cyberstalking in lieu of the divinely powered kind, right?”
“Sure. What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.” Eve stepped around her desk. She’d said enough for the benefit of whoever might be listening through the bugs in her house. The rest she would keep to herself until she felt that she could speak freely. “Let me get ready and we’ll go.”
Reed moved to follow. Alec stepped in his path. “Leave her alone,” he warned.
“I’m doing my job.” Reed’s voice was dangerously soft.
“Relax, Alec,” she admonished.
A low, predatory rumble filled the air. She exited the room with a shake of her head. Those two were going to have to figure out on their own how to work together.
Eve was shutting her bedroom door when it was halted midswing and pushed back in. Reed entered, his gaze sweeping around the room and coming to rest on the bed.
“Feng shui,” he murmured. “There’s at least a little bit of believer in you.”
“What does feng shui have to do with anything?” She watched him close the door, secretly impressed with his observational skills.
“You’re trying to tap into energies you can’t see or prove. Whether you think they come from God or not isn’t as important as the fact that you acknowledge forces outside of yourself.”
“You’re giving me a headache.”
He laughed, the velvet-rough sound flowing over her skin. “You can’t have headaches anymore.”
“That’s what you think.” She went to her closet and pushed the hanging wooden door along its track. It had taken her a long time to find two matching bleached pine panels of suitable size, but the effort was worth it. When she lay in bed, she studied the grain of the wood as she drifted to sleep.
“Listen.” His tone was so grave that it drew her gaze to him again. “When Marks go on the hunt, they change.”
“Change?”
“Their senses hone. You’ll experience a kind of tunnel vision. You see it in felines when they crouch low and prepare to pounce. They’re so absorbed in what they’re doing, they don’t register anything else.”
“I think I caught a bit of that before.”
“You might have. All mentors are specially trained to widen their focus to encompass their charges. Much like using bright headlights versus the regular ones.”
Eve pulled out her most worn pair of jeans. “And Alec hasn’t had this training.”
“Right. He’s really good at what he does, but I’m afraid he’s going to leave you unprotected. You have to be extra vigilant. Somehow, you’re going to have to remind yourself to take in everything.”
“Are you telling me this to make your brother look bad, or are you serious?”
“I only wish I could make up stuff this good.” He leaned back against the door. “You’re going to have to trust me, babe. It’s my job to keep you alive and working off your penance.”
“I wouldn’t say that assigning me to kill things prior to being trained is a good way to keep me breathing,” she said wryly.
The tightening of his jaw was nearly imperceptible, but Eve was looking for it. Gadara was yanking them all around. She knew what leverage he had on Alec—her. But what was Reed getting out of this? Perhaps Gadara was holding something over him, too? It was in her best interests to find out.
Reed’s glance moved back to her beautifully made bed and a smile curved his mouth. “You’re not sleeping with Cain.”
“How would you know?”
“His scent is fainter in here than in the rest of the condo.”
“My mom just washed and made the bed.”
“Uh-huh . . .” He looked at her with dark, slumberous eyes. Reed was like a firecracker, hot and explosive. The part of Eve that craved quiet evenings at home was shocked by how attractive she found that quality.
She turned away, determined to get ready for the task ahead and stop thinking about sex. “Don’t get cocky and think his absence has anything to do with you.”
“It has to do with something. You’ve been thinking about him for ten years, but now that he’s here, you’re keeping him at arm’s distance?”
She thought of the make-out session in the parking garage and smiled. “My personal life is none of your business.”
“Keep telling yourself that. Eventually you might believe it. But it still won’t be true.”
“Whatever. Got anything else for me?”
“Oh yeah, I got something for you, babe. Come and get it.”
“Eww.” Eve tossed an arch glance over her shoulder. “You just crossed the line from arrogant to crass.”
His gaze dropped. “Sorry.”
She sighed. He was faultlessly elegant on the outside, but on