Page 54 of Seducing Hope (The Hope Legacy)

“I don’t intend for him to live with you, Natia. He will watch the apartment from outside in shifts with my other men. You will call him when you go out onanymission, no matter how big or small. You will involve him in any plans you make to look for the Jar or Khalkaroth.”

Huffing, I strut out of the diner with Zee, Aaden, Duncan, and now Jed following me. “Anyone would think I have a harem,” I mumble.

Zee throws his arm around my shoulders. “Can I be your favorite?” Ugh, he’s impossible.

Jed is behind us. “I’m the newbie. I need breaking in. It’ll take time—submitting doesn’t come easy to me.” I utter some silent curses at the sky. I can’t deal with the two of them driving me insane; Zee was already more than enough. We get in our respective cars, and I glance back at the diner to see Archan’s gold eyes tracking me.

I swallow. This case needs solving before I make any stupid decisions.

Chapter Eighteen

Natia

A Taurus is both a lover and a fighter.

Iswing my feet up on the dashboard. “So, Archan is protecting five of the missing people. Kelly Peterson is dead, although there’s no body. Mary was laid out in plain sight; as if the shadow man, or Khalkaroth, wanted her found by Archan… or us.”

Duncan scowls and chips in. “The symbols tattooed onto Mary’s wrist are old, almost a lost language.”

“When did you work that out?” I demand.

“At the diner. I’ve seen the circle with the line drawn through it extending to a smaller circle before.”

Aaden looks at him. “Do you know what it means?”

“I think it’s a warning.”

I rub my temples. “We need to find this Jar before Archan. I wish I knew what it looked like—it might help us understand the bigger picture.”

“Where are we going to search first?” Aaden enquires as he snaps his laptop open. “There are three left on their list: North Sentinel Island, the Iron Mountain, and somewhere in Poland.”

“Well, Poland is an entire country, and the Iron Mountain is a massive underground storage system. I think North Sentinel Island is the easiest place to start with, but it’s almost a day’s journey to get there.”

Duncan drums his fingers on the steering wheel. “I can get us there quicker.” I swivel to face him, and he grins at me. “I can teleport us.”

“I knew it! Why did you keep it from me?” I glance in the back at Zee and Aaden, who are both staring at Duncan with shocked expressions.

Duncan shrugs. “Apart from it being fun to keep you guessing, it’s not something I advertise—Charlie knows, but nobody else at the SIP does.” He turns to look at Aaden and Zee. “And that’s the way it needs to stay.”

Aaden and Zee nod their agreement. I get it, I really do. The SIP would be all over Duncan’s teleporting ability, trying to figure out if it’s something they can teach people to do. As if Zee has dug in my head, he asks, “Is that something you’re born with, or something you learn to do?”

Duncan’s jaw tightens. “Something you’re born with. I’ll study the layout of the island and compare it with the notes in Archan’s files. We’ll go tomorrow afternoon.”

“Why not in the morning?” I wonder.

“Time difference. Do you really want to go to an island with a secret tribe that kills outsiders on sight at night?”

I shiver. “Wasn’t aware of the resident killer tribe. Night would give us some cover, but no, daylight is preferred.”

I point at Zee. “That means we can go see the coroner in the morning.” He groans; he’s even more squeamish than me around dead bodies. Some badass warriors we are.

I turn back to Duncan. “Any clue about what Archan being an ‘ancient’ means?”

He shakes his head. “No, but it’s not likely to be something we can Google. I have some texts that might help.”

“I can research this Jar and Pan,” Aaden declares, his fingers already tapping on his keyboard. He frowns. “Although, ‘Jar’ isn’t much of a description, and ‘Pan’ is a weird name that tends to deliver results related to cookware.”

I snort at poor Aaden’s frustrated features. “All the more reason to find the Jar first and get pictures of it before we hand it over to Archan.”

---