nodded. She hit the answer button. “Hey, Vivi! I know, I know. Things have been crazy, but—I’m sorry.”
I propped myself against her pillow, watching the tentative smile cross her lips at her best friend’s banter. A deeper contentment than I’d felt in days settled over me.
I’d done at least one thing right here. Perhaps I should remember what she’d said about there being different ways of saving. The ways I could protect Sorsha didn’t look anything like Thorn’s warrior strength, but that didn’t have to mean they mattered so much less, as long as I spotted those opportunities when they came.
10
Sorsha
I peered up at the stucco apartment building, its thin face looming several stories above the street. Patches of orangey-brown and a paler cream color mottled the stucco, and rust speckled the hinges on the antique-looking front door.
“This is the place?”
“Unless our stalwart hacker connected the phone number he traced to the wrong address.” Ruse cocked his head and then motioned for me to stand back from the door. “Wait here. I’ll take the lay of the land from the shadows first. If we’re lucky, we won’t even need your thieving skills. The fellow up there is engaged to his Company lady, but they’re not living together yet. As far as we know, he’s not involved in the Company himself. There’s no reason for him to be particularly protected.”
Because the Company had no reason to believe the man up there knew anything that could help their enemies—a.k.a., us. But if his fiancée hadn’t let anything useful slip during their phone conversations, Ruse would simply charm the dude into forgetting we’d ever stopped by like he would anyway, and we’d see what other connections his new hacker ally could dig up from back in Paris. Thank all that was wired and wild for the internet.
Ruse stepped into the shadows of the narrow alley between that apartment building and the next—so narrow it’d have been a tight fit for me to walk down it—and vanished. While I waited for his report, I pulled out my phone to give the impression I was occupied with more than just loitering here. The three other members of my shadowkind quartet had come along, but they were staying in the darkness until we knew what we were looking for.
Too bad I couldn’t text with them while they were in their shadow forms. My lips quirked at the thought of what enthusiastic observations and dour cautions Snap and Thorn would pass on.
Omen? Who knew what the hellhound shifter would think it worth saying to me. But although he hadn’t exactly gotten less enigmatic, I’d felt more comfortable in whatever uncertainties he stirred up since our interlude in the cathedral.
He intended to ensure I made it through this alive, Tempest and the Highest be damned. That much I was convinced of now. And if we had the chance to steal another heated moment or two along the way… I didn’t think either of us would turn it down.
Ruse reformed out of the shadows looking pleased with himself. “Not a bit of iron or silver around, at least not enough to be of any concern.”
I tucked my phone back into my purse, feeling abruptly adrift. This had been my plan, but it working well meant I didn’t have any part to play in it. “I guess I should head back to the Everymobile then.”
“Not at all! Come on.” He nudged me toward the doorway. “I’ve already chatted with our host enough to ensure he’s open to visitors. You can’t come all the way to Rome without doing a little sightseeing. And I promise you, you’ll get quite the sight from up there.”
As usual, his playful cajoling was irresistible, even without him turning any of his supernaturally-powered charm on me. I tramped after him into a cramped corridor that led to a rickety lift so small I was practically snuggling with the incubus inside its car. Good thing the rest of our companions could shrink to a much smaller size when they traveled through the shadows.
The lift whirred upward with only an occasional wobble. Naturally, Ruse couldn’t resist the excuse of the tight space to give my ass a squeeze. I swatted his in return as he got off ahead of me, and he laughed.
I wasn’t sure he’d completely dropped the whole “I should have protected you better” idea he’d expressed to me on the drive here, but at least his usual carefree flirtiness was back in full force.
“The rest