Darkness Hunts (Dark Angels 4)

“Tell me about it.” His voice was gloomy, but there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “She’s even insisting I meet the daughter of one of her friends before she leaves.”

“The daughter might be hot, you know.”

He snorted. “It’s not the hotness that matters, it’s the nerd factor. Most women these days have absolutely no appreciation of either the fine art of hacking or black marketeering. And they always want to dust.”

“Heaven forbid,” I said, voice dry.

“I know! What is with that?”

I snorted, but didn’t reply as my phone rang. The tone told me it was Lucian, so I excused myself and walked into Stane’s bedroom to answer it.

“Well, hello,” he said, his voice low and intimate. Just the sound of it had desire stirring, and though I suspected it wasn’t entirely “real,” it didn’t seem to matter. Nor did Ilianna’s leafy charm appear to mute that reaction.

But maybe it only worked for face-to-face confrontations. I had to hope so, because if I was going to continue my relationship with Lucian, I wanted it to be because I chose to, not because I was under some sort of compulsion spell.

“Hello, yourself,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible. “What can I do for you?”

Surprise flitted briefly through the bright depths of his eyes. Obviously, he’d been expecting a stronger response.

“Oh, I’m sure I can think of one or two things, but the point of the call is what I can do for you.”

The emphasis he placed on I and you had all sorts of wicked images floating through my mind. I cleared my throat and said, “And what might that be?”

“Besides the obvious, you mean?”

I half smiled. “Yeah, besides that.”

“Lauren believes she might have an answer to our dilemma.”

My heart began to race a little faster. Now that the moment was here, I wasn’t sure that I should go through with it.

“What sort of answer?”

“She didn’t say. She just said she needs to run a test to ensure it works, and for that she requires your presence.”

I hesitated. “Lucian, I don’t think—”

“It can’t hurt to check out what she has to offer,” he interrupted, in a voice that wasn’t about to brook any argument. “After all, it may not even work.”

I had to hope so, because I really didn’t want to be in debt to a dark sorcerer.

So why even bother going? Azriel’s thought was knife sharp.

Because I need to know. About whatever magic our dark sorceress had come up with, and about the charm that now encircled my wrist.

And if the charm doesn’t work?

Then I guess you have the choice of watching, joining in, or keeping your distance. My reply was somewhat tight. I might understand his reasons for keeping his distance, I might even agree that it was for the best when it came to the task still ahead of us, but that didn’t give him the right to get pissy whenever I happened to be talking to—or was with—Lucian. Even if he had placed a compulsion spell on me.

I half expected Azriel to disappear in another huff, but he merely crossed his arms and gave me his impassive, not-thinking, not-feeling face.

“Earth to Risa,” Lucian said. “You there?”

I blinked. “Yeah.”

“But obviously didn’t hear a word I just said,” he said, amusement teasing the corners of his eyes. “That reaper giving you grief again?”

“No.”