Page 12 of The Stone Secret
“No!” I stared at her in horror. “Hell no.”
Curi yawned and stretched. “You have no idea what you’re missing.” He stepped close and put his arm around my shoulder. I made to pull away on instinct, but he gripped me tight, leaning in to whisper, “He’s on the porch, watching us.”
Shit. I turned my head toward Curi so that our faces were inches apart and I could feel his warm breath on my lips. “Thanks, I—”
“Miss Basque!” The booming voice shot straight to my core.
I didn’t need to look to know who it belonged to, but I did anyway.
Serath bore down on us, his huge frame taut with tension, husky-like pale eyes stark and bright in his beautiful face, which was all angles of rage right now.
“Oh shit,” Touron said.
“We have training. Now,” he snapped.
Bullshit. Training wasn’t for a couple of hours, but the fire in his eyes warned me to put distance between Curi and me immediately. But Curi had other ideas.
“See you later, babe.” He pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss that turned my blood to ice, because he might well have sealed his own death warrant.
But there was no roar. No bellow of rage. Nothing.
And the reason stood beside Serath with her hand on his arm. Selas watched us with milky eyes, her lips tight as if she was in pain.
“Meet us in training room two, Miss Basque,” she said, her voice strained.
Serath’s jaw was tight. Was he grinding his teeth?
I took a step toward him, and Selas shook her head, the motion so slight that if I hadn’t been looking for it, I’d have missed it.
They turned and walked away.
“Your ex has gone,” Curi said, but his attention was on Serath and Selas’s retreating forms. “I need to hit the gym. When do you need me next?”
“I’ll let you know.”
He ambled off, and Sharniza let out a low whistle. “That was too close. You need to fill Serath in. Now.”
“How come your ex didn’t speak to Serath? They’re both Halles,” Palina asked.
“I doubt they know each other. Levi didn’t grow up around the goyles.”
“Still,” Touron said. “They’re family, and he must know who Serath is, even if Serath doesn’t know who he is.”
“I don’t know.” And right now, it didn’t matter. “I’ll catch you guys later.”
I had a raging gargoyle to placate.
* * *
So far,we’d only used training room one and the outdoor training fields but never room two. My insides felt like jelly as I made my way down a flight of steps and pushed through the double doors that led into a room lined with workout equipment and mats. The center of the room was clear of all equipment, though. Strange.
Serath stood on the far side of the room with his back to me. His shoulders bunched at my entrance, but he didn’t turn to face me.
Selas patted his back, whispering something to him. He growled low and menacing, and Selas stepped back, shaking her head.
“What were you thinking?” she said to me.
“Look, I was going to come see you and tell you—”
