She leaned against the wall. “I’m a little sore still, but I guess being immortal, that will pass soon. Look, the bruises are almost gone.” She opened her towel and showed him the fading marks along with the rest of her lovely body. What hadn’t faded were the glyphs under her collarbone, and those turned him on almost as much as the red in her eyes or the thought of her mouth on his body.
Her gaze dropped to the bulge in his towel. “Are you thinking about my plan?”
“I am.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Not for food.”
She grinned. “Too bad. I am. Get dressed and let’s go. I’m craving pancakes.” And with that, she left him all alone in the middle of the hallway wearing nothing but a hard-on and a bath towel.
Chapter Twenty-One
Elena shook her head. “You can’t take the sword to breakfast. You’ll scare people.”
“We’re in danger. I won’t go without it,” he said. “I should never have had it out of arm’s reach this whole time. We’re lucky no one found us.” He tightened the strap one notch and checked the location of the hilt. “I’ll put it under the Veil. I can put my whole self under it if you’d feel better, but I’d rather not leave that kind of signal and trail.”
“No. I want a real date. Like two regular people going out.” It was probably silly and maybe just an attempt to hold on to the last vestiges of being human, but she needed this affirmation.
“Let’s just get something to go.”
“Look, Nik. I don’t know why it’s important to me, but it is. I just want one more normal human experience before whatever is going to happen tomorrow happens. We’ve never done anything remotely natural or normal together.”
“We’ve had sex.”
“Was that normal, really?”
“It was natural.”
“It was freaking supernatural.” She sighed when he grinned. “Please.”
“It’s nonnegotiable. Sword under the Veil. Normal date.”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
Then it dawned on her that she didn’t even have her car anymore. It had probably been towed from the convenience store when she’d been shot. She sighed. That seemed a lifetime ago. They’d have to teleport. So much for a normal date. She held out her hand, and Nik took it.
“May I?” he asked. “I know an excellent all-night diner. I think you’ll like it.”
She grinned. “Sure.”
He placed his hands on either side of her neck and chanted. Her mind rushed back to the first time they’d ever done this. She’d envisioned herself straddling him, and he’d been furious. She chuckled. No way would he have that reaction now. This time, she just emptied her mind and enjoyed the buoyancy that came with her molecules shifting for transport, then the slam of reconfiguration as they reached their destination. Nearby, a car honked. The warm air was scented with exhaust fumes and the faint taint of sewage. When she looked around, buildings towered on all sides. The sun was not even up yet, and already, the sidewalks buzzed with people.
“Where are we?” she asked as they stepped out of the tiny alley onto the sidewalk.
“New York City. You said you’d never traveled outside of your home state. I thought I’d put a spin on your normal date.”
She took his hand, thrilled by this adventuresome, romantic side of him. “Cool.”
“Cool,” he repeated, grinning.
As they strode down the street hand-in-hand, Elena’s heart soared. She was actually spending time with Nik like a normal person. Well, sort of. They had teleported well over a thousand miles in seconds, and the god of a man holding her hand had an ancient sword strapped to his back, used to kill immortal creepies. But still, since the convenience store, normal was relative.
The diner was fantastic. For fleeting moments, she could almost imagine “all hell” would not break loose in less than a day. That she and this beautiful man could just enjoy their pancakes and coffee without the fate of the human world hanging in the balance.
But it did hang in the balance. Since seeing Uza’s cats transform into human form, Elena could no longer deny this bizarre, invisible world was as real as her feelings for this man. Real and dangerous.
“Are you okay?” Nik asked, finishing of the last of his scrambled eggs.
“Yeah. I just…”
The curvy brunette waitress refilled their coffee and grinned at Nik. He ignored her completely and took Elena’s hand. “You just what?”
The waitress moved to the next table, and she tried to untangle her thoughts into a coherent thread. “I just wish we had more time.”
“We have forever.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at what would have been a totally cornball sentiment had he not meant it literally. “No. I mean before whatever Uza alluded to happens.”
“Ah.” He wove his fingers through hers. “Well, I’ve learned to plan for the future, but to also live in the present.”
She looked down at their entwined fingers. Hers looked so tiny and delicate laced through his. “I wish we could stay here, like this, forever in the present, not thinking about the future, but I really think we need a strategy or plan.”