on the humid air when a solid bulk of muscle and bone rammed into him, slamming him to the damp, moss-covered floor of the clearing. “You wanna explain what happened tonight?” the Casus roared in his face, pinning his forearms to the ground. “I can smell her on you!”
Knowing it would only infuriate Royce further if he remained calm, Gregory casually related the evening’s events, and his comrade took the news as badly as he’d hoped. Concealing the enjoyment he got from seeing Royce so furious, he finally concluded with a solicitous drawl, “You did tell me to keep an eye on her.”
“You incompetent idiot,” Royce seethed, his rage glittering like so many shards of ice in his pale blue gaze. “I told you not to lose her—not to reveal yourself. What did you think you were doing?”
“Exactly what I was bred to do,” he replied with a sharp smile.
Royce’s eyes narrowed with fury. “Don’t push me, Gregory. In future, you stay away from her. If you don’t, I’ll make sure you pay.”
“As fun as this is, get the hell off me, Royce. We both know you can’t kill me.”
The beast lowered its snout, going nose-to-nose with him. “Is that what you think?” it asked silkily, the sinister words warbled within the muzzled shape of its wolflike head. “The only reason Calder allowed you to come through with me was because he considered you too much of a liability back in Meridian and he wanted you gone. And the only reason I agreed to bring you along was because I wanted out of there, and no one else would take responsibility for you. But you lay a finger on Saige Buchanan again, and I’ll kill you myself.”
“And face Calder’s wrath?” Gregory mocked, clucking his tongue.
Royce’s words shook with his anger. “After the screwup Malcolm made of his assignment, don’t think for one second that Calder gives a shit about what happens to you.”
Gregory laughed. “And you think Calder cares any more about you, Royce? The truth is that he doesn’t give a shit about either one of us.”
Shifting back on his haunches, Royce released his hold on Gregory’s arms, eyeing him with a cold, hard stare. “He’s a good leader,” he ground out.
“Just not a very trusting one.” Gregory snorted, hoisting himself up onto his elbows. “Has he told you how he learned to send us across? Hell, he hasn’t even told you how many Markers we’re after, or exactly why we need them.”
Royce moved to his feet in a fluid ripple of powerful muscle, allowing his true form to gracefully slip away, easing back into the shape of his human host. “He has his reasons,” he muttered.
“Sure he does,” Gregory drawled, rolling his eyes. “And at any rate, tonight wasn’t my fault. This was the best chance we’ve had to grab her since she found the Marker. Would you have rather I just let her slip on by?”
“We were only going to grab her if we ran the risk of losing her. Otherwise, we were told to wait until she’s fully awakened.”
“And the Marker?”
“The Marker we could have stolen from her,” Royce growled, his lip curled with disgust. “But now, because of your little stunt, she knows we’re after her, which means she’s going to be guarding it as well as she can.”
“She already knew,” Gregory countered, his brows arched as he stared up from his place on the warm, damp ground. “Why else do you think she’s always looking over her goddamn shoulder? She knows we’re watching her.”
Royce’s mouth tightened, the muscles across his chest flexing with each of his hard, heavy breaths. “Knowing and suspecting are two different things. That Watchman bastard isn’t going to let her out of his sight now. And if he flew, chances are that he’s a bloody Raptor.” Royce glared down at him, his lip curled in an arrogant expression that made Gregory want to tear into him, as slowly and painfully as possible. “So now, thanks to you, we’ve lost her and the Marker.”
“Not exactly,” he offered in a soft rumble of words as he moved to his feet.
Royce paused in the act of turning away, his brow drawn in a deep frown. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that I don’t think she has it. At least not on her.”
At his sides, Royce’s big fists clenched tighter, the veins sticking out in sharp relief beneath the golden sheen of his skin. “What are you talking about?”
“I was able to cut her tonight,” he explained, rolling his shoulder, “which means she wasn’t wearing it.”
“Then she must have hidden it,” Royce murmured, raking one hand back through the thick, chocolate strands of his hair. Despite the fact that their human hosts—American brothers who had owned a tourist fishing boat in Rio—were almost identical in appearance, Friesen’s hair was not only shorter, but several shades darker.
“If she did,” Gregory drawled, “then she’s an idiot for not keeping hold of the only thing that can protect her.” Calder had told them that they would be unable to kill her so long as she wore one of the ancient Markers, the power of the crosses protecting her from their fangs and claws.
“Either that, or she’s very clever. Somehow she must have figured out that we’re after the Markers, as well. I told you before, you’re underestimating her.”
“Am I?” Gregory asked with a laugh as he scraped a palm over his rough jaw. “She ran tonight, just like a pathetic woman.”
Royce sent him an impatient look. “And since you said yourself she was running away from the Watchman, I think we can safely assume that had nothing to do with you at that point.”
“You’re giving her too much credit,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I keep telling you that she’s nothing more than food.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think of her, Gregory, because she’s my food. As soon as you know where your Merrick is, do as you like—but until then, stay away from mine.”
Gregory held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “Come on, man. There’s no need to be so suspicious. I was going to bring her to you,” he murmured, enjoying the potent force of Friesen’s frustration as it blasted against him like a hot wind.
Royce jerked his chin and snorted. “Do you honestly expect me to believe that?”
“Still don’t trust me?” he asked lightly, wearing a ghost of a smile.
A bitter laugh fell from Royce’s lips. “Try ‘will never trust you.’”
“And yet,” Gregory said softly, his gaze hard and steady, “you need me.”
“I need that Marker…and then I need the woman. You, I have no use for.”
“Hmm, well, I suppose I would be lying if I didn’t say that the feeling is mutual,” he offered with a low, throaty chuckle. “And, like you said, I have my own waiting for me, so you can have her flesh.” It was a lie, but as much as he enjoyed taunting his comrade, he knew better than to push too far. Not yet, when they now had a Watchman to contend with.
And
