Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk

recalled the injury to her arm. It had healed without a mark by that next morning. Holly had begun to believe that it was too late for the reversal anyway. And she wasn’t as broken up about that as she’d thought she’d be.
    In truth, she’d begun seeing herself with Cadeon more and more. She’d grown accustomed to his abrasive, lowbrow humor. He made her laugh and made sure she didn’t take herself too seriously. She could stare at those green eyes of his for hours.
    And he’d proved considerate, always seeing to her needs, working with her quirks. She never opened a bottle when he was near.
    He was also tirelessly teaching her, making her spar whenever they stopped at a hotel for a few hours. Then back on the road, he quizzed her on what she’d learned….
    When she finished her upload, she took off her glasses and closed the computer. “Okay, ready to drill.”
    “All right. What’s the first thing you do with multiple assailants? And why?”
    “Count them, because if I decide to run, they’ll likely split up. It’ll help me determine whether I’m being surrounded.”
    One nod. “You’ve encountered a foe—where’s the first place you look?”
    “The eyes. They’ll change color if he’s enraged. After that, I’d look at the hands to check for weapons.”
    “Say he’s enraged and carrying. What’s your facing-off position?”
    “I narrow the target, with one foot in front of the other, one shoulder outward.” Before he could ask, she said, “My left shoulder. Because I’m right handed.”
    “Utilizing your environment—two examples.”
    “Put obstacles between me and my attacker,” she said. “And use the lighting to my advantage—shadows distort perception.”
    “How many pounds of pressure does it take to break a knee?” he asked.
    “Only twelve.”
    “And what do you do if a human male threatens you?”
    “Clean his clock, and teach him the time of day.”
    “That’s my girl.” He gently chucked her on the chin, and she flushed with pleasure.
    “Why do you keep preparing me?”
    “Because we’re not finished yet. You’ve still got people trying to kill you, and we’ve still got at least one more checkpoint. It could be as dangerous as the last.”

    Cadeon was out on the hunt for uncracked steamed shellfish, leaving Holly back at the hotel to work, “because codes don’t write themselves.”
    But she was blocked, unable to get anything done. She decided to call Mei to make sure everything was going all right with her class. The boys could be…boisterous.
    “Everything’s fine,” Mei said, but didn’t elaborate. “How are things with your family?”
    “Getting better. A lot better. I think everything’s going to be fine.”
    “That’s good.”
    Holly’s ear twitched, and she frowned. “Mei, do you want to tell me something?”
    “Look, I wasn’t going to call you because I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, but there might be a time element involved with your work, and I’m sick of women being passed over for these jobs anyway.”
    Holly’s stomach began to churn. “What are you talking about?”
    “You know Scott was at the California conference, right?”
    “Yes, he went at the last minute.” Scott was Mei’s boyfriend, a well-respected mathematician and all around nice guy.
    “This morning he called me with some disturbing news….”
    “Just tell me, Mei.”
    She took a deep breath, then said, “Tim’s been stealing your work—and passing it off as his own.”

35
    A s Cade waited for food, he checked in with Rök. “Any word on Néomi?”
    “Again, we were closing in and she just seemed to…vanish,” Rök said, sounding like he was scratching his head.
    “A mortal is evading you? Come on, Rök—we’re running out of time! I need you to be on this with everything you’ve got.”
    “I have a really good lead. I’ll get her this time.”
    Rök sounded confident enough, but once they hung up, Cade was uneasy about their prospects.
    And Cade had begun mulling another idea—a way for everyone to win. It’d be extremely dangerous. Riskier than anything he’d ever attempted.
    If his plan failed, everyone would lose .
    In life, Cade’s season record wasn’t all wins. And when he fucked up, he tended to go big.
    He should stick with Rydstrom’s wishes, carrying out this operation the way the king intended. Cade would put his idea out of his head.
    But what if…?

    “What?” Holly cried.
    “Tim’s been taking sole