Page 11 of Whispers of Torment

The landing gear barely scraped the runway and the passenger lurched to his feet. John followed suit, and Lillian made a play of having lost her sunglasses to stall.

Too soon they disembarked. John towed her swiftly to the gate, where the other man waited with his arms folded across his chest and his legs braced wide. Standing, he was much taller than John, though not as muscled.

She gripped John’s arm. “What are you doing?”

“Clearing up a little misunderstanding.”

“John!”

“Stay over here, Lily, and don’t interfere.”

She shook her head, sending snaking curls over her shoulders.

“This is unnecessary. Please.”

“Stay here, Lily.”

She watched him stalk away from her, her hands suddenly helpless and empty. She pressed her fingertips to her mouth until her teeth cut her inner lips. As John approached the man, he unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and rolled the sleeves to his elbows. Dark tufts of hair burst free, and the blue-black lines of his immortal tattoos peeked from beneath the white cotton. Her gaze riveted to those tattoos, too beautiful for words, and she hungered for him all over again.

“You keep your woman on a leash.”

Her head snapped to the man who puffed his chest until it bumped John’s.

John’s tolerance faded in a blinding flash. He launched into the man, hurling them into the luggage carousel. Few people milled about the area where they fought, but they stopped to watch.

They grappled on the conveyor belt before John’s fist met the man’s face with a sickening thud.

Lillian screamed and rushed forward. “John, no!”

His knuckles struck the man again and again. Lillian caught John’s arm, yanking and screaming until he heard her. He rolled to his feet, straightened his clothing, jammed a hand through his hair.

“What were you thinking? What has gotten into you?” She hauled him toward the exit.

They broke through the doors into the sultry Seattle evening. She tossed John several glances, but his face was stony. He gave no indication as to what had possessed him to tear into that person simply because his eyes lingered too long on her legs.

As she was slammed with several fresh flashes of her dream man, she wondered how she was going to conceal her new fixation from John.

And what might happen if she couldn’t.

Nathan strode into the men’s restroom at the shopping center. He plopped a new canvas duffle bag on the counter and emptied several bags of clothing into it. He took a moment to yank his shirt over his head and replace it with a new T-shirt, and then shrugged into a chocolate leather jacket that felt cool and buttery against his skin.

He faced the mirror for the first time in days. Time did not touch him, but beneath the yellow-green lighting, he looked mortal. Bruises lived under each green eye and his blond hair looked wild. He splashed his face with water and brought his hair to order.

He had one more errand to complete before he could grab a coffee, and though he longed to taste the black brew, it was not a priority.

He needed his Lillian fix.

For the past hour, he had fought against Visions of her and was beginning to shake with strain.

Minutes later, he exited the electronics store with a top-of-the-line laptop and a new phone. His mind was humming, eager to get his hands on the keys and to get on the road to the airport.

He wove through a group of teenagers and outside into the heavy Hawaiian night. The salty wind rustled the plastic bag he carried. He hitched the new laptop bag over his shoulder, crossed the street and hailed a cab.

The instant he slid onto the cracked vinyl seat, he was bombarded by Visions.

Hand brushing a lock of mahogany hair. Flash of sun against silver jewelry. Dark sweep of lashes on a pale cheek. Her lavender scent was in his nose and her sweet, musky flavor was on his tongue.

With trembling hands, he snapped open the laptop, loaded with every feature he could possibly need or want to do research on the run. As the taxi crawled through traffic vying to reach the airport, Nathan located an unsecured network and punched a name into a search engine. Robert Albright.

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