Page 20 of Bad Moon Rising
“You think I’m fifty? I look maybe early twenties.” She nibbled her lower lip. “How long do you…we live?”
Roman shrugged. “Centuries. I don’t know any that died of natural causes.”
“What about that spooky guy named Antonio? Is he like us?”
Both Roman and Flynn exchanged glances.
“You didn’t know what he was?” Flynn asked.
Roman said, “He’s a vampire, not exactly a friend of our species.” They had yet to pin down if Antonio was involved with the dealer who peddled black magic artifacts like the vial. But every time they found something deadly like it, he lurked about.
“Maybe that’s why I didn’t like him. Probably good I didn’t act on one of the five ways I envisioned he could die.”
Shit, he was staring at her.
“Yeah, probably smart,” he muttered.
Flynn said, “Nova, I ran your image through the MI6, Interpol, FSB, and CIA facial recognition software. Nothing came up. Even Roman and I have hits here and there, and we’re ghosts in society. How’s it possibleyouhave nothing in any image library?”
“If I remembered a single freaking thing, then I’d answer that. I’d venture to guess whoever did this to me erased me.”
“Let’s go to Austria and try to figure out who you are,” Roman said, peeking out the small window to the side of the plane where he’d left Cooper. The human was gone. How was that possible? He should’ve been asleep for at least an hour with his voice coercion.
“I thought you weren’t a babysitter.” She gave him a double eyebrow raise.
“I might’ve changed my mind.” He didn’t have time to sort out the human, but worried he was losing his touch with the ability to convince humans to do his bidding using his voice.
“Really? You’re going to help me?”
“Yes. I swear I’ll help you try to find answers.” He paused. “And then we’re going to go our separate ways.”
Chapter Five
Roman drummed his fingers against the armrest of theUnfallkrankenhaus Nordostemergency room waiting area chair. The sound of the beats on the plastic thudded above the chaos of humans at their worst. The dull, green walls and smell of chemical cleanser in the hospital waiting room made him want to crawl out of his skin.
Nova still had no memory. Which brought them here. To the pit of health care and the cranky mage who moonlighted here.
Thinking about Dom didn’t help settle him. The mage might have patience learned over hundreds of years, but he was moody and preferred to act on the offense when he felt threatened. His attacks hurt. A lot.
Roman had to be calm to protect Nova.
The burner phone Flynn provided for this visit to the hospital vibrated with an incoming text.
Flynn:Nothing in the digital lycan archives about a female named Nova. None reported missing. Used Russian and American facial recognition again—still nothing there. But I found her in one place. It’s bad.
Roman:What kind of bad?
Flynn:Gerard’s computer and MI6. There’s a video. Looks a lot like her. He knows about her, possibly that you have her with you.
Shit.
For an instant, he considered murdering Gerard to keep her safe.
The curse burned a path up his arm from the tattoo straight to his chest.Can’t breathe.
“You okay?” Nova leaned toward him from the seat next to his. She put a hand on his back when he bowed forward against the vise clamping down on his lungs. “Is this a panic attack? I don’t like this place, either. Listen, we can leave.”
I won’t kill him. I swear,he thought to the curse. I know Gerard’s off-limits. Now back off so I can deal with the mage without getting us killed.
