The wall was only twenty-five centimeters wide, but the top was flat, so moving around wasn’t difficult. Next to me, the shrubs surrounding the property were hip-high but carefully trimmed back, leaving a small gap between them and the wall. Someone crawling along the top of the wall would have plenty of cover to move without being seen from the street.
The street itself was narrower than the one that ran past the main gate. I didn’t see anything that looked like streetlights, so perhaps it was completely dark once the sun set. That would certainly be convenient for someone trying to sneak in.
I reached out to touch the point of one of the shrub’s glossy, deep green leaves. They looked like they would tear up anyone who tried to climb through them.
Torran’s warm fingers closed around mine before I made contact. “Don’t. Vomosulabr are very sharp and the points are coated in an irritant. If it pierces your skin, it won’t kill you, but it will make you wish you had not touched it.”
“Do not touch the spiky shrub,” I relayed to my team. “Not deadly, but unpleasant.”
“I don’t usually go around touching alien plants,” Lexi said drily.
Well, that made one of us, apparently.
Torran still held my hand, his grip gentle and warm. I peeked up at him and found his eyes on my face. “Thank you for the warning,” I said. “I passed it along to my team.”
“You are welcome,” he said. We were close enough that I could see the colorful streaks in his dark eyes. The silver, teal, and copper seemed to shift in intensity, growing brighter before fading.
I stared, mesmerized.
His incredible eyes dropped to my mouth and the heat in his gaze rekindled. I might have doubted that he was flirting earlier, but this look was impossible to misinterpret—Torran wanted me. My breath quickened and I licked my lips. I wanted him, too, no matter how foolish that made me.
Torran groaned low in his chest, and his head dipped toward mine.
I lifted my face. My eyes were nearly closed when I caught a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. I instinctively spun to look and nearly fell off the wall.
Torran steadied me while heat climbed my cheeks. The transport continued down the street, unaware that it had nearly caused me to break my neck. But it was a good reminder that we were highly exposed here, standing on top of the wall.
My pulse pounded in my ears, from both the adrenaline and the desire. I reluctantly drew away from Torran and he let me go. I focused on the shrubs and tried to get my thoughts in order.
But they were still very focused on the almost kiss.
My lips tingled. I peeked at Torran’s face, but his expression had returned to its unreadable natural state. This time, though, there was no doubt: I hadn’t imagined the desire in his gaze. If not for the untimely transport, I would know how his lips felt against mine.
Damned transport.
I cleared my throat and prayed my face wasn’t as red as it felt. The moment was lost, so I returned to the problem of the theft. “So how did the thieves get over the plants without getting stabbed?”
“They wore armor.” Torran’s voice was steady and didn’t reveal any of his thoughts.
But the statement did reveal something else. My gaze shot back to his face, embarrassment forgotten. “You have video. Or witnesses.”
I waved the implicit question away before he could deflect again. “Never mind, we’ll discuss that once we’re back on the ground.” I worked through the theft in my head. I could see the side of the house from here. So climb over the wall, infiltrate the house, grab the ring . . . then what? “Did they leave this way, too?”
“No, they left via the front gate.”
My eyebrows rose. “That’s a bold choice. Were they injured?”
“No.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. Getting answers from Torran was like pulling teeth from a tiger. It shouldn’t bother me, but I actually wanted to find his ridiculous ring for him, and he was making it very difficult.
The line of shrubbery was unbroken in either direction, and despite standing on my tiptoes, I couldn’t see the ground outside the wall. I settled back onto my heels before I fell into the shrubs and tested Havil’s healing skills—again.
I’d seen enough. I still wanted to see the rest of the property in case we needed a quick exit, but now I had a mental map of how the thieves had gained entry. Hopefully I could pair it with Kee’s surveillance video to start putting together the night’s timeline.
And then we could figure out what Torran was really hiding.
Chapter Eighteen
After I shimmied off the wall, thankfully without injuring my knee, Torran and I walked the rest of the property. By unspoken agreement we avoided the others, though I’m sure Havil and Chira knew when we passed them.
By the time we made it back to the side of the house facing where the thieves had entered, the sun had crossed the zenith and was quickly sinking toward the horizon.
My body clock thought it was late afternoon. Staying up through five hours of darkness was going to be a challenge. At least if I made it most of the way, I could just sleep for an extra few hours and wake up tomorrow local time.
The short solar days were going to break my brain. Nothing to do but keep busy.
I called Luna to my shoulder and turned to Torran. “How do we get to your office from here? Specifically, how did the thieves get to your office?” I gestured him ahead of me. “Show me.”
Torran’s eyes narrowed at the command, but he turned back down the path and ducked behind a tall, leafy plant. I followed him, unsure what to expect. The small, covered entrance was completely hidden from the trail. I heard a click, then Torran pulled the door open.
“Is this door kept locked?”
“Yes.”
I rolled my eyes and prayed for patience. Loquacious he was not.
I entered the house and found myself in a pale cream hallway that I hadn’t seen on our way to the guest wing. “Where are we?”
“This is the family wing. My bedroom and private office are here, as well as spare rooms for family guests.”
“Do you have any family guests staying with you currently?”
He flinched, very slightly, then shook his head.
From the way his expression hardened, I wouldn’t get any more information out of him about family guests, so I moved on. “Was the ring in your private office?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Torran inclined his head in agreement, but before we made it to his office, whichever door it was, Nilo appeared at the end of the hall. He hurried our way, a wide, apologetic smile on his face.
Before he could say anything, Luna chirruped at him. His face softened into genuine warmth, and he reached out a hand. “May I?”
I nodded. “This is Luna.”
Nilo closed the distance between us and reached up to scratch Luna behind her ears. She stretched forward, purring deep in her chest. Nilo’s eyes cut to mine, his expression open. “She adores you,” he murmured.
I smiled. “I love the little fuzzball, too.” Nilo and I stood intimately close with just a handful of centimeters between us. I glanced up at him. He was incredibly handsome, with his fine bone structure and gold-streaked green eyes, but I didn’t feel any of the tight anticipation that I felt around Torran.