Page 89 of Inflamed By an Incubus

Fenix caught her arm, spun her to face him and pinned her back against the pale wall, his eyebrows knitting hard as he looked down at her. Whatever he had wanted to say to her, it faded away in time with that look as his expression softened, and she glanced down as he lightly stroked his thumb up and down her arm.

He sighed.

“We don’t have time for a lecture,” she muttered and wrenched her arm free. “And stop looking at me like that. You don’t want me falling for you? Keep hitting on those women.”

“I am not hitting on them.” He huffed and strode after her, easily catching up with her as she scanned the corridor, looking for the service lift.

It had to be here somewhere.

“I’m just trying to throw them off my scent,” Fenix said and then mumbled, “Maybe steal a little juice for the tank too.”

“So you are hitting on them?” She spied the dull grey panel of the lift ahead of her at a branch in the corridor and hurried for it, her pulse picking up pace as her nerves kicked into high gear.

“The pills only take the edge off. I’ve been using up a lot of energy recently, teleporting everywhere,” he hissed as he followed her, and she felt those words like a dagger in her back.

Because she had tried teleporting them to London and had failed dismally. He had been forced to do it for her, bringing them to the park near Archangel HQ, and had looked tired afterwards. When she had asked him what was wrong, he had snapped that teleporting with a powerful phoenix shifter was taxing, and had reached for another pill.

She had felt so guilty that she had fought harder than ever to teleport when he had told her to take them to the roof, a short hop that he had declared would be easy for her since she could see the building now.

He had been right, and it had been easier. Teleporting the vast distance between Fort William and London had sounded impossible. Teleporting a few hundred metres to the top of a building she could see had looked like something she could probably do.

Apparently, belief was ninety-nine percent of successfully using a power like teleporting.

She was still working on it. She failed to teleport more times than she succeeded.

The second part of Fenix’s plan had been for her to steal the access card from Archer’s apartment, something which had made her so nervous that she hadn’t been able to teleport inside and had stood there staring at the door like an idiot, aware of all the people who passed her in the corridor and glanced her way. Fenix had been the lookout, telling her whenever the corridor was clear and she could go. She had locked up every time.

In the end, Fenix had made her play lookout while he had gotten inside via the more traditional method of breaking and entering. Waiting outside in the corridor with everyone looking at her as they passed had only made her more nervous, and she had been a wreck by the time Fenix had reappeared and waggled the card at her.

“Besides… the top-up is just a perk of making them turn a blind eye to me.” His voice dropped to a whisper as he closed the distance between them. “If you had teleported us here instead, I wouldn’t have to be charming everyone who looked my way.”

Evelyn turned on him and hissed, “I can barely teleport and I don’t know this area well. You can’t honestly expect me to suddenly pick this up and land where I mean to be, or take someone with me. I landed fifty feet from where I meant to appear on the roof.”

His eyebrows rose. “I didn’t know that. You need to work on your focus.”

She clenched her jaw and her fists, bit her tongue and refused to say what was on the tip of it. This was new to her. He might not view it that way because in his eyes she was the same woman he had known for decades, but as far as she was concerned, she had so far only managed a handful of teleports and was still honing her skills. Rather than getting into an argument with him, something he looked as if he wanted, probably to keep her guarding her heart against him, she turned her back on him and pressed the button to call the lift.

Evelyn shifted foot to foot as she waited, her nerves off the scale as she expected everyone who passed them in the corridor to ask her what she was doing. This was madness. They were going to get caught and thrown in the cells.

Or worse.

The lift door opened and she hurried inside. She waited for Fenix to join her and the doors to slide shut again before she waved the card over the reader.

Nothing happened.

She swallowed her racing heart and tried again, but the light on the small black device remained red.

“Shit,” she muttered and Fenix inched closer to her and looked at what she was doing as she swiped the card again and again, willing it to work.

“Something wrong?” He frowned at her and then at the card.

“Archer doesn’t have the clearance we need. Whatever is in this secret basement you told me about, it requires a rank higher than commander to access it… or only a few are allowed down there.” She tightened her grip on the card and her eyes widened as the plastic began to bend.

She was quick to loosen her hold on it. Apparently, she was stronger than she had thought.

The sound of metal hitting metal drew her gaze to Fenix. He settled back on his heels and turned to her, stooped and formed a cradle with his hands in front of his knees.

“Up you go,” he said and she glanced at the hole in the ceiling where he had pushed the access panel open.

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