Page 9 of Try As I Smite
“Nothing. Hestia will figure it out when she’s called in with the rest of the council members.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll be in touch as soon as I leave here.” On that note, he disconnected the call.
“What did Hazah say?” Delilah asked impatiently.
“That only you could help me. Before I could explain that you’d refused, she said something that sounded like a spell, tapped me on the chest, and—”
Shock immobilized his tongue and the rest of him when Delilah reached up with almost frantic fingers and started undoing the buttons of his shirt.
She had three freed before he came back to his senses and brushed her hand away. “What are you doing?”
“Did she leave a mark?”
A mark? He had no idea why he wasn’t simply walking out of here. He needed to get home, to his people who didn’t know yet what kind of terrible danger they were in. Maybe the urgency in her eyes as she waited for an answer got to him.
Rather than simply leave, he lifted his hands and undid the rest, drawing back his custom-tailored shirt and vest. Sure enough, a small, star-shaped mark, glowing faintly pink, marred the skin over his heart.
“What the devil?” he muttered.
“This can’t be right,” Delilah whispered. She lifted her hand and brushed a single finger over the spot.
Instantly, darkness closed in on him. Only he was still lucid. Still aware of his body…and Delilah’s. Her touch branding him with unwanted heat that swept through his blood and gathered in his rapidly hardening traitor of a cock. He wrapped a hand around her wrist to tug her off and caught the sound of her gasp in the darkness.
Only he couldn’t step away or shake off her hand. As though compelled to keep her touch on him.
“What’s happening?” he demanded.
“Damn—”
As fast as the darkness overcame him, it cleared. He blinked in the suddenly harsh light of day. Only, instead of late morning sun, it appeared to be watery light of an overcast afternoon sky, snow drifting down over a forested landscape outside. Instead of Delilah’s office with its glassed-in view of the Rocky Mountain peaks behind the downtown Denver skyline, he was standing in what appeared to be a bedroom in a medieval castle—stone walls with thick wood beams, fancy furniture including a massive wood-canopied bed and a carved chest at the foot. Animal-skin rugs of a certain exoticness told him this was a wealthy home.
“Fuck me,” Delilah muttered.
The curse on her lips was about the sexiest damn thing he’d ever heard, sending a pulse through his already throbbing dick, a reaction that served only to piss him off more. He glanced down to find he still held her hand against his bare chest.
She noticed at the same time, and slowly stepped away, giving her wrist a tug when he didn’t immediately let go.
“Is it me, or are we trapped in some kind of Dr. Who alternate universe kind of thing?” he asked. “Or maybe I’m going to wake up and this is a terrible dream.”
Delilah did a rapid blink but didn’t answer. Instead, holding his gaze, she opened her mouth and called loudly, “Hazah? What in the seven hells are you doing?”
Immediately, Hazah appeared in the room with them.
Determined to send himself home, over whatever game was being played here, Alasdair flicked his hands open wide, only the magical electricity that was his to command at will didn’t condense in his palm like it should. In fact, nothing happened at all. He flicked his hands again. Nothing. A whispered spell resulted in fuck all.
“What have you done?” Alasdair snarled at Hazah, trying not to panic. She’d taken his magic? How was that possible? How was he supposed to protect his people without it?
Hazah gave them both an easy, mysterious smile. “I’m helping, my darlings. You’ll see.”
Delilah snorted. “How does this help him with his demon—” She cut the word off, rubbing at her wrist through the cuff of her blouse. “With the problem?”
“Don’t worry.” Hazah flapped a hand. “I’ll keep an eye on that while you’re occupied.”
Occupied? “Occupied doing what?” Alasdair demanded, drawing himself up and setting a demanding stare on her that had cowed greater men and women than her. He assumed greater. Actually, he still didn’t know what she was.
“I’ve arranged a little trip for you. Some things you both need to see if you’re going to get through tonight.” Spoken as though they hadn’t a care in the world.
