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Easier said than done, I’m afraid.
Not if you recall the faces of those she might destroy out of sheer spite.
I glanced at him. He raised an eyebrow, as if daring me to contradict the statement. But I couldn’t, because it was true. I simply had to control my temper. No ifs, buts, or maybes.
“Good,” Jack said. “But be careful, Risa. Those who oppose my sister are no angels, either.”
“Something I’m well aware of.” But if push came to shove, I’d use them—and anyone else, for that matter—to protect my friends and to stop the crazies from ruining the world.
Jack walked from the room. I released a long, slow breath, then downed my coffee in several quick gulps. That had turned out a whole lot better than I’d hoped—but it could have very easily gone the other way, and I knew it.
“Liander is, as we speak, jumping in his car and heading to parts unknown,” Rhoan said, as he returned to the table. “He won’t contact me for the next forty-eight hours.”
“What about his phone and the GPS in his car? They can both be used to trace him—”
“He’ll disable both. He has not been the soul mate of a guardian for so long without picking up a trick or two.”
“Forty-eight hours is long enough,” Azriel commented. “One way or another, things will be sorted by then.”
I shot him another glance. I thought you said we had a week?
No, I said we had no more than a week. His expression gave little away, but I could feel the turmoil in him, the uncertainty, and that scared the hell out of me. That timetable has since been revised.
Meaning our actions have revised it? But what actions? Finding Jantz, blowing up his apartment, or talking to Rhoan and Jack?
It doesn’t matter, Azriel said. The timetable is what it is now. And, at the very least, it gives us a shorter period to survive.
And you’d better survive, reaper, I said, mental tones fierce. Or I will not be happy.
You can be assured that I would be decidedly unimpressed with anything short of survival myself.
“I get the feeling,” Rhoan commented, “that there’s a completely different conversation happening right now.”
I glanced at him and smiled. “Yeah, sorry.” I slid the phone we’d found at Jantz’s across to him. “Can you let me know the minute you find any information about who owns this?”
“Can do,” he said. “And I’ll watch my back. I’ll even ensure I have people I trust around me at all times. Will that assuage your concerns?”
“Some,” I admitted.
“Good.” He studied me for a minute, and something in his eyes hardened. The guardian, rising once more to the surface. “Then you need to assuage mine. You will not tackle Hunter without outside help, will you?”
I licked my lips. “Look, I know you mean—”
“This isn’t a request,” he cut in, voice flat. “And there is no refusing. There is only yes, or there’s me walking out of this room right now and confronting her myself.”
I stared at him. “That’s blackmail.”
“Too right it is, and I don’t care. I want your word, Risa, that the minute you even contemplate contacting the forces that oppose Hunter, you’ll also contact me. I know that you’ve already made this promise to Riley and Quinn, and you will damn well extend it to me—and keep it. Otherwise, I’ll do as I threatened.”
He would, too. To keep me safe, he’d risk his own damn life. “You’re fucking crazy, Uncle Rhoan,” I muttered, then flung myself into his arms. “And god, I love you for it.”
His arms went around me and held me tight. After a moment, he kissed the top of my head and said, “I can take that as a yes?”
“You can.” I stepped away, then thrust a hand across my eyes, wiping away a defiant tear. My phone rang, and the tone told me it was Ilianna. My stomach flip-flopped, though I wasn’t sure whether it was fear or just pregnancy reasserting itself.
I dragged the vid-phone out of my pocket, hit the Answer button, and said, “Is there a problem?”
“Other than you and then Azriel making quick exits and not getting back to me to let me know you’re both okay?” she said, voice mild but holding a hint of censure.
