Avet, Danica - Ain't No Bull [The Veil 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

Chapter Eight

Grant went from hot to cold to hot again in the time it took for Ricky to lead Arabella out of the house with the promise he’d stop by later. The incubus looked just as dumbfounded, his eyes going back and forth between Isola and Grant as though looking for the intangible link that caused a mating. Grant knew it was there, he could feel it and he knew Isola could feel it as well.

He fumed silently, staring her down as she stood there looking composed. Her vow was a lie, but he wouldn’t call her on it. Oh no, it would be much more fun to make her break it.

“Izzy?” Fallon asked, breaking the silence. “
Cher
, you um, took a vow?” He sounded skeptical, so Grant felt a little better. He leaned closer to hiss in her ear. “What about those satyrs a couple of months ago?”

Her gamine little face screwed up into a frown that should’ve made her look fierce, but only managed to look charming. She wiped her hands on her pants then fidgeted with one of the grommets.

She cleared her throat. “Nothing uh, happened.” Fallon snorted and she frowned up at him. “I kicked their asses and sent them on their way.”

“You respond to my enchantment,” the soon-to-be-dead incubus insisted. “If you had taken a vow, you wouldn’t have become aroused.”

Grant’s hands clenched into hard fists. The bastard was aching for a beat down.

Her cheeks were bright red. “Um, it’s a recent vow,” she mumbled. “This year is going to be my first test.” Grant watched her eyes shift to the left. He smiled. She was lying her cute little ass off!

“That’s too bad,” Grant said, drawing her gaze to his face. What she saw obviously upset her because her face darkened into a scowl that could peel paint. “You’re gonna fail, baby girl.”

Isola glared at him, her hands curling into fists. “You arrogant…ass…bull, whatever! My vow is sacred. I’m going to apply to the Virgin Guard when I get back home.”

Grant took that hit like a knife to the heart. If she wasn’t lying, oh gods, she’d be out of his reach. The Amazon Virgin Guard was about as untouchable as a Veilerian could get. They sacrificed their femininity to become the most lethal warriors in any dimension. They were the women ancient Greeks wrote about who cut off their breasts to fight better. Grant stared at her chest. He’d lock her up before he let anything happen to those succulent peaches. Plans came to mind, ways to romance her. Grant calmed a bit. If he had a plan, he would find a way to win her.

“Take that damned look off your face!” Isola screeched at him. She sounded a bit like his mother when she did that, he thought with smug surprise.

“Izzy, Isola,” Fallon soothed, raising his hands in a placating gesture as he approached her. “
Fouine
, calm down. What look is the bull making at you?” Fallon looked at Grant. He shrugged. “I think this is just a face he has, yes? He is not very attractive, but he can’t help that.”

Isola shrugged off her friend’s hands, her eyes shooting arrows right at Grant. “No, Fallon. He’s scheming. I can tell. He’s got some fucked-up plan just because his mother thinks I’m his mate,” she snarled. Then she paused. “And he is too attractive. He’s very sexy.”

She said it grudgingly as though she didn’t want to concede that much, but Grant would take it gladly. Now if he could manage to hide his intentions, she’d never know what hit her.

“I don’t know what you mean, Isola, I’m just thinking that your friend may be able to help us with the killer nymph problem,” he said mildly.

Fallon cursed heartily. “There is no such thing as killer nymphs. I have told Isola this and now I’m telling you! Nymphs do not attack for any reason.”

Grant shrugged glad to see the ire in Isola’s eyes fading to indignation at her friend’s stubbornness. “I just know what I saw. The nymphs lured me out of a bar in town and then grabbed my ring to bring me to someone they called Master Ormond.”

A stillness came over Fallon and Isola as though a demon had just entered the room. Not liking their reaction, Grant tried to remember if he remembered anything else from that night. He didn’t. There were so many masters in the Veilerian, it was almost impossible to keep track of which faction used the term.

“What do you know?” he finally asked when he drew a blank.

* * * *

Isola shared a guarded look with Fallon. She wasn’t sure how much to tell Grant. If the Master who wanted him was Ormond Steele, then the minotaur was in more trouble than she could help him with. She was glad he finally changed the subject though, even if it was to something more dangerous, so much the better. The last thing she wanted to talk about was her possible ascension to the Virgin Guard.

Problem was, now she didn’t now know how much information to share. Ormond Steele was frequently called master, or the Overlord, by those who served in the Eturian army. It was only recently that the High Council and Veilerian Protection Agency had learned who the Overlord was. With the defection of one of the Eturians’ top generals, Malachi Cromwell, and one of their most deadly assassins, Noelani Fayard, the Veil now knew who they were up against. Although it hadn’t helped much since Ormond had vanished from sight.

Izzy had seen the bastard herself when she and Malachi had rescued Noelani from Ormond’s master general. She’d burned the general’s house down—and had the burn marks on her ass as a souvenir. The VPA and High Council had cautioned Izzy’s tribe not to stir the waters too much, they wanted to catch Ormond red-handed and give him a fair trial.

Probably because they knew the Amazons would take matters into their own hands. Izzy’s fingers twitched. Yeah, she’d love to tear into the Eturians personally. Those bastards had been tormenting her friends and people she considered family for years. Nearly everyone in her life had been touched by violence at the hands of the Eturians. The way she figured, payback was a bitch named Izzy.

