Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,88
assistance.”
My kin didn’t stop frowning, but I thought his eyes brightened just a little. He shifted his weight and folded his bulging arms over his chest. “How can you be sure we won’t simply bring about an even more horrible fate than before?”
That question had haunted me ever since Omen had first come calling. I hadn’t always been confident in my answer. But here, thinking of his leadership even if he wasn’t with us in the flesh, of the deeper understanding of my capabilities and flaws that Sorsha had brought out in me, and of the cause we’d all come together for, the words came to my lips without a hint of hesitation.
“One can never be sure,” I said. “But I’ve seen enough to believe that in this conflict, I can make a difference for the good of all shadowkind. I can save far more lives than were ever lost in the wars of the past. And you could too, if you’ll lend your instincts and your fists.”
The other wingéd was silent for a long spell, considering me. Then he said, in a tone that ignited a flicker of hope within me, “Tell me more about this new war.”
24
Sorsha
When we came up on the San Francisco city limits, I found myself drifting to the front of the Everymobile to watch the buildings whip past us through the windshield. Their lights and the glow of the streetlamps streaked in the growing darkness. My gaze snagged on every figure we passed.
None of them were Omen. I hadn’t really expected him to be standing waiting for us to turn up with his impatient glare and his authoritarian stance. Still, I couldn’t help being a little disappointed that he wasn’t. I’d have taken a heaping of criticism about our discipline and arrival time just to know where the hell he’d gone.
“I suppose we should find some cozy nook where we can settle in for the night,” Ruse said in his usual flippant tone, but his expression looked a tad weary. I’d bet the incubus could last for days between the sheets without losing energy—a wager I wouldn’t mind taking to the bed one of these days, just to confirm—but he wasn’t made for driving mortal roads for hours on end.
“Where would Omen think to look for us?” Snap asked, coming up behind me. “We should pick a spot where it’d be easy for him to find us.”
“But not likely that the Company will notice our arrival,” Thorn put in.
“Yeah.” I sucked my lower lip under my teeth. “We’ve usually had the best luck finding areas without much mortal activity around the fringes of the cities. Let’s ramble through the suburbs and see what we turn up.”
If that didn’t work… Post an ad in the Missed Connections section of a newspaper? Put out an emergency bulletin over the public TV? Hire a plane to skywrite a message? He’d be most likely to see that last one, but then, so would every other person in the city, Company assholes included.
In the end, Ruse found a vacant lot between a couple of faded warehouses and parked the RV there in cargo van guise. Thorn stayed up to continue discussing the situation with his new wingéd friend, whose name—Flint—matched his appearance better than any shadowkind I’d met yet, and I tugged the incubus and the devourer into the bedroom with me.
They came without complaint and settled in on either side of me. I was too tangled up to want to conduct any experiments in stamina right now, but with Ruse brushing his fingers down my back in a fond caress and Snap tucking his chin over my forehead to encompass me with his fresh scent, I was able to sink into sleep faster than I’d thought.
My two lovers were still there when I woke up. As I stirred, Snap pressed a kiss to the top of my head and Ruse let his fingers skim over my waist. “Anything we can do to make this a happy morning for you, Miss Blaze?” the incubus murmured.
I tipped my head up to kiss Snap on the lips and then rolled over to offer the same to Ruse. His claiming of my mouth was so fervently tender that my pulse fluttered. I might have given in to the temptation to rediscover all the other sensations he could rouse with his touch if the absence of my most recent paramour hadn’t been hanging over us.