Amalgamate

Chapter 63

Ian knew they hadn't crossed over. Blackness enveloped them like they'd fallen into Alice's rabbit hole and were tumbling out of control. It'd been a long time since he'd hitched a ride with someone so inexperienced. She'd sifted with him in tow and it was clear she had absolutely no idea what the hell she was doing.

The cool air whipped around him as she struggled in his grip. It'd been a long time since he'd been through such a rough exit. It was obvious she'd just recently figured this out. He thought he might throw up when they re-entered.

When they stopped, Ian found himself in a darkened room lit by a solitary florescent overhead light and surrounded by shelves of women's lingerie and a diverse combination of smells. He didn't want to know how she knew about this place. While he had no idea where the hell they were, he was sure it was connected to the wolves because the most overwhelming and prominent scent of them all was a female wolf.

She'd somehow sifted him away from the portal while inside the lycan compound- something none of them had been able to do. He wasn't sure how she'd done it, but that was irrelevant right now because they were being hunted and were already on borrowed time. As soon as Declan could dispense his men, he would- to every place Kester's lycans had ever even set foot in. Still, she'd surprised him tonight. No one had been able to sift in or out of the lycan compound, not even Deisha. He knew that wouldn't go unnoticed by anyone. Rowan was different. There was something mysteriously cryptic about her, and he still couldn't get a straight read on her.

"What did you do?" He held onto her tightly. If he let go and she sifted again he'd lose her...maybe forever.

"Oh, so you don't like being forced into something either then?" She glared at him, but then smiled with satisfaction at what she'd done. She couldn't help it. She was a little proud of herself.

"I was saving your life Rowan." He was pissed! She was playing games and had no idea what kind of danger she was in. "Maybe you don't understand what you're up against here. Do you know what a vampire hunting party is?" He pulled her into him, tilting his head down to hers.

His eyes went pitch black. She'd seen eyes like that before, and she knew exactly what vampires were capable of in that state. "Well, whenever you feel like sharing some intel, I'm all ears, vampire."

"First off...where the hell are we?" The lingerie was just the beginning. The room was mostly dark, the walls were covered with a wide variety of sexual paraphernalia. He didn't even wanna guess who had introduced her to this place.

"Somebody I know owns the place...helps me out when I need it." She was secretly enjoying being in such close proximity to Ian, even though she knew things could get out of hand real fast.

He scanned the room slowly before widening to the more exterior areas of the building being sure to account for all windows and doors. She took this rare opportunity to appreciate his masculine features up close. His jaw line was square and strong. That hadn't changed. But, almost everything else had. His deep green eyes reminded her of emeralds sparkling against a night sky. They were even more breathtaking than his blue eyes had been. It was hard not to fixate on the expertly designed tattoo that covered much of his exposed pale skin. She couldn't figure out what they were...a kind of script or tribal art? It descended from the center of his hairline in the back, circling around the left side of his neck and continuing around to the right side where it disappeared under his short sleeve shirt but continued all the way down his arms to his wrists. Pale skin was pulled taut over thick sinewy muscles that flexed with every move he made.

Whether he intended for it or not, his full, pink lips were beckoning her to move in on him. She leaned in wanting to press her lips against his. She'd imagined it for so long.

"Rowan." His eyes lingered on the front door.

"What?" His baritone voice sent chills up her spine and pulled her out of her silent reverie. When her eyes were able to focus again she swore she saw a glint of silver in his tongue...a piercing? This was not the clean cut detective she'd known and worked with for months before the shit had hit the fan. Whoever had cast that spell on him sure knew what the hell they were doing. Nobody would ever guess they were the same person. A spell like that could be invaluable to her right now. She'd have to put the full court press on him to find out who to talk to about that little humdinger.

"Who owns this ...place?" Ian lowered his gaze.

His eyes returned to hers, no longer completely black. "Tahnee, one of Kester's pack." She averted her gaze from his wanting to slap the dog water out of him for trying to read her mind before even giving her time to answer. She'd felt him probing, and she just hoped he hadn't seen what she was just thinking about. Uncomfortable! Funny thing was she wanted to kiss him even more.

"We can't stay here. The hunting party will come. They'll check out every place those wolves ever touched looking for you. You can't ever come back here Rowan. Are you listening to me?" He looked around, continuously scoping out the joint.

"Would you please let go of me? I promise I won't go anywhere. I mean really...you're all I've got here now." She still couldn't look at him.

"No, I can't. I'm it, huh? Kinda put all your eggs in one basket when you sifted us here. Why'd you pick here anyway?" He didn't sense any immediate danger, but then again... sometimes vampires were a little harder to pick-up on, too. A flashback to the night at the warehouse came to mind- when he hadn't sensed them...none of his team had.

She looked up at him remembering how he'd abandoned her. "The wolves were the only people who were ever good to me Ian. They helped me when I needed it, and not because there was something in it for them!" Anger dripped from every word.

"We were good to you, too, Rowan. " He hated the way her eyes had narrowed, clearly harboring a hefty amount of distaste and distrust for him. She was preparing to stand her ground. It was clear to him that they did not have the same memories of their time together.

She put the kaibosh on this little walk down memory lane. It would only piss her off. "Just stop. Let's not re-hash all that again. Clearly, perspective is the bigger issue. I really just need some time to plan my next move."

"You have absolutely no idea what you're up against Rowan. You're next move had better be walking through the portal to Deisha. You need the kind of training only we can give you." His gaze was harsh.

Why did he give a shit about her next move, Deisha training her, or what she was up against? "Why are you here Ian?"

"Because without me, you're dead in the water. He won't stop until he finds you Rowan, and he will find you if you stay here. Unless, that's what you want?" Ian searched her eyes, but he was afraid to probe her mind certain that there were some things he wasn't ready to know.

"And by he you mean Declan?" Declan wouldn't kill her. He thought she was his bride. So why was Ian really here?

He didn't have time to spell things out for her. "We're leaving." He pulled her into him before they sifted to a place of his choosing this time. A place she couldn't escape: a place where she would have to face him, whether she liked it or not.