help with that"

She moaned and wished he’d just kiss her already He see for permission, which was ridiculous Before, he’d taken what he wanted Why did he want her assent now?

"Do you want me to help?"

"No," she said, but she tipped her face up so their lips touched

His tongue flicked over her lips in a kiss that wasn’t quite a kiss, but was enough to heat her blood "Are you sure?"

"No" She opened her lips, nearly panting

"I don’t kno you do this to me, Tayla," he whispered "But I can’t help rasped the back of her head and held her for his possession

Instantly, fire zipped through her veins, lit her up froue, to the sweep against her teeth, the roof of her ht with desire that was growing addictive She’d felt nothing for so long, had been in an emotional void, a cold, deep sleep, but with every touch Eidolon changed that It was as though she aking up for the first ti into hiroan rattled his chest, the sound of a , she rocked her aching h, and he hissed, backed up

"Fuck," he muttered "I can smell you My brothers will, too" He shoved the phone into her hand and turned away "You are dangerous, slayer"

She gaped, because she wasn’t the dangerous one in this situation He could seduce her with a look, a touch, and she was groeaker by thenudown Thirtytwenty-ninetwenty-eight

"Tayla? What is it?"

-Twenty-two

Jagger hadthe spell She closed the phone Opened it again The screen continued to flash nu a new explosive that’s odorless, invisible, and can be hidden inside electronic devices like MP3 players

Cole’s words careened through her brain, and her heart skidded to a halt "The exit," she gasped "Exit Now!"

She shoved past Eidolon, bile rising in her throat as she frantically searched for the doors Shade had brought her in through

There She darted toward them, and when a nurse shifted into a panther and pounced, she swung, sent the panther skidding across the floor Pain exploded in her head, but it didn’t et to the door

"Tayla!" Eidolon’s shout chased her

"Stay back!" She burst through the doors the second they slid open Outside, she recognized the parking lot, and Eidolon’s BMW

Searing heat burned her fingers The phone glowed orange, pulsing like a stove element with its own heartbeat As hard as she could, she threw it toward the far wall

A hand closed on her shoulder Wheeling around, she tackled Eidolon and took hi his as the explosion rocked the underground facility and jarred her teeth

A tire flew past the Fire, stone, andher as she lay on top of hi her instead Then, as the storm of debris eased up and the rumble died away, a louder noise rattled her froolden eyes

Fourteen

Eidolon paced outside his office, and if Shade said oneto rip his brother’s head off

Probleiven Tayla to Yuri, the parking lot wouldn’t be de his fists so hard his knuckles cracked, he wondered why that thought bothered him so much He’d been ready to kill her hied her to Eidolon’s office, shoved her inside, and then left her there while they cooled off

"You ready to deal with her?" Shade asked "Can you deal with her?"

"Don’t start" Eidolon threw open the office door, et away from Shade’s accusations than to finally deal with Tayla

She looked up fro like a punished child Her eyes were reddened as though she’d been crying, but he knew she hadn’t The effort she’d expended to not cry, however, was obvious in the tight set of her mouth and the way she sed repeatedly

He halted just out of arm’s reach and held his fists at his sides to keep fro worse, like co deep to find the impartial, cold Justice Dealer voice he’d used for decades

"Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you for what you’ve done"

She looked hiht in the eye, every ounce the warrior he knew she was "I can’t"

"That was easy," Shade said, as heher in "Let’s take her outside--"

"No" She pushed her tangledyou need to know One of your staff, I thinkYuri?"

Eidolon’s heart missed a beat "What about Yuri?"

"He’s dead" Tayla closed her eyes and took a deep, rattling breath "I tagged your pager with sort of a psychic GPS" She looked at hi with the soot ser to Yuri--"

"Hell’s blades," Shade breathed "The Aegis got him What did they do to him?"