“No, no. I’m just the expert on gemstones.”
“I see.” His expression says he clearly does not see but is too polite to ask more. The elevator doors open. “After you, Ms. Adalwulf.” He extends a hand again.
Three security guards wait for us at the entryway to the exhibit room. Dr. Houserman murmurs something to one of the security guards, and he nods, pulling a velvet cord across the entryway to cordon it off from other visitors.
My bodyguards arrive on our floor in a stampede, their footfalls ringing out against the marble steps. I hold up a hand to halt them. “Wait here.”
They look past me to Otto who nods.
“You, as well,” Dr. Houserman tells him. “Only one person may approach at a time.”
Otto’s jaw clenches, but he takes a position outside the room.
He takes me to a glass display case positioned in front of a giant window. I imagine on a sunnier day, the natural light would enhance the glow of the red moonstone.
I suck in my breath. The pressure in my head grows stronger as we approach. I hear the whispers of the Grandmothers murmuring to me.
The tiara is cast in gold, a delicate weaving of slender arcing lines. In the center, a red-hued moonstone dangles, meant to enhance the wearer’s third eye. The moonstone’s properties are strong. I don’t even need to touch it to know. If this headdress was used in Mayan ceremonies, it would take on additional power through the belief of the people. What we honor as sacred becomes sacred.
The two security guards flank me.
Otto folds his arms over his chest from behind the velvet cord.
A muscle starts to tremble in my cheek. The intensity is getting to be too much for me. The jumbled noise of the Grandmothers is a cacophony in my ears.
“I can already see this is legitimate,” I murmur. I need to get out of here before I have a seizure. The Sight is taking over, and I’m losing my grasp on control.
The seconds feel like hours as I watch Dr. Houserman unlock the case and open it.
I don’t need to touch the tiara.
I don’t even want to. The power is already too much for me to hold. My stomach lurches like it wants to empty. I sway on my feet.
I force myself to go through the motions. “May I?” My voice sounds far away. I reach for the tiara.
It scalds me. I bring my fingertip to touch the moonstone. Lightning strikes me right between the eyes.
My third eye explodes. Or at least that’s how it feels.
I need to get out of here.
“I’m satisfied,” I say, handing it back. “And if you’ll excuse me, I’m…” I cover my mouth as my stomach heaves.
The director snatches the tiara back. I’m sure this seems like a heist with the way my fingers were shaking. He probably thinks I’m trying to create a distraction to steal the tiara or swap it with a fake.
I run for the door. “It’s real,” I say to Otto as I rush past him. He reaches for my elbow, but I slip out of his grasp, running blindly. “I need a bathroom,” I say.
I can’t see at all–patterns of light and colors collide in front of my eyes. Dimly, I hear the sound of an elevator nearby. Remembering that it helped dampen the gem frequencies, I dive in, bumping into people on the way.
My knees hit the floor, and blackness overtakes me.
Noah
Fate led her right to me.
I catch the luminescent blonde in my arms as she falls and sit on the floor of the elevator to drag her back against me, her ass onto my lap. The magnolia-peach scent of her skin enters my nostrils and charges up my wolf. My pants tighten at the crotch.
Everything happened so easily. I caught sight of Aster when she arrived at the museum under heavy guard. I followed them up the stairs and lurked around the elevator, waiting and watching. I don’t know why my dreams showed me where Aster would be today, but I have to believe it’s to move me on the path to find the Moonborn.
