his own skin. He would feel the burn of her spell for a few hours, but would remember nothing else about this encounter.
And should the original party show up to claim his reserved Presidential Suite . . . well, she would deal with them in the same way.
Turning, she walked down the long marble lobby, enjoying the quiet click of her Ferragamos. Power. It was all about power, really.
At the elevator, she waved one hand at the closed doors and they opened instantly. She stepped inside, leaned languorously against the wall and smiled to herself as the doors swept shut.
“Good to be a witch,” she whispered to no one.
She’d waited through lifetime after lifetime for this and now it was all within her grasp. It was all coming together so nicely. As if it were Destiny. Preordained. And she believed it was. How could it not be?
She had a plan. More, she had powerful backers. Yes, she was being forced to deal with humans, but when the stakes were this high, she was willing to put up with some aggravation.
They didn’t understand, of course. How could they? The humans believed that they were in charge. That she was their willing accomplice.
She laughed a little as the elevator opened onto the Presidential Suite. Above her head a wide skylight offered a view of the night sky, shining with stars and the ever-increasing moon. The floor was a mosaic pattern of inlaid marble and the wall sconces threw small shafts of golden light.
She walked through the suite, admiring the elegant furnishings, acquainting herself with the luxury she would quickly become accustomed to. Then she walked to the closest terrace and opened the doors.
The night air was soft and cool against her skin and the hum of the city spread out below her. Everything was just as it should be.
The plan was in place. All she needed now was to wait for the signal that would begin the game.
“Soon,” she whispered, glancing up at the night sky as the moon darted behind a swath of clouds as if hiding from her. “Soon it will all be mine and no one will be able to stand against me.”
Alone on the terrace with the night as witness, Kellyn laughed as power shimmered out all around her.
Chapter 33
Shea was watching the fire consume the motel, and the nearby trees, when her own personal pillar of fire erupted alongside her. What did it say about her, she wondered, that she no longer jumped in surprise when Torin did the flaming-man thing?
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” she asked, not even glancing at him. “Whoever did this is dead. You killed him.”
“Them,” he corrected, taking her shoulder and turning her to face him. “There were two. They were directed to kill you, but they didn’t know who was giving the orders.”
“So nothing was solved,” she pointed out quietly. She turned her head as the first fire engine arrived and the howling siren shut off abruptly. Men scattered, running for hoses, shouting instructions, all while the fire raged and hissed at them as if taunting their puny efforts to extinguish it.
“You’re safe again,” Torin said.
“For now.”
“Now is all we have,” he told her and drew her to him.
She tried to hold herself away, but her instincts worked against her. She might not like what was happening, but her mind insisted that she could hardly blame Torin for protecting her. There were people out there—even now—plotting her death. Shea closed her eyes and sighed as she wrapped her arms around Torin’s middle.
Burrowing into his steadiness, his warmth, she worried not about the now but about tomorrow. And the day after that. How were they supposed to complete whatever their task was if she couldn’t unlock the right memory? How was she supposed to defend herself if her powers were still wildly unpredictable?
His hands swept up and down her spine and despite the situation, her body responded. Desire for this man was always only a breath away. And apparently, even the threat of imminent death couldn’t defeat it.
“We have to go,” Torin said, pulling her back from him so that he could look into her eyes.
“How?” she asked on a short laugh that carried a tinge of near hysteria. Pointing down the hill, she said, “The explosion took out your car.”
He didn’t even glance at the blackened hulk of the sleek Viper. “We’ll find another. But for now . . .”
He pulled her close again and she nodded, folding herself around him as