She was afraid on so many levels she couldn’t separate them into coherent thoughts. At the center of her fear stood Theron.
She was scared for him, about him, and it pounded at her walls, making her feel vulnerable and out of control. She hated those feelings. It reminded her of the time she’d lost her gran, had actual y watched her being gunned down in her own home by a burglar high on meth. Lyra had been incapable of doing anything about it. She hated that feeling of impotency and she never wanted to feel that way again. Not now, not around this man who already made her weak in other ways. Clearing his throat, Caine nodded.
She touched the book on the table. “Were you able to get any further in the translation?”
“Theron was able to decipher part of the final ceremony.”
She glanced at Theron. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her from the moment she’d walked into the room. His gaze was penetrating, probing even, as if searching for an answer to a question he had yet to ask. Lifting her hand, Lyra rubbed at her mouth. Maybe she had something stuck to her lips. Maybe that was why they felt heated from his gaze. “Are you going to tel me, or do I have to guess?”
Shaking his head, he lowered his gaze and seemed to shift nervously in his seat. “Some of the symbols refer to a creature of power. The one that wil open the gates.”
“Our kill er,” Lyra stated.
Theron continued. “There is mention of the final one who wil be sacrificed to the dark lord and the gates wil open, giving birth to a new age on the earth.” He drew a hand through his hair. “There is more about the one to be sacrificed but I can’t translate it.”
“Well, I think we can safely say the one is going to be female.”
Caine nodded. “That’s a fair assumption.”
After draining the rest of her coffee, Lyra set the cup on the table and sat down. Something just occurred to her. Something making her stomach roil. “Does it clearly say the wordbirth in the text?”
Theron turned the book around and drew his fingers over the open page of text and symbols. “Yes.And the gate wil open, giving birth to a new era .”
“What are you thinking, Lyra?” Caine asked, his eyebrow arched in that questioning way of his.
“Were any of our victims pregnant?”
Both Theron and Caine’s eyes widened as the thought of what Lyra was suggesting registered.
“Interesting.” Caine rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose in thought. Lyra could literal y see the wheels turning in the chief’s mind.
“Mon Dieu,”Theron gasped. “You are thinking birthing a new era is a literal translation. That the sacrificed female wil give birth tole diable? The devil?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a theory.”
“I’l cal Givon.” Caine flipped open his cel phone. “I would think if he had found anything like a pregnancy he would’ve told us, but I’ll make sure that kind of test was done.”
In silence Lyra waited as Caine talked to the coroner, and watched as Theron read over the last page he had translated.
His finger traced the lines back and forth and his lips moved as he spoke the translation to himself.
She liked his mouth, she realized. It was ful and sensuous.
When he spoke French, it just added to the all ure of it. She had to admit—even if she didn’t want to—his accent sent tingles up and down her body. Where they ended in a pool of liquid heat, she definitely didn’t want to consider. Theron glanced up from reading and caught her staring at him. Blushing, she looked at Caine, who had flipped his phone shut and slid it back into his pocket.
“Givon’s on it. He’l cal me back with the results as soon as he gets them.” Caine’s phone shril ed as if punctuating his last statement. “Hmm, that was quick.” He dug out his phone again and flipped it open.
“Valorian.”
As Caine talked, Theron reached across the table and grabbed Lyra’s hand. Startled, she nearly jumped out of her chair. His touch sent heated bolts surging over her skin. “You look haunted,petite sorcière .”
She blushed, thankful that he mistook her look as troubled instead of heated. “I’m just tired. Bad dreams and all .”
“I, too, had bad dreams.” He opened his mouth to say something else but Caine was off the phone and talking before he could.
“That was Eve. She identified one of the fibers we retrieved from the body. It’s vehicle carpet fiber from a Mercedes.”
“That’s good.” Lyra pul ed her hand out from under Theron’s, hoping Caine hadn’t noticed. But by the way he was eyeing Theron, it was obvious he had already caught it. He looked at her but didn’t comment about the intimate gesture.