The paper on the table crinkled as Natasa began to climb down. “Well, I guess that’s that.”
“Not so fast, female.”
Her hand froze against the table. Her eyes lifted to his. A curly lock of hair fell over her brow just before fire flashed in her emerald eyes. “I already told you why I was looking for Maelea. I think we’re done here.”
Feisty. Now that the panic attack had passed and she was no longer surrounded by the Argonauts—who, Titus knew, were designed to be damn intimidating—she was regaining some of her spunk. Which he liked. Way too much.
“Not quite.” He took a step closer. Watched as she leaned back and her eyes widened with surprise and…awareness. “You still haven’t told me what you are.”
Her gaze slid from his eyes to his lips, where it hovered. And if he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought she was holding her breath. “I’m no one you need to concern yourself with.”
“Oh, I think you are.” He moved a fraction of an inch closer. “I think there’s something about you that very much concerns me.”
She pressed a hand against his shirt. A hand that was warm and soft and sent tingles all across the flesh beneath the thin fabric. A hand he suddenly wished was pushing against his bare skin, so he could feel that high all over again.
“Move back, Argonaut.”
Her push had no power to it. Didn’t even budge him. And her eyes couldn’t seem to leave the vicinity of his mouth.
“Or what?”
“Or—”
His cell phone rang, and the sharp shrill dragged his attention away from her and down to his pants pocket. Her hand immediately dropped from his chest, chill air replacing the warmth of her skin, irritating him more than he liked. More than was rational.
“Skata.” He pulled his phone out, pressed it to his ear, but didn’t move far enough back that she could get away. “What?”
“T? It’s Orpheus.”
“O?” Shit. “Where are you? Did you find them?”
Reading thoughts over wireless cell-phone signals was a hell of a lot harder than in person, so he had to wait for Orpheus to tell him whatever was up.
“No, but what we found isn’t good.”
“He wouldn’t have left it like this,” Skyla said in a muffled voice somewhere in the background.
Titus’s brow lowered. “What’s going on? Why are you calling me and not Theron?”
“Because I don’t want Theron to know what we found. Titus, man, someone killed a handful of daemons. Clean cuts. Knew what they were doing. Looks like a pro job. But they left the bodies on the side of a road here in western Montana.”
“Decapitated?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit. It has to be Gryphon.”
“If I call this in to Theron or Nick, they’re going to assume it was Gryphon. And if the Council finds out he’s not covering his tracks…”
Titus didn’t want to think about what the Council of Elders would do if they found out Gryphon was violating every Argonaut code ever established. They already hated the Argonauts. This wouldn’t go over well politically in their realm. Especially not when the Council already thought Gryphon was damaged goods thanks to his stint in the Underworld.
“Gryphon would have covered his tracks,” Skyla said in the background, louder this time.
Titus wasn’t so sure. He’d seen what Gryphon had done to those daemons in that village. Skyla hadn’t been there, but Orpheus had, which was why O was calling him now. O knew Gryphon wasn’t thinking clearly. And if he called this in to Theron, Nick would catch wind of it. And then their chances of getting to Gryphon before Nick’s men would drop from slim to fucked.
“I’ll come to you. What are your coordinates?”
He waited while Orpheus gave him their location. “It’ll take me a few minutes to bounce back to Argolea and then to you. Any sign of them?”
“No. But someone knocked over an army surplus store in the town behind us. Took both men’s and women’s clothing, weapons, handcuffs, and survival gear. And they stole a car.”
Shit.
“They could be anywhere by now,” Orpheus added.
And therein lay the problem. Along with what the hell Gryphon planned to do with Maelea whenever he got wherever the fuck it was he was going.
“Stay put. I’ll be there in a minute.”
He clicked off the phone and moved back from the table.
“What’s happening?” Natasa asked.
He looked her way as he shoved the phone back in his pocket and noticed the curiosity and concern across her face. If she did really know Maelea, he didn’t want to be the one to tell her her friend was likely being held hostage by a psychotic Argonaut.
“How did you know Maelea was here? You said you knew her from Seattle.”
“I…” When she looked away from his eyes, he knew she was about to lie. Forget reading minds, he was a pro at reading basic body language, and hers was suddenly screaming Busted! “A friend told me.”
“What friend?”
“No one you know.”