Page 10 of Obsidian Prince

“Yeah. I’m not sure what bee got in his bonnet, either. He’s acting weird. Said he’s coming here. But not for dinner, just to pick me up. He won’t even say where he’s taking me.” She grabbed her cover and got up with a sigh. “I’ll have to see what’s up with him. Maybe something bad happened.”

“I’ll pay up. You can meet him out back.”

The sleek electric sports car with a silvery metal rose hood ornament pulled up in the parking lot behind the dining facility, away from the prying eyes of most of the people there.

Wiliam Eliot got out. He stalked toward Giovanni. “Get in the car.”

“Why?” she asked. “Did something happen?”

“Because I said so.” He grabbed her arm. “You wouldn’t want to make me unhappy, would you?”

“Seriously? What’s going on with you?” Giovanni asked, not budging.

William Eliot looked confused for a moment, then looked at her throat. “I told you not to take off the locket.”

Giovanni pulled the chain to reveal the locket that had been tucked under her uniform blouse. “I didn’t. What does your gift have to do with you acting so weird?”

“Get in the car, you simpering cow. I told you my behavior is perfectly normal.” He yanked her arm hard enough that she stumbled forward.

As Pete stepped out into the parking lot, Giovanni twisted her arm out of William Eliot’s hand, yanked off the locket, and threw it in the wizard’s face. “How about you get in the car, asshole. Keep right on driving.” She turned on her heel. “Men,” she grumbled as she stalked back across base toward her own car.

William Eliot stood next to his fancy sportscar, holding the locket, looking dumbfounded.

Pete said, “Huh, strange that she wouldn’t put up with you being an ass to her, even after you gave her that bespelled piece of jewelry.”

Eliot’s hand clenched around the locket. Even with the dark glasses he always wore, his glare at Pete could wither plants. “You did this.”

Pete showed Eliot a lot of teeth. "I won't bother with the 'if you hurt her,' part, because I know what you tried to do. So, let's get straight tostay the hell away from Zoe, or I'll bury you so deep, no one will find the body."

Oh.

Liliana recognized that this was a shovel speech. But she did not think everything Pete said was figurative. He might be genuinely threatening to kill Eliot.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." William Eliot sneered at the wolf-kin. "I gave my girlfriend a gift. That's hardly a crime."

Pete’s vicious smile gained sharper canines. "Hell, if I rip you apart, I can bury you in pieces. I won't have to dig as big a hole." The wolf-kin stalked towards the wizard. Pete stayed in human form, but his muscles were loose and his attention focused, all predator even in his pale human skin.

“Fine. Let’s do this.” William Eliot tossed the locket into the open window of his car. He pulled an amulet out from under his shirt. “You don’t scare me.”

Liliana bit her lip, her knuckles white on her teacup. Pete did not have his legendary sword with him and the wizard had serious power. Asrais were not creatures she would want to tangle with. The wizard was only one quarter asrai, but that was enough to give him considerable power.

The two men moved more behind the building by silent accord, out of the sight of passersby in a blind spot of the base surveillance cameras.

William Eliot touched his amulet with one hand. He held the other up toward Pete as if asking him to stop. He snarled a word in a language Liliana didn’t recognize. An odd distortion of light appeared in a large disk about six feet across, protecting the wizard from attack.

He pulled a small flask from his pocket, poured a tiny amount of clear liquid, probably water, into his hand, and pulled it up like taffy into a long, clear blade. He shifted to a low fencer’s stance, smiling back with the same hunger, if fewer teeth. He beckoned Pete closer. “Come on, wolf. I thought you wanted to play.”

Pete looked a little non-plussed. He circled William Eliot, hesitating. He tried to find a way around the magical shield, but it shifted as the wizard turned to keep the red wolf in front of him.

Liliana wondered if Pete had ever fought a wizard before.

The red wolf picked up a piece of gravel from the pavement. He tossed it at the shield. It bounced off with a rippling shimmer like the surface of a pond. Eliot’s smile widened under his dark glasses. He also moved like he knew what he was doing with a sword.

He lunged toward Pete.

The red wolf slipped to the side, far faster than a human could have. Pete’s leg shot out, under the wizard’s shield. The wolf-kin swept across his ankle while most of the man’s weight was on his front leg.

Liliana smiled. She’d taught Pete that foot-sweep technique.

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