Page 9 of Stalk the Dark
“Sorry.”
“Hmmm.” His chest vibrated with the sound. Cool metal touched my lips again. “Antitoxin. Drink it.” This time, I obliged. “I need to get her to the chapter house.”
“What about the cargo?”
“You can manage.”
“I suppose so. But it seems like we’re a little late.”
“Just get them to him and then meet me in town.”
I wanted to ask who they were. Wanted toseewho they were, but my eyelids slipped closed and refused to open. Not again. I would not pass out again. I would not…
Chapter 4
Voices drew me to consciousness, and memory came rushing back—the carriage ride, the attack, the silver forest wolves, then Ezekiel. I’d almost died, but I’d been saved, and now…Now I was in a bed. Warm beneath a blanket. But there was no pain—strange considering I’d been bitten twice.
The male voices continued to rumble, and I tuned in, keeping my breathing even and deep, feigning sleep to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Another turn of the clock,” one of the men said—the one from the road who’d sounded almost bored by everything.
“Any sign of her?” This growly voice belonged to the guy who’d carried me. I was tempted to open my eyes, wanting to get a look at the man who’d smelled like sweet evergreen, but resisted the urge.
“Not yet,” his companion replied with a sigh. “But she’ll arrive soon enough. She always does—if not now, then by the night of the ball.”
Who were they talking about?
“It will be different this time,” growly guy said.
“I do love your optimism, brother.” He sighed. “Or should I say delusion?”
Brothers…Wait, could they be the hunters the Order had sent for me? They’d seemed to recognize my emblem, and if I recalled correctly, they’d mentioned the chapter house.
I felt a shadow fall over me, and this time when the growly man spoke his voice was close, hovering above me. “She almost died. If we hadn’t been on the road at that exact moment…”
“Fate had no part in this,” his companion snapped. “It was luck, pure and simple. Lucky for herandus. This job is hard enough without losing manpower, and the fact that she made it to the road means she’ll be an asset to the team. She can keep the chapter running while we?—”
“She’s awake.”
My pulse stuttered.
“Eavesdropping, huh?” the other guy said. “Nice.”
The jig was up, so I opened my eyes to soft amber lighting and the shadowy bulk of two large men standing, one at the foot of my bed and the other beside it. My attention went to the closest of the two.To the gray sweats hugging his powerful thighs with determination, and upward to…oh…my…
“Um, I think you’ve mesmerized her with your crotch,” the other guy said.
My cheeks heated, and I quickly lifted my gaze to jogger guy’s face and found myself the scrutiny of eyes the color of a summer ocean set in a broad, handsome face. He had a neatly clipped beard, so pale blond it was almost white, just like his shoulder-length hair, which was pulled back in a half pony.
If my best friend Nyx was here, I was sure she’d have a handy quip, something snappy and witty to defuse the obvious tension my ogling had created, but all I could manage was, “Dracul territory has a dress code, you know.”
“Says the woman wearing denim,” the other guy said.
Tall and wiry, he’d made a concession to the dress code with a long black coat, black shirt, waistcoat, and fitted pants. He’d flipped up his collar so that it framed his crimson cravat, adding a flourish to his ensemble. Whereas golden boy gave me summer day vibes, this guy was all winter nights with the hint of a storm on the horizon.
“Getting clothes in my size is…difficult,” golden boy said. “I’m Ordell, by the way. This is my brother, Hemlock.”
Yep, these were my guys. “Is this the chapter house?” I’d barely looked around the room. It wasgloomy as hell with only one oil lamp to light the space, a space these men ate up with their presence.
