Page 6 of Blood Submission

Nik spun around in his chair to face her. “How is it that you know so much about this, and I don’t?”

“Because I’m better at eavesdropping than you are?” she guessed.

“Where are the witches?” Luukas grittedout.

“Emma and Grace are downstairs playing with Mojo. I don’t know where Keira is,” Ryan toldhim.

Luukas stood and strode over to the office doorway. Ah yes, his mate was nearby. He could feel her. His teeth ached and he realized he was clenching his jaw, his fangs protruding in his anger. His little witch thought to hide things from him, did she? Did she think him not male enough to handle what was going on? Not sane enough? Or was this just another of her little tricks?

“KEIRA!”

Turning back to his desk, he attempted to silence the doubts running through his mind as he sat down and waited for his mate. His Keira had done nothing but care for him and make him happy since his brother had rescued them both from Leeha’s hellish prison. He had no reason to think she meant any malicious intent by not telling him about this piece of information. She was probably just trying to protect him, as usual.

A few seconds later, his raven-haired witch—his angel—came running from the other room. When she saw them all sitting there in the office, obviously waiting for her, she slowed. Her hazel eyes lighted on Ryan and her forehead creased with confusion. “What’s wrong?” she asked Luukas. “What’s goingon?”

Luukas laced his fingers on top of his desk and held her in his steady gaze. “Tell me about the box,” he ordered.

Placing her hands on her voluptuous hips, she scowled at Ryan. “You ratted us out?” Then she gazed off to the side, her lovely face scrunched up with confusion. “Wait. How did you evenknow?”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan told her sincerely. “They told me I needed to come here and tell Luukas.” She looked seriously upset. Christian leaned over and whispered to her again, and she sniffed and nodded.

“Well, that explains why I didn’t know.” Nik leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest with a satisfied smile.

“Ah. The voices,” Keira reasoned. “Why didn’t you just tell them to shoveit?”

“Keira!” The only thing Luukas wanted to hear was what she knew about the box, and where she’d hidden it. “Tell me about the box, witch. Now.”

She quirked an eyebrow at his tone, but dropped her arms to her sides and sauntered over to his desk. Coming around to his side, she hopped up right on top of his papers so that her hip touched his arm. She did this on purpose to distract him, knowing how her very nearness affectedhim.

And he likedit.

Catching his eyes with hers, she said, “I was only trying to protect us. Not hide anything from you. Please don’t be angry withme.”

Pulling away from her and sitting back in his chair, he repeated, “Tell me about thebox.”

With a sigh, she conceded, lacing her fingers together in her lap. “Grace just told us about it right before Christian, Ryan, and Shea got home. She’d honestly forgotten aboutit.”

“What. Is. It,” he demanded between clenched teeth.

“It looks like an everyday wooden jewelry box with a red felt lining. But if you lift the felt, there’s a design carved into the wood—a dagoba, Grace said. Do you knowwhat—”

“I know what a dagoba is,” he interrupted. “Go on. What else do youknow?”

“When Grace showed us the box, we called Brock. She said he’d freaked out when she’d asked him about it in China, and as soon as he saw it, he knew the demons would be coming for her. The box is the reason he ran with her and Heather, and brought them to Seattle. He said he thinks the etching is aclue.”

“A clue towhat?”

“He didn’t know. Just that when he’d been following the possessed vampires back in China, he had seen them find other boxes likeit.”

“Is there anythingelse?”

“No. That’s all Iknow.”

“Where is the box now?” Nik asked.

Luukas had nearly forgotten there were others in the room. It was like that when he was anywhere near his witch. She made him forget everything else, even the most horrible memories….

She smiled her sultry smile at him. The vixen knew exactly what she did to him, and she reveled in it. “It’s hidden here, in our apartment,” she answered Nikulas without taking her eyes from Luukas. “I placed protective wards around it to prevent it from being found.”

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