Page 80 of A Trial By Blood

“Y-yes.” She rocked against my hand.

Her face was flushed a deep pink, and her lips were full and red. I couldn’t stop myself from taking her jaw with my free hand and leaning in and kissing her. I wanted to taste her desire, her pleasure.

She squeezed down on my finger hard, released, then again, over and over as she cried out against my mouth.

Possessiveness roared through me, my fangs punching from my gums. I felt wild, like the predator I was. I would kill, destroy anyone who tried to hurt her, to take her from me. “Those cries are mine, Rose,” I growled. “Only mine.”

She slumped in my arms, trembling, and her hand went to my jaw once more. “Yes,” she said huskily. “Only yours.”

CHAPTER 23

Rose

I shifted on Ronan’s lap, reaching for the front of his pants—

He grabbed my wrist and tilted his head toward the desk behind us. Both females were gone. The desk unmanned. “We need to move, now.”

He lifted me off his lap before I had a chance to protest, adjusted and did up my pants, then took my hand and led me to the desk. My legs were still shaky, but I managed to clear my head enough to round the desk.

I was fairly computer savvy. Not much else to do when you’re bedridden most of the time, well, until I’d gotten too sick for even that.

This system had been designed specifically for the museum, but it seemed fairly basic. I hit the department’s tab, then clicked demonology, searching until I found what I was looking for. “I think I’ve got it. There’s an inventory register.”

I narrowed it down to effigies. If this robbery was related to the others we knew about, then the missing items would be summoning effigies.

The screen filled with images. The pictures of each item were on the right, the details—what it was, where it came from, along with its purpose—on the left. Then below each were details of how the museum acquired it, how long they’d had it, etc. They’d also included other effigies, ones they didn’t have but were of historical significance.

I quickly scrolled. “There’s six pages.” I hit print. “We don’t have time to go through them all here.”

Ronan tilted his head. “Someone’s coming.” He strode from the room.

Shit.

His voice echoed in the cavernous hall, lying about some appointment he had with the head of the antiquities department and asking for directions. A female voice followed, asking for identification, saying that he was in a restricted area.

Three more pages to go.

I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Ronan’s voice was stern, authoritative.

The last page printed, and I snatched them up, closed down the screen I’d been on, and rushed to the door. I poked my head around the side, but Ronan was already walking away. He must’ve heard the printer finish. And judging by the light buzz I felt around me, I was still cloaked by his power. The female walked back in, picked up her phone, and asked for security.

I rushed out, ran down the hall, and rounded the corner. Ronan was there waiting.

“You have what you need?”

“Yes.”

Ronan quickly led me from the building and out to his car. A moment later, we sped off.

“Where to now?” I asked him.

“I have some things I need to do…for the hounds. So I’ll drop you off at your place, but I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”

I twisted in my seat. “You’re taking me home?”

His eyes were focused on the road. “Yes.”

“But I thought…” I stopped myself. I thought after what happened in that reception office, he’d take me back to the clubhouse, and we’d finish what we’d started. Turned out I was wrong. “Sure, you obviously have somewhere you need to be.” I felt the urgency of this task, the ticking time bomb literally on my skin, but leads were few and far between.