Page 40 of A Trial By Blood

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Rose

My heart pounded at the fierceness in his violet eyes. Did he understand what he was feeling? Did he have any idea how much of it radiated from him now? The violence I felt when he walked into the kitchen and saw Relic beside me, the possessiveness, then and now; it saturated the room.

I was glad my family wasn’t here right now. Neither of us needed an audience.

“I won’t ask anyone else,” I said, because that fierceness was still there, so bright and wild. I could literally feel him clinging to the edges of his control. His gaze kept darting to the door Relic had walked through, like he wanted to charge after the hound. “I only need you with me, Ronan,” I said, and my voice shook. Not from fear. Never that. But because I felt what he was feeling, or at least I thought that’s what was happening. This was Ronan, the male who had been there for me for months. He was that same male but also irrevocably changed.

I remembered what Luna said, how Ronan would be struggling, that he could behave in ways that were extreme or unpredictable. That his impulse control wouldn’t be so great. So as much as I wanted to be close to him, I forced myself to keep some distance. The last thing I wanted was to make this harder for him. And being in the same room with him now, there was no doubt in my mind he was struggling.

His gaze moved over me, and I fought back a shiver when his eyes came back to mine, because that once emotionless stare was communicating a whole lot of emotion now.

“Where are we going tonight?” he finally asked, strain in every word.

“An old mansion on Davenport Road.” After Willow told us about demon artifacts being stolen and my reaction to it, I knew where I needed to go. The first location that was hit, the private residence. “There have been two robberies in the last few weeks, both times demon artifacts were taken. And from what I understand, powerful ones. I’m almost certain my task has something to do with those robberies. I don’t know what kind of artifacts they are or what they can do, but I think that’s a good place to start.”

“So you’ll need undetected access to both of these places?” he said.

Goddess, that stare, the way it made me feel. My belly swirled. Would I ever get used to it, how different it was now? Hot, not cold. Full of fire. “Ideally, yes.”

He cocked his head. “That won’t be a problem.”

This whole thing was so weird. He was being weird. I was being weird. Neither of us knew how to be around the other all of a sudden. “Excellent. Shall we go?”

I sounded like I was talking to a stranger. Not the person I was most comfortable in the world with. I hated this.

We headed for the door. I was so glad no one had come home. Mom would worry, and Mags would get pissed at the mother all over again, and Else would try to feed me a bunch of immune-boosting elixirs that tasted horrible, because I was still recovering. I was stronger and healthier than I’d been in my entire life. But after so many years of being sick, it was hard for my family to believe I was okay, to let go, and finally stop worrying.

I reached for the front door handle, and Ronan stopped me. “You’re not dressed warmly enough. You need a coat and hat, some gloves.”

“Oh, right.” I was in such a hurry to leave, I’d momentarily forgotten it was cold as hell outside.

I pulled a woolen hat on and grabbed one of Mag’s coats, shoving that on as well. I didn’t own any myself, I’d stopped going outside in winter several years ago, I’d always been too frail, so I grabbed an old pair of Iris’s gloves she’d left here as well. I smiled and turned for the door once more.

Again, Ronan stopped me.

This time he turned me to him, grabbed the lapels of my jacket, and pulled them around me before he proceeded to do up the buttons. I stood there in shock. When he finished, he looked down at me, and my knees wobbled at the expression on his face.

“Better,” he said gruffly.

“Thank you.

He dipped his chin, opened the door, and led me outside into the light snow.

CHAPTER 14

Rose

The house was on the edge of town. A huge two-story place painted a deep gray, and some of the paint was chipping. The garden was overgrown, but it was easy to see it would’ve been beautiful at one time. One of the tall iron gates was open, the other side swinging drunkenly in the chill breeze.

Ronan tilted his head back and scented the air. “Not witch.”

“I think he’s a shifter of some kind. I’m not entirely sure. I did some research earlier today. This house has been in the same family for one hundred and fifty years. They’re wealthy. The original owner was an opera singer. She sang all over the country, made a lot of money, and married a wealthy male. A happy marriage by all accounts. It was empty for a long time, but from what I understand, someone in the family recently moved back.”

“That explains why the house is so rundown.”

I glanced up at the massive house and hugged myself. “Whoever lives there now has to be lonely living in that big house all on their own.”