scanned the trees. 'Do you know the names of the men who helped you?'
'Yes. Jason and Mitch. And Patrick,' she added.
'I need their surnames, too.'
'Sorry.' She shook her head. 'They didn't offer, and at the time I didn't care to ask.'
Darius fought a wave of disappointment. He'd hoped to find the men, question them and finally gain at least some of the answers he sought. The sooner he finished this, the sooner he could reclaim Javar's palace-and the sooner his life returned to normal. No more chaos. No more unquenchable desires.
No more Grace.
His lips lifted in a scowl. She was quickly propelling him to the brink of madness. The way she moved, sultry, swaying. The way she spoke, challenging, lilting. The way she watched him with hunger in her eyes-hunger she couldn't quite hide.
She didn't want to want him, but want him she did. Very much.
And he wanted her right back-alarmingly so.
After he'd uttered the binding spell, he'd seen inside her mind and knew she ran from her own desires. Knew her brother, Alex, did the same. They'd watched their father slowly deteriorate, then quickly die. Grace had loved her father for the kind, gentle man he'd been, but watching him fade had been so painful she'd retreated to fantasy, imagining herself anywhere but home. Imagining herself in all kinds of exhilarating situations. A crime fighter of unequalled strength. A lady pirate who sailed the high seas. A siren who lured men to her bed and pleasured them into unconsciousness. The last intrigued him most.
She craved excitement and passion and all the things she'd created in her dreams, but so far life had offered her none of those things. Nothing managed to live up to her expectations. She'd known one disappointing adventure after another… until she stumbled through the mist. Then she'd finally found the exhilaration she had always craved.
How could he consider ending her life, when she was only just now beginning to experience her dreams? The question plagued him because he knew the answer, he simply could not accept it. Though he might want her to live, he would fulfill his oath.
Darius sighed. He was wasting time here, time that he didn't have to spare. His powers were already weakening. He wasn't sure how much longer he had before he weakened completely.
'Let us journey back to your home,' he told Grace. He didn't wait for her response, he simply wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
'Wait. I want to head into town and ask around about Alex,' she said. 'That's why I brought his pic-' Before she could finish her sentence, he pictured her home and those very walls materialized around them.
CHAPTER 12
The New York morning announced its presence by shooting rays of sunlight through Grace's living room windows. Cars honked outside; the people above her stomped across their apartment, shaking her ceiling.
'You have got to stop popping me in and out of places. I'm this close-' she told Darius, pinching her thumb and finger together '-to having a heart attack. And besides that, I wasn't ready to leave,' she snapped. 'I wanted you to take me into town so I could show Alex's picture around and ask if anyone had seen him.'
'I did not deem it necessary,' he said, releasing her. His face was pale and those lines of tension were back.
He did not deem it necessary , she silently mimicked. What about what she deemed necessary? Scowling, she padded to the kitchen, placed her gun inside a drawer and poured herself a tall glass of ice water. She drained every drop. Only after she'd consumed three more glasses did she offer Darius a drink.
'Have you anything other than water? Something with flavor?'
'I could make lemonade.' Not that he deserved it.
'That will suffice.'
She withdrew several lemons from the refrigerator, beat them against the counter to release the most juice, then sliced a hole in the top of each. She squeezed the tangy liquid into a glass and added sugar substitute-she did not keep real sugar anywhere near her-and water. She slid the drink across the counter.
Having watched her mix the contents with a leery eye, he lifted the glass and sipped tentatively. She knew the exact moment the sweet-and-sour flavors blended into his taste buds, knew the exact moment he wanted to howl with pleasure. His strong fingers gripped the cup, curling around the glass with surprising gentleness; his eyelids grew heavy, causing his inky lashes to dip over the sensuous planes of his cheekbones.
As he swallowed, his throat moved. A wicked shiver dripped along her spine, and she had the sudden urge to lick him there. I'm turned on by a man's trachea. How pathetic am I ?
'Surely that is ambrosia,' he said. Thankfully his color had returned. He reluctantly set his empty glass on the countertop.
'I don't mind making more if you're-'
'I would like more,' he rushed out.
If he reacted like this to lemonade, how would he react to chocolate? Spontaneous orgasm? Maybe she had a Hershey bar hidden somewhere…
He consumed two more glasses of lemonade in quick succession. He requested a third, but she'd run out of lemons. His disappointment was palpable, but he shrugged it off.
Watching her with heated eyes, he licked the last drop from the cup rim. 'You asked me earlier what power my medallion possessed. I will show you now,' he said. 'First I will need your brother's surname.'
'Carlyle. Like mine.'
He arched a brow. 'Is that common here? To share names?'
'Yes. You didn't share the same name as your family members?'
'No. Why should we have? We are each individuals and our names are our own.'
'How do you show your family relationship, then?'
'With our affection for each other.' Darius removed his medallion, and as he held it in his open palm, it glowed a brighter, eerier red. 'Show me Alex Carlyle,' he said to the dragon heads.
Four beams of crimson sprayed from both sets of eyes. They formed a circle in the air, and the beams grew wider by the second. Grace watched with fascination as the air began to crystallize.
'What's happening?' she whispered.
Alex's image appeared in the center of the circle, and all questions were forgotten. Her jaw dropped open in shock. Dirt, sweat and bruises covered her brother from head to toe, and as she took in his appearance, her blood ran cold. He was pallid, his skin so pale she could see the faint tracings of his veins. He wore only a pair of ripped, stained jeans. His eyes were closed, and he huddled on a muddy floor. Tremors raked him. From cold? From fever? Or fear? The room was sparsely furnished with a small bed and a chipped wooden nightstand.
With one hand she covered her mouth and with the other she reached out, hoping to smooth his brow, hoping to reassure him that she was here. Just like in me cave, her fingers drifted through like a mirage. Feeling helpless, she dropped her hands to her sides. 'Alex,' she said shakily.
'He cannot hear you,' Darius said.
'Alex,' she said again, determined to gain his attention in any way necessary. How long since he'd last eaten? What had put those bruises on his skin? What had made him so pale? She bit back a deep moan of distress.
'Do you recognize this place?' Darius asked.
'No.' Lips trembling, gaze never straying, she shook her head. 'Do you?'
'No,' he sighed.
'It's a motel room, I think. Find him,' she beseeched, watching in horror as her brother rolled to his side, revealing two bloody puncture wounds on his neck. 'You said you would.'
'I only wish it were that easy, Grace.'
At last she switched her attention, flashing Darius an accusing glare. 'You found me.'
'We were connected through the spell of understanding. I simply followed my own magic. I have had no
