Page 115 of Inflamed By an Incubus

“Then we’re still friends.” She ignored the muttered remarks from Rosalind and Fenix, because she wasn’t being reckless by trusting Archer. They didn’t know him like she did.

And she did know him.

She knew how to make him smile. She knew what made him laugh. She knew what really irritated him. She knew which brand of beer he liked and the foods he hated. She had spent years with him, slowly growing closer to him, piercing the barrier that had been around him when they had first met to reveal the man behind it.

“Are we really doing this?” Rosalind muttered. “Trusting him might backfire on us.”

Evelyn waited to see what the others would say, sure they would side with the witch.

“We should start in Norway,” Fenix said and all the tension drained from her as she sensed the shift in his mood, the darkness that had laced it falling away as he took a step towards her.

Archer’s eyes widened. “Norway. The valley from the images we saw?”

She nodded and eased to one side so he could see the others. “They fought mages there. One of their friends is a phoenix shifter too and her resurrection caused the damage we saw in the satellite images.”

“Some of the mages got away.” Rosalind looked between Archer and Evelyn. “We didn’t check the stronghold for information either. There’s a chance a way of breaking this curse could be in there, or the mage himself might be holed up there.”

“There’s also a chance that the way of breaking Aryanna out might be in there too. Archangel have it on their list of places to check out. They’re hunting for mages too.” Archer put his glasses back on and crushed his cigarette with the heel of his boot, earning a black look from Vail before his violet eyes lowered to the grass. “There was another location too, one in New Hampshire. Archangel went to investigate it, but it had been ransacked.”

Fenix cleared his throat. “I might have been the one responsible for that. I have all the documents at my house, but I didn’t see any mention of Aryanna in them.”

“I’d still like to take a look at them. They might be written in a language you don’t know.” Archer cast Fenix a wary look. “Although walking into an incubi den might be the biggest mistake of my life. Even a cigarette can’t rid my mouth of the taste of you.”

“I did the only thing I could in order to weaken you.” Fenix tossed him a disgusted look. “Believe me. I didn’t enjoy it.”

“I did,” Rosalind murmured, earning a black look from her mate.

“What is it with females and two men acting in such a manner? That fiendish little succubus wanted me to wrestle her demon king naked and oiled up, and I distinctly recall you wishing for it to happen.” Vail’s expression darkened, his violet eyes brightening as his fangs flashed between his lips with each word he snarled.

Rosalind sidled closer to her mate, wrapped both arms around one of his and beamed up at him. “I would never make you do it. No one gets to see my mate naked but me. I’d claw their bloody eyes out.”

Vail growled and swooped on her lips.

Fenix groaned.

Archer rolled his eyes.

“I think we should follow up the one remaining lead we do have, and then you can talk nicely to Fenix about getting access to those documents.” Evelyn ignored how Vail swept Rosalind into his arms, pinning her to his chest, and bent her over backwards as he kissed her. Heat swept through her regardless, drawing her gaze to Fenix as she thought about him kissing her like that.

Archer huffed. “So, we’re going to Norway?”

Rosalind loosed a long, weary sigh as Vail righted her and released her.

She grumbled, “This time, I’m wearing thirty layers and packing more heat spells.”

Evelyn looked at Fenix, catching the spark of hope in his eyes, a spark that caught inside her too, spreading warmth through her that had her wanting to cross the short span of grass between them and step into his arms.

She glanced at Archer, and then Rosalind and Vail, and finally stared into Fenix’s eyes again as resolve filled her.

He nodded.

Evelyn looked back at Archer and gave him his answer.

“We’re going to Norway.”

Chapter 34

Rosalind had mentioned inviting Hartt and Mackenzie to join what she had termed their ‘raiding party’ and the elf and phoenix had wanted in on it the moment Fenix had told them about their plan to head to Norway and track down more mages. Mackenzie was as intent on taking out as many mages as possible as Evelyn had been before they had been hit with the curse.

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