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H through the air Sars but fro for evidence of a fire He found Kendra stalking toward hi more than a bra, a pair of panties and the slave bands
"Thane!" she bellowed "I knew you’d come down here"
The crowd parted to clear a path for her
Bright red hair stood on end, as though her fingers were hooked to an electrical outlet Her eyes crackled with blazing jade fire, and her skin sparkled enough to rival the Harpy’s appeal Her ar little golden flarew
She bared sharp little fangs and spat, "You left me in bed to come down here to play with some dirty street skank?"
"Hey!" the Harpy snapped "I totally showered today"
He motioned to the head of security, and the male knew to clear out the room
Angry voices rose froood at his job and footsteps soon pounded toward the doors Thane despised public displays like this, and he wouldn’t stand for it
Soon, only he and the Phoenix remained
"I never promised fidelity, Kendra," he said softly "In fact, I proes changed"
"Why?"
She thought for a moment Obviously she couldn’t come up with an answer that satisfied her, because she stomped her foot and said, "If you think there’s another fes you need, you’re wrong I told you I’usting, she’d said
And she was right But she’d always made him think she enjoyed it
She’d lied, and he hated liars "I told you," he replied se kindled "There are many who can satisfy ain" He closed the distance between theh todifficult but not impossible
Her eyes widened with fear
"You shouldn’t have pricked my temper, female I will punish you--and I promise you, you’ll wish I had killed you instead"
CHAPTER TEN
SHE HAD SEEN ainside her since speeding out of the parking garage long enough to pick up her sister from the hospital, ensure Laila was settled in at home, take a shower to wash off the lotion Koldo despised and walk the aisles at the nearest grocery Fear she wasn’t supposed to entertain But as she turned her car into her neighborhood to return home, it finally spilled over--and she couldn’t stop it Or if she could, she didn’t kno In seconds, she felt as though she’d downed the nes, all of the possible side effects converging: light-headedness, upset sto in the ears
As her vision blurred, she parked at the nearest curb and leaned her head against the steering wheel, breathing with slow deliberation I’ with the aftereffects of a concussion That’s all Surely
Hopefully
Either that, or Koldo had brought so nasty into her life
Butno He was a (famous) warrior to his very core He was observant He would have known if he’d ushered in so malevolent And if he had, he wouldn’t have left her to fend for herself He wasn’t the type to run He couldn’t be
He’d helped her when he could have remained invisible Or whatever He’d helped Laila when he could have washed his hands of her
That left the concussion--but she wasn’t satisfied with that explanation She had no peace about it Sowhat if Nicola wasn’t hallucinating? What if the creature she’d seen had been real? After all, Koldo could arrive and leave in the blink of an eye, and he wasn’t a hallucination Why couldn’t so else do the same?
So, if the warrior hadn’t led the creature to her door, thenwhat had? And as it, exactly?
When she was younger, she’d heard little girls whispering together at school, afraid of the monsters in their closets Until thatabout such monsters Her parents had never allowed her and Laila to watch TV, and they had carefully chosen every book they read She’d been so wonderfully innocent in regard to the evils out there, afraid only of what her body was doing to her
But of course, everything had changed after that overheard conversation
She’d stopped sleeping She’d looked for un to see theed monkey on herLaila One following Nicola
The increase of fear and the constant stress had daed her heart further But after ed to find a small one But she’d never seen another monster Until recently
The past few days, she’d seen two One with Laila, and one at her work
Maybe she hadn’t been lost to paranoia back then Maybe the monsters had always been there, and she had siain