Why hadn’t he heard that part of this argument? Killean wondered as he tried to see past the woman and into the room, but all he saw was a piece of a bureau. He scented the air, but he didn’t detect the rot of a Savage on it. However, his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong here, and he never ignored his instincts.
The woman’s eyes narrowed on the man, and stepping into the doorway, she planted her hands on her hips. “Oh, and you aren’t banging that waitress from Tilly’s?” she demanded.
“I’m a man; I’ve got needs.”
“And I’ve got needs too, ones you aren’t fulfilling!”
“Slut!”
“Two pump chump!”
The man jerked beneath him again; this time Killean almost let him go. He didn’t care if they killed each other, but he couldn’t shake a sense of wrongness here, and he might need them.
He glanced at where his jeans lay in a heap on the floor. He didn’t care who saw him nude, but running around naked wouldn’t keep him off the radar of Joseph’s followers. The door to the bathroom opened, and Simone stepped out in a pair of jeans and a gray T-shirt.
“Can you get me my jeans?” he asked her.
“Gladly.” She hurried over and snatched them off the floor before handing them to him.
When Killean lifted his foot off the man, he went to rise, but Killean shoved him down again. “I’d stay down if I were you,” Killean warned. “I’m not in the mood, and if you don’t kill each other, I’ll gladly kill you both.”
The woman chuckled, but a sliver of dread ran through Simone. Killean was dead serious. He lifted his foot and again the man tried to rise. When Killean shoved him down, his chin and nose bounced off the floor and blood spilled from the split skin of his chin.
“Hey now! Don’t hurt him!” the woman cried, and the man grunted.
The woman stepped further into their room as Killean tugged his jeans on and returned his foot to the man’s back.
“Simone, come here,” he said and extended his hand to her.
She almost balked against the commanding tone of his voice, but the desperation in his eyes froze her. Killean was too wound up for her to fight him on this; he might completely unravel if she did. When she clasped his hand, he pulled her against his side before releasing her.
“You,” he said to the woman. “Come here.”
Killean sent his power out to trap the woman’s mind but her eyes didn’t glaze over and she remained defiant.
“I’m not listening to you!” she retorted.
“Shit,” he muttered as he looked from Simone to the man at his feet to the sunlight filtering around the edges of the curtain.
“What is it?” Simone whispered.
“Someone already has control of their minds. Most likely it’s a Savage who works for Joseph and who hasn’t killed enough that the sun affects him and who might not have the stench of rot yet.”
“No one has control over my mind,” the man said.
“Shut up,” Killean hissed as he strained to hear anything beyond the room, but he only detected the hum of tires on the road outside and the song of the birds in the nearby trees.
“Let Waldo up!” the woman cried.
Simone stepped toward the woman when the look Killean sent her promised death. “She’s not in control of herself,” Simone said.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Killean grated through his teeth. “She’s putting you at risk.”
Kneeling, Killean settled his knee in the middle of Waldo’s back. “Who sent you in here?”
The man’s pudgy face flushed as sweat beaded his brow. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Waldo stammered. “We were fighting, and I fell into the door. Look, mister, I’m sorry, and if you let me up, we won’t bother you again.”
Killean sent his power forward and tried to wiggle his way into Waldo’s mind, but he came up against a wall of resistance. This couple might be the happiest couple in the world under normal circumstances, but someone had either implanted new memories in their heads or provoked them into this fight.