That was part of the reason she was in
Wyoming
. She’d been chomping at the bit to destroy Steele. Izzy growled. She hated bullies and that’s exactly what the Eturians were, picking on the innocent and helpless. Not that Grant was either, but he wasn’t as equipped to deal with the Eturians as a band of hardened Amazon warriors.

Fallon touched her arm gently. Izzy forced a smile. Ormond had gotten away last time. He’d turn tail and run the minute he’d seen Luther’s house on fire. Her hand brushed the burn marks on her ass. She hadn’t gone out looking for him because her queen had asked it of her. But this time though, it looked as though she’d fallen right in the path of Ormond Steele’s next victim. She wouldn’t let him get away again.

“Well?” he asked, looking from Izzy to Fallon and back again.

Fallon rubbed the back of his neck, his face indecisive.

“We can’t say,” Izzy finally told him. “We’d have to find out who the nymphs were planning to take you to before we could tell you anything.”

Grant’s eyes flared with anger. She understood why. She’d want to know exactly what was going on as well, but it wasn’t their secret. It was the Council’s, and they could put Izzy and Fallon behind bars for centuries if either of them divulged that information without clearance.

“I’m sorry, we can’t tell you.” She frowned. She really was sorry she couldn’t tell him. Well what do you know, she thought absently. “Let me contact a few people, find out what they know of this area and how much we can tell you.”

“She’s correct,
taureau
, we cannot say anything yet, but we will help you,” Fallon promised, earning a smile from Izzy. She knew she could count on him.

Grant’s face was impassive, but his eyes never wavered from Izzy’s face. “I don’t have room for another person so you’ll have to stay somewhere else, Plaisance.” His eyes warned her he hadn’t given up on finding out what was going on. “I’ll accept this for the time being, but the minute anyone is in danger, I don’t give a fuck who you talk to, I’m going to want answers.”

Izzy nodded. “I understand, and we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” she promised. She looked at Fallon. “Do you want to try talking to you-know-who, or find the nymphs?”

Fallon shrugged. “I will speak with the powers that be. You are a better tracker than I am,” he told her with a smile that she returned. “I’ll be back as soon as I find anything out.” He turned to leave, stopping at the door. “
Fouine
, do you wish to send a message to your sisters?”

A shock ran through Izzy’s body. She hadn’t even thought of her sisters. Her eyes met Grant’s and she knew why. The damn bull was distracting her. She just wasn’t sure what she could do about it.

“Yes, I have messages.” She gave Grant a wary look. “I’ll tell you outside.”

* * * *

Grant watched Isola slip out of his house with the incubus. He couldn’t put a name to the look on her face, but it hadn’t been nice. Something bigger than his mother’s words and the killer nymphs was bothering her. He hoped it was him, but with that crazy woman, he couldn’t be sure.

Sighing loudly, he picked up the phone. He’d have to call in his assistant, Iris, to catch his slack at the office because it seemed that he’d wandered into a problem bigger than the Ball.

His fingers paused over the number pad. That might be the connection they needed to look into, he thought. Everyone of importance in the Veil went to the Ball, that’s why security had to be top-notch. He put the phone down again. He’d talk with Isola about it and see what she thought before he made any big decisions.

He headed to the kitchen. His stomach was growling, and if Isola was as hungry as he was, she’d want food. While he whipped up a massive vegetarian omelet, he thought of all the things he needed to do.

He’d have to call his mom and make sure she was fine. She’d seemed shaken up by Isola’s accusations, but he wouldn’t contradict the Amazon. She was absolutely right.

He filled a skillet with a whole bag of hash browns. He needed to talk to Ricky, bring him into the killer nymph loop. He chuckled as he threw some vegetables in the omelet.

This wasn’t exactly the best way to woo a female, but it appeared to be the way he would win her over. Killer nymphs, overprotective mothers, and bears. Yup, he sure knew how to romance the ladies.

* * * *

“I don’t see why Albreda won’t let me call,” Izzy complained as she followed Fallon further away from Grant’s house. This was turning into the most fucked-up morning she’d had in a while. And that included that day she’d awakened fully clothed with four comatose satyrs in her tent with no idea how they got there. The cuts and bruises on their faces had been enough to tell her they hadn’t been invited. She shrugged. “It isn’t like I’m going to lead Rosetta and Saga into temptation or anything.”

Fallon said nothing, though the look he gave her told her plenty. Izzy kicked at a clump of snow. Right, she did tend to drag others into trouble, but that was only because trouble was so easy to find! Didn’t anyone understand that she needed to be in the thick of things, to know what was going on? So her judgment needed a little improving, so what? She was capable of facing anything on her own—she’d proved that to herself and others over the last hundred years.

“When did you decide to join the Guard,
fouine
?”

She winced. It was bad enough to know that her tribe wanted her out of their hair, but for her queen to suggest such an extreme change…it was disheartening. She hadn’t given much thought to it at the time and she would’ve never thought she’d entertain the notion, but now she wondered if it wouldn’t be the best thing for her. The Guard was revered among the Amazons. They were the best of the best. It would be an honor to join them. Even if it was something she hadn’t thought she wanted. It was something to think about.

“I um, haven’t made my mind up yet,” she finally said, stepping away from him. She wasn’t immune to him, and his scent was like the finest chocolate just begging her to take a bite. “Queen Albreda mentioned it before I left home. I guess she thought I needed something to focus on.”

His lean fingers wrapped around her wrist, pulling her to a stop. “Don’t do anything foolish, Izzy.” He waved his free hand at the house. “This
taureau
, he scares you. Don’t make a decision based on that fear.”