"That also doesn't cover my own interest in you," he continued. He brushed one finger against the arm that displayed his and the sorcerer's mark.
I turned it slightly, looking at the mark emblazoned on my forearm. A normal—aka human—would assume it was a tattoo. In reality, it was an intricate piece of artwork that would never fade and told the world of my debts. When the sorcerer had first marked me, it had been a stylized lion wrapped in a vine with thorns. At first glance it appeared silver, but on closer inspection you'd see flecks of purple that looked almost metallic, as if someone had poured colored metal into the dye and then embedded it into my skin.
Since Liam had placed an unsolicited mark on me, it had changed. Now an oak tree grew behind the lion. At first, its branches had been bare of all but a few leaves, but now they were full, a green and earthy bronze joining the silver and purple. I had no idea what the addition of the leaves meant and doubted I would like the answer when I figured it out.
Liam gave the mark a pleased look. "It's taking root quite nicely."
I pulled my arm out of his grip, shooting him a displeased look of my own. "So, it would seem."
"That mark makes you my business. Whatever your agreement with your sire, it doesn’t affect our relationship."
"We don't have a relationship," I said through gritted teeth.
"That mark says otherwise."
"Because you forced it on me."
He lifted one eyebrow. "We can spend the rest of your time here arguing semantics or you can pack. Your choice. You have ten minutes and then we're leaving."
CHAPTER THREE
I LOOKED AT him with a blank expression.
Humor touched his lips. "You didn't think you were staying here."
I kind of had.
His chuckle was warm and had more of an effect on me than I wanted to admit. "You heard me talking to Brax. Until your little friend is found, you and I are going to be living out of each other’s pockets." He looked around with an amused expression. "And I don't sleep on couches."
Nathan smothered a smile.
My mouth dropped open. I wanted to argue, but didn't know where to go from there.
"You have nine minutes now. I suggest you grab your stuff, because one way or another we're leaving. Makes no difference to me whether you have clean clothes or not."
I held Liam's gaze for a long moment. What I found there convinced me he wasn't bluffing. He really would force me to leave with no clothes, even if he had to drag me out kicking and screaming. I huffed at him and stood, stepping around the other two enforcers and heading down the hall.
I entered my bedroom and headed straight to my closet to grab my gym bag. Bright orange and black, it was one of the few pieces of luggage I owned. I never traveled anymore so there wasn't a pressing need for real luggage.
"Have to say, this isn't how I pictured your room," Nathan said from where he slouched against my door jam.
I paused from where I'd been digging for a few shirts and took a moment to look around. My bedroom was my favorite room in the apartment. The floors were a warm golden brown, the kind of wood you couldn't get anymore. Though they were cracked and scratched in places, every one of those marks just added to their charm. I'd painted my walls a light bluish gray except for one. The wall behind my rustic wooden headboard was a deep gray blue that showed my bed off nicely. A quilted bedspread, also a grayish blue contrasted with the white with blue embroidery of the coverlet folded at the foot of the bed.
Caroline had taken the time to make the bed before she'd left. It was a comforting sight because it meant wherever she’d gone, she went willingly and not in a panic.
"What'd you expect?" I asked, busying myself with throwing three pairs of jeans in my bag.
"Nothing quite so feminine."
I paused and gave him a look complete with arched eyebrow. He shrugged, his expression sheepish. His view was one I'd heard before. I've found that once people learn you were a soldier, they assume certain things. A female soldier can't possibly be in touch with her softer side. No, we're hard core killers that prefer beef jerky and dressing in baggy clothes. It was complete bullshit, of course.
I resumed packing. "That's the great thing about being a woman in the modern era. I'm not defined by just one thing. I can be complicated. It's best you just assume I'm an onion."
Nathan wandered over to the canvas prints of photos I'd taken before being forced to assume a more nocturnal lifestyle. The one he examined was of a moss-covered staircase in castle ruins I'd taken when visiting Ireland. I missed photography. The night had its beauty, but nothing beat a sun-drenched landscape or a sunrise over the mountains.
"Where'd you get these?" Nathan asked.
I took advantage of his distraction to pull the Judge out of its lock box. A .45 caliber long Colt, the Judge was a revolver that I'd already used once to kill a vampire. If I was going into enemy territory, I'd do it armed. The gun was filled with a 410 round of my own making—silver nitrate that worked like a charm against vampires. They could heal a normal, lead round just fine, but the silver put them down and kept them down.
I stuffed the revolver under my clothes and looked at Nathan, who'd drifted over to another canvas, this one a photograph of a castle overlooking a meadow in bloom during early spring.
"I took them."
He looked over at me, impressed. "You've got a good eye."
I shrugged. I did. Before.
"I mean it," he said, his expression completely serious for once.
"Doesn't matter anymore. Photography is one of those hobbies where light is a crucial element."
He looked contemplative as he looked back at the canvas of the castle. "You could always try night photography."
Yeah, because I had so much spare time on my hands. I worked almost every night. On the few nights I didn't, I was too tired to pick up the camera.
I didn't feel like arguing with him, so I lifted a shoulder and said, "Perhaps."
"You ready?" Nathan asked, turning from my photographs. "Liam wasn't kidding about that deadline."
"I got that. I just need to grab a few things from the bathroom, and we can go."
I preceded Nathan out of my room. He shadowed me down the hall but didn't try to crowd into the bathroom with me. That might have been because it was the size of a postage stamp. It had enough room for me, and that was about it.
The linoleum floor was cracked and peeling in places, and the rest of the bathroom showed its age. The only thing it had going for it was the fact that it was clean.
Given Nathan had turned into my shadow, I figured Liam had ordered him to keep an eye on me. Such a lack of trust.
I opened the medicine cabinet and jerked back. Lowen sat on one of the shelves, his wings rubbing together, as he held one finger against his lips.
Seconds later, I heard a curse from Nathan and then the tinkle of bell-like laughter.