Page 251 of Duty and Desire
“Is that a threat?” Monte asked, using his lawyer voice.
“You bet your ass it is,” Noah said, not moving an inch.
Abby’s stomach dropped, and she pressed a shaking hand against the cold window of her backseat. “You should leave, Monte.” How was her voice so calm?
“Again, you misunderstand. She has mental discrepancies and needs help.” Monte straightened. “But right now, I’ll go. I’ll talk to you soon, wife.” He turned on his heel and strode toward the store doors, his long steps hitching when Ivar stalked outside, his arms full of green apples, one in his mouth. Shaking his head, Monte passed him and crossed inside.
Ivar paused. “What did I miss?”
Noah didn’t likethe paleness of the female human or the wide brownish green eyes. Scratch that. Her eyes were stunning. Clear, intelligent, soft. But right now, her pupils had widened as if she’d been hiding from predators. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Fine.” A soft coral color slid across her angled cheekbones, just beneath that smooth skin. “I appreciate your intervention, but I’m not sure you understand the situation.”
Ivar finished approaching, munching loudly on the apple. “Did he call you wife? You married?”
“Divorced,” she said, the sound relieved. “He’s having a hard time letting go.”
Ivar partially turned to eye the storefront. “He’s the guy who said you threw a pitcher at his head and then actually got you arrested and charged for it?”
She shuffled her feet. “Um, yeah. I guess you could say that.”
Ivar opened his mouth and Noah quickly intervened. “We’re not killing him.”Not right now, anyway.
Ivar closed his mouth, and Abby gave a slight chuckle. “I agree,” she murmured, her body relaxing for the first time that afternoon. “But it was a kind offer earlier. I haven’t laughed in a long time.” Her entire face lit up as she smiled, the sight genuine and alluring.
Ivar finished the fruit and started on another one. “I overheard something about mental discrepancies. What’s up with that?”
Her face lost color.
Noah cut Ivar a hard look. “Dude. Manners.” Being alone for centuries fighting through hell worlds was no excuse for being rude to a tiny human.
“Oh. Sorry.” Ivar kept munching. “My bad.”
The hair on Noah’s neck prickled, and he turned toward the road to see a new and shiny gray truck drive by. The window rolled down, and Raine Maxwell gave a short nod, obviously keeping an eye on them.
“We’re gonna have to take care of him,” Ivar said quietly.
Abby’s head jerked. “What does that mean?”
Noah growled. “I liked you better when you didn’t want to talk, Viking.”
Ivar shrugged. “None of this was my idea, and I might as well enjoy my brief time here. Before I go back.”
“To hell,” Abby murmured. “That’s what you said in group. Does that mean you want to go back overseas? Into combat?”
Ivar finished the second apple. “I left a buddy there, and I have to go get him. It’s that simple.”
“Oh.” She reached out and patted his arm.
What a sweetheart. Noah was oddly jealous of Ivar for the briefest of seconds. What was her touch like? He purposefully turned his attention on Ivar. “You really going back?” The Realm was apparently searching for a way to get him back through dimensions to rescue another member of the Seven by using some sort of teleporting ability that many demons held, but rumor had it the mission was a one-way deal. If that. Noah had always been thankful he didn’t have the ability to teleport. It seemed way too possible to get caught between dimensions. “Ivar? You’re leaving here?” he repeated.
“Yes,” Ivar said, turning and looking at Abby. Really looking at her. “Well now. You’re an enhanced one, aren’t you?”
Ah, shit. Noah bit the inside of his mouth. Of course she was. That explained why he was drawn to her. Well, that and the fact that she was smart, soft, apparently kind, and very pretty.
She blinked. “Enhanced?”
Yeah. Enhanced human females had special gifts like empathy or psychic abilities, and they could mate immortals. Some thought they were cousins to the witches, but Noah had never paid much attention. “It’s his way of giving a compliment,” he said.
