Her gaze jumped to his. The concern in his eyes was stronger. As much as the spell was trying to force him to, he wasn't treating her as a stranger. "Can't you smell the blood?"
"Its sweetness rides the air," he said. "But right now, the source of that nectar is not my major concern." His words made her heart do strange things. Lord, how she loved this man. "I'm okay. I just need a drink."
"Then you shall have it."
He rose and disappeared, but he was back within minutes with a small bottle of water. He must have raided Kinnard's store to get it, because she couldn't imagine the hotels selling plastic bottles of water. Surely it wouldn't be in keeping with the feel Dunleavy was trying to achieve. He handed her the water and sat beside her on the ground. His arm brushed against hers, and warmth pulsed through her body, erasing the chill, calming the churning.
"What happened in there?" he asked, thumbing toward the building at their back.
"I made a major mistake."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
She took a gulp of water, swished it around her mouth, and then spat it out. "Kinnard told me when I arrived here earlier that Dunleavy would sacrifice two men at midnight if I did not rescue them. I thought they were the two people I knew would die tonight—"
"How did you know two people would die?"
She hesitated. "It's preordained."
He raised a dark eyebrow. "Fate can always be changed."
"Not this one," she said glumly. And she should have known better than to blindly trust that someone like Dunleavy would play by the rules. "Anyway, I thought the two destined to die would be the two Dunleavy mentioned, which is why I was looking for them."
He gave her a speculative look—the sort of look that suggested he knew she wasn't telling the entire truth. "This town is full of men. How did you intend to define the search?" She hesitated again, not sure how much she could safely tell him. Dunleavy had probably guessed she'd try and tell Michael the truth, and he would have factored some sort of counter into the spell holding Michael's memories hostage. "Because the missing men are rangers."
"Ah." He considered her a moment longer, then said, "So, if two are to die tonight, was it their bodies in that room?"
Images of blood and gore and shredded body parts flitted through her mind. She shuddered and took a hasty swallow of water. It only seemed to stir her agitated stomach more.