Elizabeth glanced at them each in turn, lifting her lips in a short smile and tucking her stray curls behind her ear. “Of course, but I’m not sure what you’ll discover. I’m not at liberty to discuss her medical condition, but I can understand her reason for wanting time alone.”
Isabella wanted to argue with the woman. As Ella’s best friend, they were used to facing danger around every doorway. But nothing would make the soul-shifter bolt. She had never felt the closeness to Elizabeth that Ella felt. Perhaps it was her odd aura; she didn’t know. But hearing her today, jumping to care for Nate, tasted bitter. Isabella wanted time to analyze that, but they needed to perform the walk-through first.
After the ritual, Zephra looked detached and lost deep in thought. Once they cleared the medical center and the doctor, Isabella stood in the cold March wind, waiting for her sister to tell her what was on her mind.
Zephra kept glancing back at the entryway to the medical center. “I don’t know why, but the doctor’s lying. It’s true, I couldn’t see anything out of place—the memory I found in the clinic is bright and clear, but I can’t place when it took place.”
“What are you saying?” Isabella asked.
“I’m saying that memory has been placed there on purpose. The smell of magic in that room is the heaviest it’s been all day. Couldn’t you smell it?”
“No. My sense of smell is different since I became a vampire.” Isabella wanted to scream.
“Well, you know every creature has a unique signature. This magic is far darker, more potent. It’s been diluted somewhat, perhaps to appear as one of ours, but I caught enough of a whiff to know it doesn’t belong to anyone we know.”
Isabella stepped closer, as if anyone could overhear. “The Morrigan?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure yet, which is why I captured the memory in here and will examine it at home.” Zephra shook a small glass vial at her.
“Should I tell Drayton about the doctor? We know she’s lying about something.”
Zephra held that far-off look in her bright-green eyes. “It will keep until he returns. But inform Jake and keep a close watch over her.”
“Damn it, why me? He has feelings for Elizabeth. This is not going to go well if this comes from me.” She did not need to rake up the past. The human would make this personal and she hated to mess up his love life—again.
Hours later, brooding over the news, Isabella stepped outside onto the balcony, wrapped in her short nightgown. She stared at the night sky and knocked back a shot of vodka, wondering how to tackle the subject of the doctor with Jake without causing a blazing fight. Closing her eyes for a second, she recalled the past. A whisper of cool air brushed across her shoulders, thrusting her right back to the present. All her senses went on heightened alert. She slowly placed her glass down on the plant stand and hissed, detecting another presence. Out from the shadows, a dark silhouette rushed forward and pinned her against the stone wall, inhaling her scent. She shoved hard at the vampire who plagued her dreams.
“Get off me, Roman. What the hell are you doing here?”
When he released her, she stared into his dark, broody eyes, his face impassive, but he didn’t budge an inch, damn him. “Tell your boss, Ella’s been sighted at the Liberty Hotel in Boston. My men are tailing her. I told Marcus I would keep an eye out for any news.”
“Well, that’s mighty decent of you, but he’s already left.”
Despite her seething anger for the vampire, a yearning for his touch swept through her like wildfire at his proximity. One she needed to fight. She brushed past, creating some much-needed distance to alleviate the ache for him. But as she walked by, the vampire’s nostrils flared; he lifted his head and he grabbed her wrist to reel her in against him until her back met his chest. He pressed a possessive hand over her flat abdomen, holding her in place. Captured in his arms, she couldn’t fail to feel his arousal, which brushed along her backside, and he leaned in, kissing her neck. Aware of how exposed and naked she was under her thin gown, she stiffened, fighting her desire.
“Leave me alone,” she ground out as tingles rippled down her spine at his seduction. When Roman didn’t release her but kept caressing her neck, flicking his wet tongue back and forth on the soft skin just below her ear, she dug her nails in her palm, refusing to surrender to the sensations. His cool breath caressed her heated flesh, driving her wild with an outrageous need, and she wriggled to free herself, only to have the vampire hiss in response. The heady scent of him was intoxicating. Being this close, and sensing his dangerous mood, was an aphrodisiac that called to her dark, reckless nature, which always got her in trouble.
“I promised myself I wouldn’t come, but I can’t resist you. And it seems I’m not alone in that, my love,” he said quietly at the side of her head as he undid the ties of her nightgown to cup her firm breast in his hand.
“You can’t do this to me, Roman,” she said, her voice light as she arched her head back.
“I am not doing anything you don’t wish for. I know what arousal looks like on you, Isabella.”
Before she could argue, he changed positions and leaned her into the wall. He ducked his head, catching her nipple in his mouth and swirling his tongue around. His fingers quickly found her sex and plunged inside, increasing her hunger for him.
