Page 57 of Liam
When he slipped out of her, she wanted to cry and pull him back. But he lowered beside her and tugged her body close. The second he was holding her, the thudding of her heart slowed. The breaths in her chest came easier.
Safety. Sanctuary. Peace. It was everything she hadn’t realized she’d been searching for when she’d come to Cradle Mountain. And she’d found it…with Liam.
CHAPTER16
Nylah leaned forward, studying the dagger on the screen.
Gotcha.
She’d been at the library so long, researching the damn dagger, that it was getting dark outside, and the place was almost empty…but she’d finally found it. Thank God.
Only two nights ago, there had been a near attack on Flynn. He’d been leaving the hospital with Carina and his mother when he spotted two men trying to conceal themselves behind a truck. The lights of the parking lot glinted off a concealed weapon as one man shifted, and Flynn had turned straight around and shuffled Carina and his mother back inside the hospital. When he checked the lot seconds later, the assholes were gone.
But if he hadn’t been paying attention, there was every chance not only Flynn but Carina and his mother could have been seriously hurt.
Things were getting desperate.
“The athame,” she whispered, her gaze tracing over the wicked-looking steel edge. The black leather handle.
Why would they all have that particular type of dagger tattooed on themselves, though? Traditionally, it wasn’t used to hurt anyone. Unless it was just a symbol of their group? Or the meaning behind it?
“Hey. You doing okay?”
Nylah looked up to see Fiona beside the table. God, she’d been so caught up in research, she hadn’t even heard the woman come over. Callum sat opposite Nylah, a book open in front of him. Even though he looked like he’d been reading, she’d caught him covertly glancing around the room regularly. And his muscles were always tense, like he was ready to go.
Nylah kept her voice low so other people couldn’t hear. “All the men who attacked at the event center had a tattoo of an angel wielding a dagger.” From her peripheral vision, she saw Callum’s head lift. “I knew I’d seen the dagger before, but I couldn’t remember where.”
Fiona frowned. “But you remember now?”
“I saw it in a class I took a few years ago. It’s a ceremonial dagger called an athame. You see the union of fire and air carved into the handle?” She pointed to the screen and Fiona nodded. “That’s apparently to safeguard people from evil. The dagger represents protection.”
Fiona seemed to consider that for a moment. “So they each have the tattoo to protect themselves from evil?”
“Maybe,” Callum said as he rose and came to stand behind her. “Or maybe they thinkthey arethe protectors, protectingothersfrom evil. Maybe they’re scared that we have more power than we should.”
It made sense that this entire thing was a misguided endeavor to get rid of men with impossible speed and strength who, if they chose, could become formidable enemies.
Fiona’s sigh was loud.
Callum slipped an arm around her waist. “It’s definitely something to consider.”
“Did you ever find the brother?” she asked Callum. “Miles?”
There was a small narrowing of his eyes, and Nylah knew the answer before he gave it. “The car was found deserted a few miles out of town, but police are searching for him. He won’t be able to evade arrest for long.”
She swallowed, praying he was right.
“All right. I think it’s time for us all to get home,” Callum said.
Nylah nodded and closed her laptop.
She was just getting her bag packed when the text came through on her phone.
Cody: You free to talk?
Oh, man. She’d been avoiding her brothers like the plague, especially Cody. There was no way she could talk to him and not reveal everything that had been happening. And she would reveal it all.
She’d finally told Paisley what had occurred at her apartment, and that had been hard enough. But telling her brothers?
